In quest of the sorcerer

Swein was lying on high pillows with the Book of Destiny on his knees. His shirt was open, so Lica could see that the King's chest was tightly bound up with a white cloth.

"Does it hurt?" Lica asked quietly, pointing to the bandage.

"So-so," smiled Swein. "I have never expected that you will come to say goodbye before leaving."

"Do you know about our journey?"

"Yes, Margo told me."

"We need to find a sorcerer, or we won't be able to win the evil," the girl said slowly.

"It is very dangerous task! And this accident!" exclaimed the King.

He furiously fisted on the bed and lay back helplessly.

"I'm not even able to be with you and protect you..." he muttered.

Angelica came closer and sat on the edge of the bed. She palmed through his hair and whispered:

"Easy, Swein! You will get better soon and other adventure is waiting for us."

King caught her hand and put it on his lips.

"I'm afraid you'll forget me," he said quietly. "You are going with Edward and he is a worthy rival."

"Enough!" the girl stopped him. "I have known Edward for a long time so long that if I had wanted to, it would have already happened; I would have become either his mistress or fiancée."

"That's true!" laughed the Goblins' King. "And what stops you, Angelica?"

"I cannot answer your question right now, Swein, because I cannot sort myself out. Perhaps this journey will give me the opportunity to think about it."

The girl looked at the King. Candlelight fell on his face, and at that moment he was so lovely that Lica's heart ached. She closed in and kissed Swein. The Goblins' King could control his emotions, gasped and said:

"Please, promise me that you won't forget me."

"I swear!" the girl smiled. "Well, I have to go! Or if I stay more, I won't go anywhere."

She was about to rise, but Swein pulled her to him and kissed her passionately. Then pushed her, smiled, and said:

"No, you are not a randy, you are even worse! You are the energy vampire! Go, or I will not let you go."

Lica flushed, but said nothing. She quickly turned around and left the Goblins' King's room...

Coming out of the cave, she saw that Elsa is binding a basket with food to the saddle of her horse and Margo is giving final instructions to Edward. Angelica mounted her horse and said:

"Well, I'm ready! What about you, Prince?"

Edward turned around and nodded.

"Just be very careful!" the witch warned them once again. "Do not come across with the militant tribes! And one thing, Angelica, Swein asked me to give you this sword. It's his sword, but now he is ill, so he believes that it is going to be of use in your journey."

Margo handed the sword of Goblins' King to the girl.

"Thank you!" said Lica. "And now it's time!"

She tugged the reins and sent the horse into the mountains. The Prince Night followed her. They rode along the path on which last time Swein had led them to Margo's cave.

"Angelica, what happened?" asked Edward. "You don't look yourself."

"I am okay," said the girl. "Tell me, Edward, you know the way through the mountains?"

"Approximately," Prince smiled. "My servants carry on trade with the neighboring nomadic tribes. We sell them food, clothes, gold, and they give us weapons, spices and precious stones. So I can show you the way. But one little thing this way is difficult for horses."

"It's not a problem!" Lica noticed. "We can light off horses."

The path was going up all the time. At some point, Edward outstripped her and said that now they had to turn a bit from the previous route. They were riding for another two hours. Their horses began to stumble and stones were rolling out of their hooves.

"We have to walk now," said the Prince Night. "It's difficult for horses to climb the steep slope."

Angelica nodded and jumped to the ground, and our heroes continued their way on foot. Horses snorted and refused to go. It was a great effort to drag them ahead. This had slowed them down and exhausting.

"I think we have to spend the night in the mountains," Edward said. "I didn't imagine that the road would be so difficult!"

After a few hours, when our heroes were almost dead on their feet, Lica suddenly saw the cave.

"Look, Edward!" she exclaimed. "Here is the place where we can have a rest!"

"Excellent," said the Prince, "or I am dropping with fatigue."

Travelers turned to the cave and tied their horses to the nearby bush.

"Wait a minute here," said the Prince Night. "I have to check if there are no animals or poisonous snakes inside."

He broke the branches of bushes wrapped them with oakum, which he had in his travel bag, and made a torch. Then he lit it, took his sword and went into the cave. Five minutes later Edward came out and shouted:

"It is not a cave; it is just a hole in the rock. But it's better for us, because I have not found any snakes or animals; and they won't be able to climb here outside. Come in and make yourself comfortable, and I am going to find some wood for the fire and a spring to water our horses."

Tired girl went into the cave, which was quite bright lit with the torch, stuck into a crack between the stones. It was dry and spacious.

