Swan Lake

Fairy wedding

Odette stood on a cliff, with a beautiful view of the swan lake. Her eyes were fixed on the distance, then night came again, and she was again a man. She was waiting for Etienne, he was supposed to come to the swan lake. Suddenly Odette felt that she had stepped on something hard, like a stone. A strange object crunched under her foot, she looked down, but instead of a stone she saw a crushed scarlet rose. The rose petals shrank, they were so delicate, so soft, and for some reason it seemed to her that she had stepped on something hard. How could such a rose, tender and beautiful, hurt her so painfully?

The flower petals were full of some kind of magical life, they said "believe in me, and I will come to life." How a crushed rose could bloom again, Odette couldn't believe it. In the distance, wonderful music sounded, its sounds were intoxicating and sweet, and it seemed that the words of the song sounded over the very heart of Odette:

“Love, love me,

As in the glow of the roses of fire.

You were only human

Your rose is already dead.”

A sweet voice was repeating the words, but there was something ominous about it. The rose under Odette's feet, that same crushed rose, began to acquire juicy shades of life, colorful and bright, full of inhuman strength, its petals began to straighten, as if revived by water, and now in front of Odette lay not a dead flower, but a bright, lush rose, shining colors of life. Music sounded from everywhere, and a wave of fabulous radiance swept across the lake, like a scattering of gold dust. She embraced everything around Odette, it was so beautiful, but the golden snowflakes stabbed and burned Odette's hands, she tried to move away, but found herself right in the center of the glow.

Roses began to bloom on the desert rock, they rose straight out of the rock in whole bushes, and their scent spread everywhere. Lush blooming heads opened right in front of Odette's eyes, they bloomed and smelled, the roses were full of life, love and dazzling magical beauty. Then gold dust blew into Odette's face and gilded her hair so that it shone brighter than any roses.

It was all for a reason. Odette felt the call of magic, but Rothbert wouldn't do that, no, it was someone else. Odette turned around and froze in surprise, before her stood a man in dark clothes, with a mask on his face.

He took Odette's hand with his long, clawed hand and placed it to his lips. Odette wanted to pull back, but could not, she seemed to be petrified.

“I am honored to see you, Princess Odette,” he said.

“How do you know my name?” she exclaimed, but he did not answer, but only looked intently at her face.

“You are beautiful,” he said quietly, “you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in this world.”

“Who you are?” Odette asked, she shrank all over from his touch, but he did not let her hand out of his cold, as ice, hand.

“Who you are?” Odette repeated her question, and he looked straight into her eyes.

He straightened up and now looked like a real giant, his eyes sparkling with golden fire.

“I am the owner of magical roses,” he hissed, “Prince Etienne promised me you, he promised to give me his bride.”

His words pierced Odette's heart like a thunderbolt.

“He couldn't,” she whispered. “He couldn't do that.”

“I counted on this,” sounded a stern answer, “with the help of deception you can achieve everything, I deceived him, he did not know what he promised me, but I knew that his bride was you, and not the ugly Rosalyn, and now you belong to me.”

His eyes lit up with fire.

“Oh, believe me, Odette,” he said, “you will be the most beautiful rose in the crown of my castle, you will be luring all the pilgrims to me with your magical beauty, you will bring so many new sacrifices to my domain, you must come with me.”

He took the rose and squeezed it in his hand so that it was not water that dripped out of it, but blood.

“Look!” he said, “look, if you do not go with me, it will be the same with you.”

Odette recoiled, she couldn't believe the reality of what was happening.

“I'll stay here!” She firmly said, and her eyes stubbornly and willfully flashed a spark of excitement in the fight against the forces of darkness.

“Will you come with me!” he shouted and grabbed her by the shoulders, but then a calm and confident voice said:

“Get away from her!”

The order sounded so imperious and stern that not only Odette, but the devil of roses himself turned and looked into the bold eyes of Prince Etienne, who was standing next to them. The prince drew the blade of his sword, now the battle between them had to decide who would get the hand of Princess Odette.

Blade struck blade and steel rang on the rocks among the roses. One of them should have won, but this victory could cost too much.

The enemy's blade struck Etienne's sword with superhuman strength, but he managed to reflect the blow, so that the blade only touched a rose bush and broke several pink twigs. Right in front of Odette's eyes, blood flowed from the broken bush, the same as that of any person, and immediately an invisible sword stabbed Etienne, and a long bloody scar remained on his shoulder.

