Gryphon dynasty

The flames licked at her feet. Suddenly it rained. Slanting streams began to put out the fire. The firebirds hissed in displeasure, but could not resist the downpour. They had to fly back to the castle. The wind from the sea carried the murmur of the waves. Thunder and lightning heralded inclement weather, and a woman dressed in white flashed through the crowd. She looked like a sea ghost. Gray curls framed her young face. Heavy strands were held together by combs of large seashells. Her cheekbones and forehead themselves also resembled the shape of seashells. Her eyes sparkled like two magical sapphires.

It was she who was causing the rain, Fiona determined. Unknown how, but definitely her!

The rope burst. Just in time! The hangman and the guards had just had to clear the square, which had been flooded by waves from the sea. There had never been such a flood. Though Fiona was free, she could not swim.

However, the white woman beckoned her. In the empty square she looked even more like a ghost.

«Follow her!» Voices whispered out of the rain.

Fiona gasped. In the streams came the outlines of figures. They were the ghosts of the rain, so much is said. If she saw them, there would be disaster. Only Fiona was already in trouble. She had nothing to lose.

Ornella disappeared from the balcony. Probably didn’t want to get her hair wet. The firebrands hissed discontentedly at the spirits of rain, peering out of the castle windows-boys. Here they found worthy opponents. The rain spirits were no less mischievous. They danced around the walls and spat frozen water at the fire fairies. Some of the rain ghosts clung to Fiona.

«Redhead, like fire,» they howled. «Fire must be put out.»

They threw water on her.

«Let her go!» The white woman commanded as they tried to drown Fiona in the puddles.

The spirits obeyed.

«Come on!» The stranger held out her hand. She herself did not walk, but treaded on the water that flooded the square.

It was frightening to walk with her. She is surely a sorceress! But how else could she be saved? What if they send a chase after her from the king’s castle? She must run! But where could she run? There was only one way. She could throw herself into the waves. But the waves were rolling with something that looked like a shell or a fancy rook. Fiona was pulled into it by a stranger. As it turned out, the shell was able to move.

«It was alive!» shrieked Fiona.

«Don’t worry!» The stranger reassured her. «Anything is better than a fire.»

She might have been right about that, but Fiona didn’t want to drown either, nor did she want to fall into the clutches of the sea king. But it didn’t take long to worry. The shell swam for a while, and then crawled out of the waves and raced down the rain-soaked path. It glided even faster through the puddles than it did through the waves.

Fiona didn’t even dare ask the stranger where they were going.

Sea Witch

Barely had the Sultan’s castle disappeared from view as the white-haired woman sighed in relief. It was evident that her visit to the square had been difficult. Fiona eyed her companion suspiciously. It was as if she had been carried by the sea. The wagon of the great shell slid first through the rain, then through the shore waves, leaving a swirl of foam around it.

«Thank you for bailing me out,» Fiona murmured, though she feared the stranger was leading her into another trap.

«Thank my dislike of the Sultanit’s dynasty, not myself,» the companion straightened the folds of her white garment, which rustled like sea foam, and again it seemed that the slender woman was only part of the sea, like a nymph of waves or a naiad.

«Who are you?»

«I am Rokuela.»

Isn’t that the name Condor said when he sent for someone? But if she dislikes the whole Sultanit’s dynasty, why did she answer his call? Something doesn’t make sense.

«I’m Fiona.»

«I’ve already been informed of you. You’re the girl who attracted all the Sultanit’s princes at once.»

Rockwell’s white curls fluttered in the wind and resembled a whirlwind of snow. Her face was pleasant, but her cheekbones and forehead, shaped like fluted seashells, were a little alarming. She was probably a sea fairy. Only those could have such peculiarities.

While Fiona pondered, they reached the seashell cottage, erected on a tiny island. All the many hedges, fences and gates near it were made of the bones of sea creatures: fish, fairy morgen and even mermaids. Fiona gasped!

«Don’t be so embarrassed!» Rokuela helped her out of the shell, which was left swinging by the shore like a boat.

«This is the sea witch’s house!» Fiona was frightened.

