Sword clashed against sword as Eulianna blocked a strike from her opponent. Her hands held the hilt of the weapon as she swung it in the opposite direction, predicting her opponent's next move. Eulianna shuffled forward, holding her sword firm in her hand and her keeping her stance.
"Come on! Attack!" The person on the other end yelled and pulled their sword back to attack Eulianna on her open side. Eulianna gritted her teeth and managed to block that strike. She used her blade to push the opponent's one to the right and circled it around to twist their arms around and she saw the opportunity to strike but was too slow. Her opponent's blade tapped her side and she halted and sighed and brought her weapon down.
Her opponent put their sword down and pulled up their face guard, revealing one of the sweaty faces of the castle's guards, Jakob. "You were sloppy. You're normally faster than this," He stated.
"That's the worst I've fought!" Eulianna reprimanded herself and dropped to the ground and laid flat on her back looking up at the ceiling of the training room. "I'm trying. I really am."
"Okay," Jakob said, unconvinced. "What do you even want training for?" Eulianna has been secretly combat training with Jakob for over a year now, behind Gerda's back. Jorn accidentally walked into Eulianna training but he pretended he didn't see a thing and to save himself from witnessing another argument between the princess and the duchess, he hasn't told his wife.
Eulianna shrugged, "Just figured it would come in handy one day."
"You're the princess and a girl. You wouldn't need to use a sword ever."
"Okay, so that's sexist." Eulianna frowned and pushed herself off the ground and scrunched in her face in disgust at Jakob. "Women can fight."
"Yeah, fight with their words."
"Women can fight with their words and weapons. They're capable of doing both."
"Yeah, yeah," Jakob dismissed her off, sheathing his sword.
"I thought we were friends," Eulianna stood up and breathed heavily.
"We are-" Eulianna pushed Jakob to the ground before he could finish his sentence. "Hey!"
"Don't forget who you're talking to!" Eulianna walked out of the room which was closed by the two door guards on each side, not before another guard, Selby added his feelings to what he had just witnessed.
"You're despicable, Jakob."
—
Jakob rolled his eyes and returned back to his guarding duties.
Eulianna moved from the training room to the library. She couldn't believe someone had said that straight to her face. Reading was a method for her to release some steam. She walked over to the shelves to the back of the library and climbed the ladder to reach a couple of books from the top shelf. After pulling it out, she stepped down and made herself comfortable in an alcove nearby.
Her fingers traced the title of the book. "Dragon Myths and Tales," Eulianna read aloud. She opened to the first page, skipping the contents page and looked at the paintings and drawings in the book of the dragons. The book was published in Hjalfadargin and its audience was definitely not for teenagers like Eulianna. It was a mere children's book. She moved to the next book, one from Nirhong and was named, 'Dragon Sightings in the Far East.' Eulianna opened to a double-page spread of a long and twisted serpent-like creature with crooked horns and bearded face. Eulianna remembered her mother telling her a tale of the dragons from her homeland.
"When I was young, I went to the mountains with my siblings to pick some berries," Queen Seula said as she helped her young daughter climb into the massive bed. The princess crawled to her nest of pillows and sat back on it. "My oldest sister was leading the way but she stopped. Then I asked, 'Why'd we stop?' And she told us to shut our mouths because what we ended up seeing at the top of the mountain was a dragon." Seula took a pencil and Eulianna's drawing pads from her bedside table and opened to a fresh page, swirling the pencil across the page.
"Is that a dragon?" Eulianna leaned over to get a better look at the queen's drawing.
"Yes. The mountain we were on was quite low too. Dragons don't normally get that close to humans but that time, it was just coiled up and sleeping."
"Did you touch it? Did it see you!" Eulianna was getting too excited and her mother calmed her down before continuing the story.
"We didn't do anything besides get a good look at it. If we woke up that dragon, we would've been dragon food." Seula commented, earning a gasp from her daughter.
Eulianna felt for the chain on her neck and pulled out the scale necklace and held it in front of her face. The book's dragons were illustrated bright red, a contrast to the scale she preserved. She pulled out the other books she picked up, flying through them trying to find an image of a black dragon, but none appeared. She pushed the books away and crossed her arms and stared out the window at the village where Ilda lived. Hjalfadargs were setting up wooden poles with torches at the top and hanging colourful flower garlands between the poles.
