«I didn’t know the dragon would react so violently to your presence.»
«What will happen now?»
«Now he will demand tribute! Or better yet, to sacrifice you to him. Dragons always demand beautiful maidens of noble birth. They have excellent taste in both treasure and maidens. You can’t give them something second-rate. Especially this one! Fool, you could have cope with him.»
He calls his queen a fool! He’s got a nerve! Rosamunda wanted to throw at him the first thing that came to hand, which was a heavy harness.
«I was joking,» Dandy jumped out of the carriage and into the stall. «It is about your foolishness, not about the dragon. He will surely come to demand tribute now, or worse, send someone.»
«Who would a dragon send?»
«It’s best not to scare you beforehand. I’d better get out of here. No advisor can survive long with a queen like you.»
What benefits did he want from her? She can’t be a dragon ruler! And she doesn’t need an advisor to lead her into the jaws of a predator. She should just dive back into the underground crevices. Without him, no one’s going to mess with her head anymore. But she might not be able to get rid of the awakened dragon now.
«Before you disappear, do your wine and escort my knights to the dragon’s lair,» Rosamunda commanded in a firm tone.
The Dandy stammered.
«What will you give me for it?»
«I’ll give you a few more barrels of wine.»
«I can get them myself.»
«And I can have the cellar locked from you.»
The freelancer scratched behind his pointy ear.
«It is all right! I’ll whisper to the head of the party where to go and slip away.»
He fulfilled his promise, deftly jumping on the shoulder of the most valiant knight. He didn’t even realize at first from whom the advice came, but obediently followed Dandy’s instructions. And Rosamunda’s ministers, who saw off the detachment with their eyes, looked in vain among the knights for that foolish guide whom the queen had promised to find.
An ultimatum
The knights did not return. But some junk dealer had brought back their scorched armor and helmets, and at the same time one roasted corpse, on which the letters of a message from the dragon had been burned as if on paper.
«The fire-breathing beast caught me on the mountain road and promised to pardon me if I delivered the message to the queen,» said the junk dealer, who was about to be executed as a sorcerer for aiding the dragon.
He was eventually pardoned but kept under surveillance. The corpse, covered with inscriptions, was not shown to the queen, lest she faint. For some reason, everyone thought that her female heart would break at the sight of a dragon mutilating the most handsome of her knights.
«They only do that out of jealousy!» The maids of honor were murmuring, covering their sly smiles with fans. «What if our queen has really fallen in love with a dragon?»
Rosamunda understood the meaning of their gossip as soon as they brought her the verbatim message read on the corpse’s skin. The dragon demands that the queen be given to him. Not as a sacrifice, but as a wife.
«It’s a joke!» Rosamunda jumped up so violently that she nearly toppled the throne. A nimble creature that looked like an emerald lizard was crawling on the canopy above the throne, but she didn’t even notice it. It looked like a spy.
«It’s an ultimatum, Your Majesty,» stammered the minister who read the message.
«An ultimatum can be given by a king at war with me, but not by a dragon. By the way, he burned one of the fields.»
«It is along with the plowmen and their families,» the First Minister corrected the dragon.
«He attacks like an animal, like a pack of wolves or a bear. Does an animal have the right to make demands? It should be caught and destroyed, so that it does not harm.»
«But that’s what the knights were sent for. They’re gone.»
«Then send others.»
«Others are less prepared to fight the beast,» the First Minister stammered and stuttered with excitement. He couldn’t wait to marry the queen to anyone, even a dragon. He was tired of a woman on the throne. Perhaps he wanted to take her place after the dragon had eaten her. Rosamunda has no living relatives left.
«It is except us,» whispered the strange creatures crawling along the column. Rosamunda quickly turned away from them. Would the others see them? Do they hear them? Everyone is so frightened by the dragon that they don’t pay attention to the little things.
«Does the dragon know that I am a young widow and not an innocent maiden?» Rosamunda asked an insidious question, for everyone knows that dragons prefer virgins. «Had he been warned of this?»
«His demand is clear! He wants you! Perhaps you should say yes.»
«I don’t think you envision a dragon as your king. You’re probably hoping I’ll disappear into his lair forever.»
«No! How could I?» The minister lowered his eyes to the floor in shame so she wouldn’t recognize him as a traitor. «We are all truly loyal to you.»
«It is especially all those who were burned. They could have fought the dragon, but they just gave up. They didn’t even try to run away.»
«If you knew what a dragon attack was, you wouldn’t be talking like this! It’s much worse than a forest fire.»
«I don’t believe the burned body of the knight was sent by the dragon itself. Dragons are animals. They have no intelligence. It’s more likely some evil joker carved the body in letters. Probably it is a savage or a fakir. There aren’t many fools that live in deserted places.»
«It’s definitely dragon fire. It makes the body rot in a peculiar way. The letters on the corpse’s skin turn black before you can read them.»
«And before they’re read, they’re fiery?» Rosamunda recalled with horror the letters from her secret admirer, but the minister ignored her question.
«The dragon gives you one day to think about it. Tomorrow night you will either accept his proposal or he will burn your country.»
That’s the literal message. The dragon is as generous as a king of noble blood. He gives her a full day’s head start. She’ll have time to sleep, and the next day she’ll devise some cunning plan to deceive the dragon.
During the night, Rosamunda dreamed of a girl with many faces. These faces were scattered on the floor like masks. Every single one of them was incredibly beautiful. All cut from living beauties because blood had caked on them. They were all alive. The girl measured them one by one, and was not satisfied with all of them. Until among the masks she found one that was not human. The face cut from the fairy was squirming and whispering something unhappily, but the sorceress put it on over her. This girl could not be anything but a sorceress, for she stole other people’s faces. And they suited her. Except that her hair changed color with them. Then they were light, then dark, then red, then golden, then greenish, like a mermaid. And what is this girl really: brunette, shade, blonde? Do sorceresses have a specific hair color? And what is her face like? Rosamunda saw only living masks.
There was a haunting feeling in the dream that she needed to see the true face of the many-faced girl, or the problem with the dragon would not be solved.
«Look in the mirror,» squeaked someone behind her. It seemed to be some kind of gnome or gnome-like creature. It was short and clawed.
Rosamunda woke up without realizing what the mirror had to do with it.
The dwarf sitting on her bedpost clapped his clawed hands together in joy. «I thought the indecent dragon had put you to sleep for good. But now it is twelve o’clock, and my queen has awakened from his spell. I’m so glad!»
«I wish you’d get out of here!» Rosamunda looked at him in disbelief. There’s trouble where Dandy is.
It’s light outside the window, but suddenly, right now, the red rain of dragon flame is raining down again, hitting the roofs, and the whole country turns into a hot inferno.
