My Royal Pain Quest (The Lakeland Knight series, #2)

by Laura Lond

  She paused again, looking tired. Lord Leomaris offered her slice of a peach, but she shook her head.

  “When I returned home, I saw that they did take away some of my beauty. Since you’ve seen her, you will agree that she looks healthy while I don’t. And each time they use the dagger, taking on my form, the same illness assaults me. The last time I felt it was yesterday.”

  “The witches were gone when my men had reached the island,” Lord Leomaris took over, his eyes once again warning me to keep silent. “No ship ever came near it, so we still do not know how they’d left.”

  “So the spell is tied to the dagger?” Cassandra asked, speaking up for the first time.

  My thought exactly.

  As all eyes turned to her, she caught herself. “I apologize. It is not a servant’s place to ask questions.”

  “No need for apology,” said the sea lord. “You are a guest here, just like your master. And to answer your question, yes. Our wisemen say the only way to revert the spell is to get the dagger back.”

  Lady Marielle turned to me. “Now that you know everything, please tell us all you can. Where did you see this woman? Under what circumstances? Is there a chance you will see her again? Do you think you could buy the dagger back from her? We would spare no treasure, both to pay for it and to reward your efforts if you succeed, isn’t that right, Leomaris?”

  “Of course. We would spare no treasure,” the merman echoed, his face dark and pained.

  I don’t normally like cheap dramatic effects, but here I couldn’t help it.

  “I will take no reward. It is my pleasure to end your plight, my lady.” I took the dagger out of my pocket and handed it to her.

  I wish there was a device that could capture a scene and produce a picture of it. This particular picture would have been worth framing. Lord Leomaris sat with his mouth open, Lady Marielle froze in a mixture of astonishment, disbelief and joy, staring at her returned possession, not daring to take it. Even Merwyn slowed down and craned his neck to see, throwing Orman off into the sea.

  “How in the world?...” the lady muttered, raising her eyes towards me.

  “A happy coincidence, I suppose,” I answered. “That and the vigilance of my manservant. Archie saw through the deception and forced the witch to give up the dagger. I kept it as a souvenir.”

  She slowly reached out her hand, as if afraid the dagger would disappear. The moment she touched it, a cloud seemed to lift off her, taking all signs of the illness with it. The tiredness, gauntness, the shadows were gone. I was looking at a beauty even more radiant than the maiden I’d seen at the marshes.

  “Hurray!!” Reggie screamed, hopping out of the hood.

  We all jumped. Including the serpent. Good thing the chairs and the canopy were fastened securely onto his back.

  “What is this?” Lady Marielle asked, gaping at the Swirg.

  “This is called Reginald,” I explained. “It screams occasionally without warning. Other than that, it’s harmless.”

  He grinned up at her. “I admit I’ve grown to like scaring humans. You are very pretty, my lady.”

  Lady Marielle’s golden brow arched in surprised amusement.

  “Would you look at this little charmer! May I pick him up?”

  “By all means. But I think he’s getting the taste of scaring the seafolk as well, so be warned.”

  We spent the next couple hours in a friendly conversation that mostly consisted of Cassandra and me answering our hosts’ questions. Their face to face encounters with humans had been very limited, and they’d never seen a Swirg before, so the questions were many. I tried not to reveal too much, especially about the Swirgs and their secrets. Our ability to fly was of course the primary point of Lord Leomaris’s interest; I had to sidestep it, telling him it was something I could not freely discuss. I saw no reason, however, not to share our adventures with the witches and their magical passage. Reggie obliged by performing yet another reenactment of my battle with them, embellishing it with some new details this time. I shook my head as I imagined what it was going to be like when he’d tell the story back home.

  I noticed that Lady Marielle did most of the talking while Lord Leomaris became somewhat withdrawn, despite his obvious gratefulness for his wife’s deliverance. I couldn’t quite read the expression he now had. Was it embarrassment? Some sort of regret? Maybe even guilt?

