“Stop laughing, you crazy woman!”
Cassandra’s nervous laugh wasn’t that long, but she had no strength to get back up. She was beyond exhausted. Lephys’ furious expression was what kept her upright, though. He was another monster that needed to disappear. When he lifted his sword again, she got ready, and using all of her strength, she raised her arm to splatter him with water, and some mud and small rocks she had grabbed. That attack took him by surprise, and he groaned, having gotten some in his eyes. Cassandra’s reflexes came back the second she realized she had a chance. Ignoring the pain, she actually grabbed his sword by its blade and kicked him in the flank.
The Fifth Prince wasn’t a fighter. That kind of move wouldn’t have worked with Kairen or Vrehan, but Lephys was surprised by her sudden kick and made the mistake of lessening his grip on his weapon for a second. Cassandra took that opportunity, and sent the weapon flying, having it fall into the Lake. She knew she hadn’t time to turn it around and use it herself, but at least she could get rid of it.
His eyes were red with all the dirt he had gotten in them, and as Lephys fell on his flank, he quickly got on all fours to wrestle Cassandra. He was even more furious that she had even managed to pull this kind of trick on him, and made him lose his sword so easily. He raised his hand and slapped her furiously. Cassandra felt the pain resonate through her whole body, and her cheek burned. Lephys chuckled from hearing her in pain, and quickly got back on his knees to pin her down, and slap her some more. It wasn’t just about killing her now. He wanted this woman to suffer, for the humiliation she had just caused him. His eyes hurt, she had just made a fool of him, and he hadn’t forgotten she had stabbed him either. He kept slapping her furiously, yet ensuring not to put as much strength behind them so that it would have her pass out. He wanted her to suffer some more before he killed her.
“You damn bitch. You’re nothing but a useless woman! You think you can hurt me! You think you can touch me! You slut! You’re just a damn, wicked bitch! A witch! A rotten slave!”
With each sentence came a new slap, and Cassandra couldn’t even pass out to escape. Her whole face was burning, and she could feel the taste of her own blood in her mouth. She tried to struggle, push him away, but no matter what, Lephys was a healthy, young man who was a lot stronger than her. She could only raise her arms to try and protect herself, but even so, he was having fun hitting her wherever he could. She felt his slaps turn into fists when he started hitting her arms, yet she endured it. She held onto the thought that she had gone through worse, that she had to make it through for her baby. For Kassian.
“You’re so weak! You think you can play strong? Do you think you can survive this? You’re just weak, useless!”
Cassandra’s eyes turned towards the Lake, and the Purple Dragon that was coming their way. She could hear Krai’s furious growls above, still wrestling with the chains on the roof, and the soldiers trying to injure the black dragon with whatever weapons Vrehan had gotten ready. Cassandra had to do something. No one was coming to save her, she had to move and help Krai herself. If the dragon could access the Palace, Kairen would have a better chance. That’s all she needed to focus on right now.
She purposely let Lephys have his fun beating her some more, but she was thinking. She knew what to do, she hadn’t gotten closer to the Lake by mistake. Protecting her face as much as she could, she took a deep breath.
“Sometimes it’s not about strength,” she whispered in her native tongue. “It’s about courage.”
“What are you saying, woman?!”
Just when he had stopped to try and understand her words, Cassandra used both of her hands, with her joined fingers, to punch him in his jaw. It wasn’t that strong, but it was surprising. Lephys let out another painful groan, holding his jaw with a shocked expression.
Cassandra then quickly turned towards the Lake, and started chanting, as loud as she could, in her native tongue.
“What are you...”
He had expected her to try and run away, to crawl maybe, but this woman was singing loudly. Singing something he couldn’t understand, in a different language. For a few seconds, the Fifth Prince got worried, but then, he understood. She was just crazy. He laughed, finding this way too pathetic.
“What are you trying to do, witch? Ask the fish for help? Is that all you can do?”
Yet, Cassandra ignored him, and kept chanting, loudly, as her eyes remained closed. Lephys stopped laughing and frowned. What was this, anyway? It looked like her song from the Celebrations, with that same strange language, but this one had... something scary about it. It didn’t sound like a prayer, more like a... battle cry. A chill went down his spine, and for a full minute, he wasn’t so sure. Her singing had him worried, yet he couldn’t understand why. He couldn’t possibly be afraid of a weak woman’s singing!
