Navalla

Chapter 6

Cadar and I shared an unicorn and my brother and Adriel shared the other one. I was sitting in front of Cadar and while we were flying to our destination, he held his arms around my middle for the entire flight. We were also talking about everything and nothing on the flight, making me like him even more when he told me about his love for animals and children. And just as I thought I could not like him more, he told me about his passion for my favorite sport: Sky Boarding.

Sky Boarding is an individual sport where you only need to have a wooden plank for and a flying creature. This creature could be any flying creature, it could be a dragon, an unicorn, a phoenix, fairies or even a thunderbird. You need to connect yourself to the creature by like a cord and then you have to stand on the wooden plank. There are many variations of this sport around the whole world. Here in Navalla, there is a competition where you have to do tricks in the air and then a jury will give you points, the player with the highest points, wins a big prize. But when you look at like Uglye, there it is more of a team sport. There are five players in a team and there are two teams. There is also a ball involved which the teams need to get. The team with the highest points at the end of the day, wins. You get points by doing tricks while you have the ball, certain tricks get more points than others. I like both versions of the game, although I like the version of Uglye a bit more.

Cadar also likes the version of Uglye more and he also told me that he tried to play it once, but he had to stop due to the death of his mother. I immediately felt bad for him and I tried to cheer him up by saying that I could arrange for us to play it once too once we are back. He chuckled at this, immediately saying that it would not be necessary but he still thanked me.

After a couple of hours, we finally arrived at our destination, a small island in the sea between Glaelor and Obos. We ate some things we packed before we made up a plan on how I would kill the Siren. While we were eating, we all made some small talk to get to know each other a bit better.

"So, Cadar. Have you ever been anywhere outside of Navalla?" My brother asked while eating a chunk of banana bread my mother made for us. You would think that because she is queen, she would not know how to cook. Which is mostly true, but she does make a killer banana bread. I don't think I have ever eaten one better than hers.

"I actually have not. I mean I am from Glaelor, and except for the ball, I have never even been in Navalla before," Cadar answered with a sad smile on his face, "I never had the time nor the money to leave my hometown before."

"Well, now you have the time and the money to travel with us for a couple of weeks." My brother answered. "Now I have a big and important question. Have you ever had a girlfriend before?"

"Hjalte you can't just ask him tha-" I started saying before Cadar interrupted me.

"No, Willow, it's okay. I actually do also think that is an important question to ask as a brother. I have never really had a relationship before. I always needed to work or take care of my siblings, so I never really had the time to find someone." Cadar said with a smile on his face before he looked at me and asked me the same question my brother asked him.

"Well, I never really had one either. But I did have a big crush on my childhood best friend Maeve, but unfortunately before I even had a chance to tell her or to really realize what I felt, she passed away a couple of years ago. After that I never really felt anything like that before, but I think it is time for me to let go." I said the last part while looking at Cadar with a smirk on my face.

After our small lunch break, we talked about our tactics to let me kill the siren. We decided that it would be for the best if we all went to the place where they live with a boat. They would stay in the boat around a couple of hundred meters of the place where they reside and I would then jump out of the boat to swim to the place. When I get there I would put a magical bean in my mouth. If you bite on the bean, you can breathe and see underwater, which is pretty important for me as the sirens can do both, so it would not be a good fight if I could not. I would then swim underwater to get a bit closer until I put on my invisible coat. It is pretty self-explaining: when I put this one on, they can't see me anymore. They can also not see the bubbles I make when I swim. When I finally see them, I pull out my sword Shadowfang before I strike. Then I have to get away as soon as possible while they are still a bit confused and flabbergasted.

Before I left the boat to swim, Cadar took me aside to say something.

"I know you have probably trained for this for your entire life, but please be safe. I do not want something bad happening to you. What would I tell your parents?" he said the last thing with a big smile, making me let out a small chuckle. "No, really I am serious. I haven't known you for a long time, and I would really like to get to know you a little bit better. I really think we have chemistry."

"No worries, Cade, I will make sure I stay alive. I kind of like being alive you know." I answered him with a smile on my face.

"So Cade, eh? That is a new one. I guess I will have to have a new nickname for you too, don't you think so? I think Lo is a pretty good one, don't you think so?"

"Oh my goddess, I didn't mean for that to slip. But I kind of like it so yeah, you can use it."

"Okay lovebirds, it is time to go. We kind of have a time schedule we need to keep to." My brother said while laughing a bit. Adriel slapped his arm annoyedly, but even he could not keep his smile to himself.

"As if you are the one to say that." I said, "Please, do not throw Cadar of the boat, I am rather fond of him."

"No promises," my brother said, still smiling, "Promise me you will be careful."

"Of course," I said while pointing my middle finger at him, "I will even do a middle finger swear with you."

"What is a middle finger swear?" Cadar asked, "I only know what a pinky swear is."

"Normally, it is a pinky swear, but we do it with our middle fingers because a pinky does not swear." Hjalte said while wrapping his middle finger around mine. After this, he hugged me one more time before we said our goodbyes.

I jumped out of the boat after one last quick hug with my brother and a longer one with Cadar. I swam to the sirens while sometimes doing the necessary steps. When I arrived at the spot where they live, I saw only two sirens: one older one and one younger one who could not have been over the age of fifteen. This was a difficult choice, but eventually I went with the older one. I swam over to them as fast as possible while taking Shadowfang out of her holster. I struck one time around the neck of the siren, immediately killing them. I swam away as fast as possible. While I was already some meters away from the scene, I heard the young one screaming. Because I could not bear it, I swam even faster. In no time, I was back on the boat.

"Lo, what happened? Why are you crying?" Cadar asked while putting his arms around me to embrace me. Before he pointed this out, I had no idea I was crying.

"There was also a younger one, and and and," I said while stuttering. Cadar shushed me and kept rubbing me back, immediately calming me down, "the younger one was screaming because I killed the older one. Oh my goddess I feel so guilty."

"Shhh, it is not your fault. You needed to do this."

"Oh Bub, I am so sorry you had to go through this." My brother said while pulling me into a hug.