«What’s the matter with you?» Zeligena was frightened. «Are you ill? Are you bewitched?»
«No, I just had a sudden feeling that this body was mine! It was one of mine!» Patricia couldn’t understand herself. She felt as if the beautiful dead body was just a piece of her closet. It was something like a dress or a cape, or even a mask. Well, isn’t that absurd? The landing on the magical island must have caused her to lose her mind.
Patricia touched the stiff brocade of Adelaide’s dress. She only wanted to make sure that the sorceress’s body was real and not ghostly. The fabric appeared real, but it was unpleasant to touch. The brocade of the luxurious dress stung her fingers, but Adelaide’s black curls were as soft as silk. As soon as she touched them, a loud dragon’s roar sounded over the island. It sounded like dragons. Not just one, but a whole pack of them.
Dragons of the seashore
«Dragons are coming this way!» Zeligena panicked. «Ask the Lady of the Island to drive them away.»
«Can’t you ask her yourself?»
«She has signaled her favor to you, not me.»
«What signal of favor is it?»
«She’s back to her old self as she was the night she was to be sacrificed to the sea gods. If a skeleton grows flesh, it wants to do your bidding.»
«Or does it want to take my soul?» Patricia was frightened by the sensation that the dead Adelaide’s body actually belonged to her. This is some kind of witchcraft trickery. Surely the dead woman wants to move into her living body. So she’s playing tricks on her head.
«What’s a soul in exchange for being saved from a pack of dragons?» Zeligena was already panicking. «You’d better give up your soul, but save the ship and your crew. You’re the captain! You have to stand up for us!»
That’s right. A captain should give his life for his crew, for that matter. Patricia put her hands on Adelaide’s cheeks. They were as cold as ice. The body on the stone only looked real, but to the touch it was like a frozen statue.
«Help us!» Patricia asked. «If you don’t help us, the dragons will tear us apart. There’s a whole pack of them out there! Can’t you chase them away from the island? It’s your island! They have no business here.»
«It is no reaction!» Patricia concluded when after a moment nothing happened. The dragons screeched loudly as they circled the island. One bright red dragon even peeked into the cave and spotted living creatures inside. He tried to reach his paw inside, but the entrance of the cave was too narrow. The dragon was furious at his failure and wanted to blow fire into the cave. He was disappointed. The fire vapors from its nose and mouth turned to frost and ice at the cave entrance.
Patricia mentally triumphed. That meant the cave was enchanted. Dragon fire would not let an invisible barrier of magic inside. We can hole up in the cave until the dragons leave.
«I hope they don’t have a nest in here!» Patricia grabbed a saber that intended to fly toward the dragon. It wouldn’t hurt it, it would only anger it. Scales like those of dragons could not even be penetrated by a magic saber. The dragon’s dense purple scales were folded into a true armor. The dragon’s eye could probably be a vulnerable spot, but Patricia wouldn’t dare to point a saber at it. The dragon’s eye is too big and the saber is too small. The forces are unequal.
«How dragons dare to come to this island?» Zeligena folded her green wings on her back and brazenly showed the red dragon her green bifurcated tongue. «Fly away from here! This is the domain of the Water Princess.»
The dragon understood the warning, but it did not fly away, only hissed in annoyance and began to wander around the cave, looking for another passage. Patricia realized that it was Adelaide’s corpse that was to blame for the dragon fire freezing to ice. Apparently, the chosen ones of water spirits can cool even dragon magic. Water magic proved to be stronger in this case. Although many philosophers could argue for a long time which is more powerful: the element of water or the element of fire. Among the scholarly men of Opal, such debates were a regular occurrence. Usually, they were never resolved.
«Was Adelaide a princess?» Patricia wondered.
«She wasn’t, but after she was chosen and crowned by the water spirits, she became one. Once a month, when the moon is full, she comes to life and dances on the waves with the water spirits all night. If a ship comes near the island on such a night, it will be sunk for fun. We’re lucky we came ashore tonight. It’s still a long way from the full moon.»
The dragon cries over the island grew louder and louder. The predators were unhappy that they couldn’t find prey on the island. They are unlikely to attack the ship, for it is always thirsty for blood. The dragons aren’t stupid enough not to smell it. Besides, there are only magical creatures on the ship, and the dragons were clearly attracted by the scent of a human girl.
«You could leave and go back to the ship.»
«Is it without you?» Zeligena was indignant. «How could you throw the captain to the dragons?»
«Dragons don’t hunt fairies. They’re not likely to touch you, and I’m human. I can be left here and you sail away.»
«It is no way!»
