“What? But what about the bridge you were supposed to guard?!”
Naptunie’s mind panicked, thinking Darsan had completely abandoned the southwest bridge to come over here. Or was he perhaps forced to flee? He didn’t look like someone who had lost a fight... He was messy, for sure, but she couldn’t spot a single injury on him. Still, Naptunie couldn’t understand why he was here and not on the bridge. She was already having scary thoughts of angry men destroying the gates, invading the city... However, before her imagination ran any wilder, Darsan grimaced, visibly embarrassed.
“Yeah, uh... About that... About that bridge, I may have, uh... caused a little bit of an accident...”
“What? Don’t tell me you... you destroyed the bridge?”
“I didn’t mean to!” he said, trying to explain himself. “I really didn’t! But that thing was just a bit too weak, you know, and I may have, uh... used a bit too much strength while fighting, so it began to crack all of a sudden, and by the time I ran back to the edge, splash! I-it fell down into the river...”
“You destroyed the bridge?!” exclaimed Nana, getting mad all of a sudden. “You actually destroyed the bridge! Do you know how long it took to build it?! And how many bricks of white stone were used too?! And that bridge was really important, it was helping the flow of traffic into the Capital, it led straight to one of the biggest markets for the people that were coming from the south! Now everyone is going to have to take a long detour around to get into the Capital, not to mention the inconveniences, increased traffic, and even the time it’s going to take to repair that bridge!”
“I’m very, very sorry...” muttered Darsan, whilst making himself smaller in front of the infuriated Nana. “I didn’t know...”
There were even frustrated tears appearing in her eyes, and her accusatory look was literally pinning Darsan where he was with guilt. He certainly hadn’t expected it to be such a big deal, and Naptunie’s sudden burst of anger and tears was taking him completely by surprise. His body moved like it was torn between running to her or in the opposite direction.
“You have to rebuild it!”
“I-I will!” he exclaimed, seeing a light of hope. “I swear I’m going to put it back brick by brick if needed!”
Nana let out a heavy annoyed sigh. The truth was, she knew it wasn’t a matter for tears at all. Darsan’s mistake had just happened right after one of the most traumatic moments of her life, and seemed to be the next best thing for her to unleash her already battered nerves on, after they’d been put through an awful lot for the previous hour. Of course, she was genuinely horrified about the bridge being gone, but it seemed like quite a secondary matter, given the situation... Naptunie looked around. Since there was one bridge Darsan had destroyed, and Krai had gone on a rampage here, they could consider these two entry points into the city now completely blocked, which could still work to their advantage.
“Don’t be mad, alright?” said Darsan, still visibly worried. “I promise I will do my best. There’s still a bit left too...”
Naptunie turned back to him. The Prince looked almost pitiful now, trying to justify his mistake and be forgiven. He was a head taller than her, but right now, he was keeping his shoulders and head low, and his fingers were all fidgety. Nana sighed.
“I... I think it will be fine,” she said, a bit embarrassed about her earlier shouting. “It’s not really important right now. Is... uh... Sir Shiny Dragon alright?”
“Kian? Oh, yeah, he’s doing completely fine. I mean, last I saw, he was hanging on great.”
“A-alright. Then, I think this area is secure now, so we should leave Sir Dragon at the next bridge, and get back inside the city. I think everyone could use our help.”
Darsan gave her a strong nod and enthusiastically punched his palm.
“I like that plan! Let’s do that!”
“But you can’t destroy any more bridges!” Nana added, raising her index finger with a cute frown.
“I-I won’t! I really won’t...”
Naptunie sighed a bit, but turned around, looking at the Black Dragon. Krai was still happily digging through the mess of ruined catapults to find more spiky balls to play with, or happily hunting down the few unfortunate men that hadn’t been running fast enough.
“Sir Dragon!”
