The Great Full Moon

A little later, after the morning routine, we had breakfast. We cooked something last night: it was neither soup nor porridge, but  almost delicious in a way.

"What now?" I asked my companion.

Alex lifted his eyes to me and replied, "We go to Otrana, of course."

"But the banshee..."

The prince waved his hand. "I'm not sure he told us the truth."

"What do you mean?"

"Okay, he could be telling the truth, or he could be serving Haighwerg and lying. It doesn't matter anyway. We have to go to Otrana."

"Why?"

"First of all, it is the only way to the Dragon Bald. Secondly, if the Faceless really knows that we're in Irrat, it doesn't matter which way we go. He'll try to block them all. And finally, I just can't have the Prophetess held hostage."

I shook my head. 

"I think you are wrong. That's what Haighwerg is counting on."

Alex's face became stubborn.

"I don't care! I won't leave her in trouble! And I really want to know what that bastard did to my wife! What do those words of the banshee mean?"

I just shrugged.

Soon we were on our way.

The day was warm, sunny, calm, spider webs were flying in the air, birds were singing in the treetops. A wonderful day, in a word! 

Yet we walked fast, listening to every rustle around us. There was a sense of trouble in the air. I didn't know if it was the effect of the banshee's warning or if there was a real reason for what was happening.

When we took a break in the afternoon, Alex placed magical guards around our campsite for the first time.

"I have a bad feeling," he explained.

After a few minutes, the woman's scream broke the silence. I jumped to my feet and looked around. The scream was repeated.

"Victoria!" Alex exhaled, drew his sword and ran into the forest.

I thought it might be one of Haighwerg's traps the banshee had talked about, but I didn't have time to say anything and just followed my companion.

Soon we reached a clearing of scorched grass. In its center stood a pillar to which a woman was chained with thick chains. Her clothes were torn, and her alabaster-white skin was covered with numerous bleeding cuts. Her head was bowed, and tangled copper hair hid her face. 

For a moment, I thought I recognized her. It was impossible, but... I took a step forward to look into her face, to free her, to save her.

Alex pushed me away and ran to the woman. "Victoria!" he called again.

He reached for her face, but suddenly the woman flared like a torch, and the world was filled with the infernal laughter.

Everything around us became covered in a toxic-yellow fog, and in the fog there were shadows . They were vague, shapeless, terrifying.

"Maikatares," Alex yelled. "Run!"

And so we ran as fast as we could. There was a howling behind us, the stomping of many feet, and heavy breathing.

"What are the Maikatares?" I asked, still running, "I've only heard of Manticore."

"The subterranean beasts, terribly vicious. It was once impossible to escape them, but my great-grandfather trapped them in underground labyrinths until the yellow fog covered the Valley of Eternal Spring. Apparently, he thought such a thing was impossible. So now they are free. "

I sighed. 

"What are they afraid of?"

"I don't really know," Alex replied. "It could be fire or silver. Oh, they are afraid of sunlight, but how do we get it?"

"I thought you are a wizard..."

 Just then the Maikatares attacked us. They looked like hyenas, as tall as my waist, with burning green eyes. Actually, I had no time to stare at them, I had to fight. I raised my blade and caught a Maikatar that jumped on it, and then everything went kaleidoscope-like: we slashed, stabbed, and kicked the creatures. They responded with bites and scratches. Soon,a clawed paw tore through my left thigh, and my leg burned with pain. Alex's wrist was broken, so he took his sword in his left hand. The next moment, the beast closed its jaws around my ankle and jerked it violently, knocking me over. I thrust my sword into the creature's muzzle and found out that it was the last one. 

I freed my leg and looked around. The prince was sitting among the bodies of the beasts, cradling his injured arm. My backpack lay on the ground. I pulled it closer by its strap and found the Tears of the Forest. A few drops of the potion fell on my ankle. The wound burned, the green smoke rising over it. I waited for it to heal and turned to Alex.

"Give me your hand," I said.

He silently held out his right hand. I dropped the potion on his wrist and, before he said anything, jerked the bones back into place. 

