The knight's son led Jasmine through the streets ahead of Boran, who was calmly walking behind them. This time in his uniform. Many of the peasants that saw his hulking figure bowed, a few guards saluted him as he passed them. The three passed through the gate, and the overwhelming smell of oxen dung filled Boran's nose. It was still present from when the Merlean carriages came, and would likely stay for a few days at least.
Jasmine was pointing out some of her neighbors to YaÄmur, who smiled and waved to them in turn. The head knight smiled, it was nice seeing his son have fun like this, and he was glad he could help provide it to him. He thought back to walking through these streets with his mother, after he had gotten rid of his father. That was the first time he remembered feeling so much joy in his childhood. He smiled, remembering the happy look on his mother's face.
He was shocked out of his memory by the voice of Jasmine's father, "Jasmine?" The man rushed out of the chair and scooped her up in a hug, both of them giggling together. "And YaÄmur? Is that Boran, too?" His eyes scanned the two, seeing Boran's outfit, and the symbol that indicated his position on his breastplate. "Oh⦠Sir knight! I am so sorry I did not realize the other night." He pulled Jasmine towards him, holding her protectively.
"It is okay, James," Boran attempted to look at the two with as much softness as his hard face could manage, "I did not tell you who I was, I do not expect you to know."
"He's the one who let me out earlier, daddy! He's not mean or anything, I promise!" Jasmine pulled on her dad's shirt, causing him to break his constant stare to the head knight and look down at his daughter, eyes filled with love.
"Okay, sweetheart, I trust you." He paused and looked at Boran, clear distrust in his eyes, "Please, come in if you would like to." He waved the father and son in, opening the door for the two.
"Thank you, but I'm not sure how long I will be able to stay, me and my son have-" He interrupted himself as he saw a flash of light in the sky. He scanned the air, and saw a slight discoloration and it seemed to be headed towards the castle.
"What's wrong, pa?" YaÄmur stared at his father.
"Go inside, son," He turned to Jasmine and her father, "Tell your family to stay inside until I come back. Son, keep them safe." He ran away, leaving his son to push Jasmine and her father inside. The glass dragon was here, Boran wasn't sure why, but it likely wasn't for any good reason. He pushed past some peasants walking on the street and flashed his breastplate at the gate, impatiently jumping in place.
He sprinted past the gate as soon as it opened enough for him to fit through, running towards the castle walls. They had a ballista on them, it should be enough to at least make the dragon retreat. He quickly went past a few guards playing a card game at the entrance to the guard barracks. "You three, get crossbows to as many guards as you can. We may have an attack soon." The three guards nodded, saluting the head knight as they ran inside.
He got inside the castle, pushing past Lopsir. "Is everything alright, Sire?" The servant stuttered as he righted himself.
"Make sure the guests stay inside the castle. All the servants, too." Lopsir nodded and immediately ran off. Boran refocused, walking quickly towards the entrance to the walls. He pushed through the door, ignoring the guard at the entrance. He squeezed himself up the stairs, a tight fit for most people, but especially so for him. Reaching the top of the wall, he walked towards the currently unmanned ballista. Boran took a breath as he loaded the weapon, pulling the string holding the massive bolt back single-handedly. He put his hand on the trigger and scanned the skies. "Where are you, you bastardâ¦"
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Khora left the library with Phillip following her close behind. They had already explored most of the castle together, the Merlean prince had barely spoken the entire time. "So, princess," He finally spoke up, his voice seemingly crawled into her ears, sending shivers down her spine, "I suppose you want to marry me as little as I want to marry you?" Khora looked at him in shock, this was the first hint he had given that he didn't want to marry her, either.
"I-" She paused and attempted to read the prince's face, but she was entirely unable to, "You don't want to marry me?"
"I do not," An empty smirk showed up on his face as they walked down the hall. The only light in his eyes was the light from the candles that his eyes reflected, "Why would I enjoy marrying a stranger?" He inspected his nails, seemingly ignoring Khora while he spoke, "Especially when I have access to nearly any woman I want, and they are all pure-blooded Merleans. Unlike you,"
"I agree," What he said second finally clicked in her head, "With the first part at least. It's kind of bullshit they put us together before we even met each other." The two entered a staircase, and Phillip finally looked at the princess.