«And I am the sea witch!» Rokuela pulled her forward. «Mostly they call me a sea-teller because I can tell fortunes, but that’s a nickname.»

«I won’t go to the witch’s house!» Fiona was seized by superstitious fear.

«What else can you do? If you hold out, you’ll fall into the claws of griffins. But I’m not going to force you anyway.»

Rokuela adjusted her flowing skirts and walked gracefully forward. What else could Fiona do but follow her. And it was scary to find shelter with a witch, and there was nowhere else to go. It’s scary to even look at the sky. What if Ornella sends griffins with steel claws after her? The scratches from the cave were still aching.

The rain continued to fall. Fiona discerned threads of pearls in the streams, put her palm up and was surprised to catch not hail, but real pearls.

«Throw them away at once!» Rokuela demanded. «The watermen will be furious if you do not. These pearls are only for their brides. The one who keeps them will be hauled to the bottom.»

Fiona obediently unclenched her palm, tossing the pearls away. They did not fall, but dissolved into the rain.

Unusual blue birds with luxurious tails peeked out of the waves and landed on a pile of bones.

«They’re sea-birds, morrilla,» Rokuela explained. «They usually fly only in the open sea. If they land on a kingdom, it won’t be long before it sinks.»

«I hope they fly to Sultanit!» Fiona quipped, but the proud Morillas were not going there. Their feathers were gleaming with real blue precious stones. One of those birds would be worth a chest full of jewels. Fiona opened her mouth in wonder.

«Don’t you dare catch them! The Water King will be furious!» Rokuela warned her.

«I don’t!»

«It’s not beauty that makes them so useful, it’s their strength. They ward off the spirits of rain and wind, so one of them always flies with me.»

Rokuela walked to the lodge. Bridges of skulls led to it on many sides, which made the house look like a huge spider, hanging over the sea on its own legs-bridges. On one side was a harmless bridge of shells. It was less intimidating, so Fiona chose it. But here, too, she stumbled upon a mermaid skeleton stuck like an ornament in a railing of shells.

«What’s the matter with you?» Rokuela wondered. «Have you never seen a live mermaid?»

«I’ve never even seen a dead one before,» Fiona mesmerized, running her finger over the mermaid’s bones and stabbing at the sharp incisions. There were no such notches on human ribs. She’d seen human skeletons in abandoned crypts and cemeteries. Morgen’s skeletons were very different from them. For example, the skull boxes, curled up to the shell-shaped ear area, were definitely those of a sea-dweller.

«And I like to kill them or use them for magic,» Rokuela boasted.

«Won’t the Sea King punish you for what you did to them?»

«The Sea King and I have a special arrangement! He doesn’t touch me, and I don’t touch him. But there was a time of war between me and him…»

The mermaid skeleton suddenly came to life and grinned. Fiona cried out. She had no idea that the hedge was alive. The skeletons it was made of seemed dead.

«So you enchanted the morgens and the mermaids?»

«They are only the ones who attacked me first.»

«I thought you killed them.»

«You can’t kill them completely. They’re immortal.»

«Are you?»

Rokuela looked like an immortal creature. She may have looked young, but her gray hair and the ancient wisdom in her eyes made her seem like a very old woman.

«It’s a very touchy subject,» she brushed her cheekily aside. «You know you’re not supposed to ask a woman her age or her mortality.»

Surely there are many witches who want to be immortal, and that might offend them. Take Ornella, for example. Ask her if she’s mortal and you’ll get a harsh rebuke and a tantrum. Many arrogant women would like to consider them exclusively immortal fairies.

Inside the witch’s cottage was even more intimidating. Here were prepared potions of dubious ingredients, hung bundles of black herbs, in bottles instead of models of ships were sharpened rainbow and miniature storm. It’s magic! Fiona went to the window to touch a garland of dried starfish. Immediately a flock of aggressive rain spirits ogled at her from the shroud of rain. They hovered over the bridges. Each one was no bigger than a cat, but they had the fury of a lion. One spirit tried to grab hold of Fiona’s arm and douse her in salt water.

«Close all the windows!» Rokuela’s shrill command drew the shutters shut abruptly, but they shut on her command as if the house were a living organism over which the Sea Witch could have no control.

