Hello everyone !
OK. I know I promised you to write three chapters a week. But hey, since I don't know how you feel about the text, I guess I got a bit carried away.
I really want to write this story to the end, so please help me to do so by telling me what you think of it !
Enjoy this very late chapter !

Chapter 11

Two days had passed since the conversation between Elsa and Gutjaeger. The sea was so calm that even the captain couldn't believe his eyes. The six warriors and Elsa learned more about each other. Gutjaeger was actually the only one with royal blood flowing in his veins. Maria, from the southern lands, was a thirty-year-old soldier who mastered the art of the lance. Tobert and Zerald were two free-lance mercenaries from the Northern lands, and even though they didn't live in the same kingdom, they knew each other very well for they had often fought side by side on the battleground. Ignus was a strange twelve-year-old boy. He seemed fragile and excessively shy, but he was actually a master tactician with a great knowledge of the different strategies that were usually used in every kingdom. But if Ignus was strange, Ralph was even weirder. He was thirty, be he looked like he was only fifteen. He was mute and smiled all the time, which gave him the look of a psychopath. He was from the far South, and was heavily armed with all kinds of swords, bows and crossbows, daggers, axes... He was scary, but reassuring at the same time. A living paradox.

Gutjaeger, Maria, Ignus, Ralph, Tobert and Zerald, all seemed to fit perfectly in the crew. Even though Gutjaeger was more of the lone wolf kind, he never created any turmoil among the passengers. Ignus was shy but really cute, Maria was joyful and open-minded, Tobert and Zerald cracked a joke every single time they opened their mouths, and Ralph's smile was enough for the crew to like him. Henry's speaking problem didn't stop him from talking, and Elsa could often see him chatting with the crew and playing card games or drinking alcohol with the seamen. Kristoff was working hard, but he was handicaped by Olaf's carelessness and Anna's excessive energy. Zyga tried her best not to get on Elsa's nerves, but she was still caring too much.

All in all, this expedition looked more like a relaxing cruise, and Elsa couldn't help but feel anxiety. She was foreseeing an abrupt change in the next couple days, but she couldn't explain it.

In the evening of the second day, Elsa saw Henry sitting on the desk, playing a card game on his own, while the seamen and the six warriors were either working or having dinner, spread out in theirs cabins or along the guard rails. Elsa went to sit by Henry's side.

- Hi, she said with her cute voice.

- Elsa, he replied, still looking at his cards.

She didn't know the game he was playing. At first, she thought that he was putting cards in lines in a random manner, either horizontally or vertically. But actually he was putting the red cards on the left, and the black ones on the right.

- What are you doing ? Asked the queen, intrigued.

- Playing cards, he replied with his dull voice.

Elsa intensified her look. When Henry noticed it, he said :

- Game Hilda taught me. Red is life, black is death. Goal is to try your luck. Even numbers are horizontal, represent past. Uneven numbers are vertical, represent future. Figures are adversaries.

As he said these words, he flipped the next card of the deck. It was a king. He put it next to the previous card he had placed, which was a black vertical Ace.

- Means adversary, he said. Ace means one something. Can be one day, can be one year.

- So, this is like a divination game ? asked Elsa. Do you believe in what the cards say ?

Henry didn't answer immediately ; instead, he flipped the next card of the deck. It was the seven of heart. He put it vertically on the left, along with the others. Elsa noticed something in the pattern of the cards that were already revealed : the figures were always in pair with black cards. Henry finally replied :

- Depends if what they say is true or not.

Elsa's eyebrows almost left her forehead as she was beginning to laugh. She definitely didn't know what to expect with Henry ! His reply was really serious and sincere, so of course he didn't understand Elsa's sudden burst, and looked at her with his adamant face.

- Oh, Henry ! said the queen, wiping out the tears of laugh in her eyes. You're so... unique !

The young man looked away for a second, then smiled and said :

- Lovely laugh.

It was the first time Elsa saw Henry smiling. She felt apeased as she was looking in his eyes, and her face softened like she was going to fall asleep. She had never been close with someone else than Zyga or her family before, so it was impossible to describe how she was feeling in this moment. But this new experience, and the handsome face of Henry, definitely changed something inside her. Without even noticing it, their two faces had come closer to each other, and as soon as they realized it, they both opened rounded eyes and turned their heads away. Elsa giggled, her face turning crimson, and Henry began to flap his cards at a much faster pace.

- This is not something I should tell to a hunter, said Elsa, but I think that you are quite charming.

Henry stopped his movement. He was looking way more serious than he should have been, so Elsa assumed that he had not heard a word of what she had just said.

- Cards keep repeating pattern, he said. Danger is coming.

- So you really believe in divination, replied Elsa.

The hunter suddenly stood up and rushed to the railguard. Then, he started shouting « Here ! Look here ! », pointing at what looked like a tiny low cloud. The seamen and the captain didn't see anything. Olaf, who was sitting on the railguard and rocking dangerously, managed to see the cloud and jumped on his feet, horrified, saying :

- We're all gonna die !

But he was the only one bursting into exaggerated tears of despair.

- What's the matter, young idiot ? said the captain, slapping Henry's forehead. Don't create a move of panic over nothing !

When he heard that, Olaf jumped out of his misery and took a victory pose, saying :

- We're all gonna live !

But Elsa and Gutjaeger, who had come next to them to take a closer look, actually saw that something was strange with this cloud. He was moving against the wind and was too low in the sky to be natural.

- Something is making an approach under the cover of a smoke screen ! shouted Gutjaeger, drawing his sword.

- That's exactly what it looks like ! agreed Elsa. Everyone, be prepared to fight !

- Oh, come on, sighed Olaf, doing a legitimate facepalm.

Everyone began to hustle and bustle on the desk, as seamen drew their swords and the warriors got equipped. Kristoff rushed over Anna to persuade her to stay safe in the cabin, and Zyga was about to do the same to Elsa, but the queen stopped her with a clear sign of the hand.

She had to fight. She wanted to fight. Her powers had to find a meaning in the battleground, or else it would be nothing more than street magic. She felt someone putting his hand on her shoulder, and turned her head over him. It was Henry. He had a grave look, but Elsa felt reassured to know that he would stand by his side.

The cloud was now only two hundred feet from the boat, and the crew could distinguish immense silhouettes through the smoke. Weird Ralph took his bow and shot an arrow at random. The crew heard a terrifying scream coming out of the cloud, and a small dragon, mounted by a heavy-armored soldier, fell into the sea. The arrow was planted right between the eyes of the creature.

- Talk about luck, said Tobert and Zerald at the same time.

Elsa felt shivers down her spine. Everyone had seen it. They would have to face a whole division of mounted monsters.