by Ryan Johnson
“But the question remains: how is Lusìvar even alive?” he asked. “In the legends, he was casted away by a god. In other words, he should be dead.”
Suddenly evil whispers and chanting echoed from the cloth. All the creatures and the hybrid and the humans looked at the cloth: they heard the evil voices coming from the rag Vaeludar thought to be a regular washcloth.
The Dragon King turned his eyes toward Vaeludar.
“No, Vaeludar,” he whispered. “His body had been destroyed but his spirit remained bonded to these lands. Gods don’t kill their creations, so he was imprisoned somewhere and now he has broken free. We have just heard echoes from this cloth, which means Lusìvar himself had touched it once. Lusìvar still lives and you, Vaeludar, you have many great powers that a single creature had never possessed before.
“And so, your parents tried to gather these artifacts for you, but it seems they have come across mysterious obstacles. Big obstacles you would have to overcome to find these artifacts. Lusìvar’s would be a tremulous power, of which you would also have to overcome. These artifacts would make you grow stronger and be equally as powerful as him.”
“So now, I’m at war?”
“We have been at war, ever since the Minotaur showed up,” said Geraldus. “After you killed the Minotaur, the Dragons and all the creatures have been investigating other events happening around Shimabellia. My village wasn’t the only village under attack; there have been attacks on every part of the island. My village was to be the main attack, but you have disrupted a large invasion.”
Vaeludar had never thought he would have stopped the largest invasion aimed at the village he was living in. Was it pure luck or was it fate for him to have been there at the right time to stop it?
Before he could think any more clearly, a horn from the watchtower blew loudly.
“Could that be what I’m thinking it must be?” said Geraldus, impatiently.
“King Uragiru approaches,” yelled a crier. “King Uragiru approaches.”
“The king is here now,” said Geraldus. “We’ll have to discuss this matter later, after I kindly get rid of the king.”
“I don’t think so,” said the Faery Queen. “You can’t just turn away the king. The journey form the capital city is a few-week journey. He had traveled far and you would just toss him away?”
“I wouldn’t mean it like that,” said Geraldus.
“This talk can be brought to the king, Geraldus,” said the Dragon King. “We can continue this with King Uragiru, and I’m sure he can help us instead of keeping this secret from him. The king commands the biggest and best army on Shimabellia; he would be able to counterattack against these small raids before a massive invasion occurs within this island.”
Geraldus nodded and disbanded.
While the creatures of royalty either walked or flew and Geraldus and his sons walked towards running hooves, Vaeludar flew above the watchtower’s roof. He saw seven running horsemen and three battalions of soldiers in single formation.
Vaeludar had seen the leading horsemen running ahead of the soldiers and the soldiers coming to a stop.
Not wanting to be seen anymore, Vaeludar flew back to his open window room. He knew the one person he wanted to see may have been among them, but he didn’t need an audience with soldiers. He knew how to entertain a crowd of country people but not a crowd of armored soldiers, men trained to fight.
He made his way through the open window. He saw the sword still leaning against the wall he placed it at. He grabbed it and held it in one hand. Then he felt a rumbling sound. “A little hungry,” he whispered. “I haven’t eaten in the past few days.”
Vaeludar made his way down to the kitchen where food had been placed on shelves fully cooked and ready to be eaten.
He found some apples and ate four in forty seconds; ten seconds each. Then he found some piles of roasted, glazed chicken on the wooden table and ate two long slices. After filling on some meat and fruits, Vaeludar went to the wide open entrance hall and sat down on a silky chair on the farthest side.
“My training took a lot of hybrid manpower from me. It seems even I have limitations to my body strength and energy. And I would have thought I would be a pro at this kind, but it seems I have to limit my own body energies.”
Then his ear twitched at a tiptoeing sound coming behind him. He saw Naìra and Andrei coming his way. They curiously asked him what happened during the past few days. He told them the truth of what he did: sword training.
