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

Prince’s face became cold again. Angelica felt as if all that happened in Arthur’s room at night was only her dream! Suddenly the girl’s horse neighed and she heard neighing ahead.

“They have been already waiting for us,” said the Prince.

Indeed, soon they saw the silhouettes of two riders under a tall spreading tree. Shortly afterwards Angelica and Arthur came up to them. It was Swein and Edward.

“Hello, Prince, and thank you for having saved my soul from the Well of Oppression,” said Prince Night.

“Do not thank me, but my lovely companion,” the Lord of Vampires said coldly.

“Of course,” Edward smiled.

He came closer to the girl and said:

“And thank you, my lovely Angelica!”

With these words, the Prince kissed Lica’s hand. Arthur’s eyes glared unkindly and Swein only screwed his face into a smile.

“Prince, I think we are not here to exchange pleasantries,” the Vampire said coldly.

“Yes, Prince! The circumstances are such that we are forced to ask your help. I think Angelica has already put you in the swing of things, and it is not necessary to explain you everything in details.”

“Of course!” the Vampire nodded. “But you and the Goblins’ King haven’t known yet where I and Angelica had been. We went into the Well of Oppression, to find the answer for the question - how to get the evil back into the abyss? The result was very disappointing... Our armies can fight with the evil in the form of monsters endlessly, but we will never overcome them. In order to lock the evil spirits in the abyss, you need to find the sorcerer who will agree to seal the way from the other world into ours with his soul. He must be a pagan, capable to control the elements. Usual people here are helpless in this case.”

“We didn’t know that,” Swein said slowly.

“Yes...” the Prince Edward said. “It significantly changes our plans. We have already been ready to attack and were only waiting for your decision, Prince.”

“I will agree to join your army, if only you find a sorcerer! Otherwise, I see no reason to settle my men hash.”

“Gentlemen, I'm sorry, that I am chopping into men's conversation,” loudly said Angelica, “but I can see only one way out – we should first go to Margo!”

Men looked at each other.

“But Margo is not a pagan!” said Swein.

“Wait, she is right,” said Edward. “The main thing is that Margo is the witch. Who, if not her, knows all the sorcerers?”

“Margo?” the Vampires’ Prince Surprised. “Are you talking about the witch who lives on the other side of the kingdom?”

“Yes, we are, Prince!” Angelica smiled. “She has known you as well and told me a lot of good things about you.”

The Lord looked at Lica and grinned.

“Well, gentlemen! We need to make a decision!” the Prince Edward said. “Prince, why don’t we go all together to the witch right now?”

“No, save me from that,” the Vampire smiled. “We have already met once, and we had a little misunderstanding. So ride to the witch without me. And I will go back to the castle to prepare for the war. When you find the sorcerer and specify the war date, send me a messenger. I will join your army. Just hurry up! The old evil will not wait long.”

“Of course, Prince. It is in our common interest,” said Edward. “We are leaving immediately.”

“Prince, I'll go with you! I need to talk to Margo!” Lica said quickly.

The Vampires’ Prince approached the girl, kissed her hand and said quietly:

“Goodbye, Angelica! I hope you will not forget about our conversation?”

“No!” the girl promised him.

The Vampire said goodbye to the Goblins’ King and Prince Edward, turned his horse and rode away.

“If it is not a secret, what conversation?” asked Swein riding closer.

“And that's really personal!” Lica retorted.

“I see you are too independent,” continued speaking maliciously Swein. “Did not even afraid to go out of the cave at night...”

The girl blushed, but said nothing.

“Okay, Swein, enough!” the Prince Edward laughed. “And you, Angelica, I want to say that we were worried about you, when you suddenly disappeared from Margo’s house.”

“I had a reason, Prince,” said Lica and stared at Swein.

He did not look away. So they looked at each other for a long time. She could not understand what now prevails in her heart for Swein - love or hatred?!

“Stop it!” the Prince Night said loudly. “We do not have time for sorting your relationships out now. Swein, show us the way to Margo!”

The Goblins’ King nodded and silently turned his horse. He rode along the Sleepy Lake and Prince with the girl followed him. Edward caught up with Lica and remarked:

“We are lucky! Swein has found a new enchanted path that will lead us straight into the mountains. And the cave of the sorcerer is at hand.”

“Brilliant! Frankly, I'm awfully tired these days, especially the trip into the Well of Oppression.”

“But why did you go there? Didn’t the Lord stop you?”

“On the contrary, he insisted that I followed him. The fact is that there is Hell Valley in the Well.”

“Oh yes, I remember this place!” the Prince smiled. “It’s the most wonderful place in the whole of the Underworld. There you can meet the Viatores.”

“Do you know about them?” Angelica amazed.

“Of course! After all, I have spent a lot of time in the Well... Unfortunately; the Viatores do not contact with the restless souls.”

“And neither do they with heartless creatures, like the Prince of Vampires,” said Lica. “That is why the Prince insisted on my presence there.”

“Are you saying you have talked to the Viatore?” the Prince Night surprised.

Swein heard Edward and Angelica’s conversation and slightly slowed his horse.

“I tried to persuade them to help us.”

“I have also heard about the Viatores,” chimed in the Goblins’ King. “They said to watch the play between good and evil and never interfere.”

