Chapter 18: The vampire
In the middle of the room they saw a grey-bearded old man, sitting at the table.
"I've been waiting for you, Swein!" the old man said quietly. "But I did not think that you would come here only with a snotty girl."
"I see my new body has not confused you!" the Prince smiled.
"I see deeper. I can see the soul. I wish I could take it when we met last time. Well, today I am going to correct my mistake!"
The old man stood up and suddenly nowhere a wide sword appeared in his hands.
"I'll kill you, take your soul and then finish your girl off. And I will make your soul look at her excruciation," the villain said malevolently.
The Prince turned to Lica and told her quickly:
"Immediately hide yourself somewhere!"
The girl nodded and hid behind the shelves.
The young man took out two of his swords from the scabbard and said:
"Wizard, you are too talkative today! It is time to shut you up!"
The Prince Night and the old man came to the middle of the room and the Wizard first attacked the Prince. They were fighting with the swords. Swein was very skillful warrior and the Wizard knew that. So he decided to cheat again. He read a spell and immediately large pieces of plaster and stones fell down on the Prince from the ceiling. One of these stones knocked out Swein's second sword.
"Ah, ah!" the Prince shouted. "You did it again! I see you cannot win without cheating!"
The villain grinned and pointed his sword at the Prince. The thin ray went out of the top of his sword and hit the Prince's shoulder. He groaned in pain. It made a hole in his clothes and burnt his skin.
"Well, Swein, you shouldn't have come back here!" the Wizard laughed loudly.
But suddenly the Prince's wound was closed quickly and in a few seconds disappeared.
"What the devil?" the old man couldn't understand.
He directed ray at the Prince again but he only laughed.
"What, Wizard, you did not expect, did you?" he asked sarcastically. "You cannot do me any harm! I am immortal! You'd better tell me where you're hiding the Magic Crystal?"
"You have become the undead?" the villain yelled.
Only now did he realize what position he was in now. The old man turned back and ran toward the spiral stairs.
"He'll get away!" Angelica shouted.
She ran after the Wizard. He ran up to the window, opened it, muttered a spell and turned into a raven. The Prince did not have time to run downstairs and Lica knew that the villain would fly away now.
When the Raven flapped its wings she remembered about the dirk. She immediately pulled it out of her jeans and threw it into the bird. Raven took off but the dirk cut his throat right in the air. And the Wizard's beheaded body fell on the floor. His head rolled down the stairs and stopped on one of them with his eyes opened and looking to the window.
"Bravo!" the Prince said. "You are absolutely accurate. Congratulations! But there is one problem now how will I know where the Wizard had hidden the Magical Crystal?"
The young man was going down stairs and Lica was standing and staring with horror at the Wizard's open eyes.
"Look!" she whispered finally. "It looks like as if he is looking at us! And one of his eyes is unnatural - it is too shiny even the moon reflects in it!"
The Prince crouched down and looked at the villain's face closely.
"Bravo once again!" he said. "Angelica, you're a genius! His eye is the Magic Crystal. That is why the Wizard lived so long. And that's why he was the Lord of all the Elements. Turn around! Now you'd better not to see what I would do."
The girl turned around and picked up the dirk, stained with Wizard's blood.
"Come on!" the Prince said. "It's time! I have taken out the crystal."
Our heroes went down the spiral stairs and out into the hall. There were old portraits everywhere on the walls. But the moonlight shone brightly just one of them. Angelica looked at it and started.
It was the portrait of Swein! Exactly the same as the portrait in the tomb only the clothes, he was wearing, different.
"Swein, there you are!" the girl said with stammering voice; it was the first time when she called the King Goblin by his real name.
The young man smiled and said:
"Well... In less than a year, you finally have remembered what my name is! But, please, do not call me by my name in front of other people! My mission hasn't finished yet."
Angelica nodded. The Prince walked slowly to the portrait and said:
"This is my great-great-great-... To make it shorter - my ancestor. You know that the goblins were exactly the same as ordinary people before. And I really look like him. Looked... anyway! But let's go! I do not think the Wizard was alone in the castle. Now his people may come here."
Our heroes went through the window outside and walked to the secret gate. The Prince pushed the stone and the door closed.
"We must hurry," the young man said. "It is the dawn soon!"
They sat on the horses and crossed the moat. The sky was getting light. Lica looked at the Prince, she was worried. But he took his heart. They let the horses galloping and soon they saw the hills ahead.
"We must stay there and find a shelter!" she pointed out.
The Prince didn't answer and nodded. They got to the hills and hardly found a shallow cave. But for the Prince it was the best place ever now. Lica tied the horses to the tree near the cave and they went inside.
"I'm terribly tired," she said. "Can I have a nap?"
"You can!" the Prince agreed. "And I'll be here to watch you are sleeping."
The girl did not like the tone the Prince said this simple phrase. And she said:
"I think I will sleep in the sun. And you will be here!"
She came out of the cave and went to the horses. Near them Angelica saw nice green meadow and the tall apple tree. She walked to the tree, pulled out the dirk, just in case, from her pocket and holding it in her hand, laid down on the soft grass. Five minutes later she fell asleep.
She woke up from the feeling of anxiety. Lica opened her eyes and saw the Prince's face over her. It was already dark and he was able to get out of the cave.
"Angelica, you are so beautiful!" the young man whispered his lips. "Let me kiss you..."
He was getting closer towards the girl but she raised the dirk and held it to his chest.
"If you move I'll plunge it to you!" Lica said quietly. "I know that you are immortal and this won't kill you. But you have forgotten one thing! There is the Wizard's blood on it. And it will certainly cause any new changes in your body. Do you need it, Prince?"
Swein laughed, stood up and walked away from the girl.
"And you're cleverer than others, Angelica!" he said laughing.
Lica stood up from the grass, shook herself off and said:
"Let's go! We cannot waste time!"
They went on…
Each day the Prince's character changed even more. Angelica had already got used to hearing Swein's sarcastic and mocking jokes but now he was too polite and affectionate. He could predict any her desire that frightened her a lot.
"He'd rather be the same Swein," Lica thought. "It's obviously not him but someone else..."
Finally, our heroes get to the Kingdom of Night.
"Go to the witch!" Angelica said firmly.
"You order, my lady! And where does she live?"
She realized that the Prince was losing his memory, so she had to hurry up...
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