It was about a day's journey to the abode of Otrana, and we were on our way again. The fog was still thick and yellow, and the reality around us seemed shaky and ghostly. From time to time, screams could be heard somewhere in the fog, or a wistful, crazy laugh, but none of us wanted to check out what was going on there. Alex regretted his impulse that had caused us to leave the path. Even though we had turned back later, he doubted that the path was the same and would lead us in the right direction. But we kept going, as we had no other options anyway.

"Stay where you are!" a thunderous voice suddenly sounded.

We stopped. I looked around but saw nothing in the fog.

"Who is here?" Alex asked, his voice sounding too loud and a little scared.

The fog in front of us thickened, turning into a spiral, and the figure, wrapped in white, appeared. It was weightless, and its outline sparkled slightly.

"A ghost," I guessed. 

"Otrana," the prince whispered.

"There is no way forward," the ghostly prophetess said, "Go back!"

"But, All-Seeing…" Alex began.

"Three more steps and you will die! Go, Prince Alexander, or Irrat will lose hope!"

"But..."

"Go! The time is up!"

The Prophetess exploded, shattering into thousands of pieces.

And then it began. The air was filled with roaring and howling. Legions of foul creatures climbed, ran, flew in all directions, trying to overtake us, to crumple and tear us to pieces.

Alex grabbed his sword.

"You'd better use some magic!" I shouted, understanding that they'd just trample us right now.

"I can't! There are too many of them!"

"Great! What are we going to do then?"

"Fight!" he announced.

"And die like heroes!" I continued in the same tone. "We’d better get to the Lace before it's too late!"

Just as we entered the Lace, Alex tugged on my sleeve, "Let’s go back!"

"Where?"

"To the palace. No one is waiting for us there now!"

"You wanted to go to the Dragon Bald, didn’t you?" I objected, though I'd already appreciated the brilliant simplicity of his plan.

We returned to the reality of Irrat and appeared in one of the rooms of the palace. Alex put his finger to his lips and motioned for me to follow him. We walked through corridors, galleries, staircases... I was completely confused and relied on my companion's wits.

Finally, we reached the decorative arch in one of the corridors.

Alex winked conspiratorially, "Just put your hand on the stucco."

We did, and appeared in a completely different place. It was a small, cozy room with neither door nor window; its walls were covered with bookshelves filled with lots of bulky folios. There were also a few comfortable chairs, a desk and a closed cupboard. I didn't see any lamps or torches, but the light was warm and soft. 

"Make yourself at home," said the prince, "this is grandfather’s secret apartment."

"That no one knows about?" I asked.

"Actually, they do," Alex sat down in the chair and stretched his legs, "but there's a secret lock on the door. No one can get in without an invitation."

"They can wait for us outside."

"That's the best thing about this place. It has the only entrance, but many exits. We can reach any place in Irrat from here. And we’ll do it when the time comes. So no one will guess where we will appear," he smiled happily, looking at my reaction.

"That's good news," I sighed and sat down in the chair next to Alex, "So, what are we going to do?"

"We have about fifty hours to rest. Be my guest!"

"Wow! Sounds great," I looked around. "Can we get dinner here?"

Alex laughed lightheartedly, "Any special requests?"

For the next two days we had a break. During this time, I learned what the wizard's daily routine was like. Food and drinks appeared out of thin air. Bathroom, bedroom, and gym were magically placed in this closed cabinet and changed as needed. There was no music, no cards, and no women, but you couldn't have everything at once.

I also read books. Okay, I tried to read. King Mabert's personal library consisted of treatises on magic and completely unreadable charts and tables.

"I don't understand most of them either," Alex confessed, "I've never been interested in high magic. It's such a mess."

"Not a royal occupation?" I teased him.

Alex didn't understand my irony.

"My grandfather always told me I was lazy and ignorant," he said. "But I thought there was still time for everything. Plenty of time!"

"Oh, I see," I nodded, "I never really learned anything worthwhile either."

"What do you mean by worthwhile?" the prince asked.

"Quantum physics, genetic engineering..."

