Conrad leaned toward the door, pushing it open, but it was locked.
«Who are you?» Out of the keyhole flashed a frightened, bright red eye.
«I am a man!» The prisoner howled, either enthusiastically or disapprovingly. It was impossible to tell from his tone. «Bend your ear to me! I will whisper something secret to you.»
Probably out of curiosity, Conrad bent down, and immediately a sharp black claw nimbly peeked out of the crevice and nearly pierced his ear.
«Don’t listen to him! Come to me!»
This time the king did not yield, though the summons came from behind a very different door. It was of black metal, and its shape was that of a great sheaf of ears.
«The queen has us locked in here. She forbids you, too. Get out of here!»
He wondered if this was a dream. Conrad even pinched himself. The voice moaned in different ways, as if a whole regiment of different creatures were lurking behind the same door.
«Let us out! And we will tear the villainess to shreds!» The voices of all sorts of tones croaked and muttered.
And only one squeaky voice warned:
«Run for your life! Get away from her! Or you will be imprisoned, as we have been, for all eternity!»
Conrad looked at the fancy door. Were it not for the keyhole, it might have been a bas-relief of black spikes. In any case, it was too small to hold many prisoners, and he could hear a chorus of voices. One hoarse bass in the chorus was surely that of a giant. No more, no less!
Except that it was unbelievable that a crowd of creatures could fit into such a narrow space at once. Behind the door was probably a tiny storeroom, not a room. Conrad tapped the wall, checking by the sound to see if the interior was hollow. There was no echo. The door seemed to have a blank wall.
«Hey, mortal!» That same squeaky voice, apparently belonging to the dwarf, called. «The fairies’ queen has a soft spot. I can tell you where it is.»
Conrad already knew.
«It’s her heart,» he suggested, remembering the night before with Medea Shai. If she hadn’t fallen in love with him, there would have been a bloody battle between them.
«No, it would not!» Someone jumped at the door. «It is Honeydew!»
«What is it?»
«Not what is it, who is it!»
«And who is it?» Conrad scolded himself for having conversations with someone he couldn’t even see. But he was torn by curiosity.
«Honeydew is a living black flower. It can strangle you with its stems if you get close, or it can give you the key to a secret if you ask very hard. Speaking of keys…Medea Shai has a bunch of keys, each with a head the same shape as these doors. You couldn’t steal her key to the door where I’m languishing! It’s the one with the black sheaf notch.»
«Are you alone in there?» Why is the polyphonic chorus here? «It seemed to me that there were many of you inside.»
There was a wheezing laugh in reply.
«How stupid mortals are!»
Conrad took offense, reached for his sword, and realized he did not have his sword with him. If one of the fairies’ queen’s monsters attacked him now, he would not be able to fight back.
«It is at your service!» A voice at the door insisted. «I told you how to overpower her, and you get me the key!»
Conrad wanted to blurt out that he wasn’t a thief, but it would have been nice to ask something first:
«What were you locked in here for?»
There was a long silence on the other side of the strange door.
«So… A minor transgression! It was sorcery against her majesty’s charms. It was trampling her fields.»
«But there are no fields, only black wasteland.»
«This is Shai! You see only a black wasteland, and if the dragons of the queen burn your army, the wasteland will be covered with black sand from ashes like a blanket. The ash from your warriors will pile up into whole barchans. Medea Shai likes to sow her fields with seeds from human bones.»
The man who spoke chuckled like a madman. Maybe he is insane.
«What is going on here? Who are you talking to?» Medea Shai walked down the corridor, rustling her black and scarlet skirts. A living candlestick flew ahead of her, rustling with notches in the shape of golden wings.
Conrad noticed that the train of the fairies’ queen’s new outfit was woven of thousands of black butterflies. It stretched across the carpet, rustling unpleasantly. The butterflies looked as if they had been captured. They also adorned the neckline and sleeves. Conrad couldn’t tell if they were alive or dead? They seemed to be moving their wings, as if they wanted to warn him about something. But he was no longer willing to listen to warnings. The beauty of the fairies’ queen captivated him once more. One look at her face, at the black curls tangled in the shoulders of moths, and he couldn’t think of anything but love.
«I’ve heard that when people start talking to emptiness, it means they’re going crazy.» Medea Shai brushed some butterflies off her sleeve, and they encircled her forehead in a living hoop. «I have a tincture for insanity. Would you like some?»
As Medea Shai approached, the voices outside the door fell silent, as if they were not there at all.
«I heard the ghosts…»
«Believe me, if there were ghosts nesting here, I’d be the first to hear and see them. I love taming ghosts and genies. It’s been my favorite pastime for centuries.»
«Is it several centuries?»
Medea Shai nodded. How old is she? She looks young and beautiful. Conrad had heard that time flows differently for fairies than it does for mortals. Humans tend to grow old and die in a century. Fairies, on the other hand, live forever and never grow old at all. That’s why they are called magical creatures.
«I’m older than you… by a couple of millennia,» Medea Shai noticed his embarrassment and began to calculate her age. «But that doesn’t mean anything. If I like someone very much, I can give them eternal life. And there are still conditions not to go outside of my realm, or you will grow old and die despite my charms. Only within Shai can you live forever with me.»
Forever enjoying the love of a true fairy! How tempting that sounds! But Conrad remembered his responsibility for his people. Even though his kingdom is made up of humans and not immortal creatures, he is responsible for them. And he also has a fiancée! How can he tell Medea Shae about this? Or is it better not to say anything at all? How about forgetting the stunted princess Araminta for the sake of the beautiful black-haired fairy?
Medea Shai reached out and kissed him. She didn’t even have to stand on tiptoe, even though Conrad was taller. She simply flew over the rug and touched his lips.
«Who would have thought I would like a mere mortal so much!» She frowned.
«I am a king, not a mere mortal,» Conrad corrected.
«Kings and peasants are mere mortals to the Fairy people,» Medea Shai told.
Morals are complicated! The aristocrats were considered special in Aluar. They belonged to the upper classes.
Something jerked at the door. Conrad looked around quickly. It felt as if a force imprisoned within was trying to tear all the doors off their hinges.
«Who’s locked in here?»
Conrad counted on an honest answer, but the fairies’ queen pretended not to understand him.
«What makes you think there’s anyone locked in here?» Her graceful eyebrows rose in surprise.
«It