“Missandra...”
“It’s just hair,” she said, turning to her sister. “I don’t care at all. I get your point, Cassandra. but this time, it’s my turn to protect you, okay? If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s tricking people. I promise I’ll get us out of here.”
Chapter19
The large, Black Dragon growled furiously, its claws ripping the soil and killing several soldiers, grasped or crushed underneath. The beast was roaming furiously among the ranks of the enemy, dispersing them. The soldiers of the Eastern Republic kept spreading around it to try and attack. They would do anything they could to get to the black scales, but it was an impenetrable armor. No blades or arrows could pierce the thick-skinned creature. The only thing that worked was the catapults. The heavy rocks thrown at the black dragon would be like stones annoying it, pissing it off even more. The Dragon would focus on destroying those annoying machines, then move on to the next group of soldiers it could find. It was impractical for such a large-sized creature to be fighting in a City.
Krai was left to unleash its fury at the border, using claws and fangs to tear the enemy apart, and its growl to terrorize the enemy. The border to the City of Dagaria had been the theater of this war for three days now.
The War God’s arrival had been a huge relief to the Dragon Empire’s people. His accomplishments preceded the man. Not only were all the citizens well aware of his past accomplishments, but for several weeks, the Empire’s favorite Prince had been freeing one City after another. The Eastern Army had made great progress long before the news reached the Capital. The lack of communication to the Imperial Palace had been a fatal flaw that had given them a considerable advantage. The Eastern Army had taken several cities by surprise. Acting under the cover of night, they knew exactly where to strike; getting rid of officials and messengers, thanks to the secret information they had obtained, and they had secured their new locations one after another. It had been almost too easy for the Army.
This attack had been carefully prepared. After years and years of feeding their hatred against the barbaric Dragon Empire, the Eastern soldiers were almost too eager when the order had finally been given. Following the Commander’s plan to the letter, they had made tremendous progress, one city after another. The hired mercenaries and assassins raided the cities, getting rid of the people in charge, and the soldiers arrived next to definitely capture the city or village. It was almost too easy. The army posted there had shown close to no resistance, completely taken by surprise. All the men were captured, some tortured publicly to scare the locals. Women and children who didn’t resist were captured and sent to the Eastern Republic to work as prisoners.
The news of the Dragon Empire’s War God’s arrival had changed things. The Eastern Army had stopped their progression right away, and instead, focused on taking full control of all of the acquired cities, gathering the men, equipment, and resources to stage a siege. They already knew the War God’s Dragon wouldn’t fire inside of a City, so they thought they could resist the Imperial Army’s arrival.
They were wrong. The War God was not someone they should have underestimated, especially not when he was guiding the Dragon Empire’s most powerful army. The first City where the two armies had met was the least consolidated, yet the Eastern Army had spent time getting ready for this confrontation. They had barricaded all doors, gathered the men inside the walls, and got ready to aim at the War God mostly.
They had been defeated in two days. The men were already scared from hearing of the War God’s arrival, with his terrifying Dragon, but seeing this man in person had been a terrible experience. He had arrived on foot, and upon facing the door that kept him out of the City, he hadn’t stopped. They had tried everything. Arrows, blades, even little fireballs. Nothing had stopped him. At best, they had scratched him, only to watch the scar turn black from afar. Someone had screamed he was a scaled beast, but they weren’t sure. The real nightmare had occurred when the War God had used his bare hands to tear the door down. That’s right, the heavily barricaded door hadn’t stood more than ten, long, painful minutes. That human monster had torn the thick wood apart like one would rip a paper sheet. Many men had been absolutely terrorized by those hands’ power.
A dragon’s strength could be understood by its size, and species. This man, however, didn’t belong to the human realm. There was no other explanation but that Prince being a Demi-God. The Eastern Army had understood for the first time the heavy reality of a man nicknamed the War God by its own people. As soon as Kairen was in sight, their fate was sealed.
The Eastern Army would not give up on their position easily, but the mere sight of the black armor of the War God was enough to petrify a lot of men. His dark eyes showed no mercy to his enemies. The men were falling one after another, killed like fleas in his path. One single man was leading the Dragon Empire Army with so much assurance that it took a lot of resolve for the Eastern Army leaders to not surrender. They had orders coming from their own Capital, but the politicians had no front seat for this massacre!