Vaeludar pulled out the sword and showed them the blue blade. He was careful not to swing the blade in any circle, fearing he would cut one or both girls. He pointed the sword upward so they wouldn’t be able to touch the sharp blade. He told them he found it in a cave and took ownership of it.
After telling of what he had been doing, he sheathed it and walked away. They ran in front of him and pleaded him to tell them more.
“Now, girls,” he said, “We have important people coming, and I need to be out there with your father. So now I must take my leave.” Vaeludar walked to the door and opened it.
Before he could walk out, Vaeludar saw there was a girl about the age as him with light crimson hair, a pale face, and eyes sparkling like the starry sky. Blue fins clung from her shoulders. She was dressed in a royal robe made of blue silk. She was standing straight up, and had strange teeth in her mouth. She looked mostly human, and her skin compiled of blue fish scales.
“Marina?” Vaeludar exclaimed.
DEALING WITH A SIREN AND ROYALTY
V
aeludar saw the girl standing in front of him if he was looking at a real princess that was a Siren. But a Siren was a fishy monster thought to have lived by rocky beaches and use their singing voices to mind-trick sailors to gaze at beautiful women and lure them to disastrous deaths.
It was said Sirens had lived out by ocean shores, waiting for any ships to come into view of their territory. The Sirens would use their singing voices to hypnotize the sailors and tricking them into thinking they were looking at beautiful human ladies. Each ship would go in the direction of the Sirens and be bloody greeted by the jaws of sharp teeth from the Sirens.
Many stories of female Sirens eating human men existed for some hundreds of years. All humans thought Sirens to be monsters hiding beneath the beauty of a human woman, even Vaeludar had until he saved this Siren from certain death and won her heart immediately thereafter.
However, this Siren wasn’t so dangerous, and she was standing in front of Vaeludar and he was surprised to see her.
“Ma-Marina,” Vaeludar suddenly coughed nervously.
The Siren smiled big and laughed out loud of thinking Vaeludar was mistakenly chocking on something. “After five years of not seeing me, you have to spit out a bread crumb?” she asked in a clear soggy voice.
Vaeludar cleared his throat. He stood up straight and looked at Marina’s eyes, which were humanlike and very bright blue. “Marina, welcome of the capital of the Western Region. How might I help you be more comfortable?”
“He loves her,” said the twins behind him.
Marina tried to hide her laughing, seeing how cute it was when the twin girls were behind Vaeludar.
Vaeludar smiled as he tried to hide his nervousness and embarrassment. He paid so much attention at one girl he forgotten two younger girls behind him. He started to sweat in his hair.
Vaeludar quickly turned around and saw Andrei and Naìra standing behind him, innocent looking as if they said nothing.
Still keeping his smile and not unleashing anything negative that could blast them to the stars, Vaeludar exited the house and joined Marina. As he did, he shut the door behind him. “So,” he said, ignoring what happened behind his back. “Marina… it… it… it had been five years since I last you. And you look the most beautiful as ever and the same… Siren as ever.”
He was nervous now more than ever. It felt embarrassing for him to be standing a
nd smiling big and wanting to lose his cool over a small fun thing Naìra and Andrei had pulled.
“And you look the same hybrid as ever,” Marina joked. “After five years, you haven’t visited, didn’t write anything, and didn’t appear in any festivals or any parties, and not even appearing on every anniversary the king and his royal family celebrate on; the anniversary of the day you saved my life on.”
“I couldn’t come and I had my reasons, Marina. I couldn’t come to any part of the castle’s festivities because I’m the only creature to be a human and a dragon. People where you live are used to seeing Centaurs, Merpeople, and Faeries because they look human but they are not. The nobles living in the capital city wouldn’t want to see a human dragon hybrid walking among them. I wouldn’t even want to live in a big city with so many people walking everywhere; someone might trip over my tail. I wouldn’t want to be a hybrid outsider living in the city you’re living in right now.”
“But the only time you weren’t an outsider was the day you saved me from those merchants,” said Marina. “You are not an outsider to me; you are a hero. Don’t you remember that day?”
