A demon’s rival. Natalie Yacobson

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СКАЧАТЬ would shun her. It’s unlikely the bandits will spare her either.

      Samantha would love to go home, but her mother wouldn’t forgive her. You can’t be such a coward. I mean, what if she met a demon on the road? She must quickly put this terrible incident out of her mind and go on with his life as if nothing had happened.

      «I didn’t see him! I was just dreaming about him!» Samantha admonished herself. That’s how you get rid of nightmares. It was better to think of them as an obsession or not at all.

      But she had promised the demon that she would tell everyone about him. What if she didn’t, he’d get back at her? What if she just forgot about what had happened?

      Samantha imagined her running around the village screaming about demons, and superstitious peasants searching for demons and robbing landlords’ estates of everything of value. Riots because of evil spirits are frequent. Sometimes it is better to be quiet, even if the demon is sitting next to you. After all, there is nothing scarier than panic.

      Samantha pulled the coachman’s cloak, and his body slipped off the horses. It turned out that the coachman was carrying a carbine to defend the carriage from bandits. Samantha decided to appropriate the weapon. When traveling on deserted roads, a carbine or musket does not hurt. The coachman had another revolver in his pocket. Well, now she’s armed for war. Let’s go!

      The horses, as it happens, would not budge.

      «I am your lawful mistress, your master’s only daughter. You must obey me!» Samantha exhorted them. The horses didn’t care! There were four of them in the carriage. Their names were Naughty, Ardent, Sleepyhead and Pegasus. Rascal was trying to prove that his nickname was a waste of time. It completely contradicted his sedate manners and slow walk. Rusty also loved to be lazy and to nibble on roadside grass. Sonja dozed on the move. Pegasus was named Pegasus as if in jest. He had no horn and no wings on his sides. A regular horse! The stable boy must have heard a lot of fairy tales and decided to name him that. If Pegasus had been magic, she would have left the three lazy horses and ridden him to Ivilor in a heartbeat.

      The horses were stubbornly unwilling to obey her.

      «Horses, sweethearts, let’s make a deal. Here’s a carrot!» Samantha shoved the only carrot she had in her picnic basket under Pegasus’ nose. The horse ate the carrot, but didn’t obey.

      «You are scoundrel!» She scolded the horse, even though he wasn’t a gelding. «If you don’t go, I’ll call you a donkey or even a monkey!»

      The horse didn’t care, but a voice from under the wheels answered:

      «Better a pony!»

      Is there really someone underground? Is it another demon? Samantha looked for something to defend herself with. A funny looking gnome in a bright green outfit and wearing a crown came out from under the wheels.

      «I love ponies, they’re just the right size for me,» he waved a chubby hand in greeting.

      «You are a pygmy!» Samantha shrieked and backed away.

      «Don’t insult me!»

      «And what are you?»

      «I’m a dwarf. Or rather, the king of the dwarves,» he fixed his crown, which had slipped to his side, and winked at the girl. «I agree that there is nothing worse than a small stature, but I do not like lanky fellows either.»

      «Now you’re insulting me,» Samantha said, rightly deciding that at her height she seemed no more graceful than a milepost.

      «I used to think of tall girls like you as tall,» he admitted, «but now I’m married to a princess as tall as you.»

      What a surprise! A dwarf married to a real princess!

      «You kidnapped her?»

      «At first, yes,» the dwarf confessed embarrassed. «I had to lure her into my dwarf kingdom. Viola didn’t like it, but she liked my library. And then the girl appreciated my wisdom. She said that I was the wisest dwarf in the world and even wanted to marry me, but between us was her old acquaintance – a tall blond elf.»

      «And then what happened?» Involuntarily Samantha became interested.

      «Viola had met the elf much earlier than she had met me. They shared a common passion – music. Viola plays the elves’ whistle very well. Anyway, the elf came to rescue her, and with him his entire magical army.»

      «It was the horror! If the elves turned against the dwarves, then the dwarves’ kingdom is over?

      «Not quite! Although the elves are strong, they’re short-sighted. And the dwarves are small but wise. Our powers were equal.»

      «And when the elf decided he couldn’t beat you, you married Viola?» Samantha guessed.

      «Alas, it was more complicated than that. Since neither rival could defeat the other, Viola had to decide the dispute between us. She had to choose who she wanted to stay with: the dwarf or the elf.»

      «She probably chose the elf. I’ve heard that elves are very beautiful.»

      «But empty-headed! Clever Viola took that into account. She liked the way Urel looked, but she didn’t like everything he did or said. She talked to me for hours, but my looks disappointed her.»

      «You couldn’t cross an elf’s body with a dwarf’s brain to suit a princess’s tastes, could you?»

      «But it was possible to give her a privilege: two husbands at once, which the generous dragon emperor Edwin did. Since he rules over all the magical creatures in the universe, he held a trial where he gave his verdict. And now Viola spends one month in the elf realm, and the next month she returns to me in the dwarves’ realm.»

      «So one month she’s the wife of an elf, and the next month she’s the wife of a dwarf king! That’s an interesting alternation! I wouldn’t have dreamed it in a wild dream.»

      «You’re not in the same situation as Viola,» the dwarf chuckled.

      «That’s right. I’ve never fallen in love once, let alone twice! But Princess Viola is lucky. If she has two husbands at once, when one goes bankrupt, she can always come to live with the other. When my father went bankrupt, my mother had no one to go to, so she took it out on me.»

      Samantha didn’t notice how she began to trust the gnome. She was not even embarrassed by the fact that she was standing in the middle of the roadway talking to a stranger.

      «Viola is by the elves now. They muse and dance on the cliffs by the sea, with azure dragons flying nearby. They love Viola’s whistle.»

      «Is it far from here?» Samantha wanted to see elf society.

      «If you don’t have wings, it’s a month from here to the cliffs of the Coast Elves.»

      «Then I won’t get there in time. I’m running out of time. Say hello to Viola when she gets back.»

      «I have nothing to do while she’s with the elf,» the dwarf muttered, «but when she gets back, I’ll be happy for a month, and I’m already collecting gifts СКАЧАТЬ