Alexander Pererva - The Cup of Galfar. Alderosa's Daughter

Corgy told Hannagh about all of the circumstances of her trip to the market.

“What did the boy look like? Describe him,” Hannagh was instantly alert.

But she could tell him nothing specific, just that the boy looked ten or twelve.

Hannagh was quiet for some time, deep in thought and his burning eyes dimmed. Then he continued calmly:

“All right. Tell me more.”

“Well, the grumba got in Irene the artist’s hands. And they decided to keep it in the bathtub and feed it. They thought it was a regular fish.”

Hannagh raised his eyebrows:

“Keep the grumba in the bathtub? How long did they keep him there?”

“Not long. There was no time for a real transformation, but he did manage to cause some trouble. Anyway, two days ago he was cooked.”

“What about the viamulator? They found it?” Hannagh’s question sounded like a statement.

“Yes,” Corgy lowered her eyes. “I saw Alex, the pilot, yesterday. So I questioned him carefully. He said yes, he hadn’t seen it himself, but his wife and daughter had found a trinket in the fish’s belly. So, for them it’s just a trinket.”

“Are you sure that they won’t guess what it is or turn it on accidentally?”

“They won’t have the time,” Corgy’s voice sounded subtly triumphant. “I got all of them. I was able to put a spell on the grumba, and now, having eaten him, they are all under the spell now.”

“What kind of spell did you use?”

Corgy was apparently expecting this question. She straightened up, and her lips spread in a triumphant smile.

“Oh, this is an entirely new and very exquisite kind of magic,” she said proudly.

Lemonade pricked his ears and leaned forward.

“I affected the speed of electical impulses spreading along the nerve fibres. It is a known fact that human brain controls every function of the body with these impulses. So, I made the speed of these impulses gradually and inevitably slow down, and in nine days it will go down to zero.”

“And they’ll die?”

Lemonade started at Hannagh’s words.

“Oh no. Not at all. What do we, I mean, you need dead bodies for? And these are, I assure you, high-quality bodies, young and beautiful. In nine days they’ll turn into dolls, motionless live dolls. If now it takes them three hours to take one step, in nine days they will freeze completely. And then we can easily take them to Galfar and separate the ‘aenous’ from the shell. And I will get the viamulator. We kill two birds with one stone this way.”

Corgy finished speaking and looked at Hannagh triumphantly. He was staring vacantly into space, leaning his chin on his crossed fingers. His mouth was twisted in a slight grin. He seemed to have missed everything that had been said. Corgy was waiting, her triumphant look slowly replaced by a grimace of disappointment.

“Very well!” Hannagh’s unexpectedly loud exclamation startled Corgy. “I like it. But, is there any guarantee that no one would break the spell? I have heard that there are people even on Earth who are able to manipulate subtle energies.”

“You are talking about so-called mediums. You don’t need to worry about them, they are not powerful enough for that kind of magic. I assure you, my lord, that no one here on Earth can break the spell, and in nine days it will be impossible, I beg your pardon, even for a Guard of the Cup to do.” Corgy bowed her head again.

“Well, in that case check the old ‘window’ today. We will do the transfer through it.”

“But it has long been closed. After several accidents the whole complex was closed down. It is sealed now.”

“I said, use the old one,” Hannagh interrupted her harshly. “It never had any glitches.”

“I hear you, my lord,” Corgy bowed low again.

At that moment Lemonade felt an intense itch in his nose. It was unclear what caused it, whether the cigarette smoke or the dust under the couch. It didn’t really matter; what mattered was that Lemonade, hard as he tried, couldn’t help but sneeze into his paws. At that moment there was a pause in the conversation, and, although the sneeze was muffled, it was clearly heard in the quiet room.

The woman and the person she was talking to turned their heads simultaneously in the direction of the couch. Hannagh’s face looked angry and almost furious, Corgy looked surprised and startled.

Lemonade pressed himself farther under the couch, rolled into a tight ball and prepared for the worst. Most of all now he wanted to fall through the floor, but the floor was sturdy, and there was nowhere to go.

Corgy got up quickly, approached the couch, kneeled down and looked under. Lemonade saw her wary face up close, her startled eyes were darting in all directions. He bared his claws, ready to swat the hand that would reach out for him. But something strange happened. Corgy searched all under the couch with her eyes, and they never stopped on the cat frozen in tense expectation. Then she got off her knees, shrugged and said with disappointment but also obvious relief:

“There’s no one. Might have been a couch spring, it happens sometimes.”

Hannagh, who was still staring at the couch suspiciously, snapped:

“I don’t like any of it. Please deal with your couch springs. Just remember, there’s no room for mistakes now.”

And then he vanished.

The room went back to its regular look. The TV screen was off, and it looked like any other TV now. Corgy sighed with relief and left the room, fixing her hair as she walked. Lemonade decided not to test his luck anymore, he’d found out enough information, and he darted out the window. In a few minutes he was home, where Allie and Lu had been waiting with hopeful impatience.

Lemonade made it back just in time. Allie was almost losing her mind with worry and concern about her parents. When Corgy had said it would take them three hours to take one step, she wasn’t far from the truth.

Indeed, their movements had slowed down so much that at a first glance it seemed that the two adults were playing the children’s game of “Freeze”. It was unclear whether they realized something was wrong with them. To Allie’s parents, the world around them must have accelerated enormously. The night must have passed by in a couple of minutes, which was confirmed by the surprised look on Mom’s face turned toward the window. All of Allie’s movements, who was just walking around the room, must seem so fast to them that they weren’t able to see their daughter, just as we are unable to see a flying bullet. All of this made Allie quite desperate. A few times she tried to call the ambulance, but Lu talked her out of it.

When Lemonade saw Allie’s tearful eyes and found out what was going on, he firmly announced:

“No doctors! It is absolutely useless, and potentially dangerous. They’d start treating them for who knows what, and might only harm them. We’ve got nine days to act. Just listen to this.”

Trying not to miss any details, Lemonade told Allie and Lu about everything he had seen and heard at Corgy’s apartment. He only left out the last episode of his adventurous sortie, deciding not to puzzle them with yet another mystery.

“Well, girls, it seems like it’s a real sorcerers’ hub in there,” he concluded his story.

Lu, who had been impatiently pacing the room, stopped and said:

“No, it seems that the hub is elsewhere. Corgy looks like a mere pawn in the game, and all of the big figures are…” the monkey stopped there, scratching her head. “What is Galfar, by the way? The word sounds positively familiar. Well, there are more mysteries than there are answers. But we found out the main thing: it is possible to break the spell that your parents are under, although we’ve only got nine days to do it. The trouble is, only Corgy herself can do it.”