Half-Fairy
The fateful moment had come. The shores of Opal were already visible through the telescope. Patricia became worried and accidentally stepped her foot on the compass with which Purra had recently been playing. How is it that the magical beastie throws her toys wherever she goes?
«Oh, you’ve crushed the magic compass!» Zeligena was frightened.
«Was it magic compass? But it wasn’t working. It didn’t mark south, west, north or east.»
«But it does have the Dragon Empire marked on it. The arrow always points to it. Wherever you were, you could always use this compass to get home.»
«The Dragon Empire is not my home!»
Zelegina slammed her green eyelashes in surprise. Had Edwin bewitched her too? But she hadn’t even talked to him.
«We will fight soon,» Patricia looked out for Opal’s fleet on the horizon, but there were no ships in sight. Could it be that the dragon had burned the entire Opal fleet at sea then? It couldn’t be that! At least some of the fleet always stayed in Opal to guard the shores.
«Something’s not right!» Patricia suspected something was wrong, but it was too late. The water beneath the ship had thickened, turned green and suddenly became a swamp.
«Zeligena! What are you doing?»
«It’s not me!» Zeligena looked worried.
«Then who was it?»
«They are other swamp fairies.»
Patricia didn’t notice them right away. The green hair blended in color with the mire. The fairies’ skin and eyebrows were also green. They have camouflage coloring. And there are a lot of them! Zeligena alone wouldn’t be able to turn the entire sea into a swamp.
«Shoot them!» Patricia commanded.
A couple of cannonballs hit the mire, but did no harm to the swamp fairies. The heavy cannonballs sank into the swamp. Bullets and throwing daggers didn’t hit the swamp fairies.
«When did all your tribeswomen join the King Opal’s service?»
«I think he enslaved them, not poached them,» Zeligena suggested. «They look like sleepwalkers. I feel sick in their presence.»
The swamp fairies were braiding the ship with mire. Patricia was horrified to realize that both the water ships and the ghost ships were stuck in the mire. Only Leonella’s flying ships floated proudly above the swamp into which the entire sea had turned. We must temporarily board one of them and get to the king. Without him, the deadly swamp would disappear. Patricia cursed the dragon once more for refusing to replenish her army. How convenient it would be to fly to Opal on its back.
She’d have to manage on my own without the dragon. Patricia’s saber flew over the swamp, but she could do nothing. As soon as she threw herself at the swamp fairies, they dove into the mire.
Patricia came up with an idea to save the ship. She threw the rope of «The Bloodsucker» so that it coiled around the bow of one of the flying ships. «Bloodsucker» instantly guessed the captain’s thoughts and launched the ropes upward itself, clinging to the flying ship. The Purras commanders were not happy, but the flying ship pulled «The Bloodsucker» out of the quagmire.
«If Leonella were here, she’d probably scold me. It’s a good thing she’s not here.»
«She’s usually in command of her pilots, Captain!» Patricia’s been scolded by Netopyrina. «Besides, if you’re not lazy, she’s watching us through the mermaid mirror right now.»
Patricia had forgotten about the spy mirror. We have to be more careful from now on. You never know who’s spying on you through water mirrors. What if the King of Opal has one of those mirrors? Even if he didn’t make friends with the mermaids, he could have lured it away from them. And there are also celestial peri mirrors, through which you can watch the entire universe from the clouds. Some peri could have stolen one such mirror from the heavens and taken it to the King of Opal. In the hands of an ordinary king, it would have gone up in a puff of smoke, but the King Opal is a magician. That must not be forgotten.
Turning the sea into a quagmire was a clever maneuver. The King of Opal has an excellent strategy. The armada of his enemies would have been completely blocked if not for Leonella’s flying ships. However, the flying ships were already being attacked by a pack of warlike peri. They would have to be fought off. The Purras grabbed their weapons. Raging arrows flew at the Peri. They did little harm to the beauties, but the peri were disoriented.
Zeligena and Netopyrina rushed into the battle. It was taking place in the clouds, while Patricia could only stand on the deck and wish she had wings. It was a pity that she couldn’t fly. Otherwise she would be hovering in the clouds and slicing the evil peri with her saber. The magic saber remained hovering above the captain’s head like a bodyguard.
«If only I had my own battle dragon!» Patricia sighed disappointedly. Edwin could have helped her. What did it cost him to carry her on his back while she shot and fought? A dragon as powerful as he was would have been able to take Opal in one raid.
