Princess of Dragons

Chapter 5

Ciara froze in the saddle. What? What was going on?

A flame suddenly whizzed right past her head, making the stallion rear up. She lost her balance and felt herself falling. Unable to do anything about it, she closed her eyes and braced for impact.

"Ciara!" she faintly heard Kaisog shout. Only a moment later, she heard the galloping hooves disappearing down the street and found herself fallen on top of something which most certainly wasn't cobble-stone.

A dry cough underneath her made her crack an eye open, only to make her jump to her feet.

"My God! Kaisog, are you all right?"

He quickly got to his feet as well. "I am fine, Princess. More importantly, are you hurt?" he asked, the question a hurried demand.

She shook her head. "I am fine. Thanks to you."

"Good." He pushed her behind him, up against a wall. "Now, please stay behind me." He quickly drew the swords strapped to his back.

Only now did she realize her guards had formed a circle all around the two. Beyond their wall were a myriad of faces she didn't recognize the slightest. Not that they were all that visible behind their dark hoods.

Notably though, each one of them held some kind of weapon in their hands.

Shivers ran down her back. They were being attacked. This was an assassination-attempt. On her.

"Protect the princess at all costs!" Kaisog called out to the men. "Do not let anyone through."

They were outnumbered and everyone here knew it. They had no chance of beating these guys. Even if each and every one of them was as skilled as Kaisog. Every clang of swords drove that point in even further.

"Was this your plan all along?! Inviting us here just so you could finally be rid of us forever?" Kaisog yelled, his gaze fastened on the knight who'd guided them here. He was currently the only one inside the circle, but he also looked like the most bloodthirsty of them all. "I knew we should have never trusted your bastard king's words!"

The man smirked and almost leisurely drew his sword as he approached them. "Well, in all fairness, his majesty has nothing to do with all this." He gestured nonchalantly to her guards as one of them had a dagger plunged into his throat.

Ciara had to turn around and rest her forehead against the cold wall as she fought the bile rising in her throat. This wasn't happening. This was just not happening.

She still had her back turned when the clash of swords erupted right behind her.

"We do not need power-hungry beast-lovers like you taking over again. This is our damn kingdom now!" the man shouted, the purest of fury in his voice.

"Hells," Kaisog grunted, strained against the other man's sword. "You will pay for this!"

The knight only laughed in response. "Oh, really?"

A familiar scream was heard a little away. Alen.

She bit her lip, not even trying to fight her tears any longer. She clasped her hands over her ears, not wanting to hear any more of this. But even she knew it wouldn't help any at all. She could still hear everything just fine.

With a push of effort and the singing of blades, Kaisog seemed to have pushed the other man back.

"Yes, really."

The knight snorted in laughter as Ciara suddenly understood what made her friend so confident. It was faint, but she could hear something quite like thunder in the distance. Only, it wasn't.