скачать книгу бесплатно
She’ll have to watch her lodge in the observer mirror later. It wasn’t right to peek unceremoniously into someone else’s private affairs, but Lilophea was curious. Besides, she was still holding the amulet. It was the same as her uncle the King’s. It had more feathers. It seemed to be intertwined with strands of someone else’s hair.
«Throw it away or burn it.»
The painfully familiar voice, alternating with a bird’s croak, seemed almost like an obsession at the bottom of the sea.
Lilophea had never expected to see Seneschal here. The peacock swam in a dignified manner, fluttering the tips of its wings. His paws did not resemble those of a fish. He wasn’t an underwater bird, that’s for sure.
«You’re here, aren’t you?» It seemed like a dream to Lilophea. She touched his luxurious tail to be sure.
«I ate a nasty weed that grows on the beach, and gained the ability to breathe underwater for hours,» he boasted. «I am clever. I know how to find such grass. It often grows in the sand. All you have to do is pick it up with your beak. It tastes disgusting. But I did the heroic thing for you. I ate the whole bundle. Now I won’t suffocate.»
«So you missed me?» She petted his crest happily. «Wouldn’t you think so?»
«Well, I haven’t got a heart of stone,» said Seneschal proudly. «I am capable of love and longing, just as humans are.»
«And the watcher’s mirror told me you were happy with Baldwin. I must have agreed. One mermaid says they sometimes lie.»
«No, they don’t!» Seneschal grunted. «I needed someone to take care of me while you were away. So I tried to make myself useful to everyone I could. But I’ll betray them all when you get back to Aquilanía.»
She didn’t want to disappoint Seneschal right away and tell him she wasn’t likely to come back.
«By the way, how did you find me at the bottom of the sea? It’s a big bottom, and I’m not at the palace where I should be.»
«Well, you know, I’m an unusual bird,» boasted the peacock. «And I sing like a siren, and I speak like a man, and I know all the languages of the animals. And also…»
«It is a stone in your forehead!» Lilophea guessed. It glowed in a way that made everything clear. «It’s imbued with some kind of magic.»
«That’s right! You’ve gotten a lot smarter since we parted,» Seneschal flapped his wings, creating fountains of spittle. «It was sad to see you kidnapped by a waterman. I’d say it was the most tragic day of my life when my mistress was taken from me. Now I’ve even begun to understand how grooms feel when a bride is taken away from them right at the altar.»
«Don’t be so dramatic.»
«I didn’t mean to be. There’s a silver lining to everything. I used to be your favorite. Since you’ve been gone, all the attention has been on me as the princess’ only friend. I am spoiled!»
Seneschal breathed underwater, not thinking of the time when the effects of the wonderful herb would wear off.
«It’s a good thing I’ve managed to get a foothold in Aquilanía. I can’t go back to my former benefactors,» Seneschal admitted.
«And who are these former benefactors?»
«They are the White Fairy and the Sea King. At first Ariana was my mistress, and then she lost me to Seal. They played shells (it’s a dice kind of game). I like a chump, watched and gave advice to both of them. Mistress Ariana got mad and purposely lost me to Seal. And he sent me to you with a portion of gifts from the sea. He didn’t need me underwater anyway. I’m not even a water bird, but I’m beautiful. I was a fine gift for a princess.»
Seneschal fluffed up his tail with importance.
«So you were sent here from the start to persuade me to be with the water man, not the Sultan! And you, on the contrary, warned me.»
She thought the opposite.
«I’m honest! I didn’t like being soaked in Seal’s claws, either. My former Mistress, the Sea Fairy, had been nicer to me, and she never sent me to dangerous tasks. She should have lost me to him! And it’s not the first time it’s happened to me. My first mistress also lost me to Ariana. I fly from hand to hand like a bargaining chip!»
«How unlucky you are.»
«That’s right!»
«I certainly wouldn’t have betrayed you to pirates or sold you to merchants, but I was lured under the water myself.»
«It is bad luck to have a foolish mistress,» he agreed. «Your carelessness is reprehensible.»
«You talk like a governess.»
«I could be your tutor and lecture you every day instead of singing songs,» Seneschal eagerly volunteered.
«You don’t have to do that.»
«But you’ve got to be saved from the next mistakes. You will surely make them. That’s why I came back. You can’t leave a naive girl alone.»
«I’m not a girl anymore. I’m the wife of the Sea King now.»
«It won’t be for long. I’ve made arrangements with Morrin. He’ll help you escape to the nearest island. He has a plan.»
