The wooden dragon
The gray cage stood empty. Even though it was made of enchantments, it didn’t hold the fairy. Patricia walked around the cage to make sure Aleandra wasn’t hiding, sticking her wings to the corners of the ceiling. The cage was empty both below and above. Could it be that the Nethopyrina’s enchantments were so weak? In any case, they had kept the hostage here for quite a long time, and she wouldn’t be free without help.
«The Mist Mistress is stronger than us!» Patricia concluded.
«Could the fairy have pretended to be invisible?» Nethopyrina slipped her thin fingers between the bars of the cage. «Fairies can pretend to be invisible for a while, but you can feel them.»
The bars of the cage slid apart slightly, allowing Nethopyrina’s gray hand to pass through. There was no door to the cage. No one was going to let Alenadra go.
«It is empty!» Nethopyrina concluded, feeling the air inside the cage. «Our guests have shown marvels of agility. Usually no one escaped from my nets and cages. This is the first unique case.»
«You’re not praising yourself in vain, are you?» Zeligena leaned over and found that the protective symbols around the cage had been erased, as had the ones painted on the threshold. «We need to feel all the walls of the hold. Some fairies can hide by becoming part of walls or columns, or turning into caryatids.»
The swamp fairy started checking the walls and the ceiling, which she could easily reach with her own wings. Aleandra was nowhere to be found. Crawling along the ceiling of the hold, Zeligena resembled a bizarre green insect.
«The freed fairy must have flown back to Opal,» Zeligena finally concluded. «I sense that she has gone from being a hostage to a traveler.»
«As soon as she returns to Opal, she’ll tell everyone there about us,» Patricia said. «They’ll send a whole fleet after us. The King of Opal will want to capture a pirate like me.»
«Is it to be executed?» Both fairies were wary.
«It is worse!» Patricia remembered the niches where the bodies of dead queens and other beauties rotted. After death, these women lived on and turned into something monstrous.
What could be worse than death, the fairies did not ask. They must have guessed it themselves. After all, they were both not new to witchcraft.
Patricia left the hold in a depressed state of mind. On the deck lay a familiar spyglass, fringed with pearls and shells. It was the stuff of the watermen. The fairy friends had told Patricia that not only the Underwater Kingdom could be seen through it. Patricia picked up the telescope and looked through it. For a minute there flashed vivid pictures of the sea bottom. Mermaids, newts, pearl pyramids and sea palaces appeared like a kaleidoscope. Then Patricia saw what she wanted to see. The Mist Fairy and Aleandra were carried in flight across the sea. They were returning to Opal. There they would ask for an audience with the king and report what was happening on Patricia’s ship. Beatrice had only seen the ship from above and Aleandra knows all its secrets.
Patricia lowered the spyglass.
«When they report me, I’ll either have to fight or abandon ship and hide on land.»
«We could still find a quiet hole, Captain,» Zeligena suggested. «There are lagoons, harbors and islands where no one can see the ship. There’s also a chance to hide in the Underwater Kingdom. If we are allowed, we can go down there with the whole ship and then surface again. There are various means of breathing underwater for long periods of time.»
All these options seemed very fantastic and did not lead to the desired result. After all, Patricia still wanted revenge.
«I need an entire fleet of magic ships to attack the shores of Opal. Where would I find allies?»
An island inhabited exclusively by magical creatures appeared just ahead. Patricia ordered them to enter the harbor. The ship carried out almost all the instructions, the crew was present only as fighters.
Banana palms grew in abundance in the harbor, and the sun was blazing hot. There were strange creatures scurrying about. Some were humpbacked and covered with wool, some were winged, and some had gills of blue skin. Obviously, they were watermen who had crawled out onto dry land for a while.
Patricia’s attention was suddenly drawn to a magnificent ship carved in the shape of a dragon floating on the water. Though it was made entirely of wood, it seemed alive for some reason. What if it was sorcery? What if it would burst into flames and burn the whole harbor? But time passed, and the ship was calmly at anchor. Patricia walked along the pier and approached it.
«Look!» She called to her fairy friends. They turned around reluctantly. They were more interested in strolling through the harbor market, where various curiosities were being sold. All the vendors were creepy monstrous creatures or fairies with sand-colored wings.
