and huge cave. On the table with books lay a skull, and above it, on the wall, hung an old sword, decorated with precious stones and a golden hilt. Next to the table, on a dais, was a mirror. They approached him.
«Look,» said the hermit and ran his wrinkled hand over the smooth surface of the mirror. The mirror reflected a lake with swans swimming in it, and then Etienne saw Odette’s face. She has grown and become even more beautiful.
«Yes, it’s her,» Etienne burst out, and immediately the vision disappeared.
«Will I find her?» The prince asked.
«Yes,» said his old and wise friend, «but believe me, I know how hard it is to lose your love.»
«How do you know,» Etienne was surprised, «tell me!»
The old man moved away from the mirror, and his face was not visible behind the long gray hair, but Etienne could swear that for a moment, just for one magical moment, it again became the young and beautiful face of a prince in love with a red witch.
«It was a long time ago,» he began, «in that kingdom that no longer exists, War and death destroyed it, after the beautiful witch killed the king and the king’s brother, who was handsome and young, and…»
«And it was you,» the Etienne continued, fascinated.
«Yes,» his friend nodded his head and continued his story, «I was young and brave, I was looking for glory and battles, but she appeared, a beauty from a dark fairy tale, and crossed out my whole life. She became the wife of my older brother, the king, and broke my heart forever. She did not need love, her selfish heart longed for power, and I could offer her nothing but my heart. I left the palace and went into voluntary exile. When my brother died suddenly, she was accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death at the stake.
The day she was to be executed, my life was shattered forever.
«Was she executed?» Etienne asked excitedly.
«No,» was the answer, «she sold her soul to the devil, and by this she was saved from death. She disappeared right from the place of execution, and I have only one memo about her.»
«Which one?»
«A piece of her dress,» the hermit replied. He clutched a piece of scarlet cloth in his hand, and suddenly it slipped out of his hands.
«What’s going on,» Etienne asked excitedly as a strange glow lit up the entire cave.
«I’m even afraid to think,» answered the sorcerer, but the radiance has already illuminated the whole room, and a piece of dress fell on the mirror and began to grow. Now it was not a fragment, but a royal scarlet dress.
Then, against the background of a scarlet dress, white hands and a neck appeared, and then everything was over, and a red-haired beauty stood in front of them. There was something eerie, blood-curdling about her beauty, and a long cross-shaped brand on a long chain stretched around her neck.
«You called me,» she whispered, addressing the king’s brother, and a cold grin ran across her lips, «I had a dream,» she said, «and I became young again, as I did many years ago, but this is just an optical illusion.»
«You’re back,» he said. She walked over to him, her face beaming white. He was old, and she was very young. Her beauty shone like a bright star, like her red hair against his gray hair.
«I was always afraid that old age would touch me,» she said as if in thought, «but it happened even worse: the devil made me vicious and ugly, like himself.»
Her eyes flashed with life and hope.
«Come with me,» she said, «come with me, and you will look younger again.»
«Violetta,» he said, moving towards her, but the scar on her neck reminded him that she was different.
«Will you come with me?» she asked.
«I can’t,» he replied, and at that moment her eyes again filled with anger and hatred.
«You will regret it,» sounded in the silence, and the red-haired witch disappeared.
«Go away, Etienne,» said the hermit, «don’t make me fear for your life.»
«Remember, now you know the secret of the red-haired witch, and danger will haunt you.»
Etienne rode for a long time through the forest, heading back to the royal castle. He did not leave the feeling that someone was watching him, but so far the enemy had not attacked him openly. Odette’s face was in front of the prince’s eyes, and now he was going to find her, no matter what it cost him. The price could be high, but he was not afraid of anything.
Etienne’s coming of age has long been celebrated at the royal castle. Both the peasants who loved the good prince, and the noble people who highly appreciated him, all gathered here, and each of them celebrated this event in his own way, although it was equally dear to all.
The peasant girls immediately ran up to the prince, and Etienne barely managed to free himself from their circle and approach his friends. Fritz and Ben, as always, were ready to leave any fun company for the sake of the prince’s company.
«Etienne, where have you been,» Fritz asked first of all, «some very beautiful girls are waiting for you here, they want to congratulate you.»
«If you knew what real beauty is,» Etienne sighed sadly.
«What happened to you,» only his friend could squeeze out, «before we went around all the taverns in the district and if you have no desire to resume all this, then I have it.»
«I was in an old hermit’s cave,» Etienne said quietly.
«Now everything is clear,» Ben cut him off. «They say that getting into the world of witchcraft there is as easy as crossing the entrance to a cave.»
«You’re right,» Etienne admitted honestly, remembering what happened in the cave today.
«I also saw witchcraft,» as if by chance, Fritz threw, «by one swan lake, no one comes there now.»
He was silent for a moment, as if with difficulty remembering the features of some misty ghost.
«I saw a girl there,» he finally said, with such admiration as if he were talking about the heavenly angel itself.
«Girl,» Etienne burst out.
«Yes, she was very beautiful. So beautiful that I cannot compare her even with you and with the prince, I mean your strange brother.»
For Fritz, Christian has always been strange, because, unlike Etienne, he spent his youth not in a tavern, but in duels.
«It was like a vision,» Fritz continued. «She was wearing a luxurious ball gown, although she was standing in the middle of the swan lakes. I have never seen such a beautiful girl. She had blonde hair and clear eyes, I was struck by her look, and then right in front of my eyes, but I swear I wasn’t, and it didn’t seem to me, she turned into a white swan and flew away into the distance.»
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