«No, you don’t understand! I like him.»
«Who is it? Is it Morrin?»
«No. It is the Water King.»
«Are you joking? He is a tyrant!»
«He…» «Lilophea felt herself blushing, and the water did not cool her flushed cheeks. «Sometimes he’s so gallant. And I find him handsome.»
The peacock almost fainted.
«Don’t joke about that! He has blue skin and coral gills and webbing and pearls growing right in his forehead and a trident that can strike lightning.»
«His eyes are the color of the sea. The features of his face are beautiful. Even the sculptures in the galleries of Aquilania have no such exquisite beauty. He has the golden eyebrows, and the lashes, and the skin the color of ice…»
«Darling, he has bewitched you.»
The peacock was really worried.
«Wake up, Lilophea! He’s the water king! Do you know how many naive girls like you he’s sunk? He’s not a sultan. He doesn’t recruit beauties for his harem. He drags them into the abyss and drowns them by seducing them with sweet talk, like you.»
«But he didn’t drown me.»
«Sweetheart, you live underwater. The fact that you can, as it turns out, breathe in the water is your fault, not his. I swear he didn’t know when he dragged you out to sea that you wouldn’t die in the deep.»
«He said he did.»
«All watermen are big liars and cheats.»
«That’s what you said about privateers. But you liked Morrin.»
«Morrin is a rare exception».
«Probably the sea king is an exception too.»
«You don’t know him,» muttered the peacock resentfully, as if that said it all.
«Well, I’ll get to know him if I’ve been here long enough. By the way, there are so many wonders in the royal palace. Let me show you around!»
«No! Don’t!» Seneschal was frightened out of his wits. «Not to the palace! They will lock me up in a cage on purpose, so that I will drown.»
«There aren’t even cages!»
«But there are wicked mermaids. They’ll pluck my tail feathers.»
«Ow!» The peacock’s eyes went red and rolled up. He frantically began to catch air with his beak, which, of course, was not under the water. The miraculous herb must have worn off. Without thinking, Lilophea picked up Seneschal, forced her own legs to join together as a mermaid’s tail, and sprinted upward with all her might. It didn’t take long to swim. She emerged in the open sea, with no sign of the island or the ships. But there were a number of large circles about the size of shields, sticking out from the water like flat stones. There were many of them.
«What were they?» Lilophea lowered Seneschal onto one of the stones. «It looked like a shell.»
Seneschal still couldn’t come to his senses. Water was pouring out of his beak. Apparently, he almost drowned. He shouldn’t have gone underwater just to see his mistress for a moment.
Lilophea touched the edge of the shell with her fingers. It was as hard as a rock. If she hadn’t been so flat it might have been a reef.
Curiosity got the better of her. Lilophea climbed on top of the shell. The mermaid’s tail became her legs again as she wished to rise. The surface of the shell did not slip beneath her feet. This is astonishing! After all, the shell itself lay in the middle of the sea, washed by the waves.
There’s a whole road of big shells. She wondered if each shell is supported from below by any columns. We’ll have to dive in later and check it out. In the meantime, Lilophea decided to walk along the path of shells that zigzagged through the water.
«Stop it! Don’t go!» It was Seneschal who came to his senses. He panted and howled hysterically. «There is danger!»
«What danger is it? I can’t see anything!»
She had to step over the short distance between the shells. She had to step over the little space between the shells, and it felt as if she were stepping on water boarded warrior shields. But it was not a risky thing to do. After all, if she fell into the water, she still wouldn’t drown.
«There’s a fairy’s mansion up ahead,» Seneschal said in a mournful tone.
«And that’s all!» He was understandable. The peacock did not want to see the fairy again, who had so heartlessly given him up to the Sea King.
«I have much to thank her for. I think I’ll go and see her.»
«Please don’t go!»
But Lilophea boldly moved forward. If it hadn’t been for Ariana, she would never have learned how to use her powers. To know that your train can cause a storm is a great power! Only it is better not to explain all this to Seneschal. He’s frightened enough as it is.
The peacock hovered above the road of shells as he watched the small island of crystal form looming ahead. On it were many white pinnacle-shaped plantings. From afar it looked as if the entire island were made of ivory. Only closer it became clear that it consisted of shells of different shapes and sizes. The shells were piled one on top of another. The tiny hulk itself appeared to be the back of some rare white fish. It moved slowly through the sea like a floating theater. And it housed a marvelous bird house without a single cage. All the birds were free, not chained, not locked up. They flew back and forth like servants.