The rival of the prince smiled with such a vicious and cruel smile that could only paint the face of the devil gaining victory, but victory was still far away, although blood oozed from the prince's wounded shoulder, he was ready to continue the fight, no matter what it cost him. He struck his opponent a blow, so that he, unable to resist, fell to the ground, and the prince saw thick, crimson blood dripping from his enemy's hand, like the petals of red roses.

“Run!” Etienne whispered, grabbing Odette's hand.

“No, I can't,” she replied. “I can't leave you here.”

“You must!” burst out from him.

“Never,” she replied, but the prince's gaze was pleading.

“You must run,” he said, “take my horse, go to safety, and I will find you soon.”

“Okay,” Odette agreed.

After kissing the prince, Odette jumped into the saddle and rushed away, only once she held her horse and turned around to look at the face of the one she loved and, perhaps, lost again, and the wounded monster hissed and rushed about, wanting to wipe both of them off the face of the earth. ...

Etienne gripped the sword in his hand, and fire blew into his face, the roses around the rocks burst into flames. The prince remained fearless, he hoped to win, because he always won, although he never found himself in such danger as now.

The monster moved towards him, his steps shook everything around him, the fire burned Etienne's face, but he was ready to fight for his life and fight for his love.

“It's over, Prince Etienne,” hissed the owner of the witch's roses, but at that very moment his rival plunged his sharp sword directly into the monster's chest.

A terrible scream broke the silence, and the monster fell at Etienne's feet. All the roses around burst into flames and went out, leaving only ash.

Etienne stood over a dead monster, he was the winner, but he knew that other severe trials awaited him ahead. It didn't scare him. He was ready to do anything for Odette.

Meanwhile, Odette galloped along the forest road, she was afraid to look back, fearing that Etienne was dead.

Her hair fluttered in the breeze, like the skirt of her white ball gown, she looked like the bride of a dead groom who must now be married to the grave. She rushed through the forest, trees and bushes flashed past her, moving away from the witch's roses and their cruel owner.

She remembered Rosalyn, distraught and obsessed with revenge, just like the red-haired witch.

Odette stopped at the crossroads of three forest roads, with a stone cross at their fork.

Suddenly a crow with sparkling eyes sat on a stone cross. Odette recognized the eyes of King Rothbert, but now it was no longer a raven, but a huge snake entwined with its green, spotted body around a stone cross, two long white fangs protruding from its mouth, on which its deadly poison foamed.

Odette recoiled in horror, but suddenly everything disappeared, only a stone cross remained, three roads diverged from it in different directions. Then she heard the sound of hammers, so unusual and resonant, as if the dwarves and elves were building something for their holiday. Odette succumbed to curiosity, dismounted from her horse and walked to the nearest tree. A strange yellowish light emanated from under its roots, and the singing of thin voices was heard.

“There is silt blooming in the distance,

Come to the fairies' wedding,” the ringing voices sang.

“King of the elves and everything,

He has a bride.

But it brings only death to everyone again

Witchcraft is his love.”

Odette froze in place, she could not understand if she was sleeping, or if all this was really happening. She bent down and listened.

“For whom do you work all night,” squeaked one thin voice.

“For our master,” the other echoed him, “he ordered the forging of diamond shoes for his bride that night.”

“You saw his bride, who is she?” the first dwarf asked curiously.

“She's a mortal girl,” said the second.

“Mortal,” the first chuckled, “mortals cannot be as beautiful as elves.”

“Yes, no one, but the bride of our master is more beautiful than all fairies, remember, because our prince was also once a man.”

“A man!” Odette echoed in her head, she could not believe what she was hearing, was it really not a dream, and she would not wake up, could she really hear the voices of the dwarfs.

Suddenly the thumping of hammers died away and she heard strange music. Now the sounds did not come from underground, they were heard right on the surface.

Odette got up and barely had time to hide behind a tree, she was alert and waited for the procession of elves to pass by her.

The music grew louder, more solemn, the scent of roses and violets spread through the air. These flowers and their beautiful scent, as well as charming music have always accompanied the fairies. Only man could not see them, but Odette somehow miraculously had the opportunity to watch the procession of fairies and elves until they noticed her.

