NIGHT - I. Rin (best large ereader txt) 📗

you’ll have dinner and then you will be taken to your rooms, where you can have a rest. And tomorrow I am going to organize a ball in your honor!”

 

“But...” Angelica and Swein tried to say something. However, the Princess had already called her servants and given them the orders.

 

“We’ll need a little patience,” the Prince whispered to Lica’s ear.

 

She nodded and went obediently to her room.

 

In the morning there was a knock at Lica’s door.

 

“Come in!” she said.

 

It was the Princess.

 

“Dear, Angelica!” she said. “I hope you can help me to get everything ready for the ball! Edward cannot stand sunlight and I

 

cannot do it by myself.”

 

The girl nodded.

 

“Then get dressed and go out, I’ll be waiting for you in the hall!”

 

The Princess went out and Angelica got up reluctantly and put on her clothes. Then she went to the Princess.

 

When they started preparations for the ball Lica realized that being the Princess or Queen is not so easy. In the evening she was exhausted.

 

“Honey, you should go and have a rest!” the Princess said. “We have to dance all night. So you must go to your room. When you are all right, choose any of my dresses and get down to the ballroom!”

 

The girl did not mind and went to her room. She came in and looked in the mirror. She saw a slim girl in jeans and a pullover, with black eyes in a pale face.

 

“Well, it is clear now why Swein is always flirting with the Princess!” Angelica said aloud. “Unfortunately now, I really look awful.”

She lay down the bed and fell asleep.

Ladies are changing gentlemen!

 

 

Angelica did not know how much time had passed but when she woke up, the sun had set and the sky had darkened. She opened her eyes and listened. She could hear the sounds of music from somewhere.

 

“The ball may have already started,” Lica decided.

 

She sat on the bed and lost in thoughts. She had no desire to go to this ball but for some reason she was afraid to leave Swein

with the Princess alone. Since she was free, the Princess had been prettier. She had long blond hair, going down with marvelous curls; she was well-built with sparkling blue eyes. Angelica remembered Swein holding the Princess’s hand and some unpleasant feelings haunted her.

 

“Am I jealous?” flashed through her mind. “Perhaps, I should go...” Lica called the servant, who was waiting outside, and asked

 

him where she could get a dress.

 

“Her Highness told me about you,” the servant said. “Follow me!” He led the girl through the corridors to the spacious room

 

with lots of wardrobes.

 

“Choose whatever you like!” the servant pointed to the ward-robes.

 

Angelica opened one and just confused. There were so many dresses of any colors and any style that she couldn’t chose anything.

 

“Tell me,” Lica asked suddenly, “and what color is Her Majesty’s wearing today?”

 

“White made of the best lace,” the servant replied.

 

“She looks like a bride!” the girl smiled to herself. “Oh, Your Highness, Your Highness! It was Edward who loved white but Swein’s favorite is dark blue...”

 

She turned to the servant and said:

 

“Do you have any dark blue dresses?”

 

He hesitated a little but then remembered:

 

“Yes, there is one! But the Princess has never worn it, so first we must find it!”

 

“Excellent! Could you look for it, please!”

 

Angelica sat down on the armchair in the middle of the room and the servant began to open every wardrobe. About an hour later, he finally exclaimed:

 

“Yeah! That’s it! But do not you think that it is too dark for the ball?”

 

Lica looked at the dress and said with satisfaction:

 

“No! It is exactly what I wanted!”

 

She went behind the screen and put on the dress. Then she let her hair and went to the mirror.

 

“How is it?” she asked amazed servant.

 

“Brilliant!” he said admiringly.

 

“Now find me matching shoes and hurry up!” the girl gave the order.

 

The servant immediately rushed to do that.

 

In fifteen minutes Angelica came out of the room ready. She was going on the balcony upstairs and looked down at the dance hall. Lica immediately noticed Swein and the Princess, dancing in the center of the room. The Prince almost never took his eyes from the beauty. Angelica froze. She was standing and watching as one dance was replaced by another and Swein and the Princess did not stop.

 

“Well, it seems a bit steep!” she thought irritably. “I must do something!”

 

And she went down the stairs.

 

At this time the music stopped and the emcee announced that for the next dance ladies would invite gentlemen.

 

“That’s good!” Lica thought.

 

She came into the hall but saw the Princess had already held the Prince’s hand.

 

“Damn it!” Angelica cursed. “I am really jealous! But who? Edward or Swein? Or both of them?”

 

She looked around and saw a good looking young man near her. The girl stepped up to him and said:

 

“Can I invite you to dance?”

 

The young man looked at Lica with delight and gave her his hand.

 

They were the second pair after Swein and the Princess. The Prince accidentally turned around and saw Angelica. She was so beautiful that he could not miss it. But he just smiled and turned his full attention to the Princess. At this time, the emcee said:

 

“Ladies are changing gentlemen!”

