Purple Dragon (Yona of the Dawn)

The Stronghold

Alya's P.O.V

Now that we're getting down to business our next step is to find a base of operations. It has to be big enough to house everyone, easy to defend and far enough away that it will be difficult to attack but close enough that we can storm the capitol when we're ready. 

The only one with a reliable knowledge of the surrounding area is Hak so we're relying on him to find us a place. The closer the the capitol we got the more anxious he and Yona seemed to be getting and I don't blame them, this was their home and they had to run away from it.

"I'm worried, I would rather avoid killing soldiers. I mean they're my people and they're just following orders." I turn to look at Yona. She's been a bit thrown since our run in with Soo Won's forces. I'm not surprised, she's only killed once from what I've been told, and that was just one man. This was a large escalation, because myself and the other dragon warriors may have done the actual killing but it was on Yona's orders we did it. The blood is on her hands as well.

"Yona, following orders is not an excuse you can allow yourself to accept. Those men choose to accept the orders they were given, which means they think those orders are worth following. Are the lives of men that blindly follow orders worth risking our mission?" I ask. She asked me to be her adviser, so that's what I must do.

The others stare at me taking in my words, I can feel a mix of emotions coming from them. Some positive, some negative, but one thing they all have in common is that deep down each of the dragon warriors agrees with me.

"She's right princess, you can not allow compassion to blind you to what we are doing. If we are to take the throne back from Soo Won then the men that would fight to keep him on the throne must be removed." Hake tells her. We all watch her and I can see the moment her resolve becomes unshakable. Her eyes lit with the fire that I saw that night I first met her, a fire that made me proud to follow her.

"You're right, I still have a lot to learn about being at war. I'm counting on all of you to help me make the right choices." Yona tells us. 

"Of course we will, for now lets focus on finding a base of operations." I say. 

"Then we go this way. I remember a place that may work well for us." Hak says. 

It takes us several hours to reach the place Hak spoke of and I have to admit it was worth the wait. Before us was a large hill, it looked like a part of the forest but set into the side were look out posts. The inside is hollowed out to make an undetectable strong hold.

"How did you know about this place?" Jae ha asks.

"I found it one day when I was out exploring, his Majesty told me it was made to protect the royal family in case of an invasion. He said that very few people knew of its existence and to only come here if there were no other options. I had intended to bring you here Princess the night we left, but those plans were thrown off track pretty quickly." Hak explains. 

"There's enough room here for a dozen regiments, maybe more, but we'll need provisions." I say as we explore.

"Hak and I can't go to the market, we'll be recognized instantly. Jae ha, Zeno and Alya are the only ones that don't look suspicious." Yona says and I burst out laughing at the look on Kija's face.

"She is right, Kija your arm will give us away instantly, Shin ah's mask would have him mistaken for a criminal and we can't afford to be outed. The three of us will take turns gathering provisions outside the fortress." I say and the others agree. We're closer to the capital then ever before so we have to be highly cautious.

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Sorry it's so short guys, I just really wanted to get a chapter out, even a really short one.