The War God’s Favorite novel Chapter 127

#127 The Battle Cry
Cassandra had seen enough horrors for one day, and yet it seemed like all this nightmare was far from over. Just when an adult, purple Dragon was slowly walking her way, she heard its master’s voice coming from right behind her. Cassandra rolled in the grass, just in time to avoid the sword that stabbed the soil next to her cheek. She glared at Lephys. She hated that man perhaps even more than Vrehan if that was possible. His face was deformed by anger, and he had blood running from his temple to his chin. Cassandra had no idea if he had been injured in the explosion of the wall, by one of the Dragons or because of the siblings, but she thought he deserved more suffering than that. The sight of that monster pushing her sister’s defenseless body down the stairs was something she wasn’t going to forget.
“You damn bitch… No more Kairen or Dragons to protect you,” he hissed. “I’m going to get rid of you once and for
you.”
Strangely, Cassandra answered his words by a chuckle.
Maybe she was too tired of all of this, but she laughed nervously at his words. Cassandra knew she might be about to die, but after everything she had already gone through in the last few hours, it was at the very back of her mind. She had just seen her lover being dragged back inside the Throne Room by a furious dragon, she had no idea if her baby was safe, and this Empire was about to be overthrown by a mad man. She just was witnessing too much for one day. Having Lephys appear now was like a nightmare’s new twist.
“Stop laughing you crazy woman!”
Cassandra’s nervous laugh wasn’t that long, but she had no strength to get back up. She was beyond exhausted. Lephys’ furious expression was what kept her up, though. That was another monster that needed to disappear. When he rose his sword again, she got ready, and using all of her strength, she rose her arm to splatter him with water, and some mud and small rocks she had grabbed. That attack took him by surprise, and he groaned, having gotten some in his eyes. Cassandra’s reflexes came back the second she realized she had a chance. Ignoring the pain, she actually grabbed his sword by its blade and kicked him in the flank.
The fifth Prince wasn’t a fighter. That kind of move wouldn’t have worked with Kairen or Vrehan, but Lephys was surprised by her sudden kick and made the mistake to lessen his grip on his weapon for a second. Cassandra took that opportunity, and sent the weapon flying, having it fall into the lake. She knew she hadn’t time to turn it around and use it herself, but at least she could get rid of it.
His eyes red of all the dirt he had gotten in, Lephys fell on his flank, but he got quickly on all fours to wrestle Cassandra. He was even more furious that she had even managed to pull this kind of trick on him, and made him lose his sword so easily. He rose his hand and slapped her furiously. Cassandra felt the pain resonate through her whole body, and her cheek burned. Lephys chuckled from hearing her in pain, and quickly got back on his knees to pin her down, and slap her more. It wasn’t just about killing her now. He wanted this woman to suffer, for the humiliation she had just caused him. His eyes hurt, she had just made a fool of him, and he hadn’t forgotten she had stabbed him either. He kept slapping her furiously, yet not putting as much strength that it would have her pass out. He wanted her to suffer some more before he killed her.
* You damn bitch. You’re nothing but a useless woman! You think you can hurt me! You think you can touch me! You slut! You’re just a damn, wicked bitch! A witch! A rotten slave!”
With each sentence came a new slap, and Cassandra couldn’t even pass out. Her whole face was burning, and she could feel the taste of her own blood in her mouth. She tried to struggle, push him away, but no matter what, Lephys was a healthy young man, stronger than her. She could only raise her arms to try and protect herself, but even so, he was having fun hitting her wherever he could. She felt his slaps turn into fists when he started knocking her arms, yet she endured it. She held on to the thought that she had gone through worse, that she had to make it through for her baby. For Kassian.
“You’re so weak! You think you can play strong? Do you think you can survive this? You’re just weak, useless!”
Cassandra’s eyes turned towards the Lake, and the purple dragon that was coming their way. She could hear Krai’s
furious growls above, as he was wrestling with the chains on the roof, and the soldiers trying to injure him with whatever weapons Vrehan had gotten ready. Cassandra had to do something. No one was coming to save her, she had to move and help Krai instead. If the Dragon could access the Palace, Kairen would have a better chance.
That’s all she needed to focus on right now.
She purposely let Lephys have his fun beating her some more, but she was thinking. She knew what to do, she hadn’t gotten closer to the Lake by mistake. Protecting her face as she could, she took a deep breath.
“Sometimes it’s not about strength,” she whispered in her native tongue. “It’s about courage.”
“What are you saying, woman!”
Just when he had stopped to try and understand her words, Cassandra used both of her hands, with her joined fingers, to punch him in his jaw. It wasn’t that strong, but it was surprising. Lephys let out another painful groan, holding his jaw with a shocked expression.
Cassandra then turned towards the Lake, and started chanting, as loud as she could, in her native tongue.
“What are you…”
He had expected her to try and run away, to crawl maybe, but this woman was singing loudly, something he couldn’t understand. For a few seconds, the fifth Prince got worried, but then, he understood. She was just crazy. He laughed, finding this way too pathetic.
“What are you trying to do, witch? Ask the fish for help? Is that all you can do?”