 

And the Princess, laughing, stole Lica’s partner and the girl stayed with the Prince.

 

“You look great!” Swein said cold.

 

“Yeah,” Angelica nodded. “But you are always caring for the Princess!”

 

“Have you forgotten she’s my fiancée,” the Prince smiled. “Ex-fiancée! And she is not yours but Edward’s!” “It’s not important!” the Prince quipped.

 

At this moment the music stopped and Swein led Lica to the chairs. Then he went back to Princess again.

 

Angelica was so angry that ran out of the hall and went to her room. On the way she came into the dressing room and put on her old clothes and hung the blue dress in the wardrobe.

 

In the room she sat down on the windowsill staring up at the starry sky. Then she went to bed and did not notice as she fell asleep.

The Book of Destiny

 

 

Early in the morning, before dawn Lica was woken by some-one shaking her shoulder. She opened her eyes and saw Swein.

 

“Angelica, get dressed and go downstairs, hurry up. The horses are ready.”

 

“Horses?” she did not understand. “Have you forgotten about our mission?”

 

“I remember!” Angelica said. “And I have already got dressed!”

 

“Then let’s go!”

 

The Prince took Lica’s hand and helped her up. Then he was waiting while Lica was lacing her trainers and they went to the stairs quietly. And now the riders were speeding toward the Kingdom of Night.

 

“What’s the hurry?” Angelica asked. “Why have you woken me up so early?!”

 

“Have you forgotten that I cannot stand the light of the day? So I had to wake you up before dawn.”

 

“I thought after the ball you would sleep the whole day!”

 

“If I stayed for another day, our relationship with the Princess would go too far...”

 

“I am not surprised; you fixed your eyes on her the whole evening!”

 

“The end justifies the means! Now I know where the Book of Destiny is!”

 

“Oh, you schemer!” Lica shouted. “So you have arranged that on purpose?”

 

Swein slowed his horse and grinned:

 

“I do not like white color, dear Angelica! But I do love dark blue.” And he spurred his horse again.

 

Her heart leapt with joy but she didn’t show anything and fol-lowed the Prince. After a while they were cloaked by the thick fog again.

 

“So, now the main thing is – not to lose our way,” the Prince said quietly. “Soon we have to turn left.”

 

And they went on...

 

Lica did not notice where they were going. She was automatically following her companion. When the fog lifted they were at the foot of the high mountains, Angelica even was surprised by that.

 

“Are these the mountains you had seen before?” the Prince asked her.

 

“Yes, I guess,” she nodded. “Let’s stop! Somewhere there must be a move, which the Princess had used to lead us outside the dungeons. It is pretty safe. We just need to remember where it is.”

 

Swein stopped his horse. And Lica was examining the mountains. “There must be the main entrance to the cave on the right,” she said. “So, the secret passage is near here. Get down, Prince, we  have arrived!”

 

They dismounted and tied their horses to the tree growing nearby.

 

“Wait,” Swein said. “I have taken something from the palace.” And he pulled out of the small bag a coil of rope, oakum and

 

matches.

 

“Oh, you are very farsighted!” Angelica smiled.

 

“Of course. How would we look for the Book in the dark? You are unlikely to think about that!” the Prince quipped.

 

 “But you can see in the dark like a cat!”

 

“But you cannot! And what do I have to do - hold your hand all the time?”

 

They found two strong sticks and wrapped them with oakum. “Come on! The secret passage is over there!” Lica pointed. Swein and the girl were going along the foot of the moun-

 

tains and saw the narrow cleft. The Prince lit their torches and they climbed inside. As they were walking the cleft was getting wider.

 

“You have not told me where we should look for the Book of Destiny yet,” Angelica asked Swein.

 

“According to Princess, the Wizard had a lab with the hiding-place, where he was keeping the Book. But what it looks like, the Princess does not know as well the Wizard didn’t allow her to come inside.”

“Well, at least we have a clue. It is bad that I have never been in the lab.”

 

“But you said that you had known these dungeons!” the Prince grumbled.

 

“But not as good as you have your fingertips!” she quipped. “And now you should be as quiet as possible. I don’t want that somebody will hear us.”

 

Lica pushed Swein aside and went first. It seemed to her that she knew this corridor but sometimes she didn’t. However, she was here a long time ago. Suddenly the hole widened and our heroes came in the small hall with the stream flowing in the center.

 

“I know!” Angelica whispered. “Here we had met the Wizard. That wall - right in front of us - it can move. The Princess had come out of it. Henry and I had gone out of the passage on the left. There was no lab of Wizard. So we need to go to the right!”

 

And she cautiously entered the right corridor leading from the hall.

 

Everything was different here. The ceilings seemed to hang over their heads. The air was so heavy that they