В«Have you ever heard the stories about the people who let the genies out and paid for their curiosity!В»
Fiona didn’t want to be lectured, so she obediently put the vial back.
«You can spend the night here!» Rokuela threw a blanket over the narrow thatch bunk. «I have business to run tonight, so I won’t be constrained by you. But don’t touch anything while I’m gone, or there’ll be more repercussions later than from the war. The power imprisoned in the vials is dangerous.»
«I see!» Fiona made a vow not to touch anything here again. She didn’t want to get hurt or unleash a water demon at all.
«We’ll talk a little while before the rain stops,» the landlady pointed to the chairs and table made from shells. The screen beside them was also covered in shells, like bas-reliefs.
«You could make it rain, but you couldn’t make it stop?» Fiona guessed, taking a seat on the rickety shell stool.
«You can’t do everything at once. One magic on top of another is too much,» said Rockwell admonishingly. «If you knew more about magic, you’d understand.»
«But I’m not a witch! Ornella only called me that to send me to the bonfire.»
«I’ll look into your past myself if I want to,» Rokuela barked at her and placed an elegant mirror framed in monograms and seashells on the table. «It reveals the past and present very well, but it is not always exact for the future.»
«So you cannot tell a lie,» Fiona summed up. «You know I’m just a mill girl, not a witch, not a princess to rival Ornella.»
Rokuela didn’t let her finish her sentence.
В«You must have some talent!В» With the intonation ofВ aВ seer she proclaimed. В«IВ can see that!В»
«Well!» Fiona shrugged hesitantly. «I can do a bit of needlework and cross stitch. I make a good tasty dish from mushrooms I pick in the woods and muffin tarts. Well, and to spin good yarn, besides me, all the peasant women know how to do. So it probably doesn’t count as a talent anymore.»
«We’re talking about magical talent!» Rokuela interrupted her. «What’s that got to do with embroidery and cooking?»
«I’m sorry, but I didn’t know about magic.»
В«What if you found aВ dusty old book inВ the attic ofВ your mill, written inВ ancient writings, and realized that you could read them, even if you were illiterate? Such books have aВ habit ofВ calling you byВ name or you begin toВ be drawn toВ them byВ some irresistible force. You just want toВ open them, even if they are chained.В»
В«It is exactly! There was one such book! Found it among old junk and sacks ofВ flour. Probably one ofВ the rich customers had forgotten it. IВ mistook it for aВ casket because the binding was decorated with jasper, and thin chains and aВ lock set around it. IВ never managed toВ open it. IВ exchanged it for aВ new dress at aВ box man.В»
«You are silly! You’ll trade your own head for something. Do you know what treasure you’ve lost?»
«But the dress was of real silk, like a noblewoman’s. The butler gave it up for that book.»
«That book could have been your friend and advisor for all eternity. It was a big risk, though,» Rockwell said with a frown. «You can’t keep that quiet, either. As a rule, only potential students of the School of Witchcraft could get their hands on such witchcraft volumes. It’s a place like a black palace, hidden under a veil of invisibility, where spirits train young wizards. It will cost you your soul, but you’ll gain eternal youth and power. You can eventually become queen yourself by wresting someone else’s throne with the help of charms.»
«I’m not Ornella… I don’t have her ways.»
«That’s right! Ornella would not let such a valuable book out of her claws.»
В«Naturally, she would be attracted toВ jasper. She loves sparkling stones!В»
«I don’t mean the cost of the binding!» Rokuela was indignant. «Wizards are the richest people in the world, not because they hoard treasure, but because they know how to acquire it by means of charms. I’ve known magicians who lost a fortune in a night at the gambling houses, and the next morning they were rich again. It is as if the gold had grown in the palms of their hands.»
В«How is that?В»
В«The book you sold inВ exchange for silk rags would have told you everything.В»
«Told?! Books can’t talk.»
В«Magical books do. Besides great knowledge, they hold great power. If the mistress ofВ such aВ book were attacked and tried toВ drag her toВ the fire, the nearest houses and mountains would collapse, burying all but you.В»
Now, that is really tempting! Unless Rokuela is lying and exaggerating, she could use aВ magic book. Fiona imagined Ornella telling her guards toВ drag her out ofВ the mill, and the walls ofВ the building and the windmills collapsing on the heads ofВ the guards.
«To bury her attackers under the rubble and not be hurt…» said Fiona dreamily.«That is magic!»
«But it was too late to learn. If you have drunk the magic book, you cannot go to School of Witchcraft – no one will be admitted! A book is sent as a guide and a pass. There is no messenger. It finds you, like a bird or a ghost. But when you give it to her, you give up everything.»