“That’s true,” Lica agreed. “But I managed to convince one of them that now the superiority on the side of the evil. He promised to come to the battlefield and balance our forces.”

“Wow!” even more astonished the Prince. “I just admire your intelligence and courage!”

He approached Lica and kissed her hand again. At this time, a thick fog enveloped the riders.

“We are in the enchanted path,” said Swein.

For some time they were riding in silence. Soon the fog got dissipating and the riders came to the mountains.

“Excellent!” Edward exclaimed. “It looks like the path has not changed its direction yet, and we are exactly where we need.”

“Yes,” the Goblins’ King nodded. “We only need to go down and around this mountain.”

He dismounted and took the horse by the bridle.

“Angelica, get down!” Swein grinned. “You cannot ride here.”

Edward and Lica got down from horses and also walked leading their horses. The slope was quite steep. Horses were neighing and setting their hooves against. Here and there small stones were rolling down. Finally, the Goblins’ King showed them out to a narrow footpath. They were going much easier now and the animals calmed down a bit. Our heroes were rounded the mountain and came straight to the cave of the sorcerer.

Accident

“Hooray!” Angelica exclaimed. “I'm so glad that we have come at last! Actually, I’d rather have some hot tea now and... sit in an armchair. I'm so tired of horses, mountains and all this stuff.”

“Shall I help you!” Edward gave her his hand. “I think Margo has already known that we came.”

It was so; at the entrance Elsa has been waiting for them, she rushed to meet them and embrace the girl.

“You're alive,” she continuously repeated. “I am so happy for you! I thought you wouldn’t come back from the vampires!”

The witch came out to them. She also held her arms out and pressed her to heart.

“You're devil’s own luck, my dear!” she said smiling. “Welcome back! Well, let's go! Dinner is ready!” Margo said to all.

“I need to go to the bathroom; can you wait me for five minutes, please?” the girl asked the witch. “Only watch the men to stay here with you until I come out.”

“Okay,” the witch laughed. “Why is that or it has already happened before?”

“Just in case...” Angelica jumped the line.

She quickly had a bath. Then went to the hall and joined them.

“So, tell me!” the hostess of the cave asked our heroes. “If the Prince of Vampires has agreed to help you?”

“Yes, he has promised,” Prince Edward answered. “But we have some problems! Could you tell, Angelica?”

“I and the Prince of Vampires went down into the Well of Oppression,” Lica started her story, “and have found that in order to overcome the evil; we need to find the sorcerer who will agree to seal the entrance to the underworld with his soul. Moreover, he must be a pagan sorcerer and be able to control the four elements...”

“And the Prince agrees to join us only if we find this sorcerer,” added Swein.

“That's why we came to you, dear Margo! Because who, if not you must know all the sorcerers and witches!” Edward finished.

Margo was staring at the ceiling in silence. Then she rose and began walking thoughtfully across the room. Finally, she said:

“I must leave you for a short time. While you may finish your dinner!”

The witch came out of the hall; Angelica, Swein and Edward continued eating. Elsa was an excellent cook. And Lica had never seen so many delicious dishes before.

At dinner, the girl was quietly watching the Prince and the King. Edward was smiling and open, but Swein avoided eye contact with Lica and did not even try to start talking to her. Angelica felt guilty.

“It was my fault,” mentally she blamed herself. “If I hadn’t left the stiletto, Swein would not have found it and blackmailed me later. He was just scared that I would meet the Prince Edward so easily, that is why he had decided to pick up the knife from me. And at night I came to his room myself! I seduced him! I must be owned he was at his best...”

In the end the girl so much rubbed herself in that she decided to talk to the Goblins’ King and say sorry. Meanwhile Prince Night raised his glass of wine and said:

“I have a toast!”

He looked at Lica and said:

“My dear Angelica! I want to raise my glass to you! To your wit, beauty and courage! I am happy that fate has given me chance to meet with you and I will never forget the ball, when I first kissed you!”

Swein choked over when he heard that, apologized and quickly left the room. Lica took wine with Edward and drank a couple of wonderful tots.

“Edward,” she said after a pause. “I'm also very glad that I have met you. Thank fate that I have known about the Kingdom of Night! For all the adventures and events that have happened to me here, and I hope will happen in future!”

The Prince rose from the table, came to the girl and impulsively kissed her.

“Angelica, if you knew how much I missed you! Every day, every moment, I was thinking about you. I have wanted to talk to you about our future...” he said passionately.

Lica slipped from the table, dodging Prince Edward.

“Prince,” she murmured, “in my mind it is not the best time to discuss our future! First, we are not alone, and secondly, we have more important thing right now- we have to win the evil! And after that we will be able to talk about the future.”

“Well, I see...” the Prince Night said.

At that moment the witch came into the hall.

“Where is Swein?” she asked. “I have left you for a while and you are not together. Or didn’t you like my dinner?”

“We did!” exclaimed Lica. “Elsa, you have surpassed yourself! I had never eaten such delicious dishes before!”

“Dinner was very good,” praised her Edward. “Swein had choked a little and apparently decided to walk.”

“In any case, I need you all here now!”

“Then I'll go and look for Swein!” the Prince said.

“No, Edward, I must talk