The Turquoise Queen by Pedro Urvi (animal farm read TXT) 📕

threat is destroyed, you will return my Star. I think that is a fair exchange. One favor for another.”

Eicewald turned to the team and looked at them enquiringly. Lasgol knew that they had no choice. Either they accepted what the Queen asked of them, or else they would never get out of there alive, still less with the Star. He nodded at the Mage in agreement, as did Ingrid, and the others did the same a moment later. They all knew it was the only way out of their predicament.

Eicewald made a reverent gesture. “We accept, your Majesty.”

“Good.” She indicated Camu. “Take the creature. He can help you against the power of Olagar.”  She turned to her Shaman. “Arrain, you take them to my enemy.”

“Of course, your majesty.”

“Leave without delay. May the Mother Sea protect you all. I hope you can succeed, and that you come back alive.” Her eyes turned to Eicewald as though she really hoped, or cared, that the Mage would come back alive from this mission.

“Thank you, your Majesty. We’ll leave at once.”

Arrain beckoned them to follow him outside. As they were leaving the throne-hall Lasgol looked back and saw the Queen causing the Star of Sea and Life to vanish, the same way she had made it appear.

The group followed the Mage to the shore of the great salt lake. “Wait here,” he said. “I’ll get everything ready. I won’t be long.”

Twenty guards and four Shamans had been left with them, so that they had no chance to try anything.

“What did you all think about the proposal?” Nilsa asked. She was so nervous she could not keep still.

Gerd shook his head. “I don’t like it at all.”

“You’re saying that because this Olagar character must be a shaman with great power, surrounded by an army,” Viggo said with heavy irony, “and all we have to do is kill him? It’ll be the easiest thing in the world. You wait and see.”

“Yeah,” Ingrid said, “the Turquoise Queen sends us to deal with her problem, and it looks as though it’s a pretty unpleasant one.”

“It’s not as if we had any other viable option,” Astrid pointed out.

“Eicewald?” Lasgol said. He wanted to know what the Mage thought.

“I fear he's going to be a dangerous and powerful enemy. I’d like to think that Uragh is sending us more because of the distance involved than because this man is a terrible adversary. I think she could destroy him with her power, if she didn’t have to leave her own land.”

“Let’s hope that’s it,” said Viggo. “Otherwise, this mess we’re in is going to get worse by the moment.”

Arrain came back with weapons, equipment and supplies for the journey. “The canoes will be here shortly,” he told Eicewald.

“Do we have a chance, old friend, or is it an impossible mission?” Eicewald asked him directly.

“Yes, you do,” the Shaman assured him. “Otherwise, the Queen wouldn’t have sent you. Her Majesty is severe but fair. She wouldn’t send you to certain death.”

“Thank you, my friend. If that’s so, then we’ll make it.”

Arrain nodded. “I hope you do.”

His answer reassured the team to some extent. They had a chance, and they would take it, as they always did. Astrid winked encouragingly at Lasgol, and he squeezed her hand unobtrusively.

It was not long before the canoes that would take them to the Ferocious Islands appeared. They were larger than the ones they had used on their arrival, more than twice as wide, and could carry fifteen. The team took up their places to row in the first. Three savages in front and three behind completed the crew. Arrain, Eicewald and fifteen warriors went in the second one, and they left without delay, as the Queen had ordered.

Lasgol was surprised that there were so few of them. The Queen was not sending her army to accompany them, not even a war party: no more than an escort which would help them to reach the islands. They would have to deal with the problem themselves. Trying to relax, he petted Ona and Camu, who were between him and Astrid, and felt better. His two faithful companions were happy to be on a new adventure, unaware of the risks they were about to run. They never were, particularly Camu, for whom any adventure was a source of enjoyment, even if it meant heading straight into the wolf’s mouth.

The first day of their journey was quiet, since they were still within the turquoise realm. When they reached the great ring of mist which surrounded the archipelago, Arrain seemed to know where they had to make their way in. As had happened the first time, they found themselves unable to see beyond their noses. Both canoes stayed close together, but were unable to see one another, so that they risked bumping into one another – or worse, drifting apart and never finding one another again.

From Arrain’s canoe, the crew began to call with a conch. The second canoe, their own, followed the sound, and for another whole day they went on like this.

“How do you think Arrain’s navigating in this unspeakable fog?” Viggo asked. “I can’t even see my feet.”

“Not a clue,” Nilsa said. “I feel as if I were blind.”

“He’s probably got a pearl like Eicewald’s,” Lasgol suggested. “He’s a Shaman and he has power. He’d be able to use it to navigate through the fog.”

“This new adventure looks really interesting,” said Viggo.

“There aren’t many messes we get into that don’t involve all manner of complications,” Nilsa commented.

“Every mission has its risks,” Ingrid said in an attempt to keep their spirits up, “and we face them and overcome them like the Rangers we are. This is just one more minor complication, and we’ll sort it out the way we’ve sorted out all the others.”

“That’s