clear that a fire fairy was hovering next to her.
«I am a fire fairy, of course! Famma…,» the fairy raised her orange eyebrows in amazement. «And you’re a guest who leaves the manor alive? That’s unusual!»
«Have there been other guests here before me?» Samantha marveled at the people walking the wolf’s nest themselves. She guessed it was not surprising if wolves could turn into aristocrats.
The fire fairy nodded vigorously. Her entire body, wings, hair, and skin were glowing with orange light, making the fairy resemble a flying bonfire.
«There were so many of them here! Kennels, woodsmen, woodcutters, masons, roofers, shopkeepers – all their bones are put into my fireplace so that I have something to burn,» boasted the fire fairy.
It was to cover their tracks, you fool! Bones are evidence!»
«Is it evidence?» The fairy frowned. She probably didn’t understand what the word meant. «The royal advisor was looking for some evidence here too.»
«Was the royal advisor in this estate? And did nothing to keep us all safe from werewolves?» Samantha’s righteous anger flared up.
«He threatened to wipe the manor and its inhabitants to powder if we continued to do whatever we wanted,» the fairy recalled.
«So he has a conscience after all! That’s comforting! I’ve heard that the king’s counselor is completely unscrupulous. The travelers must be slandering him. Are you sure you heard everything?»
«I was hiding in the chimney. I could hear every rustle in there.»
Orange lights were coming off the turrets. They flew down and turned into new fire fairies.
«These are my sisters!» Famma waved a flaming hand at them in greeting.
Samantha was not happy about the fairies. It was getting as hot as a furnace next to them. She struggled to slip out of the tight ring of fire fairies that had flocked to the fountain.
«We’re heating and lighting the castle!» They bragged. «Are you going to marry one of the werewolves?»
«Gods forbid! What makes you think that?»
«Otherwise you wouldn’t be left alone in the manor,» Famma concluded.
«I’m leaving now,» Samantha picked up her lush skirts and ran for the exit. The fire fairies followed her in a swarm. Apparently they hadn’t had anyone to talk to for a long time. The werewolf masters were unlikely to talk to the fairies. They were tolerated in the manor only for fire and light.
The wicket door was unlocked. Samantha ran to the horses. They were not too eager to see their mistress. Pegasus was peacefully nibbling on the grass. Naughty, Sleepyhead and Ardent stared at her with empty, lazy eyes.
«Damn it!» Samantha cursed. «Those stupid geldings can’t be moved again!»
The horses did not take offense at her angry words, but the fire fairies fluttered nearby and watched the scene bewildered. For some reason, the horses were not afraid of their fire. Apparently they weren’t afraid to get burned. Samantha noticed that the light touch of the fairies made dry twigs burst into flames and the fence soot.
«I understood correctly that you were going to leave us,» Famma said disappointedly.
«I must leave, or I’ll be nothing but bones when your landlords return!»
This time the fire fairies understood her perfectly and began to help clear the road of dry branches and bushes. It turned out that one fire fairy could easily burn the thorny bushes just by touching them with her wings. All the orange fairies were the size of frail teenagers, and they had more strength than the fire giant. Samantha whistled in surprise. Even her whistle didn’t get the horses to budge.
«You’re taming them wrong!» Famma flew over to the harness with a look of expertise.
«Do you have to burn them to get them to move?» Samantha snorted sarcastically.
«You have to be gentle! You’ll drive them around like a coachman. Horses don’t like that. They don’t need saddles, spurs or bridles.»
«But then they’d go wild!»
«No, they won’t! If you sing to them, they will always please you,» the Fire Fairy sang. Her song was like the hissing of flames, and the horses obediently followed the fairy. Samantha barely had time to climb onto the horses. She held the whip and reins, but the horses obeyed Famma, not her.
«Now you try to sing to them,» suggested the fire fairy.
«I can’t do that! You have to be a fairy to sing like that!»
«Let’s not be prejudiced!» Famma flashed her orange eyes menacingly. «Just sing, that’s all!»
The fairy resembled a flaming torch. She could persuade anyone to become more obedient. If not indulged, she would scorch or even burn. Samantha sang obediently. Strangely enough, the horses obeyed. They trotted forward.
«Then you must sing so they would not be lazy again!» Samantha hoped the fairies would guide her to the capital. It was a brighter ride with them. When the flaming silhouettes flanked the road, there was no fear of ravines or bandits. Besides, if the fairies flew away, the horses would be stubborn again. Samantha was not so naive as to believe that the horses obeyed only her singing. It was not without the fairies’ energy.
Alas, as soon as the sky began to lighten, the fire fairies hurriedly said goodbye and flew back to the manor. Samantha looked at them in despair, but the horses continued to trot forward. Samantha was afraid to let them gallop. She didn’t encourage speeding. You could crash into a milepost. Near her parents’ estate, carriages often crashed. Probably the tops of the poles were badly placed there. The carriages were literally bumping into them. Samantha had once dreamed that the poles were living monsters that caught travelers. Now it seemed to her that the mileposts on the road to Ivilor were ugly goblins.
Good thing her carriage hadn’t run into them. The horses were finally obeying her. The fairies helped her tame them. You should sing while you’re driving the carriage. That’s what the fairies said. It’s silly, but it works. But the carrot didn’t work! Magic works better!
Barren black fields
The horses rode on their own, even when Samantha wasn’t singing. If they stalled again, she’d have to sing to them again.
«Thank the fairies for all their advice!» Samantha muttered, moving from the goats into the cozy interior of the carriage. The velvet seat provided a place to sleep, which she did. It was still a full night and half a day’s ride to Ivilor. It would be possible to get some rest. And once she arrived, she would be in competition with the local socialites. Better not even think about that!
Samantha fell into a dream as she had various nightmares. Fairies’ claws were sliding on the wheel of a spinning wheel. Duchess Evangelina was talking to the fairies about something. You couldn’t tell if she was alive or a ghost. Evangelina was extorting from the spinning fairies a special thread that could be used to bind a demon. The fairies charged an unbelievable price, but they wouldn’t give up the job. And then the fairies and Evangelina disappeared. Some evil black creature clawed its way into the royal treasury. It looked suspiciously like the demon Samantha had seen on the road.
«I can’t stand maidens!» It wailed. «They always want to hurt me, poor thing! They’re all so brave as to offend the little ones! As soon as I, a poor little thing, get a favorable position in a new place, they swoop down like flies on honey. Don’t they realize I need a king more than they do? Serpin is my protector, my provider, my employer. And they want to steal him away and deprive me. I’ll kill them all!»
The hoarse voice broke into a furious hiss on the last sentence. Samantha flinched. Could the king really be the demon’s employer? What a demon’s job it was to turn the entire kingdom into a kind of hell!
As