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 and 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
