The king, grinning angrily, looked at Toril. It was obvious that he was trying to act with dignity, to show that he was not afraid, but his head was being pulled into his shoulders, and he kept wrapping the scraps of his robe around himself with shaking hands, although the sun was still shining hotly. But hatred burned in his eyes like an unquenchable fire.
The princess looked him over slowly and carefully, appraisingly, from head to toe. The king involuntarily clicked his teeth. The princess held out her hand.
"What do you want?" the King hissed.
- Pearl.
He raised his head, grimaced, and flared his nostrils.
- Well, no. As long as I am King, this crown jewel of our family will remain with me.
"As long as you're alive," Toril explained boredly.
- Is this a hint?
- No, advice.
- You wouldn't dare.
"I wonder who can stop me?" the princess asked, demonstratively showing him the hilt of the Black Sword hanging on her belt. "Besides, someone recently promised someone the best executioners. I don't have the best, but we'll find some."
"But I didn't touch him with a finger!" cried the King.
- I don't care about it very much. And anyway, I'm not inclined to get into arguments.
The King sucked in a breath, but looked at Toril with obvious curiosity. She snapped her fingers impatiently. The King, tangling with the chain as it brushed his ear and nose, took off the blue pearl with trembling hands, stroked it lightly, and handed it to the Princess.
- Here you go, choke on it! But don't count on it bringing you happiness! The sea has had and will have only one ruler!
- Exactly!
"You want to replace me?! It won't work!" he cried out desperately.
And Toril demanded with displeasure:
- And the ring too!
The king coughed, then laughed unpleasantly.
- But that's not it. No, no and no! The ring can't be removed, - he shook his hand. - Tear it off if you can! I have gained power over those who are ready to bow down to gold, but I have become its slave. It will stay with me until my death. Yes, sir!
The golden spider flashed triumphantly.
"Until death?" Toril asked. "That's an idea!"
The king turned yellow, then green.
— I'm tired of your jokes.
- What jokes. I lost my Torch, I have to replace it with something. So I'll take the ring. With the finger or with the hand...
The King's lips began to tremble, and he stared at the Black Sword with wide eyes, beginning to understand what was about to happen.
"No, you wouldn't dare," he barely managed to say.
- I certainly dare.
- Diamond won't allow it.
- Yes? Do you think he cares about you?
The King looked at Prince Raduzhnikov in despair, but he paid no attention. In fact, no one cared about him, it was as if he was not noticed. He looked around, again about to cry, but then fear finally won. The King jumped back, turned and ran, ran, not seeing the road, not making out anything in front of him. He swung and jumped awkwardly, stumbled, fell, got up and ran again, although there was nowhere to run.
"Why are you doing this?" Chani asked the princess as he approached.
- This is an enemy without shame and conscience, he must be disarmed completely.
- Are you seriously going to cut off his hand?
- My hand, no, but my head... This is war, I'm not going to give in to stupid, worthless pity.
- I won't let you.
- You? - Toril grinned. - I don't need you anymore. You can go back to your little town and vegetate there until the end of the world. I'll just repeat: don't meddle in the affairs of the great, it's too dangerous.
She gripped the hilt of the Black Sword tighter and tighter, her eyes began to shine feverishly, her hair became disheveled, and she trembled as if in a chill.
"But you were different," Chani said regretfully.
Laughter was his answer, but it had the same shrill, creaky notes that had been heard earlier in the Sea King's voice.
— Who knows what happened before... What's important is what will happen next. Finally, all obstacles in the path of the Lords of Fire have been removed.
"Leave her," whispered Khani to his brother, having already managed to come to his senses. "Don't you see that it's not she who is speaking, but the Sword."
Chani looked at Toril with pity and silently turned away. Khani watched the retreating figures with interest - the princess, snorting like a cat, waved away all admonitions and slowly headed after the King. He, looking over his shoulder, ran up to the sheer wall and, completely losing his mind, began to pound it with his fists. Then he pressed his back against the cold stone and with eyes white with fear glared at Toril, who was walking towards him. Again he could not stand it and rushed to run further, shouting something unintelligible.
"What's wrong with him?" asked Brother Khani
, who had been watching this scene with bewilderment.
"He must have gone crazy," Chani suggested.
However, there was a meaning in the King's cries, not entirely clear, but ominous. They reminded Khani of the mournful howling of the Ice Ones, although they were spoken in human language. There was an inexpressible melancholy and despair, but at the same time an almost hopeless appeal. It was felt that the King was still hoping for something, for some miracle.
Diamond was the first to notice the fog swirling on the peaks. The high peaks began to rapidly become shrouded in curly whitish caps. The piercing wind, which was getting stronger, tried to tear them off, but could not. The clouds held on as if glued, only the long shaggy tails fluttered in the wind, swelling literally before our eyes. And soon a solid wall of impatiently trembling fog hung over the gorge from the western side. The sun began to fade again, struggling to break through the whitish haze.
"It reminds me of…" Khani began hesitantly.
"What?" Diamond jumped up, visibly nervous.
- The day we first entered your gorge.
"Yes," Chani confirmed. "And the one who is the reason we got here."
"You mean the mist bat?" Khani asked.
— Yes.
"Well, it's no big deal," Diamond reassured. "They've never flown in here before."
"There are many things that didn't happen before," Chani reasonably objected.
"Okay," Diamond agreed. "We'll take the necessary measures."
He clapped his hands and ordered the ten Emerald archers that appeared to keep an eye on the mountains.
The absurd chase had meanwhile come to an end. The Princess had driven the King into a narrow crevice ending in a rocky scree. In desperation he tried to climb up it, but once and again he slid down in a cloud of dust, dragging a heap of rubble with him. And now, dusty, disheveled, almost sobbing, he stretched out his shaking hands towards the Princess, as if trying to stop her.
Toril slowly, lazily even drew her Sword, and the King squealed like a hare. And at that very moment...
At that moment, events rushed forward with the speed of a mountain stream. A strong gust of wind almost knocked the brothers over backwards, and covered everyone's eyes with dust. Clumps of fog, throwing plump blots and splashes to the sides, rolled down the gorge with incredible speed like an unprecedented avalanche, threatening to cut the princess off from the King. The King, baring his teeth like a tiger caught in a trap, raised his left palm above his head. A melodic ringing was heard, and golden-honey nets flashed in the air. Toril screamed desperately, trying to break free.
"Why?!" Chani shouted, rushing to the rescue.
"Because she is like that, she is completely under the power of the Golden Talisman," the previously silent Ryubi explained coldly. "A worthy end."
In the fog, the flapping of many powerful leathery wings was heard, the arrows of the Emeralds whistled, disappearing into the unknown, Ryubi's eyes flashed with anger, and with a powerful movement she threw a purple spear towards the sound. A nasty squeal was heard, something slapped loudly onto the stones, yellow-green eyes filled with anger flashed.
And immediately the misty pillar began to spin and be drawn into the cloud spreading over the mountain peaks, opening the gorge again. Khani saw Toril lying motionless on the rocks, still clutching the Black Sword in her hand, her brother bent over next to her. A disgusting creature, covered in dusty, gray fur, was beating and squeaking on the rocks in the distance. It tried to fly up, but, pierced by the spear, it only bounced low and fell back. The king was nowhere to be seen… Only the same flapping of wings and mocking laughter could be heard from above.
"We will meet again!" came a triumphant cry.
"We'll meet," Ryubi agreed, clutching a new spear in her hand.
But then they heard a heart-rending, plaintive meow. The griffin endured for a long time, but realizing that he himself would not be able to escape from under the stones that had buried him, he decided to hurry up the help a little.
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