«While youre thinking, your sword will become a warrior in your place,» she joked.
«Fly back to me!» Patricia commanded, but the sword wouldnt obey her. Maybe its a good thing. Its more useful in battle. If he wants to fight, let him fight. Its even more convenient for her. She can save her own energy.
Patricias crew only managed to sink a couple of Opals 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. Its probably the reason they cant use magic to win a battle. Everyone knows how powerful wizards 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 dancers. Among these pendants were vials containing poison. Surely Patricia knew of Peris 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? Theyre 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?
«Theres 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. «Ill interrogate her.»
«We dont 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 Opals fleet multiplying?»
Patricia couldnt 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 werent for them, Opals fleet could not have been sunk. The tailed maidens proved to be aggressive and powerful. They summoned a kraken that encircled the Opals ships with all its tentacles. The cocky peris face stretched in disappointment. This was a turn of events she had not expected. She herself had barely managed to escape the krakens tentacles, and that was only because she could fly.
«As long as youre on the water, youre 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. Theyre 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 mermaids 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 didnt even call them,» Patricia marveled.
«They probably dont like the King of Opal either. Ever since the dragon burned one of the sea queens, they cant 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 Opals ships, so they put her in the sack.»
«Cant we throw her overboard?»
«It wont 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 dont 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. Theyre stronger than iron bars.
Patricia knew that the fairy was an agent of the King of Opal and could contact him from a distance, but Netopyrina blocked her. How useful it is to have a fairy bat of your own!
The captive fairy, on the other hand, was a massive inconvenience. Everything shook and rang near her, and objects flew in the air.
«Stop it! You wont get free,» Patricia shouted at her.
The fairy gave her a sinister smile that made her blood run cold. The dagger, forgotten by someone, flew into the air and swooped down on Patricia like a bird of steel.
While Patricia fought back, the fairy managed to summon a storm. The ship rocked from side to side.
There was no end to the captive fairys mischief. The sharp objects began to attack, the ropes twisted into loops and tried to kill the whole crew, and compasses, maps, and telescopes were dancing in the air. This continued until Zeligena and Netopyrina conspired and began to block the fairy together.
Thats when the captive beauty felt a severe headache. Her iridescent eyes blurred. The large spotted wings that made her look like a butterfly sagged.
«Take her into the hold with the cage and lock her in there,» Netopyrina ordered.
Patricia ignored the fact that the assistant had taken over as captain. To save herself from the fairys antics, she could give the ships command to the devil for a while.
«Wouldnt it be better to throw her overboard?» Patricia asked hesitantly.
«She could start a mutiny in the Underwater Kingdom. That would be undiplomatic. The mermaids would remember such evil.»
«Is it evil to give someone a captured fairy?»
«It depends on what kind of fairy is she,» Netopyrina watched carefully as the goblins brought the prisoner into the hold. «A fairy is a valuable hostage if you want to blackmail the King of Opal.»
«The loss of one fairy wont make him too angry. He has dozens of them.»
«Isnt he violating the rights of the magic emperor?» Zeligena intervened. «It seems that only the lord of the Magic Empire has the right to command fairies.»
«Ive never heard of such a thing,» Patricia admitted.
Both Zeligena and Netopyrina looked at her strangely.
«Well, I wouldnt dare denounce him anyway,» Zeligena grumbled, «the swamp fairies dont have a good relationship with him. Hes become very bitter in the last centuries. In confidence, his wife left him. Wives are always leaving him.»
«Did he have many?»
«How do you say?» Zeligena flapped her green eyelashes nervously.
«And the King of Opal killed his wife himself sacrificed her during a sorcery ritual. I saw it, so I refused to become his next wife.»
Oops! Patricia faltered when she realized she had spoken. She had sworn to several black fairy vampires guarding the royal crypt that she would not tell anyone about Queen Esperanzas skeleton that sometimes moved in the niche. The skeleton is wearing a royal dress and jewelry. Underneath the skeletons skull, there is still a lingering intelligence.
Now the grave fairies will punish her by taking her life. They are capable of taking lives from a distance. Patricia waited for a minute. Her throat didnt constrict, her breath didnt cut off. Her heart didnt stop beating. Did the grave fairies have no power over her? Could it be the magic ship? The crypt fairies cant affect someone in a vacuum of alien magic?
«The fairy is a valuable hostage,» Netopyrina repeated. «If you manage to get her on your side, she will reveal to you your enemys weaknesses.»
«Its impossible to get these creatures on your side!»
«But the King of Opal somehow did. They served another ruler before him.»
Patricia had no idea, though the court fairies themselves sometimes hinted at it. The fairies in Opals court always spoke in riddles. They surrounded the courtiers, hovering over their heads and tormenting them with eerie conversations. There was no escape from the fairies in Opal, for there were more fairies than people.
