Naptunie watched both young women prepare the bottom of their outfits, tearing apart some of the fabric and using Tessandra’s sword to cut large slits until most of their legs were visible. Then, they did something even more shocking. Grabbing a handful of small rocks and broken seashells, Cessilia suddenly rubbed them against her legs, grazing all of her skin until it turned red.

“Oh my God!” shouted Naptunie, shocked.

“It’s alright, Nana,” said Tessandra. “Look.”

She did just the same as her cousin, injuring her own legs, all the way down to her ankles. When she removed all the rocks and dust from her legs, Naptunie noticed the wound itself. It was superficial, with a few cuts here and there, but right away, Tessandra’s skin was replaced by vibrant green scales covering her legs. She looked to the side, and sure enough, the same phenomenon was now covering Cessilia’s legs but with ash-colored scales. Within a few moments, the two young women had transformed all their skin from mid-thigh to their ankles into scales.

“To go faster in water!” exclaimed Naptunie, who had only just understood the reasoning.

“Exactly. It will make us win a few precious seconds, and it’s easier to move too...”

Naptunie was astonished. So this was part of their secret as to why the Dragon Empire Princesses were so confident with their swimming! She glanced at the lake. Despite this new information, she was still nervous. The fact that this lake led to a cave outside was still pretty uncertain. Not only that, but they would be swimming in the dark for a pretty long part of the trip. The mere thought of dying underwater, drowning and in the dark, made poor Nana shiver. She considered herself a decent swimmer, as the daughter of a family of fishermen, but this was very different...

There weren’t any other ways to escape. She could still catch sight of her older brother on the other side, fighting the Yekara’s people, trying to keep up a wall between their little group and the enemy. There was a lot of bloodshed already... The Yekara were also focused on their people that had been crushed by the rocks, trying to save who they could. Nana didn’t feel the slightest bit sorry for those people. They didn’t think twice about betraying their own King and Kingdom to have a usurper pose as a potential king! That man wasn’t dead either. They seemed to be trying to save his life, several people around him, including that woman, Jisel. While Naptunie kept staring, that woman suddenly lifted her head, and looked right back at her, as if she had felt her gaze. She glared at them and suddenly stood up, running in their direction.

“Uh... T-Tessa...” muttered Naptunie, taking a step back.

“Nana, come on, hurry.”

While she was looking away, Tessandra was already in the lake, the water reaching up to her hips. Next to her, on the shore, Cessilia was using the shredded fabric of their dresses to roughly bandage the King’s wound. The fabric was stained with red almost immediately, but the stain didn’t grow as large as Naptunie would have expected. Somehow, this unusual bandaging of hers was doing a good enough job at cinching the wound.

“Will he be alright?” asked Naptunie, tearing her dress and handing it to Cessilia.

“He will h-hold on.”

Cessilia’s short answer wasn’t very reassuring, but Naptunie knew how dire the situation was. She took the hand Tessandra was offering, and got into the water next to her, shivering a bit. It was very cold, but she didn’t have time to complain now.

“Take deep breaths,” said Tessandra. “Stay very calm, and breathe slowly, but filling and emptying your lungs each time. Try to relax as much as you can.”

“I understand...”

While Naptunie was trying to do as she had been told, and walking deeper into the water, Tessandra glanced over her shoulder.

“...Cessi.”

Her cousin glanced back, also spotting the furious woman in red, running in their direction. She was still far, but Jisel clearly intended to pursue them. Cessilia squinted her eyes a bit, but then, she turned back to Ashen, gently pulling him into the water with her. She was relieved. By abandoning his coat and taking him in the water, his weight would be much easier to manage. She had used a piece of fabric to tie him to her, at the waist, so she could use her arms and legs freely to swim around. Tessandra was also doing the same, and tying Naptunie’s waist to her.

“...Is this alright?” asked Nana, worried.

“You can swim,” said Tessa, getting closer to Cessilia in the water, “but if you do feel I’m pulling too hard, just act like you’re a plank and let yourself be dragged, Nana. Don’t worry, I won’t lose you.”

“I’m not worried about that...”

There was no more time to argue. Cessilia took a very deep breath, and suddenly dove underwater. Naptunie thought of watching her, but in the blink of an eye, the Princess was gone. She quickly looked back, and that woman, Jisel, was getting much closer.

“Nana, let’s go!”

Tessandra dove right after her cousin, and Naptunie was brutally dragged underwater. She just had time to take a deep breath in, before her whole body was submerged.

