Swan Lake

Duel with the shadow

Lightning flashed in the distant sky, the people hurried to hide from the approaching thunderstorm, and Christian, throwing one last long look at the palace, with bitter regret turned his horse to ride away. He decided to stop by the hermit and then see his family. Suddenly, the prince felt some fiery hand touching his shoulder, and the voice of the red-haired witch whispers to him:

“Your troubles have just begun.”

Yes, indeed, the troubles have begun. When he arrived at the hermit's cave, he found his friend dead. The hermit was killed. Pain and anger took possession of the prince. From that moment on, his sword will become his most faithful friend, and he will not put it in its scabbard until he avenges the death of the hermit.

Etienne returned to the castle saddened. He was not pleased with the luxury that surrounded him, nor the beautiful ladies, nor the lush flowers in vases placed in the halls of the castle. He remembered the sound of swan wings, the azure eyes of an enchanted swan flying away from him into the bright radiance of the coming day. Etienne looked sadly at the sunlight, which took away from him the hope that his beloved would be disenchanted.

However, something in the castle had changed, no one was visible, an unusual silence reigned around. He opened the doors to the royal chambers.

The queen sat alone on a triplet and seemed to be in despair.

“Something happened?” he asked quickly, the excitement in which the queen was seized.

“The time has come for you to become the real heir to the throne,” said his mother.

“I do not understand?” uttered Etienne.

“In the castle, too, no one can understand where you were all night. Your handsome brother has gone to no one knows where, perhaps he is already dead. You are never there in a moment of danger, when I need at least one of you who prefer to spend the night in the open.”

“In a moment of danger,” said Etienne, “but what danger?”

“War has been declared on us,” the queen finally explained.

“War,” as Etienne echoed, “but this is not the end of the world, we can win.”

“No, you don’t understand,” came the agitated answer, “it’s not a mortal kingdom that declared war on us, in fact, everything is much worse.”

“I really do not understand.”

“King Rothbert is coming at us with his troops, no one has yet managed to defeat him, This is not a man, but a devil. Everyone calls him the king of evil, no one knows what is happening in his castle. He is accompanied by warriors whose faces no one has ever seen, maybe they are not people at all, but monsters born of darkness. You must defeat him, or we will all die.”

Etienne lost his mind for a moment, but not from horror, but from the thought that he could meet in battle with the one who bewitched Odette. Of course, it was dangerous, he could die, but he had the opportunity to save the one he loves.

“Do you know where Christian went?” the queen asked, but Etienne only shook his head sadly.

“You and him are so different,” the queen burst out, “but you must together oppose the dark forces, my hope is laid on you. It's time for Christian to forget his dreams and fight the enemy as he fought in Spain.”

Etienne thought for a moment, his beloved brother could help him like no other. After all, they were brothers, Etienne would always do anything for him if he only asked. Now it was his turn to help Etienne in a deadly duel with King Rothbert.

“You must leave immediately,” the queen told him. “The enemy is already approaching the borders of our kingdom.”

She handed him a bloody arrow with a piece of paper attached to it.

“With it he informed us about his campaign and killed one of our knights,” his mother explained.

Etienne carefully lifted the blood-stained paper from the arrow and looked at it.

“Your death is near, Prince Etienne,” the message read.

“You are our last hope,” the words of the queen sounded as if from some kind of given, “if you do not help the kingdom, then no one else can do this, you need to go to war, I hope for you, you must win, otherwise everything the end will come.”

“Okay,” Etienne said, “I'll hit the road immediately.”

“My blessing is with you, you must win.”

“No one can even imagine how I need this victory,” said Etienne. Having won, he will save his kingdom and his beloved princess.

Everything depended on his duel with King Rothbert, only one of them could win, one of them had to become the owner of Odette's hand, and the other had to die.

Etienne left the throne room. He clutched the hilt of a sword in his hand, which will help him resolve a dispute between two enemies over Odette's love.

Etienne climbed the old castle tower to take a last look at his native land. As children, the brothers loved to play there. Secretly, he hoped to see Christian in it. Christian stood at the edge of the tower and, holding his hand to the stone parapet, looked from a dizzying height at the moat under the castle. Etienne realized that his beautiful brother was in love, deeply in love and hopelessly.

“Christian,” Etienne called softly, but his brother didn't even turn around.

“Go away,” said Christian, “leave me alone, I don't want to see anyone.”

“What happened to you?” burst out from Etienne.

“Nothing,” the dark-haired prince replied, but the tone of his voice betrayed all his senses.

“Are you in love?” Etienne asked.

“Yes, I am in love,” his brother said with sorrowful indifference, “I am in love and am ready to die because of this love, and now, leave me alone.”

“Who are you in love with?” Etienne asked cautiously.

“To my own death,” Christian whispered, “but if you want to know so much, then I’ll tell you, I love Rotbert’s daughter, I love her from the very first meeting. She saved my life in the castle of darkness when we parted, but her father hates me. I love the beautiful black swan, even if she has to kill me.”