  “We must do all we can for these people, Leo,” the lady said, placing her hand on his arm. “Do you think you could spare Merwyn to take them all the way to their shores?”

  He appeared caught off guard. “Well, uh… Yes, I suppose so. You and I cannot go, I need to be at the council, as you know, but I can send Orman. If Merwyn swims his fastest, it’s going to take, what? A couple of days, no more than that. What do you say, Lord Arkus?”

  It would shorten the journey considerably. We probably still wouldn’t be able to reach Prince Kellemar on time (not that I was too upset about that), but I wanted Jarvi’s sword safely back in my hands as soon as possible.

  “Why, this would be most convenient,” I said, “and much appreciated.”

  “Let me take a look at the map again.”

  I gave it to him.

  “Yes,” he nodded, examining it, “we will part at the Crown Island. My lady and I will return in her dolphin carriage. Orman will take you the rest of the way… Well, probably not to the very shore, there are too many ships in those waters, and we try to avoid human eyes. How about he drops you off here, on the last island you had marked?”

  “That would work perfectly. We can fly from there.”

  “Good.”

  We reached the Crown Island in less than half an hour. It was much larger than the first one we’d been to, with tall palm trees, a multitude of colorful birds, and, according to Lord Leomaris, a freshwater stream.

  Merwyn swam up to the island and turned, stretching his long tail to the sandy shore, offering it as a means for us to descend rather than having to jump in the water. I couldn’t help marveling at that.

  “Has he transported humans before?”

  Lord Leomaris smiled. “No. But he knows what they’re like, and he is smart.”

  “He certainly is.”

  The sea lord rose to stand on his tail, the lady did the same, holding onto his arm.

  “This has been a most fascinating encounter,” he said, “not to mention the invaluable service you did to us. I am indebted to you.” He took a golden bracelet off his arm and offered it to me. “Take this. If you are ever in trouble at sea, throw it in the water. I will send help.”

  I accepted the bracelet. It was shaped as a fish, with sapphire eyes, its head touching the tail.

  “Wouldn’t it just drown?” I asked, trying not to sound too doubtful. “The sea is huge, how would you ever find it?”

  He smiled again. “Try it now.”

  I reached my hand with the bracelet out to the water and paused, hesitant.

  “Go ahead,” the merman prodded.

  I threw it in the sea. At first the bracelet seemed to go down like a rock, but in the next moment I saw the golden fish glistening in the waves, swimming, heading back to us. Having reached Merwyn’s side, the fish jumped out of the water and landed right into Lord Leomaris’s hands, instantly curling up and turning back into a bracelet.

  “It will find me wherever I am,” he said.

  “Amazing. How is this possible?”

  The merman handed the bracelet back to me. “I’m not asking you how you fly.”

  “Fair enough,” I nodded. “Thank you, Lord Leomaris.”

  “It’s Leo for you. Farewell. Good luck with the rest of your journey, and…” He looked away for a moment. “Don’t be so trusting in the future.”

  Trusting? Me?

  “What do you mean?”

  “The way you’d stepped onto my serpent…” He shook his head. “You were completely at my mercy, do you realize that?”

  “That’s not quite right. We coul
d fly away if anything went wrong.”

  “Losing your supplies. How long would you last without them?”

  Not long. And he didn’t even know about the ten minutes limit on flying.

  I looked him squarely in the eye. “So why didn’t you kill us?”

  “Why did you offer the dagger?”

  “To impress your beautiful wife.”

  “Well. You’ve impressed more than just her.”

  After her husband’s sobering words, Lady Marielle seemed at a loss what to say.

  “I want to thank you again,” she spoke at last. “Don’t mind Leo, I don’t think he meant you any harm, but he is right, you need to be more careful. The seafolk is not always friendly.”

  “The same can be said about humans, I’m sure,” I answered.

  She nodded. “Farewell. Have a safe journey home. I hope we can meet again someday.”

