Unconquered Sun (17 page)

Devices, and rather simple feiny intuition were not necessary to feel that the mirror is more magically inactively. It broke and turned just into the gold scrap suitable only for delivery to dwarfs jewelers on melting.

And still the bases for optimism remained. The fairy learned that Prinze was bewitched by very strong sorcerer living in some gold tower. To find this tower is already business of time. "Cannot be that such precious thingummy, - the Fairy thought, - it is absolutely unknown in Tselestiya!"

So, now it became obvious to the Fairy that though Prinze also left, but left
obviously against the will
.

"Yes, we quite often quarreled, - she thought with relief, - but never Prinze was such. He could not throw me voluntarily, he was just bewitched".

Having arrived at such idea, the Fairy at once calmed down. She was hastily tidied up in the room, put into place a table. Then got from a trunk quite volume, upholstered with gold plates, the book of scarlet color in firm cover in which center small dredging in the form of a three-headed dragon settled down. The Fairy enclosed the medallion hanging at it on a breast in this dredging, also in the form of a three-headed dragon, and a latch on the book by itself revealed.

On the first, yellow from an old age, the page could read the inscription which is accurately printed on secret magic language of Community: "The REFERENCE BOOK of FAIRIES". Below in brackets red cinnabar - "
TOP SECRET!
Only for
the personal
use of associates". And is even lower - "it is approved by the Supreme Council of Community".

Yes, long ago the Fairy did not open this book, probably, couple of thousands of years precisely! Not therefore, of course, that the book was useless. Just during service by the Keeper Predela the Fairy had no need her to use. A task, facing it, there were enough routines and are monotonous - to put traps against creatures at Predela, to send the misbehaving dwarfs, to treat trees and animals … All this does not demand to have "seven spans in a forehead" as people speak. Yes, many millennia of Hera Poryadca and Prosperity established by Triune Knowledge and cumulative efforts of all Community were not in vain - no difficult cases for the practicing fairies just arose. Whereas "Reference book" was written for those. Routine and ordinary they passed all in School …

But now the Fairy had a hope
only
for the Book. Of course, it would be possible to fly to Skies behind consultation, but General Council will gather so far until the question is considered by local bureaucracy … The prince during this time can die!

Sorcery of that gold magician is unusually dangerous! Whether a joke - FIVE fairies of the THIRD (from 14) a rank could not overcome it. Such settlements will just roll the person in flat cake if at all will not spray on atoms!

Besides there, "above", would begin to ask the Fairy very inconvenient questions, it seems: "And why it you, the Keeper of the Limit No. 3, for five thousand years of Service did not manage to find such dangerous artifact in the territory entrusted to you by Council? Why you so poorly made Round? Or, maybe, you so were fond of private life that forgot about the functions?" (the most terrible crime for the associate!). From one this thought she felt ill at ease. Could drop, of course, this business and just reprimands, and could discharge of a position, lower in a rank, send, say, to teach in the first class of School of fairies or the sales representative to dwarfs or, it is worse than that, to banish for work in some archive. And could leave, but under a condition of separation from the husband and children for many years … Yes you never know can think up Tribunal of Community!

"Is not present! - the Fairy resolved about herself. - I stirred up trouble, itself and has to disentangle it! What it would be not necessary me!". And therefore, without thinking twice, it mentally set to the book a set of keywords: "a gold tower", "the gold woman", "perfect beauty", "a gold hall", and - oh, a miracle! - the massive pages which turned yellow from an old age began to be leafed through promptly by itself as happens if to leave open the book on wind …

At last, is closer to the middle, browsing by itself stopped, and the Fairy saw
the heading - "SOL INVICTUS"
written by bright red cinnabar. Further there was a text written in the same secret magic language of Community, and on other page the big moving illustration settled down nearby. The fairy even gasped with surprise, having seen on it the high mountain, a gold tower on which top there was that zolotovolosy woman whom she noticed when hacking the lock of a magic mirror. Only in a mirror it looked like the ghost, on reflection in water more, and here - looked quite real woman. But only for some reason chained by gold chains to the huge metal mirror standing on top of the Tower, and filled with a strong flame. It literally burned down alive, and her body was bent in awful spasms from intolerable pain, as well as her face and lips, but to escape from chains, it, probably, it was not possible in any way …

As the picture was moving, the Fairy as alive saw without restraint the tongues of flame which are torn up captured the most part of unusually beautiful body of the stranger convulsively bent in hand chains, the blood dripping from prokusanny lips … For clear reasons, the Fairy decided not to include a sound and a smell.

Intrigued with such heading and even more - the picture, it greedy began to read and spent all rest of night behind this occupation.

4.

The dwarf told long and confusedly, constantly passing from one subject to another and again coming back, stirring with each other events, different in time, and relationships of cause and effect. The kitten and the Puppy hardly managed to understand what he actually means especially as he constantly used some unclear words for designation of some even more unclear things. They were tormented with it all day till the night, and then and all night long till the morning, but after all our Animals understood something …

Also they understood that Prinze is threatened by danger of death because he got under action of very strong sorcery. Sorcery which burns all live in the person over time and turns it into the gold heartless idol. Its source - the powerful magician by name which she calls herself, "the Invincible Sun".

Once, very long time ago, she wanted to become the goddess and all Tselestiya's sovereign. To achieve these objectives, she called to herself to the aid the slaves - gold golems and dwarfs. Dwarfs are the most great masters in any business, especially in that, as for jewelry and magic thingummies - not without pride Hnum inserted. They also had to cast a huge mirror which had to reflect in itself the whole world.

The mirror was such enormous sizes that it was done by several decades. On its smelting so many tons of the pure gold left that in all Tselestiya it was necessary to pass for trade operations to a silver coin, and the dwarfs trading in this precious metal with "the Yellow Queen" (so they called it among themselves), were incredible enriched.

