The War God’s Favorite novel Chapter 113

#113 The Armies
The War God’s thoughts at that moment were unfit for words. He was just boiling inside, his eyes dark as obsidian.
Krai, too, kept sniffing the remains of the egg, restless. The Dragon had felt that birth, yet he wasn’t there for his offspring. He felt just as defeated as his master. To Kairen, this was a bitter defeat. Though Cassandra had survived and managed to flee his brother’s clutches, she was still on her own and unsafe. He hated not being with his Concubine. He wanted her here, right by his side, where he could hold her and protect her. Cassandra was many things, but she was not a fighter, and she would never be. His blood was boiling when he dared to imagine his brother or any other man near her. He couldn’t stand the idea of a single scratch on her soft, fragile white skin. She already had so many scars he could never do anything about. What did she have to go through again because he wasn’t there?
She had been reluctant to send him, yet she knew it was his duty. Kairen had never loathed his title as a War God as much as now. He should have been there. With her, with their child. He didn’t even know what his son looked like!
“Son, come,” gently called Lady Kareen, appearing behind him. “We need to talk.”
He nodded, and though his eyes had a hard time losing this horrible vision of the destroyed egg, he stepped back and joined her back inside. Krai was left there.
They reunited in one of Kareen’s salons, but he just wanted to hurry up to the Capital. He had followed his sister only because Shareen had insisted on the best strategy to attack Vrehan back and help Cassandra. Otherwise, he’d be miles away already. Their mother was seated on one of her throne-like chairs, but at her feet, Phetra was on her knees. As soon as she had seen Shareen and Kairen, her eyes had widened in absolute horror. She was a cunning woman, but outside of the Imperial Palace and without her brother to protect her, she was pitifully defenseless. Not that any of the people present felt an ounce of pity for her, though.
Anour and Evin were standing a few steps away, too. Kairen recognized the Imperial Servant, but only frowned a little and did not ask. He could easily imagine his sister had dragged him here from the North Army Camp. He was most interested in Phetra, that treacherous snake that had, according to what his sister had told him on the way there, injured Cassandra. Though she was already in a pitiful state, the War God slapped that woman.
The sound made by that slap was terrifying. The strength of those hands shook Phetra’s whole head, and she was thrown on the floor once again, half of her face burning. She had felt several bones cracking, and her scream that resonated made no doubt about the amount of pain she was in.
Anour and Evin couldn’t bear to look. Despite their education in this cruel environment, they couldn’t help but feel bad witnessing the difference of strength between the Wạr God and a woman. Kareen clicked her tongue.
“Kairen, we need that little rat alive.”
“She’s alive,” said Shareen, her arms crossed.
She was staring at Phetra with a disdainful look. In Shareen’s eyes, Phetra was already very lucky to be alive after angering their family and harming Cassandra. If it wasn’t for Kareen, her brother would have most likely not stopped until the was slapped flat as a rug. Phetra’s wailing was the only sound heard around, as all the Diamond Palace had scattered away.
Kareen put her chin in her fist.
“Anyway. While you were gone, I got some annoying news from my spies in the Capital.”
“News from Cassie and Missandra?” Asked Shareen.
“Sadly, no. They hadn’t arrived yet, but my men informed the Residence that guy told us about,” said the Imperial Concubine while pointing at Evin. “In any case, they will be ready for their arrival, and of course, I appointed
some men to watch the house and let me know as soon as they finally arrive.”
“I’m going to the Capital.”
“Kairen, I know you want to hurry there my son, but wait a minute. There is more. First, my spies confirmed your father is ill. No one has seen the Emperor in days, the last councils have all been held without him or Sephir.”
“Those damn Ministers,” growled Shareen. “They are probably dancing around our treasury and doing whatever shit they want while no one is there…”
“Those your brother won’t have corrupted, you mean,” said her mother. “Vrehan had always been very smart in politics, he probably has half of those greedy men ready to bow for him, and the other half scared to have him get some spring cleaning done while his father’s not there to stop him. In other words, he has the whole Imperial Palace working for him.”
“Is that going to be a problem?” Asked Shareen.
