«Is she the greatest?» Janet grudgingly grimaced. It sounded like an exaggeration.
«Well, thats what they say. Everything shes ever told her visitors has come true, and they spread rumors about her. Would you like to visit her, too?»
Janet thought about it. It would be tempting, if her reputation as a soothsayer were true. After all, it might turn out to be nothing but empty bluster.
«Is the old Belladonna from the village still alive? They used to call her Mother Belladonna. She had a black cat named Thistle.»
Nyssa frowned for a long time before she remembered.
«Yes, I had heard of her. A common village witch doctor. What should we do with her? The girls gossiped that she knew how to exorcise unwanted love fetuses with potions. And that is all her skill.»
Janet blushed up to her ears.
«I swear to you, she could interpret dreams. My mother used to visit her»
«Did your mother visit her! Well, then she couldnt warn her about anything that might» Nyssa paused. They kept quiet about the Earls wife, who had disappeared, so as not to anger her master.
«Id still like to see her, if shes still alive»
«Wed better go to town. The fortune teller in Rhodolit might know all about dreams, if thats what you want to ask.»
«I dream of a knight,» Janet turned to Nyssa, who was putting a turtle comb in her hair.
«Well, maybe its your fiancé-to-be,» Nyssa tried to wriggle her way delicately to turn her mistress with the back of her head toward her and work on her hair again. The maid was still asleep, and the girls could talk without fear of being overheard.
«You can see your betrothed in a dream,» said Nyssa, who had heard it from many people. «You remember his face well. Could it be one of your fathers vassals? There are many knights in the Earls service.»
«I did not see his face,» said Janet. «Thats what its all about. In the dream I wanted to know what he looked like, but he was wearing a helmet. It is an unusual helmet. It was as if a dragons head had been taken off his shoulders and made into a helmet for a knight.»
«They say they used to make impenetrable armor from dragons skins,» Nyssa reminded her, «but thats all in the legends now.»
It was the knights armor that Janet did not remember. All she could see in the dream was his head, crowned with horns and spikes.
«There was fire, a sea of fire over the forest, and there were ugly creatures. They were all magical. They galloped around him. He didnt kill them, and they didnt kill him. And all his comrades-in-arms fell from their claws.»
Janet tried to remember everything exactly, and Nyssa listened and nodded, to draw one conclusion that she couldnt avoid.
«Youll have to tell the fortune teller in Rhodolite, and then everything will be clear.»
«What do you mean?» Janet didnt understand.
«Well, shell take a crystal ball and throw in it some colored stones, I think theyre called runes, and look at the lines in your palm, and take a drop of blood from your index finger.»
«Youve been through all this before?» Janet was amazed.
«Oh, no, I havent had a chance to get to her yet. There was a line, but the other girls told me something.»
«Thats interesting!» Janet admitted aloud, but thought to herself that she didnt want to go through all that.
«Lets go to Rhodolit,» Nyssa urged. «Besides the fortune teller, theres plenty of fun to be had there.»
To Nyssa, a fortune-telling was just a fun game. And for Janet, dreams were no joke. They left her feeling too dark. The same dream about the unknown knight repeated itself more and more often. Even if Nyssa was right, and she was dreaming of her fiance, he came from fire and a battle of supernatural beings. And with him came a danger.
The guests did not arrive until evening. By that hour, the castles inhabitants were all awake, as if they had cast a spell. Many of those who had served at the feast table were still yawning. Fortunately, the guests were too well-bred to disapprove.
Janet waited several hours in the observation tower for their arrival, and when the Dukes escort was approaching, her eyes glittered with colorful banners and even more colorful garments.
«It looks a bit like the robes of a fairy court!» Sang the same bird with the rainbow plumage. From nowhere, it appeared again above Janets head in the sky. The height of the observation tower was not too high for it. And the sentries werent paying attention to it.
«Why didnt you go into the woods?»
Janet looked discouraged at the rainbow bird. Where did it learn so many phrases and did she know what they meant. The parrots in the castle were only repeating what they heard from others. But Janet hadnt said a word yet. Only the bird spoke. Or rather sang. The melodious phrases were unaccustomed to her ears.
«Who is it?» Janet noticed a gentleman in the dukes entourage, dressed in rich crimson. What a dandy! He looks like a bright bird himself. It seems that the Duke had no son. And no one else in his retinue could have dressed so splendidly without making him jealous.
«Hes one of ours,» the bird chirped above Janets ear.
«Is he one of yours?» Janet asked again, but the bird was gone. It was gone faster than the wind. It must have flown into the woods.
The crimson-clad dapper suddenly looked up, directly at Janet, as if hed heard her. Could he have seen from such a great distance, for the observation tower was the tallest in the castle. Janet noticed that his eyes sparkled like two jewels. When everyone had already entered the castle, he stayed in the courtyard and bowed slightly to her. So he saw her. He must have eyes like a falcons.
He was not, however, to be found in the banquet hall. All the guests were assembled there, making dull chats about royal taxes, the harvest years, and the dangers of the forest roads. At this last topic, Janet perked her ears and suddenly noticed on the other side of the table, the same crimson-clad dandy whod been eyeing her in the tower. He smiled at her defiantly. His eyes really did sparkle, like two jewels. And he had a handsome face. His presence made Janet uneasy.
«I am Honor,» he said. «From the woods»
He must have been joking. Janet suddenly felt his palm on hers. How could he have touched her across a table? But she could clearly see his pale fingers on hers, as if his hand had detached itself from his body and reached out to her. Only it lasted only a moment.
Honor looked at the guests and servants as if nothing had happened, and his eyes danced with laughter. He kept on adjusting his blond hair, which had come loose from beneath his beret. He did not take off his beret or cloak. At the sight of the meat dishes on the table, especially the roast pigeons and partridges, he grimaced disapprovingly. He cursed through gritted teeth at the sight of a swan cooked with fruit, as if he could not understand how such noble animals could be served at the feast table. Janet shared his opinion, so she ate nothing either. Probably she and her guest had a lot in common.
In the plate in front of him there was a pile of rose petals instead of food. White and red! Does he think thats a treat? Janet noticed the same thing on her plate. Rose petals! Is this a mockery?
But none of her ladies were laughing. They were all busy talking to their guests. Janet could hear that it was becoming more and more difficult to travel in the country. Robber skirmishes! Robbers! Rebellious peasants! Only the Kings court is quiet, but it is in mourning because of someones death, which is why the Duke and his retinue have come here.