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Dragon Ship
«That’s right,» Nethopyrina nodded.
Patricia picked up her saber, which, in the absence of a battle, lay quietly on the deck as if it were not magical. But when there was a whiff of blood somewhere, the saber would wake up and fly into battle. It’s convenient to have a magic weapon, but it’s even more convenient to have your own dragon. You can always just fly away on it, if you have nowhere to go from the enemy troops. A dragon can also shoot fire. If flying over the «Bloodsucker», he breathed down. He would burn the entire ship in the open sea.
Can a magical ship be burned by dragon fire? Patricia hadn’t thought about it somehow, but it was a topic worth discussing.
«Can a dragon burn a dead fairy with its breath?» she asked Nethopyrina and Zeligena. Both hesitated.
«It can burn a living one,» Zeligena replied. «He burns mermaids even in the water. If he breathes fire on the waves, all that remains is a charred skeleton. Would you like to ask him to burn the night guest?
How could I ask him? Patricia sighed sadly. Her fairy friends are such dreamers!
«Beatrice was only seventeen when she died,» Patricia recalled.
«How old are you?» Nethopyrina was keenly interested.
«I am nineteen.»
«That’s all. I’m nineteen centuries past my nineteenth birthday.»
«You don’t look so old!»
«Fairies don’t age! Didn’t you know that?»
«Of course I knew it, but when you get to know them closely, you’re still amazed.»
She looked like a girl of eighteen, except for the wings, webbing, and wide bat ears.
«How old are you?» Patricia asked Zeligena for the sake of politeness.
The swamp fairy was embarrassed, realizing that a large age was not welcome among humans.
«Well, I’m a couple of millennia old,» Zeligena twirled a green strand of her hair around her finger and lowered her eyes in embarrassment. The swamp fairy’s eyelashes and eyebrows were also green. How beautiful! But for some reason, such beauty scares people. Patricia had gotten used to the charms of fairies, having spent time with them on the same pirate ship.
Before, her company was just her sister and other court ladies. At first they had played fantasy games in the royal garden, but then the fairies had come to Opal and the games had gotten bloody.
It was a memory that came to mind. Beatrice is dead in the garden, and from her body stretches a thread of magic and mystery. Fairies wind the tangle of bloody flowers. They laugh and dance in the air around Beatrice’s corpse.
«She is so young, so unwise,» they hum. «She is so sweet! Her fate is beyond the graves.»
The fairies’ laughter was annoying. Patricia struggled to break free of the memories and went to her quarters. Beatrice’s night visit had been a complete surprise, but she couldn’t think about it all day. It was not enough that her dead brother came to her after Beatrice. Patricia imagined Cassian slipping through the cabin door holding his own severed head. Can dead heads speak? What if the head spoke in his hands? That would be a nightmare. Beatrice is still tolerable. She must admit that after her death she became even more beautiful than she was in life. Patricia always admired her sister. She wondered why the King of Opal would want Patricia back when he already has Beatrice. Did he loves Patricia? Such love was worse than hate.
Patricia was sharpening her saber.
«If you could fly, I’d send you into the King of Opal’s heart!» Patricia had heard of magic swords that could be sent flying and go straight to the heart of your enemy, even if he lived across the ocean. Where could she get a sword like that? True, if the sword fails to deal with the enemy, it will fly back and kill the one who sent it. A powerful wizard like the King of Opal could send back magic swords.
«Better send an arrow of cupid into his heart,» a female voice advised. Some mermaid peered through the porthole. A crown of pearls glistened in her green hair. It seemed to be the queen of the sea.
«Good morning!» Patricia thought of nothing more than a banal greeting.
«It’s not good morning! There was a dragon flying over the sea! It could have hurt us,» the mermaid complained. As if Patricia could do anything against the dragon!
«He’s not evil.»
«That depends on who he’s mean to. Did you make a deal with him?»
«It is nothing!» Patricia was honest.
«It’s a pity. I could have gotten some privileges from him,» the mermaid sighed.
«Do you mean the dragon or the King of Opal?»
«You could seduce the King of Opal, too, but he’d never be honest with you and might try to cast a spell.»
«And what is about the golden dragon?»
«That’s for you to decide. You know the dragon better than I do.»
Patricia didn’t know him at all, but she nodded graciously. Better not lose the respect of a mermaid.
