ISBN 978-5-0056-9819-3 (т. 5)

      ISBN 978-5-0056-8618-3

      Created with Ridero smart publishing system

      The Deal

      Five demons circled over the forbidden hall. Rhianon found her way here easily now. And she was no longer intimidated by their company. She was even used to being surrounded by five disembodied, glowing knights, kissing her hands and taking turns honoring her as both their queen and their mistress. Their touches are as the movement of dew on a flower. Only sometimes she felt as if it were not air but prickly grains of sand running across her skin. The touch didn’t excite her, it made her sleepy, but she knew she shouldn’t fall asleep in that place. Maybe once she fell asleep here, she would never wake up again, and the consciousness that had escaped her captive body would hover over the ground forever.

      Where is the sixth spirit? Rhianon had seen its vague silhouette looming in the passage, but it had never dared to cross the threshold. Perhaps there was something taboo about it. What if he simply could not? That was why he had brought her into the tower. Now she kept the five spirits company.

      «Where would you like to be this time?» A low voice came over her ear, and before she knew it, a spirit had drifted toward her, almost nuzzling her cheek. It was weightless and nimble, like a cat. She was used to spirits creeping up on her silently and almost imperceptibly, but sometimes she still marveled at their speed and nimbleness. And now she couldn’t answer at once, only because she was startled.

      «I don’t know.» Actually, she knew she wanted to get back to Loretta, but why? Rhianon stopped herself. Why would she want to poison her soul unnecessarily? There are plenty of other interesting places in the world for her to visit. The power of magic would take her anywhere she wanted to go in a jiffy.

      «Do you doubt it?» A spirit whispered in her ear. «You don’t know where you’ll go this time. You could take a torch or a lantern and make us lead you down the dark road of dreams. Do you know what creatures are hiding there? The kind you’ve never seen before. And the road itself is endless. It’s easy to get lost and no one will find you.»

      «What’s with the lantern?» She had the feeling that even a tiny light would draw Madael or Seti. And what is about the fire inside her? All those things could probably smell it from afar.

      «Oh, you don’t need a lantern, do you? Fire and light are what keep the creatures of nightmares away. They’ll whimper and scurry away into the shadows. They won’t have to scare you anymore, because you can scare them with your fire. They’ll think you want to set them all on fire, and they’ll howl. The whole universe will hear it. That’ll be fun.»

      «It is tempting,» Rhianon said, as she thought to herself, listing all the countries and cities she’d like to visit. Dozens, even hundreds of names passed through her mind, but so far she hadn’t settled on any. How strange, the strongest warrior in the world is her protector, and she is already trying to find other allies. She needs to choose a kingdom strong enough, or several that could provide her with an army. If she had even a few magical creatures under her command, she would easily intimidate any ruler. Rhianon looked with a sigh at the spirit whispering to her. If only she could convince a few spirits to accompany her, no one would refuse her an army.

      «So will you visit the land of dreams? There, too, are ruled by former cohort leaders from your lover’s troops. You won’t know whether they’re seductive women, warriors, or monsters. You know those demons…»

      «And they were the ones who sent me dreams?» Rhianon remembered the voices coming from heaven. They were somehow not quite associated with the black and gold visions of the land of dreams that the spirit had conveyed to her. There were only disembodied creatures woven of darkness and golden shackles, rocky slopes brushed like palaces and small creatures that could only exist and leap in darkness.

      «Some other time.» «Rhianon turned her back on the speaker.

      Considering that the reality around her was more like a startling fantasy, she wasn’t lying.

      «Then what would you choose?»

      Rhianon was reminded of a traveling theater. A fairground circus she’d only seen once, when she’d wandered through towns and cities with Orpheus. Then she had accidentally set fire to the tent. Were the actors hurt?

      As soon as Rhianon thought of them, she suddenly imagined the deafening woods of chirping grasshoppers. They were now in those places where the winter chill had receded. She wondered where that was. It might be worth checking.

      Rhianon decided to take a chance. She clutched the pendant in her fingers and thought of the ornate tent adorned with a cockade on top. Just a moment and she was already standing in front of it. The colorful strips of fabric were clearly distinguishable even in the semi-darkness. One of them, the one blocking the entrance, was slightly raised. A lamp burned peacefully inside. No one had gone to bed yet. Rhianon could tell by the sound of voices coming from inside the tent.

      She bent down and peered through the gap in the aisle. What she saw stunned her. In the blink of an eye everything became clear. The wandering actors had not been harmed in the slightest by her fire. It was more likely that what she had scorched the square then they had not even noticed. They’d been burned, of course, but long before – years before Rhianon herself, or anyone else in the world, had been born.

      Wandering faeries dressed as harlequins, pierros, and colombinae laughed merrily, drank, and played cards. How easily they fooled the audience. The mossy mustiness of the bright costumes could be mistaken for peculiar makeup. And who cares if tattered wings fluttered behind the red-haired colombina’s back and moss sprouted along her cheeks. She was still pretty enough, as a pretty little fallen angel should be. The combination of naivety, mischief, and vice was astounding. It seemed as if the seductive woman and the devil were merged into one.

      «Come on, Gloria,» someone in a devil costume, which might not have been a costume at all, leaned over her shoulder, watching the game. The black wings trembled painfully at the proximity of the lamp. He stared at the cards in the pretty girl’s hands.

      Well, there, thought Rhianon, the game went on. When Orpheus had invented cards for them as a joke, she had no idea that they would become so popular that even the whole of the devil would rush to play them. Apparently, the game was fascinating. Their keen ears didn’t even catch her steps in front of the tent. This was unusual for supernatural creatures. The likes of them would have smelled even a mosquito a hundred yards away, but they were only playing and didn’t want to be interrupted. Gradually the game was getting to the point. Rhianon, who was watching them, suddenly realized that the players were about to have a fight. The laughter and jokes ended and a heated argument began.

      Apparently, Orpheus knew what he was doing when he created the cards. He wanted to bring discord to everything, after all. Rhianon just didn’t realize that he wanted to affect both mortal men and his former brethren. Or was it just an accident? Maybe he himself didn’t know how powerful a weapon he’d invented. Or maybe now he was making custom cards for paying customers himself, and laughing at them to himself. Rhianon hadn’t seen Orpheus or felt his presence near her for a long time. She couldn’t know where he was or what was wrong with him, but one thing was certain, he didn’t sit still. Without regular mischief he would cease to be himself.

      The argument was heating up. Pretty Gloria was almost fighting with the harlequin already. One awkward movement and they could topple the lamp hanging in the air above the table. Their wings trembled from the proximity of the fire, but the argument did not stop. Rhianon backed away from the entrance to the tent. She didn’t want them to accidentally glance this way and notice her. It would have worked out very well if a dry branch had not crunched beneath her feet.

      The crunch was loud and unexpectedly sharp. The faerie ears couldn’t help but pick it up. In an instant