“Not really. That will be a cool story to tell our kids later.”

He smiled and grabbed a sword abandoned on the platform, quickly stretching his shoulders that were most likely sore before beginning to fight off the soldiers that were climbing up to stop them. Meanwhile, Tessandra was left behind, still processing what he had just said.

“Kids?!” she exclaimed. “Our kids, you said?!”

She rejoined the fight excitedly by his side, the two of them pretty much unstoppable. They completely dominated the platform, despite the Yekara’s attempts to reconquer it.

On the ground, a few steps away, Cessilia had also made great progress, Ashen replacing Tessandra by her side in the pit. She caught sight of her cousin joyfully fighting beside her lover. They had managed to rescue everyone there, but that was only the first part of the plan.

Just as she thought so, another flash blinded everyone, a red one this time. The fighting had begun on the other side, in the area where Kassian and Lady Bastat were supposed to stand together. How many Yekara were they possibly facing? It was impossible to know. Now that they were in the open, Cessilia was actually able to turn her head and spot Naptunie, standing on a roof with a gigantic fire by her side. She wasn’t alone, it seemed, with three smaller silhouettes by her side. Two of the triplets and another ally? She looked safe and sound for now, but now, her position was known to everyone. Next to Cessilia, several Yekara shouted to grab her, their fingers pointing toward the roof where the bright red fire was slowly dying. Cessilia chopped off one of the arms close to her, the limb falling at her feet with the finger still extended. While her victim cried, she glanced in Naptunie’s direction again. Luckily, her friend was already gone, evidently aware of the danger.

“We need to get to the castle!” suddenly declared Ashen by her side.

Cessilia nodded, glancing beyond the platform; they were still many streets away from the castle, but it wasn’t undoable. In fact, if most of the fight happened here, it won’t be long until they can reconquer the castle.

Moreover, the landscape was changing around them. From just a few protesters, the streets were now getting crowded with angry citizens, each wanting to give a piece of their mind to the Yekara people. Some were only shouting, but many had found whatever weapons they could, and were fearlessly threatening to use pans and pitchforks against the soldiers. Still, they couldn’t do much fighting against trained and experienced warriors. Cessilia was worried the mob would get hurt if things got out of hand. Not only that, but despite their efforts, the number of enemies just kept rising as they continued to get more support coming. It was as if soldiers in red poured out of everywhere; soon, she understood why. Some of those people wore the attire of Yekaras, but they were clearly mercenaries until not too long ago. They didn’t show the discipline to follow orders, and were trying to intimidate the crowd with violence. They didn’t work well in groups either, thus they were quickly isolated by the angry crowd, provoking little fights left and right in the streets.

It looked like the Central Plaza was the epicenter of a situation that was gradually getting worse in the streets. Anger was rising, and the citizens, fueled by the return of their King, were visibly at a breaking point in their patience toward the despicable actions of the Yekara. Cessilia could hear their complaints about their houses being searched and, for a lot of them, robbed by their aggressors. Those people were no fighters, but that morning, they were getting confidence from the global movement of protests occuring everywhere. In fact, angry shouting and protests could be heard coming from all directions, people loudly expressing their anger and shoving the soldiers in red if they were brave enough to. Cessilia was as impressed as she was scared; people were gathering in protest without them even having to do anything, the word of mouth already waking up every house, all families ready to fight back. If the Yekara had taken the streets overnight, their dominion was now being pushed back, people urging them to get out of their streets, insulting them and ganging up against them when the strength was lacking.

Although, this surely wouldn’t be enough. The main leaders weren’t there, but Cessilia could see their troops already preparing. She doubted they had put their main forces in the streets when they were expecting them to come and fight back. Ashen was right; they had to head to the castle to end this as soon as possible.

Luckily, Sabael and Tessandra were gathering a lot of attention on the platform, and the soldiers were now splitting up to fight the two couples, making it easier for Cessilia and Ashen to take the way around to the castle while Tessandra and Sabael kept them busy there.

“Tessa, you have t-to guide the people in the s-streets!” Cessilia shouted.

“Just go!” retorted her cousin, grunting. “I’ll let you know if the situation gets shitty here!”

She then grabbed Sabael’s hand, urging him to jump off the platform, before she suddenly turned around and exhaled a fireball, not the biggest one, but enough to aggressively set the wooden deck on fire, and the men still on it.

