The War God’s Favorite novel Chapter 104

#104 The Evil Plan
The little dragon crouched in the grass, had its eyes set on the target. His thin long tail waving in the air, he had his big green eyes focused on his prey, waiting for the perfect moment. His little hips were moving a bit, getting ready to jump. His little snout was twitching. 5
Suddenly, the little rodent moved, and the dragon jumped to get it. The little creature squeaked under the sudden attack, but it was too late, the fierce hunter had his prey trapped. He had his paws on it, and was watching the rat trying to escape from his claws, curiously. He was much too hungry to wait any longer though. It was time to eat! He finished the meal in four bites, licking his chips and paws carefully to make sure he hadn’t left any. Then, he turned around and trotted back, very content with himself. What a fierce hunter he was!
“Kian, did you eat again?” Asked Cassandra, seeing the little dragon come back to them.
He scooted over to her side, rubbing its head against her hip. Cassandra smiled, caressing the young Dragon’s head. She was seated against a tree, busy breastfeeding her son. Just like Kian, Kassian had a ferocious appetite. Both never seemed to have enough. Moreover, whenever Cassandra saw Kian walk away to go hunting, she knew her newborn was probably hungry as well. Though it was tough caring for the two of them, there were some advantages as well. The only problem they had was that a hungry dragon could get very fussy, and bite pretty much anything. Kian would never hurt Cassandra, but Missandra quickly had to buy a pair of very thick shoes…
“Hinue, I’m back!”
Missandra appeared between the trees, carrying a bag with her recent buying. They had agreed that she would always go alone shopping, as Cassandra was afraid someone would recognize her in town. Moreover, Kian never left her, and he didn’t understand well the concept of having to hide…
The younger sister kept watching the little dragon’s movements as she approached. Kian had a bad habit of trying to hunt her fingers or toes as a game, but the young Dragon wasn’t really aware that bitting for the play was still rather painful. She had several bandages on her extremities to prove that.
“Kian’s done eating already,” chuckled Cassandra. “They are probably just going to nap next.”
Indeed, Kassian wasn’t really drinking anymore, and his eyes were starting to close a bit. They were still dark, but Cassandra was suspecting they might turn a bit lighter when he grew up, as she could see hints of green in it.
“Good,” said Missandra, still talking in their native language. “Because I won’t be able to keep walking much longer if that little guy keeps chewing on my toes…”
Kian raised his head, turning to her with curious eyes as if he knew she was talking about him.
“Yes, you!”
He let out a little growl, that actually resembled a cat’s husky meow rather than a scary growl. Missandra shook her head. She actually liked the little mischievous dragon, if only he could hold back on the bitting and chewing anything he could. 4
“I still don’t know how Lady Kareen could handle two or three of these,” sighed Missandra, opening up her bag.
Despite her complaining, she probably had bought some more dry meat for the little dragon. Kian had only begun to hunt recently, and he was still perfecting it. From what Cassandra had learned from Lady Kareen, a dragon’s parent would share his food to feed him until he could hunt enough by itself. She felt a bit sad. If only Krai was there, Kian would have learned how to hunt properly already… and bite less, too.
“Anything new?” Asked Cassandra, looking at what her sister was pulling out of her bag.
“Well, first I got more diapers for the little Prince because I can’t believe how many times a day we have to wash those, I even feel sorry for the poor river fish. Also, more food… Oh, I found your favorite berries. Some dry meat for the little carnivore…”
“Do we still have enough money?”
“Yeah, don’t worry. I’m making sure to get a good deal of everything. Plus, your stuff we sold was really worth a lot. I’ve never carried so much money on myself, it even makes me glad to buy and get rid of it. We will have enough until reach the Capital if we keep going like this.”
Cassandra nodded. The girls had left the Diamond Palace almost a week ago now. They were finally close to the Capital, despite having walked slower than she had anticipated. It was mostly her fault, though. Even if Missandra helped her carry her son, Cassandra was tired after giving birth, she couldn’t walk as fast as she had hoped the first few days. Moreover, there had been news of soldiers looking for her much sooner than she had anticipated. Vrehan had left some of his soldiers in two of the towns he had stopped by before the Diamond Palace, but thankfully, no one recognized Missandra. However, that pushed them to walk even further away from the towns, and waiting for each of Missandra’s trips back into town was a little delay in their trips, though they tried to do as few as possible.
“Plus, your little sister is really good at getting discounts,” added Missandra with a wink.
Cassandra sighed. Truth was, even with her short hair, Missandra was really pretty, and she knew very well how to use her charms. Even so, she couldn’t help but worry a bit about her ways to get discounts. She knew there was nothing wrong in seducing the merchants a little, but she was afraid she’d overdo it and have to face one of those men by herself.
“Don’t get into trouble, Mie…”
“Don’t worry, I can handle myself. I’m used to it, remember? Plus, those townfolks are nothing like the Imperial Family, I can defend myself just fine. Moreover, it’s their mistake for being morons…”
Suddenly, Kian’s tail started wagging again, his eyes rivetted on Missandra’s bag. She noticed it and sighed.
“He definitely smelled the dry meat. Damn, I thought I had wrapped it up enough! He’s worse than a dog, and you can’t even tame him!”
“He’s a baby dragon,” chuckled Cassandra. “I don’t think there’s any way to tame him yet.”
She put her hand on Kian’s back, though, scratching his back to distract him and hold him back from jumping on
the bag.
“Well, at least he knows how to listen to his mom… Also, Hinue… I heard some weird stuff while being there.”
