Stumbling back, exhausted, scared, defeated, the man began to lose his grip on his weapon. His brain was screaming he had to run, to flee this place, far from those green eyes. He stumbled again and fell down, his eyes opened wide in horror. Cessilia knew she had won already. She slowly lowered her sword, pointing it toward his chest, and walked toward him. The man retreated, desperate, and suddenly, his hand touched something liquid and warm. Blood. He finally looked around, realizing he was in the middle of his own men’s bodies. They were all dead, or dying with a limb or two torn off. The man gasped, as if he was horrified for the very first time by all the deaths he had caused.
His terrified eyes went back to Cessilia. He could almost see it. Behind that girl, the shadow of a warrior, that dark aura that belonged to the real monster, the War God who had forged his daughter into a being as terrifying as himself. Yebekh could see it now. That child wasn’t enhanced by her dragon blood, but by the teachings of the best fighter of all. The one who had earned his title of War God. Who was he, a mere mortal, to think he could ever stand a chance against that...?
“P-p-please,” he begged, completely out of it. “I-I’m sorry. I’ll stop. I’ll stop. I-I’m sorry. ...I-I beg you...”
To his surprise, Cessilia actually stopped walking. Her green eyes weren’t betraying anything, and for a fateful second, he really thought he could beg for his life to be spared. That was it. She was still a woman, a young child who could be begged, convinced, swayed. She had to have some pity for the weak, some mercy. If he could convince her to let him go, then he’d be able to survive this, and then–
A large hand suddenly covered his vision. He felt himself being brutally pulled backwards, and his back violently hit the cold metal of armor.
“You don’t deserve to be spared, you bastard,” whispered a voice next to his ear. “You’ve got to pay for all the lives you sacrificed.”
Ashen put the blade against his neck, and mercilessly sliced his throat. Yebekh only made one throaty sound, and fell forward, his face in his men’s blood, his eyes still wide open. He was dead.
Cessilia let out a long sigh.
“...It’s over,” she muttered.
Ashen nodded, but right after, he grimaced and fell backwards. Cece moved immediately, and he landed gently against the dragon’s snout with a grunt.
“Damn it.”
Cessilia ran to his side, checking on him.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m feeling great,” he lied. “I would have taken him, but... I figured you should have the fun. Oh, fucking poison...”
“It’s alright. Just lie down... No, actually, let’s get on Cece and take you to the Hashat Family, they’ll have what you need. You did well,” she added with a gentle kiss against his cheek.
“Thanks... We’ll just pretend that’s true when your cousin’s around, please? I don’t mind my Queen saving the day, but I know she’s going to give me hell for just lying there and my ego can only take so much bruising at once...”
“Ashen, stop talking. Just get on.”
The truth was, Cessilia knew he was already in a bad condition when they had gotten here. It was impressive he had managed so well and won against dozens of men when most wouldn’t even have been able to get up... Even with the dose of poison he had received, she thought he was still surprisingly fine. He could barely stand, and his complexion wasn’t too good, but she had really feared for his life all along.
Even now, he was still standing and gently pushed her hand away when she was trying to have him get on the Silver Dragon.
“No,” he said. “We have to stop the fights first.”
“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!”
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.”
