Cite

His eyes shone with open emotion: hope and wonder after a long period of darkness, the beautiful look of a child who, having passed through the gloom of puberty, is suddenly shown that unicorns and fairies are real after all.

He smiled in surprise. He put his hand up to touch her face, perhaps brush away a stray hair... before his fingers did what they really wanted and pulled her chin closer to him. He kissed her on the lips.

It was brief, but in the moment their skin touched she closed her eyes and consumed him: his smell, his warmth, the movement of his mouth against hers. It was like... A good-night kiss.

Over too quickly, but every moment of it meant a universe.

All those years before, and all those years in between... She had dreamed so many different scenarios of this moment! Ariel as a human, Ariel as a mer. Eric as a mer! Eric opening his eyes right when she rescued him and kissing her, falling in love with her on the spot. Eric kissing her in the boat, when she really, really thought he was going to, and the night was so romantic... Kissing her on any of the three mornings, or realizing at the last minute Vanessa was a fake and kissing Ariel instead, and the wedding would have been for them...

And here it finally was.

The pictures on the back of the strange-feeling vellum were far more disturbing than the weird Dry World creature on the front. There were lines and shapes that looked like they could be runes but shuddered when she tried to look at them too closely. Curves somehow didn't bend properly on the paper, and constellations of dots made her sick when she studied them, suggesting terrible things.

Ariel shook her head at the blasphemous sigils. «I don't know what these say for certain. They aren't mer runes; they're like a twisted, upside-down version of them. If I had to guess I would say they're black runes of the Deep Ones. Forbidden, evil... the whole deal».

«Can you read them at all?»

«This is just a noise, I think», – she said, pointing. – «Like ai ai. No idea what 'phtaqn' means. This here I think refers to a circuex, a powerful spell that is capable of disrupting – or joining – worlds. This looks like the mer word for 'blood', and that looks like a determinative for 'god'. Or possibly 'great' or 'lots'».

«So...»

«So she needs blood, the blood of a god». – Ariel bit her lip, seeing where it was all leading. – «Ancient blood flows through my father's veins... That would explain why she's keeping him around. She needs him for something, something involving magic. But for what exactly I can't tell».

Ariel felt sick as she said the words. She pushed the paper back at him.

«Here, please take this. I don't enjoy the feel of dead human skin».

«Dead...? Human...?» – Eric took it back, aghast.

«Just that everything she did to you and your father didn't keep you down. You popped up, older, stronger, more powerful than ever. She realizes she didn't beat you enough last time. Now she wants complete victory, which involves wiping out your home».

Eric smiled. «I think my character would have a song about how he's been caught by a siren and is under her spell».

Ariel made a face. «I'm not a siren. Trust me. I have cousins... distant cousins... We don't get along. But what were you saying? About Ursula?»

«Exactly. Then she wins the bet, you lose your voice, she gets your dad, she becomes princess, you swim sadly back down to the bottom of the sea... But then you resurface in her life, and you're Queen of the Sea. You manage to get your voice back. You control storms and the heart of the man she is married to...»

«I do?» – Ariel asked with delight.

«I'm just telling a story here. But yes, obviously. You've become a queen, a woman with a complicated personality. You have hidden depths and a wisdom and intelligence that all went unnoticed before by an idiot prince whose heart couldn't listen to anything his ears couldn't hear».

Ariel felt a little giddy. «I control storms and the heart of a prince. I like that». If she were in the sea she would have been swooning, thrashing her tail and spinning in circles until she was dizzy.

Well, as a girl. Not as queen, not where anyone could have seen her.

Though her whole walking straight into the water without floating or swimming thing was more than a little creepy. Almost like a lead soldier.

«Let's... just... see how it goes», – she said, heading off to the water.

He watched her walk straight into the waves, no hesitation, no floating, until it was up to her neck. «Hey – aren't you going to ruin your clothes?» – he called.

She rolled her eyes and dove, letting her tail hit the surface like a whale's, slapping a spray in his direction.

«Oh, my cod», – Ariel said, putting a hand to her head.

«Why?» – she finally asked, voice cracking. – «She's got my dad: she's got your kingdom, she's got me beat no matter what I do! What more does she want? Why does she need to destroy everything?»

«She's not a rational being, Ariel. She's like... a walking mouth that's hungry all the time. She sees something and she wants it. So she does everything she can to get it. She wanted revenge on your father and you. She thought she got it, and was content, and moved on to the next thing – ruling Tirulia. But then you showed up again. To stop her. You're like an annoying gnat she can't slap away».

«I don't know what a 'gnat' is».

«Um... kind of like a remora? Tiny thing that bites you and sucks your blood and irritates you?»

«I'm a parasitic fish that has latched on to her and won't let go», – Ariel said flatly, trying not to imagine what the words looked like.

«No, that's not – look, forget the gnat. And the remora. She hates you, maybe just because you remind her of your dad. Weirdly, I don't think she's just jealous of your beauty or youth, which is how it would go in a traditional fairy tale», – he added, looking thoughtful. – «That's sort of how I made it in my opera, and it's a motive that most people understand. Audiences love that kind of thing; jealousy is simple, it makes sense. But I don't think that's all of what's going on here».

Lockpicking Instructions

Since selling thief-tools with no instructions can produce angry thieves, Farkus provides a brief «owner's manual» for his wares.

Хаммерит: Давай найдём убийцу и свершим скорое правосудие...

Хаммерит: Бдительность – щит наш, укрывающий нас от нашего жалкого прошлого. Знания – оружие наше, которым мы высечем путь в светлое будущее.

Хаммерит: Душа добродетельного человека стоит десяти злодейских душ, ибо разве не может добродетельный сразить нечестивца и вместе с тем сохранить свою добродетель?

Хаммерит: Какая проникновенная проповедь... В ней перечислялись битвы с участием Святого Анвилита-Кузнеца... И поражение орд Трикстера и языческой заразы... Сие всегда заставляет сердце моё стучать словно молот самого Строителя...

Хаммерит: Тот, кто оценивает ценность жизни своей количеством золота своего, уподобляется тому, кто оценивает ценность дома количеством древесных опилок, что осыпались на землю во время строительства его.

Хаммерит: Придёшь ли ты, когда Он призовёт? Дашь ли ты ответы, когда Он потребует их? Пойдёшь ли ты, бросив всё, дабы смог ты взять инструменты Его?

Хаммерит: Еси ты молот, иль еси ты гвоздь? С точки зрения доски разницы нет. Но с точки зрения гвоздя разница великая.

Хаммерит: Слава праведника и смерть нечестивцам. Да воздастся каждому по заслугам его, и горе будет тому, кто возропощет на награду свою.

Хаммерит: Каждый год жизни твоей закладывает фундамент для будущего. Человек, что молодость свою тратит бездумно, закладывает фундамент жизни своей из грязи, и в итоге разрушается он...

Хаммерит: И стал человек перед Строителем, и Строитель вопрошал у него: «Подвергнешь ли ты себя лишениям и испытаниям ради Меня?» И человек ответил Ему: «Нет! Я не желаю страдать!» И Строитель убил его, ибо не возжелал человек тот страданий, коими вся жизнь наполнена.

Хаммерит: Направь на Строителя пристальный взгляд сей.

Стражник: Ха, вот тебе хороший урок... Правда, ты уже мёртв, но что поделаешь...

Смитти: Продолжайте следить, здесь кто-то есть, или меня зовут не Смитти...

Язычник: Думаешь... Не думаешь... Диана сказать – значит, мы выполнять!