“...I need t-to take c-care of him,” she muttered to Tessandra.

She couldn’t focus on taking care of the King while she was busy fighting. Tessandra nodded. Naptunie’s attack had done quite enough damage, but Jinn the dragon had gotten out unscathed, and quite mad too. That thing was getting closer and closer and soon, it’d be the bigger problem at hand. Even if she could stand a few minutes against a dragon this size, Tessandra knew the fighters would stab her the second she turned her back on them to focus on the beast.

“...You think the big guy could show up now, by any chance?”

“I d-don’t know... Krai!” Cessilia called out, as loud as she could. “K-Krai!”

Her voice echoed in the cave, but there was no telling how far out it had gone. They had left the dragon outside the Outer Wall, and there was no indication of how long it would take for Krai to get down there, if it even realized something was wrong. It wasn’t bound to Cessilia, but to her father, which meant it could only know of what happened to her if it was close enough to smell or see it. Now, it would only be a matter of minutes before they knew whether the Black Dragon was coming to their rescue or not.

Meanwhile, they had no choice but to resume fighting. Nana stepped back, leaving the two Princesses to fight, but it did not look good for them. There were still too many fighters left, and for many, their injuries seemed to ignite even more desire to get rid of the women who had caused them. Some shouted something about their pride as Yekara, which explained a lot and, if needed, confirmed their identities. The dragon was getting closer too. Twice, it exchanged firepower with Tessandra, and the second time, her arm got burned, immediately covered in green scales. She grimaced, shaking her arm as if to get rid of the pain.

“Cessi. We have to do something, or we’re going to end up as burned meat.”

Cessilia turned to Jisel.

“C-call back your d-dragon.”

“Oh no,” chuckled Jisel. “I think I’m going to watch him get rid of you.”

Cessilia clicked her tongue in annoyance, but suddenly changed direction. She ran back toward the lake, as fast as she could, only having one target in mind: Jisel. When her opponent realized what she was going to do, she began to step back, crawling back against the cave’s wall, hoping to get out of there. Either she was out of weapons or knew she wouldn’t be able to stand against Cessilia. So she didn’t even try to put up a fight and only tried to run away, obviously scared. Both she and Cessilia had made the same journey to get there, and they were both tired, but Cessilia had a few more minutes to recuperate, and she had longer legs too. Watching the pursuit from afar, it was clear she’d be able to catch her opponent. Moreover, she had to act quickly as Tessandra had been left alone to protect the others.

She suddenly grabbed Jisel, making the woman cry out, and quickly put her needle under her throat, threatening to stab it.

“T-tell your dragon to b-back off.”

“No,” chuckled Jisel. “I told you. I want to see Jinn get rid of you!”

Cessilia frowned and pressed her weapon a bit deeper against her throat, but that smirk on Jisel’s face wouldn’t go away. She wasn’t lying. She wouldn’t give in, no matter how much Cessilia injured or threatened her. Frustrated, she looked up, and began to walk forward, to at least get closer to Tessandra.

“B-back off!” she shouted to the fighters. “Or I’ll k-kill her!”

“We don’t care about that woman!”

“Who gives a damn about the King’s former whore?!”

It was clear those men didn’t give a damn about Jisel’s life. She scoffed next to Cessilia.

“Typical of men, isn’t it? Getting rid of you without blinking once they are done using you...”

Cessilia ignored her. While the soldiers didn’t seem to give a damn about Jisel’s life, that wasn’t the case for everyone in this cave. To their surprise, Jinn, the young dragon, was growling in Cessilia’s direction but, as she stepped forward, it was cautiously retreating.

“You idiot!” shouted Jisel. “Don’t care about me, kill them!”

“D-dragons share the emotions of their o-owner,” said Cessilia. “Looks like your b-brother cared about you.”

Jisel grunted in frustration. Regardless of her relationship with her brother, she was now frustrated at Jinn’s reluctance to attack. The dragon kept retreating, its maw closed, completely ignoring Tessandra and looking worried. It was now even past the cave’s entrance, and with the dragon gone, Tessandra was finally able to gain some ground.

