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

ghost, the way to the castle of vampires seemed very short to her. Now she was riding for a long time, and had not see the dark sharp towers yet.

 

“What stuff!” she thought angrily. “The castle must have already been somewhere here, but it wasn’t. I hope vampires haven’t moved it anywhere far away?”

 

And she laughed at her thoughts.

 

Finally, ahead she saw a monumental structure.

 

“Thank God!” Angelica gasped.

 

She confidently sent her horse into the castle courtyard. Oddly, there were not any vampires. Lica dismounted and tied her horse to a tree. Then quite easily climbed the steps and entered the hall. But there she saw nobody either.

 

“It is strange, where is everybody?” she thought.

 

She turned left to the stairs and went up - to the Vampires Prince’s room. Soon she was standing in front of his door. Angelica knocked, but nobody answered it. She knocked louder, and suddenly the door opened itself. The girl looked inside and saw that the room was empty.

 

“What’s happened? As if they all have died out!” she was outraged.

 

Lica closed the door and went downstairs – to the hall. Suddenly, she heard the sound of horses’ hoofs in the yard, and voices:

 

“Whose horse is this?”

 

“We do not know, sir! We were with you on the hunt!” “Find and take him to me!”

 

Angelica ran out into the porch. She saw the Prince of Vampires with his servants was coming to the door.

 

“You do not have to search anybody!” she exclaimed. “Prince, it’s me!”

 

Vampires rushed to the girl, but their lord raised his hand and said:

 

“Wait, I’ll talk to her.”

 

He quickly ran up the stairs and went into the castle.

 

“Follow me,” he said, turning to Lica.

 

She nodded and hurried after the Prince. They both went to his room. The Vampire gave her a way, then came in and closed the door.

 

“You are, as usually, quite unexpected!” he said. “Have you come to express your appreciation?”

 

“Not really. I came on behalf of...”

 

“What!” the Prince of Vampires raised his eyebrow in sur-prise. “On behalf? Only the Devil can give me instructions!”

 

“No! Sorry I didn’t mean to,” Angelica tried to rectify the sit-uation. “Not on behalf of, but rather, at request. Yes, at request! The fact is that at the boundary of your Kingdom - in the mountains - something terrible is happening. When the sorcerer, who lived in caves, died the ancient evil had been released from the hellhole. It is the stranger to fear and borders, and soon it will spread over your world. Then no one will survive here. And vampires won’t either.” “I guessed,” the Prince breathed. “I suspected that the evil in the mountains was much older than all of us together. If they were

 

the usual demons or monsters, I would know them, but I didn’t. And when my servants began to die in the mountains, I had realized that they were not our friends from the underworld.”

 

“The sorcerer was a pagan and was able to control the primal evil. His soul was sealed the entrance to that terrible world, but with his death, everything changed. Some horrible creatures, which have both materializes and energy structure have ripped into your world. And no one can fight with them with usual weapon, it is impossible!”

 

“What do you want me to do?”

 

“Now Prince Edward and the Goblins’ King Swein are gathering the army against these monsters. They ask you, Prince, to join them. They think that with joint efforts you will be able to stop the evil.”

 

The Vampire thought to himself for a minute.

 

“Put it that you are right,” he finally said. “In the name of common interests, I’ll join Prince Edward and the Goblins’ King. But none of us knows exactly what is it in the caves? I am against hasty decisions. First we must find out what we have to contend with and then act!”

 

“I absolutely agree with you, Prince!” Lica said with conviction.

“When do I have to decide and give you my answer?”

“Tomorrow Prince Night and the Goblins’ King Swein will be waiting for you and me at Sleepy Lake, near the Fields of Ghosts.” “Then we have little time. Come on, Angelica! We need to do a lot.” The Prince blankly went out of the room. He clapped his  hands and shouted:

 

“Saddle my horse immediately!”

 

Then he turned to Lica and said:

 

“Do you mind a horse riding, young lady?” “Where are we going?” asked the girl. “A walk to Hell!”

 

He offer Angelica his hand, but she remembered about the amulet given to her by the witch. Therefore, pretending have not seen it, she walked pass. Vampires were bustling in the courtyard. They straddled the black horse, and the Prince easily jumped into the saddle. Lica also climbed the horse.

 

“Try to keep up,” the Lord warned the girl.

 

He pulled the reins and rode out of the yard. Riders rushed back in the direction from which Angelica had just come. The girl was not surprised when she saw the abandoned farm in front.

 

“Are we going to the Well of Oppression?” she asked.

 

“Yes! We have to go down.”

 

“But the last time I could not do it.”

 

“The last time you were a soul, and could never go back, because this Well is a kind of Hell for souls! A sort of a trap from which there is no exit for energy substances. In addition, the Well is the tunnel into the bottomless pit, and you could meet my lord - the Devil!”

 

At this point, the riders entered the courtyard of the aban-doned farm and came to the Well of Oppression. The Prince jumped to the ground and wanted to help Angelica down, but she refused and went down herself.

