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"Do you need an assistant, captain?" having climbed up the rope-ladder easily, smiling Iven stepped onto the deck.

"Dwarf Jim, at your service!" the captain answered cheerfully, "it would be nice to see an Elf in my crew!"

"Our queen sent me to join you," Iven told them. "A troll detachment is pursuing you overland. Maybe, you have something very important for them."

"Any news about the town people?" Lynette asked him.

"An hour ago a whole flotilla sailed away unimpeded," the Elf looked at her, "apparently, the monsters are hunting for nobody but you."

"In the forest they attacked me but let my father and my brothers run away," Lynette pronounced thoughtfully and began to examine the contents of her pockets, pulling out the bunch of keys, the pink kerchief, the comb, another pouch of money, "what can I possibly have?"

"I'll take you to the queen, she can help us to find it out," Iven comforted her and went to the stern, Jim light-heartedly let him hold the steering-wheel.

The declining day flooded the sky above hills with the golden sunlight reflecting in the limpid waters, and the yacht seemed to continue sailing ahead along a liquid amber.

Iven veered into a channel separated from the main river-bed with a long willow-grown island and directed the ship towards a wooden pier where a dozen of Elves had already been waiting for them. Andreas helped Jim to pull rigging ropes, and the sails got folded. Iven threw the mooring hank, the Elves caught it and tied the yacht to a firm pillar.

"Good evening!" one Elf greeted them on their coming down a broad plank they had put across the narrow gap between the board and the pier flooring, "queen Veronica is inviting you for a dinner. I'll show you the way."

He led Lynette, Andreas, Jim and Iven deep into the forest. No path, just a smooth carpet of grass. The last ray of the setting sun faded away, the blue twilight began to shade the thicket, but a small yellow-orange lantern flared up in the hand of their guide seemingly all by itself. Other similar lights flashed between trees, they went in that direction and came out into a not very wide opening. Hanging on branches, garlands of lanterns turned the glade into a mysterious hall. In the middle of it they saw a table laden with food, silver goblets and dishes on a white cloth.

"Welcome!" a pretty woman in a long green dress calmly offered to take chairs. She had a very young but intelligent face, a lily was plaited into her long light-brown hair. Kindness and heartiness in her grey lambent eyes.

"Thank you, your highness!" Jim answered before sitting down, "it's a great honour for us!"

They took silver forks, tasted the dishes amply flavoured with fruit salad and immediately expressed a good appetite. Two Elves, acting as servants, smiled at that mute but sincere appreciation of the cooking and poured some drink from porcelain jugs into the goblets.

"I heard about your troubles, Lynette," queen Veronica pronounced in a while.

"We were going to the dimension of Dryads to make some purchases at their market," Lynette remained calm, as though the placid harmony of the evening subtle charm had assuaged her recollections of the recent events, "but the monsters attacked us on our way to the eastern castle portal."

"I suppose, they want the key your grandmother once gave you," Veronica explained.

"What for? Isn't it just a fine trinket?!" Lynette wondered taking the bunch out, separated the biggest key and put it onto the table so that all of them could view it, "I don't even know whether it matches any lock!"

"It matches the El Dorado portal," Veronica took a goblet in her hand, "somebody has to visit that world periodically and inspect whether it is all right. Your granny was one of such emissaries."

"El Dorado!" Iven exclaimed admiringly with his usual liveliness, "the splendid fabulous land, the marvellous dimension where Elves originated from!.. Trolls must never desecrate and spoil it!"

"Can you hide the key from them, your highness?" Lynette asked staring at the engraved ornamentation of the long haft in a daze.

"Trolls will not leave us alone, the energy of this piece of metal attracts them like a beacon," the queen shook her head, "the only way out is to find El Dorado and keep the key there, beyond their reach, till they are defeated here."

"Then, I will deliver it there," Lynette pronounced quietly but resolutely and united the bunch into a single whole again, "though, my granny never told me the way."

"Maybe, she believed it would be better for you to find the way of your own," Veronica lightly shrugged, "who can ever comprehend his destiny?.."

"My ship is at your disposal!" the Dwarf declared merrily.

"We'd better depart stealthily under the cover of the night," Andreas looked at Lynette.

"Elves can see in the darkness, you'll need me," Iven also manifested his wish to go on a voyage.

"I will not dissuade you from this dangerous mission," Veronica smiled with benevolent warmth, "you are free to follow the call of your hearts, and I cherish hopes for your success."

They drank a silent toast and stood up, the queen waved them goodbye. Lanterns in hands, Elves escorted them through the forest back to the pier. The rising sickle moon gleamed from behind hills and gave enough light to set sails, the favourable night breeze slowly moved the yacht away.

"Have a safe journey! Return soon!" the Elves wished them good luck, dimmed their lights out and disappeared in the silvery bluish-azure shades before the ship left the channel.

"The pursuers must have lost us for some time," Iven gazed at the woodland intently, but no enemies allowed themselves to be seen on the banks, no noise disturbed the quiet, only gentle lapping of the crystal water glimmering with moonlight. "I'll be on watch."

"I'll substitute you in a couple of hours," Jim nodded and turned to Lynette and Andreas, "let me show you your rooms."

The Dwarf opened the hatch in the front wall of the stern height, they went downstairs to the lower deck illuminated with Elvish lanterns, passed a hall with a broad lunch counter and entered a corridor, neat yellow-brown wooden panelling all around. Jim pointed at two doors in a suite of several cabins.

"Wake me up when my turn comes, I'll be on watch too," Andreas asked the captain.

Her face and her gestures looking very tired, Lynette indifferently chose the nearest apartment. A green woollen blanket and a white pillow on a berth, a bedside-table and a compact built-in wardrobe, a round porthole. She took her caftan off and put it over the chair-back apathetically, her russet silk shirt twinkled softly when she bent down to unbuckle her high-boots, then she curled herself on the bed and closed her eyes.