Drops of blood

The eyes of the fiery Serpent fall on the Skrodeny River and naked virgins bathing there. These are the sisters Elizabeth and Elena, the daughter of the wealthy landowner Rameev. They are curiously discussing the appearance in the city of a privat-docent, chemistry doctor Georgy Sergeyevich Trirodov: no one knows where his condition comes from, what happens on the estate, why he needs a school for children. The girls decide to walk past the mysterious manor, move over a narrow bridge through the ravine and stop at the gate. Suddenly a pale boy emerges from the bushes with clear, too calm, as if inanimate eyes. Opening the gate, he disappears. Far on the lawn dozens of children sing and dance under the guidance of a girl with golden braids - Nadezhda Veshchezerova. She explains: “People built cities to get away from the beast, and they themselves were brutalized, run wild. Now we are going from the city to the forest. We must kill the beast ... "

The house of Trirodov is notorious. They say that it is inhabited by ghosts, immigrants from the graves, which is why they call it the Navi yard, and the path that goes to the Krutitsky cemetery, the Navi path. The son of the owner Kirsch notices the girls and leads them to his father in the greenhouse. Inspecting the strange plants and nooks and crannies of the house, Elizabeth and Elena fall into a magic room with a mirror, looking into which they instantly age. Trirodov reassures them, gives an elixir that returns youth: “This is the property of this place. Horror and delight live here together. ” In the house of the Rameevs, student Peter Matov, who is unrequitedly in love with Elizabeth, lives. He is an opponent of the "autocracy of the proletariat", and the girl tells him: "My love is rebellion." Elizabeth sympathizes with the reasoning of the young worker Shchemilov, who calls her to speak on May Day. A visiting agitator is hidden in the house of Trirodov. Colonel Zherbenev, the organizer of the Black Hundreds, considers the privat-docent unreliable and asks the island actor about him. Suddenly appearing in the house of Trirodov, the actor demands a lot of money for silence. Once he was a witness of how George Sergeyevich, using chemical methods, dealt with the provocateur of their revolutionary circle, Matov, the father of Peter. Through complex transformations, he received a “body” in the form of a small cube on his desk. For non-disclosure of secrets, the Island receives 2,000 rubles.

Ivan's night is approaching. Kirsha, with the eyes of a quiet angel, is walking with his father along the Naviya trail. The dead pass by, talking about their business. Quiet children do not sleep. One of them, Grisha, draws a circle near the Trirodovs from his spells - even Kirsha's mother is unable to overcome the features. Elizabeth and Shchemilov make their way to the clearing, where three hundred people listen to the agitator. The girl hardly recognizes the dressed-up Trirodov, but she is joyfully speaking in front of him, and her voice is filled with strength. Cossacks fly in, Trirodov rescues Elizabeth, sheltering in a ravine.

Between them arises passionate love. In the evenings, Elizabeth examines her sultry, naked body in the mirror. O great fire of blossoming flesh! Once walking through the forest, she was overtaken by two guys who tore off her clothes, drove to the ground. Suddenly, quiet boys ran up, drove, lulled the fellows. In oblivion, she thought Queen Ortruda ... Trirodov declares her love, and Elizabeth is ready to be his slave, to be a thing in his hands.

Trirodov has hypnotic power, he is able to resurrect from the dead, as happened with the boy Yegorka, who was unnecessary to his mother, cut off by rods and buried in a lethargic dream. Quiet children dig it out, and Egor settles with them at Trirodov. His school is attended by police officers, the director of public schools Dulebov, inspector Shabalov, vice-governor. They are unhappy that the children and teachers are not respectful, free, walk barefoot. “This is pornography,” the commission concludes. “The school will be closed immediately.”

And Elizabeth languishes in sultry dreams. It seems to her that she is experiencing a parallel life, she is walking the joyful and mournful path of Queen Ortruda who has seen her in the forest ...

Queen of Ortrud

Ortruda was born to reign in a happy Mediterranean land. She received excellent Hellenic education, loved the beauty of nature and naked body. On the day of sixteen she was crowned. On the eve of Ortrud, she fell in love with Prince Tancred, a blue-eyed Teutonic youth. The charm was mutual, and at the end of the festivities the engagement took place. This union happily combined the laws of sweet love and the harsh demands of the highest politics of the dynasty and the bourgeois government of the kingdom of the United Islands. A year later, they got married. Prince Tancred was enrolled in the guard, but his reactionary views, love affairs and great debts made him an unpopular person. His weaknesses are used by aristocrats who plan to dissolve parliament and declare King Tancred. Gloomy signs frighten Ortruda: even on the day of coronation, a volcano began to smoke on the island of Dragonera, and in the eleventh year of rule the ghost of a white king began to appear ...