"Great place!" Angelica told herself.

And she began to clean the cave from rubbles, which were everywhere around. Soon it was clean, flat place where they could have a rest. Lica came out and took some dry grass to make something looked like beds. When the Prince came, he didn't recognize this place; he was very surprised that in such short time the girl managed to transform the cave. Edward brought some twigs and dry branches.

"I think that will be enough for a fire," he said.

Angelica made a fireplace from the stones, put the wood and laid the fire. Soon the fire was burning brightly in the cave.

"You have hands of gold, Angelica!" said the Prince. "Who taught you?"

"We usually go hiking with the class," the girl admitted.

"What?" Edward did not understand.

"Well, it's such a kind of "picnic"," Lica smiled.

"I see..." said the Prince Night slowly. "Okay, I am going to water the horses; I saw a spring near here."

"Come back soon, and we will have dinner."

"Sure!"

The Prince Edward went out of the cave, and Angelica began to get some food out of the basket. Later, when the Prince came back they had dinner together.

"I do not know about you," Lica turned to Edward, "but I want to sleep. I hope you don't mind if I have a nap?"

"Of course!" the Prince Night nodded. "Go to bed and I will be your guard."

He didn't have to beg her for a long time. She immediately lay down on the dry grass and fell asleep. Four hours later Angelica woke up. She looked around the cave and saw that the fire was burning as well, and the Prince was sitting at the entrance, leaning back the stone...

"Edward, now it's your turn to sleep," said Lica. "Lie down, I will guard you now."

"I don't mind," Edward smiled. "Frankly saying, I am very tired. But you have to promise me if any danger is you will wake me up immediately!"

"Do not doubt," assured the girl. "I'm not fond of dealing with problems alone."

The Prince Night went into the cave and lay down on the grass, and Angelica took the post of guard at the entrance. So she was sitting for two hours doing nothing, then she decided to warm her up. The girl came out of the cave and looked up at the starry sky. Suddenly some stones rolled down from the mountain. Lica jumped aside and hid behind the nearest ledge. She tried to see what happened, but it was so dark that she could see nothing. However, the feeling that someone was watching them didn't leave her. Angelica returned to her post at the entrance looking forward to when the Prince Edward woke up. Another three hours later the Prince finally opened his eyes and said:

"Good morning, Angelica!"

"Good morning!" she grinned. "Especially funny it sounds in the Kingdom of Night, where it is no sun!"

"Don't laugh! Behind the mountains, in the desert, the day will change the night again, as usual," said Edward, getting up.

"Prince," Lica called Edward. "I suppose, no, I'm pretty sure that at night someone was near the cave. The stones rolled from the nearby rock."

"You never know..." the Prince Night shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe animals."

"No..." Angelica shook her head. "I distinctly felt that someone was watching us."

"Well, let's wait and see! Sooner or later our night visitor will come," Edward said.

He came out of the cave, checked the horses; Lica put the food into the basket and went after him. Soon our heroes moved on.

"The road here is much better," the girl said.

"Probably, it is quite often used," said the Prince.

After two hours the mountains suddenly ended. And the wide bottomless pit stretched in front of the travelers, after which it was possible to distinguish the dunes.

"And what we are going to do now?" asked Angelica.

"Look, over there - the bridge!" said Edward.

Riders came closer. Indeed, the wide hanging bridge was drawn through the gulf; it was quite wide even for horses to pass on it.

"The bridge is unstable!" the girl said. "If we take horses with us, we will risk falling into the abyss."

"However without horses we won't pass the desert!" the Prince retorted. "We'll lead the horses by the bridle, one by one. I am first."

He boldly entered the bridge and pulled his horse. He snorted, trying to stretch their hooves, but the Prince Night dragged him on wobbly boards. So, step by step, he overcame a terrible bridge. The Prince tied his horse on the other side of the abyss and went back to take Lica's horse.

"Go ahead!" he told the girl.

Angelica went over the bridge, trying not to look down. At this moment, a strong gust of wind blew. The bridge swayed. Lica crashed to her knees and clutched the rails.

"It's good that you are not on the bridge!" she told Edward.

Finally she jumped on the other side and looked back. The Prince was following her horse and safely transformed her.

"Thank God!" the girl cried. "All's well that ends well!"

"Everything has just started," said the Prince. "Look!"

The Prince Night pointed to the desert, and now Angelica realized what a hard way they had to challenge! Everywhere was only sand.

"Where are we going?" Lica asked.

"First we are going straight, and then we'll see."

The travelers took their horses and went ahead.