Buch lesen: «Lilophea-2: Consort of the Sea King»

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Translator Natalia Lilienthal

ISBN 978-5-0060-2968-2 (т. 2)

ISBN 978-5-0060-2969-9

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

The magic of the underwater harp

A wedding with a waterman! A wedding night alone! What a fate! Is she disappointed or is it a relief that Seal has disappeared for a long time? Who knows what awaits her alone with him. He’s not human after all, though he’s damnably attractive.

Lilophea tried to forget the voice of the rebel imprisoned behind the throne room, but it would not leave her mind.

“You could rule alone…”

It was tempting, as if it still spoke to her. It sounded in her brain, penetrating her consciousness in black and red vapors. If she closed her eyelids, it felt as if the bricked-up doors were about to explode from the negative, furious magic that was building up behind them.

But there had been no explosion that would have brought down the entire underwater palace.

In the underwater kingdom, everything was proceeding at its own pace. Mermaid maids scurried in and out, newts with tridents watched over the entrances and exits, sea dragons on the arches came to life and winked at Lilophea. She truly felt like a queen when one blue underwater dragon suddenly jumped down from somewhere on the arcade and blocked her way, not to attack her, but solely to worship her.

Was he impressed by the peculiar crown on her head, or by the fact that she had finally become Seal’s wife? The important thing is that now everyone here honors her as ruler, bows and pays her homage. Even the mighty patterned pillars, which can actually come to life as sea monsters, no longer hiss after her but respectfully sing hymns. The same change occurred with the golden faces in relief embossed on doors, colonnades, and even walls. No longer did they tease her, but only praised her beauty and virtues with monotonous singing. Apparently, they know how to suck up. Lilophea took a long time to look at the bas-reliefs of various mythical creatures, which came to life before her eyes and also gave her signs of esteem. The little golden morag on the column moved and winked at her slyly. Small multicolored jellyfish swarmed beneath her feet. Some of them had female faces. Gee, if you look closely, they’re pretty cute. Maybe she should take them as maidens. They certainly wouldn’t mind. As queen of the seas, Lilophea was their favorite.

How pleasant to be the queen of the underwater kingdom! She never felt so at ease on land. There were intrigues, spies, rules of etiquette, which could not be broken. Here she was free to do as she pleased, to sail wherever she pleased. All around is honor and respect. It is unlikely the same happiness would be if she married an earthly king or sultan. The sultan had a harem of concubines. She would have to be on pins and needles every day there, even as a sultana. Here, it’s so free and so nice. And there’s magic all around. Lilophea couldn’t tear herself away from the living arches of azure dragons. She could not fear them now. After all, she was their mistress. For the first time in her life, she felt happy. Well, almost happy. After all, Seal was still not coming back. It’s even nicer to be around him. But even without him, she felt at home here, as if this land were a foreign land and the underwater realm a homeland.

Could it be that her marriage to the Water King had had such an effect on her? Her whole outlook suddenly changed dramatically. She began to think like a morgen. Had she thought differently at first? The crown suddenly began to press against her forehead and even seemed to heat up. There was an unpleasant feeling that someone was watching her. Lilophea even turned around to see if anyone was hiding behind the arches or pillars. But there was a whole forest of them. Every shadow that flashed behind them could be a spy. Someone was following her for sure, and it wasn’t dragons guarding her in the guise of arches. The feeling of being followed was so unpleasant that Lilophea decided to return to her chambers. She would surely be alone there.

The crown was still pressing on her forehead, and Lilophea took it off. Exquisite thing! It looks like a miniature palace in the shape of a headband. And the sun with a human face in the middle seems alive. Lilophea found a necklace with the same pendant in the chests and put it around her neck. The pendant in the form of a sun with a woman’s face was appealing in some way. But not the reminder of the land over which the sun warmed. Here under the water it seemed to have fallen from the heavens to the depths.

The symbol was mysterious. One had to close one’s eyes and Lilophea could see the sun falling from the sky beneath the water, burning the water column with fire. The fish and morgens moaned at its approach. This sun has the face of a beautiful girl.

