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The stranger made some signs to her, and symbols of sparks lit up in the air. Patricia managed to read:
«It is an escape! It is treason! It is a change of essence! It is an empty crown! It is the absence of a queen! It is the eternal search! It is an anger that burns everything!»
How did she learn to understand these bizarre fiery symbols? Surely they must be some kind of magic writing. The stranger was tempting her with magic. No, he’s not a stranger. Patricia knew him from somewhere. She couldn’t remember where.
She woke up terrified. The blazing sea from her dream was still in front of her eyes. The alarm was sounding on deck. The mute was flying overhead like a stray.
Patricia reluctantly got up from her bunk. «Was the fairy villain rebelling in the hold again?»
Bad premonitions gnawed at her soul like worms. They shouldn’t have taken the prisoner. A fairy prisoner is a great danger. Those who keep magic creatures in captivity risk being torn apart themselves. Patricia remembered the story of an overseas merchant who came to Opal. He told of a circus for which magical creatures were captured. One of the captured creatures had driven the circus owners mad. It was a syrin or something. Anyway, it sat in a cage and sang magical songs, and the circus owners went crazy. Eventually all the circus pets broke out of their cages and clawed the entire town the circus was in. Patricia didn’t even remember the name of the town, but the merchant’s story impressed her. Queen Esperanza, who was still alive at the time, had laughed for a long time in response to the merchant’s tales.
«Things are even worse in Opal,» she said.
Patricia hadn’t realized what the queen meant. When she learned of the king’s magical experiments, it was too late to heed her warnings.
«We burn! Fire!» screamed Netopyrina, hovering over the ship. One of its wings grazed the porthole of the captain’s cabin.
Patricia shuddered and grabbed her saber. How could one burn on the high seas! The threat seemed to be empty. There is water all around. The fire has something to put out. Unless the fairy trapped in the hold managed to summon magical fire. There’s nothing to put that out. Then the ship would burn, and the fairy hostage would escape. Patricia closed her eyes and imagined the triumph with which the freed fairy would look at the sinking wreckage of the ship before flying away.
There was no smell of fumes yet. Could the alarm be a false alarm? You dumb alarmist!
Patricia looked out the porthole and gasped. The entire horizon was ablaze.
«There’s a dragon ship coming this way!» She exclaimed, pressing her palm against the glass of the window. Her palm burned immediately. The glass in the porthole was so hot it could have melted.
What do we do? The dragon ship was heading straight for Patricia’s ship. We could try to turn away from it, but the sea around it is burning for leagues around. They’ll never make it anyway.
«We’d need a tailwind so strong we could sail a hundred leagues a second! That’s the only way we can get away from him! Can you conjure such a wind, Zeligena?»
Patricia thought the swamp fairy was standing behind her. A murky, magic aura was spreading through the air.»
«It is a lovely specimen, but alas, she is only mortal,» said an unfamiliar voice.
Patricia turned around. The fiery young man from her dream was standing in the cabin. Strangely enough, he was no longer glowing. Only the outlines around his hair, forehead, and shoulders remained fiery. Even in this state, if he touched something, the cabin would burst into flames. There are a lot of wooden objects around. It is as long as the guest didn’t touch anything. Otherwise there’d be a fire.
Patricia found herself wanting to touch him, despite the risk of burning herself. Gods, he was so good-looking that one could even burn in his arms! Patricia imagined their bodies entwined in an embrace and collapsed onto the narrow bunk. Then the hard mattress would seem like a king’s bed. Or is it a funeral pyre? In the arms of a fiery lover, you can’t help but burn.
«Who are you? How did you get here?» Patricia opened her lips, but no words came out. It was as if the guest had magically blocked her from speaking. She couldn’t move either, as if her whole body was paralyzed. And the fiery guest was scrutinizing her.
«Are you Rose?» He asked hesitantly.
Patricia thought frantically. Who is a rose? A rose is a flower with thorns. There are no flowers on board. And there are no rose fairies on the ship either. But there were Rose Fairies in Opal. Their temper was as prickly as the thorns on a rosebush. Rose fairies threw lightning bolts and thorns that stabbed painfully into people’s bodies. Rose fairies could kill their abusers with a thorn sent straight to the heart. It was best not to clash with the rose fairies! Patricia learned this lesson when the rose fairies surrounded the most beautiful lady of Opal and plunged so many thorns into her body that the beautiful woman died in agony. And one singer of frivolous songs they lured into a ravine with rose bushes, where the poor man died of his wounds. The fairies laughed at him for a long time, picked up his lute and composed mischievous songs about his death among roses and thorns.
Patricia learned to avoid any interaction with the rose fairies. To do so, she had to avoid the rose garden of the Opal Royal Garden.
«Did a rose fairy sneak onto my ship?» Patricia could only squeeze out a whisper. Her lips and tongue were numb.
The fiery young man shook his head sadly.
«Rose is the key to everything,» he said quietly.
«She is a mere mortal,» a graceful woman in a luxurious purple and black dress emerged from the darkness of the cabin. «And she is a bandit, too!»