«What’s your name?» She asked the sea maiden.
«Don’t you remember? I am Mirida, patroness of the island kingdoms.»
«No, I don’t remember.»
«Apparently, you are having a bad day today, so the eclipse came upon your memory.»
The mermaid took offense and waved her actinia-adorned tail. In a moment she was no longer visible, but there was a splash outside the window.
«Why was the mermaid so offended that I didn’t remember her?» Patricia was upset. She wanted to be friends with mermaids. Could one sail the seas without the support of mermaids and other sea spirits? But now it would be a good idea to have the support of the dragon ship. If it doesn’t change course at the next encounter, the pirates won’t survive. They’ll burn like witches at the stake! How hard it is to be a pirate these days!
It was said that in ancient times, all pirates and sailors had to pay tribute to the sea king, or else he would sink the ship. Now we have to negotiate with dragons! If only the dragon were still alive and he was a ship! Can a ship be an animated being or is it controlled by someone?
The burned sea
«Look!» Shouted Nethopyrina, pointing somewhere to the north. She hovered above the deck and saw something beyond the horizon that Patricia couldn’t see. She had to get a telescope.
«What an obsession!» Patricia pulled back the telescope, barely peering through the peephole. Inside it, she could see the sea floor, water dragons and sirens coiled in rings, but the surface of the sea was not visible.
«Morgens had it forgotten!» Zeligena excitedly picked up the telescope and clutched it to her chest. «This is a priceless thing! Through it you can peek at all the secrets of the sea and ocean kingdoms.»
«But that’s not what I need right now!» Patricia sighed. The danger was not from the depths of the sea, but from the surface.»
The moth flew above the masts and blew into the sails, creating a tailwind. The ship sailed forward faster, or it would run aground. If only scorched leagues of sea could be called a shoal.
When Patricia looked at what Nethopyrina was pointing at, she gasped.
«Apparently, a dragon ship had recently sailed through here!» She guessed.
The left side of the sea had dried up, with charred fish skeletons and ash at the bottom.
«Good thing we didn’t get close!» Nethopyrina flapped her gray wings triumphantly. «I can replace the wind.»
«I’m lucky to have you.»
Patricia was startled by the burned out part of the sea. The dragon had scorched it to the bottom. Poisonous vapor rose from the empty pit. The gray spirits of the conflagration hovered over the burnt pit. Patricia had once seen the ghosts of fire over a burned hunting lodge near Opal. They hovered over the ashes in a roundelay and frightened passers-by. To see them over the sea was even more frightening.
Patricia felt as if she were sailing past a huge grave. After all, the bay had been home to mermaids. Now only their skeletons lay on the bottom. Bones blackened by the fire.
«Mermaids are like sisters to me,» Zeligena sobbed. «The same thing could have happened to me if I hadn’t run away from the swamp to the sea.»
One mermaid skeleton was wearing a magnificent crown. It could have been removed, but Patricia thought it was sacrilegious. In case the mermaid skeleton came to life and caught the thief by the hand or the ghost of the mermaid would haunt the ship. The Morgen’s treasure was better left untouched. They should have returned the spyglass as well, but Zeligena didn’t want to part with it. She said the Morgens had left it on deck on purpose.
«They only leave such things for people they want to invite to visit them,» she said.
«I won’t go to the bottom of the sea,» Patricia decided. «I don’t want the Morgens to lure me into the underwater realm and drown me.»
The mermaids who emerged from the depths were acting good-natured, but suddenly their kindness was only an act. If she went down to the bottom with them, the mermaids might harm her. Patricia liked to look at the surface of the sea, shimmering in the morning sunlight, rather than think about underwater wonders. It was frightening to imagine that if the dragon ship crossed the sea a few more times, there would simply be no sea left.
«What is he trying to accomplish? Does he really want to scorch all the waters? It seems that fire-breathing dragons can’t stand water.»
Patricia realized that she herself loved the sea and did not want it to become a burned-out hollow. It is so pleasant to look at the water surface, gilded by the sun! And under the water dwell such marvelous creatures as mermaids. Is the dragon so cruel that he will destroy them all?
The dragon is a mystery. Patricia noticed several more mermaid skeletons with jewelry glittering on them. The pearl necklaces contrasted sharply with the black bones. Apparently pearls don’t burn in dragon fire. Or are the pearls magical?
