The white and red fairies were already fighting under the window in the dizzying height above the wasteland. The red fairy was winning.
Passion is strongest! The black moths that had fluttered out of the gloom were lacing Medea Shais corset, trying not to catch her wings. Conrad looked at the half-naked fairies queen and realized he didnt care. Let the dragon watch as much as he wanted. It was as long as he didnt interrupt them.
Thorns in the heart
When Conrad awoke, Medea Shai was not there. Even the bed was not crumpled where she lay. Her black dragon was gone, too. But the other two, the white one and the amber one, sat unobtrusively in the doorway. They did not interfere with Conrad as he left the bedroom.
Going through the castle in search of the queen was not the smartest thing to do. The enfilades of the hall resembled a labyrinth. After ten minutes, Conrad realized that he would not be able to find his way back to the bedroom on his own. Servants were nowhere to be seen, and the wattles of black roses that abundantly braided the walls and columns proved biting. Conrad almost lost an arm when he caught them.
All that remained was to turn down a dark corridor where there were no roses. True, he had to find his way through it as well. The chandeliers and chandeliers which had previously gnawed at him through the eyes of salamanders were gone. But the keyholes in the many doors let out a measured glow, now azure, now pink and emerald. Behind the doors one might have thought they had locked a rainbow. All of the doors were different shapes and sizes.
The end of the corridor spiraled into darkness and was lost in infinity. Closed doors of fanciful shapes stretched across the entire corridor.
«Let me out! Let me out! I already regret not obeying you.»
«Who are you?» 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.
«Dont 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.
«Its her heart,» he suggested, remembering the night before with Medea Shai. If she hadnt 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 couldnt 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 keysMedea Shai has a bunch of keys, each with a head the same shape as these doors. You couldnt steal her key to the door where Im languishing! Its 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 queens 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 wasnt 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 majestys 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 queens 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 couldnt 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 couldnt think of anything but love.
«Ive heard that when people start talking to emptiness, it means theyre 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, Id be the first to hear and see them. I love taming ghosts and genies. Its 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. Thats why they are called magical creatures.