- Don't worry," she whispered. - Everything will be fine. Let's write a letter. You know how to write, don't you?
- You bet! I'm a craftsman, not a beggar!
She smiled, waved her hand, and a wooden stand appeared in front of Dale right out of nowhere in the air. It had a pen and a piece of paper on it.
- Write," C'Ran said, "and Dale's fingers clenched on the front door. - I wish my lord Gronar, governor of the province of Olbar in the kingdom of Redana Neyd, health and prosperity.
- To whom?! - Dale did not believe his ears.
- We will send a letter to the princely palace. Let the governor take the father of your bride under his protection. Then Orshava will not be able to use it when she does not find you.
- But why does she need it? Who is she?!
Instead of answering, C'Ran continued to dictate:
- I bring to the attention of the brilliant prince that the Merkan order of magicians Randu kidnapped my bride, a fairy ... what is her name?
- Miriel...
- Fairy Miriel to conduct cruel experiments on her. All Remidei fairies are now in danger. And my fiancée's parents too. Hide the potter Horak under the protection of magicians, so that foreigners could not kidnap him afterward. Randu may be tortured to force a fairy to do as he pleases. I am leaving Cof to find and rescue my beloved one.
- But who will believe my letter? I am a simple craftsman!
- It's not that simple since your fiancée is a fairy. Magicians will check the note for authenticity and make sure that it is not forged. The prince will take measures, you'll see.
- And how will the letter reach the prince? We were removed from the anchor.
- You'll see," C'Ran smiled. - Signature - Dale, the master pottery shop, on the first day of the ninth month of 1273 from the coronation of Neya.
Dale drew up a painting. One of the bosuns brought a cage with a pigeon. The girl tied the note to the leg of the bird and released it. A white spot flashed and dissolved in a black starless sky.
- So we'll sail across the Sunset Ocean to Mercana? - He asked quietly.
Si'ran frowned on her forehead.
- A sunset ocean? Oh, yes. For you, he's Sunset because he's washing the west bank of Remidea. And here it is in the east. We call it Lanno-Ti.
- Lanno-Ti... What does it mean?
- There is a legend on Mercan... About a far, far away world inhabited by powerful creatures. The demigods who had the power to create and destroy worlds. Something happened to their world. Whether it is war or disaster. They had to leave it. And then they decided to create another world for themselves, in the image and likeness of the former, abandoned. So they created our land. To Merkan, Remedy, Vestalei... and another continent, exactly between Remidea and North Mercana. He was called Al'Tantida. The name of their race was Al'Tanty.
"Al'Tanty... - Dale whispered under his nose. The sound of unfamiliar words filled his soul with a strange, thrilling thrill.
For a fraction of a second, he forgot that his beloved was kidnapped by the wily sorcerers of Mercana. That he himself was in mortal danger. The alien name of the ocean has stirred up in its old fantasies of childhood. About romance and adventure. About how he will cross the ocean and see the distant lands.
And here came a strange girl with a strange name, carried him to these very lands. The hidden thirst for adventure, the thirst for the unknown has stirred up and added to the anxiety for Miriel, ardent desire to save her.
Dale was overwhelmed with feelings. It never occurred to him that this C'Ran had nothing to back her up. Was she telling the truth? Has Mirielle been kidnapped by whom, and is C'Ran going to help her?
Dale didn't ask these questions. He only listened silently to C'Ran's story:
- They settled in Al'Tanteed, and people inhabited the rest of the continents. The time had come when they were bored with our world. They decided to move on... They flooded Al'Tantida, drowned her on the bottom of the ocean. And destroyed the traces of their stay on all continents. But they left something behind. Whether on purpose or simply forgotten.
- What did they leave behind? - Dale asked.
C'Ran was making a grimace.
- Diamond Armor, for example. The artifact by which the Randu wizards kidnapped your fiancée. Without it, their Grand Master would not have been able to open a portal between the two continents. The thickness of water in the ocean absorbs magical energy. Even the strongest magician cannot teleport across the ocean. Or transgress, as the Remidian magicians say. Only Diamond Armor can overcome the voracity of the ocean.