Swan Lake. Dragon Empire. Natalie Yacobson

crown was already shining on her head, and she was about to sit on the throne, but suddenly a scarlet arrow pierced directly into the royal arms in front of her. The knights grabbed their swords, but they were powerless against witchcraft, blood dripping from the poisonous tip of the deadly weapon. Diana would have recognized this arrow if she were alive, she saw her in a golden goblet with poisoned blood, but Odette has not yet faced the power of black magic.

      A strong gust of wind burst into the hall, it swept away and blew away everything in its path and tore in different directions the clothes and hair of those present. The throne room was filled with a dull howl of the wind and whispering voices, but no one could catch a single word in their dull, monotonous whispering. They called some kind of curse on the palace. They whispered and screamed, but it was not clear where they were coming from or what they were looking for in the royal chambers. They were strange cutting sounds, piercing right through the ears. Those who stood in the hall seemed to find themselves in a dark hell blazing with blue fire and ash.

      But then the smoke cleared, and everyone saw the grim figure of the woman, she was dressed in a long blue cloak with a hood that almost completely covered her face from prying eyes. She stood calmly, as if waiting for the moment when horror paralyzed everyone who saw her, completely, but then long hands with black claws lowered the black hood, and Odette saw the ugly face of the red-haired witch.

      «The hour of reckoning has come, princess,» the witch hissed angrily, «I have come for you.»

      Odette looked anxiously at Richard, but everything was useless, all the knights were paralyzed with horror, although they were brave in battles, but the gaze of the red-haired witch brought them all to death.

      Meanwhile, the red-haired witch slowly moved towards the throne and towards the frightened princess.

      «Your mother has betrayed both us and her love,» his burned lips pursed, «now the hour of your death has struck, there will be no mercy, Princess Odette.»

      The witch walked slowly, but without pausing for a moment. Her eyes threw lightning, they killed at first sight into their bloody depths. They made the heart of a common man tremble with horror, and Odette did not know how to escape from them, from whom to ask for help, and who could help her now, she was trapped, from which there was no way out.

      When the witch’s hand almost touched her, Richard, as if waking up from some numbness that suddenly seized him, he could not understand what was wrong with him, he seemed to be mesmerized, but now he has become the same again. He stepped forward, blocking Odette from the witch, not letting the terrible creature come to the princess.

      The witch did not expect such an act. A vicious hiss escaped from her black chest. She raged, but this could no longer help her, Richard was going to either win or die.

      «Move away,» she hissed, «the princess belongs to me, and there’s nothing you can do.»

      «No,» he answered firmly and clearly, looking into her bloody eyes with unshakable dignity, and the witch realized that he would rather die than give in to her.

      «Brave knight,» she burst out, «dark battle prince, you’re really just an unfortunate lover, right?» she asked so that everyone could hear her words, but Richard was silent. He had nothing to say or answer to this, the witch was speaking the truth, and how bitter this truth was.

      Odette stood behind him, but even at such a distance, she was terribly frightened by the eyes of the creature who came from the world of darkness to take her soul and life, was it really all true, and not a dream. Why was Richard silent, why he could not answer her a word, were her words really bitter and undeniable truth.

      The witch with an insidious grin looked into Richard’s bold eyes, she laughed, she rejoiced, she felt her victory over human love and triumphed. She knew what lie or truth she had to tell in order to destroy and frighten to death a common man.

      «Do not you understand?» she chuckled. «The princess is dressed, she is not available to an ordinary person, one look at her, and your heart is already broken, and I want to make sure that no one else suffers because of her beauty, I want to take her with me to the world of death.»

      «Never,» Richard answered with a selfless gleam in his eyes, nothing frightened him.

      «Well, well,» the insidious voice sounded in the silence, «be it your way, dark knight, if I don’t take her with me, then someone else will come in handy.»

      For a minute she stood, grinning so smugly and viciously that the laughter was breathtaking, and then something bright and dazzling flashed in her hand, and she threw a pinch of gold dust in Richard’s face, which immediately flew in different directions and gilded the stuffy air of the throne room.

      Immediately a long hand reached out to the princess, but Odette dodged and ran away across the marble floor of the hall, but in front of her, as if out of the ground, a red-haired witch rose again, as if she knew how to move in space easily and imperceptibly, like a ghost.

      Odette did not know what to do or where to run, the ghost of the witch would find her everywhere. The witch looked around Odette’s white dress, with the same envy and mockery she noted her wondrous beauty.

      «Beautiful as a princess, sweet as a swan,» she hissed right in Odette’s face, «you will be a princess – a swan, and it will be your eternal damnation.»

      She threw lightning with her eyes, and a huge window swung open, a storm shone behind it, so dark and hopeless, violent and rebellious, like the heart of a black swan, and a white swan flew through the window with a lightning strike. It was beautiful and snow-white, like a snowy winter, it was charming and gentle.

      Odette had never seen such a beautiful bird, but a trickle of blood shone on the swan’s right wing, it was wounded. Who could injure such a beautiful bird, some soulless person or the king of the dark land himself, Rothbert. Odette had a glimpse of him, that he turns the girls he liked into swans and settles them on the lakes in his country near his gloomy castle.

      Odette did not know if it was true or just a legend, but she felt that there was something special about this swan, its eyes were almost human eyes of a young beauty, they were the eyes of a young girl, not a white swan.

      «Look,» the witch whispered, «look and enjoy the spectacle, this is your future fate.»

      Odette glanced at the snow-white swan, it circled almost exhausted under the ceiling of the throne room. After all, it was injured and, for sure, in pain, and so it fell. A few minutes later, the entire body of the swan was engulfed in a bright golden glow, similar to the pollen in a witch’s hand.

      The princess recoiled, but she could not help but see how the swan’s body began to grow, turning into a human silhouette, it grew with incredible speed, and in front of Odette on the floor was no longer a dead swan, but a beautiful young girl in a light dress. Her blond hair scattered over the cold marble, her eyes were tightly closed, as if in an eternal dream, her lips in the moment of their death tried to whisper, probably, the name of the one whom she loved during her life, this was another victim of witchcraft.

      The witch laughed, and her laughter echoed through the hall, she showed Odette her future destiny, and the princess stood in disbelief in herself and her eyes.

      Suddenly, steps were heard outside the door, rapid and loud, and the witch touched Odette’s eyes with her hand, plunging the princess into a witch’s sleep.

      «Sleep, dear Odette,» she whispered ominously, «your prince does not know and will not be able to save you.

      Etienne was not at all happy about the forced journey, but nevertheless he submitted to fate and, reluctantly, to amuse the convoy sent to him by the queen, went to the palace.

      He stood for a long time under the gates of the palace before deciding to jump off his horse. Suddenly a strange voice said:

      «Prince Etienne, Prince