Patricia was surprised that the swamp fairy was so loyal. All people talk about is that fairies can’t be trusted. They’re all tricksters and pranksters. There are many legends about how mortal knights and ladies were deliberately ruined by fairies and elves. Could even members of a magical people really be respectful of someone they befriended? It came as a surprise to Patricia.
«Hopefully the dragons would be gone by evening or asleep. They can’t stay here 24 hours a day.»
«Dragons can stay awake for months at a time,» Zeligena disappointed Patricia. «They rarely need sleep.»
«Where are so many of them coming from?»
«There are a lot of them nesting by the sea.»
«So they’re like water dragons?»
«No, they’re coastal dragons. They nest in cliffs, mountains, even burrow into the coastal sand and wait for prey. If you walk along a large embankment on the shore, you could fall into the claws of a coastal dragon.»
«It’s a shame that coastal dragons can breathe fire and not spit water like morags.»
«If they could breathe water, they would have flooded the entire cave by now! The magic of the local mistress restrains fire, but not water.»
Indeed, the dragon fire, frozen into icicles, had already spread puddles on the cave floor. This made the surroundings damp and chilly.
«Dragons of the seashores are very dangerous to the coastal kingdoms,» Zeligena instructed. It was a pity that her lecture was completely useless at the moment. «They often raid island nations and demand tribute or unceremoniously grab the first people they see. I once saw such dragons snatch an entire fleet approaching the shore. Imagine the desperation of the warriors. Their fleet had just won a sea battle and was returning to their home shores in triumph, and the dragons had turned their triumph into defeat. I watched the dragon feast from afar and made notes that flying close to the coastal dragons was not something even a nimble fairy could do.»
Zeligena’s admonition was becoming more and more like a funeral song. How could she have the conscience to speak of such atrocities at a time when they themselves might be a snack for the coastal dragons!
Patricia peered cautiously out of the cave. A multitude of colorful dragons were circling the island like fireworks. Their glittering skins were like gems: green, yellow, blue, white, purple. One dragon was even black. It stood out starkly against the bright sky.
«Someone sent them all here on purpose,» Zeligena determined. She squinted suspiciously as she counted the dragons.
«Do you think King Opal sent them to the island?»
«Does he have dragons under his command besides the wandering fairies?»
«No, he hasn’t subdued dragons yet,» Patricia reminded herself. Back then, it was mostly evil fairies that clustered at court. There were a lot of magical freaks crawling into Opal, too, but no dragons.
«Someone else sent them after you.»
«Why is it me?» Patricia wondered. There was a whole ship full of curious creatures docked here besides her.
«They’re looking for you!»
«Can you smell it?»
«I can see what dragons think.»
Patricia found that claim highly dubious. How can you see the thoughts of dragons? Dragons are magical creatures themselves. They must be very good at hiding their intentions from the ubiquitous fairies.
Zeligena was sure she was a powerful enough sorceress to read the minds of dragons. She better be able to control dragons. Now that would be great if she told them to fly away from the island. Patricia wasn’t afraid of dying in a sea battle, but she didn’t want to be eaten by a pack of dragons.
What plan would she come up with to outwit the dragons and get to the ship? Several dragons were flying nearby, watching the entrance to the cave closely. She couldn’t slip past them. And she still had to go clockwise around the island, or she would be on the island forever.
«These dragons are the same color as the ette candy someone left in my cabin,» Patricia said.
«Ette are dangerous candies,» Zeligena wrinkled her nose in distaste. – Even for fairies, they’re dangerous.
«I should have been warned before I tasted them.»
«Well, as long as you ate them and didn’t get a rash or go crazy, you’re fine. Some people can get scales on their skin or lose their minds from abusing ette.»
Patricia looked up at the sky and couldn’t understand why the colorful dragons reminded her of a gift left by someone unknown. It felt as if both the magic candy and the dragons had been sent to her by the same sorcerer. But who was he?
«If we don’t go clockwise around the island before sunset, we’ll stay on this island forever,» Zeligena reminded her mercilessly.
«But we’ve already gone halfway around the island.»
«Half doesn’t count. We need to make a full circle.»
«What a bummer is it! You should explain all this to the dragons!»
«It’s like the dragons are trying to stop us on purpose.»
«Why would they do that?»
«Who knows what will happen if we stay here overnight?»
«What could happen at night?» Patricia was worried. The island gave an unfavorable impression even during the day. What surprises would the darkness hold?
«At night, one of those proud dragons might turn into a handsome magician who would offer us freedom from the island’s charms in exchange for some kind of bondage. Many pirates have been captured by the warlocks and now work for them.»
