NIGHT by I. Rin (fantasy books to read .TXT) 📖

had difficulties breathing. After a few turns Lica and the Prince came to the edge of the deep abyss.

 

“Well, where are we going now?” the young man asked in-credulously.

 

Angelica stretched her hand with a torch forward and looked around...

 

She couldn’t see the opposite side of the abyss but she heard some unpleasant splashes below. And then the girl looked at the cliffs hanging over the abyss. The right rock was vertical but the left had a small ledge - just half foot - but they could move on it.

 

“We are going there!” Lica pointed it.

 

“You are crazy! We are going to fall down!” the Prince whispered.

 

But he could not resist not being sarcastic:

 

“But there are two of us, so we can sacrifice one!”

 

He gave the girl his torch and set his foot on the dangerous path. Swein nestled up the wall and slowly began to bend the rock around. A few minutes later he disappeared around the bend. For a while it was completely silent and suddenly she heard his voice:

 

“Angelica, you were right! Laboratory is here!”

 

It was silence again but ten minutes later she heard him again: “Angelica, there is nothing even looks like a hiding-place!” The girl immediately stuck her torch in the cleft of the rock

 

and followed Swein. Slowly, step by step, she was moving on the narrow ledge. At some point she nearly stumbled and began to balance on her left leg over the abyss. The stone, she was holding on, suddenly broke off and the girl fell in.

 

She only had time to scream. But the fall was not long. Lica got hurt her legs by the stone floor and sat down. The Prince bended down from the top:

 

“Angelica!” he cried. “Angelica, are you alive?” “Yes, I am alive!” Lica said. “Only hurt myself.”

 

“You scared me! Why have you followed me? You should have waited for me there!”

 

“Well, would you like to give me a lesson!” she smiled. “By the way, can you see from the top where I have fallen? Because I’m poorly guided in the dark!”

 

“I think it is ledge! You were very lucky... A little more to the right or to the left - and you would have died! Stay there! I am going down!”

 

Soon she saw the rope and the young man was sliding down it.

 

“Stand up!” he gave his hand to Lica.

 

And then suddenly froze.

 

“What is it?” he asked quietly, pointing at something behind Angelica.

 

“Where?”

 

 

The girl looked back. But she could not see anything instead of the black wall.

 

“It is there in the rock, right behind you!”

 

“I cannot see in the dark, have you forgotten?” “Oh you are right!” the Prince nodded.

 

He carefully removed Angelica and came up to the wall. Then he started touching it and suddenly they heard a click. The part of the rock moved to the side.

 

“The hiding-place!” Lica gasped.

 

“There are stairs. I’ll go down myself! And you stay here and wait and do not take anything!”

 

Swein like a cat entered the dark hole. A few minutes later he came back to Angelica, holding a thick folio.

 

“Here it is! The Book of Destiny!” he said, smiling happily. “Take it! I am going upstairs first and then help you out.”

 

Lica took the book and the Prince quickly climbed the rope. Then he pulled the girl. They were slowly rounding the rock going along the ledge. Angelica pulled out the torches from the cliff and our heroes entered the dark cave tunnel leading outside.

The deadly fight

 

Suddenly they heard a boom sweeping through the stone walls and the ground trembled.

 

“Earthquake!” the girl shouted.

 

“No that’s worse!” the Prince grinned.

 

They heard terrible roar over their heads and the Wizard blocked them the way.

 

“Wow, the guests!” he croaked. “Why had not you told me about your visit? I would have met you!”

 

“Next time we will!” Swein parried, taking his sword out. “Have nobody told you, Your Highness, that it’s not good to take other people’s things without asking?”

 

Having said that the Wizard raised his hand and sent a bundle of bright sparks of fire to them. Swein pushed Angelica and turned the fire aside himself.

 

“That’s right!” the Prince said and swung his sword at him. The Wizard laughed and struck his finger in the air. The stone  ceiling above the Prince and the girl began to crumble. Swein grabbed Lica’s hand and pushed her into the corridor, which they had come from.

 

“Run!” he whispered to her. “Do not stop! I’ll meet you outside.” Angelica clung the book was running through the corridors. The Wizard screamed terribly behind and raised his hands. Have muttered a spell he pointed at the girl. Suddenly Lica heard as if something was rolling after her. She looked back and saw the stone boulder, which was as big as all space of the corridor. Angelica screamed and ran even faster. But it wasn’t easy because in one hand she had a book and the torch in the other. Running she turned to the right and to the left but it did not stop the stone. The girl reached the hall with the stream, jumped over it and went out of the tunnel, which the Princess had showed her and Henry. Angelica was running like the wind but the stone kept rolling behind her. Lica was getting exhausted.