«And don’t look out, or the rain spirits will find a way to get in and tear you to pieces!»

«But why is it?» Fiona wondered. What had she done to them?

«You’re a redhead!» She pointed to her disheveled curls as if that explained everything.

«And you’re against redheads, too, like Ornella, because all redheads are witches, etc., etc.»

You’d think rain spirits weren’t witchy creatures themselves!

«It’s not about the legend of the red-haired punisher! The strands of your hair are like real fire in color. And the rain spirits hate anything fiery and are bent on destroying it.»

That’s right! She remembered how fiercely they attacked the fire spirits, and they were afraid of them. The rain spirits do have the power to defeat fire.

«And what is the tale of the red-haired punisher? I’ve never heard of such a thing!» Fiona looked at the fireplace, somehow full of water and covered by a glass screen. Inside it, as if it were an aquarium, some horrible sea creature languished. A veritable monster! In the various vials on the shelves were also imprisoned water creatures: jellyfish, stingrays, octopuses, and many unimaginable creatures whose names Fiona did not know. In one vial were shimmering real stars, as if Rokuela had managed to pull them down from the heavens.

Fiona tried to uncork the bottle, but the mistress of the lodge stopped her.

«Don’t dare!»

«What’s inside? Are they stars?»

«Have you ever heard the stories about the people who let the genies out and paid for their curiosity!»

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.

«You must have some talent!» With the intonation of a seer she proclaimed. «I can see that!»

«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.»

«What if you found a dusty old book in the attic of your mill, written in ancient writings, and realized that you could read them, even if you were illiterate? Such books have a habit of calling you by name or you begin to be drawn to them by some irresistible force. You just want to open them, even if they are chained.»

«It is exactly! There was one such book! Found it among old junk and sacks of flour. Probably one of the rich customers had forgotten it. I mistook it for a casket because the binding was decorated with jasper, and thin chains and a lock set around it. I never managed to open it. I exchanged it for a new dress at a box man.»

«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.»

«Naturally, she would be attracted to jasper. She loves sparkling stones!»

«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.»

«How is that?»

«The book you sold in exchange for silk rags would have told you everything.»

«Told?! Books can’t talk.»

«Magical books do. Besides great knowledge, they hold great power. If the mistress of such a book were attacked and tried to drag her to the fire, the nearest houses and mountains would collapse, burying all but you.»

Now, that is really tempting! Unless Rokuela is lying and exaggerating, she could use a magic book. Fiona imagined Ornella telling her guards to drag her out of the mill, and the walls of the building and the windmills collapsing on the heads of 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.»

«I can see ghosts,» said Fiona, recalling the Jokers in the ruins.

«Plenty of people can do that without a magic gift.»

«But those ghosts were bright, not your typical ghosts.»

«Were you able to make them serve you? Did they do some kind of thing you asked them to do, or did they do some kind of errand you wanted them to do? Did they drag you into their circle and share your forbidden secrets?»

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.»

«But you can make a fortune and hire your own army for protection, and buy your own fortress, which I will shield with magic.»

«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…»

«You are a treasure hunter!» Rokuela rejoiced. «It is a good gift, but you cannot do without helpers. The gold is often buried too deep for you to retrieve it by yourself. There is magic that makes the earth part. If you had learned it in magic school, you could have got the treasure even from the bottom of the sea.»

«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.»

«What was the prophecy?» Fiona only now noticed that one blue morialla was perched imposingly on top of 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.

«Does communicating with dead people in dreams count, too?»

«Well, if they’re frequent dreams…»

«What if I only dreamt about the dead woman who warned me of danger once?»

«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 a magic fish, a man-each minute changing the color of its scales, a man-shell that sang beautifully, and a strange jelly-fish-like creature that swept the floor with its tentacles.

It was the shell that Fiona liked best. It had such a sweet-sounding singing voice, as if a 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.»

«Are griffons sea birds?»

«All birds that are capable of flying across the sea can be categorized as sea birds. They have settled by the sea.»

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.

«So all birds could turn into griffins? Can Condor, too?»

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.»

«And he is the most evil!»

«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 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 t