Lilophea-2: Consort of the Sea King

Paths to Magic

Lilothea ran as fast as she could. She turned around a couple of times to see if the eagles were flying after her.

“Turning around is a bad habit,” the spirit of the bridge immediately pointed out. “Besides, you mustn’t look back here, or you’ll get so lost that you won’t be able to get out later.”

“What ill-timed advice is it,” said Lilophea. She was furious.

“Anyway, I’m so lost that I can’t find my way back now.”

“Which way is that?”

Lilophea pondered. The spirit had succeeded in puzzling her. Indeed, where did she want to go? Is it home to Aquilania? But everyone there will be frightened that she has come back. The whole Morgens’ army would most likely come looking for her. And then there’s no way to avoid a war with them. No one will think she’s the one to blame for running away. Her escape would be the perfect excuse to attack the people of Aquilania again.

Does she want to go back to the underwater kingdom? She probably does, because there are many wonders, pleasures, luxuries. And most importantly, there is Seal. As soon as she thought about it, she saw the azure steps under one of the bridges that had suddenly appeared nearby, steps that went straight down from the bridge into the water. All she had to do was cross that bridge and go back.

“it is better not!” The spirit of the bridge held her back, and a mighty gust of rainbow wind blew through her, instantly separating her from the path to the strange bridge. “If you go, I’ll never see you again!”

“Won’t you miss me?”

“Of course I will. You should know how boring it is to wander here. All bridges lead somewhere: some to civilized countries, some to magical lands, and some to islands inhabited by tribes of savages. But spirits cannot go to any of them. They can only hover over bridges.”

“That’s sad,” Lilophea agreed. “Is that why you won’t let anyone leave, because you can’t?” She guessed.

“You should know how few guests come in here,” the spirit tried to justify himself. He looked like a disgraced little bully boy.

“You know what? If you promise to come back to the bridges in an hour, I can take you to the windows of the palaces, where the festivities are taking place. Do you want to go to a ball? Morgens love masquerades, by the way. The only way to spot them is to see their wet footprints on the floor.”

Lilophea had her doubts, but she wanted to go to the ball.

“You look wonderful,” the bridge spirit urged her on. “It is such a magnificent dress of sea foam! None of the earthlings will know what it’s made of. They’ll think you’re a particularly talented dressmaker.”

“You know so much about human manners, though you assure me you have no way into their lands.”

“Well, I hear much of what they say when I fly up to the windows where the ends of our bridges approach,” the spirit gently wrapped his arms around her waist and turned her to the path of his choice at the crossing of the seven bridges. “You’ve overheard a lot of interesting things yourself just now, watching under the window of the Sultan’s palace.”

Lilophea walked obediently where the spirit directed her, while he himself hovered beside her.

“Were these griffins really so dangerous that they could peck a morgen?”

The spirit must have known that, but he pondered for a long moment.

“I could fly over and watch them carve up the Shalian fleet, but then I’d have to leave you alone.”

“Are you sure they’ll win yet? Before the battle begins?”

“They’re nimble and predatory. I once watched them attack a galley ship.”

“And what is it about the morgens? Have you ever seen them attack a morgen floating to the surface?”

“Why does that bother you so much? Are you on the morgen’s side now?”

She didn’t know herself, so she gave a diplomatic answer:

“I’m a sea queen.”

“Well, yes, a princess from earth who was forcibly kidnapped and forced to marry an underwater king,” commented the all-knowing spirit.

“Were you peeping when I was kidnapped?”

“There are a lot of us here. Someone is always an observer, and then we all meet at general gatherings at the central bridge and share the news.”

“There’s even a central bridge? Where does it go?”

“Oh, you can’t get anywhere from there, except the heavenly realm, but it’s not always open. But the bridge is made of white gold. All the bridges go to it, and the bridge itself is a sort of circle.”

“Is it a platinum bridge?” She raised her eyebrows in surprise. She had not yet reached it.

But the spirit had already led her across the jasper bridge to the bay window of the white marble palace, where a noisy masquerade ball was in progress.

“What kind of country is this?”

“What difference does it make? It’s so far from here to Aquilania that you wouldn’t make it in six months by ship, and we made it over the bridge in no time. So there’s nowhere to go back but to the bridge. Have fun for an hour.”

Lilophea willingly stepped over the bay window frame. Good thing the bay window was a human-size window, or she would have had to climb over the window sill. She was afraid of ruining her dress. But a sea-foam dress was not supposed to spoil. The train draped behind her, leaving no wet prints on the marble floor. How amazing!

It was beautiful all around. There were lambrequins on the walls and tapestries woven with unicorns. Probably the unicorn with a horn twined with white roses was the emblem of the country. Its image was repeated everywhere: in draperies, on walls, and even on ceilings. All around there were many floor vases with lush bouquets of roses and camellias. The lingering scent of the flowers made her dizzy.

All the guests wore masks, some even wearing masks of elves and fairies. Lilophea suddenly remembered that she wasn’t wearing a mask. Without it, she felt unprotected. She needed something to cover her face. It was bad form to go to a masquerade without a mask. Everyone would know at once that she was a stranger who had come uninvited. Thankfully, the bay window leading to the bridge is close by. Lilophea turned around and didn’t see the window behind her. How could it be? It had just been there. And now there were only so many windows leading out into gardens of paradise, full of camellias and magnolias.

The lace of foam vibrated against her body as if sensing her fright. God forbid the dress would melt and she’d be naked in the middle of the ball. But the foamy fabric only slightly transformed. A single ruffle detached from the sleeve, flowed down to her neck, then to her face, and suddenly froze on it with an exquisite half-mask.

