Gryphon dynasty. Natalie Yacobson

sandy shore, turned back into princes, and began to waltz with her each in turn.

      «She’s still alive and in one piece!» Orvel proclaimed. «This is our victory! It’s good to have at least one friend on all of us who isn’t afraid of the fact that we’re werewolves.»

      «Magic can take its toll on her later, and she, too, will jump off the wall or grow feathers like pustules, or wither away!» The other princes began listing the dangers, but Orvell didn’t care.

      «They’re overprotective,» he explained to Fiona.

      And then she was suddenly attracted by the golden light. It pulled her toward him like a magnet, and she broke free from Orvell’s grasp.

      «There it is!» Fiona pointed under a big boulder.

      «What’s in there?» Orvel wondered. «It’s just a stone.»

      «It’s all glowing!»

      «I don’t see anything.»

      «I can definitely see light around the boulder,» Fiona insisted.

      «There must have been a mermaid sitting on it recently. There would have been traces of her magic on the surface.»

      «Can’t you see under the boulder? There must be something hidden under it.»

      Fiona’s ears perked up. She thought she could hear the sound of dwarves’ hammers right here on the beach.

      «It is as you wish, pretty girl!» Orvel wanted to oblige her, and with a light touch of his hand moved the enormous boulder easily out of the way.

      Fiona was astonished. There was more strength in Orvel alone than in the giant. And what he could do with all his brothers, who also appeared to have magical powers! And all of them together cannot overthrow Ornella alone! What is so special about their sister?

      «You’re right!» Orvel discovered a deep hole under a boulder, in which something glistened enticingly. A moment later he pulled out a huge chest full of luxurious gold jewelry and ancient gold coins. The massive lid of the chest was forged in the shape of some fantastic city and adorned with gems.

      «The mermaid must have hidden them,» said Archibald uneasily.

      «It is best not to touch them,» Terence said.

      «They’re bad luck and attract vengeful ghosts,» agreed Lestan.

      «It is better put it back,» advised several princes at once.

      But Orvel did not want to part with the find.

      «Let Fiona try it on,» he suggested.

      Fiona hesitated. Her dress is plain. It wouldn’t go with such gorgeous crowns and necklaces, but she wanted to try it on anyway. There’s no one here anyway. It is no one to see. The coast is empty all around. And the griffin princes don’t count. They all want to be her suitors. And you can do all the things you can’t do with a cavalier. Tradition was discarded. The peasant dress was adorned with intricate brooches and necklaces. On Fiona’s head Orvel wore a magnificent crown of rubies and pearls. There was also a mirror in the chest. Its handle and frame were also of solid gold. The monograms on the lid of the casket looked like Arcana’s emblems, and Arcana is a state that has long since gone. Legend has it that it was sunk by the king of the sea. The princes noticed it, too, and looked at each other.

      «You can’t joke with mermaids,» Leroy remarked.

      «Is it with live ones or with bony ones, like in Rokuela’s domain?» Warwick asked, irascibly.

      «It is with both!» Several of the brothers answered at once.

      Fiona couldn’t even see which princes were speaking. She glanced in the mirror. The crown and long emerald earrings made her look like a real queen herself. If only she could find a fancy dress somewhere else! Then she would be just like her new friends, the princes.

      She found the jewels herself. Pity that satin and silk, unlike precious metals, do not last. And, consequently, buried along with the jewelry also the chest with the dresses could not.

      «Your jewelry is no worse than that of the queen of the seas, Lilophea,» Orvel commented.

      «It’s a good thing Ornella can’t see me now. She would think I was a witch if she found them,» Fiona thought aloud.

      «Aren’t you a witch?» Orvell was genuinely surprised.

      «Am I a witch?» Fiona sounded frightened. All witches are old and ugly. How can she be compared to them! – I am not a witch!

      «I think you are,» Leroy said casually.

      Fiona didn’t even have time to be offended.

      «If you weren’t a witch, you wouldn’t have spent an hour with us,» said Archibald. «Ordinary girls go crazy if they’re in our company. The ones who turn into griffins tend to die. You’re still alive. So you’re a witch. Or are you a clairvoyant? Or a chosen one of the magical powers whose path leads to the School of Witchcraft?»

      It was something Rokuela had said. Fiona wondered.

      Another gryphon flew over the sea. She wondered if it might be Condor. Fiona’s heart quickened with excitement.

      The gryphon lowered itself onto the sand and turned into the furious Ornella instead of Condor.

      «She must be a witch!» Ornella pointed a clawed hand at Fiona. «If she doesn’t burn, she must be drowned!»

      «Well, no!» Orvel was resolute this time. All the princes surrounded Fiona. Ornella only pressed her lips together angrily. The squad of guards was not with her at the moment. Besides, griffins were more powerful than an army.

      «I am in charge!» Ornella insisted. «I alone decide who lives and who is executed. She is dangerous! She’s a redhead!»

      «This prophecy about redheads is nonsense,» Orvel cut his sister off. «You’re so hung up on it you’ll drive yourself mad.»

      «Let Fiona come and live with us!» Lestan suggested.

      «This is intolerable!» Ornella stomped her foot and her shoe sank into the sand.

      «One less lady at court, one more, what difference does it make?»

      «But she’s just a peasant girl!»

      «So dress her up like a lady and no-one will know the difference,» Lestan could not take his eyes off Fiona and Ornella grew more and more furious.

      «Our ancestors would roll over in their graves with shame if they knew of such frivolity.»

      «When have you ever had any respect for our ancestors?» Orvel snapped at her. «They’re just people. Griffins are just us!»

      Fiona was astonished! She had thought the curse was old, but it was fresh.

      A large cavalry party was galloping toward the shore. Ornella’s guards followed her everywhere. Fiona was frightened.

      «The witch must be put to death or we shall all regret we were sentimental!» Ornella kept on persisting.

      «She is useful!» Orvel stood up for Fiona, pointing to a chest lying in the sand. «Look what she has found! She is the only one who can see the light of buried treasure!»

      «Is she a treasure hunter?» Ornella became alarmed. «And this was not the first time?» She remembered. «The valuables you had with you when you were taken… Did you find them in the earth or in the sand?»

      Fiona nodded.

      «That changes everything!» Ornella immediately showed her greed. «Better to keep her alive for now and test her. If she shows her talent as a treasure hunter in the future, you can consider her saved! I love it when people are useful!»

      Ornella went to meet the party, talked to their leader about something, and took his horse. She liked riding as much as she liked flying through the sky on her own wings.

      «We’ll