«If you want to free me, dont believe Im an elf, even if you see otherwise. Believe that I am human, like you. I am with a bit of magic blood, but human. Dont let me out of your grasp, even if I become a trembling serpent. If you, clutching the monster in your arms, continue to believe it is me, you will set me free.»
«Even now,» she hugged him and waited for him to turn into a snake or a monster, but he didnt.
«It is not now,» Tamlane corrected her. «It is on the night of the elves equinox. It happens once every thirteen years. Its only a week away. It is the only night you will be able to rescue me from my captivity.»
«Im ready.»
«In any case, you have a week to think about it.»
Rainbow, who had been listening intently to the conversation while sitting in the tree, was very unhappy with what she had heard.
«Who would dethrone the fairies queen if you two just ran away?» She laughed. «Come to your senses. You cant leave Corund in the lurch. There are many others suffering besides you, and you only want to save yourselves. You cannot be so selfish.»
Tamlane looked at her in a way that silenced her.
«I believe you will save me, because you are so uncommon,» Tamlane ran his hand through her shimmering hair. «The love of a mere girl would have been enough, but she would have died to save me. You have a bit of magic in you. I can feel it. And thats what attracts me to you. Or maybe its something else. Ive never seen another girl like you, not in the magic world, not in the human world. And Ive been to both.»
«And the ladies here and there have tried to seduce you?» Janet said it in a half-joking tone, but Tamlane turned sullen, as if hed been inadvertently reminded of something painful.
«The love of a fair lady can be very onerous at times, especially if shes a queen of magic and has so much power,» he complained. «No one likes it when they try to impose love by force.»
«Can it be forced?» Janet couldnt imagine.
«It can be forced with magic, yes.»
«But you didnt force it on me. I fell in love with you at first sight. I can feel it in my heart. You did not bewitch me.»
Tamlane turned away.
«Do you think it came out differently?» Janet guessed. «Youre wrong.»
«I wasnt referring to you and me at all, but to the queen of the fairies. She thinks she has the right to force her subjects to admire her, to fall in love with her.»
«Are they her dragons?» Janet remembered Rainbow saying that the dragons were the fairy queens lovers. «Or are they her elves? Or are it you?»
That last one hurt her.
«Dont speak of that,» Tamlane dropped his gaze and noticed the wondrous fruit languishing in the grass.
«You shouldnt have picked it,» he glanced at Janet, seeing how shed been exposed to it. «You might not be able to find your way back home because of it. It makes you crazy, it confuses you, you cant leave fairies kingdom.»
«What am I supposed to do with it?»
«It is nothing. Just take it to the castle and treat your enemy with it, if you have an enemy.»
«And if I dont?»
«Save it for when he shows up. But remember, this fruit is only harmful to humans; to fairies and elves it will do no harm.»
«How do I get out of the forest?»
«Ill give you guides. I have many friends in the thicket,» he said, referring to the clawed, furry little beasts shed already seen. «Better yet, spend an hour in my arms. Ill share with you all the magic I got myself from the fairies queen. She made me an elf. And by becoming an elfs mistress, youll be immune to little magical tricks like this fruit. Even if the fairies fed it to you, you wouldnt lose your mind, since your body and heart belonged to a particular elf, and not to anyone else.»
He didnt have to talk her down. His kisses and touches were always extremely seductive, and the carpet of green grass replaced the bed. Roses were jealous of what they could do. Janet could hear their furious hissing as she let Tamlane lay her down on the grass. His fingers tangled in her hair, the green spurs on his torso caressed her, as did his hands. And it felt as if snakes were slithering across her skin. The kisses didnt burn, but it was as if they left a mark on her body-the invisible seals that she belonged to her elf lover from now on. Love was a beautiful thing, but intimacy was even nicer. Someone in the thicket looked at them with judgment. He was wearing a mask of golden leaves, if only it was a mask. Janet spotted him, but the next moment he was gone.
She and Tamlane hadnt parted until closer to evening. And they didnt feel like parting at all.
