Purple Dragon (Yona of the Dawn)

Gathering Allies

Alya's P.O.V

Leaving the hot springs behind we began our journey, where? I'm not entirely sure, but Yun, Yona and Hak seem to know where we're going.

"We stand out way too much to be traveling on the road." I say when Yona asks why we have to hike through the forest. And it's true, we are hardly inconspicuous as we are. Mid afternoon we decide to break for lunch, I start a fire as Yun prepares the food. It's quiet, too quiet. I find myself feeling on edge when I realize why.

"No animals." Shin ah mutters. Before anyone can respond the sound of metal hitting metal echoes through the trees followed by yelling.

"Alya, Kija, with me. The rest of you pack up." Hak shouts and nobody argues. We sprint through the trees pausing in the brush as we see the source of the sound. A young woman wielding a scythe was trying to fight off a group of soldiers single handed. She was quickly becoming over powered. My eyes flicker to Hak and he gestures to his face, I nod to him slipping my mask on and drawing my sword. I leap out of the brush and cut down one of the soldiers drawing attention away from the woman.

Dispatching the soldiers is simple and soon they are bound to a nearby tree. I get a good look at the woman, her eyes are the deep brown of freshly turned soil and her long hair is even darker. She was a couple inches taller then myself.

"Thank you for your help." She says bowing to the three of us.

"No need for thanks, why were you fighting them?" I asked. She grimaces before sneering at the men.

"They seem to think they have the right to anything they want, including a woman." Her words were clear, these men forced themselves on her and she fought back.

"You handle that weapon well." Hak remarks. I look at the scythe, it was easily over a foot taller then her.

"I like it, feels like I'm harvesting the souls of those who do wrong." She says with a smirk. I can't help but grin at the statement.

"My name is Alya, this is Hak and Kija." I introduce us.

"My name is Cerena." We shake hands as the others show up. Kija quickly explained what happened.

"Are you injured at all?" Yona asks, Cerena just shakes her head.

"I'm perfectly fine, but I would like to return the favour somehow." She said.

"That's not necessary, I'm sure you need to be getting home...." Yona trailed off, there was an abrupt change in Cerena's expression and body language.

"You have no home do you?" I ask gently and she shook her head.

"I was born into a broken home, there is nothing left for me in that place." She says. It's obvious she's trying to and struggling with keeping control of her emotions.

"I know!" Yona suddenly shouted startling everyone. She took some paper from Yun and began writing on it. when she was done she folded it before taking a second paper and writing two names on it.

"Wait... isn't that..." Hak trails off as Yona grins. She gives the papers to Cerena.

"This is the name of a sea port town, look for this woman and give her that letter." Yona says. It takes Cerena a moment to catch up and finally take the paper.

"I won't let you down." She says. We invite Cerena to eat with us but she says no as she wants to get to her destination as soon as possible. Once she's left Zeno and I both look to the others in confusion.

"Yona is calling on Jae ha's pirate friends as allies in our quest." Hak says smirking. I smile myself, this is good, this a first step in building our forces. I don't know if the dragon warriors are enough to battle an army anymore.

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Congratulations to @June_Baybey13 for winning the create your own character contest.