Rokuela should never have told her about it. It was more delicate to remain silent. In her mind, Fiona scolded herself. She used to live peacefully in the mill. Now there was nowhere to go. A way to the magic school, invisible to Ornella’s guards, would come in handy. It would be the only place to sit out while they looked for you as a witch. And when your graduation date comes, you’ll come out so strong that you’ll demolish the entire state of your enemies in a jiffy.
«I wish you’d warned me sooner,» Fiona sighed. She doesn’t think Ornella will leave a victim behind. They’ll send guards or gryphons after her for sure. She felt sick at the thought of the latter. The clawed jaws alone were worth a scratch a month’s worth of healing. And what would happen if the birds decided to peck her to death.
«You have a gift of some sort, and it’s independent of your training,» Rokuela said. «I just can’t figure out what it is.»
В«IВ can see ghosts,В» said Fiona, recalling the Jokers inВ the ruins.
В«Plenty ofВ people can do that without aВ magic gift.В»
В«But those ghosts were bright, not your typical ghosts.В»
В«Were you able toВ make them serve you? Did they do some kind ofВ thing you asked them toВ do, or did they do some kind ofВ errand you wanted them toВ do? Did they drag you into their circle and share your forbidden secrets?В»
Fiona shook her head mournfully. She seemed talentless. And it wouldn’t be a bad idea to set ghost jesters to tear Ornella apart. They would have mocked her for a long time before the massacre. They’re jesters.
«Let me see your hands!» Rokuela looked at her palms. «They are all scratched! I’m no chiromancer, but this mark here looks like a line of enrichment… Tell me, are you attracted to gold.»
«Do you mean gold?» Fiona thought about it. She wondered if it was worth mentioning that she was magnetically attracted to it by the sight of golden eagle feathers. It had caused so much trouble, hadn’t it? It was better not to follow the eagle. Then she wouldn’t have met the insensitive Condor, the ravenous princes, and the evil queen.
«Come on!» insisted Rokuela. «Maybe you hear the coins singing, or maybe they jump into your pocket, popping out of other people’s purses. You ought to go around the marketplace and check it out.»
«You shouldn’t! Such talent, even if I have it, will not keep me safe from Ornella’s griffins.»
В«But you can make aВ fortune and hire your own army for protection, and buy your own fortress, which IВ will shield with magic.В»
«I…» Fiona struggled to explain how she’d discovered the mound beneath the ruins. «I seem to be attracted only to the gold that is buried in the ground. I see a halo of glow where it’s buried. It happened to me once or twice by happy coincidence. Or maybe the ghosts of the ruins told me…»
В«You are aВ treasure hunter!В» Rokuela rejoiced. В«It is aВ good gift, but you cannot do without helpers. The gold is often buried too deep for you toВ retrieve it byВ yourself. There is magic that makes the earth part. If you had learned it inВ magic school, you could have got the treasure even from the bottom ofВ the sea.В»
«Don’t remind me how much I’ve lost by not going to school! Or I’ll burst into tears!»
«Don’t grieve! I guess your talent wasn’t so great that you didn’t figure out the book’s purpose. Ornella probably only clung to you because of the prophecy about the redheads.»
В«What was the prophecy?В» Fiona only now noticed that one blue morialla was perched imposingly on top ofВ the flooded fireplace.
«She’s not a spy,» Rokuela nodded at the bird. «So, about the redheads… It is a delicate subject! There is a prophecy that the Sultanit’s dynasty will be massacred by a single ginger-haired girl. She can be identified by her freckles and her ability to communicate with the souls of the dead.»
«You mean ghosts?» Fiona remembered the jesters and the corpses in the carriage. She had communicated with the latter. She didn’t imagine it.
В«Does communicating with dead people inВ dreams count, too?В»
«Well, if they’re frequent dreams…»
В«What if IВ only dreamt about the dead woman who warned me ofВ danger once?В»
«Then it might just have been a prophetic dream. Many people have such dreams when they’re in danger. And you were about to be executed.»
«It is ridiculous! Her hair is like fire, but she would have died in the fire,» the horned skull of a morgen’s muttered as he lay across the table and laughed gruffly.
«Shut up!» Rokuela hissed at him and explained. «That’s my counselor.»
She had aВ magic fish, aВ man-each minute changing the color ofВ its scales, aВ man-shell that sang beautifully, and aВ strange jelly-fish-like creature that swept the floor with its tentacles.
It was the shell that Fiona liked best. It had such aВ sweet-sounding singing voice, as if aВ siren had been imprisoned inside.
«You’ll have to stay here with me and my pets,» she concluded when she heard the sound of huge wings rustling through the rain.»
«Wouldn’t it be better if I went back to the mill? I don’t want to embarrass you.»
In fact she was frightened. A hedge of live jellyfish, morgens’ skulls, and mermaid’s bones would impress anyone. And then there’s the creature in the fire tank!
«Ornella will find you at the mill. Griffons never let their victims go, and their brides won’t be let go by sea magic.»
