immediately dismissed the idea that the king himself was only human, barely noticing the sharp feathery paws that tapped the armrests of the throne. He was about to become an eagle, too, to fly and control the bloodthirsty flocks of his heirs.
It’s time to run away from here. Here, instead of help, all you’ll get is to be taken hostage and torn apart.
“You’re right! Ornella has always been jealous of you! And now that you’re queen before she is, she’ll be glad to get her bird claws into your tender neck,” the bridge spirit whispered to her.
She could flee from a whole dynasty of werewolf eagles, but she could not flee from the spirit’s advice. He flew after her, muttering something about how eagle flocks couldn’t fly into these magic bridges, or they would tear her to pieces. She is queen of the seas now, and they hate all morgens. And these are her relatives! Her cousins from an ancient royal family actually turned out to be eagles! Well, isn’t that a surprise!
Paths to Magic
Lilothea ran as fast as she could. She turned around a couple of times to see if the eagles were flying after her.
“Turning around is a bad habit,” the spirit of the bridge immediately pointed out. “Besides, you mustn’t look back here, or you’ll get so lost that you won’t be able to get out later.”
“What ill-timed advice is it,” said Lilophea. She was furious.
“Anyway, I’m so lost that I can’t find my way back now.”
“Which way is that?”
Lilophea pondered. The spirit had succeeded in puzzling her. Indeed, where did she want to go? Is it home to Aquilania? But everyone there will be frightened that she has come back. The whole Morgens’ army would most likely come looking for her. And then there’s no way to avoid a war with them. No one will think she’s the one to blame for running away. Her escape would be the perfect excuse to attack the people of Aquilania again.
Does she want to go back to the underwater kingdom? She probably does, because there are many wonders, pleasures, luxuries. And most importantly, there is Seal. As soon as she thought about it, she saw the azure steps under one of the bridges that had suddenly appeared nearby, steps that went straight down from the bridge into the water. All she had to do was cross that bridge and go back.
“it is better not!” The spirit of the bridge held her back, and a mighty gust of rainbow wind blew through her, instantly separating her from the path to the strange bridge. “If you go, I’ll never see you again!”
“Won’t you miss me?”
“Of course I will. You should know how boring it is to wander here. All bridges lead somewhere: some to civilized countries, some to magical lands, and some to islands inhabited by tribes of savages. But spirits cannot go to any of them. They can only hover over bridges.”
“That’s sad,” Lilophea agreed. “Is that why you won’t let anyone leave, because you can’t?” She guessed.
“You should know how few guests come in here,” the spirit tried to justify himself. He looked like a disgraced little bully boy.
“You know what? If you promise to come back to the bridges in an hour, I can take you to the windows of the palaces, where the festivities are taking place. Do you want to go to a ball? Morgens love masquerades, by the way. The only way to spot them is to see their wet footprints on the floor.”
Lilophea had her doubts, but she wanted to go to the ball.
“You look wonderful,” the bridge spirit urged her on. “It is such a magnificent dress of sea foam! None of the earthlings will know what it’s made of. They’ll think you’re a particularly talented dressmaker.”
“You know so much about human manners, though you assure me you have no way into their lands.”
“Well, I hear much of what they say when I fly up to the windows where the ends of our bridges approach,” the spirit gently wrapped his arms around her waist and turned her to the path of his choice at the crossing of the seven bridges. “You’ve overheard a lot of interesting things yourself just now, watching under the window of the Sultan’s palace.”
Lilophea walked obediently where the spirit directed her, while he himself hovered beside her.
“Were these griffins really so dangerous that they could peck a morgen?”
The spirit must have known that, but he pondered for a long moment.
“I could fly over and watch them carve up the Shalian fleet, but then I’d have to leave you alone.”
“Are you sure they’ll win yet? Before the battle begins?”
“They’re nimble and predatory. I once watched them attack a galley ship.”
“And what is it about the morgens? Have you ever seen them attack a morgen floating to the surface?”
“Why does that bother you so much? Are you on the morgen’s side now?”
She didn’t know herself, so she gave a diplomatic answer:
“I’m a sea queen.”
“Well, yes, a princess from earth who was forcibly kidnapped and forced to marry an underwater king,” commented the all-knowing spirit.
“Were you peeping when I was kidnapped?”
“There are a lot of us here. Someone is always an observer, and then we all meet at general gatherings at the central bridge and share the news.”
“There’s even a central bridge? Where does it go?”
“Oh, you can’t get anywhere from there, except the heavenly realm, but it’s not always open. But the bridge is made of white gold. All the bridges go to it, and the bridge itself is a sort of circle.”
“Is it a platinum bridge?” She raised her eyebrows in surprise. She had not yet reached it.
But the spirit had already led her across the jasper bridge to the bay window of the white marble palace, where a noisy masquerade ball was in progress.
“What kind of country is this?”
“What difference does it make? It’s so far from here to Aquilania that you wouldn’t make it in six months by ship, and we made it over the bridge in no time. So there’s nowhere to go back but to the bridge. Have fun for an hour.”
Lilophea willingly stepped over the bay window frame. Good thing the bay window was a human-size window, or she would have had to climb over the window sill. She was afraid of ruining her dress. But a sea-foam dress was not supposed to spoil. The train draped behind her, leaving no wet prints on the marble floor. How amazing!
It was beautiful all around. There were lambrequins on the walls and tapestries woven with unicorns. Probably the unicorn with a horn twined with white roses was the emblem of the country. Its image was repeated everywhere: in draperies, on walls, and even on ceilings. All around there were many floor vases with lush