“A dragon alone can’t solve everything, Shareen. If he has the Imperial Palace working for him, he’ll kill your father as soon as he returns there and be named Emperor. Then, he’ll raise both his army and the Imperial Army against you two. I know how strong my children are, but against two armies, even you won’t be able to get inside the Imperial Palace that easily!”
“We can just fly inside,” shrugged Shareen. “Who cares about the armies on the ground if we come from above…”
* You think that snake Vrehan won’t have thought about that? Either he will have a trap ready or hide himself somewhere you can’t get to him so easily. He’s just the type to let others do the dirty work for him while never getting a drop of sweat himself.”
Shareen rolled her eyes over, annoyed.
“Let’s get to it, mother, what do you suggest.”
Kareen pushed Phetra with her foot, making her wail again. The Princess was gagged though, and unable to speak. Her jaw was probably broken anyway, with those two trails of blood that were now rushing out her mouth. She was almost curling up against the throne, like a terrorized animal.
“While you children were gone, miss Phetra here and I had an interesting talk. Your older brother is expecting you to come flying. That useless little swine didn’t know the details, but her brother will have all of the skies filled with traps, most likely with catapults, giant crossbows, and so on. He is expecting Kairen to show up by himself with Krai. He will focus all of his men into stopping you, my son, no matter how much he’ll sacrifice. He is already days ahead of us, he will get to the Capital first anyway, and I bet everything is already ready to welcome you there, on his orders. We have to think he will kill your father as soon as he can and have the Imperial army return to do his deeds.”
“Then…”
“Get the Eastern Army to the Capital. He knows Kairen is not one to bother waiting and summoning his army, he won’t expect the Eastern Army to show up and fight Vrehan’s militia or the Imperial Army with him.”
“True… He would expect Kairen and I to show up alone without the Army…”
“Exactly. Vrehan may be a coward but he’s annoyingly smart. He will do whatever he can to delay Kairen’s return to the Imperial Palace, even throw a whole army at him. Make sure that little rat is distracted enough about what goes on outside that he won’t have time to get to Cassandra. She is our best chance from the inside. If that smart girl manages to heal your old man or at least win us some time, we can even hope to get rid of Vrehan without too many issues. Though, if your father passes first, it will be much more difficult to get to Vrehan and Cassandra…”
Shareen wouldn’t say it out loud, but they all knew. The next victim in this conflict would most likely be their father… He had to be Vrehan’s first target upon coming back. They didn’t know why he wasn’t already dead, but since Cassandra and her son had escaped, the Second Prince would have no choice but to get rid of the Old
Emperor as fast as he could to be named Emperor, and get full control of the Imperial Army.
“But the Imperial Army went with Brother to the battlefront in the East,” said Anour. “Brother just returned, they can’t go back to the Capital faster than a Dragon…”
“Not all of the Army was sent here. The Emperor wouldn’t have left the Capital with no defense.” (2
“Father probably sent at least about half of it from what I saw,” said Shareen.
“Then let’s assume half of the Imperial Army is still in the Imperial Palace with that little rat. Vrehan may have acted impulsively but he definitely knows Krai and Kairen will be his biggest problem. If you got there, expect a trap.”
“Mother, you can’t ask us to wait for the Eastern Army to get there!”
“They are already on the way,” retorted Kareen. “Who do you think I am? I sent a message as soon as you left to get your brother! They will meet you in the Capital.” 1
The brother and sister exchanged a glance and a nod.
“So we are good to go, right? The army will meet us there.”
“Yes, but do you children even know what to do once we get there?” 4
“We? Mother, you’re coming?” Asked Shareen, shocked.
“Of course! What, you think this old lady will stand in the sidelines while your old man is in danger? You’re taking me for more heartless than I am!”
She had honestly nothing to answer to that. So; instead, she pointed at Phetra.
“What about her? Do we kill her now? As she said everything she had to?”
“Well, probably not,” said Shareen, standing up. “At least, I know how Vrehan managed to come here without your father’s approval. That little snake. He left the Palace with this annoying sister of his under the pretense of accompanying her to her wedding! Of course, they changed their course to come here and pretend they were arresting Cassandra under the Emperor’s order. I can’t believe I got floored by those two… I bet they barely just had the information back in the Imperial Palace that he was already half-way there!”