The only thing saving them was the time they had won ahead. Being able to secure their positions in the Dragon Empire’s own City guaranteed a bit of restraint from the enemy soldiers. They didn’t want to destroy the houses or harm the locals, unlike the Eastern soldiers who didn’t care at all. Even the War God, known to be the most merciless, wouldn’t harm any woman or child that got in his way. That was surprising, considering the extreme violence that man displayed to get rid of his enemies.
Kairen was enraged by this war. It was taking too long. He knew the fault didn’t reside in the Generals accompanying him or his men. All the military officers agreed that the late start in this war put them at a major disadvantage. Freeing a city was much more complicated than fighting an army on a proper battlefield. The fights were taking place all over the City, and their population was caught in it, often used as hostages as well. It wasn’t a situation that could be resolved by brute force alone.
The Generals were doing their best, but it took time to solve each conflict. Anywhere the War God went, things were settled quickly. However, there was only one War God of the Dragon Empire, and the man couldn’t be everywhere. The days were inevitably long, and the longer the war went on, the more the men were exhausted.
Though the War God’s presence was the main source of comfort for the Imperial Army, who knew they wouldn’t lose this battle with such a Commander, the biggest relief came from elsewhere.
Several weeks after the beginning of the war, messengers came from the back of the Army to let the Generals know the Lady of the Mountain and the Diamond Lady were sending medical supplies. The officials were astonished. Since when did women bother about matters of war? However, when the promised medical kits had arrived a few days later, they were speechless. Everything sent was ready to use, and practical. The Generals were totally baffled, except for one of them, who had been dispatched from the North. That old general knew the Lady of the Mountain, the War God’s Favorite, the only lady who cared enough about this war to fight with them.
There wasn’t much to argue about anyway. Those medical kits had come at a good time to raise the morale of the troops, and the Lady of the Mountain wasn’t only a high-ranked Concubine, she was named Imperial Physician by the Emperor himself. It was enough for all the supplies to be sent everywhere on the battlefield.
Kairen only got to see those kits a couple of days later. The War God had barely rested since the beginning of this war. Returning to a battlefield after such a long time was actually refreshing. Kairen stood at the very front of the battle, slaughtering one man after another, sometimes fighting several at a time. He had gotten a few injuries, but nothing his Dragon Blood couldn’t heal. Instead, he was actually frustrated at his dragon, getting impatient outside of the City. Krai was forbidden to fire or enter the Cities, but the dragon was keeping itself busy by clearing the grounds around it. If any Eastern soldier had a bad idea of trying to run from the City, he was greeted right away by a wide-open mouth, and quick death.
However, this wasn’t where both the Dragon and the Prince wanted to be at this moment. They were all longing for a different City, a different company. This fact made Krai irritable, and the Dragon was even harder to keep in check. The Prince was well aware of his conflicted feelings, but there was nothing that could be done about it. His duties came first, and only when this war was over could he go back to his beloved Cassandra.
“What is this?” he asked as one of his soldiers had taken out a little box to try and save his injured peer.
“The medicinal kits from the Diamond Palace, Commander! They were distributed last night to all the men at the front!”
While the man was wrapping an injury, Kairen observed the little box. He recognized the familiar smell of medicine and plants. Cassandra’s hair always smelled the same after she had spent time in her garden. A little smile appeared on the War God’s face, terrorizing the men around. The War God, smiling? What kind of crazy demon was awake now?
The Commander turned around, swinging his swords with a smirk that wouldn’t leave his face. So she had decided to do something, as well. It was so like her to refuse to stay put. A proud feeling spreading in his chest, the War God worked even harder at clearing the City, only resting when he absolutely had to. He even made sure to send some men literally flying, where the dragon could catch them in one bite.
However, it wasn’t enough. More precisely, something was wrong about this whole war.
He had felt it since the beginning. The information had come too late to the Palace, and the Eastern Army was well too informed. They had known how and where to strike to get a considerable advantage ahead of them. This was not a simple coincidence. Kairen immediately informed his Generals that he wanted them to capture officials, and make them spill about the rat that had sold the information. He wouldn’t let them get away with this.
Finally, in the next City they freed, they captured the right man to interrogate.
Truth was, the poor fellow was about to meet a tragic fate. The War God was annoyed. This war had been going on for several weeks, more than he had promised already. He wanted to get things done quickly, and this man was the one who was about to receive his anger.
Kairen walked into one of the houses used as a headquarters of the front. Two Generals to the side, one accountant, and two soldiers holding their prisoner on his knees.
“Talk,” said the War God, as cold as ice.
