The Varied Path (Akatsuki no Yona Fanfiction)

Chapter 109: The Coming Storm

"What should we do?" Jae-ha voiced somewhat worriedly, just letting his bowl sit idly in his hand without eating it. "Scatter the troops of Soo-jin and the Sen Province at the same time?"

"That's obviously impossible." Yoon stated, immediately shooting it down as he plopped down beside the Thunder Beast to pick at his own lunch.

His gaze sharpened as he glared pointedly at the fighter who was trying to place Ao on top of Hak's head without him noticing. "Last time was bad enough."

Calista smiled sheepishly, hoping to placate his piercing glare but to no avail. He continued to stare at her viciously until she raised her right hand in surrender. With a huff, the pretty boy's head whipped around as he caught the tail end of Hak's amused chuckle.

Meanwhile, Yona's thoughts were running rampant as her own porridge grew cold the longer she waited to reach a solution.

Their numbers are 20,000 in total. There's no way we could take that route. Especially with the state Calista is in.

Similarly, Yoon's mind began to spin his apprehension into threads of anxiety strung together by a barely conceivable notion as his thoughts wandered away from the troublesome siblings.

Soo-won is Yona's enemy, isn't he? Why would she decide to help him? Not to mention... If she heads back to the castle she was chased out of, it's as if she was going there to be killed.

She would be signing her own death warrant.

He visibly winced, fearful of the conclusion he reached. "Yona... Let's step back and watch the situation for now. We couldn't win even if we tried."

Kija and Jae-ha glanced at the youngest before exchanging a look with each other. Despite being the older two out of the four dragons and having opposite personalities, a moment of understanding passed between the two of them as his voice trembled.

"I'm with Yoon on this one, Yona." Calista interjected, easing the attention on him, silver eyes calm and steady. "It's too dangerous for you to fight this one head on."

But the princess didn't answer. She just sat there and remained silent. Yoon repeated her name when she failed to answer him, but she was lost in thought.

I can't. Can I?

How much danger would they be in?

For Kouka's people, my people, I must.

Yona didn't raise her head, but under crimson hair, lavender eyes flashed with resolve.

"Hak."

This time, his eyes opened and she wasn't surprised to see how harrowed they were despite his obvious exhaustion. His jaw clenched but his eyes were understanding.

She did a double take, catching a flash of something as it flickered across his face but it was gone so quickly that she didn't have time to identify it.

It's almost like remorse...

"Can you prepare some horses?" She requested of him quietly, pushing that thought to the back of her mind.

Kija simply cocked his head to the side, confused as to why she needed horses all of the sudden but wasn't about to question it. She was his master and if that was what she desired, then he would move mountains to ensure that she had it.

Zeno stopped skipping circles around Shin-ah and tripped over a root as he tried to skid to a halt. He would've gone flying forward if the green dragon hadn't caught him by the hood of his cloak.

Jae-ha's breathing picked up the slightest bit at the close call before setting the carefree yellow dragon on his feet. Zeno sprawled on the ground in the empty space next to him and he shook his head, bemused.