Fortune's Fool - Mercedes Lackey [128]
There was a new addition to the Castle, a single large building that almost rivaled in size the Castle itself; after all, dragons have a hard time fitting into ordinary rooms and through conventional doorways.
The lake played host to one of the most beautiful flocks of swans in all of the Five Hundred Kingdoms. And if now and again one, two, or three of them swam up to the castle, transformed into lovely girls, and left their feather cloaks in the formidable care of the bear that denned in a kind of gatekeeper’s cottage by the lake, well, with all of the other wonders of the Castle, it was hardly noticeable.
What was noticeable, however, was the nightly frolics of the Rusalkas; their exuberant water ballet provided a form of entertainment—in good weather, that is—that furnished the Castle’s inhabitants and visitors with a great deal of pleasure. None of these creatures seemed at all inclined to drown anyone, which often surprised newcomers.
Visitors there were many, especially now that this area had come under the aegis of the King of Led Belarus. In fact, in a peculiar way, the Kingdom of Copper Mountain was part of, yet separate from Led Belarus. The Queen and King had come to a very amicable alliance: she ruled everything beneath the surface, and he ruled everything above. This was a perfect arrangement, so far as the King was concerned. Let someone else have the reputation for wealth and opulence. Led Belarus was still known as bucolic, pastoral, comfortable, but wealthy only in the fruits of its fields and pastures. And Copper Mountain could drive its tunnels and mines wheresoever it wished.
And if anyone wished to trade with, or ally with, or acquire the services of the Queen and her people, they came here.
Because across the lake, new buildings were arising under the auspices of the Queen’s people. The most prominent of them thus far was the Embassy of Copper Mountain itself, although the Sea King had a representative here, as did the Dragons of Light, the Fair Folk, and it was said that there were other non-human races considering establishing a presence.
Also under construction was what—according to rumor—was going to be a College for Wizards and Witches. Since it was going up with no visible workers in sight, that was entirely possible.
Across the lake from the Embassies and the College was a semipermanent Gypsy camp. Semipermanent, because although the camp itself was permanent, most of the inhabitants came and went as their fancies took them. The only truly permanent resident was a highly skilled fortune-teller known only as Magda, and her handsome husband.
Whatever needed policing or guarding around the lake was taken care of by the Company of the Wolf Brothers, a troupe of former mercenaries who still, on occasion, hired out some of their young recruits. These went out under the command of Piotr the Clever, and the Company mascot and Scout, his wife Lyuba. He was called the Clever in no small part because of his success in securing Lyuba as his wife. There were currently bets on about whether their offspring would be cubs or children.
All that would certainly have been enough to ensure that no one ever attacked this place. But there was, of course, more.
For the Castle had a new name and a new purpose.
This was the Belarus Chapter of the Champions Order of Glass Mountain. The Knight Commanders were the two resident dragons, Adamant and Gina, and there was even a Godmother-in-training here, a former wizard’s apprentice named Klava.
And on almost any given day, the first hint of hostility would have been met with such a bristling of weaponry and magics that the air itself would probably withdraw a little, just in case.
The wagon approaching the Castle was not quite a gypsy caravan. It had much the same shape, but it was nothing like as brightly—one might say gaudily—painted. The