“Of course, I always remember that day,” Vaeludar said firmly. “That was the day we first met. Those bloody merchants paid to kill your kin for hunting purposes. I remember what happened to the Sirens. All were killed for devouring men, but not you. You are Marina, the last Siren. I saw you caught in the net and ten hatful men trying to end your life. I pounced in and burned them and saved you. You weren’t a monster from what I saw, Marina; a lovely fish-in-distress who needed help.”
“Who are you calling a ‘fish’? I am a Siren.”
“Well, I’ve heard Sirens are part of the underwater fish family.”
“And you have heard wrong. Sirens are not small, three-inch creatures with fins and tails. I consider my species part of the human race, a thousand times removed.”
“That sounds logical enough,” said Vaeludar. “I am starting to do away with this outsider stuff and should really be with someone who could be considered an outsider, which was considered to have a dangerous reputation.”
“Without you, I wouldn’t be…” Marina paused. Her eyes shifted from Vaeludar to the hilt of the sword sheathed away. “What is that behind your back?”
Vaeludar blinked as to why the Siren was asking about the sword he had tucked away. He could his mind off Marina since it had been five years he last saw her. Then Vaeludar grabbed untied and grabbed the scabbard, so Marina would know what she was asking about. “You mean this big thing?”
Marina saw the sword and the scabbard it is sheathed in. She didn’t look impressed. “You’re holding a piece of junk.”
Now Vaeludar wasn’t impressed by Marina’s judgment of the awesome sword he was holding. “How can you say ‘junk’ to this thing?” he asked. Then Vaeludar grabbed the hilt and drew out the blade.
Marina gave a small soft scream by the sight of Vaeludar quickly pulling out the sword. Her scream was so soft and silent it couldn’t scare a pigeon from a stone cold statue.
“What was that for? I wanted to show you this isn’t some ‘junk,’ it is a sword I found. You didn’t need to scream. Unless you were thinking I was going to cut something up.”
“Cut something up?” said Marina. “That thing was one of the things that killed many Sirens. Many of my people had been felled by these weapons and you’re carrying one of them. I have sensitive soars of that thing. I don’t want to be seeing one.”
“I haven’t killed anyone with this thing. I just found this sword a few days ago.” Vaeludar held up the sword and hoped the blue blade would kill Marina’s anxiety of the blade; he knew the Siren’s favorite color was blue. He knew she wouldn’t be able to resist keeping her eyes off the sword.
“I don’t care if you killed with the thing, I don’t want to see a weapon I remember seeing in nearly killing me or killing my mother.”
It didn’t seem to be working. Vaeludar trying to show the blue blade to Marina’s eyes was causing more flares than admiration. Then, he spun the blade in a full circle and a blue mist echoed from Vaeludar’s spin of the sword.
Marina’s eyes had sparked with amazement. Her anger of the weapon turned into curiosity and into a great wonder. Her quick anger transformed into a quick marvel. It appeared anything that was blue-colored of anything can change the heart of a Siren in a matter of seconds.
“Now since that’s settled, I need to know: why did the king come here?” asked Vaeludar. He quickly placed the sword back into the scabbard and flung it onto his back. “Has he heard of me killing the Minotaur?”
Marina blinked when Vaeludar drew away the sword. She looked like she was in a trance when she was looking at the blue sword Vaeludar was holding. She rubbed her head before answering, “Yes. King Uragiru traveled from the capital to see you. And it had been five years since he was last been here and five years since I last saw you, so I wanted to come alone.”
“But…” said Vaeludar.
“But I wasn’t the only—”
“She wasn’t the only one that wanted direct attention from you,” said another female voice, interrupting both Marina and Vaeludar.
Vaeludar and Marina looked towards a seventeen-year-old girl dressed about the same as Marina but in pink. Her hair was blond, and her face was covered in makeup, which made her seem attractive.
Vaeludar knew the girl had to be royalty and saw she was beautiful, but she couldn’t be compared to Marina.