“Good job, Cessi,” she grunted between the clashing of swords. “Nana, prepare more powder!”

“But–”

“Just do it!”

Naptunie obeyed, and went back to grinding more powder, brows furrowed and focused on her task. Meanwhile, Cessilia kept advancing forward, making sure Jinn would keep backing off. Despite Jisel’s continuous shouting for the dragon to attack, Jinn seemed hesitant, almost worried, its head low and its butt perched up. It was still growling, but only at Cessilia, focusing on her hostage. The dragon was truly worried for Jisel, so much so that it had forgotten the rest of the fight. That was a huge opportunity for Cessilia and the others. The fighters, shaken to see the dragon retreating, were having trouble keeping up with the fight. With so many of them injured or dead already, and their biggest firepower currently backing off like a scared kitten, they were unsure what to do next. Some had even begun retreating, although they wouldn’t go past the cave’s entrance.

“What are you waiting for, you cowards?” suddenly shouted Jisel, to the men this time. “Attack! It’s only two women!”

Their pride wounded, the Yekara seemed to wake up. A few of them ran toward the two women, and Cessilia had to step back this time, as she wouldn’t be able to fight comfortably and keep Jisel as her hostage. They had bought enough time, though.

Naptunie stood up, with her powder again, and this time, she waited for Tessandra’s instructions.

“Throw it as high and far as you can! Toward the entrance!”

It took only a few seconds for the smart Naptunie to understand what Tessandra was aiming to do, but it certainly didn’t make it any easier. She put all the powder into a ripped piece of fabric from her own clothing, forming a little bundle in a ball shape, and with all of her strength, she threw it just as Tessandra had said, far and high.

Tessandra chose her moment very precisely. She threw flames right when the little ball was about to hit the ceiling of the cave. The explosions boomed right away, shaking the whole cave. This time, the men panicked, running away from the first explosions as fast as they could. This was the lesser issue, though. Just as Tessandra had planned, the explosions reached the entrance of the cave, shaking the rocks that formed its walls. Perhaps dust had accumulated there, because the explosions grew exponentially above them, and everything began to collapse.

“Jinn!” Jisel shouted, suddenly panicked. “Run!”

They had no time to see what happened to the dragon. Tessandra turned around, grabbed Nana by the collar, and just like Cessilia with Jisel, they ran toward the cave’s wall, hiding from the collapsing rocks. The whole cave trembled and shook, as if they had provoked a real earthquake, with large stones falling, crushing everything under them. It didn’t last long, but it was a real nightmare, a deafening ruckus.

When things suddenly calmed down, they finally dared to look up. The entrance of the cave was now completely blocked by a mountain of rocks, with some men crushed underneath.

“...Congrats,” scoffed Jisel, “you’ve just buried us alive.”

Cessilia and Tessandra sighed, getting back on their feet and wiping the dust off their faces and shoulders.

“Are you alright, Nana?”

“I think... Oh, that was scary...”

They all quickly surveyed their surroundings, but everything was now quiet. Half of the cave had collapsed on its opening, making its ceiling look much lower and blocking the entrance. There was still a large opening, at the very top, but it was too high and dangerous to climb. The new little mountain of rocks was most likely very unstable.

Naptunie’s face paled as she noticed the red stains under some of the rocks. Even if some of the Yekara people had managed to flee, it was clear a lot had died in the collapse.

“Jinn!” Jisel called, immediately stepping forward. “Jinn! Jinn, are you alright?”

A weak growl answered her. She let out a faint sigh, relieved. Then, she suddenly turned to the other three women, furious.

“You almost killed my dragon!”

“So you d-do care about him,” muttered Cessilia.

“Of course! He’s my dragon! And now he’s injured while you’ve trapped me with you insane women!”

“You’d rather be under the rocks?” retorted Tessandra. “I’m sure we can find you a spot!”

“You almost killed us all!”