The Tale of a Hybrid and a Siren (old version)

Chapter 14: An Unexpected Guest

A horde of fanfare horned! Hundreds of soldiers marched from the northwest. Legions of marching soldiers appeared over the horizon. Every soldier riding on magnificent white steeds. The vast number of soldiers outnumber and outclass the mercenaries.

Geraldus and his family were dressed in their finest to please the eye of their king. His wife's hair braided, and his daughters' hair curled into ponytails, with one sister on the back and the other on the side. Flavius was dressed as a hundsand noblemen with a green cloak and a silvery tunic.

Marina wasn't among them. It was for the best for the siren to wait at the manor than out in the public's eye. Despite the weeks she was taught, she didn't have the mental capability to show her face in front of the most important person who ruled the lands. Geraldus merely watched the lands as a Watcher, someone who looks after the land like a parent or guardian watching over a child.

She spent the last few weeks training to be greeted in the eyes of royalty, but she did not have the necessary strength to face the King. And Geraldus didn't need to make the siren face a public humiliation, and he decided to keep her in a safer place. A place where she didn't need to see the King or face his horde of battle-ready soldiers.

As the soldiers appeared closer, a large cavalry dashed over the nearby hills. They rode in swiftness against the marching soldiers. The horsemen strode forth against all the other soldiers marching behind. Abou fifty assembled and rode close to Geraldus and his company, and each rider carried a staff with a small flag blowing in the wind.

They circled when the horsemen rode close to the humans standing in wait. Then, with great skill, the horses galloped and formed into a straight line. Two different sides of the horses formed, making a straight pathway. They tilited their staffs and pointed the tops to a small angle.

Then a loud horn sounded, and the soldiers behind halted and the sounds of marching feet silenced. Another horn sounded and it was louder than the first.

A silver horse appeared down the line of the horsemen tilting their staffs to show a direct pathway. The rider of the silver horse light armor hooked across every second of his body with a thin golden crown upon his brow, and a red cloak hangs from his shoulders. White hair covered but no wrinkles smeared his handsome fair skin.

The rider dismounted from the silver horse and walked down the alley. Behind him, a battalion of elite, highly armored guards marched profoundly. As the old man neared, Geraldus, his family, the peasants, and everyone under Geraldus' command knelt to the person they had been waiting for: King Uragiru.

King Uragiru halted in front of Geraldus and his family with a stern face. Not a happy tone and a serious slurred slashed across the King's face. "Rise!" he said.

Then Geraldus and his whole host rose back to their feet and looked in the eyes of Shimabellia's ruler.

"Four years I've haven't seen you and you seem to have aged," said King Uragiru. "What have you been doing all this time other than just watching birds in the sky and tilling your bread's fields?"

"I have been protecting the Western Region, Your Majesty. Monsters have been running loose in recent weeks, and I couldn't just leave my post as the West's Watcher."

"You don't need to give me excuses for just being here. Just come to report to the Capital City and don't just leave it to the birds to deliver the messages. Your son can manage in your absence. He is a man after all, no longer a boy. Or maybe your wife can make do."

"Your Highness, there are no excuses for my absence to your..."

"I say, there are, and there must be no excuses, and even coming from the man who failed to protect my son," King Uragiru.