«It is beautiful and sinister,» Nethopyrina said. «It’s a masterpiece of ship architecture.»
«It’s a dragon too, but a wooden one!» Patricia whistled.
«You don’t think the dragon turned into a ship, do you?»
«I think that’s exactly what it is!»
Patricia touched the wooden scales to make sure they were hot. They might have gotten hot in the sun, though. The wooden dragon’s head on the bow of the ship moved its horns and changed its perspective slightly. It was about to turn around and speak. The dragon’s mouth opened. Patricia was startled. The dragon might not speak to her, but it might breathe fire! But it was wooden. Even if it’s alive, it’s not as dangerous as the fire-breathing dragons in the sky.
«Don’t touch it! It’s the ship of the Lord of the Seas!» Some magical creature screamed. «I’ll report you to the island governor and his imperial majesty.»
«We are pirates!» Patricia thrust her magic saber forward, and the creature was stunned.
«Tell me, what rogue do you call the ruler of the seas?»
«Don’t you know about him? Don’t you pay him your taxes?» Several creepy creatures were already shouting in their own voices. «You are criminals!»
The word sounded like an insult. Patricia knew, of course, that all pirates were criminals, but how could the local population not know that? They treated pirates normally, even friendly, but they considered seafarers who didn’t pay taxes to some nameless ruler of the seas as criminals. It’s a miracle, isn’t it?
«Maybe they are all crazy?» Patricia looked doubtfully at the strange creatures that had already gathered in the harbor. They were shaking their clawed fists menacingly.
«Don’t dare to set a dragon on us!» They hissed. «You are renegades! You’ll get our island burned!»
Patricia’s saber swung out of her hand and hovered menacingly over the crowd of evil creatures. Sure, she could slaughter them all, but more would come. The entire island is set against the pirates, who are considered vicious taxpayers to the sea lord.
«And I don’t even know anything about a sea lord, even though I’ve been sailing the seas for months,» Patricia muttered resentfully, but no one believed her.
The crowd of monsters grew thicker and more ferocious. They had to go back to the ship before the entire population of the island descended on Patricia’s crew.
As Patricia walked toward the gangway, she felt the dragon’s wooden eyes following her. She turned around, the wooden dragon’s horns moved, and then it opened its mouth and breathed fire into the crowd of islanders.
The wooden ship itself was not on fire. It remained standing in the harbor, even though part of the harbor had burned down.
«It’s waiting for its master,» Zeligena determined.
«Is it the ruler of the seas?»
«Or it is some other powerful wizard.»
«I wish we had such a wizard on our team.»
«Alas, he already has his own ship. And judging by his ship, he’s more comfortable operating alone than in company. Very powerful wizards like to be alone.»
«So the King of Opal is not a very powerful wizard.»
«He learned magic the hard way,» the swamp fairy nodded. «The wizards who are truly strong are those who were born with magical abilities. Learning is only a supplement to their talent, not the main path.»
«You know a lot about the King of Opal,» Patricia was suspicious.
«I’m gathering information about him slowly because you’re obsessed with him,» Zeligena justified herself. «I’m also curious about how he managed to subdue the fairies. What if I came to Opal and he could subjugate me to his will? I’m a free swamp fairy and I don’t want to be anyone’s slave.»
Patricia imagined that her own friend could be used against her and was frightened. If the King of Opal subdued the swamp fairy, she could turn the entire sea into mire for his sake and even swamp the palace steps so that the pirates attacking the king would sink.»
Prospects
Patricia looked regretfully at the magnificent ship disappearing from sight. If only it had belonged to her! Too bad you can’t take a ship like that by force. It would burn you like a real dragon. The inventor of such a ship should be given a prize for genius. Soon the wooden dragon disappeared over the horizon.
«Where are we going to find allies now?» Patricia sighed.
Ahead lay only a small island, completely filled with jungle. Only pandas lived there. The coloring of the beasts was unusual. They might be a bit magical, but they wouldn’t make an army..
«We could capture a few merchant ships or even warships,» Nethopyrina suggested. «We’d have to feed their crews to «The Bloodsucker» and not sink them.
«And who would steer them?»
«I can control the wind, and the wind will control the ships. We don’t need a crew.»
