The Kings Kitten

16 - Pride

I couldn't believe what my ears were hearing right now.

We were speeding down the dirt road towards the entrance of the territory, passing by dead bodies and battling warriors, my heart ached greatly over the loss of my people because of this senseless war.

Demetrius sat in the drivers seat, both hands on the wheel as he tried to get out of the territory as fast as the car would allow us on this road, all while explaining the situation to me.

"So my father has been stealing resources?" I interjected, rubbing my arms with my hands to comfort myself over the news.

Why would he need to steal from others? We had trade systems with every territory, we had relations between every clan, including the truce between my people and Demetrius' people. I didn't understand in the slightest.

Demetrius let out a grunt before he answered completely. "More than just stealing resources. When the group won't comply, he kidnaps them and blames the disappearance on the fairies. I've had my fair share of visits from your people at my boarder, a few of them are still hanging in my cells." He clarified.

It felt like my breath hitched in my throat and threatened to stay put, it was becoming harder to breathe again, why was my father doing all of this?

"Why?" I managed to choke out, a tear threatening to fall from my eyes as I willed my hardest not to let them fall.

"Because your father is corrupt." He bit back. I flinched at the harshness in his tone and he noticed as he glanced over to me in the passenger side seat. He sighed. "Your people aren't supposed to be lead by a man. When the leadership is corrupt, the rest of the population will become corrupt too. Your father sent that warrior out in the middle of the night to kill Prince Ray, we're not sure why he did it but my best guess is that he became aware of your father's antics and your father wanted to kill the whisperer before others found out."

"Found out what?" I argued. I didn't want to believe that my father could be capable of this behaviour. He was a shallow man, prideful and eccentric, but he wasn't corrupt.

"Don't you think it's strange that your father didn't want to help get the women back? Despite almost losing you and your sister? Don't you think it's weird that the serpent kingdom was fine with us camping outside their territory if they had any reason to suspect foul play? And now their prince is dead at the hands of your father and they're willing to risk their whole manpower just to retaliate?" He inquired.

I sat there silently for a moment, pondering the questions that were thrown in my direction.

Demetrius came to a screeching halt by the front fence of the territory as we witnessed more than two dozen serpent warriors running from the perimeter, back out towards their own territory.

A few of them noticed us roll up in the car and instead of issuing an attack they watched us intently as they ran. They were running from the fight.

"What's going on?" I whispered as I squirmed myself down in my seat, using my backpack to shield my body from view, not that it did much to help in this instance.

Demetrius' hand came out in front of me, as if to barricade me some more from the threat outside the car. "I think they're retreating." He murmured back.

We watched intently as the last of the warriors cascaded out of the entrance to the territory, bloodied with broken weapons, injuries adorning their scaly skin I grimaced at the sight of the intruders that had just destroyed my home and my people.

"They must have gotten what they wanted." He added.

"What did they want?"

"An eye for an eye." Was all he said.