Patricia blinked her eyelashes. Where had the lady come from? It was as if she had formed out of the darkness like a ghost. There were many ghosts in Opal’s court, but such an arrogant beauty was not one of them. The guest seems to be a queen, as a magnificent crown glistens in her coal-black hair.
«I can’t stand robbers and thieves!» The lady twisted her pretty face. «This wench is a criminal! If it weren’t for the magic of her ship, I’d have her executed immediately. My bats can do it with the whole flock!»
The lady prepared to make passes with her hands. Black glitter fell from the tips of her fingernails.
«Stop it, Medea Shai!» The fiery young man commanded. His voice hissed like a flame. Or was it a serpent’s hiss?
Patricia blinked, but couldn’t move. The magical stupor wouldn’t go away. Orange scales seemed to have formed on the guest’s skin, as if a dragon was sitting inside him.
If Patricia’s not mistaken, the guest is a powerful wizard.
«There’s a dragon ship coming right at us! Help us!» Patricia called out mentally because her lips wouldn’t move.
The arrogant guest shook her long, serpentine curls. They looked like tar-black snakes scattered over a purple dress.
«Shouldn’t you be on your ship, fairy queen?» The young man addressed his companion. «You seem to be a spirit bound to the ship Medea Shai. How on earth did you manage to leave your ship?»
«I followed you, Edwin! If you remember, we’re tightly bonded now!»
«Don’t tell me you’re planning to do to me what you did to Tamlane.»
The lady moved her wing and hit a shelf in the cabin. The compass fell from it and shattered.
Patricia only now noticed that the lady had wings. They were black as darkness, so until they came into motion it was impossible to see them. If the lady kept flapping them around, she would knock over all the things in the cabin.
«Let’s fly out of here!» A fiery young man named Edwin unceremoniously grabbed the lady by the wing.
«O! What are you doing?» The fairy beauty rebelled. «You’ve lost all manners over the centuries!»
Patricia’s heart pricked. This feeling was called jealousy. The presence of a beautiful lady next to Edwin was very unpleasant to her. Why couldn’t Edwin come alone?
«Would you just let her go?» The lady panicked. The corundum in her forehead glittered dazzlingly. The black wings seemed woven from spider’s lace. The long earrings in the lady’s ears appeared to be two black spiders.
«You are chained to your ship! You can’t go on other people’s ships!» Edwin lectured.
«Burn the girl! Pirate girls should be burned!»
«She’s the wrong one!»
«Burn her anyway! I want you to burn her!»
«I’m sorry, Medea Shae, but your whole kingdom is your ship now. The fairies and elves don’t listen to you anymore, and neither do the dragons.»
At the mention of dragons, Medea Shai felt as if stung.
«One dragon is still mine!»
«It’s a moot point!»
Medea Shai and Edwin disappeared, sinking into the darkness. Patricia suddenly regained her speech.
«Have mercy on us! The sea is on fire! We’ll burn if we run into a dragon ship!»
Somehow Patricia was sure Edwin could prevent a collision.
«Let the pirate ship burn!» Medea Shai laughed victoriously, but Edwin looked at Patricia and nodded seriously.
«The dragon will sail past,» he promised.
The entire sea outside the porthole was already ablaze. Edwin and Medea Shai were gone, as if they had never been.
Patricia could hardly catch her breath. The stupor had lifted from her body. And the fire outside the porthole suddenly went out. Only ash swirled over the water. A thin streak of flames and sparks shifted, disappearing over the horizon. The dragon ship changed course.
A letter from the fire
They are saved! She still couldn’t even believe it. Patricia was ready to dance on the deck. The fiery death floated by. A wizard named Edwin had given the pirates a chance for salvation and free sailing.
Edwin! The name seemed vaguely familiar. Patricia recalled all the ambassadors and delegates she had met at the Opal court. Not a single person or supernatural being named Edwin had been among them. Various werewolves, wizards, and representatives of magical races often came to the King of Opal on business visits. Was Edwin not one of them? Then how did he know her? Patricia had the feeling that she had known him for a long time.
Edwin resembled a fiery dawn. Except that the memory of Medea Shai stirred a wild jealousy. Patricia wanted to take a saber and behead the queen of the fairies. She believed Edwin had called the lady fairy queen. Judging by the crown of golden wings, she was a fairy queen. Probably she was deposed, because fairies are a free tribe nowadays. That’s why they’ve been frequenting the King Opal’s house. Many fairies were tempted to join Opal’s banner.
Sometimes it seemed that the King of Opal was planning a war against the whole world, and was going to create a magical army out of the evil fairies. With such an army he could take over the whole universe. Patricia felt frightened for a moment by this assumption.
«Would there be warlocks like Edwin to stop him if he decided to conquer the world?» She thought aloud.
The deck had become very quiet somehow. Why wasn’t the crew rejoicing that the danger was over? Patricia stepped out of the cabin and almost stepped on a glowing orange object that lay just beneath her feet. It’s a letter! But why was it on fire? Who set it on fire and why? And why isn’t the deck burning beneath it? Only the letter is on fire.
