NIGHT, I Rin [classic book list txt] 📗

lights ahead.

"It must be the City of Goblins," she decided.

When Angelica came closer, she could see the high wall and the gate to the city. Two guards were standing at the gate, they looked very ugly and not so tall and both had very big heads and rugged features. Lica got nearer to the gate.

“Where are you going?” one of the guards shouted sharply.

“I need to ride through the city. I'm going to the witch!”

“Wait until the morning. At night the way through the city is closed!” the guards said and "snickered."

“Are you kidding me?” Angelica said raising her voice. “What a morning are you saying about in the Kingdom of Night?”

Goblins continued laughing.

“Well, you’ll see,” the girl said. “When I get to the witch and ask her to have turned you into frogs!”

“Go, go away!” the guards cackled.

Lica turned her horse around and pulled away from the city.

“What should I do now?” she thought.

And then she saw an old goblin woman. The woman was going towards the city carrying a large basket. Apparently, the basket was heavy because the woman often stopped and had a rest.

“Shall I help you!” the girl asked the goblin woman.

“Go on your way!” the woman answered rudely.

“I would love to but the guards do not let me,” Lica replied.

“Where?”

“To the witch!”

And the goblin woman looked at the girl with interest.

“Why do you want to see her?”

“I want to know something about the Prince Night.”

“Ok, help me with the basket! Just be quiet all the time whoever will come across and whatever they’ll tell you!”

Angelica came down her horse and helped the woman to put the heavy basket onto the seat. Then, holding it on both sides, they went to the gate of the city.

“Who, who is going?!” the first guard shouted.

“What are you yelling?” the goblin woman snarled. “Can’t you see it's me Elsa!”

“I see you. But who is the ugly mug that next to you?”

Lica flushed with anger but remembering the woman’s words said nothing.

“This is my new maid! She is helping me to carry something.”

“Oh, I see then, why she was going to the witch,” the guards jabbered.

They opened the gates quickly and let Elsa and Lica to go into the city.

“Hey, you...” the other guard pushed the girl in the shoulder, “don’t tell the witch about us...”

Lica grinned and looked at the goblins emphatically.

And the women entered the city.

The Goblins’ story

The City of Goblins looked like a strange heap of houses, huts and slums. It was as if they had built in a hurry. Passing along the narrow streets, Elsa turned into a small lane and stopped in front of the low house. They put the basket down out of the saddle and Elsa said:

“Help me to take it to the house!”

The girl helped the woman with the basket then the goblin woman invited her to come in and get some rest.

Angelica had to bend down a little because the ceiling of the house was low. She sat down in the old but comfortable armchair and waited for Elsa. After a few minutes the woman came in holding awkwardly a metal tray.

“I have made some herbal tea,” she said. “If you want to - drink!”

Lica thanked Elsa but refused to; referring to the fact that she was not hungry or thirsty.

“It’s up to you!” the goblin woman shrugged. “You're going to the witch, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am!”

“To find out about the Prince?”

“Yes.”

“And I serve the witch!”

“Do you?”

“Yes, I do! I pick up some roots and stones for her... then I take them to her. And she makes potions from them.”

“How long have you been working?”

“For ages! Since our young King died.”

“Did he?” Lica repeated.

“Hey, you do not know anything at all?” the goblin woman surprised. “I think you are not from our kingdom.”

The girl nodded.

“Ok, listen... Before the goblins were not as ugly as they are now. We were exactly the same as other people. We used to live and work together until the evil Wizard and his army captured our kingdom. He vowed that he would destroy all our people including the old and children. That’s why all of the people went into the caves by secret passages. We had been living there for years. The men had been mining ore and precious stones, the women had been farming and bringing up their children. We have changed over time. Our bodies have adapted to the living underground. We had become stunted and our hands and feet had been thickened. Our eyes stopped seeing during the day. But in fact the life in the caves was awful. Therefore, when the Prince Night had allowed our King to build the city in his kingdom, we were very happy! No matter that it was night all the time but we could live in the open air and not underground! Here, our King’s son was born. His mother died during childbirth. The boy looked like the man - not the goblin. Our King was afraid and went with that child to the witch that you were looking for. The witch told him that there were some magic books where was an old legend about the goblin with the appearance of a man who would be able to return his people to life in the daylight. However, the fate of this goblin was sad... he would die young.

The King listened to the witch and came back to his palace. He named his son Swein. Since then the King never took his eyes off the boy. The child grew up handsome but very spoilt. All his whims were immediately performed. But despite the arduous nature of Swein, our King was able to bring up a smart, brave and responsible goblin. When the boy was eighteen, the King took him to the witch.

