Behind them, Roun and Krai began jumping to attack the soldiers, too. When Kian started growling at them angrily, Krai finally let go and, though it was too small to attack, the Baby Dragon jumped from its head to its back, sending growls left and right as if it was the one fighting.
The Imperial Siblings fought their way to the Imperial Palace. It was a long, long fight to get there as they couldn’t use the dragons with the roofs being trapped. The residence was quite far from the Imperial Palace, and it seemed like the number of men sent by Vrehan was endless. More importantly, they soon realized the Imperial Army was already there. The colors of the soldiers were codified, and Shareen and Kairen didn’t even need to talk to each other to know who they were fighting against. They just exchanged glances, and kept going.
Fighting the Imperial Army was not easy inside the Capital, especially not with two dragons by their side. It was the same as the fight against the Eastern Republic’s Army. They had to be cautious of the locals, so the dragons couldn’t even use their fire. However, Kairen, Shareen, and the two dragons alone were enough to fight their way through the whole Imperial Army, no matter how much slower the progress. The soldiers were obviously afraid of them, though they were trained not to retreat. Kairen and Shareen fought one man after another, slaughtering everyone in their way without stopping.
It was a dance of death. Blood flying through the air and violence dispersing terrified citizens that dared to venture outside at the wrong time. The siblings and the dragons only occupied a couple of streets, but they were a horror scene. They had no mercy and no time to care about doing a clean job of this.
“Your Highness!”
Kairen turned to the left, taking his sword out of a man’s chest, soon realizing they weren’t alone anymore. Many soldiers of a different outfit were now standing or running in the same direction as them, opposing the Imperial Army. One of the Generals ran to Kairen’s side, bowing with a military salute.
“Your East Army!” exclaimed Shareen, surprised. “Already?”
“We came as soon as we got Lady Kareen’s message, Your Highness! We couldn’t stay put, especially with Your Highness and Lady Cassandra in danger!”
Indeed, they soon heard the sounds of the two armies fighting resonating from all the nearby streets. The fight had now been taken much farther into the Capital’s streets. Screams and sounds of weapons striking filled the air. It was a war scene everywhere the eye could see.
Kairen and Shareen exchanged a smile in spite of their tiredness and the sweat and blood soaking their armor. With the East Army here, they could finally cut through the smaller fights and make it to the Imperial Palace quicker.
The fighting resumed, more violent than before. Throughout the city, hundreds of men fought to get to the Imperial Palace or keep others from it. The fighting going into the night, long past sunset. When the sun had touched the ground, they finally presented themselves at the Palace’s doors. The fight wasn’t over, but the siblings had finally reached their destination. Both Shareen and Kairen were a bit tired after all of that, but neither of them wanted to stop. They sent people to get Phetra, their hostage, and cleared the area around them, making sure no one would try to stop them from entering. In the streets, the East Army was clearly winning, establishing a clear perimeter around the Palace. Unlike the East Army, none of the Imperial Army had been trained in first aid, and they had to watch as Kairen’s men helped their own people, while theirs suffered.
What was happening in the streets was no longer Kairen’s concern. He was glaring at the doors, impatient to finally wrap his hands around Vrehan’s neck. He glanced at his sister, who nodded. Just like before, Shareen took a deep breath, and used her fire on the large doors. It was the most efficient way and, after that, both siblings only had to use a bit of strength on the doors for them to finally collapse.
Leaving the armies to fight each other outside, they walked in. Kareen followed a few steps behind with Evin and Anour as bodyguards, even though she probably didn’t need them.
“Where to, Mother?” asked Kairen, unsure.
“I don’t know... Let’s just head for the rat’s apartments first.”
As they walked through the corridors, everything felt quiet. Strangely quiet. They’d had to leave the dragons outside, as both Roun and Krai were too big to squeeze through the front doors, but it was still too quiet. dragons or not. They didn’t spot a single servant for a long while. The Imperial Palace had certainly changed a lot since their last visit here, and none of them were particularly fond of this new atmosphere.
“Brother?”
Kairen followed her glare. They were still on their way, but something strange was happening to the side. Several Imperial Soldiers were guarding the lake, their weapons in hand. The siblings exchanged a glance. Men guarding the lake? They decided to ignore it and, instead, continued rushing inside when a loud sound resonated. A long, long blow. Kareen froze.
“The Emperor,” she whispered.
They all knew that sound. It was only used in the event of an Imperial Death. Their blood froze in their veins, and without thinking, Shareen and Kairen started running towards the Emperor’s Hall.
When they barged in, they were welcomed with a hundred soldiers pointing their weapons at them. The Hall was filled with Imperial soldiers and at the very end, facing them, Vrehan sat on the Golden Throne, his dragon sitting behind him. Both of the red beast’s eyes were completely destroyed, they were just two big black holes now. It was obviously blind.
However, the dragon wasn’t their main worry at the moment and neither were the soldiers. In front of them, Vrehan was holding Missandra by her hair, a knife threateningly held against her throat.
A strange silence followed their arrival into the room. Kairen and Vrehan were fiercely glaring at each other from across the dozens of soldiers between them. Even if they had been alone, the atmosphere wouldn’t have gotten an inch colder. The poor men stuck between the two Imperial Princes even felt a bit out of place, exchanging worried glances at each other. After all, none of them had signed up to be standing up against the Empire’s War God himself! Those men were Imperial Guards, trained to obey the Emperor only, and they would do so until their death, but this situation just didn’t feel right for any of them. Princess Shareen, who was known for her own military merits, was glaring at them like she was looking at a crowd of vermin. She couldn’t believe the nerve of those idiots to side with Vrehan.
The Imperial Princess had a sour expression on her face. She had abandoned her swords to steal a spear from one of the Imperial Generals she had defeated. That weapon was heavy and meant for a man, but she had no problem carrying it nonchalantly on her shoulders. Her stare went to Missandra with a sigh. So things had turned that bad here. Anour, too, was staring at Missandra non-stop, unable to say a word, only feeling scared for her.
“You’re a bit late, Brother,” said Vrehan, speaking first. “You missed my coronation.”
Kairen didn’t bother to answer, but Shareen stood forward, furious.
“What coronation?! You’re no more worthy of the title of Emperor than you are worthy of putting your dirty ass on that throne, Vrehan!”
Her words angered him, and he suddenly pulled more on Missandra’s hair, making her groan in pain. She was keeping herself from crying, but the young woman was teary-eyed, as he was keeping her neck bent in a weird position, and the blade was held against her skin. Shareen clenched her teeth, annoyed. If he had captured Missandra, it didn’t mean anything good for her sister either. Anour almost stepped forward, but Shareen quickly held his arm and pushed him back towards her mother.
“What happened to the old man?” suddenly asked Kareen.
For the first time, her voice was cold as ice, but she was strangely calm and composed. The Second Prince answered with an annoyed expression.
