Their road was long and difficult.
Toril walked ahead, with Chani, who had noticeably cheered up, following her. Khani was the last one, falling behind every now and then. He took out the ruby he had received from Diamond to admire it, and whispered something quietly. When they approached him, he would become embarrassed and silent, turning away so that they would not see how he was blushing. After receiving another reprimand from the princess, he would agree that it was dangerous to remain alone, and swear that it would not happen again, but soon Toril would again find Khani stuck somewhere far around the bend.
Completely angry, she shouted at him, but the quiet, meek Khani suddenly snapped back that he had not hired himself out to her as a lackey, and if she didn't like it, then let her go to hell, and he would personally go the way he liked best. And he would go the way he liked best. And in general, she had become a thorn in his side with her demands.
Chani, who had expected Toril to explode at such a rude answer, was astonished when she told Khani gently that she was worried about him, that they were not on a walk, and that the road was full of dangers that Khani could not cope with, even if he remembered the mist bat. Khani agreed with all this and did not lag behind. Almost.
The mountains were left behind, and now the road ran along a sandy plain. It was surrounded by young pines, rustling welcomingly, as if trying to say something. The air began to smell of salty sea freshness, the end of the road was approaching. However, Toril was becoming increasingly anxious. She constantly imagined some rustling and creaking sounds, she was afraid that someone was tracking them. And so the travelers almost never stopped, the halts were short: a quick bite to eat - and then on their way again. The brothers barely had time to rest during the night, but the princess seemed forged from iron. She mercilessly urged them on, not giving them a moment's rest: faster, even faster...
Finally, Khani couldn't take it anymore. During one of the stops, he rebelled.
— Where are we running to?!
"You know perfectly well," Toril answered calmly, settling herself more comfortably by the fire.
- But it can be done not so quickly.
- It is possible, but it needs to be done this way. Even faster.
- For what?
— Because we have been tracked, I am sure of it. They are hot on our heels, and we must at all costs reach the Golden Galley first. I am not sure that they do not know where it is hidden, they could have guessed. Fortunately, even knowing the place, it is not as easy to find as it seems.
"The Sea King doesn't know where the ship is hidden?" Chani was surprised.
Toril laughed.
- It sounds strange, but that's exactly it. And you'll soon see why. That's my main hope.
"I wish it would," sighed Khani. "It's been a week since we left Rainbow Gorge, and there's still no end in sight. My feet will soon be worn to the bone."
"The end is in sight, it's in sight," the princess reassured him.
- Do you know where to go? - Khani persisted. - After all, the map is gone, we already got lost once, it's good that we were helped. And if, as you yourself say, the ship is hidden very well, then we ourselves can easily pass by it.
Toril explained kindly and condescendingly:
— I have something. Actually, none of the maps show where exactly the Galera is, so I took one thing with me. The stolen map doesn't have any markings at all, but I'm still afraid...
"What thing?" Khani lit up.
The princess took a small golden box out of her bag and opened it. This time, Chani couldn't overcome his curiosity, and the brothers loudly bumped their foreheads, trying to look into the box at the same time. In the box was a simple steel arrow with a small golden ball at the end.
"Just a compass," Khani said disappointedly.
"It's a piece of the Golden Galley, so the arrow always points to it," the princess explained.
- And I thought...
- And you thought that there would be some special miracle again.
- Not exactly necessarily, but...
Toril laughed.
- Why invent something complicated when you can get by with something simple? Okay, let's go to bed, we have to get up early tomorrow.
The little fire crackled weaker and weaker. The flames first turned red, then slightly blue, and soon disappeared completely. Along with them, the small circle of light in which the travelers lay also disappeared. Only the coals, covered with grey ash, continued to glow slightly, but they could no longer dispel the thickening darkness. And then something rustled cautiously in the grass.
Chani, who had almost fallen asleep, heard a rustling sound and became alert. He immediately remembered the princess's fears. He did not really believe her when she said that they were being followed, but Chani was terribly afraid of snakes - he had such a weakness, which he carefully hid. And now he, too, was afraid that something long and - brrr - cold, scaly was crawling. Besides, the princess spoke so seriously that he believed it a little. And, holding his breath, Chani began to peer into the darkness.
