Fairy

 

The room was small and sparsely furnished. In the center stood a table with a symbol carved on it, an eight-pointed star in a circle, and beside it stood two simple wooden chairs. The room was decorated in shades of blue. Four candles, standing on small wooden stands in the corners of the room, provided light. The window was tightly covered with a navy blue curtain. The whole thing gave off an air of mystery and mystique. There were many similar places in the empire, and in each one a woman waited, ready to lay out cards and reveal someone's future. This time, the fortune teller's client was a young man, a nobleman by appearance, dressed in the latest fashion. At his side was an intricately decorated sword, but it was easy to see that it was merely decorative, and its owner had never drawn it in anger. A golden family signet ring adorned the man's right hand. One glance was enough to confirm that it had been made only a few months ago. This meant that the person wearing it had recently been ennobled, and their entire nobility was based not on honor, pride, and fighting spirit, as in ancient families with a rich history, but on wealth. The fortune teller disliked such people, so the fee would be correspondingly higher than in the case of, say, the sailor who came to her yesterday. Unlike most people who made their living by telling fortunes, Emina was no fraud. Her predictions usually came true, though not always as the person being told would have wished. "Lay out the cards for me," the nobleman said in the authoritative voice so characteristic of some people. "I hope you won't deceive me, because..." he gently stroked the hilt of his weapon. "You may rest assured, my lord," the woman replied, though the threat made no impression on her. Emina slowly, calmly shuffled the slightly worn cards her mother had used earlier, and before her, her mother's mother. All three women were engaged in fortune-telling with this ornate deck of cards. In a sense, it was already a family tradition. The woman arranged the first nine cards so that eight of them were in the arms of a star drawn on the table, and the last in the center of a circle. The nobleman looked at this with boredom and ignorance. He didn't yet know that his life might depend on it. Emina turned over the first card, the one at the southern corner of the octogram. The image showed a boy lying on a field with his eyes closed. In the corner of the image was the number IX and the symbol of clubs. Sleeping. The fortune-teller left this without comment and quickly revealed the next, eastern card. This time, the nobleman saw a man sitting on a horse, a sword in one hand and a torch illuminating the darkness in the other. The Jack of Hearts. Showing the Way. "You have a friend, sir, who will try to warn you about something, but you, sir, will not listen. " "Apparently, he won't deserve it," the man replied firmly, showing no interest. The woman reached for the next, western card. It depicted the Queen of Spades, a defiant woman concealing a dagger blade behind her back. "Sir, do you have a mistress? " "Everyone does today. You don't have to be a magician to know that," the rich man sneered. "She's dangerous to you," Emina said, revealing the northern card, the reversed King of Hearts. "You will be disappointed by something you unwaveringly believe in. " "I don't believe in anything. Besides, women are not dangerous. " "Everyone believes in something," the fortune teller said, flipping over the southeast and southwest cards simultaneously. The images depicted a large, two-handed sword and a shield broken in half. "I can assure you, this lady will prove very dangerous." "Impossible," the nobleman retorted, "she loves me, not I her. A woman cannot harm a man, especially one of high birth," he concluded, full of the arrogance that people often confuse with pride. Now it was the turn of the two northern cards. They bore the numbers IX and X of Spades: The Hanged Man and the Lost Road. "Sir, let us end this divination here, for your life may depend on the central card. " "A man's life cannot be endangered by a few cards," the confident man snorted, turning the last card over on his own. Emina had seen this image only once before, during a divination. She didn't want to see it again, but she couldn't help it. Death appeared before her eyes. * In Serpens, the capital of the empire, a newspaper appeared once a week. In the next issue, Emina found an article that piqued her interest: Yesterday, a nobleman named Tobias Crath was found dead in his apartment. He had hanged himself. The suicide was likely caused by the departure of a woman with whom he had shared a strong bond for many years. As Tobias wrote in his farewell letter to his family, this woman brought him ruin, even though all the sale deeds of his goods and possessions bear Tobias's signatures. The matter should be handled by the city guard and the court. However, this is impossible, as they have not been able to find the woman who "robbed" Mr. Tobias Crath. The funeral will take place next Saturday. May he rest in peace. He was betrayed by the woman he so disregarded, Emina thought to herself. He was disappointed by the money he believed in so strongly. A friend showed him the path, but he didn't follow it. I wonder who Tobias's companion could have been... He must have been unlikable... I'll probably meet him at the funeral . There was no friend, or at least none at the funeral. The one who warned the nobleman was Emina herself, though she likely spent the rest of her life wondering who could have liked Tobias Crath enough to try to save him...