A Friend of Magical Creatures
Janet was returning from her date with the elf, her hair disheveled and her hands scarred by rose thorns. Pixies were tangled in her hair, and magical creatures followed her out of the woods. There was a whole flock of them. Tamlane had asked them to escort her to the edge of the forest, but they followed her farther. The sunlight seemed to burn them. But the last rays of sunset were already dissolving into the first twilight, and the magical creatures were getting bolder. They were jumping on Janets torn train, making faces, dancing right at her feet. And all this was happening in full view of the maidens, who had just finished playing ball and were now standing as a group at the drawbridge. There were several knights with them. Among them was old Ambrose. He was warning the girls about something. Probably about the danger of magical creatures, and then Janet came in with a pack of witch creatures. The creatures had leaped out of the woods after her, and now they were under her feet. Janet looked helplessly at them, but could not chase them away. And here they were, trying to scratch her with their claws or tear out a strand of her glistening hair. Eloise was tired of resisting them, and her thorns made no impression on them.
Several of the maidens fainted as the creatures that came out of the forest began to make faces at them. Others looked at Janet with fear and mistrust, and when she approached, they all scurried away from her like the plague. If she hadnt been an earls daughter and lived anywhere in the countryside, theyd have sent her to the stake for having such an entourage. But no one dared touch the daughter of a local landowner. They only stared at her with horror. Janet herself was frightened when the attendants trotted after her across the field. Tamlane summoned the creatures with a light whistle, and Janet herself couldnt chase them away, not even with a threat. They only chuckled back and let out their claws. Now how to get rid of such an entourage?
«Lets get out of here!» It came from the moat, and a jet of water splashed toward Janets vicious escorts like a fountain from the back of a whale. The ghastly retinue immediately shrieked and scattered. But this did not diminish the fear of the maidens. In addition, they noticed the strange wounds on Janets skin. The marks of elves and fairies! Thats what they seemed to call it. The wounds and scratches from the roses were beginning to form some bizarre symbols on her skin. And people who saw that she was marked by fairies tried not to get close to her. Old Ambrose was the only one who wasnt frightened. And there was no judgment in his gaze. He looked at Janet as if he sympathized with her distress and wanted to help.
But Janet didnt feel like she was in trouble. She had only been in a love bed with an elf. So what of it? What difference did it make if the bed was made of grass and the enchanted roses beside it hissed curses at the lovers? What difference did it make whether Tamlane was an elf or a human, if she loved him.
But Janet didnt feel like she was in trouble. She had only been in a love bed with an elf. So what of it? What difference did it make if the bed was made of grass and the enchanted roses beside it hissed curses at the lovers? What difference did it make whether Tamlane was an elf or a human, if she loved him.
Janet threw her head up proudly when Ambrose spoke in a high-pitched voice:
«Fair Mistress, you seem to be in trouble, you need help.»
«There is nothing wrong with me!» She retorted angrily. That, of course, was a lie. Her dress was torn, her hair mussed, her skin scarred. And her virginity had been given to an elf. So what of it? She didnt regret any of it herself. It was better not to live at all if she did not see Tamlane again. And with him, she willingly accepted his whole magical world.
Ambrose clearly disagreed with her. He had a premonition of misfortune. But unhappiness would only happen if she failed to get Tamlane out of the fairiess realm, because then she would have nothing to live for.
Proudly alone, Janet made her way into the castle. Everyone tried to stay as far away from her as possible. Well, she didnt need their company. She had Tamlane, after all. Better him than all of them. But she didnt like the creatures that surrounded Tamlane anymore.
In one of the empty halls upstairs, an orange figure of some sort, resembling a pillar of fire, rose up. It was just getting dark. Janet remembered the song-counting that night belonged to the fire elves and day to the water elves. That was probably how they agreed amongst themselves. They shared the time of day, but they continued to feud over territory. It was now just as darkness fell. Night had begun. And the fire elf entered the castle! He cant do that! This is water elf territory! Janet looked through the opened door and saw several fire figures already circling the table. Their touches were starting to make burnt holes on the tablecloth and the tapestry hanging on the wall. The fire elves laughed. Why did they start sneaking into the castle?
Janet walked in, and they suddenly flared up and disappeared, as if the fire in the fireplace had gone out. But the burnt-edged holes in the tapestry remained. The tapestry itself depicted a hunting scene, but an unusual one. On it, humans and supernatural beings were hunting a monster crawling out of the ground. And around it were woven gold roses in ornaments around the edges. And in the very corner of the tapestry, the elf had his arm around a girl with a lovely white bird perched on her shoulder. While the hunt was going on, he was seducing her. She was dressed in a brides dress. And he certainly wasnt a bridegroom. Janet stared and didnt immediately find that the holes had suddenly disappeared somewhere, as if the threads of the tapestry had restored themselves. Was it magic? Janet touched the tapestry with her fingers. Its amazing.
