NIGHT - I Rin (read people like a book TXT) 📗

I am going to send my faithful servant and friend – Henry with you. It will be a lot easier with him!”

“Yeah thank you!” the girl muttered. “Just let me change my dress! I do not want to climb the mountains in a ball dress and high heels.”

“Henry! Bring a suit for the lady!” the Prince said.

The servant bowed and left the room.

“Tell me, do you really still love her?” Angelica asked the young man curiously.

“Princess? Of course!”

“But you are talking about it so easily... Besides, so many years passed!”

Edward looked at Lica and was about to add something but at that moment the door opened and Henry came in with men's clothes in his hands.

“Change your dress!” Prince said, standing up. “Henry and I are waiting for you outside.”

The men went out of the room and Angelica took off her wonderful ball dress with great regret. Then she put on the suit, however it was also fit her perfectly. The only thing that the old servant had not guessed was the size of the shoes. The shoes, which he had brought for the girl, were too big for her but Lica decided that they were better than high heel shoes.

A few minutes later she came out of the room. Prince Edward looked at her admiringly and a smile has slipped on Henry’s face.

“Horses are waiting for you!” the Prince said. “You will find food and water in baskets tied to the saddles! Come on!”

They went out of the castle to the wide courtyard. Edward’s servant jumped into the saddle and the Prince helped Angelica to mount a horse.

“Have you ever ridden a horse?” he asked suspiciously.

“No never!” Lica answered honestly. “But everything has ever made for the first time!”

Henry briefly explained the girl how to handle a horse. Then he pulled the reins and left the yard. Lica followed him.

“Angelica, you must promise me that you back sound in life and limb!” Edward shouted after her. “It is very important to me!”

Nightmare Forest

The horsemen were galloping down the dusty road. They had been ridden for a long time and Lica not being used to riding was awfully tired.

“How far is the forest?” she asked her companion.

“About an hour and a half,” Henry said.

When the moon moved in the sky the dark wall of the forest appeared in front of them. The huge trees seemed to touch the sky.

“Is that it?” the girl showed forward.

The old man nodded.

“Yes, it's Nightmare Forest,” he said. “If you have ever had nightmares, even as a child, they all live here. Do you remember any of your nightmares?”

“No.”

“It’s a pity. If you had at least we would have coped with them! If not... we would have to skip at random.”

“Do you remember your nightmares?”

“Of course! I even had time to make friends with some of them. After all, I have an advantage - I live here! And I am a magician a little bit.”

Angelica and Henry came into the forest. The moonlight hardly permeated through the tall thick trees. Their branches were so intertwined that they looked like a picket fence. Only a narrow road led along.

“Follow me on my horse's hooves!” Edward’s servant said quietly.

But only could he say that something huge and grey blocked their way...

“Meow - Meow!” grey creature roared. “What are you looking at? I will not let you go further! And it is all her fault! She is always saying that "all cats are grey at night." But I used to be another color! So, until she guesses my color, you will not go!”

“Is it your nightmare?” Henry pointed toward the huge grey cat. “Come on, disentangle! Unless my nightmares come, I am afraid they may. If that happens, we will not be in laughing mood!”

The girl was lost in thoughts.

She remembered that when she was a little girl and refused to go to bed, her mother used to scary her by a horror story. Her mother would say:

 

At night Kitty will come after you,

And walk away with you!

 

It was the time when Lica came up with a huge scary cat Mr.Greytail. And at first it was not very scary. But then night by night he was getting more and more frightening!

“I am wondering what color he was,” Lica thought aloud. “White? - No... Red? - No...”

Suddenly they heard terrible howl and a sound of hooves in the forest.

“Harry up, remember!” Henry was getting nervous.

“Ah! I have remembered!” Angelica shouted. “You were black… a usual black cat but with a grey tail!”

As she said that, the cat disappeared in the air.

“Come on, let’s go!” the old man called her. “Someone seems to be chasing us! If it is my nightmare, it will not be easy! There must be fork road ahead. You will turn to the right and I will go to the left! Meet me beyond the forest!”

And Henry spurred his horse.

Hooves clatter was getting closer. Lica did not linger and had let her horse galloping. Soon she saw the fork road ahead. Although it was hardly perceptible, she instinctively turned to the right. Hoof beats had left behind her. But now she heard another unpleasant sound. As if sand was sifting somewhere. Angelica instantly remembered the horror of her childhood – Mr. Sandman! Since she had read a book about him she hadn’t been able to sleep properly.

“How had I escaped from him?” the girl began to remember quickly. “I think I just had closed my eyes and hid under the duvet!”

The noise of sand was coming. Lica closed her eyes and stopped to control the horse.

“It will deal!” she thought. “Horses are intelligent animals!”

“Angelica!” she heard someone's nasty raspy voice. “Angelica! Open your eyes! I'm here! I have come for you!”

The girl clutched the reins tighter and even more screwed her eyes. But the voice continued:

“Angelica! At least once look at me!”

