A Pet for the Dragons

174.

IVRET

"What are we doing here?" I asked, surprised to find myself in Mavie's quarters after waking up. Zorge dragged me with him while Radrox and Kazzirth were ahead of us.

"We're following Arika's trail. She's supposed to be with Yvune," Zorge answered, and that woke me up immediately. I was still too short on mana, and my body felt extremely weak, but that didn't matter.

The fact that Arika was here with Yvune bothered me deeply. I didn't trust Mavie and her sons that much. But first—

"How were we allowed in here?" I had to ask. My brain was still half asleep, and I was trying to wake it up. I wasn't aware of the whole situation.

"Kazzirth snuck us in through a secret door. We need to move faster before a guard discovers us," Zorge told me as we tried to keep up with Radrox.

"Wait, the blood trails disappear from here. What does that mean?" I heard Radrox ask ahead of us, which made me even more awake.

"Blood?" I asked, pushing Zorge aside and striding forward towards Radrox. He was surprised to see me awake, but didn't say anything when I bent down to study the blood. It was too red to be dragon's blood. This filled me with even more urgency to find Arika.

I looked around, trying to find any other hidden doors behind which she might be hiding, but nothing came to my mind... unless.

"The garden," I said. "We need to go to the garden now."

"Why there?" Zorge asked.

"It's the least guarded, and the pavilion has a hiding place beneath it," I answered, my mind working the way I wanted. The pavilion seemed to be the best place for Arika to hide.

If she were with Yvune, I was sure he took her there. I was sure he knew that place if he had a habit of sneaking around. After all, Mavie and I had discovered that place while we were sneaking around through the palace as mere kids. Very few people were aware of it. Even the previous Emperor wasn't aware of that place. At that moment, it felt like the perfect place to hide in.

My intuition was also guiding me there. I couldn't ignore it. Arika had to be there. If not, then I wasn't sure where else she could be. It felt like the only answer.

"How are you sure?" Radrox asked. I heard the uncertainty in his voice, and my conviction on my intuition faltered for a moment.

Maybe she wasn't there at all.. maybe...

"That's the last place anyone would look for. Not many are aware of it. Once, Mavie and I hid there for days until the Emperor thought we had been kidnapped," I said before any other thought could muddle my mind. I couldn't risk second-guessing myself at this moment when every second counted.

Radrox seemed to have understood me immediately, and without wasting a second, we all headed there. However, things seemed odd on our way to the garden.

I couldn't put a finger on it first. But soon I realised what was bothering me— the lack of guards in Mavie's quarter. Usually, this place was infested with guards, but there were none to be seen today.

This further made my blood run cold. Maybe this was all orchestrated... maybe, we were about to walk into a trap. Before I could put my thoughts into words, we had reached the garden and...

Mavie was standing there, quietly. She sensed us but didn't respond immediately. Instead, she was busy staring ahead at something. I noticed how Radrox and Kazzirth seemed to have found what Mavie was so focused on.

I pushed past Radrox and stepped forward to find the Arch Mage near the grand fountain in the garden. The bodies of guards were scattered all over the garden. They were either dead or unconscious, but I couldn't care less about them because I focused on the Mage and the fountain behind him.

The fountain had turned red with blood. My heart started pounding painfully as I watched the fountain water turn a deep red.

"Your Majesty," The Arch Mage finally spoke up. He looked weak, fatigued from mana-loss, just like me. His voice shook as he spoke, "I've found and punished the traitor."

"What did you do to her?" Mavie asked. Her voice was low and cold, but I didn't miss its dangerous undertone. Unfortunately for the Mage, he had missed it. It didn't matter to me. I stepped forward, looking for Arika. However, my eyes kept going back to the red fountain.

As the wind changed direction, I realised that it was... blood. The water in the fountain was red because of blood.

"Arika..." I whispered as my eyes darted all over the garden, searching for her. I froze for a moment when I noticed a dead body. It seemed to be of a child. I shuddered but looked away. It wasn't Arika. I needed to find Arika first. The rest of the world could wait.

"I punished the traitor, Your Majesty!" The Arch Mage replied. "He had been scheming treachery behind your back for a while, but today, he committed the biggest mistake of his life!"

"What did you do to her?" Mavie asked calmly again, but her voice sounded more dangerous. Meanwhile, I grew frantic as I looked around for Arika in the garden.

"The human?" The Mage asked, making me freeze. "She suffered the same fate as him!"

I growled and turned to the Mage just in time to see something float up in the fountain water. It caught everyone's attention at once.

My life left my body as soon as I realised that it was a body floating in the fountain water. And... it was Arika.

"What did you do to her?" Mavie asked the Mage calmly while I stared at Arika's body floating lifelessly in the fountain. I wished to be by her side and check her pulse, yet I found myself unable to move. I couldn't breathe. My body seemed to have frozen. All I could do was stare at her lifeless body, searching for any sign of life in her.

"She suffered the same fate as the traitor," The Mage answered proudly. It was in that moment that I lost it. I turned to the Mage, seething. Before he could take another breath, I leapt at him.

He was surprised, but terror flashed in his eyes when he realised what I was doing. However, he couldn't act. It was too late.

"Die," I growled, draining all his life force while he struggled under me like a fish out of water. "Look! Look at me! I want you to remember this in your next lifetime!"

~

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