The sweet, multi-voiced singing of the birds poured over the water. Sometimes human speech was heard in it. Birds could not sing in the language of men, could they? Lilophea knew one peacock that could. He probably wasn’t the only one.
The sea fairy was more like a white fairy because of the color of her hair, skin, and clothes. It was as if she had been bathed in milk, which colored her eyebrows, eyelashes, lips, even her eyes creamy white. The dress, composed of white petals, really grew right out of her skin. The petals themselves moved strangely. One shoulder was bare, but the elbow and wrist were full of floral flounces. White curls flowed from under a silver hoop. She couldn’t call them gray. The fairy’s pupils were blue, but her eye socket was white, too.
There wasn’t much room on her island, because the place was filled with all kinds of tools for making elixirs. There were bundles of seaweed, a mortar to grind small seashells in, and retorts of sorts through which frothy liquid flowed. Not an island, but a kind of marine laboratory! Shell-necks shone at the bottom of the flasks, which they could not burn through. Wise multi-headed fish made talking scarecrows. Ariana experimented as best she could. Her pairs of hands moved incessantly, filling vials and vials with something.
But the wretched cloak, made from a scrap of sail, was clearly not meant for experimentation. It was only for camouflage.
«So you followed me here in rags, pretending to be a beggar or a fortune teller?» Lilophea took the cloak and examined it. Yes, this is the one. «It takes time to compare a lady in a palanquin to a beggar at a wedding.»
Ariana was not upset that she had been rebuked.
«I wanted to foretell your bad fortune and keep you away from the Underwater King, but I suddenly realized that he himself will not let you go. So my plan to survive you by deception failed.»
There was nothing to reply to such straightforwardness. She didn’t want to quarrel with the fairy, so she simply kept silent.
Lilophea looked around. Ariana had so many birds that could breathe in water. They scurried in and out of the water, running errands. Ariana named each of them by their duties. There were Maid, Chambermaid, Gatekeeper, Messenger. Yes, the Seneschal is definitely from here.
The Siren bird looked at her guest with royal arrogance. Ariana herself, on the other hand, was trying to be polite. Either she pretended or actually had good manners.
«I wanted to be a queen of the sea,» she admitted, «because I am the most magnificent creature on water. But Seal did not appreciate my qualities.»
«You had little to lose by not being queen, or you would have had to put up with a harem of nymphs and mermaids.»
«Do you really think they’re rivals? How arrogant the earthly aristocrats are! They don’t even know what a disguise is.»
«I beg your pardon?»
«It’s all for the Sultan of Etar. He sometimes took a tincture to breathe underwater and descended into the underwater world. Seal felt ashamed that with all his wealth he couldn’t have a harem. Earth women would not live long on the bottom, so they hastily assembled a harem of mermaids. In fact, they do considerable work, but the Sultan will never know about it.»
«So Seal has never been with them?» Lilophea was relieved.
«So have I, but when the Sultan comes to visit, I have to go to the court and play the role of one of the chief wives. Nereida does the same.»
«Is showing off that important?»
«Seal and the Sultan are almost friends. And in Etar, the ruler’s wealth is determined by the size of his treasury and harem.»
«Are you also a subject of Seal?»
«Let’s just say I am one of the few who have managed to remain independent. My magical tinctures can rot the whole sea if I pour them into the waves. And some of the Morgens and the people of the coast depend on my elixirs. My talent has given me the right to sovereignty.»
Such an answer was to be expected. The sea fairy looked very arrogant. She practiced her magical craft with great pride. She certainly thought of her little island on the back of an outlandish fish as a whole independent state.
«And whose side would you be on in case of war, say, with the ocean?»
«I would remain neutral. There’s already a war going on! I hear it,» the white fairy said. «The waves bring me all the news. I love to talk to the waves. They just whisper everything they see, and never ask for an answer. You can ask them about everything that happens in the depths or on the coast, and they will deliver everything in detail.»
«So says Katharina, a noble captive of the whale. Curiously enough, from the rustling of the waves, both fairy and prisoner can hear about everything that goes on in the world.»
«You’ll have a chance to escape soon,» Ariana wizened a little over the cube-shaped vessel and drew out a handful of water droplets. In her hands they didn’t clump together, but clung together into a necklace. It didn’t melt, even after Ariana put it around her neck. «Think about what you will choose. Where is the way out of the nets, and where are the nets themselves, in which you are entangled: on land or in the depths?»
«You speak as if you no longer claim the title of ruler of all the seas.»