«If he loved me, he would help, but the problem is that he already has a wife!» Patricia thought aloud.
«What, sister?» said a singsong voice behind her. The sound of it sent shivers down her spine. Patricia turned around and saw that a silvery mist was enveloping the deck. All the goblins and trolls were lost in it. Beatrice’s gleaming figure was clearly visible.
«Are you Mistress of the Mists?»
«I am your sister,» Beatrice flew closer.
«A fairy cannot be my sister, for I myself am human,» Patricia said. «You’re not even my sister’s ghost. You’re something else.»
Beatrice sighed and pushed the mist aside with her hand as if it were a veil. The mist mistress could control the mists as she wished.
«But I am not fiery. Not being non-fiery in these times is a virtue. Look what fire does!»
The horizon turned orange. The sea in the distance was gradually turning the color of fire. The dragon ship was heading towards Opal. Even the mire beneath it was catching fire. Patricia could hear the shrieks of frightened swamp fairies.
«That ship has been sailing after me forever. No wonder it’s here. But how did you find me again?»
«My henchman is imprisoned in your hold,» Beatrice confessed, flirtatiously lowering her silvery lashes. «He summoned me to help him. I am his mistress, and it is my duty to rescue him.»
«That ugly dwarf elf is your henchman?» Patricia wondered. «Isn’t he a spy for the King of Opal?»
«No, he only serves me. Let’s let him out of the hold and fly to Opal together. I’ll help you defeat the king. I’ve spent so much time with him, I know his weaknesses. You know that in your absence I have become his favorite only because I am your sister.»
Beatrice’s voice sounded like enchanting music. It was impossible to recognize the lie in it, but Patricia was sure her sister was deceiving her.
«It’s an insidious ploy!» Patricia held her saber out against Beatrice.
«It is absolutely not!» Beatrice looked as sincere and innocent as an angel. But didn’t Edwin also look like an angel until he turned out to be a dragon? Angelic appearances are dangerous. You never know what lies beneath.
«Get away from me!» Patricia demanded.
«I’m flying now, not walking. Have the gossiping waves brought it to your attention that I’ve become a half-fairy?»
«A half-fairy is the product of a magical experiment, not pure magic!»
«What difference does it make if I became magic?» Beatrice shook her blonde curls, and small sparkling stars sprinkled from them. «I can do anything! I control the mists. I understand the gossip that the whispering waves carry to me. I never learned the languages of birds, fish and beasts, but I can speak to them all. Isn’t that wonderful? I have power, and I remember who ruined me. Let’s avenge him together.»
«But the King of Opal also brought you back to life.»
«Should I be grateful to my killer for resurrecting me?»
«I remember you were strangled with a wreath by the garden fairies.»
«And who gave them the order? The same king invited them to Opal.»
Beatrice made a good case. But should she be believed? While Patricia was in doubt, Beatrice found a key from sea chess, and flew to the hold. When she swept the key across the door, all the magical defenses burst.
«What a marvelous thing!» Beatrice rejoiced. «It opens all the locks and breaks all the spells! Where did you get it?»
«I won it,» Patricia snatched the key from Beatrice and almost cried out in pain. The half-fairy’s cold hand burned like ice. Beatrice’s wings were as sharp as ivory.
«Your ship is creepy,» Beatrice complained. «After your ship docks, people disappear in the harbor.»
«I don’t think it’s because of me. Harbors are usually full of all sorts of dark personalities.»
«Your ship is hunting people.»
«I don’t know what you’re talking about.»
«It’s a vampire ship, but somehow it didn’t bleed you dry. You’re alive, even though you’ve been floating on it. That means you’re a witch.»
«Are you kidding me? You’ve known me since I was a child! I’m not a witch!»
«You’ve known me since childhood, too, yet I’m almost a fairy now.»
The objection was weighty. Patricia couldn’t find anything to answer.
The ugly little elf flew away, and Beatrice put her arm around Patricia’s waist and pulled her off the deck. The journey to Opal took less than a minute. The steps of the royal palace were drowning in mire. If the dragon ship reached them, everything would erupt.
«You didn’t have to retaliate,» Patricia realized, «that ship would destroy half of Opal if it reached the shore.»
«You’re the one who brought it here. He’s coming after you,» Beatrice’s voice was displeased. «Send him away!»
«I cannot! He won’t obey me.»
