But it was shattering the shutters like a woodpecker.
No one even told her that in Ilior there are birds with plumage as seven-colored as rainbows. What wonders there are in the world!
Gloria had been afraid of birds ever since her partner had been pecked by a flock of seagulls that had flown right onto the ship. Michaela was gone. Her pecked corpse was buried at sea. Gloria didn’t want to repeat her fate, so she stepped away from the window. The rainbow bird banged its beak on it in vain.
«Fly away!» She said, but the bird didn’t think twice. It was as if it was waiting for something or someone.
The fairies’ child
Gloria arrived in time for dinner. It wasn’t hard to locate the feast hall. Except that no one was preparing for the feast on the occasion of her arrival, but there were voices arguing. There was whispering and the clinking of weapons, as if they were preparing for battle. Gloria cautiously peered inside. A mountain of swords, maces, and sticks were piled on the floor. All weapons made of iron. In Gloria’s mind, iron was somehow associated with something unpleasant.
Could this place be preparing for war? But with whom was it? No one was attacking Ilior. Otherwise, she would have heard news of war while she was still in port. Perhaps there was a conflict between the feudal neighbors and now there was a battle brewing, which could be stopped immediately by sending a message to the king. Only he can stop his vassals.
The aging but mighty knight named Ambrose played his stick as easily as a child’s rattle. He had the strength of a regiment! The more graceful Angus, also fully clad in armor, was going through swords. Could they be preparing for a duel? But they don’t behave like rivals at all. The pantomime is more like preparing for defense.
«Is she really your child?» Ambrose frowned.
«She’s not a monster like the others. She looks human.»
«Then she stays with us?» Ambrose jabbed his wand into the table with a frustration that shattered it. Angus didn’t even flinch. He was used to aggression from his knights.
«Where could she go? She’s the heir to the castle.»
«Wouldn’t you rather marry your charming guest and have new heirs?»
«Stop it!» Angus slammed his fist on the mantelpiece so hard it cracked. Gloria shuddered. If these two argue, they will smash the whole castle.
«The subject of the new wedding is out of the question!» Angus put a stop to it. «I’m still married.»
«It is to a woman who is officially dead.»
«Public opinion is far from the truth. You know that.»
«I also know about changelings. There’s definitely a changeling living in our castle. It is a child of the fairies.»
«She’s my child! You’ve seen the difference between human and elves’ children.»
There was a frightening silence. Gloria could hear her own heart beating a drumbeat.
«Are you leaving her with us because otherwise there will be another war?» Ambrose broke the silence.
«No, it is because she really is my daughter.»
«I think you’re considering that we’ll lose the next war with them. They’re not human.»
«I don’t want a war, but I want Amaranta back. And there’s no way to do that without a war with the forest creatures.»
«Are you sure the creature we saw is Amaranta and not some Elves’ illusion? Girls kidnapped by them usually rot at the crossroads, and the blood rose sprouts in their heart. Yesterday, old Hans found the corpse of an elf victim. Today he has nightmares. He assures me that the elves will come for him. Just knock on his window at night.»
«Keep a sword or a hunting knife on him.»
«He is a peasant. He doesn’t know how to fight.»
«What’s the art of fighting got to do with it? They can’t stand iron and running water. The mere sight of an iron object can scare them away.»
Ambrose sighed heavily.
«Are you telling me to prepare for war?»
Gloria didn’t listen to the end of the dialog, because the knight’s heavy armor clattered toward the door. She run before they caught her. Instead of dinner, she snuck into the armory. Not the best place to hide if the knights are on their way to prepare for war. The castle wasn’t under siege yet, though, and she could use a sword, too. Gloria picked up the first sword she could find, with a beautiful gilded hilt in the shape of a zigzag dragon. It was worth the effort to pick it up. She doesn’t know how to fight like that at all. She’s a lady, but the sword suddenly jerked in her hands like a living thing and soared into the air as if it had been snatched up by someone invisible. The blade of the sword wrapped around her own throat. There was no way to even scream. It was about to slash her, but instead of the sharpness of the blade, Gloria felt the prickly leaves. The sword suddenly grew stems and roses.
«Careful, mortal!» Someone said and chuckled softly. «Or you’ll hurt yourself going to war with the elves.»
Gloria was furious. That voice was mocking her. But where was the speaker? All she could see were piles of weapons. The sword whose blade was wrapped in roses was certainly a beautiful sight. Gloria’s heart softened for a moment. She loved flowers more than weapons. But if a war had to be fought to save her cousin, she was willing to be a knight.
However, the sword twisted again and tried to hurt her. Though it was no longer sharp because of the roses, but it could hit hard. Its handle is heavy. The iron dragon hit Gloria in the temple and almost killed her. It felt like the dragon handle was biting her.
«Stop it, Fior!» A childish voice shouted.
The sword immediately hovered motionless in the air.
«Or else your father won’t forgive me?» Someone asked who seemed to be suspended in the sky, because the voice came from the ceiling.
«Yes!»
«Well, I don’t care! I’m already in disgrace.»
The tip of the sword dodged and severed one strand from Gloria’s head. The strand disappeared instantly, as if someone invisible had clutched it in his hand. A large red rose bloomed on the tip of the sword.
«He won’t hurt anyone now!» A beautiful little girl, dressed luxuriously like a princess, came out of the alcove of the armory.
«So you’ve been hiding here all the time!» Gloria was surprised. «I didn’t even notice you when I came in. You must be Janet.»
The girl had a cute little heart face, big almond-shaped eyes, and bowed lips. The dress, with its tight corset and standing collar, would have been more appropriate for a grown-up lady. Janet was uncomfortable walking because of the puffy brocade skirts. It was curious where they wove such brocade that literally shines. The crests embroidered on the border were definitely not of Ilior.
«You’re Janet, right?» Gloria didn’t like the girl’s long silence.
«Take the sword,» ignoring the question, the girl advised. «Otherwise he’d go back to his battle dance.»
The sword still hung in the air. It was dangerously close to Gloria’s face. If it hadn’t had roses on it, it might have disfigured her now. Gloria hesitantly reached out and gripped the hilt. The sword no longer resisted her.
«It’ll have to peel the roses off before it can fight,» Gloria reasoned.
«It fights on its own!»
«You talk about it as if it were alive!»
The girl didn’t answer.
«Are you Janet,» Gloria asked her. «Or are you not Janet?»
There’s