ISBN 978-5-0060-8628-9

      Created with Ridero smart publishing system

      A mission for the pirates

      “There she is!” The sea creature, which had recently taken control of the ship, clapped its clawed hands in triumph. “I got her at last! It is your duty to deliver her to King of Opal. And be quickly!”

      “Her?” Desmond looked doubtfully at the silver net spread over the sea. It was not the Princess of the Seas, but a heavy gilded chest with runic inscriptions.

      Morgen must have gone mad trying to get revenge on the sea king. Desmond clenched his fingers on the hilt of his saber, expecting the crew to mutiny, but none of his corsairs moved. They all stared at the catch like hypnotized men. He guessed it’s the magic marks engraved on the lid. They take away people’s thoughts. Then why hadn’t he fallen under their influence himself? It must be the amulet. Desmond lovingly stroked the silver pendant given to him by a young witch on the coast who had fallen in love with him. Cassandra was well versed in sea enchantments and how to defend against them. There was a reason she was considered a worthy follower of the famous coastal sorceress Rokuela.

      But the huge oblong chest that had been caught in the net looked more like treasure from a shipwreck than a personal item of the Morgens. Morgens, as the sea-dwellers were called, were creepy, ugly monsters. One of them, for some reason, decided to betray the sea king. It approached Desmond in a tavern on the pirate island of Peony and began to exhort him:

      “You are a brave corsair and a corsair captain. You need to get something from King of Opal to rule the seas, and King of Opal needs a princess of the sea. I will catch her for you, but you will deliver her to Opal.

      Desmond was drunk at the time of the conversation, but not drunk enough not to suspect that he was being lured into a trap. However, a few leading questions settled the conversation in the morgen’s favor.

      “I want revenge on the sea king,” he confessed at the end of the conversation, hiding his monstrous body under a cloak made from a scrap of black sail.

      “You’re taking a risk! Even all who sail the seas are at his mercy. And what’s it like for those who live in the water?”

      “It’s a lot to ask for a broken heart.”

      Desmond didn’t even know the morgen had a heart, but the creature pressed his hand to his chest. There beneath the bones and slime was indeed a ball of black muscle beating beneath what looked like a human heart.

      Desmond was willing to go to great lengths to please the ruler of Opal. After all, the wizard who had recently taken control of piracy ruled there. If you don’t please him, you can’t plunder the seas. In the last decade, corsair fishing has become extremely difficult. The sea king does not let you sail the seas without his permission, on the other hand are the rulers-sorcerers of coastal countries. Either pay tribute to all of them or sink.

      Not surprisingly, Desmond agreed to the absurd proposal of the morgen, not even thinking about what punishment awaits them all in case of failure. And so the morgen spread a silver net over the sea, and in it instead of the princess was caught a shining chest. Desmond was not discouraged. The chest could be resold at the market in Pion. After all, it was made of scarlet gold. The magic symbols engraved on it might scare many away, but Cassandra would know where to find a magic buyer. Desmond had turned to her more than once when no one wanted to buy valuable items that supposedly bore a curse.

      The chest was too heavy. Even a dozen pirates couldn’t drag it onto the deck, but morgen was able to lift it over the side and bring it aft at once. How could the net not be torn by the weight of the thing? The net itself disappeared as soon as the chest was on the ship.

      “Now sail to Opal!” Morgen commanded. “Change course before they miss it.”

      Desmond couldn’t understand what the morgen was up to, but he gave the command anyway.

      “Where’s the Princess of the Sea?” He asked after a pause. “Why did King of Opal need her so badly?”

      “It is for the wedding, of course.”

      “What wedding is it?”

      “It is the royal wedding.

      “Had the King of Opal thought of getting married? I remember he’s a wizard and a bachelor.”

      “That’s why he chose the daughter of the sea king as his bride. Only problem is, she didn’t choose him. She must be forced to make the right choice. This chest will solve King Opal’s wedding problem, and you will be rewarded.”

      That’s even better than catching the princess! Desmond was already afraid that Cassandra’s amulet would not save him from the fury of the angry sea sorceress. After all, everyone knows that the sea king’s daughters are powerful sorceresses. For them to create a storm and sink an entire fleet is worthless. If King of Opal pulls off his marriage scam and marries such a sorceress, he will become the most powerful ruler among all the coastal kingdoms.

      “Do I have the right to ask a favor from the king instead of a monetary reward?” Desmond asked the morgen.

      “It will be easy for you to bargain with him when he gets the chest. Just don’t open it for the rest of the voyage.”

      “Or else a water genie will come out of it?”

      “It will be bad!”

      Desmond bit his tongue.

      The chest was fluted like a shell.

      “Do not open it, no matter what sounds come out of it,” morgen warned again. “Carry the chest closed all the way to Opal. I won’t be able to see you off. I have business to attend to!”

      What business could a sea monster have? Desmond didn’t have time to follow the morgen’s disappearance. It was a muddy puddle on the deck. It splashed into the crew.

      “Oh, I don’t like these signs!” Desmond ran his fingers over the runic engravings on the side of the chest. The lid creaked and slid open easily. From the inside, it looked like the sash of an enormous shell.

      Morgen had said not to open the chest. Something monstrous might be hidden in it. Desmond instinctively gripped his saber, wondering what kind of monster the sea king’s daughter might be. After all, the sea king himself is probably a monster with octopus-like limbs. His daughters might resemble squid, large toads, or a living mountain of clams. Desmond expected to see a creepy sea witch clawing at him with all her tentacles, but he was in for a surprise.

      A souvenir from the bottom of sea

      In the chest among the shells and pearls slept a beautiful mermaid. She looked ominous. She was dead! Desmond had never seen a dead mermaid before.

      One fin moved. Is it a reflex? So is she dead or asleep? She doesn’t seem to be breathing, but do mermaids breathe? If they needed air, they wouldn’t be underwater.

      “There are so many jewels!” His assistant said. “It’s a whole treasure trove!”

      “But how do we get them off?” Desmond ran his fingers over the large pearls embedded in the mermaid’s skin. Even the coral crown grew from her forehead. And in her fins were small diamonds and rubies.

      “Just like a princess of the sea!” Desmond whistled in admiration. His knees buckled, as if he had never seen a princess before. Well, maybe he’d never seen a sea princess. But he’d seen enough earthly ones. They’re all greedy and scheming! That’s why he became a pirate. Secular society is sometimes worse than a pack of wolves. Pirates are more honest. They rob directly, not bypass them.

      “I know a rich collector who’d buy the whole thing,” said the assistant.

      “No!” Desmond’s indignation boiled over.

      “Do