He put another quick kiss on her forehead this time, and took off his coat, putting it on her shoulders.
“Ashen? What will you d-do?”
“Exactly what my princess said,” he sighed, caressing her cheek. “I will tear down that wall. You were right. Walls or not, gates or not, I have the power to stop them now... and you’ve shown me the families are more than willing to cooperate as well. Maybe not entirely, but at least, you got them to change their positions. I knew most were only partaking in the competition for the sake of it, but... now, they really want to be serious about this. I’ve never seen them get involved with people that aren’t their own like they are now.”
He turned around, looking at the wall with a frown. His eyes were going down on the water level.
“Moreover,” he said, “we don’t need to destroy all of it, right? Just enough to drain the area...”
“Ashen, what are you g-going to do?”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “You’re right. I may not be a dragon, but I’m still rather strong...”
He took out his large sword and began walking toward the wall, under the crowd’s shocked eyes. Cessilia stood there, unsure of what to do, watching him put his hand on several parts of the wall as if he was looking for something. The ground had to be steeper where Ashen stood, because the water was now reaching up to his mid-thighs. He had to use his strength just to fight his way through the water and kept walking next to the wall, touching it with his hand or the tip of his sword. After a while, she saw him freeze for a second, and he began stabbing his blade against the wall, using the tip to try and pierce his way through. The scrape of the blade against the rocks made an awful sound, and for a second, she feared his sword would break. But it withstood the impact, even after the second, third, and fourth blows. Ashen kept going, trying to dig with the only instrument at his disposal. It looked like a titan’s work, but against all expectations, he was really starting to carve in. The size of his sword made a considerable impact against the wall, and she could see the stones trembling at each stroke.
“...Is His Majesty... trying to break that wall?”
Cessilia looked to the side, surprised to see the large man from before standing there, his ax in his hands and a dumbfounded look stuck on his face. She nodded.
“To d-drain the water.”
“By the Gods! If I ever thought he’d take it down himself! ...Hey! You guys! Come and give me a hand!”
To Cessilia’s surprise, the large man walked past her, followed by several others, all with heavy tools in hand. All the men went to Ashen’s side, and after briefly talking with their King, they began striking against the wall as well. Cessilia’s heart skipped a beat. Seeing him side-by-side with all those men, trying to tear down that wall despite the flood, made her so incredibly proud of him. There was nothing left of the stubborn, wrongheaded man she’d argued with before. He was so focused on his task, with all the men around, if it wasn’t for his white hair and impressive musculature, he could have seemed like any common man out there.
Finally, the first breach appeared. All the men had to step back because the water was suddenly sucked into the thin gap with a strong force. The water level went down a bit, but it would take more. As soon as it appeared and the water flowing out had slowed down, they all resumed banging their tools against the wall, some with things such as hammers, trying to gradually enlarge the hole. Cessilia looked back. The crowd seemed mesmerized by the scene. There were even some gaps in the queue, some people were too shocked by the King’s behavior to think about the food for a few minutes. She smiled, feeling proud. Those people were finally getting to see their King, and what he was truly capable of. Cessilia turned around, leaving Ashen to his task. Far from the castle, the stares and schemes of the Lords, he could finally be what he had always been: a man of the people.
“...You don’t need to look that proud, you know,” chuckled her cousin.
Cessilia couldn’t hide her smile, though. She kept Ashen’s coat on her shoulders, joining her cousin still distributing the food under the small tent. She and Tessandra glanced at the crowd still waiting.
“H-how are we?”
“As you can see, people are still waiting, but many have received some food already,” nodded Tessa. “Most could use some more, though. The Dorosef have just brought another cart of food, and more of the Hashat people just brought in more tea, as well. We got new hands to help us out too, but… I’m afraid it might not be enough, though, Cessi.”
Her eyes were on the people in line, some of which were starting to sneeze and cough more. Despite the several hands working behind the large table set up to distribute beignets and tea, once the people were done eating, they were sent back into the cold. Cessilia’s heart dropped. It was a certainty now that people were going to get sick.
“We might need to set up an infirmary,” sighed Tessandra.
“No, we’re g-going to need a hospital.”
Her cousin dropped her jaw, shocked.
“A... A hospital? Cessi, we already barely found any space to set this up...”
“I know, b-but look. Many p-people have b-been walking around in th-the water, some b-barefoot. There has to b-be dozens of d-diseases in this water. There might even be some p-people carrying diseases in the g-group. If we d-don’t do our best to p-prevent it from spreading now...”
“We’ll have a pandemic on our hands,” sighed Tessandra. “Damn it. ...But still, we have nowhere to set this up, and hundreds of people on our hands. Not much time either. What do you suggest we do? I know your mom had a full mountain available to set up a hospital, but we don’t have that!”
Cessilia smiled.
“Maybe we d-don’t need to g-go anywhere. The p-patients are all already h-here.”
“...I’m not sure I’m following.”
“Lady Cessilia!”
Bastat and Ishira arrived in front of her at the same time.
“We brought more fabrics, as you requested,” said Bastat. “I’ve also asked some of our best and fastest seamstresses to make more tents for the people to use. They will be ready shortly.”
“G-good.”
Cessilia turned to her cousin.
“C-can you and Sabael g-gather men and ask them t-to help erect p-pillars? As soon as the water g-goes down, we c-can set up more tents for p-people to be under.”
“Got it.”
Tessandra quickly left, grabbing Sabael’s shirt and pulling him along with her. The poor man had clearly learned to follow without too many questions... Cessilia chuckled but turned back to Bastat.
“Th-thank you, Lady Bastat.”
“You’re more than welcome, my lady. We are also working with the Yonchaa Tribe. They donated furs so we can make more coats and hand them out to the people to help them stay warm. Where do you want us to set up the tents?”
“Make sure to elongate the one we have over the q-queue, first. K-keep it far from the wall and out-t of the way, we c-can’t block the streets. I’m also g-going to need to set a larger one, near the d-doors. Enough t-to hold about t-twenty seats, b-but I need it to c-cover the sides t-too. With t-two entries opposite t-to each other, if p-possible.”
“Understood. I’ll relay that to my people.”