She grabbed Phetra’s hair, dragging her mercilessly.
“You little bitch…” Hissed Kareen. “She spilled all the names of the people Vrehan corrupted in the Imperial Palace, so I will have to do a thorough cleaning once we get there. She’s also the one who smuggled the poison that killed Sephir, though she didn’t know it was going to be used on her father as well…”
“So she knows the remedy?”
“That idiot? She can’t even tell the difference between blood and wine! She just did Vrehan’s dirty work, as always. Probably ordered from some market. 3
“What about that abortion potion?”
“She kept saying it was intended for Cassie. Pretty sure she’s lying about that, but… In any case, she may be more useful once we get to the Imperial Palace and argue with her brother. She probably knows more dirt on him than she’ll say for now. She will talk once he abandons her for real. Who knows…”
Shareen shook her head. She had enough of all that. Kairen was the first to step out, calling his dragon to come. Krai was just as impatient and kept growling furiously. Both the black dragon and his master wanted to hurry back into the Capital, as there was close to no time to lose. Cassandra was in danger, especially if she had decided to try and go save the Emperor from Vrehan’s clutches…
Kairen helped his mother get on the Black Dragon, forcefully pulling Phetra there too. Truth was, both Roun and
Krai attempted to kill her until their masters had them stop and keep their fangs away. The black Dragon was unhappy about carrying that woman, but Kairen put her like a sandbag at the rear, on her stomach, the most uncomfortable position possible. She could still see Roun growling at her, as Shareen, Anour, and Evin were mounting him. Then, both Dragons took off.
With each Dragon carrying more people than usual, the flight took a little while longer. As Kareen had predicted, the two big dragons’ appearance in the sky caused quite a commotion. Many soldiers pointed at them, and just like the information spilled by Phetra, catapults and giant crossbows appeared all over the Imperial Palace’s roof. Both Dragons growled, but before they were within reach, they dived towards the south of the Capital. Evin’s directions were only necessary for Roun: Krai and Kairen knew exactly where to go. By mere luck, that residence was far enough from the Imperial Palace, and both Dragons landed in the garden under the servants’ shocked eyes. They could already hear the yells of soldiers outside, ordering the men to gather. Most likely Vrehan’s militia.
Shareen and Kairen each jumped down from the dragons first and ran in opposite directions. While the sister took her swords out to go and guard the entrance of the residence, the Prince ran inside.
Kairen couldn’t tell if he was imagining it, but the cries of a baby were guiding him inside the residence. His heart was thumping like crazy in his chest, as he could only focus on that sound. He finally found a door, and stopped behind, almost out of breath. He was suddenly scared to open that door. He listened to the voices inside, almost covered by the baby’s screams.
“By the Gods, won’t he stop crying… He’s been at it for hours and hours, no one slept a wink since…”
“His mother left! Poor thing… He probably doesn’t understand…”
Kairen opened the door wide with a bang. The two women turned to face him, scared by the noise and the sudden appearance of that tall man at the door. However, it was hard not to know who that man was. Tall, with his tanned skin, black hair, and black eyes. And that strange hair…
Kairen barely noticed the two women. His eyes fell right on the baby that was there, his eyes all teary and his little fists clenched. He stepped forward, a bit at a loss. That not how he had imagined their first meeting. None of this was what he wanted, not when his mother wasn’t there… The baby had a little hiccup from all his crying earlier. However, his wailing had stopped, and he was only making an upset pout, his eyes riveted on the big man that was coming towards him.
That baby felt ridiculously small compared to Kairen. However, there was no doubt. He had a little patch of dark hair, and skin barely one tone lighter than his. Kairen hesitated. Then, he slowly took out the little dragon plushie he had on him all this time. The baby’s eyes went right for the toy. He opened his hands and stretched a bit to grasp it, holding on tightly to the little plushie his mother had sewed back in shape.
It was a strange situation, but the beginning of a smile appeared on the War God’s lips. He gently took his son into his arms, though one hand would have been enough to carry all of him. The baby whined a little bit, squeezing the toy with an upset expression.
“… Let’s go get your mother back.”