В«Are griffons sea birds?В»
В«All birds that are capable ofВ flying across the sea can be categorized as sea birds. They have settled byВ the sea.В»
She’s right about that. Ornella and her brothers’ castle stands at the edge of the surf. It’s like a rock rising out of the coastal waves. That’s no coincidence.
«You already know there’s a terrible curse on the whole Sultanit’s dynasty,» Rokuela said, as if she’d just remembered it now. She clutched the amulet of feathers and shells tightly in her hands. The feathers seemed to be eagle feathers.
«They were now only half human and half griffin. And every bride or groom chosen by the children of the cursed Sultanit’s King will also be forced to turn into a griffin. It is fate that will decide whether they die in the first transformation or become accustomed to the plumage of a bird.»
The drumbeat of rain became as unpleasant as if needles had been pricked into their ears. Fiona somehow wasn’t surprised or questioning the sea witch’s words. Ornella had mentioned werewolves for a reason. Nor was the game of clawed tomboys a coincidence.
В«So all birds could turn into griffins? Can Condor, too?В»
It didn’t surprise Rokuela that Fiona was interested in the most handsome of princes.
«He is the only one who is an innocent victim. Only half of the Sultan’s blood is in him, but he has become so accustomed to the guise of the golden eagle that he himself has become a predator.»
The golden eagle is him! That’s why she was so infatuated with him that she climbed into the cave! Condor’s charm was undeniable. No matter what form he took, he could charm a girl’s heart out of anything.
«Werewolves are not a fairy tale,» Rokuela interpreted her grief in her own way. «You may not believe a man can turn into a wolf or a bird of prey with claws of steel, but you can’t ignore the power of a curse.»
«I’m afraid that for bad people, the curse can be a blessing. If Ornella manages to turn into a bird of prey, she will tear everyone apart.»
«She can,» Rokuela dumbfounded her. – All of the king’s children can turn into birds. In addition, they all develop some sort of magical gift. The Condor, for instance, can understand what the wind reports. He can also easily translate the speech of the spirits of rain, fire, and even snow and ice. He is the most gifted of the royal family.»
В«And he is the most evil!В»
«Conrad is not evil! He just doesn’t want anyone else to be victimized, so he doesn’t greet anyone. I bet he tried to chase you away when you snuck into the eagle’s nest.»
«Did he call you here to get me away from the eagle princes forever?» Fiona guessed. That’s hardly a sign of kindness. It’s more likely that Condor was afraid his brothers would be attracted to the peasant girl. He and Ornella were on the same side. What two snobs!
For some reason, she longed unbearably toВ dance with all the princes again, and then toВ fly with the birds. What was going through her head? It is as if someone is sending them toВ her on purpose.
В«They are looking for you,В» Rokuela realized. В«Close your mind toВ them!В»
«Or else they will tear me to pieces, won’t they?»
«As long as you’re with me, they don’t stand a chance. If you have nowhere else to go, we should unite against them. But to help me, you must return to the castle for a while and trick the princes into believing that you miss them, too, and are even willing to sacrifice yourself for them. It’s risky, but worth the risk.»
Fiona fell asleep on the move. Rokuela’s translucent eyes fascinated her. Rokuela was definitely not young, but her skin was so youthful. What magic tricks does she not know? Is an alliance with her power or doom?
«What do you want from the Sultanit’s dynasty?» Fiona asked, yawning. «Is it their total annihilation?»
В«IВ only want my beloved back. He is imprisoned somewhere byВ King ofВ Sultanit.В»
В«King ofВ Sultanit is dead. The queen rules there now.В»
«Is it a queen?» Rokuela didn’t know that yet. She must not have looked in her mirror.
«I’m sure I heard. Ornella was proclaimed queen.»
В«Then the worst thing happened. Did none ofВ the brothers insist on their right toВ the throne?В»
В«It is no one!В»
«Oh, my! The weakest link turned out to be the strongest. Six months ago, I wouldn’t have bet on Ornella and a crushed shell. Either Orvel or Condor should have ruled.»
В«Is Condor the eldest?В» Fiona thought he was the youngest.
«He is the youngest,» Rokuela confirmed. «But I could see in the future that he must rule the country. It makes sense. He’s reasonable and reserved. He would be a good counterbalance to the brothers’ aggression.»
В«Not all prophecies are destined toВ come true,В» said Fiona philosophically.
Perhaps it was for the best. If Condor were King, no more maidens’ hearts would be broken. He’d already broken her heart. Fiona would have liked to tame him, even as a golden eagle, but he was beyond her reach.
В«Consider my offer now!В» Rokuela wove fanciful ornaments ofВ coins and shells into her hair, and prepared toВ set out into the night.
Fiona realized that she should not be asked where she was going. It was aВ mystery.
Raid
