However, instead of letting go of Naìra, the Piper flung her down in the trench and drowning in the rushing river.
Without a second thought, Vaeludar air dived into the river. He saw Naìra staying underwater by the river’s speeding current, unable to swim to the surface for air.
But Vaeludar had no experience swimming in a fast river. The river’s current was drowning him. Vaeludar was spinning around and around; his vision was going so fast he couldn’t see where the surface was.
His eyes would see rocks for a brief second before being pounded by the water again. He felt the rush of the river pounding him like a thousand elephant pounding on him. His lungs were barely holding it like a regular human. He needed to regain control or breathe air or he was done for, but with his dragon wings somehow not connected to his mind underwater, he wasn’t going anywhere.
He could only spot Naìra when he was swimming right only to be blown out of the way by a strong wave. He swirled his hands to rise up to the surface but ending up rolled and swirled himself. To and fro, the river’s current was too strong for Vaeludar that was spinning his vision from recusing his foster sister. He moved his eyes and too late saw his face being smashed into a rock.
Then a strange feeling stuck him if something came alive in him. Vaeludar waved out his arms and his body stopped. His body wasn’t moving with the river flowing current. He was breathing in the water itself. He now was feeling like a fish.
Suddenly, he saw in the deepness Naìra being flooded down further away. With him in control if he was defying nature swam like a human and his wings flapping like flying in the air.
At a slow but steady speed, Vaeludar grabbed Naìra and held her closely in his arms if sprung out of the rushing river. Up in the air, he went flying before settling down on a rock.
Vaeludar looked down at the river and saw river gushes pouring over rock cliffs and rocky gushes. Sounds of a soft flowing river were in his ears.
Then Vaeludar placed Naìra on the ground. He placed his ear on her chest to hear a faint heartbeat, but she wasn’t breathing. Water was inside her throat and blocking her ability to breath. Without breathing air, Naìra was choking from within.
“You’re not going to out on me like this, Naìra,” he whispered. Vaeludar used the palm of his right hand and light pressed against Naìra’s chest.
Suddenly, Naìra opened her eyes. She spat out water from her mouth and ended up coughing as the result. She was breathing again and Vaeludar was relieved to see Naìra breathing instead of choking on water.
“Yes, yes, yes,” he said. He began to hug her tight in relieve. “Well, I once again saved you from a piper and three ugly witches.”
“Vael… Vaeludar?” she whispered, faintly.
Vaeludar moved her head back to show him his face. “Yes, I’m here.”
“Vaeludar!” she cried. She began to cry and hugged him tighter than he did her. Tears swelled in her eyes. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“Yes, I am here. I am here. No one is ever going to take you while I am here. For as long as I live, I promise you, as a brother to you, I will stay close to you. If someone wants you, they’ll have to go through me first.”
Again, he picked her up with his two arms and placed his wings around her to keep her warm and dry off her wet dress.
“Well, so much how this of a family reunion had turned out to be,” said Vaeludar. “I’d never expected to find you up here, in the Northern Region. How did you end up with those odd… strangers?"
Naìra looked blankly at Vaeludar’s eyes. “I… can’t remember,” she said. “At first, I was walking around with Andre and then… I suddenly fell asleep. I… I can’t remember anything.”
“That’s all right then. Try not to think of what had happened. Right now, I have traveled with your older brother, Flavius, and he should be somewhere behind us. If we walk the opposite direction the river is running from, we would be able to find your brother, a few men, a Griffin, and a Siren.”
“Vaeludar!” cried out Marina’s voice.
“Speak by the fish,” said Vaeludar.
He turned and saw a canoe drifting up to him. In the canoe, he saw his companions looking at him. He looked at how they managed to find a canoe without him being with them to find it.
“How did they find that thing?” he asked. But what would it matter to him at the current point? He was relieved to have a good transportation to transport them on their journey to the north. He held Naìra close to his body, and jumped to the floating canoe.
Magically, the canoe moved on so they would continue with their quest.
INTO THE SWAMPS
E
veryone was on the boat after their brief fight the witches and the Fluting Piper. Flavius, Wonomi, Monico, Galvin, Flarefur, and Marina all found the boat the White Knight of Trust had mentioned, and managed to escape.
They told Vaeludar they found it when he went underwater to save Naìra. They also told him they had a close encounter with Hobgoblins. They found the boat before there was a fight with the Hobgoblins and the witches with their servant: the Fluting Piper. Marina herself grabbed the sword Vaeludar had dropped when he went to go save Naìra from drowning.
Vaeludar was relieved to see his comrades and foster sister safe, at least the time being. He had no knowing of when the next danger
