“What’s happening?!” she cried, panicked.
“Stay there!”
She nodded. She wouldn’t have been able to move an inch either way. Tessandra was literally pressing her against the wall behind them, Lady Bastat on her left. Nana glanced over Tessandra’s arm to see the situation; it was as if something had exploded in the middle of the plaza, leaving a large hole in the cobblestones. The reason for that bang was found right above the hole: a large, round, and heavy-looking piece of metal full of large spikes. That horrible thing hadn’t just crushed a portion of the ground, but also a dozen people, some screaming and laying in their own blood, while those who had been injured but could still move were trying to crawl away, only to be attacked right away by the Yekara.
“They’re using fucking catapults!” shouted Tessandra. “Kassian!”
However, the Prince didn’t hear her, and was already rushing near the impact point to try and save those people. Naptunie spotted her brother suddenly running in the same direction.
“Damn it!”
Another bang exploded, even louder. The next one had hit a building, projecting more debris around, and injuring twice as many people. Naptunie screamed again, more horrified and terrified. Those things were blowing open whole buildings!
“They are aiming at the citizens!” shouted Bastat. “Everyone, reform the ranks, now! Mix with the Yekara!”
It was easier said than done. Although it was clear the projectiles were sent into their side of the crowds, the citizens just couldn’t run ahead of the Yekara, it was about as dangerous and risky. The whole area had turned from a disorganized battle into complete chaos, the crowd running in all directions in fear of the next attack. Another suddenly appeared, and Nana closed her eyes, afraid it was coming their way. She heard a loud noise, and felt the ground trembling again, debris collapsing above of her.
“Nana! You alright?”
She dared to open her eyes. Tessandra had raised her sword above them to protect them from the debris, and her body was acting like a shield for Nana too. However, blood suddenly appeared on her face, a long trail running from her hairline to her chin. The vision of Tessandra injured suddenly had an effect like another bang for Naptunie. She opened her eyes wide, pinched her lips and frowned.
“No!” she suddenly exclaimed.
“W-what?”
Before Tessandra could add a word, Naptunie suddenly got down and escaped her protection, running out to see the damages.
“Nana, come back!”
She wasn’t listening at all. Naptunie’s eyes were going left, right, analyzing the scene of each crash without any fear for her own safety. When Tessandra caught up with her, she suddenly spun around before the fighter could say a word.
“They are firing from the direction of the bridge we didn’t leave Sir Darsan nor one of the dragons at! Judging from the distance, they must be right outside the Outer Wall! And if I’m right, they can’t fire any farther than this, but I don’t know how many catapults they have!”
“Are you sure?” muttered Tessandra, shocked.
“Absolutely sure!”
Naptunie’s eyes did show how confident she was. Tessandra glanced around; she had no idea how the hell she was able to calculate that, but she had to believe Nana either way. For most people, those things seemed to appear truly out of nowhere, and the speed didn’t give them any time for analysis, nor to run. Another one appeared in the sky, and Tessandra grabbed Nana again to take her to what she hoped to be a safe spot. They protected their heads and waited until the damage was done.
“Judging from the rhythm, they have at least two,” said Nana, coughing from some dust. “Two catapults. But they have to be really big to carry such a heavy weight, and by the time they recharge...”
“Nana, Nana, calm down! Focus. You said those things can’t go any farther, right? Can you tell the farthest they can land? What is the safe zone?”
Naptunie turned around, quickly doing the math. Tessandra had asked the question just in case, but she did not actually expect Nana to be able to predict this much... She was proven wrong once again when Nana’s little finger pointed at the end of a nearby building.
“From there... to there,” she said. “I’m almost sure they cannot hit any farther than that!”
“A-alright... Alright, I’ll get Kassian to move our side to that area. But Nana, he’s going to need my help here, too many people got hit already. Someone needs to stop those machines.”
“Understood!”
Nana waited and a couple of seconds of silence passed as she seemed to wait for Tessandra to turn to someone else. When Tessandra raised an eyebrow, her confident expression sank.
“Y-you can’t mean... me?”
“Don’t worry, I’m not sending you alone to destroy those. But you showed us you can sneak past the fighting, and you know the area like the back of your hand too. Just get to the bridge where Krai is, and take him with you to destroy those things.”
“W-w-what?!” exclaimed Naptunie, turning pale. “Tessa, you can’t expect me to borrow Sir Dragon like that!”
“He likes you Nana! Don’t worry, he’s smarter than he looks, he’ll listen!”
“B-but I don’t even have a single beignet with me! And I’ll be going alone? He can’t possibly listen to me like that!”
“I said, he likes you! Not just your beignets! Just go, Nana, hurry!”
A bit reluctantly, Naptunie turned around, and Tessandra pushed her toward what she had indicated as the safe zone. Nana glanced back; the situation was dire in the plaza. Many people had been injured by the falling spiky weights, and the Yekara were running to regain the area they had lost. She took a deep breath, spotting her brother amidst the confusion. She would be useless here. She could probably do something if it was with Sir Dragon’s help. He’d listen, right?
Trying not to think too much, Naptunie turned around and ran quickly.
“Oh, Sir Dragon,” she muttered to herself, “I really hope you’re in a good mood...”
Naptunie kept muttering to herself as she ran, trying to manage her breathing whilst being cautious of her surroundings; she was good at avoiding fights, but the area she was headed toward seemed to be the most dangerous of all. There were Yekara soldiers and mercenaries everywhere, and she had to retrace her steps or hide several times to avoid them. A couple of times, she even had no choice but to climb on top of a house, over the roof, and land on the next street to avoid them. It was just as she had predicted: the farther she got from the main place where Kassian, Tessandra and Sabael fought, the harder it was to switch from one street to another. Right now, she was doing her very best to use everything she knew about the area to keep out of trouble.
She could still hear the projectiles violently hitting buildings or the ground far behind her, and every time, she feared for the others’ lives. If it wasn’t for that sound, regularly echoing behind her, perhaps Naptunie would have given up on Tessandra’s crazy idea. At least, it seemed crazy to her. She wasn’t just going to see Sir Dragon, she was supposed to actually convince the beast to attack a different area, and very specific weapons too! Nana had no idea how she was going to do that, though. She had never missed her family’s beignets so much... Still, she kept running, thinking she’d figure out the situation once she got there... Luckily, as she diverted from the path to the one leading to the bridge Krai was on, she met less and less Yekara soldiers. In fact, many were running in the opposite direction, and couldn’t be bothered with a Dorosef girl running on her own. The closer she got to the bridge, though, the more Nana’s worries shifted from the explosions and men behind her, to the loud, terrifying growls she was running toward.
The Inner Wall’s gates had been completely abandoned, to her surprise, and she arrived there to find the area completely deserted. On the other side of those gates, though, she could hear absolute carnage going on.
Naptunie stopped behind the gates, a cold chill running down her spine. She could hear the dragon’s loud growls and men screaming, shouting behind, the sound of swords clashing, and even bodies splashing into the water from time to time. Not only that, but the ground under her was literally shaking. She couldn’t blame the men for having abandoned that area of the city; she was regretting being there herself... Trying to keep in mind the urgency of the situation and the sight of a dragon calmly eating beignets out of her hand, Naptunie closed her fists, and after a deep breath, used all of her strength to push the heavy gates. Just that already took a lot of effort and a little while as she had never realized how heavy those really were. She struggled to push them until she could sneak past, stepping alone on the bridge. Or, more accurately, alone on her side of the bridge.