It was a tempting idea, but Patricia shook her head negatively.
«Ordinary ships won’t do. We need a special one.»
«Maybe we could get a flying ship?» Nethopyrina brightened up.
«Are there flying ships?» Patricia had never even heard of one.
«Princess Leonella has a whole fleet of flying ships.»
«Is this the princess that the big Purras obey?»
«She’s part Purra herself.»
«You mean she’s an animal?» Patricia couldn’t contain her amazement.
«It is not exactly. She looks like a beautiful girl, but she also has animal features. Nevertheless, she can be negotiated with. Her manners are as refined as any well-bred princess. Leonella knows both etiquette and palace ceremonial and even foreign languages. She loves music and dancing.»
«How do you know so much about her?»
«I’ve flown up to the windows of her fortress sometimes. You can only get to them at night. By day, they’re surrounded by rainbow bridges. And Leonella’s Purras are very careful. They don’t let anyone in without the princess’ permission.»
Patricia hesitated to get involved with such an unusual princess who might be half-animal. What if her habits were beastly too. That little Purra who was practically adopted by Patricia had become almost a mistress on the ship. What would happen if they contacted a bigger Purra? Suddenly Princess Leonella will enslave the ship and the entire crew.
«Are there other options?»
The Nethopyrina didn’t ponder for long.
«There are many options, captain. For example, you could call upon the help of a pack of mermaids. They will gladly respond to your call and swim to the shores of Opal, but if the King of Opal knows special sea spells, he can make the mermaids swim back. They’ll turn away from the shore and swim like they’re hypnotized. I once saw something like this happen off the coast of Opal. It was hundreds of years ago, during the last dynasty. There was a dragon prince named Sular. He was a creepy guy, very handsome and very bloodthirsty. He liked to burn people just for fun, but one day a heavenly punishment befell him. Or rather, a sea punishment, because he fell in love with a siren and followed her to some submerged islands.
«Was it the dragon prince?» Patricia remembered the fiery young man, and she was pierced with jealousy for the unknown siren. «What did he look like?»
«He had blue eyes and long, honey-colored hair. He usually braided it. He dressed in robes of purple and azure.»
«No, this is not the young man I saw in the dragon flames once,» Patricia consoled herself.
«You couldn’t have seen Prince Sular. He’s a willing prisoner of the Sea King’s daughter Lorelei. He won’t go anywhere without her. And before he met her, he hated all the sirens for ruining his friend.»
Patricia calmed down a little. The young man she’d practically fallen in love with seemed to be named Edwin. At least that’s what the fairy queen had called him. He had golden hair, not honey. He didn’t braid it. The curls snaked down his cheeks. Patricia closed her eyes and tried to recall every feature of Edwin, but the voice of Nethopyrina brought her out of her reverie.
«There is a cove. It’s always dark there. The sun never shines over it. In the cove rot all the ships that have been captured by the Morgens. The master of the cove is monstrous and intractable, but if you beat him at sea chess, he will be obliged to serve you.»
«And what good are his ships to me if they’re already rotten?» Patricia wondered.
«Not only are the ships rotten, but they’re covered in sea magic. There are krakens clinging to the holes in the bottom and morgens crawling on board. They’re drowning ships. They can always come up from the sea bottom, all covered in mud and algae, and take an entire fleet or an entire island. You can’t use cannon against them. Those ships are already sunk, there’s nothing more you can do to them. But the sea creatures will crawl from them to land.»
«It is fascinating!» Patricia was thinking. «Do you know how to play sea chess?»
«You could ask the mermaids. They would probably know.»
The venture seemed dubious, but there was no choice. Patricia bit her lip in thought.
«There is a fourth option,» Nethopyrina counted on her fingers.
Patricia thought involuntarily that all of Nethopyrina’s options were as dangerous as the claws on her fingers.
«One could ask the young king of Ivilor for help. Ivylor is a prosperous kingdom beyond the southern islands. We need only turn left a little to get there. Ivilor has a strong navy, and the king is young and foolish. He loves beautiful girls and fairies. He’d do anything for them. All you have to do is flirt with him a little and he’ll lend us his ships.»
«Are they ordinary ships?» Patricia hesitated.
