But before he could end his sentence, a loud, angry dragon growled at him. The men ran in all directions, just before Krai’s paw landed on the Captain, pinning him on the ground. He lost all air in his lungs in a funny expression, the beast crushing him to the ground.
“Hey, Krai, no. No, no, get your paw off. Here.”
Krai was still growling, but Cassandra’s calls managed to distract the dragon enough. She kept making gestures until the red eyes looked her way instead of the Captain’s. Her voice was as gentle and calm as usual, yet every man was shocked to see the dragon attracted to her like a moth to a flame. Krai kept growling, unhappy, and the Captain was still being crushed under his humongous weight.
“Let go, come on. Come here,” said Cassandra, stepping away so the dragon would follow.
Eventually, Krai turned around, its paw finally lifting from the man’s body, who painfully tried to breathe again.
“Good dragon,” said Cassandra. “Come here.”
While she was scratching and petting Krai, Evin rolled his eyes and walked to the soldiers, helping their Captain up.
“You idiot. Insulting the Concubine in front of His Highness’ Dragon.”
“The dragon listens to the Lady of the Mountain!” said one of the men, impressed.
Evin clicked his tongue.
“His Highness’ Dragon listens to His Highness only. He just likes to act as Lady Cassandra’s bodyguard...and pet, apparently.”
Even so, all the men were watching the scene of the young woman, standing in the snow to cuddle and pet a dragon that was about a thousand times her size. Krai seemed to have already forgotten about them, only focused on Cassandra.
At some point, she had the dragon walk away, though they had missed how she did that. Had she thrown something away to play catch? That death machine just acted like a dog around this woman…
“You should have him rest and apply fresh snow on his injury. It will most likely heal by itself as long as he doesn’t overdo it,” she said to the men.
“Thank you, Lady Cassandra!” said some of the men in unison.
“You better take him out of here, though. Next time, I can’t guarantee His Highness’ Dragon won’t bite him on the first try.”
The men left swiftly, taking away the Captain who was still acting grumpy. Evin turned to Cassandra.
“You did a good job preventing His Highness’ Dragon from eating him.”
“Did I?”
“Yes. Even dragons can get sick from rotten meat.”
Cassandra laughed. Sometimes, Evin really surprised her. Was he ironic or really trying to crack a joke? Either way, it was amazing to see how his facial expression never changed one bit.
“The weather is getting worse. I suggest you go back now, Madam,” said Evin, looking at the sky.
“All right. Let me give some instructions to the men in the hospital and then we can go.”
Indeed, a few instructions were sufficient for the men to know what to do even if she was absent. Cassandra had been surprised with how fast some of the younger soldiers were able to learn from her. Many were very proactive and curious too, always asking questions and coming up with suggestions.
They obviously held her in high esteem, as she was always called “Lady Cassandra” or “Lady of the Mountain” by the men. Some were coming daily, even for a few hours, just to learn more from her and spread the knowledge about first aid around. She didn’t feel too bad about leaving the mountain a bit earlier than usual that day, knowing she was leaving it in good hands.
Since the wind was too strong, Krai stayed on the ground, walking beside her, its huge body actually shielding Cassandra from the snow during the whole trip back.
“This is going to be a storm,” said Evin.
“Are the storms bad here?”
“They can be, but the men only need to stay confined in their tents. If it lasts several days though, it can be problematic.”
Cassandra nodded, and looked up. It was all grey and white in the sky. How long would this last? Evin was probably right, as the snowfall was getting heavier. Snow was piling up on Krai’s back. As they progressed in the camp, many men warned her to take cover, too. Cassandra was looking for the Prince though, and was directed to one of the training grounds. Despite the name, it was in one of the buildings.