Lilophea opened her eyes. The vision burned her brain so that it felt as hot as a furnace. Somewhere above the gates of an underwater palace or on one of the pediments she had seen the same symbol of large size, but where exactly she could not recall. The sun with a human face seemed to mock her, calling her to go there without knowing where. She wanted to wander through the entire palace, like a labyrinth, until she found a symbol on one of the walls, which was alive and burning even under water.

And what if the call of the sun led her to some creepy tract or hollow or magical dungeon?

That’s it, stop thinking about it! It’s some kind of exquisite witchcraft that takes over the mind and makes you go somewhere against your will in search of something you don’t even understand the meaning of. The sun is alive, it is somewhere here, and it is calling to her.

Lilophea tried to shake off the obsession. Maybe take off the pendant, too, so as not to fall under the power of spells anymore? She didn’t want to take it off. The golden sun gently warmed her skin. It felt good to wear it on her chest. The only discomfort was that its proximity to her body gave rise to strange visions in her mind.

Lilophea was distracted when she noticed things that hadn’t been in her chambers before. Apparently they were wedding gifts. Though who had brought them? There was a heavy wrought iron chest with a dormant figure of a brass mermaid on the lid. As soon as she touched it, the mermaid opened her brass eyes and said something in a language Lilophea cannot understand. It must have been an underwater adverb. Lilophea immediately gave up trying to move the lid off the chest, and the copper figure slipped back into sleep. Next to the chest was a jellyfish-shaped candlestick with glowing snails instead of candles, something like a hookah with a mouthpiece in the form of a water snake, and a gilded harp, whose body was made in the form of a mermaid again, or some sea witch with fins instead of arms and legs, and a whole ball of sea snakes instead of hair. An exquisite piece! The strings are gilt, too. Can one play them?

Only when Lilophea touched a string or two did she hear such high notes that it was frightening. It’s a beautiful sound, but it’s too strong. You could go deaf from it. She wished Lady Moralla were here. There was someone who could play in such a way that her music would scare away even the morgens. Lilophea remembered well that during the Morgens’ invasion of the palace, it was only through the window of Lady Moralla’s music that they were somehow afraid to climb. Perhaps skilful music can paralyze even evil spirits? Or perhaps Lady Moralla was putting some light magic into it. This harp she would certainly have been able to handle. But, alas, it was Lady Moralla that no watery wanted to marry, so she and her musical talents remained on the surface.

“Don’t be a doomsayer! Who knows what will happen!”

The children’s voices sounded so suddenly that Lilophea was taken aback. Who were the newts and morages letting into her chambers? Is anyone but Seal allowed to enter without asking?

She raised her head reluctantly from the lovely harp. Strangely enough, standing beside her were two pageboys, boys about twelve years old in blue livery with bouffants. Is this a dream? Where did the shepherds come from? Lilophea did not immediately see them. They are not children, but half morgens. One boy has the left side of his body like a human, and blue scales and fins growing along the right side. The other, on the contrary, has the right side of his body like a human, and the left side like a fish. One cheek has pale skin like a drowned man, and the other has blue scales. What a miracle! Oddly enough, the shepherds looked pretty, though ominous. The scales gleamed on both halves of their faces as the boys grinned, showing needlepoint teeth. And they had long tongues, like toads.

“Where did you come from? Did Seal send you?

The two negative nods of the head were like reflections of each other.

“Are you from Urun?”

It was a denial again. The fish-boys were twins not only in appearance, but also in gestures, repeating each other minute by minute.

“So why did you come? Who let you in? Who called you?”

“You called us!”

Their answer was baffling. What did they both mean? Lilophea’s gaze fell involuntarily upon the strings of the harp. She had only touched two of them, it seemed, and the two henchmen appeared. And what would happen if the rest of the strings were touched.

“What do you deign?” The voices of the blue henchmen were like underwater echoes in a labyrinthine palace. “Have you any orders? Shall we sink a whole fleet for you? Ravage the coastal villages with the waves? Summon the kind of storm that would tear apart an entire nation?”

Lilophea was speechless with surprise. Half of the children’s human faces expressed absolute innocence at such cruel questions.

“What are we offering our services? You can do it all yourself, after all. You have the harp. We can only instruct you. Tell you which strings to touch to destroy the land world and harm no one underwater.”

They were both already behind her. Their half-fish, half-human mouths pressed against her ears on either side and began whispering such ghastly promises that Lilophea’s nerves failed.