A small animal slipped out of the grass and crawled stealthily towards the princess's bag. It began to fuss about near it. Chani decided that they didn't need to waste the rest of the crackers - their lunches and dinners had been, to put it mildly, rather meager for a long time already. He quietly stretched out his hand, feeling for the shoe he had taken off, and at the moment when the animal crawled out of the bag, he threw it.
A shrill squeak announced that the throw had been accurate. Toril instantly jumped up, as if she had not been sleeping. Khani jumped up too, drawing his sword just in case.
"What happened?" the princess asked anxiously.
Instead of answering, Chani picked up the bag and showed a large hole gnawed in it by the sharp teeth of the night thief. Toril snatched the bag from him and began to rummage through it feverishly.
"Where is the compass?!" she cried out desperately, throwing the bag aside.
Chani shuddered as if stung, he quickly thrust a bundle of deadwood into the fire, it crackled, the flames merrily shot up and illuminated the clearing where they had settled. Kneeling down, they all began to search the grass. Khani was the first to see a golden sparkle flashing in the thick greenery, he rushed there and triumphantly picked up a box sprinkled with cracker crumbs.
"Thank you," the princess said, her voice hoarse with emotion. "I won't let him out of my hands again. And now, perhaps, we should go. The night doesn't promise to be calm."
They came to the seashore somehow unexpectedly. They had just been wandering through a pine forest, getting stuck in the fine white sand, when suddenly they heard the soft rustle and splash of the surf, the pines parted, and the travelers found themselves on a narrow beach.
"The sea!" Khani shouted excitedly. "We've arrived!"
This sea was not at all like the one the brothers were used to in Acanton. It seemed unfriendly and gloomy to them. The waves rolling onto the sand were some kind of indefinite leaden-gray color, not at all reminiscent of the blue-black, but still transparent, waves that beat against the shores of their native bay. The weak rays of the sun dissolved without a trace in the water, unable to penetrate into the depths, and the sea seemed muddy and dismal. Even the splash of the surf was somehow insinuating, muffled, there was nothing in it of the cheerful riot of the waves of Acanton. It was like the rustle of crawling snakes, and Chani involuntarily shuddered.
The sky was covered with low and equally dismal leaden-gray clouds, completely merging with the sea in the distance. The weak, diffused light, breaking through their canopy, illuminated the sea with an unnatural, ghostly, trembling, silvery glow. The cold, piercing wind forced them to wrap themselves more tightly in their cloaks.
"So where is your galley?" Khani asked impatiently.
The princess took out a golden compass and, looking at the finely trembling needle, answered:
- Not far.
They trudged along the shore, with difficulty pulling their feet out, which sank deep into the fine, loose sand. Chani, looking around with curiosity, noticed a small blue spark in a pile of driftwood thrown up on the shore by the waves. He bent down, scattered the splinters and slimy driftwood, and picked up a translucent, bluish pebble, covered in sand. He rubbed it with his sleeve; a soft crack was heard, and the pebble began to glow with a deep, pleasant light, reminiscent of the color of the May sky.
"Look what I found!" Chani shouted happily.
Toril's eyebrows rose.
— Blue amber? Congratulations! Now you are not afraid of any storms. The owner of blue amber can safely sail in any seas. This stone is valued much more than gold, our sailors insert it into rings as a talisman. It is especially good because it cannot be taken away by force, it will definitely return to its first owner. Such a stone can only be found or accepted as a gift.
"Then take it for yourself," Chani handed the stone to the princess. "You will need it more."
Toril was slightly embarrassed and bowed ceremoniously.
- Thank you. Or maybe it would be better if we split it into three parts and each of us takes a piece? Who knows who of us might find it useful!
It was getting dark. The setting sun had disappeared behind the trees, and long black shadows lay across the sand, as if drawn with ink on white paper. The white fog rising from the sea crawled in uneven strands onto the shore, muffling the steps, creeping under clothes. Toril carefully watched the compass needle, and finally, when Khani was about to ask again if they would arrive soon, she said:
- Here.
"Where?" Khani shook his head.
"You'll see in the morning," the princess reassured.
— Only in the morning?
"A lot of things can only be seen at sunrise," she answered vaguely.
When the first ray of sunlight, breaking through the fog standing on the sea, touched the sand, all three were already on their feet. None of them had slept during the night, all were burning with impatience. Toril, biting her lip from tension, looked at the semicircle of the sun, barely visible in the fog.