«Madam!» Ambroses voice came to her from the threshold. He dared to approach her, though everyone was now frightened. «You shouldnt have danced with the elves.»
«I didnt,» said Janet frankly. What she and Tamlane were doing that afternoon, though it looked like a love dance, was in fact a complete fusion of the human body and the supernatural. «I just fell in love with one of them.»
Now the old knight walked up to her and took her by the shoulders with a jerk, as if he wanted to give her a good shaking.
«He has compelled you! He has bewitched you! But there is still a chance for healing. Theres an old healer in the village called Belladonna who can undo a love spell. You must go to her.»
Janet only laughed, softly and melodiously, as if she was a fairy herself.
«Love cannot be cured. You can only make a man unhappy by taking away his love, even if it is the love of an elf.»
«He will ruin you,» Ambrose said sadly. «Even if he loves you sincerely. Magical creatures in love ruin people all the same. We grow old, they stay forever young, we die, they live on, we are weak and vulnerable by nature, and they cannot be penetrated by any weapon. They will rise from their own ashes and bewitch someone next to them to feed on their life force. An elf will not be your loyal protector or devoted lover. Choose another!»
«Would you offer yourself in his place?» Janet couldnt resist a sarcastic remark. She bit her tongue. She had upset the old knight.
«Forgive me,» she whispered, «but my lover is indispensable to me.»
«Your mother used to say the same thing long ago, and do you know what happened to her?»
«What happened to her? My father is not an elf. He didnt ruin her,» Janet couldnt suggest that her mothers lover could have been anyone other than her father, but thats what Ambrose was trying to say.
«Once upon a time, your father tried to make peace with the creatures living in the forest so that they would no longer attack his domain. He succeeded. The king of the elves, named Dagda, showed mercy. He decided that humans and elves had nothing to fight over. Both sides, human and magical, tried to get at least a truce. Peace was made. We celebrated. The humans started communicating with the undead, and everyone was happy.»
«And then what happened?»
«Then» Ambrose began to speak with difficulty. Then one of the elves seduced your mother, and she left with him. He enchanted her with his beauty, gave her no passage, he sent her golden roses as gifts. At first she resisted him, remembering her marriage vow to be faithful to your father the earl, but then she gave in. Magical creatures show great persistence when they want to achieve something. Amaranta was caught in the net of their king. And we never saw her again. But a lot of terrible things have happened to us since then. You were young and dont remember, but fields burned, water turned to poison, flames burst from fireplaces and burned people, creepy creatures flew in, taking victims.
«What if the elf who captivated my heart is enchanted, if he is human?»
«Do not believe his speeches. Elves always lie. They lied when they made the truce with us. So they lie to their beloved. They end up ruining them.»
Janet remembered the scarlet and white roses on the border. Ambrose had a point. But there were exceptions.
«What do you want me to do?»
«Try to leave him. He will resist, call out to you, maybe even come to besiege the castle at night with an army of creatures like him, but at the first light of day he will have to leave, unless you yourself willingly come out to him. Magic can be destroyed by resisting it.»
«And if I cant leave him?»
«Then youll die on your own.»
Janet didnt want to believe that. Besides, Tamlane said he could be saved.
«People see the marks of the magic kingdom on you, and that scares them, but if you heal, theyll gradually forget all about it.»
«It seems unlikely to me to heal from a desire for him. Even if the marks go away, the feeling remains.»
«Then you will become like me, a man who was once loved and branded by a fairy.»
Janet didnt believe him at first, but Ambrose unbuttoned his collar and showed a strange sign, as if a red rose had grown right into his flesh. Janet even found a lamp and held it up to him to get a better look. It was definitely branded in the form of some sort of magical mark. Strangely, the branding was still bleeding. Apparently it had been made long ago, back when Ambrose was young. She couldnt have a fairy falling in love with an old man. Maybe the brand was a mark of her kiss. Surely it was made to subdue both the knights will and body. But Ambrose resisted, and the fairys mark hurt him. Janet touched the mark with her hand. It vibrated.