NIGHT, I Rin [classic book list txt] 📗

a potion for a blind Princess. To make this potion was very hard work and its price was very high! I warned the Prince about that. But the Prince was a man of honor and he agreed to pay this long price.”

“What was the price?” Angelica asked.

“The soul! The soul of the Prince...”

“So is the Prince dead?” Lica horrified.

She tried to jump out of the chair but she felt dizzy and lost consciousness.

She came to senses because she felt some nasty smell from the bottle the witch had brought to her nose. Angelica opened her eyes.

“Do not be so sensitive,” the cave hostess admonished her. “You must understand that each thing has its price. And it’s not easy to give eyes to the blind. The Prince had chosen it himself nobody had made him. His soul had left his body. But I hadn’t been able to allow his body to be useless! So I had made up something.”

“Who is in the Prince’s body now?” Lica asked quietly.

“Oh! I have sworn to keep this secret until I die. So do not ask me about that. And now – you have to go! Elsa will show you the way.”

The witch stood up and took the girl to the corridor.

Thunderclap

Angelica came to the first hall of the cave. Elsa had been waiting for her there.

“Well, have you found out?” she was curious.

Lica nodded.

“Then why are you so pale? Bad news?”

The girl nodded again.

“Well, come on, Madam had ordered to take you outside!” the goblin woman said.

She helped Angelica to sit on the horse and showed her the way to the mountains.

“Now you have to ride straight on and on!” Elsa pointed. “If you go to the tomb then you’ll have to follow back your footprints. Beware of some enchanted paths in the Valley of Oblivion you may get lost. And do not turn anywhere!”

“Thank you, dear Elsa!” Lica said. “If it hadn’t been you, I would have never got here!”

She bent down and kissed the kind goblin woman. Elsa was deeply moved and shed a tear. Then the witch’s maid turned around and immediately disappeared among large boulders.

The girl pulled the reins and went back. She couldn’t get confusing thoughts out of her head.

"Henry was absolutely right,” she thought. “It's not Edward; it is someone else in his body... But who?”

Suddenly she saw the Goblin King’s tomb ahead.

Not knowing why Angelica turned there. Fifteen minutes later she was at the entrance of the tomb and got off the horse. The building looking pretty big from the distance, in fact, it was enormous. Lica went inside and in the center of circular hall, in the moon light she saw superbly adorned gravestone. In the opposite side, on the wall she saw the portrait of a very handsome young man. The inscription under the portrait said: "The Goblin King Swein I».

The girl began to examine the portrait and then, as something pricked her, she saw that the young man in the portrait was wearing exactly the same navy-blue suit as the Prince Edward at the ball.

“And the grin of his lips! Exactly the same!” Lica remembered suddenly.

She came out of the tomb bewildered. Somehow Angelica sat on the horse and pulled the reins. She remembered the ball, Edward, his behavior, his clothes and his smile or rather his smirk!

“It cannot be true!” Lica said aloud. “Is the Goblin King Swein in Edward’s body?”

Suddenly some trees branches crashed nearby. The girl started and looked around.

She was in a strange place... She can’t have gone far away from the tomb. But what Angelica saw were only lots of broken trees all around.

“Well, take it easy!” Lica whispered. “What did Elsa say about the ‘enchanted paths’? Oh I remembered! I should have followed my footprints from the tomb, otherwise... Apparently, I have got lost. And where am I now!”

The crackle from the fallen trees was louder and she saw a strange monster. It looked like a wolf with long hair, which was walking on its hind legs. The monster bared his mouth and prepared to attack the girl.

Angelica pulled the reins and the horse was going at full speed among the trees but the monster was chasing her behind.

“Well, my dear, come on!” Lica was whispering to the horse in its ear. “Do not let me down!”

But suddenly the horse caught its foot and fell down, the girl rolled head over hills.

She was lying on her back and watching as the monster opened his stinking mouth was bending over her. Angelica gasped and closed her eyes.

Lica did not understand what happened next. Only had she heard was the sound of an unsheathed sword then stabbed and something heavy and soft had fallen upon her.

The girl opened her eyes and saw the body of the beheaded monster lying. In disgust she pushed it off and sat up quickly. But she was shocked by what she saw next!

It was the Prince Edward himself! He was holding the sword in his hands and smirking.

“Would not they have told you that a visit to the Valley of Oblivion is a rather risky?” he asked.

“But how did you know?” Lica murmured.

“Oh! It was not so easy. I have to say; Henry is a very stubborn man. Only when had I given him the “potion of truth”, I knew where you were.”

The Prince came up and gave Angelica his hand. But she pushed it, stood up and said accusingly:

“I see you do not scorn the magic!”

“Sure, why not?” the Prince smiled.

“I know who you really are!” she said firmly. “You are Swein, the Goblin King!”

The Prince burst of laughing and clapped his hands:

“Bravo! You have good intuition! What made you think that?”

“I have been at your tomb.”

The young man has turned pale and looked away.

“So what?” he finally asked.

“I have been at the witch; she has told me that Edward had given his soul for the Princess’s "potion". And his body she had given you!”