The giant mirror was not simple, but magical. The whole squadron of gold dragons whose number was measured by thousands, on the sky had to lift it. And at dawn Tselestiya's inhabitants, having looked up, instead of the sky would see one gold mirror, and in it is mute - the Yellow Queen reflected a face instead of the sun. Having seen it, inhabitants of the whole world would become slaves to her gold, flaring look.

But the secret of a mirror became known. Really, such huge lack of gold of Tselestiya could not but cause concerns in ubiquitous "STING". Agents of "STING" undertook to investigate its reasons and one dwarf bribed by them gave secret. Fairies sounded the alarm, united in one big army and came for fight with "the Yellow Queen". When dragons began to lift a giant magical mirror and almost reached the necessary height, fairies suddenly struck a crushing blow of great magic force and smashed it so its uncountable splinters a never-ending rain got on the earth.

However, from them fairies managed to find and neutralize the most part, but many splinters did not find - they were taken away by dwarfs, greedy to gold. Part of dwarfs, having done from splinters of mirrors and having looked in them, also became slaves to the Invincible Sun, having filled up its already big labor army. And other happy owners of magic mirrors realized that they can be used for elimination of the enemies as some kind of cakes with a poisonous stuffing.

Also our unlucky hero who a pocket mirror got it from the pra-pra-pra-great-grandfather acted this way. And next Prinze who rescued it to the own harm fell a victim of his insidiousness - "this villain deprived of me my magic beard, my remarkable, snow-white, silky beard which I raised so many hundreds of years!!!. Well and, in addition, learned a confidential entrance to Podzemye, and therefore it under our laws by all means should be eliminated!"

This justification did not rescue, however, the dwarf, from couple of slaps in the face, but the main thing was known now - the Prince fell the victim of artful sorcery of some very powerful sorcerer very long time ago forgotten in Tselestiya, but not because stopped loving the Beautiful Fairy. And having learned the main thing, Animals remained nothing else how to release the dwarf back home - well not to kill him! Let to itself goes with the pebbles, it already lost a magic mirror so now it will inflict on nobody the evil any more, the beard will not grow it yet. And it will occur oh as not soon...

- More likely, we run, the Puppy! - cried, turning to the friend Kotenok. - We have to as it is possible to tell about all to the Fairy rather! Let knows that Prinze in trouble and only it can rescue him!

And both Zverenk, without thinking twice, were let competing in speed back in Fane a hut. And the dwarf, happy that got off so light, got into the mink and was such is. And in his dark karlichy soul was not any to a regret about deeds but only pleasure because that its pebbles, after all this bedlam, remained after all at it is mute …

5.

Having come running early in the morning home, the Kitten and the Puppy found, to the greatest surprise, the Beautiful Fairy in good health, behind reading "The reference book of fairies". She sat at a table, entirely shipped in the thoughts so from concentration at it appeared on a forehead, at a nose bridge, a deep fold. Such Animals never saw the hostess.

Kitten and Puppy joyfully, interrupting each other, told it about the opening. The fairy thoughtfully looked at them and told:

- Yes, my dear Animals, what you opened for me now was the last link of a solution of this secret. It I already learned the most part from my book …

With these words, having whispered a short spell, the Fairy waved a magic wand. Before eyes of the Kitten and Puppy suddenly there was a golden cloudlet which, rotating round its pivot-center, began to grow promptly until filled half-rooms. Then, it is dazzling flashed - and before a mind's eye of the Kitten and Puppy there was a stream of the images reminding that happen at us during a dream.

Here they see some fairy, unusually beautiful fairy with roundish, reminding something a solar disk the person.

Further in consciousness of Animals the stream of events which replaced each other with a high speed rushes.

Here they see this fairy with one man (it seems, judging by appearance, it was the proud knight from Avalon), then with another (this in general was in a royal crown), with the third, fourth … But all of them departed from the fairy with the heads hung down and a sad look. It is obvious that she considered all these men unworthy herself.

But here run of invisible shots stopped. Animals saw the high hill covered with an emerald-green grass, and in cloudlessly blue sky the bright sun shone. Then at its top this fairy seemed and became, singing something under a nose, to look in a mirror, to look long enough. And so will turn it, and so, and will bare pearl-white teeth, and will correct a hand a hairdress …

At last, addressing itself, she says a thin and melodious voice: "Interestingly after all, and whether there is someone more beautiful me on all this this world?" And suddenly, having once again turned a mirror, it incidentally caught in it reflection of the sun.

For about a minute nothing occurred, but the fairy ceased to twirl by a mirror. Then expression of her face became prompt to be changed. Its fine solntsevidny face suddenly grew dark as a firmament when the sun is covered by a thundercloud, white teeth rapaciously sparkled, on golden skin disgusting red spots went.

"Proklyatye! - Animals croaking, as at a crow heard, the voice so not similar on what was heard by them from lips of the fairy earlier. - The sun is more more beautiful than me! Gold of the sun is much brighter than my golden hair and skin!" - she exclaimed in rage and, having swung, threw the pocket mirror from hill top. A pocket mirror, having fallen to stones at its bottom, it was smashed.

Then it jumped and began to go uneasily here and there, deafly speaking something in beard. And then sharply stopped and, having turned the person to the sun and having threateningly raised a fist in its direction, cried out by the same unpleasant croaking voice: "If you, the sun, are more more beautiful than me, then I will become the sun and then I will be precisely most beautiful!"

Again promptly the stream of images shots ran the turn.

Here the fairy reads one book, another, sits at a table, the filled retorts and test tubes and something in them mixes, here draws some geometrical figures on sand or measures the angles of rising and sunset … It was visible that she looks for something.