“Go away! Go now!” She shouted at them. “I don’t want you both out of here in a second!”

She saw the look of wild disappointment and even rage flash across their faces, but they swiftly put on a mask of polite indifference.

“It is your command. You are our new Lady and heiress to the throne of the ocean.”

In a moment they were gone, as if two mirrors had been removed. Only ripples twitched in the water where they had stood. One wonders what they meant by such loud titles. They must have been mistaken. She seemed to have become the queen of the seas, not the ocean. Well, what can you take from them? Stupid kids! Half fish, too! Surely those kids must be at least a few hundred years old by now, if not millennia.

Lilophea didn’t want to touch the harp strings again, but somehow it came out on its own. Her fingers ran awkwardly over them, and again the beautiful but crushing music sounded. Lilophea was terrified that the entire underwater palace was about to collapse from her, but nothing of the sort happened. However, the mirror, which habitually showed the surface world, suddenly lit up excitedly, reporting some tragic events on earth. And the face of the morgen, cast on the body of the harp, suddenly became so ominous. The dainty statue’s lips stretched into a malevolent grin. Lilophea felt even creepier. She released the harp from her hands, but it did not fall, but sank smoothly to the console, as if it had been there all along.

“What’s wrong?” Lilophea took the mirror and gasped. It turned out that a flood had just happened. It was in her native Aquilania. The sea had burst its banks with such force that it not only extinguished the coastal fires and overturned all the ships in the port, but also tore down part of the fortress wall. And it happened as soon as she accidentally played the harp. If there is magic in a harp, it is terribly evil. Who would think of presenting it to her at her wedding? Whoever thought of giving it to her at her wedding, and it turns out he meant evil.

“You just don’t know how to use it,” came a squeak from one of the fish henchmen, who was no longer there, or someone else. Lilophea couldn’t believe it was the figure from the harp body that had spoken to her.

“Play softly if you don’t want disasters!”

Lilophea no longer wondered whose voice was instructing her. She watched in the mirror the damage that had inadvertently been done to her native shores. Many of the ambassadors’ ships sank or were reduced to splinters, crushed by the shattering waves. The swells that covered the shore took the form of greedy, destroying hands of sea giants. What is this if not wicked witchcraft?

“Stop it!” It was the voice of Urun, who had suddenly burst into her chamber in a whirlwind. “Play no more, my lady! Please!”

Remembering that she was now queen, he gave a low, servile bow.

“Do not be angry with your servant!”

Has he really become afraid of her? This came as an unpleasant surprise to Lilophea. And it was all about the harp, someone had left it here. She shouldn’t have touched it.

“What had I done?” She could hardly understand it herself.

“Your playing just flooded a part of the Etar,” he reported. “I’ve just come from there.”

He’s hurtling through the water like a whirlpool. How can you be so fast?

“Is that it?” Lilophea was glad to see it this time. Etar is the very state where they wanted to exile her as a concubine in a harem. Now she could get even with the local sultan. How fortunate that she had found the harp! If only she’d known what she’d do and not have to go after Aquilanía. “It would be well if all Etar were sunk. Is there a chance of that? Or do we need to add magic notes?”

“We cannot, my lady!”

“Can’t what?” She suddenly remembered that in addition to the Sultan and the harem, there are also ordinary people living there. Urun was referring to them. Since when does he care about people?

“You cannot touch Etar, Madam?”

“Why is that?”

“There is an agreement,” Urun lowered his head guiltily.

“Ah, that’s it… your pacts between Morgens and Men. Do they really have that much meaning and magical power?”

“It is not to you, of course, but to us.”

“And what’s so special about me? That I’m from earth?”

This time Urun was silent.

“By the way, where is my husband?”

Urun shuddered when he heard her call Seal. Was he angry that she was actually calling herself queen that way, or was he just jealous?

Urun’s tentacles and tail moved nervously. He wanted to do or say something, but he hesitated.

“Is Seal still in the Empty City?” That’s what I think Urun himself called the place they were going to in the conversation. “Shall I go there too? After him! He is my husband now, after all. I have a right to him. Especially it is today. And if he decides to sail away from me, I have to go with him.”

