Curled Horns

29. Foreshadowing

The combined potency of several nurses, Yunho, and San's sheer willpower, could stop his bleeding. Hours later, his condition had stabilised enough that they all dared to sit down and grab a bite to eat. Yunho didn't take his eyes off San, guilt and worry permanently etched into his features.

None of the other guards had died. Most of them slept through the painful first hours of the healing process currently. Jongho was up and Yeosang sat by his side, their fingers playing idly with each other as if nobody but them was in the room. Stiff and exhausted, Mingi perched next to Yunho. He wanted to sink his head onto the man's shoulder and rest for a while, but the tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. Mingi did better not getting too close.

Some colour had returned to San's features. The bandages wrapped around his horn stumps were not stained with blood for once and his chest had been cleaned of the earlier mess, too, to rise and fall peacefully. He was fast asleep, unaware of the brooding prince by his side.

A nurse provided Mingi with a glass of water. He sipped on it nervously while Yunho mutely shook his head over getting offered one, too.

Yeosang came over on quiet soles after Jongho had fallen back asleep. The healing properties of the herbs they used to numb the pain made the knights drowsy. They deserved some rest.

"Prince San's sister and two knights could escape the centre of the ambush when he chose to fight. They arrived safely in our halls and are accounted for. According to Jongho, they didn't kill one of the pixies, but San injured one of them. Most wounds sustained today were due to the Ignizoth."

Mingi shuddered as he tried to imagine the claws of that beast. It couldn't be as big as the stone guards outside at the bridge, right? If it were, they would have found it roaming the forests long ago.

"Did Jongho see what happened?" Yunho's voice sounded hollow and detached, foreign to their ears.

"The Ignizoth slew most of the men faster than they could understand their situation. San fought one pixie, but as soon as the creature had overwhelmed the guards, all three of them went after him. One of them sawed off his horns; it was the pixie with blue hair. Kim Hongjoong," Yeosang recalled all the information he had gathered from Jongho's heavy tongue.

"The second pixie had white hair, and no wings either."

Yunho nodded grimly. He gave San another look as if still scared he might burst suddenly and bleed out over the floor. When nothing but his slumber responded, Yunho stood from his stool. Scrambling, Mingi followed him when Yunho rushed out of the room. They left Yeosang behind to look after their fallen soldiers.

Yunho scaled the stairs, taking two steps at a time. Within moments, they rounded the glorious lava fountain in the inner courtyard of the upper floor. The mighty doors to the throne room opened in time for Yunho to stride right through. Dominance and authority clung to his squared shoulders.

"Father!" Yunho's voice echoed in the enormous throne room. Mingi didn't follow him inside fully, falling to his knees near the entrance to bow to the king on his throne. The older demon directed his flaming eyes at his son, looking down at him from the height of his throne.

"You came for the Choi ambush?" Booming like thunder in their midst, the king answered. Mingi raised his eyes shyly, watching their exchange as Yunho came to stand at the bottom of the stairs leading to the throne. He had to tip his head fully back to look his father in the bearded face.

"The repercussions this will have on San's family are unfathomable, Your Majesty! How will we deal with the mutilation of a prince's horns? Even if he is not the crown prince of the western kingdom, the Choi family will suffer greatly!" Yunho's agitated voice had the guard behind Mingi gulp barely audible. Straining on his knees, Mingi stared at the obsidian floor.