Can't Shred Our Love - Ripnami

Chapter 25

"You know, I've definitely heard of you before," Coral narrowed her eyes. "Those bunch of rebels in the SandWing kingdom who want to overthrow the Queen with their depraved lunacy. Something I'll never understand when there's a perfectly acceptable queen already, better than that self-proclaimed princess who knows nothing."

"Would you say blood is important in regard for royals, Your Majesty?" the "Herald" asked.

"Of course. Those with royal blood are born and trained to lead," Coral snapped.

"Then why would you choose an illegitimate Queen over one with the true blood?" the Herald smoothly continued.

"...well..." the question had stunned Mother. "Well, ahem, obviously, Blister would have been the best candidate..."

I rolled my eyes. That insane SandWing would have been a good queen, sure.

"But even so! That Onyx is illegitimate and was disapproved of by the SandWing queen herself, and of course, the other queens!" Coral protested. "She would have no training in any of the things necessary for such a role. It would not be better than handing the crown to a peasant."

The agent hissed angrily. "Queen Onyx is most certainly not a peasant! This is the sort of behaviour we want to stop in Pyrrhia, the pretentious behaviour of self made royals. Which is why as soon as we dethrone you, you'll be replaced with the only royal who truly understands the plight of common people, without selfish concerns of their own. She who has struggled through life like all other normal SeaWings."

"Sapphire," I concluded.

"Indeed. As you know," the agent sounded pleased. "When I found her she was living in the streets, with nothing to eat except for a few sea snails. Rumours had originated about her, as people wondered about her origin, and none dared approach her, in fear of being cursed, or worse. None reached a hand out to help her."

"And I suppose you helped her out of the pure goodness of your heart?" I growled in irritation at her falsely sympathetic tone.

"Of course not! As much as I wish, I'd never consider myself that noble a dragon. But either way, me trying to take benefit from her, involved helping her, so I see no problem with it." The agent replied smugly, in a sensible, logical tone. "Poor girl, she was so young then. She agreed to work together to restore her legacy and true right, though she wouldn't have understood that then. I introduced her to Riptide."

"So, her relationship with Riptide was all a plot to! She didn't even truly value him?" I growled. Rage bubbled up in me. Riptide lay a soothing hand on my shoulder.

"Oh yes, at first. But then she grew used to it." The agent sighed. "Understandable, of course. It is only too common to be relieved to finally be able to rely on someone. Although it seemed that the someone was unreliable in this case."

"Riptide is reliable!" I snarled. The agent rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes. Of course, you should know that Sapphire never loved Riptide, yet she didn't exactly just use him for business. Again, mutual benefit. Quite a suitable arrangement. And it wasn't as if Sapphire hurt Riptide in any way. Why would she, when she relied, emotionally, so much on him?" The agent then sighed. "Why am I explaining this to you anyway. That's unimportant. More important is that which I've been sent here for... negotiations."

"And which negotiations are those?" Coral sniffed disdainfully.

"That which you'd expect would be given to one on the opposing side of a war. So plain, so typical." the agent sighed. "Ah well. Give up, or we'll overthrow you. And, of course, kill the princes we hold in hostage."

"The sheer audacity–" Coral growled.

"Well, I have no more to say to you now. I'll be leaving." She looked to her escorts, who immediately bowed and obliged. The agent promptly vanished in a puff of sand that scattered itself around the soldiers, who coughed violently.

"We will get the princes back no matter what we need do!" Queen Coral declared. "If we have to cross the whole of Pyrrhia, then we will! The safety of the prince is the first priority."

"So...where shall we start to look?" I frowned.

Mother frowned as well. "Our spies told us this is where the princes were being held. But as it was all a hoax...that means we'll still have to use our original plan – to storm the enemy's camp."

"I suppose there really isn't any choice if we want to rescue the prince now," Riptide reasoned with me, seeing me begin to bubble with rage. I deflated.

"I suppose you're right."

"Up, now! Get in formation. We're swimming to the enemy's camp," Shark shouted, after Coral nodded at him.

The remaining soldiers followed me and Coral to the camp. As we were meant to be being discreet, instead of going through the currents, we were physically swimming there to avoid notice. We reached the forbidding building that I had been imprisoned in. The walls were too tall to look for patrols, but there was no need. When we arrived, a soldier swam out from a side gate. Seeing the army, he opened his mouth wide. Shark immediately slashed his neck. He gurgled and collapsed.

Remember, Squad One, lead by Squad Leader Pearlfish, will act as a distraction by entering through this side gate. While you distract the camp in the inside, Squad Two will search for the princes and destroy supplies that you can't take. Squad Three, plant traps across the camp. The rest will break down the gates and enter the camp, attacking the rebel army. Understood? Shark flashed his stripes.

The army nodded and various flashes of yes short around.

Good. Then into action!

Squads broke off from us, but the main bulk of the army remained. After a brief pause, Shark nodded.

We charged at the gates.

yeah this is short af sorry but it's been a week and i haven't updated so i gotta update

also as you can probably tell i have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever on war tactics so yeah, i'm not even exactly sure what a squad is exactly but what i need is around 30 – 40 dragons so i  think that's the one

anyway next update hopefully coming sooner, i'll try my best