Princess of Dragons

Chapter 10

Kaisog returned from the mission quite some time before the knights did, deciding not to hang around them any longer than absolutely necessary. She'd been staring at the group when she saw them come in through the gates again, trying to see if there were any of them who hadn't been there when they'd left.

The only difference was a filled carriage with a sheet over it.

She wasn't even halfway done processing it when a soft knock sounded at her door.

"Princess, are you free for a moment?" Sergon's unmistakable voice slowly asked, his voice concerningly heavy.

She got up from her bed slowly, her legs all too heavy to move.

"Yes..." She mentally prepared herself for what he was going to say. It wasn't that difficult to guess.

She slowly opened the door, giving him one of the smallest smiles she could remember ever giving anyone.

"Do you want to come in, my lord?"

"I do not think that will be necessary." He didn't even attempt to smile back. "We found the bodies of your guards. They are currently being held underground, where they will be prepared for-" He stopped himself as she clutched her skirts. "Do you wish to see them?"

She only nodded, unable to utter a single word, and silently followed him as he went down the unfamiliar corridors. Her feet dragged along the floor.

He remained silent the entire way, guiding her down the winding staircase and to the underground dungeons. The flickering light of the flames was all that kept the darkness at bay down here.

They stopped up in front of a brown, wooden door, guarded by two rather grim-looking guards, who eyed her when she came into sight.

Sergon turned around, that same look on his face.

"I feel I should warn you, princess. We did the best we could, but not everything could be hidden away with the wipe of a cloth."

Without so much as a twitch - she hoped - she returned his gaze.

"It is fine... I will be fine." She was fully prepared for whatever she was going to be faced with. She'd seen it all every time she closed her eyes - it could hardly be any worse.

Sergon gave her a long look, then slowly pushed the creaking door open. She strained her eyes to see inside, but it was only once he stepped aside that she was truly able to.

Spread out on the floor were nine bodies covered by linen. The exact number of people who had joined her on the way here. No one had survived.

She took a deep breath before stepping inside the clammy, dank room. The smell of the blood that had been cleaned off still hung in the room like a thick, invisible fog.

She went to the first body slowly, kneeling beside him. These men- no, these warriors that she had grown up with. They had all given their lives to make sure she'd get away safely. They'd fought with everything they had. She owed them to keep it together and make sure they were sent off to the afterlife with all the respect and dignity they deserved and more still.

She slowly went around to every single one of them, gently saying her goodbyes and thanking them for their sacrifice before planting a light kiss on their cold foreheads and covering them again. Just as she had seen her parents do it from time to time. The wide gashes in their skin and on some of their faces did not repulse her the slightest. If anything, it only proved just how hard they had fought.

Incidentally, there was only one person left. She'd been able to recognize him immediately through the thin, white sheet. His build and skin was so different from the others'.