“And I ...” uttered Etienne, “I love her sister.”

“You,” Christian turned, “does she have a sister.”

“Mother's sister,” Etienne replied, “but she is bewitched by Rothbert, she is a princess - a swan, but I decided to fight for my love and propose to do the same to you.”

“I almost lost hope.”

“Look, I'm going to war with Rothbert, and you can infiltrate his castle. You will introduce yourself as a Spanish aristocrat, learn about his plans. If you're lucky, you will fight behind enemy lines, hiding your face with a black mask. Help the simple middling of evil, become their hero. You look, Odile will fall in love with you herself, it will be impossible not to fall in love with you.”

“I agree,” Christian said, and Etienne happily shook his hand.

“Are we going now?” Étienne asked.

“Yes,” Christian confirmed.

“You are not afraid of danger, or that we both could lose our lives, because we have a long way to go, and who knows how it will end.”

“No, the danger does not scare me, I agree to anything to win. I will infiltrate Rothbert's castle and I will win Odile's love.”

The brothers shook hands once more and parted.

Odette stood by the lake, by the enchanted palace. Her white ball gown was covered in fluff and gems sparkled on it, but she was sad. So much time has passed since she picked flowers on the rocks, and the evil sorcerer turned her into a swan, at the very moment when more than anything in the world she needed human love.

“It's time for reckoning, Odette,” she heard a voice behind her, “soon your prince will be dead, like your mother.”

Odette objected. Rothbert stood next to her.

“You cannot kill him,” Odette said, “someday, the hour will come, and he will defeat you, you cannot rule here forever.”

“The fight will decide the matter.”

“Etienne will win.”

“No,” Rothbert laughed, “he will not be able to defeat me, your mother has made her choice, and now you will be a swan, and not a man until the end of time.”

“What could she do so terrible?”

“She deceived the devil himself, married the king, but I cannot be left on the losing side. You will forever be a swan, and Etienne will die. I will bring you his severed head, Princess Odette.”

“Why,” Odette whispered, “why do you need Etienne's life.”

“He broke my law, fell in love with a girl - a swan, and anyone who does this is doomed to die.”

“I will never betray him.”

“Oh no, princess, you have already betrayed him, you have become a princess of the wild swans, and that is your curse.”

“I will kill your prince,” said Rothbert, “I will bring you his heart torn from his chest.”

“I don’t believe you,” Odette replied, “he is a wonderful knight, he will defend his life.”

“What knight can handle my sorcery.”

“Love can handle him.”

“Love,” grinned Rothbert, “love is powerless before my power.”

“She will win.”

“No,” Rothbert looked at the beauty for the last time with his flaming eyes.

“Farewell, princess,” he hissed, and now, not a man, but a huge kite, flapped his powerful wings and disappeared into the darkness.

All day there was a fierce battle between Etienne's army and the black knights of King Rothbert. Neither side was able to win. The night interrupted the battle.

Etienne woke up in the middle of the night. His camp is located north of the road to King Rothbert's castle.

Etienne did not know what had awakened him so suddenly. In a dream, he heard some words, some kind of sad song, he saw the face of the beautiful Odette, but for some reason with hair black as night.

Etienne left the tent, night enveloped everything around him, but the camp lights dispersed the darkness, although all the people except the sentries had long been asleep in it, and only morning or a sudden attack of the enemy could wake them up.

Etienne's attention was attracted by strange lights dancing near the forest trees. The ghost of black-haired Odette appeared in front of him and beckoned him to follow. Etienne did not understand what was wrong with him. He was fascinated and mesmerized by this vision, he, forgetting about everything, entrusted his life to the green-eyed ghost and went after him.

The prince did not remember how long he walked, but suddenly Odette disappeared, and he saw that he was standing on a bridge over a deep moat. Etienne realized that he was in front of Rothbert's castle.

Suddenly, a black horse flew right out of the castle gates, and on it a rider - a knight in the same black armor, in his hands he gripped a sharp spear. He was heading straight for Etienne. but it was not just one of the black warriors, a golden crown shone on his helmet, it was the king of evil himself.

All in black, on a horse, from the nostrils of which flames escaped, he rushed straight to Etienne, and the death of the prince would have been inevitable if he had not had time to move away in time, and the knight's spear broke on the edge of the stone bridge.

Etienne's adversary jumped off his horse and drew his sword.

“Who are you?” burst out from Etienne.

“Your death, Prince Etienne,” came the voice of the black knight. He was confident in his strength and in his victory over the prince.

He raised his hand, lightning flashed and blinded the prince. Etienne fell to the ground, losing consciousness, and the black knight stood over him like a dark shadow and looked at the prince with his eyes burning with malice.

He had been victorious, he had won through witchcraft, and now the grim warrior of darkness was triumphant.