Lica did not respond. For some time the voice was saying something and then had gone but then she heard the sound of hooves behind her again. Someone or something was going to catch up the girl. She began to pull the reins of rushing galloping horse. But she felt that the "something" was reaching her! Suddenly she saw the edge of the forest in front. There was much brighter and Lica rushed there! Only when did she quite a bit get out of this horror Angelica felt someone’s a stinking breath behind. She turned around and saw a huge black rider racing to her with his head in his arms.

“Sleepy Hollow!” the girl amazed. “But it's not my nightmare!”

At this point the rider raised his head and threw it into Lica. She screamed and fainted...

Sleepy Lake and Ghosts’ Fields

When the girl came to life, the first person she saw was Henry. Angelica was lying on the grass carefully covered with his cloak.

“Oh, well done!” the old man said seeing that Lica had opened her eyes. “You had coped with the "headless horseman"!”

“Have you seen it?” she asked suspiciously.

“Yes, I have! I had just got out of the forest. What I had heard was your scream. When I had been riding to you I saw him throwing his head at you. That was good you had lost consciousness and the nightmare immediately vanished!”

“But it was not my nightmare!” Angelica protested.

“Neither was mine!”

“Then whose?”

“You never know... I'm telling you can find all nightmares collection here. We were just lucky that we had passed so easily.”

“Aha! Easily!” Lica needled and tried to sit up.

Something was buzzing in her ears and everything was swimming before her eyes. But she clung to the grass and soon the girl finally came to life.

“How long have I been a "sedated"?” she asked.

“For no more than three hours. In fact it has been morning in your time.”

“Oh, what’s about my mother?” Angelica scared. “If she comes into my room and I am not there!”

“Do not worry! While you're here no one will even remember about you! No wonder that I am a bit magician.”

“Then let's go on!”

“First, you must eat! I had already had while I was keeping watch over you.”

Lica had some white bread and milk and our heroes hit the road again. The horses had rested and were running quite briskly.

A wide valley stretched beyond the forest. Here and there were small groves. And they looked very romantic in the moonlight. Very soon they saw a huge lake ahead.

“This is Sleepy Lake!” Henry explained. “If someone sleeps here, it will be forever! So any hook or by crook we mustn’t let each other sleep.”

The horsemen rode up to the lake where they saw a lot of white human bones on the bank. Just near the shore the boat was swaying on the water. Our heroes dismounted and tied the horses to a tree quite far away from the water.

“And what if they want to drink?” Lica asked pointing to the animals.

“There is a lot of fresh grass around. They can quench their thirst. And if they drink from the lake, we will never get them awake!”

The girl nodded. Henry untied the baskets with food from the saddles and the travelers went to the boat. There was only one oar at the bottom.

“Only one oar, we will reach eternity with it!” Angelica said.

She returned to the trees and broke off a big wide branch.

“Now - sail!” she told Henry.

Our heroes had put food baskets on the bottom of the boat and pushed off from the bank.

“You will row on the right and I will on the left!” Lica commanded.

And they began to row. They did not always smoothly but the boat was significantly moving forward. Ten minutes later the girl noticed that her eyes began to stick together. Henry also was nodding.

“What fools we are!” Lica screamed in the hearts. “Henry, get the salt and knife from our baskets!”

“What for?”

“Even children know that! In order not to fall asleep we must cut ourselves and sprinkle with salt. Then even if you really want to you won’t! The pain won’t allow you!”

The old man looked at the girl with respect and immediately took out the knife and salt. Travelers slightly notched their hands on the back and covered the wound with salt. They felt such intense pain that forgot about sleeping.

When the boat was moored to the opposite bank Angelica and Henry jumped out and first thing they did was washing off the salt, which they had taken with them, from their hands.

Wide fields were stretching beyond the lake. They were quite different from the valley stretching after the Nightmare Forest. There had been low grass and everywhere they met copses. Here the grass was almost reaching their knees. It was thick and fragrant as a carpet. There were not so many trees and they were scattered throughout the place. Here and there you could see a lonely tree.

“These are Ghosts Fields - a rather peaceful place. And behind them the cave of the Evil Wizard is. So let's go! Now we haven’t got horses here,” the Prince's servant said.

“And shall we turn into birds again?!” Lica suggested. “I will turn into an owl and you will be the eagle owl!”

Henry grinned.

“You know,” he said, “I can transform into a bird only for some time each night. Today I have exhausted my limit. So it can’t be help we will have to go on foot.”

The girl nodded, picked up her food basket and they set off. In the fields above the grass they often saw whitish figures reminding people and animals. Sometimes something was lamentably howling or someone was moaning but no one else was chasing our heroes or attacking them.

In the Wizard’s caves

The moon had moved to the opposite side of the horizon sky again and the high black mountains appeared in front of them.

“Here the Princess is imprisoned!” Henry pointed to the mountains.

“Is the Prince really still in love with her?” Lica asked gently.

“How would I say…” old man hesitated “…it is