She forgot that in three days was the Protectors' Festival. The villagers liked preparing early so everyone would get excited and ready for the festival. A festival that started as a festival for the watchdogs, but was then later changed as a celebration for watchdogs and guards to commemorate their jobs as protectors of the kingdom, as the guards whined about how they were the original protectors of the island. Hjalfadargin was known for their many celebrations throughout the year, from the Flower Festival to the Feast Festival and even the Sheep Festival, which appears confusing and useless to any other kingdoms and islands. Eulianna found it as a great excuse to socialise with the villagers under disguise and spend time with Ilda. Eulianna believed Gerda was oblivious to it all and was under the impression that Eulianna spends all her time in her room or the library.
"Princess," Selby the guard greeted, making Eulianna turn to face him. A guard who was also of both Hjalfadarg and Nirhongan stood by the door of the library. "The duchess requires your presence in the oratory."
"She's gonna pray to the gods for my removal," Eulianna said and cracked a smile.
"I hope she does not, princess," Selby replied.
"I hope so as well, but you know how bigoted the duchess is. I would be surprised if she wasn't doing that." Eulianna got up from her position and walked over to the library entrance. "You gonna be at the festival, Selby?" The two walked towards the oratory together.
"Yes, princess. Actually," Selby lowered his voice. "I'll be performing too. I've been practicing the flute for the past week when I've been off duty."
"Ooh, well I can't wait to hear it," Eulianna beamed. They arrived at the front of the oratory. The princess dismissed the guard after he opened the door for her. Gerda was a couple feet away from the altar, kneeling down on the stairs that led up to it.
"Come join me, niece," Gerda called out without even turning to face Eulianna. Eulianna walked up to the steps and held up her heavy dress giving her the proper movement to lower her body and kneel on the steps.
No words were exchanged for at least three minutes before Gerda cleared her throat. "Are you not thankful to be alive? My poor brother and your mother will not be able to give you away to Prince Espen of Bielgsnia. May their gods take continue to take care of their souls."
Eulianna didn't say anything. She believed her parents were alive, somewhere out there. Last time she brought up that theory, her and Gerda broke out in an argument and the oratory wasn't that place for a verbal fight between the duchess and princess.
Gerda stood up and motioned for Eulianna to do the same. "I have called for the seamstress to meet us in your chambers before dinner tomorrow night as he has some options for your wedding. The Hjolmes will then be joining us for dinner."
Eulianna's eyes widened and she stared at her aunt. "What?"
"She has four dresses and two veils prepared. One of the dresses resembles the one my mother wore on her wedding day."
"I haven't even met Prince Espen yet and I'm choosing my wedding dress? I don't even know if I'll like him yet!"
"Lower your voice. You will marry Prince Espen. You will soon be of age to and you can never be too ready for a big moment in your life as a royal member of the Hjalfadargin kingdom."
"My dad got to choose who to marry within his own means and in his own time? I can't do the same?" Euilanna's face was getting heated and her shoulders tensed up.
"Your father made foolish and irrational decisions that strayed away from tradition. You should learn how to hold your tongue. Learn to stay silent. I have never met a princess as disrespectful as you." Gerda strutted out of the oratory. Eulianna laughed in disbelief and fell to the ground.
She picked up her skirt and dashed to her parent's old chambers and threw herself onto the bed, face digging into the mattress as she let out a muffled scream. Tears pricked in the corners of her eyes and she looked at the old painting of her parents that hung across the room. Angry tears rolled down her face and she rubbed her cheeks.
Through her blurry vision, she spotted a folded piece of paper just sticking out under the metal candle tray. The teenager reached over to the bedside table and grabbed it almost tipping the dusty candle over. She opened up the paper and saw it was mostly blank with only a few letters written down in her father's handwriting.
'Dear G'.
"Dear G?" Eulianna wondered aloud and sat up and slid off the bed. "Who is G?" Her father never mentioned anyone whose name starts with the letter. Eulianna strode to the desk of the room which was situated against a window. She opened one of the draws to see if she could find anything that revealed who 'G' was.
"G, G, G," Eulianna muttered to herself, flicking through the letters hoping to see a name that started with 'G'.
The girl was straining her neck looking down from where she was standing so she went to sit, only to yell in pain when her foot hit something hard below the desk.
"As if my day couldn't get any wor-" She stopped when she saw a small chest on the ground with a lock on it. "Well, hello." She placed it on the desk and shook it trying to figure out what could be inside. When she heard the shuffling of paper, she grew excited. Was it an answer to who 'G' was?
She searched through the drawers again trying to find the key to open the chest.
