«Patricia!» A gentle voice rang out from the half-light. A pale fairy stood there in the clots of silvery mist. She seemed to be the one controlling the fog. Silver glitter scattered across the fairy’s skin like glowing moles. Bony wings that looked like fish gills protruded from her fragile back. The fairy’s ball gown was of the Opal’s style. It felt like the fairy had flown in from a ball held in Opal. But why are the skirts soiled in the ground? Could it be a grave fairy? But she’s wearing a white dress. Grave fairies usually wear mourning.
The fairy’s silver eyes stared fixedly at Patricia. Although the eyebrows and eyelashes on her eyelids had turned white, the stranger was recognizable.
«Beatrice!» Patricia forgot her caution and stepped toward her sister. «But you are dead!»
Lady Beatrice was found strangled by fairies in the royal garden three months ago. No one had seen with their own eyes how the fairies had lured her into the garden, whirled her around in their circle and killed her, but gossipers said that was what had happened. A wreath of forget-me-nots and roses was torn around Beatrice’s neck. Judging by the thorns on her throat, that’s what the girl was strangled with. Who else can strangle with a flower wreath, if not fairies. After all, flowers are their symbol.
Fairies are able to teach their chosen ones how to conjure with flowers and herbs, and use the magic of plants against unwanted people. Apparently, the fairies considered the beautiful Beatrice a dangerous rival. Or maybe there are more serious enemies and intrigues involved?
«How did you end up here?» Patricia stepped over the stumps of the invaders’ bodies, which no longer joined or stood up. Apparently Beatrice had diverted some of the magic onto herself. She’s the one who brought the mist. Had she become a sorceress after her death?
«I flew in,» she answered. Her voice sounded like a bell, but there was no echo.
«Are you a ghost?»
Beatrice laughed.
«What difference does it make? Come to me, sister!» She held out her skinny arms to Patricia, which also showed silver sparkles. The glowing moles reminded her of a map of constellations on her skin.
Patricia obediently stepped toward Beatrice. Her sister was definitely not a fairy. Then why does Beatrice have something like stiff patterned wings protruding from her back? Maybe it’s just making a masquerade costume, like the long white claws on her toes, like the white butterflies tangled in her hair. Only the fog could not be called part of the masquerade. The silvery mist came with Beatrice and hypnotized everyone: enemies and supporters alike. It was as if everyone who fought had fallen asleep. The ship became as quiet as a grave, and the fog shimmered and thickened.
«Are you Mistress of the Mists?» Patricia asked dazedly, approaching her sister. Beatrice’s face glowed like a true star fairy. She could easily be seen even in the fog.
«Are you the mistress of the ship?»
«It is a sort of.»
«Do you know why I hid your ship from the dragon?»
«Did you do that?» Patricia was genuinely surprised. Why did Beatrice dislike the dragon so much? It’s so beautiful!
«I know the risk your association with the dragon poses to all of Opal,» she whispered. Her bloodless lips were also filled with sparkling sparks like mist.
«How did you escape from Opal?»
«I escaped from the crypt, not Opal. The grave fairies got jealous of how beautiful I turned out to be.»
Patricia didn’t understand, but hugged her sister anyway. The saber hovering above her head hissed unhappily. Why did she dislike Beatrice so much?
Her sister’s curls had lightened to an almost grayish hue, but were softer than silk to the touch. But Beatrice’s skirts were indeed clumps of earth. Had she really been buried alive? How did she get out of the crypt? No one in Patricia’s family had ever fallen into a lethargic sleep. Was Beatrice a newcomer, or did the King of Opal deliberately bury her alive? But Beatrice wasn’t involved in any conspiracy. He probably decided to punish the whole family by destroying the youngest of the sisters. The parents always loved Beatrice more than Patricia. After all, Beatrice was sickly and very delicate. In the old days she would have been tortured with nausea even while boating on the pond, but now she felt fine even on the high seas.
«The King of Opal is not a villain,» Beatrice whispered in Patricia’s ear. «He loves you. Go back to him and he will forgive you.»
«What are you saying?» Patricia wanted to pull away, but Beatrice’s slender hands clutched her waist with a deadening grip.