“You shouldn’t do that!” Urun’s eyes suddenly twinkled dangerously, like the points of two knives. “No one should go there.”

“But you called your king there. Why, I wonder?”

“Forgive me! I must go!” Urun bowed out so quickly that all she could see was the swirl of water turning into a whirlpool where he was standing. The water swirled in a column-like spiral for another minute.

Lilophea was left alone. What to do now? Wait for Seal? Or take another stroll through the palace? She no longer wanted to experiment with the dangerous harp, but it suddenly began to play itself: softly, quietly and melodiously. The sound made her want to fall asleep. Lilophea was frightened that more disasters were about to start, but the mirror showed nothing more of the sort. The two boy fish didn’t appear again, either. But a golden-colored creature that looked either like a jellyfish or a baby suddenly whirled up behind her. Where did it come from?

“Do you want to see the Empty City? Or walk across the Rainbow Bridges? Or see the drowned men tied to the anchors of sunken ships? One of them comes to life as soon as you touch the locket around its neck and tells you the future. Do you want to go and ask him what your life together with the water king will turn out to be?”

Lilophea wanted to turn around and get a better look at the creature, but it held her back, entangling her neck and shoulders with thin golden tentacles.

“I am of the harp,” it confirmed Lilophea’s hunch. “And you are my mistress now. Not because you are the new Queen of the Seas, but because the harp belongs to you from now on. As long as it is yours, I must serve you.

“And what can you do for me? Destroy whole villages on the shores with your music? Sink cities?”

“I don’t do that?”

“Then who is?”

“They are other strings.”

“And what do you do?”

“I am good for my master or mistress, depending on who owns the harp.”

“What kind of use is it?” Lilophea found this suspicious, especially as the golden tentacles gripped tightly around her neck. She almost suffocated.

“Well… I can give advice. It is quite useful advice. I also know all the ways under the water and can take you to the most curious corners of the underwater kingdom. And I can also put you to sleep with my music.”

“Are you a harp spirit or something?” Lilophea guessed. There was a long silence in response.

“You must be sleepy now,” the golden-haired spirit remarked. “My melody makes everyone sleepy. I can put a whole army to sleep when they’re about to engage in battle, or put all the guests at a noisy banquet to sleep. It is as soon as I play.”

The luminous tentacles began to run slowly through Lilophea’s hair.

“You’re beautiful!” The spirit remarked excitedly. “I’ve never had such a beautiful queen before. You make all our amusements more pleasant.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I don’t live alone in a harp.”

The spirit was right! She’s already seen two pageboys. The words froze on her tongue as the tentacles tugged at her hair until it hurt. The spirit must have decided that she was not only the prettiest, but also the silliest of his masters, and began to play with her like a doll.

“Ouch, it burns!” The tentacles accidentally bumped into the crown in Lilophea’s hair and immediately released it. But to turn around and get a better look at the spirit was useless. He had already jumped back into the harp. He’s quick! And he is cunning, too, by the looks of it.

“We’ll talk again when you wake.”

Lilophea felt very sleepy. Perhaps she should sleep, as the spirit had advised. The harp shone and played by itself. The melody was marvelous. Along with it came a low voice that hummed, almost whispered something in an unfamiliar language. It was probably a sea dialect spoken by the Morgens. The morgen’s figure on the body of the harp seemed alive. For some reason it reminded her of the mermaid ship and the carved masts on it. What did the figures on that ship and this harp have in common? But there was no more strength to think. The melody penetrated deep into her consciousness, conjured up sparkling illusions, and Lilophea felt herself falling asleep.

Bridge Labyrinth

Again she dreamt of a ship, with something bursting out of the hold in a swirl of dazzling golden light. Someone’s voice was calling in her dream. Lilophea woke up, struggling to think where she was now.

Certainly she was not on a mermaid ship, but right in the underwater kingdom. She was in the king’s bedroom, where Seal was still gone. But the bed here is as soft as a featherbed, though made inside a dead, empty shell. Breathing underwater was as easy as on the surface. Lilophea was no longer afraid that when she woke up, she would suffocate. Who would have thought it would be so easy to live underwater? The magic harp played itself for her. Without the help of the mermaid Yanin or any of the other tailed court maids. The gentle melody made her sleepy. A light golden glow spread around the harp strings. It really is better here than on earth. A voice of conscience squeaked a little: only a traitor not only to her family and friends, but to all earthly civilization, which the Morgens yearn to destroy, could think so. But that is exactly what Lilophea thought!