"Yes!" Eulianna felt the shape of a key in her fingers and fished it out and took no time to fit it into the lock. The key was a perfect fit and the small lock securing the chest dropped to the table. She opened the chest to find a pile of papers. Letters.
She picked up the first one and unfolded it.
'Dear Andor,
The weather hasn't been great here. It never is! It's always cold and I'm sure you remember that when you lived here. I do miss those days when we used to go to the forest and trying search for those beasts. What good times, yeah?
Eulianna's eyebrows turned downwards. Her father had lived at someplace other than Hjalfadargin? She always believed her father remained in one place his whole life, with the exception of visiting neighbouring kingdoms.
My friend, Stoick has been having trouble keeping the people under control, especially after the last raid. His son doesn't stay put when a raid happens. He's just too skinny for all of that. It's taken a great toll on us. More of our sheep keep getting taken away! I'd stick my other arm down the throat of one of them nasty creatures if they didn't eat it. I need at least one functioning hand. Imagine having two hammers as hands!
Sorry this letter is so short. I haven't had the time to sit down and write a lot. The blacksmith never sleeps with this many raids going on.
Hope to see you again soon! Bring your wife and child too. Leave that horrid Gerda there though.
Your older brother, Gobber.
"Brother?!" Eulianna couldn't believe that her dad had another sibling. An older brother that would've been the king of Hjalfadargin instead of him.
But why is he not here on Hjalfadargin? Why has her dad never mentioned a brother? Or her aunt? Where is he now? Eulianna's head clouded with more and more questions by the second and she was beginning to get a headache.
She picked up the next letter after regaining a bit of composure.
Dear Andy,
I still find it weird you've got holidays to celebrate when the moon turns red. It's not like that even happens often. You remember celebrating Snoggletog? I've only got 50 days to finish up all my gifts for my clients. I'm sending you one too so expect that.
She stopped reading and dug through the chest and picked up one not far from the bottom.
Dear brother,
The wee painting you sent of your daughter just made this guy happy. Eulianna has grown so much from the last painting you sent. She has your smile! And a few your freckles. She's taken most of Seula's features though. Her hair does seem lighter than Seula's, her eyes too. I'm sure she'll make a lovely daughter.
I'm flattered you decided to make me her godfather. I can't wait to meet her one day. I keep telling you to visit but you never say you will for sure. Did you come to hate seeing my face? You're not that handsome either.
Eulianna snorted.
Sorry to hear Seula's been getting Hel from Gerda. Seula just needs to remind herself that she doesn't need to listen to Gerda's crap. I've put a drawing of me in this letter too! The person who sketched me was throwing a fit so that's why it's all messy and also I dropped some of my mead on it. You can let me know if I've changed much since the last time you saw me. I think I've gotten fit again. I think my friend's kid is lying to me to make me feel better, but it's nice to hear his compliments.
Eulianna took the sheet of paper behind to see a small sketch on some parchment with a big stain on it. The drawing was indeed sloppy like Gobber said in his later but Eulianna could see his main features. A strong, large jaw with a light coloured, braided moustache that hung down his face. Light eyes framed by a single brow and ears that somewhat protruded on the sides of his face. He wore a helmet with tall horns and one could see his prosthetic hand.
Eulianna was only more confused. How is this the brother of her father and aunt? The only resemblance between Gobber and her dad was the light hair and eyes. Maybe the structured jaw but that would be a reach. Her dad's face was significantly smaller compared to Gobber's. Their bodies were completely different too. The king was built but more slender than Gobber. She went back to the letter.
Also, the villagers were thrilled to see the boat of produce and meat you sent. They send their thanks. Where'd you manage to get a boat that big and so many things? I swear you're secretly swimming in gold and you're just being humble about it. But the number of raids keeps growing. You'd think that they'd taken enough from us. Every time we manage to get a big number of sheep again, in the next few days those monsters come back and snatch them from us. I hate to say it but Berk is struggling. Those dragons are real pests.
From,
Gobber.
Dragons. They're real.
A smile grew on Eulianna's face. Dragons were real and the burn on her shoulder was from a dragon. And they were frequent visitors to a place called Berk. She's never heard of the place. Never heard of a king from Berk before.
The teenager pulled out the map from her father's drawer and studied it looking for a Berk. The map had Hjalfadargin in the centre with surrounding islands and countries. Her fingers ran across the map looking for the word 'Berk,' then down the page, travelling north until she reached the Barbaric Archipelago.
Her finger stopped in the centre of that archipelago on a small island. She moved her finger to see the name of the island.
"Berk."