Cassandra stubbornly kept going, her arms still protecting her face, her voice getting deeper and louder. The Fifth Prince was torn. While he didn’t want to be afraid of that woman, he still couldn’t ignore this very uneasy feeling that was growing, as if something dangerous was about to happen.
“Stop,” he muttered. “Stop that!”
“Hisiren da altere, bato. Ya men guerra, ten guerra. Alra mien shin da, almere, li shin, li shin. Oh, God of Water, rise for your daughters, rise for those they murdered, rise for your daughters’ blood.”
Cassandra kept going, uttering her words loudly and fast, her song echoing all around them. Lephys found himself staring at the surface of the lake with that worried feeling that was nagging and wouldn’t go away. There was something wrong, something was about to happen. However, the surface of the Lake was very quiet and calm, and he couldn’t understand why he was finding himself so worried about some stupid woman’s singing.
“You foolish woman. You’re going to die, this time! I’ll...”
Lephys raised his hand, but just as he did, something suddenly flew out of the water. A large shadow covered them, and for a second, the Prince thought a bridge had appeared above. However, it wasn’t a bridge. It was a humongous, reptilian body. It was just so big that it easily overshadowed them before touching the ground on the other side. Like a gigantic snake, it came out of the water, very slowly. More and more of the reptilian body came out, seeming endless. Lephys was completely frozen, thinking he might be hallucinating. Yet, what he first took for a giant snake, kept coming out of the water, and it’s long body crawled on the grass, circling them in its rings. It’s small but palmed front paws landed in the grass very close, making him realize this wasn’t a giant snake.
Suddenly, a head bigger than any dragon’s head he had seen turned to him. The young man didn’t even dare to lower his arm, completely frozen. He was just shaking, horrified. Not even Glahad was this big, and this Creature’s head was awfully close. It seemed trapped with them under the grid on the roof, with just enough space. The Creature looked very calm, but even the Purple Dragon looked worried and retreated slowly. Everything except for what was going on in the Throne Room seemed to get horribly silent around them. Lephys was still holding his arm high up, ready to hit Cassandra, but with that thing watching him, he didn’t dare move a finger. He could tell those white eyes were fixated right on him.
Under him, Cassandra had stopped chanting, but unlike the Fifth Prince, she wasn’t scared to move. She pushed him away from her, and crawled away, laying her body down into the water. It had a terribly good cooling effect on her painful cheeks, and she let the water wash away all the dirt and blood on her arms for a few seconds. Above her, she heard Krai growl again, and it made her re-open her eyes. Cassandra knew she still had to move. She turned around, got back on all fours, and slowly stood up.
Just when she staggered and thought she was about to fall, a sturdy, scaled body appeared in front of her. She chuckled and leaned against the Water God’s body to stand up properly. She turned towards the Creature’s head and smiled. It was strange how calm the Creature was, and how it made Cassandra feel so much calmer, too. Yet, this fight wasn’t over. Next to her, Lephys still had his arm held up, he hadn’t dared to move. He looked funny like this, but he was glaring at her.
“You damn witch,” he hissed.
Cassandra ignored him, turning her head up. Krai was still blocked up there. She took a deep breath, and turned towards the Water God, addressing the creature in her native tongue.
Lephys couldn’t understand any of the words she uttered, but he was speechless when it actually made the gigantic Creature move. Under his eyes, the water dragon slowly extended its body up, until it reached the chains. With its little claws and fangs, the creature started pulling on the grid. While they had barely moved under Krai’s attacks, the long metallic chains couldn’t resist the Water God’s strength for long. They heard the stones they had been fixated on creaking horribly, and a portion of the roof crumbled, leaving one side of the roof open.
Krai flew in immediately, with a furious growl. The Black Dragon was injured, two arrows having pierced under its left-wing, but that didn’t even seem to slow Krai one bit. Compared to the calm Water dragon, the black one came in like a big raging hurricane. Krai jumped on Lephys’ dragon, all fangs out, and the two of them started fighting furiously. While the Purple Dragon had stood still in front of the Water God, it couldn’t lay down while being attacked, and the two dragons started fighting furiously.