Cessilia nodded, and with Ashen, began running toward the castle. Aglithia was appearing next to her from time to time, jumping out of what seemed like nowhere to mercilessly murder a soldier, before disappearing again. Her technique was impressive, but it didn’t allow for grouped attacks. The Cheshi were supporting them the best they could, but then, Cessilia realized, there was a lot more going on. More fighters appeared, all dressed in black, swiftly jumping on the Cheshi, assassinating the fighters just as quickly as the Cheshi murdered the Yekara. She suddenly got into close contact with one of the masked assassins, too quick for Cessilia to push them back, when Ashen jumped in front, blocking the attack with his large sword. He brutally kicked the aggressor in the chest, and pinned him down to the ground, ripping their mask off. Like the Cheshi, they had distinctive traits, strange black stripes tattooed on their faces.

“Those damn Kunu,” growled Ashen.

“We will have our revenge!” shouted the man under his sword, spitting a mouthful of blood on his last words.

“...You wish.”

He twisted his sword, finishing his opponent, and looked around, spotting the flying fighters with a sullen expression.

“We don’t have time to lose with them,” he hissed.

“Let us deal with them!” said Aglithia, suddenly appearing by their side. “The Kunu have been our rivals for a while, we should be the ones to deal with them. Just go, Your Majesties!”

Cessilia and Ashen nodded and ran ahead, only getting rid of those who stood in their way or tried to attack from above. The Central Plaza had turned into a full-on battlefield, with the large fire pit started by Tessandra in the middle. Not many would be able to follow them into the castle, indicating a hard fight ahead. Still, neither of them slowed down until they reached the first doors to the entrance of it.

Suddenly, a loud growl was heard, and they lifted their heads. Its body circled up around the castle’s main tower, claws digging into its stonewalls, Jinn the Red Dragon was glaring at them.

“...You should have finished them off,” hissed Ashen, glaring at the dragon.

Cessilia thought otherwise, but she was still shocked at the dragon’s angry attitude; Jinn was clearly threatening them. It might have been the first foreign dragon she met, but Cessilia was still experienced enough to understand the meaning of a dragon’s growl. This was clearly an angry, menacing one. It wasn’t close enough to actually attack unless it came down, but the Red Dragon was visibly bent on guarding this place. If Jinn was there, did that mean Jisel was in the castle as well? Cessilia didn’t like that woman, but she didn’t want to hold on to her resentment toward her either. The Yekara and Ashen’s adopted brother were their target, and they had already ditched her, so what was that woman possibly doing in there? Why had she returned? Cessilia had once felt pity toward Jisel’s circumstances; it was that of many women before her. Still, if she wanted to survive this, Jisel should have left with her dragon when she had the chance to. Cessilia and her brothers had spared her once; they weren’t so nice as to do it twice.

There was no one guarding the first gate, but Cessilia and Ashen ran into trouble as soon as the castle door was in sight. A dozen new Yekara soldiers were lined up there guarding the entrance, clearly waiting for them, spears and swords ready.

“Will you b-be alright?”

“I’m just getting started.”

Cessilia smiled faintly. Ashen looked completely fine indeed and, from seeing the way he fought with superb moves, no one would have known he had been severely wounded just the night before. Side by side, a handful of Cheshi fighters behind them, they fearlessly cut through the lines of Yekara and traitorous Royal Guards trying to stop them. Despite the numbers, the difference in strength was massive. Ashen’s sword could cut three men’s waists in a single swing, violently cutting down anyone who stood in his way. A few steps away from him, Cessilia was less messy, but perhaps even more efficient. Her movements were incredibly quick, precise, and deadly. Bodies fell beneath her with minimal amounts of blood shed, most of the time with only a vital point sliced open, or fatal injuries that left them seconds to live. In just minutes, the two of them cleared their way through the gate with impressive ease, the Cheshi behind them having provided minimal support. They finally stopped moving, all their opponents dead or almost, and exchanged a glance, out of breath.

“...Ladies first,” said Ashen.

He was a bit more exhausted than she was, his torso heaving up and down under his armor. Cessilia was glad the one she had picked was perfectly protecting his injury, but also helping his posture. Whoever had crafted this truly knew the needs of a dragon warrior.

She stepped ahead, and kicked the door open for the two of them, her weapons at the ready for the next fight. Luckily, there were less soldiers guarding the entrance of the castle; the room being too large and circular had probably convinced them there was no point in defending such a vast area. Moreover, from there on, the castle was going to be divided in narrow corridors, enclosed spaces, and a handful of large rooms. There would be more than enough places more efficient than there to put a defense up. In fact, Ashen and Cessilia left the Cheshi fighters that had come with them to deal with those, while they were still catching a break, glancing around.