 

Taking last strength she pushed her way into the cleft, leading outside, threw the torch away and climbed a little up to the moun-tain. A few seconds later the stone with the terrible roar, almost blowing up the cleft, rolling ran down the slope.

 

“God, what a blessing that I have got rid of it at last,” she thought.

 

Meanwhile, Swein and the Wizard met in mortal duel. “You never get out of here!” the Wizard hissed. “What about your girl; she is probably already dead; only wet spot left!”

 

“We’ll see!” Prince grinned.

 

The Wizard muttered a curse again and huge spiders were crawling towards Swein from everywhere.

 

“I see you do not like fighting fair!” the young man said.

 

He rushed to the Wizard and wounded him in his right arm with the sword. The villain screamed in pain but Swein had to retreat almost to the edge of the abyss, as the spiders began surrounding him.

 

“Say goodbye to your life!” the Wizard shouted.

 

He started muttering his curse again but the Prince sudden-ly kneeled down, rolled under the jaws of the biggest spider and jumped at the Wizard. He did not expect such a sharp throw and was taken aback for a moment, Swein, wasted no time, swung his sword and cut him down from his shoulder. The villain fell with a grimace on his face and the cold draught swept around the cave. Then there was a terrible noise. Huge spiders, which had been haunting Swein, suddenly began to shake and paying no attention to the Prince, were quickly crawling away of the abyss. They were racing madly down the corridors, as far away as they could.

 

The Prince looked around and saw that terrible tentacles were rising from the abyss and extending to the dead body of the Wizard. He did not wait for the outcome and rushed to the corridor, which Lica had run before...

 

It had passed quite a long time, as she thought, waiting for the Prince but he had not appeared yet.

 

“Has the Wizard beaten him?” she thought with horror.

 

At this point, the mountains trembled. Angelica jumped off the stone, she had been sitting on, and ran down. She realized that something terrible was happening in the dungeons. Lica came to the horses and untied them of the tree.

 

“Prince! Where are you?” she cried desperately.

 

At this moment she saw the Prince, getting out of the broken cleft. “Get in the saddle immediately!” he shouted. “We’re leaving!” She quickly put the Book of Destiny in the Prince’s bag, which was tied to his saddle and then climbed on her horse. Swein joined her and pulled the reins.

 

“Come on!” he cried.

 

In the end Angelica looked back. What she had seen shocked her. The mountains were crumbling. The huge stones exploded were flying in the air, like the grains of sand. The huge spiders were scattering in all directions. And then a vast formless monster, which had closed the half of the sky, rose over the mountains. It stretched its tentacles, which were grabbing and sucking the huge spiders, like over-ripe fruits...

 

“Do not look back!” Swein said. “We have too little time!” And they spurred their horses. Soon they were hid by the fog and in a few hours our heroes came near Margo’s house.

 

“What was there - in the mountains?” Lica asked the Prince. “I do not know. I think Margo will explain everything soon!” The riders turned to the cave and dismounted. Swein took the Book of Destiny out of his bag carefully and they went inside.

 

Ironically, Margo had been already waiting for them.

 

“At last!” she exclaimed. “Have you brought the Book?”

 

She rushed to Swein, trying to wrest the tome from his hands.

 

But the Prince dodged and said:

 

“Be patient, Margo! First of all you have to explain everything!”

 

“What do I have to explain?”

 

“Everything!”

 

The witch flushed but then pulled herself together and said:

 

“All right! Come with me to the hall.”

 

She went into the corridor and Lica with the Prince followed her.

 

Margo’s revelation

 

 

Our heroes came into the room and sat down on the sofa and the witch took the place opposite them.

 

“Ask!” she said to Swein.

 

“What happened in the dungeons when I killed the Wizard?”

 

“In fact, the Wizard had sold his soul to Devil and when you killed him you unconsciously let the evil out.”

 

“What will happen now?”

 

“I will try to stop him there - in the canyons!”

 

“Margo, could you answer one more question? Why did you need Edward’s body?”

 

“You died, Swein! Haven’t you forgotten that?”

 

“Then why do you keep my body? Angelica has been in my tomb and opened my coffin. She says that my body hasn’t changed at all. No decay, decomposition or mummification. I think that you have done something with it!”

 

Margo started. Then she rose from the chair and began walk-ing around the room nervously.

 

“I always thought that this girl was too curious, but now...”

 

The witch suddenly stopped and said:

 

“I have sworn to your father to keep this secret. But now, I see, if I don’t tell you anything, it will be even worse. So listen... When your father brought you, wounded, you were on the verge of death. While I was treating you, we talked a lot with your father about your destiny and the