Ortrud shares all his experiences only with Afra, a young court lady. Their sympathies gradually turn into a dark jealous passion. Afra hates Tancred, and Ortruda does not let her go to Philippe Meccio, who is in love with Afra. Once they stopped in a mountain village and met a poor teacher Aldonsa. She innocently talked about her friend who calls her Dulcinea. Afra realizes that this is Tancred, but Ortruda still trustingly listens to Dragon's deceitful words, which the prince sometimes seems to be. He develops plans to build a huge fleet, capture colonies, unite under his power all the Latin countries of the Old and New Worlds. Secretly conspiracies are brewing from the queen; politicians demand changes. Dr. Mecchio is campaigning for a socialist system. First Minister Viktor Aorena proves that modern man is too individualistic to realize dreams of a just society. Excitement is coming. Hoffmarshal shows Ortrude a secret passage from the palace to the sea, the key to which is the secret name of the queen “Araminta”. In the dungeon, she is accompanied by the young son of gofmarshal Astolf, who has fallen in love with the queen. Their relationship kindled the jealousy of Afra, she is alone experiencing the pangs of love and hate. Some kind of dark, evil force comes from the queen - in vain she descends into the dungeon and prays to her imaginary Lightbringer, she is doomed ... Karl Reimers who is in love with her, hangs herself from Aldons, Astolf, who ordered her to kill Margarita, rushes off the cliffs. .. Thoughts of death became familiar to her. The Cardinal condemns Ortrud for offending moral conduct. “The people will judge me,” the queen replies. The volcano smokes more and more and more insistently talk that only Queen Ortruda can pacify him.

Dr. Mecchio, trying to break the tender union of Afra and Ortruda, plunges his girlfriend into a hypnotic dream, passes him off as dead, and takes her out of the castle. The news of the death of Afra deprives the queen of her will to live. She ascends to the volcano as a source of fiery death, casts a spell over him three times, but in vain. Disaster is inevitable. The city is dying. In clubs of bloody fog, Queen Ortruda suffocates.

Smoke and ashes

The tragic events in the kingdom of the United Islands make Trirodov think a lot. He writes out island newspapers, studies Spanish, reflects on the role of the individual in history, where the crowd destroys, people create, and society preserves. Georgy Sergeevich comes to the idea of ​​becoming king of the United Islands. Elisaveta is surprised and does not believe in the success of the case, but Trirodov sends a letter to the first Minister Loreno about the nomination of his candidacy for the vacant seat of the king. Loredo, in annoyance, orders to print this message in the Government Index. A busy people do not pay attention to it, but the opposition is interested in a stranger.

At night to Trirodov is the ghost of his first wife - the moon Lilith - and comforts him. And in the afternoon, George Sergeyevich admires the naked beauty of Elizabeth. They decide to move to the blissful land of Ojle. Silently climb the tower. There are bottles of colored liquids on a mahogany table. Trirodov pours them into a bowl, they drink from it in turn and wake up on the ground of Oile under clear Mair. Earthly life fades in memory. Fresh and sweet new impressions of being. Is it really necessary to return to the evil earthly life? Destroy her? Or a desperate effort to transform?

Trirodov with his disciples visits the holy monastery. In the monastery, the actor Ostrov and his accomplices kidnap the icon, chop it into pieces and burn it. There is a quarrel, and all die in a remote forest hut. Not far from the estate of Trirodov, an attempt is made on the police officer and vice-governor. Suspicion lies with the privat-docent. The Black Hundred pogroms are being prepared in the city, robberies and arsons have become more frequent.

Georgy Sergeevich is saddened by the closure of the school and turns to the Marquis Telyatnikov for help. His lordship, a member of the State Council, the adjutant general was 160 years old, of which he served the king and the fatherland for almost 150 years. He was a handsome, coddled old man, very well preserved for his age, and he used Bulgarian sour milk and spermine. He asked the elixir of youth from Trirodov. In honor of the Marquis, a masquerade ball was given, to which, together with the city nobility, the dead guests, shrouded in the smell of decay, were invited. In the midst of fun from the excessive zeal of the Marquis Telyatnikov crumbles. Trirodov is accused of this incident.

The popularity of Trirodov in the foreign press is growing. Prince Tankred is worried about campaigning for a Russian impostor. The Social Democrats of the kingdom begin correspondence with the applicant about possible reforms. Their deputation comes to Skorodorozh for an exchange of views. After their departure, the police arrange a search, but Trirodov with the help of a green ball makes the policemen feel like bedbugs.

In the summer, Trirodov and Elizabeth are married in the church of the village of Prosyany Polyany. A sudden thunderstorm portends them a stormy future. The election day of the king. Everything is ready to fly: children, teachers, friends gather in the greenhouse. There are also quiet children. Outside the rioters are approaching, you can’t hesitate, and Trirodov gives a command to take off. The enormous luminous core rushes silently upward.

A convention is convening in the United Islands to elect a king. There is a vote: out of 421 deputies 412 voted for the Russian candidate. George I was elected King! But his fate remains unknown. The confusion is growing, Prince Tancred unsuccessfully trying to escape. Evil soldiers kill him and throw him out of the window.

In the morning, a huge, magnificent crystal ball like a planet descends on the coast of the United Islands. King George I enters the land of his new fatherland ...