Forced to be a Hero - Chapter 4 (finally :’3)

Instructions

My parents, for some reason, ended up turning on me and agreeing with Madeline. They did tell me to come back as soon as possible and to be careful, but it didn’t matter. They still turned on me. It didn’t feel like I really had a choice, despite everyone informing me that I did. Nayla’s ponytail bounced as she went ahead. “Should we get a map, Alex?” “Yes, but,” I frowned as I crossed my arms, “you shouldn’t have come, Nayla.” “Why not?” She spun around and glared at me. “You could get hurt.” I suggested. Nayla responded with a huff. “You could get hurt too.” She muttered as she walked up to Carlo. Carlo smiled at Nayla. “Aah, hello Nayla. Is there something you would like?” “A map.” She answered quickly. Carlo laughed. “You don’t even like geography, Nayla. What do you need a map for?” She narrowed her eyes and gave him a look that could kill. “I’d like a map.” I stated, not looking him in the eyes. “I’ve been told to go to another country. Nayla’s coming with me.” “Aah… I see.” Carlo didn’t look like he believed me, and I couldn’t blame him. “May I ask which country? Arisola or Lelio perhaps?” I shook my head. Carlo looked like he believed me less as he held the map out for me. “Really? I find it hard to believe your parents would let you go farther than those countries.” I took the map from him. “Yeah, it was Madeline’s idea.” “Madel-” He began. “Can we leave, Alex?” Nayla interrupted, grabbing my arm. “I guess…” I sighed. Carlo gave us a quick goodbye, probably thinking he’d see us tomorrow. Nayla started skipping, pretending she wasn’t just being rude. The people in this town were mostly used to Nayla being rude to them, thankfully. I wasn’t happy about it however. “You need to stop doing that.” I informed her. “Stop doing what?” She asked in a way that I couldn’t tell whether she actually didn’t know what she had done or whether she was pretending she didn’t. “Talking to people like that!” I answered, a bit frustrated. She talked to almost everyone like that. She stared at me and proceeded to skip. She clearly didn’t want to talk about it (she never did). Knowing Nayla, if I did bring it up, she’d probably bring up something that she knew would bug me. Neither of us said a word until we met the man at the edge of town. He looked at me. “You’re Samuel’s son, aren’t you?” I nodded. He turned to Nayla. “And you… um…” She gave him a glare as well. “We’re leaving town.” I informed the man. “A friend has requested us to.” “Oh, are you?” He frowned. “You wouldn’t be going to Whispina, right? I heard the princess was.” I nodded again, slowly. I didn’t really know anything about the princess. Owen, who used to be a knight, had told me about her when he was working for them, but I couldn’t really remember what he had told me either (I was like 5 at the time). Even though I had no reason to care, I had to wonder why she was going to Whispina. Did someone she cared about get attacked? Probably not. I don’t think she has friends (or at least have friends who didn’t have guards). Next thing I knew, we were in the middle of nowhere. Apparently, Nayla had been dragging me. I was a bit surprised she had, I kind of thought she wanted to do this alone. I didn’t really like that we weren’t talking because the science felt awkward. “Why do you think the princess is going to Whispina?” I questioned, without really thinking. Nayla quickly let go of my wrist. “I don’t know!” She sounded annoyed. “I don’t care either!” She crossed her arms, frowned, and then continued on, despite not knowing where we were going. “Do you-” I started. “No.” She cut in. “I don’t think we’ll meet her. I hope we don’t. We don’t need you getting distracted by a girl.” “I don’t get distracted by girls.” I tried to remind her. “Don’t pretend you’ve never been distracted by a girl.” She sighed. “Remember Izabella?” I didn’t want to remember Izabella. “We were just friends.” “Yeah, sure.” We continued in silence. Then suddenly, there was a noise.