Odette pressed tightly against the trunk of a tree and picked up unruly strands of hair with her hand, she hoped that she would remain unnoticed, but did not know if takre was possible, because not the eyes of people, but the wonderful all-seeing eyes of the elves would watch her.

A kind of wondrous radiance flooded everything around, and a cheerful procession appeared on the forest road. Girls in green, scarlet, yellow dresses with wings behind their graceful backs, dressed-up cavaliers with flowers in golden hair, sparkling horses, long caps, sleeves, trains, it was a real royal procession, striking in its luxury. However, their leader was nowhere to be seen. While they were celebrating the wedding without him, and there was no groom or bride. Who they were, Odette didn't think she knew them, but she was wrong.

A dazzling beauty rode on a snow-white horse, It was her mother. She remained young and beautiful, the years have not left their mark on her. Her beauty was untouched by time and shone even brighter than with now such a distant human life.

Diana was dressed in white, behind her two delicate thin fairy wings trembled, jewels unseen in the human world adorned her neck, arms and waist, even in her hair precious stones shone dazzlingly, which had no value. She held the silk reins of her snow-white horse, and her feet were decorated with satin shoes. She was strikingly similar to Odette. One could say that this is one and the same person, and not two girls, the same outwardly, but different in their feelings.

The procession passed the crossroads and with cheerful shouts went on along the forest road. Odette huddled tightly against a tree as the elves passed by. Suddenly the ground opened up in front of the elves, and a small ravine appeared. A gilded staircase led down, and they all descended one after another down it to their mysterious kingdom.

It seemed to Odette that someone was standing behind her, she turned around, but behind her flew only a golden bird, small and beautiful, as if it were entirely made of gold. On her tail were feathers in three colors, green, bright scarlet and yellow, like the fairies' dresses.

The bird sang sweetly and sat on Odette's hand. Then the bird disappeared, and in front of her stood a gentleman dressed in green silk. Gold buttons glittered on his green jacket, he took off his hat all in scarlet, green and yellow feathers and bowed exquisitely to Odette.

His golden hair shone magically and he smiled. and the wings behind him rustled in alarm, as if in a sign of respect.

“God!” Odette whispered, unable to contain her surprise, “who are you?”

“I hope that a loyal subject of my lord, he is a lord of the elves and a friend of mine, that's for sure.”

“Are you a girl too?” burst out from Odette.

“I am a loyal subject of the dark prince and yours, Princess Odette.”

“How do you know who I am?”

“You forgot one little thing, the elves know everything, and, believe me, there is not a single fairy more beautiful than you.”

“You flatter me,” smiled Odette.

“Believe me, no, my master thinks the same way, and he absolutely agrees with me, as I do with him.”

“Who is your master?” Odette asked, hoping to find out the answer to the mystery, but the elf just shook his head.

“You’ll learn about this later,” he said and made several movements with his hand, and then the roots of the tree parted, freeing a passage under the ground.

Together they went down to a huge hall where work was in full swing, here the gnomes forged and sewed everything that the elves needed for life.

“Not here, but much lower,” Odette's companion explained calmly, and they went down to the next room, to the huge library. Books filled everything around, but they were witchcraft books.

“What is it?” Odette asked.

“Books of white magic, every elf must free it, only one book here is associated with darkness, it is forbidden to open it, but we can look.”

And then Odette saw on a small table a huge thick book with a black cover. studded with diamonds. Its cover was covered with gold patterns, a whimsical scattering of expensive stones outlined a five-pointed star on its cover. Odette stared at the book with an enchanted gaze, but something told her: behind beauty can hide the blackest and most evil that can be in the world of elves.

“This book,” Odette whispered.

“It contains all the secrets of our world,” the elf replied, “my master wants to tell you everything before you become ...”

Suddenly he stopped and hastily touched the diamond star on the cover of the book, and then the pages opened in the middle.

“Look,” said the elf.

The princess bent down to look at the page, and immediately she saw the wind write on blank paper in bloody letters.

“The one that was earthly became the queen of the fairies, there is no more mortal left in her, just as there will be nothing left in you.”

Odette saw everything, everything that happened to Diana and Violetta, the red-haired witch, everything that happened before her birth. The pictures were bright and dazzling. She saw what was about to happen and happened before she was born. Then Odette saw herself and her friend Richard, but as soon as she looked into his beautiful, noble face, the elf hurriedly closed the book.

