puddle of fire suddenly turned green and turned into a swamp. How did this happen?
«Is there room for me?» A green hand rested on the side.
Had one of the swamp women crawled in? Patricia didn’t think she’d ever see one of them again.
«The dragon burned my swamp as soon as you left,» she explained, climbing up onto the deck on the smooth side. «So I choose to travel in your company. It’s safer with you.»
«Staying close to me is like sailing on a pirate ship.»
«Well, then I want to join your crew. Who says a swamp fairy can’t be a pirate?»
«Can you fight?»
«I can be useful,» the swamp fairy pointed to the green trail of slime that followed her through the water.
«It is mud,» Patricia said.
«And what is about this one?» Her wing stretched out and touched the water behind the deck. The waves immediately became mire. «I can turn the ground beneath your enemies’ feet or the water beneath their ship into mire.»
Patricia whistled. That’s even better than strength. The Swamp Lady knows how to be useful.
«You better learn to fight with a saber, too.»
«I’ll try, but it’s unnecessary. I don’t need a saber when I have claws.»
A swamp fairy could cut a human throat with them. Patricia turned away.
«I am Zeligena,» the swamp fairy introduced herself.
«Isn’t that the name of a whole race of fairies with goat hooves under their green dresses?» Patricia wondered. She had met such fairies at Opal’s court.
«Maybe so, but in this case it’s a name, it is not a nationality.»
It wouldn’t have occurred to Patricia to say that fairies were divided into races and nationalities.
«All right, stay, Zeligena. Let’s hope you’re not a spy.»
«What do you mean?» Zeligena snorted insolently. «I’m an honest swamp dweller who was defeated by a dragon.»
«I’m angry with him myself,» Patricia noticed a metal tube on the side of the boat. It looked like a spyglass, but it was fancy.
«It is a morgen spyglass!» Netopyrina was surprised. «It must have been left here by the sea people. Or maybe it’s a gift?»
«You can see the Undersea Kingdom through it,» Zeligenna interjected. «Let me see!»
But Patricia had already looked through the peephole herself and was surprised. The tube showed not the water and the horizon, but the walls of a palace of shells and pyramids of pearls.
«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