“So you’re the creature who killed the monster,” she said in a cheerful mood. “I always wanted to see you up close. And stay away from him, Marina. He is mine. He is so mine.”
“What do you mean, Stephanie?” asked Marina.
“I know what she means: she wants me to be her groom,” said Vaeludar, flapping his wings and rising to the house’s roof. “That is not going to happen. I’m not going to be any princess’ groom-to-be.”
“Oh, yes you will and get down here,” she ordered.
“I don’t take orders from royalty,” argued Vaeludar lying down on the roof and overlapping his legs and positioning his body if he was lying on a couch. “If you haven’t heard about the recent fights going around in this town, you’re going to be in one heck of a surprise. I’d suggest you stay clear of my wrath and my hybrid power.”
“Get down this instant!”
“Now you’re sounding like a mother. This is becoming more entertaining every second passing by. Maybe I should visit the capital city more often.”
“Get down here or I’ll order the guards to bring you down here!”
“Oh and just how will the guards be able to get me down if I’m standing up here, Princess Stephanie?” asked Vaeludar. “Your royal guards are humans and humans can’t fly.”
“I’ll call the honorary guards and have you roped down here.” Stephanie kept yelling out threats to get Vaeludar.
Vaeludar wasn’t listening to her bumbling threats. He raised his hands if he was holding something invisible. He was growing irritated of hearing endless threats from a royal princess. He held out his hand and a puff of cloud smoldered above his fingertips. Vaeludar pushed the cloud above Stephanie, and she didn’t take notice to the flying cloud above her.
And in soft tap from a finger, the cloud poured rain right on the annoying princess.
Stephanie started to shiver because the water was very icy cold. Marina wasn’t breathing because she was laughing so hard. Vaeludar knew how to impress and disappoint two princesses at once.
“You see,” pointed out Vaeludar, smiling big. “I cannot be won that easily. If you want me, you’ll have to win my heart first and to love me. I apologize for saying this; there is someone who had already won it. And she is standing in front of me.” Vaeludar starred at the Siren laughing away.
Marina laughter burst into silence. Her eyes turned into from a starry eye to emerald eyes; he eyes changed color like a chameleon camouflagin
g its skin color.
“Marina, I’ve won your heart when I saved you, and in doing so, you’ve also won my heart. It was love at first sight, for both of us. You have no idea how much I lo—”
“Your little confession is going have to wait,” said Geraldus, walking with a man dressed in royal red and blue robes. The man was King Uragiru.
The king appeared to be an old man; his hair was mixed with silver and white. A long, white beard covered his chin. Behind King Uragiru and Geraldus was a squad of fifteen armed and armored soldiers holding tall spears with a small banner waving in a weak wind.
They both drew to a halt.
Vaeludar and Marina drew their attention towards the two men. A soaked Stephanie looked angrily at the king Uragiru, her father and adopted father of Marina.
“So this is the hybrid that killed the Minotaur,” said King Uragiru. “His face doesn’t seem to have changed in the past five years since I last saw him, Geraldus. Vaeludar, is it?”
“I am,” replied Vaeludar.
“You don’t seem to have changed that much, other than growing many inches in the past five years. Yes, I never would have thought you would have been able to be a fighter or take on a large monster.” King Uragiru turned his gaze to his other daughter who was walking up slowly, still drenched in cold water. “I see you met my daughter and the Siren who wanted to see you,” he said, smiling.
“I cannot become someone’s groom from out of the blue,” said Vaeludar. “I don’t need to be someone’s husband just because of how powerful I am. I am my own person and I control my life as I see fit. As long as I remain half dragon, I won’t become anyone’s living trophy.”
“Indeed,” responded the king, turning back to see Vaeludar. “It is interesting how news can travel fast in these lands.”
“Your Majesty?” said Vaeludar.
“I heard a certain powerful specimen that killed a Minotaur without being harmed or getting killed. When I heard this, I needed to see you. You killed a Minotaur that would take ten men to kill. The last time I ever you was when you saved this lovely, young Siren.”