Читать книгу The Realms of Faerie - Linda Massola - Страница 7

The crone, Merrow was still congratulating herself on the deal she had made with Silurion. He had given her a huge supply of fish, saving her the effort of obtaining them for herself. In return, she had alerted him to the whereabouts of the fairies and supplied him with the vital ingredient, Lintel, needed to make Lobash.

The pungent smelling herb only grew on the walls of her grotto and the Lizard-men with their great claws were unable to gain access to the tiny crevices where it grew. Merrow knew all about Lobash. It was extremely poisonous to fairies and water-sprites, causing them to fall into a sleep from which they were unable to awake. Eventually, as the poison settled in their system, the unfortunate victim would die. She knew of a water-sprite many years ago who had been captured by Silurion and poisoned. Eventually the sprite had died.

Merrow shrugged. She cared little for water-sprites and even less for fairies. If Silurion had decided not to give her anything, it wouldn’t have mattered. To get back at the fairy child who had tricked her was reward in itself. But why were the fairies headed for the kelp fields? Obviously they were going to Olombo as there was no other place for them to go. But why Olombo? The only thing of interest to them would be the Lion-men, but surely seven fairy children were not going to confront the Crocodile-men! It was all very puzzling. She decided that she wouldn’t waste any more time thinking about a reason. Then she had another thought. If the Lizard-men were planning to capture the fairies before they reached Olombo, then maybe she would try to capture the powerful fairy child. She chuckled to herself. Yes, yes, she wanted the child who had tricked her. This time, she would be more prepared and not be tricked again!

As she thought through her plan, the fairies were riding through the waters. Eventually, the kelp fields came into view. It was time for Lido and his friends to say goodbye. The sea-horses had no desire to maneuver their way through the sea of kelp. Seeing the look of apprehension on everybody’s face, Ella said quickly, ‘don’t worry, we won’t get lost. All we have to do is keep to the direction of the sun on our left. We should reach the bridge to Olombo in another day. At least we won’t have to travel in the dark,’ she reminded them.

The sun never set on Marissima, it just faded to a dull glow. Keeping the direction of the sun on their left did make it easy for them and on the way they were amazed at the beautiful variety of tropical fish that lived among the kelp.

‘Willow told me that the kelp is very nutritious and feeds many varieties of fish,’ Laura said, breaking off a piece and eating it. ‘You should try a piece, Andrew.’

Andrew made a face which communicated to everyone that he would have to be pretty desperate to eat kelp. On and on the children went through the kelp fields until the fading light reminded them that it was time to rest. They floated down to the sea-bed and slept until hours later, the bright sunlight shinning on the water awoke them. After a hearty meal of kelp, they were ready to continue on their way.

Andrew had awoken ravenous, as usual and was left no other option than to try the kelp. ‘It’s surprisingly good!’ he mumbled with his mouth full.

They were swimming single file now as the kelp was quite thick in parts. Ella was at the lead, with Tristan following along closely behind her. The others followed a little distance behind. They all swam silently, using their concentration to maneuver their way through the kelp.