If the map's scale was correct, Berk was way smaller than Hjalfadargin. She wondered if even their castle could fit on that island.
"Princess!" She heard Linnea's voice down the hallway.
Panicked, Eulianna stowed away the letters in chest and map in the drawer not, however she kept the painting Gobber sent of himself under her sleeve before running out of the room to meet Linnea.
"Yes?" Eulianna said.
"I've lost your great-grandfather's medication!" Linnea cried out, her eyes glossing over. "It's not in the cupboard where I normally put it! How stupid am I! The head maid forgot where something important is! I shouldn't be the head maid after this." Tears started rolling down the maid's face and she grabbed her apron to dry her tears.
"Linnea, calm down. Have you checked papa's room?" Eulianna asked. Linnea stopped her sobbing and looked at Eulianna and blinked twice.
"I haven't," Linnea mentioned.
Eulianna patted the maid's shoulder. "I think you're overworking yourself, Linnea." Eulianna and Linnea walked to her great-grandfather's room and entered. Linnea let out a sigh of relief when she found the medication bottle on the bedside table where Eulianna's great-grandfather was resting.
Eulianna took the stool near his bed and sat on it, grabbing her great-grandfather's cold hand with both of hers.
"Papa, how are you today?" Eulianna inquired, a question she always asked him when she visited. Linnea had finished feeding the older man his medicine and held a cup of water to his mouth, helping him drink it with ease. No response came from the older man as he stared ahead. "Papa?" Eulianna sat up straighter and leaned into his line of vision.
He looked at Eulianna and blinked slowly before he responded, "Seula, is that you?"
Eulianna did her best to not let her smile falter in front of him. This wasn't the first her great-grandfather called her by her mother's name.
"It's me, Eulianna, papa. Remember?"
Eulianna would frequently visit her great-grandfather's room to talk to him about anything. She would chat endlessly and try to show her hobbies to him as he sat in his chair or rested in his bed. When she was younger she didn't visit him as much as she would only talk to him when her mother was around. In more recent years, she made the effort to visit him a couple of times a week just so he could have a family member to talk to, even if he barely remembered her. Erland or Selby would drop it to talk to him in his native tongue as he seemed a bit more responsive when speaking in Nirhongan.
"How are you today, papa?" Eulianna spoke with the Nirhogan she knew.
"My butt hurts."
"Do you need help?"
"No, I like being in bed, my child."
"Did you enjoy lunch, papa?"
"It was nice. The meat was a little tough for my teeth," he said and smiled at her, showing the teeth he had left. Eulianna grinned back at him.
"I'll let Erland know to make it softer for you," Eulianna responded.
Linnea was watching the princess and her great-grandfather, while not understanding a word they were saying she smiled seeing Eulianna talk with someone in her second language, glad she was connecting to her other culture. The maid noticed the elder's eyelids grow heavier and patted Eulianna's back.
"I think he wants to get some rest, your highness," Linnea pointed out and Eulianna nodded.
"Rest well, papa."
—
On the following day, the sun was beginning to set and Eulianna stood on a platform sucking in her breath as the seamstress pulled the corset strings tighter and tighter. She was wearing the last dress which had an unusually voluminous skirt and a conversative necklace with wide sleeves. Gerda was hovering around a vulture and giving comments to the seamstress and suggesting alterations. Linnea stood to the side, ready to assist.
A guard knocked on the door and announced that the Hjolmes arrived early to socialise with the royal family.
"If you will excuse me. Thank you for the dresses. I will let you know which dress the princess will be wearing soon." Gerda exited the room to meet the Hjolmes.
Linnea waited a few seconds to ensure Gerda wasn't able to hear. "Gods, she's rushing into things very quickly."
"That's what I said," Eulianna managed to squeak out. "Fuc- I mean, crap. Can't you loosen this? I can hardly breathe. My ribs are about to collapse," she complained to the seamstress. The seamstress immediately loosened it, only by a bit to keep the form and structure to the dress as it was intended to be.
A knock was rapped on the door, before a guard announced, "Lord Rorik Hjolme."
"Let him in," Eulianna called back.
The guards opened the door and Rorik walked in, clean and neat as ever. The two have been good friends since they were children and gained a relationship based on sarcasm and banter. It was thanks to Eulianna that Rorik and Ilda started a romantic relationship. She introduced the two to each other and they've been smitten with each other since the fourth meeting or so they would say.
"Leave us… please," the princess ordered and Linnea and the seamstress left the room.
"That dress is hideous," Rorik commented.
