“We can have Cece do it after. For now–”

“No, we have to stop the Yekara from fighting. Now,” he insisted.

To Cessilia’s surprise, he walked away from her, and stumbled all the way to Yebekh’s body, grabbing the dead man by his hair. His eyes stopped for a moment to glance at his adopted brother. For a very brief moment, Cessilia thought she saw a melancholic expression in his eyes, but when he turned around, it was already gone. He walked back up to her, pulling Yebekh’s body.

“...What are you going to do?” she asked, confused.

“I have a formula that works... Let’s get to the plaza.”

Cessilia helped him get on Cece. The Silver Dragon tried to take a bite of Yebekh’s body, without success, and took off with an annoyed growl. As they rose higher in the sky, they both got a better view of the half-destroyed castle. It was truly a mess down there, with two towers wrecked, and possibly much more damage than they could see.

“...I’m sorry,” she muttered.

“Don’t worry. I never really liked this place anyway... and we can always build a better one. One you’ll enjoy living in.”

Cessilia smiled and nodded. It would have almost been a romantic moment if they didn’t have a third and dead passenger with them...

Cece effortlessly took them to the plaza where the fight was still going on, although clearly ending. Just like they had already predicted, the Yekara were unwilling to stop fighting despite their defeat growing more and more obvious. That’s when Ashen pushed Yebekh’s body off Cece’s back.

It took a couple of seconds to violently hit the ground below, provoking a surprise amongst the fighters. Everybody stopped, as the body had been dropped right in the middle of the plaza. The closest people immediately recognized his face, and soon, the word spread that Lord Yebekh was dead.

“Yekara!” shouted Ashen. “Your leader is dead! If you don’t drop your weapons now, you will all suffer the same fate!”

It took a few seconds, and many of the Yekara fighters gathered to see the body for themselves. Some exchanged words between themselves but as soon as one of them dropped their weapons, many others did the same. Soon enough, they saw many pairs of hands in the air, the Yekara troops capitulating.

Cessilia found her cousin on the other side, who was grimacing, shaking her sword.

“Damn it, Cessi, you party-pooper!”

OceanofPDF.com

Chapter 30

“...Ashen, you should go get treated,” Cessilia muttered, gently patting his shoulder.

“I’m fine,” he shook his head. “We need to get where your brother is and stop the fight there too if possible...”

“There’s no need.”

To their surprise, Kian suddenly arrived with an excited growl, flying next to Cece, mounted by Kassian.

“We’re done over there,” he said.

“Kassian!” exclaimed Cessilia, surprised. “Already?”

“A lot of them were mostly trying to regroup at their headquarters, but it seems like someone already set it on fire...”

“On fire?”

Kassian’s eyes went to the other side of the battlefield, where Cessilia found Nana and Darsan together, chatting excitedly. She turned her eyes back to Tessandra, who shrugged.

“Don’t ask,” sighed Tessa. “I think Nana has turned into a little terror on her own. ...Aren’t you guys going to come down? I’m breaking my neck just watching you up there!”

Cessilia turned to Ashen.

“...You really need to get treated for that poison, Ashen. You can barely stand.”

“I’m not leaving you,” he said. “The last time I did, I almost got killed.”

Cessilia smiled, a bit happy and a bit torn inside. However, Cece had clearly chosen her camp. She lowered herself until the two of them could jump down and land safely. Unfortunately, the Silver Dragon was too large to land there without crushing everyone on the plaza. Luckily, Kian was right there, and as soon as the dragon’s rider got off its back too, the older Silver Dragon was only happy to play around with Cece. Soon enough, the two sibling dragons began to play around in the sky, flying and chasing each other’s tails with excited growls while Cessilia and the others gathered on the ground.

“...What do we do with them?” Cessilia sighed, looking at the Yekara soldiers.

All of them were still looking confused, and staring at their dead leader with a strange interest.

“Darsan and I can gather them for now,” said Tessandra. “I’m sure there will still be a few trying to flee, so we can make sure we get all of them first...”

Ashen shook his head, looking annoyed. He had his arm around Cessilia’s shoulders to support himself, but couldn’t help but grimace often. Cessilia turned to her cousin.

“...Is Ishira around?”

“Ishira? Uh... didn’t she set up some sort of relief tent or something outside?”

Her eyes went to Ashen, and she raised an eyebrow.

“...Did you get your butt rescued again, Your Majesty?” she smirked.

“Not at all. Cessi had time to drink tea while I did everything. I even poured it for her.”

“Yeah, sure. Anyway, you’re starting to look as white as your hair, so if I were you, I’d actually make that stop by the house, two streets behind me. The Hashat took over a house and are treating people there. It’s easy to find, just follow all the big babies whining.”

“Noted.”

Ashen sighed, and leaned closer to Cessilia, gently kissing her chestnut curls.

“I’ll be right back.”

“I’m coming with you. I want to check on the injured people and see if there’s anything I can do while Tessa and Darsan gather the Yekara soldiers.”

“I’ll hunt the mercenaries too,” said Kassian, “from the sky. Like Tessa said, some will probably try to flee or hide... Kian!”

Above them, the two dragons were getting a bit too excited, and their growls were growing terribly louder. Not only that, they had begun snapping at each other, their play getting a bit more violent. Kassian sighed, but with a little smile on his lips.

“I can’t blame him. He must have missed his little sister...”

He exchanged a smile with Cessilia, who nodded happily. Indeed, the two dragons’ enthusiasm was heartwarming to see. She knew her older brother was also probably very happy to see Cece back...

“You know, there’s nothing little about our Cece now,” chuckled Tessandra, who was staring at the duo above too. “Kian’s the one looking like he’s the little brother now...”