«They are unusual! The King has a funny magical creature living with him. With him everything in the kingdom became magical, even the fleet.»
Patricia hesitated for a second.
«Okay, change course,» she commanded.
Soon the ship was sailing toward the southern islands. Her fairy friends could bring her right to the windows of the king’s apartments. After all, the young king loves fairy’s visits.
Until the ship arrived in port, Patricia decided to treat herself to some leftover ette. She never guessed who had brought them to her cabin. If only magic candy could talk!
«So who gave you to me?» Patricia asked spontaneously.
As if in response to her words, a single fiery candy suddenly appeared in the box. Did it really glow? Or did its bright orange coloring make it seem so? Patricia took the candy in her fingers. It was hot and decorated with dragon-like scales. She wondered what it tasted like. Patricia was afraid of burning her tongue on the fiery candy, but she tasted it anyway. A pleasant fire immediately spread through her body. It didn’t burn, it warmed. The flame burst out from every pore of her skin. Suddenly it turned into arms and wings. Patricia was embraced by a fiery angel with Edwin’s face.
Surely his embrace was an illusion conjured by the ette. But Patricia still enjoyed spending all night until morning in the fiery embrace.
The king’s mind
Before her visit to the royal palace, Patricia was worried. The ship would soon dock at the shore, and what to do then? Ever since she shone at court, Patricia had lost all her charm. She was used to being a pirate, not a lady. Instead of coquetry, she used her fists and her saber. And now she was expected to return to her old life for one day. Her heart was beating out of her chest like a madman.
«You say the young king is a womanizer?» She turned to Nethopyrina, who was already in the captain’s cabin helping the captain get ready for an audience with the king.
The audience will be arranged easily.
«I’ll take you to the windows of the king’s bedchamber,» Nethopyrina planned.
«Why is it the bedchamber? It’s not like I’m going to be his favorite. Let’s start in the throne room.»
«I’m sure it will be crowded.»
Patricia sighed heavily. She didn’t want to meet the King of Ivilor at all. It would be better to return to the wonderful dream where her fiery lover embraced her. To summon him again, she would have to eat another ette candy. Too bad there were no more sparkling candies in the box. One candy that induced pleasant dreams was still there, though.
Patricia looked around herself and was surprised. She’d had enough ette, and she hadn’t gotten a rash or gone crazy. Did that mean that the side effects of the ette would not show up again? She’s probably mesmerized by them.
«The King of Ivilor loves coquettes and femme fatales,» Nethopyrina instructed. «Give him a lot of pleasantries.»
«Why should I flirt with him?» Patricia was indignant. «You said he loves fairies.»
«But he does not love bats.»
«Even as a bat, you’re an incredibly pretty fairy. You’ll wow him at first sight.»
Patricia wasn’t hypocritical in her praise, but Nethopyrina was shy.
«A girl with waist-length fiery hair would appeal to him more. Except that your outfit isn’t too pretty.»
«What’s wrong with it? – Patricia looked at her knee-high boots, white blouse, black vest, red cloak, skirt and triangle tied around her waist. «For a pirate, these are chic clothes.»
«But it is not for a lady. You should get a dress with a puffy skirt, preferably with a crinoline, and a fancy hat.»
Patricia had the jewelry she’d looted, but no dress. We should at least wear them. What if the young king is satisfied? The diamonds sparkle like stars. With such an expensive necklace, tiara and earrings, one could forget that Patricia had no dress.
«It’s a pity that the chests don’t hold fancy dresses, or we’d have lots of them,» Patricia lamented.
They had captured dozens of treasure chests, but no chests with clothes on the oncoming ships. But after robbing a merchant ship, the goblins had brought aboard rolls of silk.
«That’s the stuff!» Nethopyrina rejoiced as she grabbed the silk. «Stand still, Captain!»
Her long fingers wrapped around Patricia’s waist, taking measurements.
«What are you doing?» Patricia was surprised when Nethopyrina began to tear the roll of silk with her claws. Why ruin a good fabric?
She tore off large pieces of silk and held them up to Patricia. Then she pulled a thin thread from the remaining silk. She did not need a needle or scissors. Nethopyrina replaced them with her claws. She worked for ten men. In a few minutes, the dress was ready.
