Into the Land of Valentia

Chapter the Third

III

A pair of dark blue eyes locked on Vivica.

For a second, she regretted doing this. That maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. She shouldn’t have come here, at least not in a dress with a flower in her hair. How could she convince him of being more than just a woman when she was the exact image of that?

But then the look on Cayden’s face made up her mind. It was not one of awe or shock, as she had somewhat hoped, but amusement. She was sure that, had he not been in front of a group of people, he would have laughed at her. 

“I couldn’t let an innocent young woman such as yourself accompany me. It would be far too dangerous.” He spoke in a patronising tone that made Vivica want to grit her teeth.

“I’ll have you know that I am most certainly not just an innocent young woman,” Vivica replied, managing to speak in an even tone. She saw some people she recognized nodding their heads in agreement with her words.

Cayden laughed, albeit uncomfortably. “Alright. Well, are there any other . . . men that would like to demonstrate their abilities?”

Annoyed at how easily she had been brushed off, Vivica decided that actions would speak louder than words at this point. In a quick, practiced move, she nocked her arrow, aimed, and let loose. The arrow whizzed right into the centre of the target set up to Cayden’s left. He jerked away, clearly surprised that someone would dare shoot so close to him.

Before Cayden could protest, she shot off another three arrows, each one landing in the same spot. Letting his wide-eyed look power her, Vivica set up a final arrow. She spun on the balls of her feet to face the opposite direction, took ten paces forwards, then closed her eyes. “Countdown?” she asked.

“Stop this!” a voice she didn’t recognize demanded. “Your request to volunteer has already been denied, and this is simply a waste of precious time—”

Back turned to the assembled crowd of villagers, Vivica had no way of telling what they might be thinking. As she stood there, arrow ready and waiting, the cool evening air brushed stray hairs from her face. She evened out her breathing. No matter what happened, she wouldn’t let herself care. The demonstration was just to show Cayden that she was better than he thought she was. And she had already done that and more.

It was still with a rush of relief that she heard a voice call out: “Three . . . two . . . one!” Naleena.

Spinning quickly in a half-turn with her eyes still shut, Vivica loosed her arrow. First silence. Then, clapping greeted her ears. She opened her eyes to see her last arrow splitting its predecessors in half to hit the bullseye. It was definitely a good thing she had thought to use her old arrows, and not James’.

Cayden stood, speechless. “Um. . .”

Vivica smirked. Now he was stuck. There was no way he could deny her the right to come with him on his quest. She had proven her worth and done it before a veritable crowd of people who were even now clapping and calling her name. Any shred of embarrassment remaining from when she had stated King Havrick himself would proclaim her the best dragon slayer in Valentia was gone. 

She was still startled by the amount of authenticity in his voice when he said, “You have my most sincere apologies for my previous words. I would be honoured to have you accompany me.”

Clearly she wasn’t the only one who didn’t expect his gracious offer. The man in black stepped forwards at Cayden’s words, a displeased look on his face. Swiftly, Cayden held the man back by placing a hand on his shoulder. The young man’s smile appeared just a touch more forced than it had a second before. The man stepped back, though not without throwing a scowl in Vivica’s direction.