Beatrice exhaled clouds of mist, but they could not stop the fiery ship.
«How unfortunate is it!» Beatrice pushed aside the nagas guarding the palace gates and dragged Patricia inside. The palace was as deserted as a crypt. All the courtiers had disappeared, but here and there magical creatures flickered about. They were swinging on the chandeliers, crawling on the walls, hiding behind tapestries, crawling into knights’ armor and sleeping under the shattered slabs of marble floor. The familiar fairy Aleandra flashed in the corridor. Though she was no longer a hostage to the pirates, she felt fear of them. Noticing the pirate captain accompanied by Beatrice, Aleandra hurriedly ducked into the labyrinth of mirrors, which had never been seen in Opal’s palace before. Among the many reflections, the fairy was lost. Now even pirates could not catch her. But the divas and nagas who guarded all the doors had a belligerent look. In front of Beatrice they parted. The dark night fairies clung to the ceiling like a cocoon.
«Everything has changed here. This is not a palace, but a nightmare!»
«Everything has improved,» Beatrice objected and clung to Patricia’s hand.
«Where are we going?»
«I’m flying, and you’re going!»
«It doesn’t matter! Where are you taking me?»
«The King has interesting plans.»
«Does he have a vulnerable spot? Like some secret room where he keeps magic relics?»
«He has the crypt of his queens, but maybe you should change tactics. Why go to war when you can negotiate?»
Beatrice practically pushed her sister into the throne room. At first the hall seemed empty, like the rest of the palace, but suddenly a light flashed in it. Tiny salamanders shimmered in the wells of the candlesticks and inside the fireplaces. The king was seated on his throne. It should have been foreseen at once that Beatrice would betray. Patricia turned around, but the misty fairy was gone.
A multitude of faces
«Come in, my dear!» came the King’s echoing voice.
Patricia hoped that the saber hovering above her head would protect her, and that the goblins and trolls of her pirate crew might arrive later. They were fighting the Celestial Warriors now, but that wouldn’t last forever. And all the guards have disappeared from the palace. They were replaced by nagas, divas, and some monsters that looked like giant scorpions with human heads.
Two beautiful evil peri stood at the king’s throne and waved their fans around him. Patricia knew that if they waved their maces in her direction, she would fall asleep or get dizzy. Better to stay away from both the peri and their plowshares.
«Where is my real sister? Give her back in exchange for the half fairy!» Patricia demanded.
«Your whole family is here. Will you stop rebelling?»
King Opal waved his hand, which glittered with a black stone ring. At the foot of his throne, the silhouettes of all of Patricia’s relatives suddenly appeared. They all looked strange. They all had blank, sightless eyes and mechanical movements. The men of the branch had claws and webbed hands, the ladies had slimy jellyfish limbs peeking out from under the hems of their dresses. Patricia yanked the camisole from her uncle’s shoulders and saw the monstrous body of some swamp creature underneath.
«This is not my family!»
«The King of Opal didn’t even laugh. He had once made her sister a half fairy with an evil temper. And now he had taken on her entire family. This is his magic experiment. Does he want to prove that he is the strongest magician in the entire universe? What does he have in store for Patricia herself? She’s the only person left so far. They’re not her kin anymore, they’re part fae. Should we call them assembrahs? Or is that just a term for watermen who have bred with humans and produced a brood of half-humans, half-morgens?
«You don’t like your new family?» The king chuckled. «All that’s missing is you to complete the mosaic.»
«And when the mosaic is complete?»
«A dragon ship will come to serve me. It will be the centerpiece of my legion of supernatural warriors and warrior women,» the king tapped one of the peri on the shoulder.
«I have seen this ship. It won’t obey anyone, but it will burn everyone.»
«So the final piece of the mosaic is you. Only a select few can see this ship and survive. You’re probably the one who’ll help me get my hands on the dragon ship.»
It seems the king didn’t realize the fire ship was already approaching Opal’s shores. He was too busy tracking Patricia. The sky magic mirror framed in clouds showed him only Patricia and her hovering saber.
«You have become my obsession, sweet rebel,» the King of Opal made his peri jealous by favoring Patricia. «It’s good to have you back. I have missed you very much. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a new queen.»
«It is not surprising, considering how quickly they die. No peasant woman would pay for a day on the throne with an eternity of torment in a royal crypt.»
«You’ll live longer than all my queens. You have magical potential.»