She had made sure to shout loud enough for him to hear and, to her surprise, the dragon immediately turned its large head her way, its big red eyes opened wide with a curious expression. Nana tried to swallow the wave of anxiousness that was coming back. Would she be able to ride the dragon again after the fright from earlier?
“Let’s go!”
Before she could say a word, Darsan suddenly grabbed her around the waist, and in two movements, lifted Nana onto the Black Dragon’s back. Krai moved right away, but this time, Naptunie was actually able to hold onto Darsan, who was much more stable. She even managed to keep her eyes open to witness the Black Dragon taking a couple of long leaps to the next bridge, getting back to where she had gotten him from. They told the dragon to stay there and guard it. Then, Darsan helped her down, but he didn’t let go of her hand while they ran back toward the city.
“Let’s go get my sister and the others!” he exclaimed with a big smile, running on the bridge.
Naptunie was literally dragged behind him, but surprisingly, Darsan managed to clear the way in front of them without having to let go of her hand at all. He swung his large sword left and right, sending the Yekara soldiers flying with incredible strength. Nana was now starting to understand how the bridge had collapsed...
The two of them ran all the way back, nothing and no one capable of stopping them. Unlike Nana who had been forced to take detours to avoid confronting any of the enemy, Darsan was more than happy to run head first into the crowd. The young Prince’s colossal strength was knocking any enemy out of the way in a blow or two, allowing the two of them to simply run in a straight line, not taking any detours at all. Thanks to that, they got back to the main plaza even faster than Nana would have thought, and completely unscathed too.
However, once they got there, she quickly realized the situation at the main battlefield was still very complicated. From behind Darsan, she tried to assess the situation, glancing below his arms and in between their enemies to see the damages. The background had changed again, and not in a good way. Not only had more spiky balls been sent before Krai got to the catapults, damaging the roads and buildings around, but fires had been started too. While the crowd seemed to have doubled, it wasn’t exactly in their favor. A lot of the civilians had run or were busy trying to save their family and friends, doing their best to avoid the Yekara fighters and, if possible, leaving the area. The Yekara soldiers and their mercenary allies, however, had used the newly caused damages to gain more ground. Soon, they found themselves facing a dozen of them, and Darsan had no choice but to let go of Nana’s hand.
“Stay behind me!”
Even if he hadn’t said so, Naptunie would have never dared to take a step ahead. The road in front of them was completely blocked by those men and, even more fearsome, the powerful swings of Darsan’s sword were much too terrifying. If he could send grown soldiers in heavy armor flying that easily, Nana knew she could be swept across the island in a blink! At least, it seemed she was completely safe by staying a couple of steps behind the Prince; everyone around and behind them was dead, dying, or stunned. While Darsan fought effortlessly, there were still an awful amount of Yekara soldiers here, slowing them down. Had more gathered over here after two bridges had been made unusable, and their main residence burned? Naptunie and Darsan had arrived from the opposite side of where she had left Tessandra and the others, but she couldn’t really tell how the battle had evolved. The smoke coming up from the burning buildings, along with the rain, was permeating the whole scene with a dense gray fog. It was stinging her eyes a bit too. She was getting gradually more nervous, forced to hide behind Darsan and unable to do anything. And it wasn’t in Nana’s nature to do nothing.
As soon as she saw an opportunity, Naptunie ran to the nearest safe building, and began climbing up. Careful not to injure herself, she kept Darsan in sight, but she still had to see where they needed to go.
Once she found herself on the roof, Naptunie took a second to secure her position, making sure she wouldn’t slide or fall and unnecessarily bother Darsan. Then, she took a look around, squinting and trying to protect her eyes from the bothersome fumes. She quickly spotted Prince Kassian and his shiny dragon scale armor, still flawlessly dominating the battle. Once again, there was a small field around him where none of the enemies dared to approach. His blades were moving at an incredible speed, and Nana realized he might have switched weapons. She even saw him stab someone with his sword, steal one of the men’s knives and throw it across the field, and get his sword back again before the first body hit the ground. It was impressive. Now she had seen all of them fight; Naptunie was realizing that although they had all been trained by the same War God, Cessilia, Darsan, Kassian, and Tessandra all had their own style of fighting.