“Hello to you, queen of the underwater world!” The pesky spirit once again hopped out of the harp and wrapped itself around Lilothea. Either it did not know such addresses as “good morning” or “good evening,” or did not know what time of day it was. In the underwater kingdom it was indeed difficult to tell, for the lighting here was always dusky.

“What will it be? Shall I entertain you with a game?” The spirit kept up.

“What else can you do?”

“Well,” he was blatantly sly, pretending to think, “I can show you corners of the palace you can’t even imagine.”

“I’m sure you can. The palace is as big as the bottom of the sea.”

“There are many nooks and crannies that Seal would never allow you to see, but I can show you.”

“Now that’s interesting,” Lilophea was wary.

“You know, for example, the way to the Labyrinth Bridge, where you can get to any land kingdom while wandering over the sea.”

“It’s somewhere on the surface,” she remembered going on a date with Seal on such a bridge and then finding herself underwater. The end of the bridge rested on the shore of Aquilania.

“The bridge could be accessed from a hall with a picture of the sun on the door.”

“I don’t believe it!”

“Why don’t you check it out?” The spirit began to nudge Lilophea. It gained density, coiled itself around her, and almost pulled her out of bed. It was like a strong gust of wind that makes you move against your will.

Lilophea wanted to scold him, but thought it was useless to swear at spirits. Not being material, they hardly realize that they can hurt anyone.

“Hurry up!” The spirit urged. “You must hurry or Seal will return and our plan will be over. Go to the door with the sun and do not forget to take your harp with you.”

“What’s that for?”

“Silly girl, I can’t fly after you if the harp stays here!”

Oh, that’s it! So he’s not free, he’s chained to the harp. So his arrogance is just a pose. The spirit is not as strong as he wants to be. Well, there’s no need to obey him then.

Lilophea also decided to show her character – like a naughty girl, she showed the spirit her tongue and rushed to find the right hall herself.

“Wait, what about me,” the abandoned spirit yelled on the threshold of the bedroom. He couldn’t seem to cross the threshold into the room where his harp remained. Lilophea turned over her shoulder and shouted mockingly:

“I will check your words and come back. Don’t be bored!”

The harp music behind exploded with mournful notes. So be it! She had had enough of the spirit. She wanted to feel free. Though how could she be free if she was a prisoner of the undersea kingdom? Perhaps after being in the same room with a gossiping spirit for more than an hour, she would feel free, even in a dungeon, if the spirit weren’t there. It seems that the music of the harp is pleasant, but the spirits that accompany it strongly resemble possessors. Once you listen to the harp, you are in their power. They beckon, press on consciousness, hypnotize. It is much more comfortable without them.

The water dragons, which at first might have been mistaken for the moldings on the pillars, crawled overhead and slowly followed Lilophea, as if they were supposed to be her bodyguards in Seal’s absence. Though what was there to guard the king’s wife from in his own palace? Is it no coincidence that Seal is so overprotective? Could that creature who yelled angrily at the wedding be dangerous? Or was it the one imprisoned behind walled-up doors in the king’s chambers that should be feared?

Right now Lilophea didn’t want to think about that. She hurried excitedly toward the doors with the bas-relief of the sun on their doors. The dragons behind her immediately lagged behind, as if the sun with a woman’s face frightened them. Turning around, Lilophea noticed that they were crawling away into the shadows, hissing as if the image of the sun was scorching them.

Something was not right here! The sight of the sun with its graceful girlish face captivated her herself at first sight. Such beauty! Lilophea ran her finger over it, and that face did not come alive to bite her. It was motionless and beautiful.

The doors opened easily. No key was needed. The amulet Lilophea wore around her neck was reflected in the empty eyes of the sun. For a moment it seemed like it was the passageway to the hall, where a measured glow poured over it.