"Is this a set-up?" she whispered sadly. "We can't guess, we can't."
- Why?
— The galley appears only when the sun rises from the sea. But the fog, the damned fog…
The whitish shroud slowly melted in the sun, much more slowly than the princess would have liked. The sun had already risen halfway over the horizon, three-quarters… And the fog still hung like a light haze over the water. The sun was only clinging to the gloomy waves with its very edge… But the last shred of fog had melted!
Toril hastily drew several mysterious signs on the sand, which Chani recognized as the Witch Runes, placed a golden box in the center of the drawn pentagon and stretched out her hands to the sun. It seemed to Chani that the sun's rays began to converge on her palms, twisting into a bundle, and this bundle, glowing with pale gold, wriggled, descended onto the sand, where the compass stood, drawing a bright spot. Toril began to read the spells, and again, as then, in the fog, the words of the Witch Language seemed familiar to Chani. Why? He did not know the answer to this question, but he guessed what the princess was saying. She was turning to the Sea for help, which is eternally...
Chani listened intently to the melodious words, trying to remember them as best he could, and Khani simply stared, his mouth open in delight. What a miracle! Simple and good!
Gradually, a translucent golden ship began to emerge in the rays of the sun, hanging in the air above the waves. It became denser and denser and lost its transparency before our eyes. When Toril finished singing, a long velvety ringing sound was heard, as if a huge bronze gong had been struck. The ship quickly darkened and with a noise, raising cascades of spray, crashed into the sea.
And at that moment the sun broke away from the horizon.
"That's it!" Toril said tiredly, wiping sweat from her forehead.
The Golden Galley, rocking slightly, dove a couple of times like a huge duck and froze at the shore. The gangplank lay on the sand.
"Please!" Toril invited and was the first to climb onto the deck.
The brothers followed her. Suddenly the princess swayed, raised her hand to her forehead and fell helplessly onto the glittering boards. Chani barely managed to catch her so that she did not fall.
"What's wrong with you?" he asked fearfully.
Toril smiled weakly.
- Nothing. I'm just dead tired. This spell takes too much strength. But now, it seems, for the first time in many days we will be able to rest peacefully.
Khani listened to them with half an ear, he had no time, he was looking at the magnificent decoration of the magic ship. And he caught sight of a strange gray object rolling along the deck. Khani looked closely and, shaking himself, rushed at it, covering something or someone with the cloak he had taken off.
- Aha! Got you! - he announced triumphantly.
"Who got caught?" Chani asked discontentedly, still supporting the princess.
- Who?! The one who tried to steal the compass.
Khani gathered his cloak into a bundle and walked to the side, pulled the gangway onto the ship and invited:
- Please watch.
Toril stood up and, with Chani's help, walked to the side of the boat. Khani swung his arm and, with the gesture of a magician who takes out something very interesting, unfurled the cloak over the water. Something small and loudly squeaking flew head over heels into the water, splashed loudly and, desperately working its paws, began to paddle towards the shore.
Chani couldn't help but laugh, but the princess only shuddered in disgust.
Having climbed out onto the sand, the little animal shook itself off. It turned out to be a large, well-fed rat with a half-bitten tail. Rising up on its hind legs, the rat shook its fist at Khani.
"I'll remember this for a long time!" she squeaked angrily. "You'll have to bathe in my place again!"
Toril closed her eyes.
- How nasty!
The rat proudly raised its head.
- And I will remember you too. You will learn how to insult the most beautiful Water Rat in the world! You will not escape the revenge of our most merciful ruler - the Sea King! I will tell him, I will tell him everything! How you scolded him, how you insulted him! How you threatened! Everything, everything, everything...
Krysyuk smoothed his whiskers, shook his paw at them again, and trotted up the bank with a heavy roll. He soon disappeared between the trees.
The Golden Galley was only called golden. In fact, it was made of wood, although it was completely covered with gilding. However, the wood of the Galley was stronger than stone. Time was the reason for this, or some kind of magic - it is unknown. The entire ship was richly decorated with figurines, cast from red gold and decorated with precious stones. Even the princess could not remember such fine and skillful work. The ancient masters were great craftsmen!
Obeying the order, the wide sail with the image of the sun woven in gold silently unfurled, and the heavy oars swung in unison...