"It is, as you say, bullshit. But," He paused, he was climbing up the stairs behind her, but she could feel his eyes scan her backside. "You are quite the beautiful bride." Khora felt herself blush softly as she bit her tongue. Merlean pig.
"I've shown you around pretty much most of the castle. There's more but even I'm not sure how to get there," Khora rolled her eyes, she avoided showing the prince most of the places that her half-brother had shown her last night. The pig didn't deserve to see everything in the castle, he didn't even deserve to see her.
"You have not shown me your room yet, princess~" He was audibly smirking, The princess sighed and opened the door at the top of the stairway, leading to the hallway her room was connected to.
"Then follow me," She stepped through the door, not holding it open for Phillip, "I can give you the tour."
"Thank you, darling," He grabbed the door as it shut, stepping through after her and following the princess to her room, "The castle truly is lovely, it would be a pleasure to visit here during the winter months in Merla."
"It certainly is a castle," She opened the door to her room, scanning it for just a second. The book wasn't in sight, Mary must have put it in her nightstand. She had to remember to thank her later. "Come in, feel free to look around my room. Just don't touch anything." Khora stepped in her room, followed closely by Phillip, whose eyes immediately went to the ceiling. Khora quietly giggled as she walked over to her bed, she doesn't marvel at the size of the room anymore. Even though it was larger than the dragon that attacked her the other day, it was normal to her. She sat on the bed and watched Phillip explore the room.
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"Your room is quite impressive, Khora," He stared at the stained glass window, the sun's light perfectly shining inside the room. It bathed her bed in a colorful rainbow of light, "And your jewelry cabinet," He stepped over to it, staring at the golden and silver jewelry on display, "It's truly beautiful." He reached his hand towards her mother's ring.
"Hands off the ring," He twitched, and turned back to the princess, stepping towards her.
"My apologies, princess." He stepped closer and Khora saw something behind his eyes, "I won't touch the ring." He reached the princess and softly grabbed her wrist. She gasped and backed away, causing the prince to follow her deeper into the bed. "There's only one thing here I want to touch, anyhow," She saw something behind his eyes for the first time, a kind of gross, pathetic hunger. He grabbed her wrist, pushing her down with his other hand. He gripped her wrist tightly.
"Get off me, Phillip." She sternly spoke to him, attempting to squirm away. As soon as she squirmed, he put more weight on her body.
"Not yet, princess~" He licked his lips and put his knees on the bed. Her eyes flicked down to her legs, they were free. She kicked in between the Merlean's legs, causing him to curl up and back away slightly. "Bitch!" She backed away from him, heart beating faster than it was when the dragon attacked her. Khora opened the nightstand, feeling around for the book. She felt Phillips hands wrap around her ankle as she grabbed the book. "You'll pay for that!" He pulled her down the bed, but the princess managed to keep a hold of the book.
"I said," Khora tried to kick her legs again, but he tightened his grip on her ankles, and she felt the alignment in her ankle break, "Get off me!" She yelled at the top of her lungs and struck Phillip with the tome. He fell to the ground, grabbing at his cheek.
"Stop fighting, you're going to be mine sooner or later!" He lunged at her. Then the entire room shook, and a stone fell from the wall onto his leg. He screamed in pain as the tower's roof seemed to be tossed aside. Khora held the book up as a shield, tiny pieces of the wall bounced off of it. She peaked out from behind the book and saw a massive, hulking draconic figure appear, its gray eyes focused on her, and she backed into the wall furthest from it.
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Fenrir's eyes focused through the smoke of the now ruined tower, he saw a taller figure, one of its legs was crushed by a stone from the wall. His eyes flicked to the bed, where Khora sat, staring at the glass-dragon with fear. The human held a massive tome in its hands, and it seemed to be using the book as a shield. Fenrir felt the feathers combust in his throat, his chest began to glow, and he let the fire escape his breath-sac, hitting a banner on the human's wall. The banner, adorned in the symbol of the king killing Fenrir's father, curled up as it burnt. The king's eyes seemed to mock the glass-dragon before they were engulfed by the flames. A guard burst through the door, and Fenrir released a gob of molten glass at the human before it could unsheathe its blade. The red-hot glass pushed the guard to the ground as it slowly seeped into its throat.
