To Protect Dragons

23. Fate

Finally, the Southern kingdom had come into view. The left regiment, which was the one I was leading, would strike first. The rest would follow accordingly. My heart was pounding. From the sky riding up on the dragon I could see the archers on the top of the castle walls alerting everyone frantically.

The war screams of my comrades down below and the other archers beside me echoed throughout my ears.

I'm sorry. I was sorry to the little girl I had met when I first arrived at this beautiful kingdom. I was sorry to the old woman who had given me flowers, I was sorry to the young girls mother who owned the dress shop. Because soon, this place would be littered with fire and destruction.

"For the North!" I screamed as we charged forward, the sound of my people's cries becoming louder and louder.

Without any hesitation the Southern army burst through the gates, clashing together with mine in a horrific scene. The dragons above rained fire down, the archers on their backs firing arrows down as fast as possible.

The Southern soldiers from down below shot back, poison laced arrows firing at the dragons.

My head was pounding, the sounds of screams and burning was laced in my mind.

More and more soldiers poured out from the gates, a seemingly endless supply of them.

I shot my arrows down at the soldiers dressed in red. I didn't want to kill, but I needed to protect my people.

Fire was spread throughout the grass, bells were going off at every post inside the walls. From above I could see people running, scrambling to protect their children and their loved ones. Next to me a dragon was shot with a poisoned arrow, after a few moments he plunged towards the ground, impacting with both my men and the men of the Southern kingdom.

My hands were on auto pilot, I was pulling back and firing arrows faster than I ever have, some men fell to the ground off their horses while some of my arrows whizzed past them, barely missing them by a centimeter.

Metal clashing and swords swinging at each other was the only sound I could hear.

"Princess!" One of the archers on a dragon next to me screamed.

I ducked quickly, missing an arrow by only a small margin. They were aiming their arrows at me now. They wanted to queen dead. I narrowly avoided the next few shot at me, one sliced my in upper arm, blood dripping through the sky like a blood rain. I feared that the poison made to kill dragons would have the same effect on people.

Riko's dragon blew out fire, burning the lives away of many soldiers. Before I even knew it Urvet was faltering in her movements. I looked down and there was an arrow lodged in her neck, her eyes searched frantically through the crowd for Riko.

"Urvet, go down go down!" I cried loudly, hoping she still could comprehend my words. I gripped him tighter as he plummeted through the sky, I ducked my face into his neck and braced for the impact. He landed in the middle of the 2nd regiment of my men with a painful crash. He skidded across the ground, I flew off of him as we landed, my arm twisting back in a unproportional way.

I stood up as quickly as I could as a fellow soldier hoisted me up, "Are you alright princess?" He screamed into my ear. My ears were ringing, the sound of people around me were slowly fading away.

I looked back at Urvet, "No, no." I tried to walk towards him but the soldier quickly pulled me towards him. "Please focus princess, you need to stay alive." I took one last glance and nodded my head. I'm sorry Urvet. I'm sorry Riko. I shakingly drew my sword. I could feel my heart beating, it was like it was right on the outside of my chest, beating loudly so everyone could hear it.

Suddenly a Southern soldier plunged his sword towards me, he was young, probably younger than me, and most likely more inexperienced too. He was more scared than I was, he wore an uncertain look on his face, the surprise of a woman in the battlefield was evident on him.

Regardless he swung at me again, this time aiming for my neck. I quickly blocked it, his strength was bearable. I knew one of us would have to die. I aimed for his stomach, my sword sliced his side, not a fatal injury. He returned my swing by raising his sword over me going for above my head.

Before he could make any impact on me, his head was cut off. His blood fell onto me as his limp body fell to the ground in a heap of red. Before I could even see the soldier that had done it he was gone, onto fighting the next person.

I made my way to the front of the line, pushing through the constant bloodshed around me. Heat enveloped me as dragon fire breathed in front of me, killing almost 40 Southern men. I felt vile rising in my throat. It gave me an opportunity to join the rest of my men up front.

A soldier was being outnumbered by two southerners, I quickly joined him, the impact of the taller ones sword vibrated throughout my body. Almost as if the metal had sent an electric current through me.

I turned to my right and stumbled forward as another soldier came to help the singular one. They could handle that themselves, I had faith in my people.

It was like time was going in slow motion once again, I sidestepped quickly as someone came to attack me and send a punch to his ribcage. He stumbled back slightly before the sound of metal crashing against metal quickly returned.

Again the fight was taken over by two soldiers who had come to her aid. The man was stabbed in the chest 2 times, neither being fatal. His breathing was shallow as he laid crippled on the ground clutching his chest at an attempt to stop the blood that was oozing out of his body.

I blinked, for a moment I had thought my mind was playing tricks on me. But staring straight back at me was Kazuto. I was in a war. This was war, I told myself over and over again as I plunged towards him. I wondered if the gods had destined out fate to be like this.