  They gave a quick bow, gracefully slid off the serpent’s back and disappeared in the water.

  We picked up our provisions and walked ashore.

  To think that I’d nearly left the dagger behind on the witches island. We’d been trying to lighten our load, getting rid of unnecessary items. I had put it into the box with the rest of the treasures, then for some reason stuck it back into my pocket.

  “Now I see why you were staring at Rosmarina the way you did, back at the marshes,” Cassandra said.

  “If I was staring, it’s only because I was suspicious. She looked out of place.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  I regarded her, frowning. “Since when do you doubt my words?”

  “Are you saying Lady Marielle is not a rare beauty?”

  “Indeed she is. Not many come with a tail.”

  Cassandra and Reggie burst out laughing, the latter falling out of my hood and swinging on it. I had to do something about this fellow, he was getting out of hand.

  We decided to spend the night on the island, with Merwyn and Orman waiting nearby in the water, and continue our journey in the morning. I went to look for the fresh water stream. Reggie insisted on going with me, and I soon understood why.

  “I did ask her,” he said into my ear, sitting on my shoulder. “About her fiancé.”

  “And?”

  “She won’t tell. Neither who he was, nor even his name. She just said he had shown himself different from what she believed him to be.”

  “Is that all?”

  “Yeah. I tried to pry out more, asked what he did. She said it’s a long story, and quickly changed the subject.”

  So the guy had deceived her, perhaps betrayed in some way. Well, this was something, although certainly not much.

  “Should I ask her again?”

  “No, Reggie, don’t push too hard. If she ever mentions it to you again, you can try, but be careful.”

  I found the stream and refilled our water flasks. When we returned, we saw that Cassandra had started a fire and set the table, so to speak: she had fresh fruit and some of our dry supplies laid out on a clean cloth.

  “Supper’s ready.”

  We ate and went straight to sleep, grateful once again for the warm weather and soft sand.

  ***

  On the next morning our journey continued. We took our seats on the sea serpent’s back again and headed north. It was rather uneventful from that point, which I liked. Cassandra seemed to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet as well. Reggie didn’t; the monotony of it drove him crazy. I quickly gave up trying to have him under the canopy, letting him run all over the serpent. Since we had plenty of flying berries we would no longer use, I also gave him free access to those—something I suspect he never had before. The Swirgs used their saveberries only when necessary, for protection, not entertainment. Reggie had the fun of his life, flying in circles over Merwyn’s head, jumping in and out of the water and pestering Orman in every way he could think of.

  Orman became a little less formal now that his master was gone, although he still maintained a respectful distance with me. He played with the Swirg while the serpent was warming up, then told him to “get back on board” as Merwyn showed us what he was capable of, speed-wise. I doubt there was any ship, large or small, that could keep up with him.

  Cassandra couldn’t resist the temptation to join Orman on the serpent’s neck. Remembering her ability to stay on a wild horse, I wasn’t worried. She didn’t fall off, but ended up soaked nevertheless—much to Orman’s delight. I heard him laugh, and from that moment it looked like they were the best of friends. They spent the rest of the day riding next to each other and talking.

  “You’ll never guess what he asked me about,” she told me later on, grinning, when we stopped for the night at yet another island.

  “I’m scared to try.”

  “About human women.”

  “Oh?” I couldn’t help chuckling. “So he got to talk to an expert without knowing it.”

  “Yeah. I was dying to see what kind of a face he’d make if he found out he was speaking to one of those mysterious creatures he is so interested in.”

  “And what is his interest?”

  “He wants to marry one.”

  I raised a brow. “That… would present a number of problems, wouldn’t it?”

  “Yes, to put it mildly. But he says it’s possible.”

  “I don’t quite see how.”

  “There is no easy way, one of them would have to give up their world and join the other. He says the one making such sacrifice would transform into either a human or a mermaid, depending on what they choose.”