That’s what makes her so important to him. Patricia ordered the saber to attack the king, but a dense invisible magic shield was spread around the throne. Not even a magic saber could penetrate it.
«Let’s not fight, but negotiate,» the king suggested with luscious courtesy. «You only rebelled because of your family’s execution. Look, they’re all alive again. I’ve paid your debts by giving them new magical life. Now let’s talk about your future. It’s unseemly for a lady to behave like a pirate. A crown will suit you better than a black bandage on your forehead. The dragon I sent to find you assured me you still wear your long trains gracefully. By the way, he promised to return you to me, but he never did.»
«Is it a golden dragon?» Patricia’s heart started pounding.
«Yes, a golden dragon who can turn into an emperor. He and I played checkers, drank fiery wine and discussed the unfaithfulness of women. He himself suffered from his wife’s infidelity and decided to help me. Strange, how did you manage to escape his claws?»
The King of Opal looked closely at the girl. His eyes glittered and locked into hers. Patricia hastily turned away. The king’s gaze was beginning to cause her physical pain. Her head ached, her knees buckled as if a vampire was sucking blood from her.
«The dragon was a man of honor. It’s not like he could betray. The only way he could let you go is if you are the wife he seeks. But she was born thousands of years before you. It is strange!»
The king was suddenly at her side. How he rose from his throne and approached Patricia did not see. He snapped his fingers and a table appeared in the hall, set with pernicious fairy fruit and decanters of fire wine.
«Will you have a drink?» The King of Opal poured flaming wine into a silver goblet.
Patricia recoiled. This wine can burn a person. If you pour one goblet of it on a house, the whole house will burn down.
«My peri captured this wine on your flying ship,» the king explained.
Oh, yes! Patricia bit her lip resentfully. Why does she always have to lose?
«Don’t waste such nectar on her!» A cranky, familiar voice said.
The charred figure of Medea Shai was leaning over the King Opal’s throne. It came out that they had become allies. Had villain and villainess come together in their hatred of a dragon stronger than they? Or were they brought together by the excitement of chasing an all-powerful fiery ship? Or perhaps Medea Shai wanted to become the next ruler of Opal?
The black wings of the fairy queen crumbled to ash. The only beautiful thing left in her was the golden crown connected to the corundum in her forehead. Somehow it didn’t burn and continued to shine brightly on her black head of ash.
For a moment it seemed to Patricia that the magical power from the preserved crown was spreading through Medea Shai’s body, and it regained bright colors instead of monotonous black. It is not without reason that the crown of the queen of fairies is said to have a special power. It was probably because of the crown that the dragon was unable to burn the fairy queen completely. She even survived the dragon’s fire. If it’s not removed, Medea Shai will regain her former power. But how do you remove the crown when it’s attached to the corundum, and the corundum has grown right into Medea Shai’s charred forehead. Strangely, it remained intact even as the skin around it burned away. Apparently, to a magic stone, not even dragon fire can harm it. After all, this stone is a source of power.
In spite of the fairy queen, Patricia took the glowing glass and brought it to her lips. Strangely, her lips didn’t burn. It was the same thing that happened when she was with the dragon. Edwin hadn’t burned her. Patricia decided to experiment and licked the wine. The fire entered her mouth, but it did not burn her tongue. The taste of fire wine was indeed divine.
«This is a pleasure only fairies can enjoy,» the King of Opal said. «If you drank a sip and did not burn, it means that you are a fairy or some other magical creature unknown to me. There are so many races, species and subspecies of them. No encyclopedia can contain them all.»
Medea Shai looked enviously at the wine, but she was wary of flying up to the table.
«How come your ship burned down and you’re still alive?» Patricia asked her directly.
«It didn’t burn. It was ash and planks,» Medea Shai showed off her skin, which was ninety percent ash and cinders. Her cheeks were sunken in like black pits.
«It’s sad!» Patricia sat down at the table because there was nowhere else to go. Her pirate crew did not rush to the rescue. One saber hovering over the table wasn’t enough to overpower a pack of wizards.
«Let’s settle this peacefully,» the king suddenly suggested. Patricia sighed heavily. Since Opal’s surrender could not be expected, there was nothing left but to negotiate.
Medea Shai flew to the table on charred wings and stood behind the king’s back. Flying was hard for her. There was almost nothing left of her once luxurious wings. The table was lined with pyramids of fairy and elf fruit. They were covered in scales or horns instead of leaves. Some fruits were covered with rose petals and even decorated with gems that replaced the seeds and cuttings. It was deadly to eat these fruits. Whoever took a bite would become a slave to the fairies and lose his own will forever.
