“What is…”
“That’s my bodyguard,” sighed Cassandra.
The next second, the walls and floor shook strangely, and the roof over their heads was completely blown away in a big gust of wind. Wood and stone fell apart in all directions, small debris falling around them, and Krai’s big head appeared above, growling loudly.
Missandra screamed in pure terror and tried to run away, but Cassandra held her hand, preventing her from leaving and trying to have her calm down.
“Missandra, it’s fine! It’s fine!”
“It will eat us! That beast will eat us! That dragon is…”
“A friend! I promise he won’t hurt you,” yelled Cassandra, desperately trying to cover the dragon’s loud growls. “Krai, hush! I’m fine, calm down, please!”
The dragon, apparently unhappy or confused, kept growling over their heads, its huge claws tearing some of the furniture around them. The red eyes were glowing in anger at Missandra, despite Cassandra’s attempt to hide her behind herself.
Right then, the door was blown away from the only wall left standing, and Shareen appeared looking furious, followed by Dahlia.
“What the hell is going on?!”
“Shareen, are you fine?” asked Cassandra.
“Fine? I wake up in the middle of an empty street with you gone, and that big scaled ass making a mess of the place looking for you! What the hell happened? Wait, don’t tell me that’s really your sister?”
The Princess had finally realized the striking resemblance between Cassandra and the terrified young woman standing next to her. Missandra, after a few seconds of surprise, jumped in front of her sister, taking a little dagger out, glaring at Shareen and obviously getting ready to defend herself and Cassandra, despite her own fear. Cassandra sighed again, totally exhausted by the turn of events.
“Yes, it is. Sorry, she’s the one who…”
“I drugged you, how come you’re already awake?” asked Missandra with a frown.
Despite glaring at Shareen, she couldn’t help but also try to keep an eye on the dragon too, wondering which would be the bigger threat. The Princess rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.
“I have dragon’s blood. You think your little sleeping potion can knock me out for so long? I only needed a few minutes for my blood to get rid of it. Don’t do that again though, or I’m slicing your pretty little neck next time. And keep that toothpick away. With the way you are holding it, I can tell you’ll only manage to injure yourself.”
“Hinue, li yunja ya…” whispered Missandra.
“Ya men da paerins da Linue,” replied Cassandra. “Alshenjei li. Missandra, bato kaichira.”
“Kaichira? Hinue, li snaira!”
“Alra, mai li ya hensen. Linue, bato… almere.”
What was that? Shareen and Dahlia exchanged a look, completely baffled. They had never thought Cassandra could speak another language! Whatever they were speaking, the sisters’ sounds were completely different from the Dragon Empire’s language. They couldn’t understand a single word they had said.
Whatever those words they exchanged meant, Missandra was still sending doubtful glances at Shareen, refusing to leave her sister’s side. Cassandra, though, was obviously trying to have her calm down.
“What the hell was that?” asked Shareen, baffled.
“Alshenjenui, Hinue. Li ghen…”
“Missandra, it’s alright. Please. I promise Shareen won’t hurt me or you,” replied Cassandra, switching back to the Dragon Empire’s tongue.
“I still haven’t decided on that, actually,” said Shareen, clicking her tongue and glaring Missandra’s way.
Apparently, she was still not over the drug incident. Cassandra sighed.
Missandra, next to her, couldn’t take her eyes off Krai. Upon Shareen’s arrival, the dragon had finally stopped growling and was simply looking at them, its red eyes filled with curiosity, with one paw on the last wall that remained standing. The large nose was sniffing Cassandra, as if to check if everything was alright. She gently patted its snout.
“That B… Black Dragon. That’s the War God’s…”
