скачать книгу бесплатно
«It is beautiful!» Patricia exhaled.
«What? What did you see?» Nethopyrina and Zeligena began to snatch the telescope from her.
«Calm down! I’m the captain, not you insolent fairies!»
What do fairies do? They wrestled the telescope from her just as the handsome triton appeared in it. Patricia wanted to look at him again. She wanted to bare her saber to wrestle the telescope away, but the water suddenly smelled foul. Had the dragon struck again?
Patricia glanced at the waves and exhaled in exasperation. Burnt bodies floated in the water, only not human. Maidens with fish tails burned to the color of ash. They were dead mermaids! They turned their faces to the sky like dead fish lying belly up. Slender bodies burned partially or to the bone. The bones, scorched by the fire, were coal-black.
«The dragon burned them! They were burned alive!» One mermaid in the dead pack was almost intact. Only her tail was burned. The blue scales on it were inflamed. But her shoulders, arms, and delightful face were not burned. Over her blue hair, the mermaid wore a kind of crown with pendants of pearls. Her scales were spliced on her stomach and breasts, forming a fancy corset.
Several more lovely mermaids floated out beside her.
«The heavenly fire has passed us by, but we’ve all got burns,» they complained in unison. «Do something!»
«But what can I do?» Patricia was shocked by their plea for help. It was the mermaids who could sink her ship. Everyone knows they’re sea sorceresses, able to conjure up a storm with their singing. Maybe they’re messing with her. Testing her for strength and wit?
«The dragon is looking for you,» said the mermaid with the crown in her hair. «He is so angry that he burns even sea creatures. This never happened before. It was safe underwater. If we don’t turn you over to him, he’ll burn the whole sea kingdom.»
«Is it one dragon?» Patricia was surprised.
«It is a special dragon!»
«You are the princesses of the sea,» Patricia noticed the thin coral crowns on the heads of the other mermaids.
«We won’t give you away,» the blue-haired mermaid slid her webbed hand around Patricia’s wrist. «It’s still you, isn’t it? We owe you a debt.»
It’s still her! Yes, though it’s hard to believe, it’s still her – Lady Patricia, the disgraced and outlawed Lady Patricia. But how do the mermaids know her?
«Did the King of Opal send you?»
If he’s in charge of peri and genies, he can handle mermaids too. A logical conclusion! But the mermaid was surprised.
«We don’t know him.»
«How do you know me?»
«Are you playing games with us again? You need to hide from the dragon, not from us,» said the mermaid, waving her webbed hand, in which large pearls sprouted like rings.
«I know,» Patricia shuddered at the memory of the burning waves, but now she had fire wine on the deck herself, and the crew of monsters drank it happily. The goblins have even begun to yell drunken songs. The shy mermaids were embarrassed.
«What a company you have now!»
Is this really a reprimand! Mermaids are princesses, they can’t hear pirate language.
«I will bring discipline on board,» Patricia promised, though she didn’t think it was possible.
«Don’t overdo the magic, or everyone will fall asleep. When you sing, even dragons fall asleep, so don’t sing any more magic songs and don’t overdo it,» the mermaid waved her tail and disappeared into the waves.
Or else she has magic! What a joke!
«See you later, my lady!» came from the waves.
Patricia was discouraged. The mermaids had mistaken her for someone else. And she had unwittingly played along. Playing with mermaids is dangerous. Once the deception is exposed, they’ll come back and sink the whole ship. If they find their mistress, they’ll realize Patricia’s a liar.
«What a mess we’ve gotten ourselves into! It is all because of the King of Opal and his insolent peri!»
The goblin nodded at her, though he didn’t know what she was talking about.
The phoenix flashed with sparks. So there was a ship on the horizon. Patricia snatched the spyglass from the gawking Netopyrina. It still showed only the sea: tritons, sirens and an underwater palace.
«No kidding! Show me the horizon!»
The telescope reluctantly obeyed, showing the sea hundreds of leagues ahead.
«Closer! A couple leagues away!»
Someone snorted inside the tube like a capricious evil spirit, but obeyed anyway.
