Time froze. A ringing silence filled the air. Then something inexplicable began to happen with the space around them. Bck Darkness was compressed and shifted aside in pces, freeing the corridor. In the next instant, an abnormal female ughter echoed from nowhere. It poured from every direction, shifting from madness to hysteria. In the corridor, a tall female figure in a bck dress appeared. She moved down the corridor and then, in a fsh, stopped before the two heroes. She shook with ughter. Her limbs were long, her head unnaturally elongated. Sharp teeth fshed in spasms of insane ughter.

  The Cursed removed his helmet and pced it on the sorceress’s head. The Bck Darkness inside the helmet struck her. Her mad ughter ceased, and she fell dead at the Cursed’s feet. Magical inscriptions on his cheekbones fred and faded. Now, the power of the Laughing Sorceress was his. He raised his hands and with a few movements crushed and destroyed the Bck Darkness.

  "I need to move on to the next region," he said.

  "No one leaves the Courts of the Fallen Knight just like that," said the Viscountess. "But there is a magical exit. In the Secret Tower of the Courts, at the very top, there’s a window. With the death of the Fallen Knight, it should open the way for you to the next region."

  She led him to the Secret Tower. Together they climbed to the topmost room. The Cursed opened one window and saw a new ndscape beyond it.

  "Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?" he asked one st time.

  "My pce is here. In the Courts."

  Then she looked at him, concentrating.

  "And yet… I feel like I’ve seen you before, I just can’t remember where."

  "Good. Better you don’t remember."

  He vaulted over the windowsill.