«It’s not the fashionable Opal style. But it’s fine for Ivilor,» the fairy said.
«I think it’s a little too bouffant.» Patricia felt herself in a vise. The corset was tight around her waist and the skirts were piled around her legs. «How do you fight in a dress like that?»
«We’re betting on your charms right now.»
«And if it doesn’t work?»
«Then your saber will fly after us and wait for us at the windows of the king’s apartments. If anything goes wrong, you will whistle, and it will slaughter the king and his counselor.»
The king’s advisor was a funny, magical creature who was barely knee-high to the king, but commanded him as he pleased. It preferred to sit on the king’s shoulder.
Patricia didn’t even notice it at first. When «The Bloodsucker» docked at the port of Ivylor, there was hardly anyone around. As it turned out, everyone had crowded into the square to see the king’s reception.
«The Bloodsucker» happily pulled the ropes and grabbed several sailors who were running around the pier. The ropes coiled around their bodies like boa constrictors. The ship pulled the victims to it. The deck was stained with blood.
No one in the harbor even raised the alarm because there was no one to witness the bloody incident. The ship was satisfied, and Nethopyrina wrapped her arms around the dressed Patricia’s waist and pulled her off the deck. Zeligena did not join them. The swamp fairy had no desire to flirt with the king of Ivilor.
«I’ll turn the entire palace into a swamp if I fly into it, and your plan will go awry because of me,» she told them off.
Nethopyrina managed without her. She carried Patricia over the crowd of gawkers in the square. The people didn’t look up, so no one saw the fairy with her burden. There were no guards standing at the windows of the throne room either. Nethopyrina brought Patricia up to it.
«There’s the king!» She pointed to the throne. «And on the king’s shoulder sits his counselor.»
«Where is he?» Patricia blinked, but saw no one. The king was a handsome young boy of about nineteen, dressed in lace and brocade. A crown of rubies adorned his wheat-colored curls. The king’s pretty face betrayed naiveté. He does need an advisor. Only he doesn’t have one at the throne.
«Look closely!» Nethopyrina blew sparkling pollen into Patricia’s face.
«Why is it?» Patricia flapped her eyelashes to flick her finger away, but it penetrated her eyes. At first her eyes pinched, then suddenly a dark silhouette on the king’s shoulder became visible. It resembled a black evil monkey with very long claws and a horned head.
«It’s a little monster! Why is it sitting on the king’s shoulder? And no one chases him away?»
«They just can’t see it,» explained Nethopyrina. «This creature calls itself the King’s Reason, but in reality it is a dexterous demon who loves luxury and wealth. This time he had a favorable position.»
The creepy creature resembled not even the king’s favorite, but his master. It pulled the king’s hair and strangled the king by the neck with its tail if the king did something wrong.
«A small dark demon named Ibrazymus Coal was once imprisoned in a treasure chest,» Nethopyrina whispered. «He was accidentally released by an Aluar’s princess named Estella. She named it Reason because it pretended to be her magically stolen mind. The princess was notorious for her stupidity, but she was quite cunning. The Mind did not stay with her for long, but it settled in well with the young King Serpin.»
The young king said nothing until the creepy little beast on his shoulder whispered advice to him. Does no one else see this beast? Patricia cast an attentive eye over the rows of courtiers. The ambassadors were impressed by the king’s wise speeches. If the ambassadors had known they had been whispered to the king by a dexterous demon.
The Mind clawed the king’s neck with its clawed paw. He whispered something in Serpin’s ear for a long time, while he cast piercing glances at those present. Mind’s eyes, red as coals, glittered ominously. He seemed to see through people. He even noticed the fairy at the window and shook his clawed fist in her direction.
«Does he know you?» Patricia wondered.
«No, but he keeps his place at the king’s side, so he tries to keep all the fairies away from Ivilor. In case one of them steals the king away from him.»
«But I’m not a fairy,» Patricia grinned disarmingly at the black demon’s angry gestures. If a smile didn’t win him over, she’d use her saber.
«That’s why you’re going to the king, not me. Mind will have to let you go,» she said, backed by Nethopyrina.
Patricia felt trapped. The reception was about to end, and she would have to negotiate for help with the foolish young king and his cunning demon.