For some reason, she longed unbearably to dance with all the princes again, and then to fly with the birds. What was going through her head? It is as if someone is sending them to her on purpose.
«They are looking for you,» Rokuela realized. «Close your mind to them!»
«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?»
«I only want my beloved back. He is imprisoned somewhere by King of Sultanit.»
«King of Sultanit is dead. The queen rules there now.»
«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.»
«Then the worst thing happened. Did none of the brothers insist on their right to the throne?»
«It is no one!»
«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.»
«Is Condor the eldest?» 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.»
«Not all prophecies are destined to come true,» 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.
«Consider my offer now!» Rokuela wove fanciful ornaments of coins and shells into her hair, and prepared to set out into the night.
Fiona realized that she should not be asked where she was going. It was a mystery.
Raid
A night surrounded by creepy sea creatures was no sugar coating. Fiona didn’t even know where best to spend the night: out in the open, risking being clawed by griffins, or in a house full of sea creatures. As soon as Rokuela left, the morgens in the aquarium became aggressive. Some strange, tiny creatures crawled across the floor of the hut. And the shells whispered in hoarse, monotonous voices, like the sound of the surf:
«I’ll bet you an eternity that the griffins will come back for her.»
«They never leave their prey behind.»
«Not even iron doors can keep her from them.»
«But there is an amulet that protects even against a bird’s claws!»
Could it be that they’re talking about that fancy amulet of feathers that lies next to them on the shelf. Fiona instinctively grabbed it and put it around her neck. Any protection is better than none. Although, she had noticed a similar amulet around Ornella’s neck. It probably wasn’t protective after all, but a sorcerer’s.
The bivalve on the table shone and opened, revealing a large pearl inside, glistening with all the colors of the rainbow. A wonderful singing voice poured out of the shell. It must have been hypnotizing, because Fiona fell asleep to the singing of the shell.
She awoke to an earthquake-like rumble. The dawn was gray, and it sounded as if rocks were falling from the sky and hitting the roof of the cabin. Fiona became nervous. The house seemed to be groaning under the heel of a giant who was about to tear it down.
The walls shook, and sharp bird claws scratched against the windows.
They were griffins! They swooped down on the sea witch’s cottage from all sides. The flapping of their wings echoed in her ears. Their claws scraped against the windowpanes, but they could not squeeze them out.
«They’re looking for their prey,» they whispered from the shelves. It was the shells talking again.
«How could they see the house below? They don’t usually see it when they fly over.»
«That’s right! They’re blind wherever sea magic has taken root. They, too, are prisoners of the underwater kingdom.»
Fiona shuddered when she heard the last phrase. The shells said it with grim solemnity.
«Who are the prisoners of the underwater kingdom?» She asked, but none of the shells dignified her with an answer.
Fiona was even offended. Shellfish are such chatterboxes when they need to talk among themselves, and with a human girl they do not want to engage in conversation. Or are they forbidden?
«Come to the window!» Suddenly a familiar voice called.
Fiona turned around. Outside one of the windows a huge, majestic bird was flying. It was a gryphon, a crowned gryphon. His feathered head gleamed with a gold crown of teeth like a king’s crown. It was no longer a gryphon, but Prince Orwell, standing outside the window, timidly beckoning her to him.
Fiona hesitantly moved toward him. She was won over by the fact that Orvel acted as if he were a lover who had come to sing a serenade beneath the window of his sweetheart. Except he had neither a lute nor a mandolin, and his sharp steel fingernails bore the claws of a griffin. But he has a magnificent crown on his forehead. Fiona sighed languidly. Somehow she instantly forgot all the hurt and even the fact that she was about to be executed. Now Orvel looked more handsome than ever. Only his eyes glittered feverishly.
«Let me in!» He asked. It was very uncomfortable for him to stand on the bridges near the house. There was a little room, and it was slippery, and the bones of mermaids and morgenes could prick him.
«Can’t you go in yourself?»
Orvel shook his head sadly.
«There are sea spells everywhere. They won’t let me in. But you can let me in. You’re special! That’s why we can’t all live without you. Ever since you disappeared, all the princes have had thirst and insomnia that won’t go away from anything.»
«But you were going to burn me as a witch,» Fiona reminded him.
«It was Ornella, not us. We won’t let her do that again.»
Should we take his word for it? Fiona hesitated. He was a werewolf, after all. She had just seen with her own eyes how he had changed from a griffin to a man. But he was a prince, and quite handsome. She’d developed a weakness for princes recently. She guessed all country girls are overly susceptible to the allure of nobility.
«I can’t let you in,» Fiona admitted honestly. «This isn’t my house.»
«Then come out yourself!» He beckoned to her more insistently. «Hurry up! Rokuela will return.»
Behind him on the bridges the other brothers were already turning from griffins to princes. Perhaps Condor could join them. Fiona longed impatiently to see him again.
She cast a wary glance at Rockwell’s sinister pets. It was no less dangerous in the sea witch’s cottage than it was in the company of the griffin princes.