The dragon turned his attention back to Khora, who seemed to be trying to hide in the bed's covers. Cute attempt. He reached down with his front paw, claws ripping through the fluff of the bed, the princesses' weight being fully consumed by Fenrir's massive claws. He felt the human fight against his grip, quickly realizing fighting was futile. The dragon took off, transferring Khora to his hind legs as he ascended in to the air. His muscles twitched, shifting his hulking body in the air and turning him towards the half-breed's camp. He began to fly away, leaving smoke from his fire behind, when he felt a massive, sharp pain enter his back. He roared, the volume shaking the earth underneath him. A gob of molten glass escaped his mouth as the glass-dragon turned his neck around to see Boran at a ballista. The two met eyes before the gob of glass slammed into the ballista, catching it on fire immediately and causing Boran to jump away.
The glass-dragon flew off as his blood poured from his wound. The oily black substance splashed on the ground, some seeping into the dirt itself. Fenrir flew himself over the town against the outside of the kingdom's wall. The blood dripped into the alleyways and rooves of the peasant's homes. The dragon sped away as fast as it could with the ballista bolt stuck in his muscle limiting the movement of his wings. Khora continued to lightly struggle against the dragon's grip as he flew away. The sound of yelling guards and screaming citizens slowly quieted as the dragon flew away with his prize. Fenrir looked at his back, seeing the large wooden pole stuck into it, with blood at its base slowly dripping down. Shit, the humans could follow them. He pivoted his direction and headed towards a river.
The glass-dragon slowly descended towards the river, transferring the princess to his front claws. She'd better be worth it, now the humans definitely know about him. He landed in the river with his hind legs, putting the princess down. "Stay there," He kept a hold of the blanket Khora had carried with them the whole way.
"Talking to the lowly human, now?" The princess attempted to stand up, falling as soon as it put weight on its right ankle. Good, it wouldn't be running.
"Don't push your luck, human," Fenrir growled at her, submerging his back in the flowing river water. His blood immediately was thinned by the water, flowing with the river. He folded his wing inwards, giving himself easier access to the wound. Ripping the ballista bolt out of his back with his teeth, he growled and gritted his teeth against the bolt. The weak wood snapped under his bite, shattering and falling into the river.
"Whatever happened to killing me?" The princess attempted to lean against a tree, its ankle seemed to be an unnatural purple. "I thought pure-blooded dragons were supposed to be fierce killing machines." Fenrir dipped the sheet into the river and licked his wound, turning towards Khora with a look on his face.
"I can guess your father told you the same about half-humans," He didn't need to be looking at her to know she nodded in response, "And clearly, given your⦠relationship to Vogaix. You know that's not the truth." Though it was the truth for Fenrir, his hatred for humans grew with every hour. His blood-lust had yet to be satiated, and he knew deep down killing the king, killing Boran, would not be enough to satisfy him.
"Then what do you want with me?" Khora rubbed the discolored ankle, "Because you were most definitely trying to kill me the other day." The glass-dragon twisted the sheet in his claws. Small, but it'd have to do.
"Oh," He began to tie one end of the sheet around a spine on his back, the closest one to the wound, "I still despise you. You're of the king's seed, I truly don't believe there is any good in you." He tightened the knot, making sure it wouldn't untie itself mid-flight. "My daughter, on the other hand. She likes you, trusts you, even. As foolish as that is." He placed the damp blanket over the wound, covering up any spots that blood could escape from. "So I came to get you, for her sake."
"Your daughter? I thought all other glass-dragonsâ¦" The princess trailed off, eyes sparkling with an idea.
"Vogaix, yes. She didn't know either." He tied the blanket to the base of his wing, limiting its movement slightly, but keeping the makeshift bandage taught against the wound. He flapped his wing slightly, the bandage stayed in place, but did rub against the wound a bit. Fenrir grimaced, but stepped out of the water and picked up Khora, who was still gripping the tome tighter than a mother would their newborn baby. The glass-dragon flew off, towards the half-breed village once again, Khora not fighting against his grip, this time.