«Taste this, my dear!» The king offered her a heart-shaped fruit. Patricia did not dare to touch it. She remembered a gruesome dinner at this table in the past. The heads of all her family and friends had bled on silver trays while the king had made her a tempting proposal. Apparently, this time he had read her mind.
«Conspiracy against a ruler is a punishable offense, Patricia. Your family knew what they were getting into. What was it like for you to plot against your dragon husband? He’s also a powerful emperor. Did you really think you could overthrow him by seducing some of his armies with magic and feminine charm?»
«It wasn’t a conspiracy! It was a magical game!» Patricia herself didn’t realize where she remembered it from. It was as if someone inside her mind had rebelled and started speaking for her. «The game was revenge for the fact that before me he had been infatuated with other women: the sylphid Sylvia, the music fairy Deborah, and even my mother, the queen-sorceress Odile.»
«That was centuries before you were born.»
«But it was! It doesn’t matter that their love didn’t work out forever. What matters is that I consider it cheating.»
«How unlucky is it for the dragon that you came along and caused him so much trouble.»
Patricia felt her head grow heavy. There was someone else’s voice in her head. It seemed that somewhere inside her brain there was a secret door, and behind it Patricia’s true nature was hidden. She’s waiting for something until later.
The fiery wine poured through her veins. It drove everything human out of her body and awakened a hidden memory. Patricia took the polished silver tray from the table and looked into its reflective surface. It was not her, but a winged brunette in a crown. It was probably a reflection of her soul, hidden in her body like a mask.
«I already have a crown,» Patricia said. «And it’s not Opal’s.»
The king tensed and placed on the platter a graceful female crown that adorned the heads of many of the now deceased ruler’s wives.
«All I see are red curls without a crown.»
«Is it really?» Patricia looked away from her reflection. Her own body suddenly seemed alien, thrown on top of her true form like a cape. The sounds of battle came from outside: the scraping of metal against metal, gunfire, stomping feet. It seemed that one of her crew had broken through into the palace. Patricia fumbled in her breeches pocket for a flask of fire wine. She had hoped to splash it in the king’s face until she realized that the fire wine didn’t burn him. The king and all the peri drank the wine. Only Medea Shai frowned disdainfully at the sight of fire in her glass.
«I promised that I would return the dragon his wife if she suddenly came to Opal, but at that time I didn’t know who his wife was,» the King of Opal looked at Patricia appraisingly. «The strongest potential is in you. Why give you to a dragon? I need you more. He is strong enough as it is, and I lack a friend like the greatest sorceress.»
«You’re wrong!»
«You have a lot of faces and a bad memory, but you’re fine with me. With you alone, I can save money on courtesans. You can take anyone’s body. You alone are a lot of beauties! You change beautiful bodies like outfits. With you alone, one can possess all the enchantresses of the world. And how can you not love you?»
Patricia wanted to repeat that he was wrong, but the reflection of the brunette with wings flashed again in the silver dish in front of her. It was so familiar! It had been her reflection before. Her first body! And now it seemed like there were multiple personalities struggling inside her at once. One mind was crowding out the other. One memory was instantly replaced by another, like a vivid kaleidoscope.
Patricia felt dizzy and drank down the entire glass of fiery wine. The fire rushed through her veins in an avalanche, awakening her true memory. The reflection of a string of beauties flashed in the polished dish: blondes, shades, redheads. And in her mind she could hold the memories of so many people at once.
«Faces like masks and bodies like outfits,» whispered a voice from inside Patricia’s mind. «For the queen of the fairies it is not worth it to steal someone else’s body and try it on like a dress. But if you stay in it long enough, you’ll lose your memory.»
Memory, indeed, had long remained lost, but now in a moment of danger it was revived. Her name had once been Rose. Her mother was a wicked sorceress in whom everyone saw only a beautiful queen, and Rose herself was a troublemaker who disguised herself in hunter’s clothes and met trolls and dwarves in the forest. It was there that she was spotted by a dragon who wanted revenge on her kin. The dragon had the skill to turn into a handsome young man. When war broke out in the kingdom, he kidnapped the princess. He promised her his protection from everything. All you have to do is summon him in Rose’s name and everything will be as it was before.