Nethopyrina flew down to the skeletons and took a couple of the jewelry.
«Why is it?» Patricia wondered.
«I want to question the mermaid ghosts about what happened here.»
«It’s clear enough, a dragon ship sailed through here, and everything burned.»
«The air down here is poisoned,» the Mermaid sneezed. «If I were human, I’d have suffocated by now.»
Patricia thought she heard a ghostly mermaid’s laughter coming from the jewelry.
The ship changed course to sail away from the burned-out part of the sea. Ahead was a small tropical island.
«This is the Isle of Purra,» Netopyrina determined. «It is inhabited by marvelous animals that have the same name as their island.»
Patricia was more interested in the banana palms on the island. We need to troop the goblins and trolls to pick more fruit. There were almost no provisions left on board. The magic team didn’t need food, but Patricia was hungry.
«I must be the only captain who doesn’t have a cook or a galley,» she complained.
No one cooked food aboard «The Bloodsucker», but the ship itself greedily absorbed any blood spilled on the deck. The only decent food had been taken from the captured ships, and it was already running out.
«Launch the dinghy!» Patricia commanded as the ship approached the island.
«Why is it?» With a surprised sigh, Nethopyrina slipped her arms around the captain’s waist and pulled her off the deck. Her wings were strong enough to take to the sky with a burden like Patricia.
The other crew members could make it to shore on their own, some on wings and some swimming. The dinghy proved to be of no use to them all.
Patricia felt like a toy when Nethopyrina put her on the shore of the island.
«I don’t like bright sunlight,» the bat fairy confessed. «I like the night better than the day.»
Patricia did not immediately notice the burned mermaid by the shore. The sea beauty was desperately clinging to the sand with her fingernails. She tried to crawl to the water, but she didn’t have the strength.
«Stop it! I’ll help you!» Patricia ran up to the mermaid. «Why don’t you tell me what happened to you?»
If the sea maiden could talk to her, she wouldn’t need to summon ghosts.
«The dragon ship came within a meter of me,» the mermaid whispered. «He was looking for you.»
What the hell is the mermaid talking about? Maybe she’s having sunstroke. Patricia felt the mermaid’s cold forehead. It felt like ice. The mermaid’s body didn’t heat up at all in the blazing sun. So how could the fire burn her? The green tail was burned to black in places, and there were burns on one cheek and shoulder. Somehow they were black, not inflamed.
«What does the dragon ship want?»
«He’s sure you’re at the bottom. If we burned the whole sea, we could get you, and at the same time take revenge on all the underwater wizards who’ve been harboring you.»
«No, it is not me,» Patricia objected. «You’re confusing me with someone else.»
«I wasn’t burned so badly that I lost my memory,» the mermaid said. «The dragon thinks that we are hiding his main treasure at the bottom.»
– What’s that?
«It is his wife, of course. He has a very special wife. She alone is worth a whole magic kingdom.»
The mermaid must have been delirious. Patricia was able to drag her to the wolves. The salty sea water immediately had a healing effect on the mermaid’s body. The burns began to go away. In the water, the mermaid regained her strength and swam on her own. She didn’t even say thank you. Patricia was not offended. The mermaid had suffered so much from the burns that she had no strength left to be polite.
The mermaid’s crest was left on the sand. Patricia picked it up and wanted to throw it into the sea, but changed her mind. It was unlikely that the mermaid would find it in the waves; it was better to keep it for now in case she came to the ship to thank her for her rescue. Patricia pinned the comb to her hair, fastening the strands above her ear. Immediately, unearthly voices sounded in her ear. The comb seemed to somehow carry the singing of sirens.
The island turned out to be full of marvelous creatures, half of them resembling white furry monkeys, half cats. They turned out to be intelligent. The Purrs traded the bananas and coconuts they gathered on the island, and they also picked up all sorts of things from wrecked ships and offered them for sale in the big coastal market. For some reason, most of the ships were wrecked off the Isle of Purrs. Could it be the animals’ fault? The Purrs seemed to be quite cunning. Patricia haggled with them for a long time before she managed to barter a sack of bananas and coconuts. In return, she had to give up an expensive bracelet.
«It’s okay. I’ll take some new jewelry from the sea! I’m a pirate!» Patricia consoled herself when the Purrs lured her away with a chain and a locket.