No sun was imprisoned within. But it was as bright as daylight. In the center of the hall there was indeed an arch, like a bridge, with a parapet decorated with stone dolphins. The ends of the arch rested on the floor so that they could be climbed up like a bridge. Lilophea decided to try her luck. She easily climbed up and suddenly found that the bridge-arc was much larger and wider than she first thought, and its size was not limited to this hall at all. As she climbed higher, the bridge bifurcated. Then it parted. Lilophea was dizzy from the height to which she had suddenly climbed. The hall, it turned out, had no ceiling. Instead, water masses bubbled overhead, and after a while she managed to breathe in clean air. So it really was possible to go to the surface over the bridge! The harp spirit did not lie. It felt as if she were ascending to the very heavens. The ends of the bridge diverged in an unexpected tangle of new paths, making it possible to go farther and farther. The paths kept multiplying. Lilophea picked a path at random and found herself on a wide, azure bridge, with puffy clouds hanging low over the parapet.

And where was she? She couldn’t see the coast from the bridge. It was high and cool. The air is somehow damp, even foggy. The sea is raging under the bridge, and the clouds are peacefully napping above. She reached out her hand and touched one of them.

If she had known from the start that the bridge from the underwater palace led straight upward, she would not have tried to escape the first time she swam away from Seal to the surface. It turned out to be a lot simpler than that. You stepped onto the bridge, and there you are at the top. And the bridge also diverges in different directions in a tangle of branching and branched bridges and bridges. Each of their ends must rest on the shore of some state.

Here should be the way to Etar, to Sultanite, and home to Aquilania. But how do we know which one leads where? All the bridges are different shades, like a rainbow. Only a rainbow doesn’t have that variety of tones. All the bridges have different borders: seashells, corals, gold, silver, big pearls. Lilophea turned sharply, seeing a bridge with a railing made of dead men’s bones. It felt like it led to some creepy place. It was the realm of death itself, maybe. The sight of it sent a chill down my spine.

A network of bridges stretches in a labyrinth over the sea. There seems to be no way for humans to come here, except for those unfortunate ones who are lured here by the spirits of the sea. And why do the paths across the bridges give up to the Morgens, who can sail to any shore on their own? There lies some mystery here. But Lilophea was not about to become a pathfinder now. All she cared about was choosing the right direction to go. So she rejoiced when she spotted some boy at the crossing of the bridges. Probably he is the local sentinel. Winged fish, hovering over the parapets, whispered something to her about crossing guards. They were probably the place to turn for help if she got lost on the bridges.

Lilophea called out to the boy, but he did not turn around. She had to get as close to him as she could. He stood still at the exact spot where dozens of bridges, both wide and narrow, diverged in different directions at once. Some of the bridges went upward. Some went downward to the water.

“Which bridge leads to Aqilania?” She asked, and then hesitated. For to go back home would mean to leave Seal and all the wonders of the maritime kingdom. Without the wonders of the underwater world she could still survive, but to forget the underwater king… it was beyond her. His voice, his words, his beautiful face, his golden eyebrows and eyelashes… and also his blue skin and tentacles! But there was no need to think about the latter. What matters is not the monstrous thing about the king of the sea, but the feeling that he is the closest being to her in the entire universe. Only with him can it be good. And then there’s the feeling of being alone when he’s not around. Why on earth would he leave her alone for so long, giving her the opportunity to obey the evil spirit of the harp and throw herself into adventures? If Seal had not been away, she would not now be traveling through the maze of bridges over the sea.

The boy answered nothing. Lilophea had to touch him by the shoulder. Then he turned around, showing a creepy fish face with scales on it.

Lilophea couldn’t think of anything else to ask him, and standing next to him became unpleasant. She picked her own bridge at random and ran forward. The puffy skirts rustled around her legs like sea foam.

It took a long time to run. Without knowing the direction, it was difficult to navigate. Sometimes the bridges crossed each other, sometimes they had no railings, and it was scary to walk across them. The risk of falling back into the water and possibly being eaten by sharks was too great. Though shouldn’t they also respect the queen of the seas? Or would hungry sharks not care about the queen or the common food?

“Sharks are not the scariest thing that lives in the sea, sailors often said. Now Lilophea knew they meant morgens.

One of the bridges, orange like a flame, led her to the banks of Tioria, where the waterfalls of fire flowed. The bridge ended at one of those waterfalls, flashing a sheaf of red sparks from above. It was frightening to even go near them. One spark flew very far away and burned Lilophea’s palm.