Patricia wondered if she should abandon her plans for revenge. The sight of the Opal fairy was so unpleasant that she wanted to forget about Opal.
«In a couple of hours, the ships magic will disarm the hostage and you can go down to the hold to question her,» Netopyrina advised.
Patricia tried to delay the unpleasant meeting with the fairy for three to four hours. She really didnt want to talk to the winged pest. Fairies can hypnotize. One look into her eyes and youre gone. If the crew on the ship did not consist of magical creatures, the fairy long ago would have charmed everyone and would have taken command of the crew of lunatics, subject to her will.
«Its about time!» Netopyrina urged. She didnt even need a watch to tell the time. As night approached, she felt a surge of strength, but during the day she grew weaker. Apparently, her mouse nature had its own clockwork mechanism.
«Come on, lets wait a little longer. Let her calm down,» Patricia paced the deck and played with her saber. Swinging a saber was a familiar and simple matter, but dealing with the fairies of Opal was complicated politics. Politics gave Patricia a headache. She didnt know how to negotiate. The last time the King of Opal had negotiated with her, it had turned into a massacre and tragedy. Now Patricia was ashamed to even remember how she had run away from her native shores on a small boat ruled by a dwarf.
«It was a pity that one could not live by physical strength alone, one needed magic and politics. Otherwise the art of swordsmanship would be enough for me» Patricia did not find support from the two fairies. They respected magic more than martial arts.
Well, to hell with them. Fairies have their own mentality. It was time to interrogate the hostage. Zeligena, Netopyrina, and a few goblins descended into the hold with Patricia.
Instead of a lantern, there was a perch with a sleeping firebird at the entrance to the hold. Zeligena had found a real glass lantern somewhere, with a firefly inside instead of a candle.
«We must ask the firebird not to fly close to the barrels of fire wine, or the whole ship will explode,» Patricia thought.
«It wont explode, but the firebird will get drunk,» objected the more experienced Zeligena.
Well, if so
«Where I am?» Patricia looked at the caged fairy, who had already managed to spit out her gag. The ropes used to bind her wrists and ankles were set on fire by the fairy using a spell. She muttered incoherent words to herself, and the ropes caught fire. The fire did not burn the fairys own skin.
«Oh, here we are!» The fairy laughed wickedly, and the sharp pins from the walls darted at Patricia. Patricia was barely able to dodge them. Then the barrels started dancing. Dozens of them rose into the air and began to circle in a circle.
Theres fire wine in them! If it spills, its the end of everyone.
«Stop it!» Patricia demanded.
«What can you do?» The fairy grinned. «You lost your authority as our ruler a long time ago.»
«I never was. If you remember, the King of Opal didnt have time to make me his next queen.»
«I didnt see that,» said the captive fairy defiantly. She tried to break the bars of the cage and failed. The gray bars of enchantment looked fragile, but they were strong.
Patricia looked closely at the fairys face, which was covered with a light web of sequins. They made the fairy appear starry-eyed, only her iridescent eyes giving away that she was of the Nightwalker caste.
Indeed, this fairy was not present at the dinner where Patricia had dared to accept from the king a gift of a black ring, which made all the wearers sick with the black plague.
The fairy hostage had a typical heart-shaped face.
«Are you Riabella? Flotel? Alyssandra?» Patricia couldnt recognize her, but she knew not all the court fairies by name.
«Aleandra,» the fairy corrected, and smiled predatorily again. The teeth beneath her graceful mouth were sharp as needles. It was as if she had a mouth full of needles. You wouldnt envy whoever she bit.
Netopyrina was giving signs that it was time to begin the interrogation, or the captive would gain strength. While the fairy was distracted by the negotiations, the flying wine barrels were slowly falling back down. The fairy didnt have enough concentration to do everything at once. She must have been exhausted as she tried to break free from her captivity.
«Where was the fleet headed?» Patricia began to question her.
«Why do you want to know?» Aleandra was wary.
«It is curious.»
«It wasnt sent for you,» the fairy grinned as if her words were a lie.
«Then who was it sent for?»
«The fleet might have sailed with good intentions.»
«Armed to the teeth?»
«Well, in these times, security is not unreasonable,» the fairy said sullenly. «Theres a war going on. Its everywhere. Only people dont know about it. The Emperor and Empress of the Magic Empire are sharing power. Whos who?»
«What does the King of Opal have to do with this?»
«Ask me what fairies have to do with it?»
«Dont tease me!» Patricia swung her saber in retaliation.
The fairy just laughed insolently. The floor of the hold shook and the glass in the lantern burst. The firefly broke free and flew away.
«Your outfit is strange,» Aleandra gave Patricia an unpleasant look, «as if you were a gypsy or a beggar.»
«I am not a gypsy, but a pirate captain.»