«You could have taken it from them instead of buying it!«Nethopyrina advised. «You have sabers and muskets.»
«How can you hurt such nice animals?»
«These cute little animals will rob you of everything.»
«Let them! I wouldn’t spare anything for them.» Patricia tried to pet one purra and was immediately slapped. The purra’s tail was more painful than a whip. These animals really are not easy!
A creature that looked suspiciously like a human was walking through the coastal marketplace. Patricia was surprised. Why would a human be here? Patricia herself had only been allowed onto the island because she was in the company of supernatural beings. Even goblins and trolls could be easily tricked by the Purrs into buying spices for the price of gold. These animals must be wizards to be able to seduce even supernatural creatures so easily.
«And you’re human!» Someone pulled Patricia’s hair. «You only look like a fairy, but you’re an earthly girl to the touch.»
Patricia turned around. In front of her stood a hunched figure that looked a lot like an old woman. The old woman’s dress was spreading sea foam on the sand, and a necklace of coins and shells glittered on her wrinkled neck. Such signs are usually worn by coastal fortune-tellers.
«A whole team of magical creatures is captained by a human!» The old woman marveled. «Usually it is the other way around: a whole team of humans has a captain who is a magical creature.»
That makes sense! One sorceress can easily control a whole team of thugs. Patricia had heard stories from seafarers visiting Opal about a witch who had captured an entire pirate ship and made slaves out of the sea robbers. They mined gold and jewelry for her, but they themselves did not get any share of the loot.
And the legendary wife of the sea king Lilophea in general could control the entire fleet going into battle. Sailors had to submit to her magic, and then to the magic of her daughter, the sea princess Lorelei. It was said that if Lorelei played her magic flute, the entire crew of an entire armada would turn into sleepwalkers obedient to her. But these were just sea legends. Patricia did not expect to meet Queen Lilothea or Princess Lorelei on an open voyage. If they had once ruled the storms in ancient times, they were now hidden at the bottom of a fiery ship.
There was a pretty white purra twirling around the old lady’s hem.
«Would you like to take her for a swim?» The old lady suggested. «Purra could be a great assistant to the captain.»
«Thank you, but I don’t think so,» Patricia didn’t want to put the animal at risk. «I don’t think Purra would like to be involved in sea battles.»
«Well, as you wish!» The old woman walked past, leaving puddles of sea foam on the sand.
«Look, her clothes are made of foam and water!» Patricia tugged at Nethopyrina’s wing.
The fairy was not surprised. «Sea Queen Lilothea has a dress made entirely of sea foam. When she spreads her train, a storm starts.»
«She can summon a storm just by spreading her train?» Patricia thought it was incredible.
«That’s right!»
«I wish I could do that,» Patricia sighed.
«It’s never too late to learn,» Nethopyrina encouraged her.
«Isn’t magic the result of study, not talent?»
«It can be. We all knew a wizard who learned magic so well that he became emperor of a whole empire populated by fairies, elves, and monsters. What a guy! Handsome, smart, talented, and…»
«He is golden-haired!» Patricia said.
«How do you know?»
«I saw someone like that in a dream.»
«You could have seen the King of Dreams in a dream, and I’m talking about…» She hesitated. «I guess I can’t talk to you about it.»
«Why is it not?»
«It’s the rules!»
There, Nethopyrina had intrigued her and left her wondering.
«So magic can be trained so well that it can take over magical creatures?» Patricia decided to find a way around the questioning.
«I misspoke,» she frowned, clearly not wanting to say anything. «That young man originally had a magical gift. He just needed to be awakened with the help of magic books.»
«That could be said of anyone who was trained in magic.»
«No, he was really special. You wouldn’t find the likes of him anymore.»
As they walked forward along the shore, Patricia and Nethopyrina came upon a stranger who was also dripping water, but he didn’t look like an old man anymore. Patricia recoiled from him. It was an ugly morgen with gills, twisted horns and webbing. You’d have to run away from him if you didn’t want to get into a fight. Patricia fumbled for the hilt of the saber at her belt, but the morgen wasn’t going to attack, he mumbled something and shoved a gold coin into Patricia’s hand.
«You shouldn’t have taken it!» The mongrel flapped her wings excitedly. «Everyone knows that the Morgens deliberately give their gold to fools in the harbors so that they can become slaves of the underwater kingdom.»