«You really are the Lord of the Wicked if they obey you like that,» said the bat fairy.
«Who do you mean?»
«They are the spirits of the waters.»
Patricia swallowed her objections. The gray fairy would not call out that she had been confused with someone else. She mustn’t ruin her credibility as captain of the undead. She had an excellent reputation on board so far.
«It is the King of Opal’s fleet!» Patricia saw the flag through her telescope. «Well, I’m going to settle accounts with everyone! Prepare! We’re going to fight!»
A sea battle
Trolls, as it turned out, could jump from ship to ship. They didn’t even need boarding hooks. The trolls pushed off the sides of the ship with their spread paws. They clawed at their opponents with all their claws and fangs. Each goblin could handle a whole group of opponents at once. The gargoyles from the boards came to life and threw themselves into the battle against other people’s ships. Lean boggles clawed at their opponents’ legs and shattered their bones. They killed or maimed many. And still the King of Opal’s fleet won the battle.
«What we have to do?» Patricia thought frantically. «Shouldn’t you use bat magic?»
«That’s dangerous!» The mongrel clawed at the board, and wood shavings flew off of it.
«I know it’s dangerous!»
The swamp fairy was already using her unpretentious swamp magic, trying to turn the sea waves beneath the Opal ships into mire. Her magical powers didn’t last much longer. The water turned green, but the sea did not turn to mire.
A fiery ship would have turned the entire sea into flames in no time. Only in that case, Patricia’s ship would burn too.
The thin mire from the swamp fairy was not enough to swamp other people’s ships.
«All the other swamp fairies from my swamp were burned by the dragon, otherwise we’d be dragging all the ships into the mire right now,» the destitute fairy sighed.
Patricia saw the situation differently. If he hadn’t burned them all, not even one swamp fairy would have come to her.
«If we lose, I’ll drown myself, but I won’t go back to Opal!» Patricia was already regretting getting into a fight. It was better to ask one of the fairies or mermaids to summon the mist. Under the veil of mist, the ship could pass by the fleet and go unnoticed.
«It would be better to ask the mermaids for an elixir to breathe underwater,» Netopyrina said judiciously.
«Is there such an elixir?»
«Mermaids have all sorts of wonders in store. I don’t even know about many of them. Mermaids will gladly give you an elixir.»
«Why would they?»
«They’re very fond of you.»
Patricia barely dodged a sword wielded by one of the taller goblins. The sword slipped out of her hands and began slashing at the crew of the alien ship closest to the Bloodsucker.
«While you’re thinking, your sword will become a warrior in your place,» she joked.
«Fly back to me!» Patricia commanded, but the sword wouldn’t obey her. Maybe it’s a good thing. It’s more useful in battle. If he wants to fight, let him fight. It’s even more convenient for her. She can save her own energy.
Patricia’s crew only managed to sink a couple of Opal’s ships, and there are dozens more. What kind of valuable cargo are they carrying? The King of Opal probably sent them to war. Their equipment is just perfect for war.
Patricia noticed a magical creature aboard the flagship. It’s probably the reason they can’t use magic to win a battle. Everyone knows how powerful wizard’s work for the King of Opal. The graceful peri in her oriental garb resembled a piece of jewelry rather than a warrior. The wings behind her slender back seemed to be made of multicolored mist. Precious pendants hung from her belt and jingled with every movement, like a dancer’s. Among these pendants were vials containing poison. Surely Patricia knew of Peri’s cunning.
Peri noticed it too and grinned slyly. Patricia would give anything to capture the ethereal creature and teach it a lesson. Is it possible to kill a peri? They’re supposed to be immortal.
The peri walked along the side of the boat, then flew over the deck where the fight was going on. What was she up to?
«There’s another fairy on board besides her,» Netopyrina determined. «She is the one blocking the magic of our ship.»
«Is it just one fairy?»
«We have to get her,» Netopyrina showed her sharp claws. «I’ll interrogate her.»
«We don’t need prisoners. The ship feeds only on the blood of the slain.»