Alex whistled. 

"What kind of curses are these?"

"These are not curses. It's science."

"I've never heard of anything like that."

"Don't worry about it," I laughed. "If I were interested in science, I wouldn't have known about the Lace. Scientists don't believe in anything unless they can find a formula and a mathematical justification for it."

Alex scratched his head and was thoughtful for a long time. I took another folio from a shelf and drowned in the world of magical signs.

Finally, the time came. We left our shelter and appeared in a place where no one was waiting for us. It was one of the places where the light of Kainos had the most magical power. But it was really hard to get there, except from the secret apartments of King Mabert. The place was called Fire Mountain, and it was an active volcano. Fortunately, it didn't erupt that night, but there were occasional puffs of steam coming from the vent.

"Do you think it is safe here?" I asked Alex, listening to the sounds coming from underground.

"No," Alex admitted honestly, looking at the sky, "but we only have an hour to hold out, and then Kainos will rise."

"Do you really think you can get all the answers in one moment?"

"I don't think so. But then the volcano will be too busy."

"Is it a joke?"

"Just believe me."

I didn't, but Alex was in no hurry to explain.

The next hour was hard: I felt like the last inhabitant of Pompeii, waiting to be fried, but nothing terrible ever happened.

"Fire Lady Alamandra," Alex said as the brightened sky predicted the moonrise, "always heeds the revelations of Kainos. During the Great Full Moon, she stops all the processes under her control to focus on Kainos. We’ll be safe on Fire Mountain before dawn."

"And then what?"

"Then there’ll be real hell, but we'll go before that." 

On the more or less smooth part of the rock, Alex drew the magical sign. We stepped into it and recited the complicated spell. I'd spent the last two days learning it, but I couldn't figure out what it meant.

A long time ago, Jemma had tried to teach me magic because she thought I had a gift for it. But all I learned was how to make fire without matches. I also became hypersensitive to any kind of magic. So even though I didn't understand the meaning, I felt the magical energy.

At that very moment, the moon rose above the horizon. It was a pearly white ball of incredible size, surrounded by three concentric rings, each shining with its own light: yellow, blue, pink... Their glow transformed the world into a fairy kingdom, fantastic and impossible. Alas, I was completely devoid of poetic talent, otherwise I would have written a whole poem dedicated to the beauties of Irrat, illuminated by the mad Kainos - the moon of the three rings.

The higher the moon rose, the more I felt the pulsation of magic. It was as if I were at the center of a tornado of power swirling around me, inside me...

"Think of the Keys!" Alex shouted, his hair fluttering and sparking, his eyes burning with the purple fire.

Apparently I looked like him, but I couldn't see myself.

The sapphires in Heliswort's hilt cast a steady blue light. On impulse, I drew my sword from its scabbard and raised it. The rainbow struck the sky, merged with the rays of Kainos, and took on a life of its own.

Alex continued to speak to me, but couldn’t understand his words. I wasn't myself at that moment. Something bigger and stronger than me, something new and strange, was born inside me. It was growing and expanding, pushing out my mind and freeing my instincts to give way to intuition.

Thinking about the Keys… I tried, but I really couldn't. Different images were flashing before my eyes, both real memories and pure phantasmagoria... Maybe there was some sense in it all, but I could not comprehend it.

A chasm opened in the center of Alex's outline, and a vortex of light started sucking my companion into it. I fell onto my stomach and grabbed the prince's arm, screaming, "Hang on!"

He lifted his eyes to me and shook his head negatively. "I'm following the Great Master!"

I tried to pull him toward me, but I couldn't resist the power of the vortex. I glanced into its center and saw… I saw something that had no name in any human language. Then I felt myself being carried somewhere, too, and I squeezed Alex's wrist with all my strength. I managed it for a while, but then my fingers loosened and we were pulled in different directions. Alex's cloak appeared in the distance, a woman's shoe flew in front of my eyes, followed by a wooden wheel, a wine bottle... My flight was short and ended unexpectedly. With the speed of a cannonball, I crashed into something solid and blacked out.