the insidious voice sounded in the silence, «be it your way, dark knight, if I don’t take her with me, then someone else will come in handy.»
For a minute she stood, grinning so smugly and viciously that the laughter was breathtaking, and then something bright and dazzling flashed in her hand, and she threw a pinch of gold dust in Richard’s face, which immediately flew in different directions and gilded the stuffy air of the throne room.
Immediately a long hand reached out to the princess, but Odette dodged and ran away across the marble floor of the hall, but in front of her, as if out of the ground, a red-haired witch rose again, as if she knew how to move in space easily and imperceptibly, like a ghost.
Odette did not know what to do or where to run, the ghost of the witch would find her everywhere. The witch looked around Odette’s white dress, with the same envy and mockery she noted her wondrous beauty.
«Beautiful as a princess, sweet as a swan,» she hissed right in Odette’s face, «you will be a princess – a swan, and it will be your eternal damnation.»
She threw lightning with her eyes, and a huge window swung open, a storm shone behind it, so dark and hopeless, violent and rebellious, like the heart of a black swan, and a white swan flew through the window with a lightning strike. It was beautiful and snow-white, like a snowy winter, it was charming and gentle.
Odette had never seen such a beautiful bird, but a trickle of blood shone on the swan’s right wing, it was wounded. Who could injure such a beautiful bird, some soulless person or the king of the dark land himself, Rothbert. Odette had a glimpse of him, that he turns the girls he liked into swans and settles them on the lakes in his country near his gloomy castle.
Odette did not know if it was true or just a legend, but she felt that there was something special about this swan, its eyes were almost human eyes of a young beauty, they were the eyes of a young girl, not a white swan.
«Look,» the witch whispered, «look and enjoy the spectacle, this is your future fate.»
Odette glanced at the snow-white swan, it circled almost exhausted under the ceiling of the throne room. After all, it was injured and, for sure, in pain, and so it fell. A few minutes later, the entire body of the swan was engulfed in a bright golden glow, similar to the pollen in a witch’s hand.
The princess recoiled, but she could not help but see how the swan’s body began to grow, turning into a human silhouette, it grew with incredible speed, and in front of Odette on the floor was no longer a dead swan, but a beautiful young girl in a light dress. Her blond hair scattered over the cold marble, her eyes were tightly closed, as if in an eternal dream, her lips in the moment of their death tried to whisper, probably, the name of the one whom she loved during her life, this was another victim of witchcraft.
The witch laughed, and her laughter echoed through the hall, she showed Odette her future destiny, and the princess stood in disbelief in herself and her eyes.
Suddenly, steps were heard outside the door, rapid and loud, and the witch touched Odette’s eyes with her hand, plunging the princess into a witch’s sleep.
«Sleep, dear Odette,» she whispered ominously, «your prince does not know and will not be able to save you.
Etienne was not at all happy about the forced journey, but nevertheless he submitted to fate and, reluctantly, to amuse the convoy sent to him by the queen, went to the palace.
He stood for a long time under the gates of the palace before deciding to jump off his horse. Suddenly a strange voice said:
«Prince Etienne, Prince Etienne!»
Who could call him by name where he first appeared. In none of the taverns, no one except Fritz knew his name.
It seemed to him that in the distance, behind the trees, a wave of someone’s hair, red as fire, flashed. Hallucination or not. He approached the blue lake, not knowing why, perhaps, in order to recover at least a little before his own wedding, it is good that his mother, the queen, did not see the young prince in such a state.
He looked into the water, it was transparent and clean, and water lilies with lilies quietly slept in it. Who had the idea of having a wedding and coronation at midnight?
Strange, no one was guarding the palace tonight, no one was on duty, and not a single guard was to be seen.
Etienne entered the folding doors and found himself in a dark, huge room, where, as well as outside, there was no one. The heavy door slammed shut behind him, as if leaving him a prisoner of the palace. Suddenly all the candles around flared up, Etienne stood illuminated by their glow and could not understand what was happening. A minute ago, complete darkness reigned in the hall, and now a bright light flooded the walls and furniture around it, but it was some kind of strange light, it seemed bright, and at the same time, the whole hall remained in some strange and even creepy for human eyes in the semi-darkness.
Etienne stood in one place and did not dare to step forward, some incomprehensible fear kept him on the threshold, as if some magic circle was inscribed here, protecting him from witchcraft and death..
Even from his place, Etienne could see all the wonderful decoration of the room, even more beautiful than that in his palace. Each piece was selected with such taste and combined with the entire environment around it, giving the hall a mysterious mystical shine.
It was the most beautiful and mysterious place that Etienne had ever seen during his short and, as his friends would say, dissolute life, but full of duels and fights. Everything here was so beautiful in the gloomy semi-darkness, even candles burning with a bright, hot flame could not dispel it, and there were many of them here, in exquisite candelabra with figures of fairies and goddesses, in golden candlesticks and even on the walls.
Suddenly, an invisible hand took a goblet of wine from a small table, it flew up right in front of Etienne’s eyes and toppled down in the air so that all the wine in a thin stream, slowly, like blood, flowed onto the floor.
The same invisible hand raised a sword in the air, which it easily tore from the wall, and directed it straight into the heart of the young prince, but Etienne managed to draw his sword from its sheath and repel the first deadly blow. One blow fell on him after another. But Etienne seized the moment and thrust his sword into the body of the enemy. He did not know where his blade had hit, but at the same moment blood flowed from the void, the bright crimson blood of the magic knight who fought with Etienne, God knows why.
A strong hand clung to Etienne’s shoulder, blood flowed down it, and the features of a man began to appear in the darkness. Finally, before Etienne stood a knight in dark armor.
«Odette will never love you, only I am her real fiancé,» he hissed through his teeth..
Then his hand began to weaken, and finally released Etienne’s shoulder from its steel grip, and the knight himself began to slowly dissolve into the darkness.
For some reason, Etienne was in pain. It seemed to him that he fell in love with his own bride, which was in fact the love of a completely different person, or even not a person, but the devil.
A sharp gust of wind, and another door opened in front of Etienne. He entered the open doors and froze in place. In front of the throne, on the marble floor, lay a young girl of amazing beauty.
She