 

“You are strange today, Angelica,” the Prince smiled. “You seem to avoid my touch.”

 

“It seems to you! Let’s talk about the well. Why are we here?” “As I have said, the Well opens the way to the Underworld, and I want to talk to the Devil about the strange things in the mountains, and about what we can do with it. Moreover, I need you to go with me, because the path to the Underworld is through Hellfire Valley. You can meet very old creatures - Viatores. They are beholders and they control good and evil to be equal. And only a man with soul can see Viatores. I do not have soul – consequently I can’t! That’s why I asked you to accompany me. You can ask these ancient creatures how to stop the evil in the mountains. But be very careful with these restless souls. They can put it across you, creating an illusion.”

 

“Okay, I’ll try,” promised the girl.

 

They came to the Well, and the Prince went first.

 

“Here in the well you can feel for some step irons,” he ex-plained. “Find first and go.”

 

“But I cannot see in the dark,” said Lica.

 

“At the bottom it is going to be much lighter, I assure you,” she heard the voice of the Prince.

 

Angelica sighed and sat on the edge of the well and began to fumble a step in the dark. At some point, she hit something. She turned and started down.

 

Lica had never gone so deep down before. The Well seemed to be endless. The starry sky overhead had disappeared, and the girl was surrounded only by Cimmerian gloom. She looked down, and it seemed to her that below it was getting lighter. However, there was a strange feeling of fear.

 

“Angelica! Get down, do not hesitate!” she heard the Prince’s voice. “And take no notice of anything, no matter what you will see or hear. Remember that Hell is just an illusion created by you - people.” The girl calmed down when she realized that the Prince was waiting for her. She went down and down. And with each her step it was getting lighter and lighter. Soon Lica reached the bottom of the Well, she saw the narrow corridor. Here the Prince was waiting for her.

 

“Come on!” he said, and led the way forward.

In the Well of Oppression

 

 

The corridor suddenly widened and they found themselves in a quite strange place. It reminded Lica a slaughter-house. Everywhere she could see widely scattered pieces of rotten meat, heads of animals, skins and bones. Swarms of flies were buzzing and flying over all this mess. Angelica started feeling dizzy because of this smell of rotting flesh.

 

“What is it?” asked the girl, trying to keep loathing.

 

“This one? It’s someone’s illusion!” the Vampire smiled. “Every person imagines the Hell in their own way. Don’t be so sensitive.”

 

He kicked the skull, lying on the road and went forward. Lica covered her mouth and nose with her hands and ran after him. Suddenly the slaughter-house replaced with the old room which was absolutely freezing. A girl was sitting on a ragged sofa dully staring at the ceiling. On the walls, floor and ceiling spiders and woodlice were bustling in and out. They also were on the girl but she seemed not to notice them.

 

“Look!” Angelica exclaimed. “She needs help. She will die here alone.”

 

“She is dead,” said the Vampire, “and this is her choice- illusion!” However Lica went to the sofa took a warm blanket and covered the woman with it. She sighed and looked gratefully at Angelica. The picture of the room immediately disappeared. Our heroes were facing with a huge lake of blood. They could hear heart-breaking eerie shrieks from the lake – and people’s heads picked out of the blood lake. Their faces spoke unfeigned horror. They tried to get out stretching their hands to the girl and Vampire. “What a nightmare!” Angelica shivered. “Poor people!”

 

“I have told you that each person creates their own hell. It is the choice of these people. Take courage, we have to go through them.”

 

“Never!” Lica said in horror.

 

“No turning back! You won’t be able to come out of the well without my help. You will get in someone’s illusion and go missing. So we must move on. Give me your hand! I’ll help you!”

 

“No!” cried the girl. “I’ll do it myself...”

 

The Prince looked at her suspiciously, but said nothing.

 

He first stepped onto the surface of the bloody lake. Ironically, it had sustained, and the Vampire moved forward. He was walking over the heads of dead people, who tried to come up, and if someone grabbed him by the leg, the Prince mercilessly kicked them with his boots. Lica took a deep breath and also followed him. Screams were ringing in her ears, but she tried not to look at them. Suddenly under her feet she heard a familiar voice.

 

“Angelica! Save me!”

 

She looked down and saw Sofia. She stretched out her arms, spitting blood out.

 

“Sofia! How did you get here?” Lica was shocked.

 

“Michael has gone back to the Well and I have followed him. I couldn’t imagine what a horror was here!”

 

Suddenly Angelica felt that her legs started to sink in the slurry of blood.

 

“Prince!” she cried. “Help me, Prince!”

 

The Vampire immediately turned back and gave Lica his hand.

 

“Cleek!” he shouted.

 

For a moment she thought about amulet, but then took it off and decisively threw it away. Then she held out her hand to the Prince and he began to pull her out of this bloody mess. Then he caught her up and walked forward quickly.

 

“It was Sofia!” cried