  “Now let me venture a guess: he wants the woman to leave everything behind and become a mermaid for him.”

  Cassandra gave a sad smile. “Of course.”

  “And what’s the point, dare I ask? He’ll still have a mermaid wife, only with a cartload of psychological problems.”

  “Ha! I’ve got to tell him that.”

  “What did you tell him so far?”

  “The only thing I could come up with was that human women don’t like getting their hair wet.” She snickered. “Believe it or not, that alone was enough to make him question the whole idea.”

  “I wonder what gave him this idea to begin with.”

  “Don’t know, he didn’t say.”

  Cassandra remained silent for a while, stirring the fire with a stick.

  “Do you think you could do it?” she asked. “Leave everything behind for a mermaid, join her in the sea, become a merman yourself?”

  “Nope. Fish tail is the deal breaker for me.”

  “I’m being serious!”

  “So am I. I’m a villain, I don’t do sacrificial stuff.”

  “Tell that to someone who hasn’t seen you go through all kinds of trouble trying to help a friend.”

  I frowned. “That’s the one exception that only proves the rule. When I’m done with this stupid quest, I’ll go back to the way I prefer to live. What about you, could you do it?”

  “I think I could. If I truly loved someone, that is. If there was no other way, I think I could leave all I know for him.”

  Whoever that former fiancé of hers was, he was a fool.

  “You’re quite a woman, Cassandra.”

  She smiled. “One of a kind, that’s for sure.”

  On the next day our steady progress was interrupted by a ship heading our way. Merwyn noticed it from afar and gave out a short warning sound, something in between a growl and a hiss.

  “Uh-oh, a human ship,” Orman said, shielding his eyes against the sun. “What do we do? Normally, we’d just go underwater.”

  Fortunately, I had anticipated such possibility and had both flying and invisibility berries at hand. There was no time to explain it to Orman though. If the guys on the ship had a spyglass, they’d see us any minute.

  “Give us a second to grab our stuff.”

  Reggie jumped into my hood, Cassandra and I quickly picked up our sacks, thankfully less heavy now since we’d used up some of the supplies. We popped in
the flying berries and pushed ourselves off of Merwyn’s back.

  “All right, dive in. Keep going north, we’ll do the same. See you after we pass the ship.”

  Orman looked at me, confused.

  “I thought you wanted to keep this flying thing secret. Aren’t you afraid of them seeing you?”

  “I suppose that would have started a whole new genre of sea legends, wouldn’t it?” I smiled. “They won’t see us, don’t worry.”

  “They are heading this way. And if they’ve got this stick with a magnifying glass in it…”

  “A spyglass, I know. Don’t worry, we’ll be all right.”

  Orman gave us another questioning look, then shrugged and submerged, ordering Merwyn to do the same.

  We ate the invisibility berries and flew north, Reggie once again in charge of watching the time. The fine three-master passed us about forty minutes later. The captain did have a spyglass, but he stood calm, unconcerned; the sailors, too, went about their tasks, showing no alarm. They obviously hadn’t noticed anything unusual.

  “Shall I scream?” Reggie asked, giggling.

  “Don’t you dare.”

  We kept moving north until the ship disappeared from view. Merwyn and Orman were faster, we saw them surface farther ahead and look around, searching for us. Cassandra and Reggie chuckled as Orman scratched his head, obviously wondering what happened to us.

  “I know it’s very tempting, Reggie, but no. No shrieking.”

  We flew up close and hovered behind them, waiting for our invisibility to end.

  “Hi there,” I said when it did. As gently as I could.

  It was Merwyn’s reaction I worried about, and I was right to. The startled beast whirled around, raising huge waves, eyes flashing, fangs bare, ready to attack. Good thing Orman somehow managed to cling to his neck.

  “Easy!” he shouted. “It’s them, don’t you see?”

  The serpent’s eyes narrowed as he recognized us, and he let out a low, displeased rumble.