Where had the soft, velvety skin gone? Her sister’s hands turned to bone. Patricia wanted to break free, but the bony fingers held her tightly. On one cheek Beatrice’s smooth bone was also exposed. Flesh and skin fell from her face like the face of Queen Esperanza rotting in a crypt. In contrast, the wings behind Beatrice’s back glistened and gained power. She soared above the deck and lifted Patricia with her. Though Beatrice’s body was thinner and more fragile than her older sister’s, a weight like Patricia’s did not seem heavy to her. After dying in the arms of the fairies, do even graceful ladies become strong willed?
«Forgive me, sister, but I must take you to Opal to see my master,» Beatrice smiled. The teeth beneath her bloodless lips were sharpened to resemble white needles.
«So you are a fairy after all!»
«It is not quite!» Beatrice laughed again. «You don’t know so much! You don’t even know what I’ve become!»
«Let go, traitor!»
«I’d rather carry you away than a dragon!»
Beatrice soared higher into the starry skies and came upon the very dragon that appeared to be hovering over the ship. The mist concealed it, but did not drive it away. Barely noticing the mist fairy, the dragon showed aggression.
Beatrice howled as the dragon’s claw touched her body. From the mere dragon’s touch, the pale fairy began to burn. She unclenched her bony hands and released her victim. Patricia would have fallen from the height and could have crashed or broken her bones, but the dragon did not let her fall. Its claw picked her up and gently planted her on the sentinel’s stall on the mast. Had the dragon really shown gallantry? Patricia was stunned, but she could no longer get a good look at the dragon and Beatrice in the fog.
A tangle of secrets
Along with Beatrice, the squad of night invaders disappeared from the deck. The crew had fought them all night and was exhausted. It turns out that even magical creatures can be exhausted. Patricia thought they were tireless.
Why did the dragon save her? Could it be a different dragon than the one that planted the fiery threatening letter on the deck? Are there not many dragons flying over the sea?
And why did she think the letter was from a dragon? A dragon could have been signed by some rogue wizard who created the flaming letter with enchantments, not dragon breath.
The golden dragon was magnificent! He was her savior! Patricia sent an air kiss to the heavens and belatedly remembered that as she was now, no one would consider her a sign of favor. Her clothes were torn, her breeches had replaced her aristocratic attire, and her old cloak was tied around her waist like a ragged skirt. Her hair was still beautiful. The dragon probably mistook them for flames, which is why he saved her. Dragons respect fire goddesses, after all.
Patricia has heard that fire goddesses live on the shores of Tioria. Because of them, all the waterfalls along the shores became fire falls, and they are now called fire falls.
Maybe the dragon ship came from Tioria and was ruled by a fire goddess? But no one had ever heard of fire ships, even in Tioria.
The night invaders were definitely sent by the King of Opal. Only he, who gathered magic and magical creatures around him, could conjure something like this. One could expect anything from a king, but Patricia did not expect treachery from her own sister.
The glowing footprint of the mist fairy was left on the deck. It was like the glow imprints of the moon fairies. Patricia wanted to touch it, but someone suddenly grabbed her arm.
«Nethopyrina! Let go!» Patricia struggled, but it was impossible to fight off the huge wings of the fairy bat.
«You’ll die if you touch it,» warned Netopyrina. «This is the mark of a dead fairy.»
«It’s the mark of my own sister!»
«She’s not your sister anymore.»
«You think I can’t recognize my own sister?» Patricia was indignant.
Sometimes Nethopyrina takes on too much. The Bat Fairy wrapped herself in her wings like a dark cloak and hissed, squinting at the glittering trail on the deck.
«These are dangerous creatures. They come with the fog, the storm, or the moonlight. They themselves come from the world of the dead and their purpose is to lead the living away. But the one on our ship is even more dangerous than they are. It’s unnatural, as if it was created artificially. Even magic can be untypical at times.»
«It doesn’t matter anymore,» Patricia said.
«So you’ve stopped believing that the dead fairy is your sister?»
«She is the mist fairy, not the dead fairy. She was brought to our ship by the fog.»