“You are right!” the Prince said quietly. “But it wasn’t my fault. While I was dying, my father took me to the witch and she had time to catch my heart. The witch explained to my father that I had to fulfill my destiny and save the people of Goblins. ‘When time comes, I will give him a new body,’ she said. Then she gave my body to my father to tomb. And I was buried in the Valley of Oblivion. Then I did not remember anything. The only thing I know I had woken up in the cave of the witch. She told me that it was the body of the Prince Night, who had given his soul for the "potion." Then she warned me how I should behave in order not to arouse any suspicion. In fact it has been quite difficult because the Prince and I are different men! But I have to help my people, so I keep silence about everything.”

“How noble,” Lica grinned. “And how have you found me?”

“When I got to the witch, Elsa told me that you had wanted to see my tomb. I followed your footsteps and here I am.”

“Why have you saved me? After all, I am an unnecessary witness!”

“I like you. I have never met such a brave girl before,” the Prince said. “When I remember you following me at the ball and then your kiss, I have goose bumps!”

“I did not kiss you, I kissed the Prince Edward!” Angelica flushed.

“You may tell that Henry, he will believe!” the young man laughed. “All right, let's go! It is dangerous to stay in the enchanted place for a long time. Everything changes here every minute.”

Chase

The Prince went somewhere and soon came back with two horses.

“That’s good that your horse falling hasn’t broken its neck or it would be hard for mine to take both of us.”

“Would you say I'm fat?” Lica was indignant.

“No! I say only what I mean!” the Prince remarked ironically.

He led the horse to the girl and gave her the reins.

“What a cad!” Angelica thought. “If it had been the Prince Edward, he would have helped me to get into the saddle.”

Thinking of Edward tears welled up her eyes. But Lica pulled herself together and quickly climbed the horse.

“Wow, you can even ride a horse! You are the girl of worth!” the Prince was sarcastic.

“If you do not shut up now...” Angelica threatened.

“What?!” the Prince was amazed. “And then what will happen? You will kiss me to death, won’t you? I have no doubts that you will.”

The girl was furious; so not to continue the conversation she pulled the reins and rushed forward. The Prince followed her. In about half an hour they got out of the fallen trees and saw the wide field.

“Where are we?” Lica asked.

“It must be the Ghosts’ Fields,” the Prince replied. “I think the enchanted path has exactly led us here.”

“Henry said that it was a pretty safe place!”

“Well, who knows...? I mean besides the ghosts we may meet with werewolves, they also live here. By the way one of them had attacked you. And the vampires - the children of night also favor this valley. So be careful!”

“Why are you worried about me?!” Angelica smiled. “I think I'm not your type; you said I was slightly overweight!”

“Do you know my taste?” the Prince asked mockingly.

The girl pulled the reins and rode to the silent valley. The young man followed her. In less than ten minutes they heard the sound of chase behind them.

“Well, what did I tell you?” the Prince said looking back. “The crowd of riding ghosts is chasing us. We are unlikely to get away clear!”

“There should be Sleepy Lake after the Ghosts’ Fields!” Lica shouted. “Maybe we still have time to escape?”

“Let’s try,” the Prince answered and spurred his horse.

But they were getting closer. And soon they heard blood-thirsty screams.

“Angelica, can you use a sword?” the Prince shouted.

“I’ve never tried!” the girl answered.

“So I think it’s time to try! The main thing is… Remember do not let anyone come close to you. If something is, just wave your sword around. And I'll try to deal with them myself!”

The young man drew his second sword and threw it to Lica. The girl was just in time to catch it. And the Prince slightly slowed his horse and left behind.

Angelica looked back and saw her fellow traveler fighting with the group of vampires surrounding him. Two vampires have rushed to Lica. One has already reached out his filthy hands to her. The girl screamed and stabbed him with the sword.

“Apparently, I’ve got,” she thought so, because the vampire gasped and fell off his horse.

The second one has almost caught the escapee. But then Angelica remembered the Prince’s instruction and began waving her sword. Seeing her clumsy attempts, the vampire suddenly burst out of laughing and let the reins for a second. At that moment a tree branch, which the horses were passing by, knocked the vampire to the ground. Lica has escaped the chase. Soon she saw Sleepy Lake ahead. The girl came down the horse and began to stare back to the darkness of the far Ghosts’ Fields.

“Has the Prince defeated these monsters?” she thought.

Suddenly she heard the sound of hoofs and saw the figure of the Prince in the moonlight. Angelica nearly screamed for joy but restrained herself and said only one thing:

“Are you all right?”

The young man came closer and, as always, smiled.

“What can they do with me if I have such a defender? Your sword master class so impressed the battle-seasoned ghosts that they were taken aback by watching this scene and I got a temporary advantage.”

Lica flushed and tried to say something in response but then she noticed that the Prince was clamping down the left side of his body by hand and saw blood oozing through his fingers.

“Have you been wounded? Get down, I'll bandage you!”

The Prince did not argue and went down his horse. The wound was more serious than Angelica had