Everything went fast. Naptunie tried to keep her eyes open for a bit, but everything got much, much darker in seconds. When she tried to look, and keep swimming as fast as she  could, she only saw a bit of light, and the vague shape of Tessandra’s body. Ahead of them, Cessilia, despite having the King floating above her, was even faster, her dark legs going as fast as a small tornado in the water. The two cousins were swimming in different lines to avoid hindering each other, and Naptunie understood how much more powerful their legs were. They were eating up the distance ahead, and not slowing down despite the darkness growing. How could they go so fast while seeing so little? Naptunie looked to the side, and almost let go of the bit of air still held in her mouth. Tessandra’s eyes seemed bigger and shinier, like onyx shining under a dark light. She was looking straight ahead, and moving quickly as if she knew her environment perfectly. Naptunie tried to see ahead, and as they took a slight turn, she saw Cessilia’s face. Her emerald eyes were just as incredible. It was as if she had no issue at all looking around. They were almost completely in the dark now, and going lower and lower, which should have worried Naptunie. Yet, seeing the two young women move so fast and fearlessly, she did feel like they had a chance.

How long had they been underwater? It felt like ten or twenty minutes, but Nana knew it was half that, at best. She was able to hold her breath for around five minutes when she played with her siblings, and now, she had been using her energy a lot to try and swim too. She could feel Tessandra was going faster, though. Her swimming was almost pitiful compared to her, but fear kept her going. Nana was still terrified by the idea of drowning there, and despite what Tessa had said, she refused to give up and simply be dragged along. She kept trying to calculate how much distance was left to distract herself from the struggle, the tiredness, and the cold, but slowly, she knew she was losing the air she had left. She could feel her body struggling, begging for air, but they were still deep in the tunnel, with no idea when they would get out. She was grateful for Tessandra’s incredible speed, but she was starting to get genuinely scared. If she passed out, would she wake up? Would the four of them die here? She felt tears come out of her eyes, and grabbed Tessandra’s belt tighter. As promised, she let herself be dragged, trying to keep her body as straight as possible, completely out of strength to keep swimming.

Unlike what Naptunie thought, Cessilia and Tessandra were already deep down in the cave, well past halfway. The two young women were swimming quickly and almost effortlessly, only exchanging a glance from time to time to check on the other. In fact, despite their speed, it was getting quite hard for them too. Their lungs were beginning to beg for air despite having the strength to continue swimming. Their progress hindered by the narrow path, forcing them to slow down, making sure they weren’t going to injure themselves or those they were dragging along. Ashen and Nana had fallen unconscious, but if they didn’t get proper air soon, and water out of their lungs, it would really get dangerous for them. Luckily, the light in front of them was slowly getting brighter, and the path was going upwards instead of downwards. They accelerated, knowing the opening had to be close.

Suddenly, the path got much larger, and they both broke through the surface at the same time, gasping for air. They quickly found the nearest shore, and half-carried, half-dragged Naptunie and Ashen there.

“Nana,” Tessandra kept calling. “Breathe. Nana, Nana, wake up! Come on!”

Soon enough, the young girl began coughing water and breathing heavily. Tessandra let out a long sigh of relief, and patted her back, helping her get through it.

On the other side, Cessilia was patting Ashen’s back alike, and the King coughed some water as well. He didn’t seem like he had drunk as much water as Nana, but he was desperate for air, and the wound had gotten worse. Even Tessandra grimaced upon seeing this.

“This guy needs to be healed as soon as possible, Cessi.”

“I kn-know. Let’s j-just see if we c-can make it through the–”

She stopped talking, alerted by a sound. She and Tessandra exchanged a glance, confirming they had heard the same thing. They got into a defensive position, looking around the cave they had arrived in. It was a much bigger cave than the one Ashen had taken her to and from the mix of dry sand and stones on the ground, probably around the same level. Most of it was in the dark, as night had fallen and the moon had just hidden behind some clouds. From time to time, though, the moonlight would shine, and it got a bit brighter in there.

“They are here!” a foreign voice suddenly shouted.

Their eyes turned to the opening of the cave. At least two dozen fighters ran in, and from the way their swords were drawn, these people were not allies.

“Damn it...” grunted Tessandra.

“How did they know?” muttered Nana, panicked.

“Sounds like we’re not the only ones who heard about this exit, Nana. Get behind us.”

Tessandra was already back on her feet, sword out and ready to fight, but there were way too many people. She would be in trouble if she had to fight this many people while protecting Ashen and Naptunie. Next to her, Cessilia got up too. She was going to fight, even if she had no weapon.

“...The Yekara p-people,” she muttered.

“I figured,” scoffed Tessandra.

“What are we going to do?” cried Naptunie, who was still recovering.

“Put up a fight.”

Right after that, Tessandra took a deep breath in, and suddenly, she spat a fireball, right in the direction of those men. A lot of them screamed in panic, some burnt on the spot, and others started running around with a part of their body on fire.

“Damn it,” grunted Tessandra. “It would have been better if I wasn’t so fucking drenched...”

“I hope you can dry fast.”

The voice coming from behind made them jump.

With a smirk on her face, Jisel was slowly coming out of the water, looking exhausted but still smug. Just like them, she had transformed her legs into red-scaled limbs that appeared in between the folds of her dress. She tilted her head.