"Hi, Rorik, nice to see you again. How've you been?" Eulianna retorted back, annoyed that he couldn't even greet her.
"It looks like something you should wear on your deathbed instead." Rorik made himself comfortable on a lounge seat, propping his legs up.
"I've been just dandy, Rorik. My aunt's bitchy as ever and thinks that it's worth my time trying on wedding dresses which is most definitely what I wanted to do," Eulianna said sarcastically.
"Your aunt said that the Bielgsnian prince will be visiting the day after the festival. Can't wait to see your future husband, his royal highness, Prince Espen Dalgaard." This earned an eye roll from the princess. "You know what your aunt said? She said if you ruin the whole meeting-"
"You can bet on that."
"If you ruin the whole meeting, they're gonna try put us together."
Eulianna began to fake vomit, overexaggerated and loudly.
"I know, right? You're like an annoying sister and I've already got one of those. But if we did become king and queen, it'd be chaos."
"Ilda would kill us both if that ever happened. That is actually so disgusting!" Eulianna shuddered. Rorik nodded in agreement. "Have you visited her recently?"
Rorik lowered his voice when he revealed, "No. I'm gonna see her at the festival. I don't think my parents would be there anyways. If only Ilda and I could elope and escape." He sighed.
"Escape…" Eulianna murmured to herself. "Hey, what if I said I had an uncle from my dad's side?"
"But you don't?"
"No, listen. I think I have an uncle. He's from Berk."
"Where on earth is that?" Rorik scrunched his face in confusion trying to predict where this conversation is headed.
"Up north. In the Barbaric Archipelago. And they have dragons there!" Eulianna stumbled off the platform, not even earning a flinch from Rorik.
"Yeah, okay."
"I'm being serious here. I just discovered my dad has a brother who is the rightful heir to Hjalfadargin. He could totally come back here and rule and I wouldn't have to worry about being married to that Espen guy! And my aunt could be put in her place. That would be the dream!" Eulianna tried spreading her arms out for effect, but was stopped due to the tight dress.
"So, what? You're gonna go to this island and find your "uncle"? I thought you believed your parents were still out there somewhere."
"I do. But for now, Gobber could rule Hjalfadargin. Until we find my parents."
"Then you think you won't be set off with a prince?"
"From the letters, he sounds like a great guy. Him and my dad connect so well. If he's the true heir and if he stands for the same things my dad did, I'm sure he wouldn't hesitate in returning back to his homeland and telling aunt to piss off."
"Letters? What letters?" Rorik moved from his comfortable position to sit properly, elbows resting on his knees as he leaned forward.
"I went into my parent's room yesterday and I found a chest with letters from my uncle. There's a whole pile. They've been writing letters back and forth for what seems to be a long, long time. And look," Eulianna paused to waddle over to her desk and retrieved the old, ratty image of Gobber and showed it to Rorik.
"Yeesh. Uh, I mean…" Rorik struggled to find the right words without offending Eulianna's uncle. "He looks nothing like the king or the duchess."
"I mean they both seem to have blue eyes?"
Rorik looked at Eulianna, unconvinced. "I have blue eyes."
"Okay, but in the letters, they'd often refer to each other as 'brother'! Look you don't have to believe me but I really think he could give me some answers. Not just about my dad, but also about the dragons. The burn on my shoulder could finally make sense. No way a pirate has the ability to shoot fire. I can confirm the burn with the Berk people."
"So what are you gonna do? Travel to Bork-"
"Berk."
"Berk. Travel to Berk, convince the guy to come back to Hjalfadargin? You're the princess. You can't just sneak out off the island. They'd go on a wild goose chase and your aunt may be celebrating your disappearance, but what will people think? I can hear the gossiping already. 'The princess disappeared, just like her parents.' 'The princess doesn't care about the kingdom.'" Rorik tried knocking some sense into Eulianna.
She hated how all these things came along with the title of princess.
"Look, I'm not trying to be against you. I'm just thinking realistically."
"Realistically? Realistically, if I married Espen I'd move to Bielgsnia. Be the queen there. Then my aunt would naturally take over the throne here and you know what she'd do? Realistically, she'd throw all the people from Nirhong out to another island or try to send them back there. Ilda, included."
Rorik's mouth shut. He stared at the ground while Eulianna just looked at him.
A guard knocked on the door. "Princess, Lord, dinner has been served."
Rorik headed out first while Eulianna was changed out of the wedding dress before joining the rest for dinner. The two teenagers barely spoke to each other at dinner and this didn't go unnoticed by Linnea and Erland.