“It's still early,” he said, “but my master wants to give you a present.”

He put Odette in front of his feet, on a silk cushion two diamond shoes, they sparkled and shimmered, but they were not created by human hands, they were made by dwarves who obey the world of magic. These were the most wonderful things that Odette had ever seen in her life, a special light emanated from them and he enchanted the eyes of a mortal, it was a miracle, a waking dream, and it was impossible to wake up from it.

“Try them on,” said the elf, “and then only the wedding dress will remain, because today is the wedding of the fairies.”

The shoes hit her leg, as if they were made especially for her.

“Now you’re a real bride,” he said, and for some reason he smiled ominously.

“Bride,” Odette burst out, everything in an instant turned into a dark fairy tale, “I don’t understand.”

“You will understand everything, “two completely different voices sounded, and one of them was the voice of Marie, Odette recognized in her an ex-girlfriend - a swan. A knife flashed in the elf's hand, and his eyes lit up with green fire. Odette deftly dodged so that the knife hit Marie's heart instead of her, and blood flowed from the huge wound. Odette ran quickly away. She ran in complete darkness, and a golden bird with burning eyes and a sting with a deadly poison rushed through the air after her.

It scratched Odette's hands, and wanted to stab her with its deadly beak, but suddenly, someone's hands in black gloves twisted the neck of the small, bloodthirsty creature, and now Odette was safe. Next to her stood a tall man, and there was something in him so familiar, so familiar and even beloved that Odette involuntarily froze in place.

Diamond shoes squeezed her feet, and she bent down to stop the blood flowing from her feet, but then someone in black bent down and touched her feet with his hand. The blood stopped flowing. Odette wanted to dance, and the stranger carried her into a light whirlwind of a dance unknown to her.

They danced in a circle of lighted candles. Their dance was light and fast. Odette was as if enchanted, she did not want to stop, did not want to return to reality, she wanted to dance and dance until she was exhausted, but she could not wake up until she found out who this dark prince was, and the pale lips of the handsome elf whispered:

“I have long been in love with you!”

Odette clasped a warm hand, almost like a human, and the words of the two dwarfs came to her mind, "Remember, our master was also a mortal man."

Odette raised her eyes and looked at the one who carried her into the dance, but his face was hidden by a mask, black as night, with gold accents, only wonderful eyes shone on his dark face, blue as the sky and mysterious, like his very fate.

“Who you are?” Odette could only whisper, but the stranger in response knelt down in front of her.

“I ask you to become my bride,” said the beautiful elf, squeezing the princess's hand, and some witchcraft power took possession of her, she agreed, for a moment she forgot Prince Etienne, forgot her love. She was in love with the one who stood in front of her, but not with a man, but with the lord of elves and fairies. He asked for her hand in marriage, and she agreed to a marriage between a mortal and the ruler of eternity.

He rose from his knees, and at that moment a bright light hit Odette's eyes. She was no longer standing in the dark, but in a bright room, huge and luxurious, like the hall of a royal palace.

Four fairies ran up to Odette on their light legs, with shiny wings behind their backs, and put on her a diamond crown, shining like the sun, and many other adornments.

One of them fastened a striking patterned necklace around her neck. Another put gleaming bracelets on both of her arms. The third put long earrings into her ears, and the last weaved precious stones into her hair, and so skillfully that Odette's hair instantly sparkled with all the colors of magical and truly magical beauty.

Odette's dress was also studded with jewels, it all sparkled and shimmered. Her beautiful and mysterious groom reappeared in the hall and approached Odette with a huge bouquet of forest flowers: wild roses, violets and blue forget-me-nots. The king of the elves was in love with an earthly princess.

“You will remember me as soon as midnight strikes,” he said. “I must reveal to you all my secrets.”

“I've seen you before,” Odette whispered, “but I can't remember where.”

She looked to his eyes, but could not remember anything, only something disturbed her.

“We've met before,” Odette asked.

“Yes,” he answered, “once upon a time, I knew you, I love you from the very time when our eyes met for the first time, when you agreed to flee with me to the kingdom of fairies from this hated world.”

“I don’t remember,” she burst out, “I don’t remember anything, but I love you too.”

These words sounded like a fatal curse, she really spoke the truth, but how cruel it was.

“You’ll find out very soon,” he said. “There are only a few minutes left until midnight.”