‘You must fulfill your destiny and return the nation of goblins to real life,’ the witch said. ‘To do this you have to go back to the land of your ancestors. It is the kingdom which was captured by the evil Wizard and you have to find the magic crystal there. And finally, you have to find the Book of Destiny. Then you must bring them to me and I’ll tell you what to do...’

When they came back to the castle on the same day the King crowned his son. So Swein had become the King of Goblins.

Soon the young King assembled a squad and set off to the Land of his Ancestors. We had no news for a long time. Finally, after eight months, some men from the squad returned back to our city. They brought the wounded King with them. Swein was hanging between life and death. The soldiers said that Swein had been fighting heroically but the vile wizard used a magic and was able to wound the young King mortally in the main battle.

Our King took his son and immediately went to the witch. For some days we had heard nothing and then the King came back and told us sad news - Swein had died. He has been buried in the Valley of Oblivion, which is just next to our city.

The witch also was at the funeral ceremony. She had held some mysterious rituals before we placed Swein’s body into the tomb.

After the ceremony the witch came up to me and suddenly offered me to assist her and I agreed. Since then I have been helping the witch. And I was there when the Prince Night had come. But my master had sent me home early; so I do not know what had happened there. But I'll take you to her...”

“Oh when will we go?”

“Let’s have a rest a bit and then we’ll go!”

Lica agreed. Elsa gave her a few pillows and a blanket. The girl put the pillows around, covered with the blanket and fell asleep in the chair.

At the witch

Angelica did not know how long she had been sleeping but suddenly felt that someone was shaking her shoulder. It was Elsa.

“Get up!” she said. “It's time to go! Just help me with the basket, ok?”

Lica nodded. She roused herself and was fully awake. After that she went outside and helped the goblin woman to put the basket on the saddle. Soon they left the City of Goblins and came to the wide valley.

“Over there,” the woman pointed, “is the Valley of Oblivion. While we are passing that way you can even see the tomb of our young King.”

Indeed, about an hour Lica saw a tall stone building.

“This is the tomb!” Elsa said.

“Can I go there and see?” Lica asked suddenly.

  “Not now! It is at least two hours both ways. Moreover the horse is loaded... So come on - on the way back you will go there!”

The girl had no choice and agreed.

About two hours later Elsa and Angelica came to the foot of the mountains. Here the woman had been leading Lica some secret paths and soon they were at the entrance of the cave.

The girl and the woman put the basket down and took it inside the cave, which was quite a well-lit by torches.

  “Elsa, who is it with you?” Angelica heard a woman's voice.

  “Madam, this girl has helped me to lift the basket with roots and stones here. And also she wanted to ask you about something.”

It was silence and then the voice said:

“Well, let her go to the hall.”

Elsa nodded and said:

“You see, you’re lucky! She has not turned you away.”

She was pushing Lica to the corridor in the far corner of the cave.

“You must go along this corridor and then turn right. There you'll wait for the witch.”

“And you?”

“She never let me go there. My place is here.”

And the maid pushed the girl again.

Angelica pulled herself together and went forward. She came into a long narrow corridor, which was also illuminated. On the left of the corridor there were different rooms but Lica remembered that Elsa had told her to turn right. So she came to the first right turn and bend. There was a large room more looked like a big hall.

In the middle, on the platform there was a table with burning candles in the graceful candlestick. Also on the table Lica saw a large crystal ball in the small stand. Next to the table there were a few chairs. The girl went and sat down on one of them. A moment later she heard footsteps and a woman entered the room.

Angelica had expected to see a decrepit old woman but saw a quite young and pretty one. The girl jumped up from the chair and said:

“Hello!”

“Hello, my dear,” the woman said.

She passed by and sat in the chair in front of Lica.

“I am the witch! Sit down and tell me why you have come to my humble abode?”

Angelica sat down, plucked up heart and said:

“Last year the Prince Night visited you, he needed a potion for the Princess.”

“Has not the potion worked?” the astonished witch interrupted the girl.

“No, the potion has worked! But the Prince...”

“What's wrong with him?” she smiled.

“He has changed a lot! He is just a different person!”

“So, girl,” the witch snapped, “the Prince is alive and the potion has worked! What more do you want?”

“The Prince!” Lica said firmly. “I just want him to be real as before!”

The witch winced.

“And why do you think that he is not real?”

“Why? I’ll explain you!”

And Angelica started telling the story from the beginning...

She told her about coming to the Prince’s Night ball; about rescuing the Princess and that the Prince declared his love to her but the evil Wizard had torn them apart; and that this year she had been at the ball again but the Prince had not recognized her and how she had gone to the witch...

“And now I am here,” she finished her story.

The witch thought a little and finally said:

“You're very brave! You deserve to know the truth. Yes, the Prince Night was here last year. He asked me to give him