Yet, Cassandra ignored him, and kept chanting, loudly, her eyes closed. Lephys stopped laughing and frowned. What was this, anyway? It looked like her song from the Celebrations, with that same strange language, but this one had… Something scary about it. It didn’t look like a prayer, more like a… battle cry. A chill went down his spine, and for a full minute, he wasn’t so sure. Her singing had him worried, yet he couldn’t understand why. He couldn’t be afraid of a weak woman’s singing!
Cassandra stubbornly kept going, her arms still protecting her face, her voice getting deeper and louder. The fifth Prince was torn. While he didn’t want to be afraid of that woman, he still couldn’t ignore this very uneasy feeling growing, as if something dangerous was about to happen.
“…stop,” he muttered. “Stop that!”
“Hisiren da altere, bato… Ya men guerra, ten guerra… Alra mien shin da, almere, li shin, li shin… Oh, God of Water, rise for your daughters, rise for those they murdered, rise for your daughters’ blood…”
Cassandra kept going, uttering her words loudly and fast, her song echoing all around them. Lephys found himself staring at the surface of the lake with that worried feeling that wouldn’t go away. There was something wrong going on, something about to happen. However, the surface of the Lake was very quiet and calm, and he couldn’t understand why he was finding himself so worried about some stupid woman’s singing.
“You foolish woman… You’re going to die, this time! I’ll…”
Lephys rose his hand, but just as he did, something suddenly flew out of the water. A large shadow covered them, and for a second, the Prince though a bridge had appeared above. However, it wasn’t a bridge. It was a humongous, reptilian body. It was just so big that it easily overshadowed them before touching the ground on the other side. Like a gigantic snake, it came out of the water, very slowly. More and more of this reptilian body came out, seeming endless. Lephys was completely frozen, thinking he might be hallucinating this. Yet, what he first took for a giant snake kept coming out of the water, and it’s long body crawled on the grass, circling them in its rings. It’s small but palmed front paws landed in the grass very close, making him realize this wasn’t a giant snake.
Suddenly, a head bigger than any dragon’s head he had seen turned to him. The young man didn’t even dare to lower his arm, completely frozen. He was just shaking, horrified. Not even Glahad was this big, and this Creature’s head was awfully close. It seemed trapped with them under the grid on the roof, with just enough space. The
Creature looked very calm, but even the purple dragon looked worried and retreated slowly. Everything but what was going on in the Throne Room got horribly silent around them. Lephys was still holding his arm high up, ready to hit Cassandra, but with that thing watching him, he didn’t dare move a finger. He could tell those white eyes were fixated right on him.
Under him, Cassandra had stopped chanting, but unlike the fifth Prince, she wasn’t scared to move. She pushed him away from her, and crawled away, laying her body into the water. It had a terribly good cooling effect on her painful cheeks, and she let the water wash away the dirt and blood on her arms for a few seconds. Above her, she heard Krai growl again, and it made her re-open her eyes. Cassandra knew she still had to move. She turned around, got back on all fours, and slowly stood up.
Just when she staggered and thought she was about to fall, a sturdy scaled body appeared in front of her. She chuckled and leaned against the Water God’s body to stand up properly. She turned towards the Creature’s head and smiled at him. It was strange how calm the Creature was, and how he made. Cassandra feel so much calmer. too. Yet, this fight wasn’t over. Next to her, Lephys still had his arm held up, he still hadn’t dared to move. He looked funny like this, but he was glaring at her.
“You damn witch…” He hissed.
Cassandra ignored him, turning his head up. Krai was still blocked up there. She took a deep breath, and turned towards the Water God, addressing him in her native tongue.
Lephys couldn’t understand any of the words she uttered, but he was speechless when it actually made the gigantic Creature move. Under his eyes, the water Dragon slowly extended his body up, until he reached the chains. With his little claws and his fangs, he started pulling on the grid. While they had barely moved under Krai’s attacks, the long metallic chains couldn’t resist the Water God’s strength for long. They heard the stones they had been fixated on creaking horribly, and a portion of the roof crumbled, leaving one side of the roof open.
Krai flew in immediately, with a furious growl. He was injured, two arrows having pierced him under his left-wing, but that didn’t even seem to slow him one bit. Compared to the calm Water Dragon, the black one came in like a big raging hurricane. Krai jumped on Lephys’ dragon, all fangs out, and the two of them started fighting furiously. While he had stood still in front of the Water God, the purple dragon couldn’t lay down while being attacked, and the two dragons started fighting furiously.
That battle scene seemed to wake Lephys up.
“No!” He screamed.
The difference in strength was obvious between the two. While his dragon had been safe under the chained roof, he was now completely at the mercy of Krai, despite his attempts to fight the black dragon off. For a few seconds, it looked like an easy win for the black dragon, who was so much bigger than his younger brother.
However, Lephys’ furious eyes turned elsewhere.
“Come out, you cowards!” He yelled.
Cassandra turned towards the shadows he was yelling at, from one of the Palace’s corridors. What was he planning now…? One after another, she saw multiple pairs of little eyes lighting up. She shivered, understanding slowly what was going on. Young dragons lined up in the shadows.
Lephys was calling out his sons’ dragons to help him.