“Take off the mask!” Odette whispered, he raised his hand to fulfill her request, but at that moment the folding doors opened, and a flock of black swans burst into the hall like black hounds.

The fairies screamed shrilly, but the swans were cruel, they pounced on the crowd of fairy people, and before they could use their spell, the swans filled the entire hall, ripping out scraps of clothing, wings and skin from their victims.

Suddenly, a sparkling black swan with a golden crown on its little head appeared in the middle of the hall. Odette immediately realized that the daughter of King Rothbert was flying and hovering next to her.

The black swan hit the floor of the hall, and now the row was not a bird, but a girl of wondrous beauty, with a golden crown on her black hair.

What was most striking was that the face of this devilish beauty was a complete repetition of Odette's, they could be mistaken for each other, if not for the burning black hair of Princess Odile.

They were facing each other, a girl with black and a girl with blond hair, a brunette and a blonde, an angel and a devil, and they were such a bewitching picture that one could not take his eyes off their fabulous beauty.

“You are my sister,” Odette whispered. The beauty smiled wickedly and clapped her hands. Several black guards rushed into the hall and ran up to her.

“Grab the girl!” shouted Odile, and the guards grabbed Odette.

“The time has come, sister,” said the beauty - the black swan, “now you will pay the darkness for all the crimes of our mother.”

“How can you say that,” Odette blurted out.

“These are our laws,” she answered calmly.

“Have you never loved,” the fatal words sounded.

“Take her away,” Odile called sharply. King Rothbert made her a black swan, and she had to forget Prince Christian forever, and it was so difficult, because she loved him.

Odette was dragged up a long staircase, she noticed that dawn was already close in the world of people.

Black horses were waiting for them, and Odette was about to take away, but suddenly she saw a familiar silhouette at a crossroads.

“Etienne!” she shouted with all her might, and he heard her. She rushed to him, but the diamond shoes suddenly tightened her legs, like iron, and prevented her from running, but Etienne managed to run up to her himself, drawing his sword. The guards of the kingdom of evil were not going to surrender without a fight. They began to change, black clothes cracked, and long wolf claws slipped out from under it, their faces began to turn into ugly animal muzzles. Etienne got ahead of them, he cut off one of the monsters with his sharp sword, the second he cut off the head with one stroke, and immediately the werewolves jumped on their horses. While they were hiding in the dark, the eyes of a severed head still sparkled in the hand of one of the servants of evil.

Etienne looked at Odette. She was sad, the memory of the handsome elf did not leave her, as if she was bewitched. Now there was a handsome prince in front of her, she loved him, but she was thinking about something else, about that. who bewitched her with his spell.

Suddenly Odette screamed, the diamond shoes on her feet spread red blood on the ground, the same thing happened with the crown, with the necklace and other adornments.

“What happened to you?” Etienne asked Odette, but she only shook her head sadly.

“I don’t know,” she whispered.

‘What happened while I was looking for you? he asked again.

“I found out,” burst out from her, “I found out that I have a sister.”

“Sister?”

“Yes, she is also bewitched, she ...”

Odette couldn't get the word out.

“She?” Etienne asked.

“She is the daughter of King Rothbert,” Odette plucked up courage.

“It can't be,” Etienne burst out.

“I was afraid of this all my life, our destinies are intertwined, but today something happened that made me forget about you.”

“I never forgot about you,” Etienne vowed. She looked at him, the prince was so beautiful, but much divided them, they were doomed to live in separation.

“I have to go to the lake,” Odette said sadly.

“No,” exclaimed the prince, “no, don't go!”

“I can't,” she whispered.

“But why, why should we obey this spell?”

“If I could save myself from it,” said Odette, and they looked into each other's eyes, there was so much secret and beautiful in their love, the prince and the princess loved each other, but their love met such obstacles on its way as never before nobody else.

“Dawn,” she whispered, “I must go.”

“No,” he escaped, “no, stay with me!”

“I can't,” she shook her head sadly.

They looked at each other for a long time, and the princess's eyes were full of tears, she kissed him, but a minute later her dress burst into flames, and in the prince's arms was no longer Odette, but a white swan. She flapped her wings and flew away, and Etienne was left alone in the forest, where a new dawn was blooming. It's nothing you can do.

Etienne jumped on his horse and rushed away, and from the thicket of the forest, two evil lights watched him, two cunning eyes of a red witch.