Twilight of a Hybrid, стр. 31
“Sirens do have great… fishy persuasion that can make a mighty, greedy, reckless fire-breathing Dragon fall for them,” answered Flarefur.
Vaeludar turned back to see Marina. Given to everything that has been yesterday, Vaeludar was feeling some sympathy for Marina, for his treatment for what he showing for. “I suppose I do you owe an apology, Marina,” said Vaeludar. “I’m sorry for my draconic rudeness and my attitude. I shouldn’t have been too harsh for your decision making.”
“And I am sorry for not talking with you about changing the original date of our wedding day,” said Marina. “From now on, I’ll talk with you about any second thoughts I am have before any final choice is made.”
The Griffin looked oddly at the hybrid and the Siren. “You two do seem like an odd couple. Love between crosspieces. I never thought I would see such a thing.” The Griffin laid his belly on the ground, crossing his front legs and folding his feathered wings. “And even stranger, I never thought crosspieces would try to be mating with another species: a half-bodied creature born from a Dragon and a human going with a full-bodied fish. I just don’t see how that kind of science works.”
Vaeludar leaned against the tree while the trio was waiting for Geraldus to come back from his information hide-and-seeking. “There are many things science can’t exactly explain like my parents coming together in whatever union they shared and had me. I don’t know they did it. Geraldus didn’t know how they did. No human or creature knows how they did it, and I wish I know how they manage to create me.”
“Can’t we stop talking science about science explaining love?” asked Marina, who also leaned against a different tree. “Can’t we just talk about true love and not the science of it?”
Vaeludar smiled weakly and soon crossed his arms. “Well, this is quite the reunion the three of us are having. The Siren is here. The Griffin is here. And the hybrid is here. And the people missing: Gurro, Wasso, Monaco, and Flavius. I know Flavius had to go back to the Western Region, but did any you try to talk to any the other three to joining us?”
“We couldn’t,” said Marina. “They are King Uragiru’s men. They were needed more at the capital city more than we needed them; Flarefur wasn’t part of the king’s army, so we manage to travel here faster than you could imagine. And with help from Flavius’s memories a Dragon showed us, we found the spot you and him were last at.”
Vaeludar stood away from the tree he was leaning against. His ears flinched at the sound of leaves crunching suddenly. “It sounds like Geraldus is coming. I hope he has the information we need to continue this quest we’re about to embark on.”
Marina and Flarefur stood back on their feet and saw Geraldus walking out of the bushes like he disappear into them. They had high hopes he was something that their patience weren’t in vain. “What have you come by?” asked Flarefur. “Did you find what you were looking for, Geraldus?”
Geraldus’s expressions matched those on the negative side, meaning he had more bad news than good news. “Well, I didn’t quite get the stuff I needed to hear,” he said. He stroke his chin, thinking what to say in front of the hybrid knowing by his current appearance of the change his eyes, Vaeludar’s head would explode from his shoulders. “First of all, these people are so strange like, they don’t know the sights of a stranger in their lands. I heard several people talk of a strange building between three hills of burnt trees a little south from here and they—”
Vaeludar widened his wings suddenly and flapped them quickly. “Good,” he said. “We know where they are at. Let’s get going without any further delay, shall we?” Vaeludar jumped from the ground.
Before Vaeludar could make it pass the treetops, Geraldus said something else. “I’m afraid there is more I need to tell.”
Vaeludar halted immediately and puffed through his nose and smoke erupted from his ears. Now his patience was wearing thin again. “Now what? Can you explain while on the way there?”
“This will be short,” said Geraldus.
Vaeludar signed once again and dropped down back to the ground where he flew from. “Make it quick. Just what else do you need to mention since we know the location of the Secret Laboratory already?”
“The thing is: you have spider webs on wrapped around your horns,” said Geraldus.
Marina and Flarefur laughed, none of them noticed that Vaeludar had thin, unseen spider webs wrapped around his dragon horns that grew behind his human ears. Vaeludar wasn’t appealed by this and scraped the webs from his horns.
He knew he didn’t have those sticky strings wrapped around his horns yesterday. Spiders must have sprouted those while he was sleeping. “After I deal with Lusìvar, I’m going to deal with all the spiders in the Greenwood Forest and I’ll make them burn. By my own powers, what a sticky situation I’m in now.” Vaeludar lit a fire on his hands that were filled with spider webs, burning the webs into ashes and freeing his horns and hands from the white strings. “Shall we get going before my third sworn enemy comes around again?”
“Yes, lets,” said Marina, still laughing a bit.
“The place we’re looking for would be in a spot near three hills with lots of burnt trees,” said Geraldus. Geraldus hopped onto the Griffin, and Flarefur widened his feathered wings so he could fly from the solid ground. “Let’s head south and find the place since you are this close to finding your armor artifact, Vaeludar.”
Vaeludar walked to Marina and aired her to him, using a wind magic power to push her towards him and catch her with one arm he