Patricia cringed at the thought of being put in a sorcerer’s collar and forced to work her magic help like a galleys.
Patricia had once heard from Queen Esperanza that there were such marvelous rings that could transport their wearer through space in a matter of seconds. If you turn such a ring on your finger with the stone downwards, you will instantly find yourself in any place you wish. They are called rings of movement. The wearer can go to any country, any city and any castle in a split second. If she had one, she’d be transported from island to ship in an instant.
In Adelaide’s cave, a multitude of stones sparkled. There were several unusual rings on the corpse’s fingers. Should she risk taking one of them off? What if it turned out to be a signet ring?
«Don’t dare!» Zeligena guessed Patricia’s intentions. «If we anger the Mistress of the Island, we’ll start a storm that could even sink a magic ship.»
It’s a dead end! Patricia bit her lip painfully. She immediately felt the brackish taste of her own blood on her tongue.
The sorceress’s relics shook as the blood spilled nearby. A ghostly figure separated from the remains. It hovered at the entrance to the cave and made some passes with its hands.
«I did not allow one girl to be sacrificed to save all humans, and I will not allow one fairy to be sacrificed to save all dragons,» she hummed. Her song was like an echo. «Fly away! Disappear! Leave this island behind! Even if all of you die because of the one hiding here, I will not let her be touched. And if one of your masters dies because of her, what do you care?»
The dragons roared unhappily, but scattered in different directions. They circled around the island for a minute, as if in a circle. They must have decided to take their prey by force and wait for it to come to the outskirts of the island, but Adelaide’s magic was stronger. The dragons had to fly away, as if some invisible force was chasing them away.
The sun was just approaching the horizon. Soon it would set. Its rays were already turning scarlet.
«Sunset is coming! Come on!» Patricia hurried as fast as she could. Half of the island could only be rounded by running. There was no time to walk. The main thing was to avoid any new obstacles along the way.
Patricia ran, jumping over large rocks and streams along the way. Zeligena flew after her. Her wings flapped so fast that they gave off a sort of buzzing sound.
Someone else was clinging to them. Patricia looked back. Adelaide’s ghost was flying after her. He was as pale as mist. Only a crown of golden shells and pearls glittered dazzlingly. Gusts of cold wind followed Adelaide.
The Purra clung so tightly to her mistress’s neck that she nearly strangled her. First the beast had been frightened by the dragons, and now the long race across the island. Patricia could barely breathe. Purra’s nimble paws squeezed her throat. That’s what it means to strangle for love!
«Be easy!» Patricia pulled back the Purra’s tail that was wrapped around her neck. «You don’t want to strangle me, do you?»
The familiar edge of the shore, where «The Bloodsucker» was anchored, appeared ahead. The crew waited calmly for the captain. The ship couldn’t leave until Patricia fulfilled the island’s condition.
Adelaide’s ghost hovered near the coastal rocks. Apparently, she had no right to leave the island. But she watched the failed dragon victims fleeing the island, her eyes glowing scarlet.
A witch’s fog
A mist hung over the water. It must be Beatrice’s tricks. She is, after all, mist mistress. Patricia peered out over the waves at the fairy’s slender silhouette, but the fog was too thick. There was something living in the fog, quite definitely. Sometimes there were faces, laughing or writhing in pain. Once Patricia thought she saw a winged figure in the fog.
«Come out!» She shouted.
A silvery laugh came from the fog in response. The mist itself shimmered with sparkling pollen. It was as if the pollen had fallen from the fairy’s wings.
«We’ll lose our course in this fog,» Patricia complained.
«No, we won’t!» Nethopyrina picked up the morgens’ telescope from the deck.
«Isn’t it only the Undersea Kingdom you can see through this thing?»
«Not only, Captain! It can see through fog, even magic fog.»
Did Netopyrina really call the fog witchcraft? It looks ordinary. If only there weren’t silver sparks in it!
«I can see through the fog myself,» she boasted, «and also through the darkness. It’s only thanks to me that the dead fairy’s tricks didn’t mislead everyone.»
«If it weren’t for the bat on board, I’d think we were approaching the island of eternal mists,» Zeligena nodded.
Patricia hadn’t realized there was such an island. It probably got its name from the fogs that swirled around it. There was nothing in the sea! The sea is a whole world. And what lies beneath it? When she thought of the kingdom of mermaids and watermen, she saw scaly bodies with pearls growing in the water. They were visible even in the fog.
The rudder moved of its own accord, so that the ship stayed on course. A helmsman was never needed aboard «The Bloodsucker.» Even though there was no wind, the sails remained inflated. It was good to have a magic ship! Even better if it didn’t have magical enemies attached to it.