Perhaps she should have been frightened, but Patricia had rightly decided that if the dragon ship continued to sail the seas, there would soon be no underwater kingdom left.
The coin was beautiful. It was embossed with mermaids and some unfamiliar crest. It reflected the rays of the setting sun.
Patricia shuddered as she noticed that the light on the shore was tinged with scarlet. It meant that the day was coming to an end. The sun was setting over the horizon.
The sunset of the third day has already come! In the night, Medea Shai will appear. And what shall she say to her? Accept the generous offer or reject it, risking the wrath of the Queen of the Fairies?
Somehow Patricia was sure that she risked the same in both options. After all, becoming a business partner of an evil fairy was no less dangerous than incurring her wrath.
Purra
The setting sun was as warm as dragon fire. The dragon seemed to be flying across the sky above the ship. Patricia stood at the stern and watched the island of Purras disappear over the horizon. The cute little animals wouldn’t go away.
«If one day I live on my own estate, I’ll have a purra,» Patricia said.
Perhaps she should have thrown a coin into the sea, so that one day she could return to the Isle of Purras. There is an omen that if you throw a coin into the water, you will surely return to this place again.
Nethopurina shook off some invisible grit. She brought Patricia back to the deck and noticed a red hair on her wings to shake off.
«Your hair is like fire yarn,» complained the bat fairy. «It seems to be hot like fire.»
«It must have gotten hot in the sun,» Patricia watched the goblins load bags of fruit on board. Zeligena took the role of bookkeeper and wrote down the list of purchases in the ship’s log. She used green swamp sludge instead of ink and a fish bone instead of a quill. The lines came out green.
«How is it that instead of robbing, we started buying?» Patricia wondered.
It is nothing surprising!» The mongrel spread her wings. «The Purras will drive anyone to extremes.»
«Are they magical animals? Can they do any small magic?»
«Of course, they can! There are also human-sized Purras, but they live on other islands. For example, on the island of Shean (which is south of here) lives Princess Leonella, who has surrounded herself with large purras instead of bodyguards. By the way, she doesn’t like the King of Opal either. You should meet her.»
«Will her purras turn on me again?» Patricia felt her purse lighten after landing on Purras’ island.
«Well, pirates rob the ships they meet so they can spend the money on booze and pleasure,» Nethopyrina said diplomatically.
«I thought it was to accumulate more treasure and bury a pirate’s treasure, which can then be dug up at the end of the career and spent on a large estate.»
«You’re a humorist!» Nethopyrina gave Patricia a friendly pat on the shoulder with her wing. «I haven’t seen a single pirate who could save up money for his own farm, let alone an estate.»
«Have you seen many pirates?»
«I’ve been flying over ships for a long time, eavesdropping, peeping. I steal something pirates don’t have well. They usually blame the thefts on each other and don’t suspect the fairies. Pirates have an unstable income, depending on the wealth of the ships they encounter, and an unreliable future. They can always be captured and hanged or sent to feed the fish. Each boarding could be their last, so pirates dump all their booty on Peony Island. There are many taverns there, you can drink and have fun.»
«I’ve heard that there is a slave trade on Peony Island,» Patricia said.
«That too! The pirates have to sell captured prisoners somewhere, but we don’t take prisoners, so we don’t need to go to Peony.»
That’s true. All the prisoners were destroyed by a bloodthirsty ship. It’s impossible to spend a single man on «The Bloodsucker», the ship will drink his blood immediately. The planks of the walls and deck would turn scarlet for a moment, and the man would die. The only exception was Patricia, that’s why she was the captain. And the ship was squeamish about the blood of fairies and magical creatures. Their blood must be poisoned or enchanted. That’s why the fairy in the hold was still unharmed. She was now singing strange songs that sounded like drunken ramblings. Probably one of the goblins gave her rum and the fairy got drunk.
«Everyone drinks from grief,» Nethopyrina nodded. «And for a fairy to be a hostage is a great sorrow. I bet she feels like a moth in a jar.»
«No kidding!» Patricia was nervous, because the scarlet rays of the sunset were beginning to fade behind the horizon.
«You’re so serious! What if I told you about the dancers from Peony? They’re all nagas, serpentine or evil fairies. Their profession is to pick pirates’ pockets. All our colleagues sail from Peony with empty wallets.»