Darsan didn’t need any fancy movements, his brute force was already beyond what most men could handle. He probably didn’t have the patience either, he just enjoyed fighting as if it was all in fun, leaving his opponents no chance. Once in a while, he’d get a worthy opponent able to handle him, and he would change his actions a bit, finding the best way to break them down. His attacks were brutal and merciless. His brother, on the other hand, managed to be faster, using less strength but sharper, more effective movements. Naptunie knew little to nothing about the intricacies of sword fighting, but her eyes were learning a lot just from watching either one of the Princes move. Despite the differences between them, she couldn’t even tell who was actually better. She had a hunch the older brother was slightly more detailed and precise, but it felt like Darsan was being playful on purpose, and only got serious for brief moments.
Feeling better since the Prince was safe, she tried to find Tessandra or Lady Bastat next. Naptunie’s heart sank when she realized the building they had been on previously was currently on fire. Had something happened to them? Her nervousness on the rise, she kept looking around until she finally spotted Tessandra. The Princess seemed completely fine, and even a little bit excited. Her green armor was covered in blood, which was why it had taken Nana an extra minute to find her, but she was fighting more fiercely than ever, a grin stuck on her lips as if she was having some fun. Naptunie quickly spotted her own brother, just steps behind her, who seemed not only to be fighting, but also helping to evacuate those who were injured. He looked fine too, perhaps a bit rougher than Tessandra, his face covered in soot, but she knew her big brother, he could pull through anything. He was probably focused more on rescuing than fighting too.
She couldn’t catch sight of Lady Bastat, though, even after searching for several minutes. Did she leave the area for some reason? Or perhaps was she with the injured? From where she was, Naptunie could easily see how their numbers had been reduced. They had lost a third of the people that were fighting with them before, while the Yekara had gained about the same amount of fighters, she was almost certain. She could see the spiky balls had caused a lot of damage, digging holes in the ground, with bodies spread around the impact areas... Not only that, but the few fires were blocking some roads and making some areas more difficult to stay in, allowing the Yekara soldiers to win some ground and control in the plaza too. Nana’s heart sank. They were not doing well. Prince Kassian was still bravely securing the space he was in, but the soldiers were almost surrounding him now.
Things were taking a better turn with Darsan’s arrival, though. The younger Prince was easily sweeping the enemies out of the way, virtually digging a hole in the crowd of fighters. There was nothing and no one able to stop him, and he was making his way, slowly but surely, to meet his brother in the middle of the battlefield. Naptunie couldn’t help but be a bit proud, until she realized he had gotten quite far. Far from her, still perched on her rooftop. She glanced down, only to nervously realize he hadn’t just left bodies behind. There were men down there, who hadn’t noticed her. Yet.
Naptunie took a big breath and wiped her eyes, teary from the smoke. She realized, those men were there for the same reason; they didn’t dare to approach Darsan, and they couldn’t back down either, the smoke was too strong behind them. She could even hear more people coughing from there...
Suddenly, she realized something.
Darsan and Kassian were both also surrounded by the smoke, but unlike the men around them, they weren’t bothered. Nana gasped, wondering if she was wrong. Perhaps were they somehow moving enough air around them? It didn’t seem like it. The mix of rain, smoke, and dust caused by all the collapsed buildings had created a dangerous mix of heavy smoke that was hindering most of the men on the battlefield; that explained why so many civilians had evacuated the area, while the stubborn Yekara soldiers were doing their very best to hang on. Still, the more she watched, the more Nana was sure: the Dragon Princes didn’t mind the smoke at all! In fact, it made sense. If they had the same abilities as their sister and cousin, fire shouldn’t be much of an issue for them... and neither was smoke.