The goblins almost captured some fairy lizard woman who had snuck onto the ship in the fog.
«They threw a net over her, but she broke free,» Nethopyrina reported. «She has bone wings. They managed to cut even the magic net of Zeligena’s swamp threads. Dead fairies are incredibly strong.
«Don’t call my sister a dead fairy!»
«What made you think it was your sister?»
«What makes you think she’s dead?»
«I smell the aura of death and the crypt, and also the scent of grave roses,» Netopyrina sniffed. «The fog softens the sensation a little, but I swear it’s the kind of fog that should hang over the cursed royal tomb in Opal, not over the sea.»
«Then how did it get over the sea?»
«It was brought by the Mist Fairy.»
Apparently, the names mist fairy and dead fairy meant the same creature. Patricia tried not to think much about the fact that this creature was her own sister. Why had the King of Opal chosen Beatrice for his magical experiments? The answer was self-evident. It was because Beatrice would be the perfect bait for the escaped Patricia.
«We should have a flaming dragon ship here right now! It would have dispelled the fog.»
«But we could have been burned by it, Captain,» said Nethopyrina noisily, flapping her wings. «I can’t guarantee that our „Bloodsucker“ will go up in flames. It might not, but since we don’t know where the dragon ship came from or what magic it contains, it’s best not to meet it. There’s a risk of getting killed.»
Nethopyrina was right. If even mermaids and seawater were burned by the dragon ship, they might not be able to survive when they met it.
The webbed paws of the watermen appeared from the water below and voices sounded like the sound of the surf. The watermen did not like the fog. They grumbled and sent curses at the mist fairies. Patricia was afraid that the water fairies’ paws would claw into the ship and keep it from sailing. The ship was large, but there was a whole army of water creatures coming out of the sea. There were hundreds and thousands of webbed paws, all reaching for the sides of the ship.
On one paw glittered a pearl ring.
«We will help you swim out of the witch’s fog on one condition!» The waterman peeked out of the waves. His yellow eyes burned with excitement. A coral crest grew on his forehead like a crown.
«What’s the condition?» – Patricia was wary and clutched her saber tightly, clearly eager to attack the watermen.
«It’s only a small thing! We need one girl, a barrel of rum and a chest of gold.»
Patricia did not have time to be outraged at such insolence, but the waterman’s eyes widened in amazement. He seemed to be frightened of something. Patricia even turned around to check what exactly. Was the giant standing behind her back? She didn’t think so. There was no way the waterman could be scared of her.
«Oh, it’s you!» he mumbled. «I didn’t realize you were still sailing the seas, despite the risk of colliding with a flaming ship. Well, all right, I’ll help you in advance.»
The waterman dived back into the waves. But amazing creatures with scaly wings growing out of their backs surfaced. Combined with the fish tails, the wings looked bizarre, but the water creatures dispersed the creatures floating in the mist. The fog itself began to disperse with them.
«Damn you! Sea freaks!» The displeased voice of Beatrice came in the distance. The fog was no longer her cover, and she could see that she was floating above the sea.
Patricia wanted to clamp her ears. Her sweet and gentle little sister had never uttered a swear word in her lifetime. When she died, she swore like a highwayman. And that’s how a fairy behaves! Beatrice had no etiquette. She flew above the masts of the ship and tried to fight the water creatures. Mist threads slipped from her fingertips and tried to bind the ship’s sea defenders. The struggle went on for a long time. Then once again the profanity of the losing fairy resounded.
Beatrice could not withstand the watermen and flew away with the mist. As she flew away, she uttered threats. It seemed as if she were sowing daggers over the sea. Something like wounds actually appeared on the bodies of some of the watermen. It seemed as if Beatrice had cut them. But can one cut with words?
It wasn’t blood that flowed from the watermen’s wounds, but water. Patricia had no idea that there were such creatures that had water instead of blood in their veins.
The waterman with the coral crest waved goodbye to Patricia. Apparently, he was in charge of the watermen. He unclenched his clawed paw and sent an air kiss after the ship. It was empty gallantry. He would not help in advance a second time.
Without the fog, the ship sailed forward much faster.
«Something’s wrong, Captain,» said Nethopyrina worriedly. «The hold door is ajar. And there were magic signs inscribed on it. The fairy scout must have erased them.
«You mean Beatrice?»
«She must have been the one on the ship.»
Patricia grabbed the hilt of her saber, which was floating freely above the ship, and went to check the hold. An uneasy suspicion nested in her soul. They were not unfounded. The fairy hostage had vanished without a trace.
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