“...Chances are those rotten bastards are hiding in the throne room or the banquet hall,” he said.

“They will t-try to keep us from k-killing your adopted brother,” nodded Cessilia.

“They can try. I can’t wait to get rid of that wretched bastard once and for all, if he really is alive...”

That was what they had heard so far. Cessilia herself was surprised, if that was true. From what she had seen, his body had been crushed by rocks. Perhaps he had survived, but he ought to have lost a limb or two, at the very least... She couldn’t understand why the Yekara Clan Leader was holding on to that man instead of taking the throne for himself. He could have simply taken over, declaring he had been named by their fake, very brief King to take his succession. Or was it that he doubted he would be recognized as a legitimate leader? It turned out Ashen’s brother wasn’t much more welcomed by the people, though... No one was blind as to who was truly behind all this.

“Cessilia.”

Ashen gently called her name, and extended his free hand for her to take. Together, they climbed the stairs first, trusting the Cheshi would catch up with them, or spread out in the castle to get rid of more Yekara soldiers. This was more their kind of battleground, after all. Unlike the plaza from earlier where they had been completely exposed, this time they could execute lightspeed attacks and disappear right after.

While climbing up, Cessilia tried to catch sight of what was going on outside through the windows. Not only in the Central Plaza, which she could spot in a blink, but also farther away, where her brothers and the dragons stood. She could see more fights going on, and Kian’s shiny figure defending one of the bridges. It was harder to figure out the situation on the other one, but Darsan seemed to be doing fine, standing in the middle of the bridge, the bright orange armor shining through while dozens of little silhouettes were regularly thrown off to fall into the river below. She couldn’t see Kassian’s situation, as her brother’s location was caught between all the buildings, but she could guess. It was probably like everywhere else, dozens of citizens flocking the streets to fight back with them, and Lady Bastat’s tribe gathering at his side. So much had happened during such a short amount of time; Cessilia could only hope the losses on their side would be minimal. She could also see more people gathering outside the Outer Wall, hundreds of little dots moving toward the doors. Who knew how long the bridges could be defended before people managed to force their way in…?

It wasn’t as if Ashen and herself weren’t busy as well. Cessilia was astounded with how many people got in their way. How long had the Yekara been preparing this? How many people had they corrupted to make the castle so guarded? At each new corridor, there was another fight. Ashen’s castle had suddenly turned into a maze that was not welcoming them back. Not only that, but Cessilia realized there had been a lot more fights than she had thought after they had fled the cave; there were signs of battle almost everywhere. They even ran into some Royal Guards’ bodies abandoned here and there, most likely those who had tried to resist.

Ashen’s anger gradually rose as he saw more and more of them. When they pushed the door to another room, finding three more bodies and a lot of blood spilled everywhere, the furniture wrecked, the floor and walls covered in blood, his piercing black eyes stayed on the bodies.

“If only I had gotten rid of the Yekara earlier... I should have known they wouldn’t be satisfied with a seat and a title. All my guards...”

“...You c-couldn’t have known,” gently muttered Cessilia, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You needed their help b-back then. It isn’t your fault.”

“No, it is, Cessilia. It’s been my mistake all along. I refused to handle all the responsibilities alone, and I tried to persuade myself I could let the leaders decide with me to divide the burden. That was so wrong. Not only did I let those bastards do what they wanted under my nose, but I didn’t even get to do anything worth it for all the tribes that deserved it.”

“That’s not t-true. It’s not as if the tribes resent you, and they know you d-didn’t just give in to the Yekara either.”

He closed his fist and didn’t answer, but Cessilia could tell from his expression that he wasn’t satisfied with that. Ashen was carrying his guilt all over his face, but that was his burden to bear. Cessilia knew he had faced too much at way too young an age. She knew most of the Lords didn’t blame him, but at the very least, recognizing his own wrongs would only make him a better King... even if it was another painful lesson learned.

She looked down. He had let go of her hand again. She frowned and suddenly grabbed his face between her hands, forcing him gently but firmly to look at her. Ashen opened his eyes wide at her, stunned. Cessilia actually took him by surprise.

“You may not have b-been the best King,” she said, “but you are a g-good man, Ashen. So please, d-don’t close yourself to the p-people who want to help you. I will b-be with you from now on. I’m not leaving you. If you made mistakes, we c-can repair them, together. I want t-to stay by your side.”

“...I know,” he muttered.