«The only way to capture a magical creature is to take it prisoner, and the ship will be spared.»
«How do we not get captured? Am I seeing double, or is Opal’s fleet multiplying?»
Patricia couldn’t tell if it was magic or optical trickery. Or maybe the black ships growing behind the fleet were ghost ships?
Suddenly, multicolored fins flashed in the water between the ships, and a hypnotizing singing sounded. The mermaids had come to help. If it weren’t for them, Opal’s fleet could not have been sunk. The tailed maidens proved to be aggressive and powerful. They summoned a kraken that encircled the Opal’s ships with all its tentacles. The cocky peri’s face stretched in disappointment. This was a turn of events she had not expected. She herself had barely managed to escape the kraken’s tentacles, and that was only because she could fly.
«As long as you’re on the water, you’re lucky,» the flying peri grinned predatorily. «And what will be not on the water?»
The mermaids were triumphant. Their whole flock swirled around the drowning shipwrecks on the water.
«All the valuables that you have not managed to drag on board, we get!» The mermaid in the most bizarre crown made the stipulation. She is probably the leader of the mermaid pack.
Patricia nodded in agreement. Her sword returned to her. It was a good thing it could fly like a steel bird. The sword had drunk so much blood that it would not fight again. The gargoyles, too, had turned back into fancy brass ornaments on the sides, but if there was a battle again, they would come to life again and rush into battle.
Peri had long since flown away, and the trail of iridescent mist left by her wings still hung over the sea. She would report what had happened to the King of Opal. Well, good! Let him know of the avenger who had recruited a team of foulness, and tremble. They’re equals now. Patricia is no longer a weak little pussycat, but a pirate.
Her monstrous crew was hauling barrels and chests from the sinking flagship. The mermaids were writhing in displeasure.
«All the riches that have sunk are rightfully theirs,» Netopyrina explained. «That is the law of the sea. What sank went to the treasury of the sea king or the sea queens. In this case, they are the Princesses.»
«I thought they were princesses.»
«Do you tell by the crowns?» Netopyrina grinned.
«Well, yes. And you need to determine by the color of the mermaid’s tail?»
«Be quiet, or they will take offense and make a storm to flood us.»
«Why on earth would they want to help me? I didn’t even call them,» Patricia marveled.
«They probably don’t like the King of Opal either. Ever since the dragon burned one of the sea queens, they can’t stand all strong wizards.»
«Is the dragon a strong wizard?»
«Dragons are prone to greed and to magic,» Nethopyrina weighed on her clawed palm a gold coin that had rolled out of a chest brought aboard by a goblin.
Patricia breathed in a full breath of fresh sea air. This is a triumph! She had won! How gratifying is it to watch the goblins working as porters and the sinking ships of the enemy.
Patricia felt very lucky until one goblin hefted a sack glistening from within onto a pile of barrels and chests. Was there really fire in the sack? Or is it a firebird?
«Oh, they have taken a prisoner!» The delighted Netopyrina flapped her wings joyfully.
The bag shone brighter and vibrated.
«The captive fairy is trying to free herself,» said the bog lady.
«Is there really a fairy in the bag?»
«Apparently, there was no cage on the Opal’s ships, so they put her in the sack.»
«Can’t we throw her overboard?»
«It won’t sink.»
«Then what are we going to do with her?» Patricia was as frightened of the fairy as death itself. She knew what fairies were capable of when they served to the King of Opal. If we don’t get rid of the sack, the fairy will enslave the entire crew. She must have a talent for mass hypnosis and could mesmerize the whole crew for a while, fly up behind the wheel of the ship and drive it straight to her employer – the king. And thus all the dashing pirates will be captured by the magician. They could be collected from the deck while still sleepy and taken to the dungeons.
«Interrogate her,» advised Netopyrina. The crew was also waiting for orders.
Patricia did not want to talk to the cunning fairy from Opal, but there was nowhere to go.
A fairy hostage
There was no worse trophy than a fairy. She sang and summoned spells. She had to gag her. The dunghill weaved a cage of gray charms. They’re stronger than iron bars.