“Did you come dressed as an underwater lady?” Someone in a dark elf mask unceremoniously pulled Lilophea to dance. “How original is it! None of the locals decide to dress up as a water maid or a mermaid. And all because the sea is near. They are afraid.”

“And they’re right,” Lilophea remarked, remembering her forays from the sea to Aquilania.

“You must be from far away, dressed as a lady of the ocean.”

“Am I an ocean lady? I’ve never been near an ocean,” she nearly said, “Never sailed,” but she was quick to realize it.

“You look like an ocean lady!”

Fragments of a dream came to mind at once: the mermaid ship, the glow from the hold, the two joined maidens. Lilophea felt dizzy.

“Home calls to you,” her dance partner admonished. “Your home is definitely in the ocean.”

“You’re confused about something.”

“I never get confused, that’s why I was made mentor to the local heir. I have the gift of knowing everything about everyone. I catch all enemies in my net.”

Lilophea has only now noticed that his fingernails, sharp as black blades, are not fake, but very natural.

“I am like a spider, entangling the states in nets of darkness, catching all attackers and even ambassadors in them. To a strong power, everyone is an enemy.”

Who has she become entangled with? She should have found a less aggressive partner to dance with. But did she have a choice? She doesn’t know anyone here, and everyone around her is wearing masks.

Lilophea noticed a long wet trail following one guest in a long garment of astrologer. So beneath the cap and mask hides the ugly head of a morgen.

“Shall I tell you in confidence?” The partner put his arm around Lilophea’s waist and pulled her toward him. “I’m going to take over soon. You want to keep me company on the throne. I am not the king of Aquilania. Oceanids are welcome. I find oceanids much better than capricious elves, proud fairies, or ordinary earth women who grow old with time. You oceanids are the standard of beauty for me.

And what makes him think she’s from the ocean? Well, let him think what he wants. Lilophea wasn’t going to tell him about herself. She was only here for an hour. She needed to entertain herself, dance, and then go back to the bridge. Her legs were tired from dancing. This had never happened to her before. Apparently, being underwater had taken its toll on her earthly abilities. It was easy to be frisky on land when she hadn’t yet gotten used to the ease and freedom of floating in the underwater realm. You don’t have to move your feet there at all, the water current carries you forward by itself. In general, both walking and dancing had become unaccustomed to her. Lilophea considered herself almost crippled by it.

“It is wine!” Lilophea noticed decanters and goblets on the tables and, forgetting all manners, she rushed to pour herself some wine.

“Be careful, it’s strong!” Shouted after the black elf, but she did not care. No wine on the seafloor, and such a variety of vintages here. She’d had three glasses in a row before she spotted the crystal decanter of water. It hadn’t been here a minute ago. Or was she seeing double after drinking it?

In the carafe floated a small turquoise fish with a puffy tail overgrown with small pearls. It looked from behind the crystal wall with amber-colored eyes, and then suddenly surfaced and clearly said:

“Come back, fugitive! They are waiting for you at home!”

Lilophea backed away. You have to get to the point of hearing a fish talking to you. But on the other hand, in the underwater kingdom she had not yet seen fish that can speak in human language?

There were several more morgens among the guests. Lilophea only now noticed them, and it didn’t even take a wet trail for that to happen. The morgens arrived in their usual form. Though their creepy faces, heads with patterned blue outgrowths, and long spiky tails could well be mistaken for elaborate masquerade costume. The tridents in their webbed paws gave them away as guards. They had most likely come to look for the king’s runaway wife.

And such guards could have been sent after her to every corner of the world. Not to mention her native Aquilania. Lilophea felt sick to her stomach. What had she done by running away? What if her father was already in trouble because of her?

The hour must have expired, for the spirit called to her from the bay window, which was visible again. Lilophea rushed over there.

The spirit sighed in relief and stopped gesticulating. The hourglass in his hands, on a stand of two water snakes, showed that time was running out. The blue sand in them was already almost all the way down into the lower compartment.

The bay window leading to the bridge was a loophole that could save her from any pursuit. After all, it’s so easy to get lost in the maze of bridges.

Lilophea gasped as she found a black net growing on the passage at the speed of the wind. Someone was deliberately blocking her way to the bridge. Thankfully, the spirit of the bridge clung to her and managed to drag her across the bay window.

“It’s the black elf,” Lilophea complained to the spirit, who must have been watching.

“Yes, I hadn’t considered it. I’m sorry. He’s strengthened his position in the country since I last flew here. Not long ago he was just a mentor, and now he’s gone so wild. Too bad the Jasper Bridge is beyond me. I don’t come here much. I only took you to the ball.”

“Will Morgen’s black net hold him for a while?” Lilophea was agitated.

“Weren’t they sent here for you?”

“What is it for?”

“Why should they? The underwater tsar has his own politics. There is been a lot of maneuvers. I’ve been flying here for centuries, and I’ve seen it all.”

“And Seal destroyed whole fleets?”

“What’s it to you? All your wealth is in the underwater kingdom. The more ships with valuable cargo are sunk, the richer you will be, Your Majesty!”

“But it’s cruel!”

“But it’s profitable.”

“You sound just like Seal. And like my father’s second minister Baldwin. And also like… Morrin.”

He was a privateer, so he thought profit was worth a man’s life. Only as she looked into his kind, youthful face, she never once thought of that.

“Don’t worry! Aquilania’s ships, barques, brigantines, caravels, and even little fishing boats are safe. Your husband has a treaty with Aquilania until you escape.”

“But I’ve already escaped.”

“All you did was go for a walk. That’s what I call it, and the other bridge spirits will agree with me when questioned. I’m friends with everyone here, and we’ll all support you. Just don’t go back. It’s so boring here without you.”

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