Cassandra frowned. Missandra’s expression wasn’t good. What had happened? Could it be about Vrehan? Or the Emperor? They had tried to ask for information at every town Missandra had stopped in, but as they tried to live off what they could find in the forest and avoid going back on the main road as much as possible, they haven’t heard much so far. The information wasn’t traveling into the little town as fast as it did between the bigger cities, and most town folks didn’t pay much attention to the news of the Capital either, unless it involved their taxes.
Missandra sat in front of her, pouting a bit, while Cassandra put her top back on, Kassian being done eating.
“Some guy at one of the stands was saying the Capital is getting ready to crown a new Emperor… They said the old one is dying.”
Cassandra’s heart sank. Dying? The Old Emperor, Kairen’s father? She bit her lip, worried. This was really bad news. At first, she had really been hoping the Emperor would help her seek refuge inside the Palace and protect her from Vrehan, but now, to hear he was dying? What had happened?
“Did they say more?” She asked.
“Not really. That guy at the shop had heard it from his brother’s wife who had heard from her cousin who knew a soldier’s sister, bla bla bla, and so on. You know, the modern way of getting information around here… I don’t really know if that’s reliable, but it sure sounds fishy.”
“It really does,” whispered Cassandra.
This was just too much to be a coincidence. The Emperor was perfectly fine and healthy just a few weeks ago, so what could have happened to him? Cassandra couldn’t just believe this was some coincidence. Not after Kairen was sent to the battlefront, and the first Prince Sephir unexpectedly died. This was just too much at once. A bit too convenient for the Second Prince…
Missandra bit her fingers, too, looking worried as well.
“Are you sure we should keep heading to the Capital? If something happened to the Emperor, it’s going to change everything, right? You wouldn’t be protected at all…”
Cassandra was trying hard to think of which way to take. Indeed, if anything had happened to the Emperor, the Imperial Palace wouldn’t be safe for her anymore. She wasn’t sure Kairen would return there before she did, and if she just appeared while the Palace had a new owner, she may not survive his time. Cassandra wasn’t losing sight’ of the fact that the Second Prince also had a Dragon. Her injury was carefully wrapped in some bandages, but she wouldn’t forget about the pain of it so soon. That Dragon was the third largest of the Empire, after Glahad and Krai. She had escaped him once, but Cassandra wasn’t in any hurry to face it again.
“Hinue?” Missandra called her gently.
“Let’s keep going. For now, we don’t have anything confirmed yet. As you said, those may only be rumors. We can always confirm them once we reach the Capital, without going to the Imperial Palace directly.”
Missandra frowned, a bit unsure about this. She wasn’t fond of going back to the Capital, to begin with, but now, this could even be a deadly decision. She was going to follow her older sister’s decisions, in any case, but she couldn’t shake of that funny feeling that not everything would go as Cassandra hoped.
“The Emperor is definitely still alive,” said Cassandra.
“How do you know?”
*Lady Kareen. When Vrehan arrived in the Diamond Palace to capture me, she opposed him, and he couldn’t retort back. If the Emperor was dead, he definitely wouldn’t have let her talk back. So, Lady Kareen is still the Emperor’s favorite concubine, and untouchable. The Second Prince hates her just as much as he hates Kairen or Shareen, if not more.”
“Oh…
Missandra realized Cassandra was right. It definitely made sense… However, for how long would that still be valid? The rumors said the Emperor was dying, not dead. Which meant, if they were right, that this was going to be a race against the clock from then on.
“Have you heard anything about the war?” Asked Cassandra.
She shook her head.
“No… Which means it’s still ongoing.”
Cassandra nodded with a dark expression. No matter how isolated some towns were, news of the Victory would be the fastest to travel, notably because people would spot the black dragon in the sky of the Dragon Empire. Plus, if Kairen was searching for her, he would have been to both the Diamond Palace and the Imperial Palace already. Which made Cassandra think something wrong had happened. Shareen had hinted that this should be a quick win, but the Princess had obviously been wrong.
“Don’t worry, I bet he is fine,” said Missandra. “Whatever the Eastern army planned, he is the War God. Everyone knows he is the best fighter of this Empire.”
Cassandra smiled gently.
“Lady Kareen mentioned this war was probably no coincidence, either. Prince Vrehan’s arrival at the Diamond
Palace, too, with Prince Sephir’s death.”
“That rat face is definitely pulling the strings,” added Missandra. “His whole plan was probably to get the third Prince as far as he could from the Imperial Palace, and keep him at the battlefront for as long as possible. That. way, he could eliminate people quietly, and make his move quickly.”
“I don’t understand. Even if Sephir and the Emperor die, and Vrehan is made Emperor, Kairen can still return anytime…” whispered Cassandra. “What is he thinking?”
“Cassandra, your Prince is with the Imperial Army. No matter who the Emperor is, they’ll act as he says. Imagine you have an evil mind and crazy ambition for a second. I mean, if I was Vrehan, I would try to get rid of all my enemies at once. Send the most threatening one to a faraway battlefront, try to get him killed there, or at least busy so I can get rid of the other obstacles, the big brother and the Emperor with a shiny Dragon. That way, even if the War God doesn’t get killed during the war, he can be the one to give orders to have the Imperial Army kill him.”
Cassandra sighed.
“Sometimes you’re awful perceptive, Mie.”
“Try growing up in a brothel,” scoffed her sister. “You have no idea how petty and wicked people can be in there…”
Cassandra tried thinking, but actually, her sister’s theory sounded pretty right… The only odd thing was the timing. All of it felt awfully rushed. She couldn’t picture Vrehan as a man who would put such a risky plan into action. When she shared her doubts with Missandra, her younger sister nodded.
“Well, you know, there might have been a little detail that rushed things…”
Without saying anything else, Missandra pointed at Kassian.