«Don’t touch it!» Netopyrina warned. «I burned my paws on it!»
Did the fairy really call her delicate webbed claws paws? Patricia laughed. The fairies who lived in Opal’s court didn’t even call their scaly claws paws. Nethopyrina was more straightforward.
Patricia leaned over and gingerly touched the edge of the letter. The fire was hot, and her fingers burned. Real fire indeed! Or was it magical? The flaming lines that could be read were nothing but magic.
«The seas are mine,» Patricia read aloud. «Since I defeated all the water dragons, only I have the right to sail the seas and oceans. Sail away from my territory. Find yourself a quiet bay and a coastal island. Eat bananas and coconuts. Why would you want to be a pirate? Treasure does not bring happiness. Trust a dragon. I have been plundering for centuries. Gold and gems won’t bring you happiness. And the black fairies will begin to sharpen their claws against you. They love gold. They’ll tear you apart for it. And the sea wizards are even more insidious! By the way, don’t turn the mermaids against me, or they’ll all burn. The sea tribes annoy the fire-breathing dragons. I don’t like pirates and other seafarers at all. I’m cramped at sea myself. Get on dry land while you’re still in one piece!»
And it was the signature: «Dragon.»
Patricia was taken aback. Could dragons write letters? She wondered if the dragon wrote the lines with its breath.
It’s all threats! That’s very dragon-like. But what reason would a dragon have to hate her? The letter breathes anger.
The letter must have gotten here by mistake. It’s definitely not for her. The top of the letter doesn’t say it’s addressed to Lady Patricia or the pirate captain. If it weren’t for the dragon’s signature, it would look anonymous.
And who planted it on the deck? How are letters of fire delivered? Patricia didn’t know, because this was the first time she’d ever seen a fire letter. Not even fairies could write such letters, and they were masters of all magic.
The letter spread mercury across the deck as Patricia finished reading. Wow! The ship creaked, and the fairy trapped in the hold let out a prolonged shriek.
«Lady Captain!» She called. «Come here, quick! Help!»
What a surprise! To hear a request for rescue from a stubborn fairy hostage! Patricia never expected this. Fairies are stubborn to the point of absurdity. This time Aleandra was thrashing around the cage and wailing.
«She’s coming here! She’s going to tear me apart! I’m a traitor! She won’t forgive me for this! Let me go, Lady Captain, and I promise to give you and your crew a useful magical gift.»
That’s how flattering even a wicked fairy can sing if she’s frightened! Patricia liked the respectful address «Lady Captain» very much. But only, what frightened the fairy so much?
«Who is she? Aren’t you a subject of the King of Opal?»
The fairy frowned. She was hiding something.
«Don’t let anyone on your ship!» Aleandra asked. «Draw protective symbols on the deck, forbidding entry.»
«Who can enter a ship on the open sea, where there are no oncoming ships?»
«Fairies can,» the captive proudly lifted her chin. «They don’t walk on water, but they can fly right on board.»
«And you think a flock of fairies will come to rescue you?»
Patricia was angry. The fairy was spinning around in the cage so much that the whole ship was rocking. What if the ship capsized?
«Stop it!»
«Let me go or hide me!»
Patricia would have let the fairy go. But she could tell the Opal wizards about her. Better to choose the safer solution.
«How do I hide you?»
«Draw invisibility signs at the entrance to the hold.»
«What are those signs?»
«Don’t you know? What an ignoramus! Illiterate aristocrat! There’s a reason you became a pirate,» the fairy got angry. All her politeness was blown away. «I’m going to die because of your illiteracy. Better let me out, or my death will be on your conscience.»
«What death? Fairies are immortal!»
Patricia caught Aleandra in hypocrisy. It’s a pity we can’t let her go. A hostage like that is nothing but trouble.
«All right, I’ll ask Zeligena and Nethopyrina. Maybe they know the signs of invisibility,» she promised.
Netopyrina did know the signs. She had drawn them on the door of the hold and on the threshold. Nevertheless, the fairy continued to rage in her cage, and the ship rocked all night as if there were a storm.
«Those fairies make the ship shake like a storm even in the calm,» Patricia complained as the pillow popped out from under her head. The bunk in the captain’s cabin was shaking. It was impossible to sleep. But when she closed her eyes, images of Queen Esperanza, part of her face rotted to a skeleton, came to mind. You could see the bones of her shoulders under the lace of her neckline and the bones of her cheeks. The half-skeleton, half-queen was alive. She was whispering something, but in her half-sleep Patricia couldn’t make out the words. And then some dream character touched Patricia’s hair. What a familiar touch! It was Beatrice, Patricia’s sister. Only why in the dream had Beatrice become so dull. The skin on her face is bone tight, her curly hair has faded to an ashy color, almost to gray, her skin is covered with gray spots like magical moles, and two stiff bone wings protrude behind her back.
«Beatrice, are you a fairy too?»
