That’s some kind of magic too.
Only a dwarf-sized leprechaun waits by the tree. He’s wearing a red cape! That’s the famous Forest Thief. Before you know it, your pockets will be empty and you will be tied to the trunk under the axe blade of the gloomy woodcutter. But he only stole hearts from the ladies. He could pretend to be a good-looking boy when he had the chance. Now he looked ugly and tapped the bark of the tree with elongated clawed fingers. He had ten of them on each hand. Probably it was to make it easier to steal. The fingers are so dexterous that they can strip the bark off the trunk in no time.
“You like the girl, Monsignor Dragon?”
I nodded, ignoring the fact that he’d used the old address instead of the newly adopted “Your Dragon Majesty.”
“I liked it, too,” he said happily, showing his sharp needle-like teeth in a smile. There were at least a hundred of them in his mouth. “But it stings badly. I wouldn’t risk picking her pockets. She does give off a romance of gold.”
“Is it a romance about gold?” I raised my eyebrows in surprise. What did he mean by that? The title is poetic, but somehow it seemed to me that it was actually a name for something.
Forest Thief chuckled understandingly.
“I love to hear it. It only comes from very rich people. Most often from kings who carry their treasury through the forest, and I make the horses pulling the royal carriages wrap themselves in this thicket. That’s where I get to work relieving other people’s coffers. I know you’re against people coming here, even for a little while, but I need the income to pay your taxes.”
“It is all right, I’m not angry!” So he called a romance about gold the sound of coins. How prosaic! I imagined him tangling his horses’ manes and whispering incantations into their ears as a red ghost in the royal motorcades. Good if those kings got out of the thicket alive. One gilded carriage full of treasure he definitely kept for himself. I could see its outline behind the nearest pines.
“And then there’s the golden romance of the dragon treasure hoarders. That’s where even I have to cover my ears. I’ve never fooled a dragon before.”
“And their maidens, if you take on the illusory appearance of a dandy in front of them?” I was angry, feeling slightly jealous that the beauty had flown off with another dragon instead of me.
“The dragon ladies are so dexterous that they can catch anyone by the hand,” he tapped the trunk with his ten-fingered palm expressively. “But don’t worry. The forest is full of riches if you look hard enough.”
The tree he had his arm around suddenly turned golden. I wasn’t surprised. I’d seen such tricks before. The golden leaves contrasted nicely with the green of the forest, but if you tried to melt them down, it would probably fail. That’s the property of all objects turned to gold by magic, but were originally something else. You can buy or trade with them, but you can’t change their form.
“You’re a clever boy,” I praised him.
“I am the first one in this forest,” he said proudly.
“There used to be gangs of them.”
“I scared them away. Maybe you did it for nothing, maybe you didn’t. There’s not enough territory for everyone.”
“It is not mine. I’m used to having many servants.”
“But a second dragon in the Empire was unnecessary.”
He makes a good point. The moon dragon certainly doesn’t belong here. Besides, he’s a raider and a destroyer. He didn’t even give any advance warning of his arrival, and he knew for sure that the throne of the country was already occupied.
The Forest Thief flashed his eyes slyly from under his red hood, as if he could see all my thoughts.
“It is one golden tree. Isn’t that strange?” He grinned.
“What’s strange about it? There are thousands of them in my treasury.”
“Yes, but here in the forest, where everything is green and alive, one golden tree seems so rare. Don’t you think gold is so valuable because it’s scarce? Less than there is green in the trees. But if there was just one green tree and a lot of gold trees, that gold would suddenly lose all its value.”
I decided to check it out. The trees changed color instantly. I didn’t even have to touch them. Everything green turned to gold. And my eyes were tearing up from the bright glow.
And he is wise. Even I, a dragon, did not imagine the whole world to be exclusively golden. I surrendered and enchanted the forest.
“What do you want to ask me?”
“Me?” He was surprised.
“Usually everyone asks me for some favor.”
“I thought it was you who wanted to ask me about Sephora.”
“Who is Sephora?”
“She is The golden lady.”
“What do you mean?”
“They call her that because she loves and hoards gold, like you. And her gold sings, too.”
“I don’t believe such a lady exists.”
“I can prove she does.”
He handed me a mirror. Strangely enough, it was the dragon that first caught my eye, not the lady. The rascal didn’t even apologize for the mistake. But he must have made a big mistake, because even the puddle under his feet suddenly became a mirror.
“Her name is Sephora. I thought you were looking for her.”
I am! The mirror reflected the same lady who had left the chain of flaming footprints. It looked like the image in the big oval medallion, only it vibrated slightly, like a reflection on water. At the first ripple, it would be gone.
“Keep it,” the forest thief offered. “They call me Red Rascal, by the way. It is only because of the color of my clothes.”
“Is it yours, or did you steal it from a traveler?”
“The moon spinners themselves wove it for me,” he said proudly.
I’d never heard of moon spinners. Perhaps there are some in this forest. But I didn’t want to meet them. The six magic spinsters of Princess Odile were enough for me to despise their whole caste for their meanness and duplicity. But the clothes they made were magnificent. The golden thread they spun took any shape without loom or cut. But it was best not to associate with artisans. God forbid you enter into any kind of debate with them. They could stab you to death with a rope, which they often abused.
“You’re brave to befriend them.”
“No, I didn’t. They owed me. They lost at dice. I’m a trickster, as you know.”
“Can you find Sephora for me?”
“Is it the lady herself, not her reflection?” He scratched his ten-toed hands.
“Of course, it is. I couldn’t have an affair with a reflection.”
“It would be difficult. I don’t get out of here much myself. And her fiery footprints scare me off a lot.”
“Oh, well! I’ll look for her myself.”
“Don’t get burned!”
“You’re telling it a dragon?!”
I did almost burn myself on one of her footprints. That’s unfortunate! What a mess! It looks like she’s a rare sorceress. That Sephora! Well, at least now I know her name. It’s best not to trust the Wood Thief, of course. But why would he call a lady her own name? Besides, I heard something like that when I met her.
“Sephora! Sephora! Sephora!”
Now