The three men watched wordlessly and wide-eyed as the young girl practically sprinted out of the throne-room. A moment passed between them in silence, even after the grand doors had closed.
The king felt an angry gaze on him and simply lifted his finger in the Commander's direction.
"You do not have to say anything, Sergon, I know."
Perhaps shouting at a girl, who'd just lost the closest people around her, wasn't his brightest move.
"You went too far right from the beginning, Lodin. But the end was just horrible of you."
The king turned to him with a scowl. "I did not do anything wrong until the end!"
Sergon crossed his arms. "Well, you could have certainly been a much better host, that is for sure."
"I do not believe I was that bad," the king muttered with a frown, then turned to his advisor, who'd been silent throughout all of this. "Was I?"
Narza sighed deeply. "I am afraid she seemed scared of you far before you began shouting, your majesty."
Lodin sighed, burying his face in his palm. "This is why I was against the idea of bringing any more women in here in the first place."
Sergon huffed. "Woman or not, you need to go and apologize to her."
"I am the king – I do not apologize to anyone," Lodin argued, raising an eyebrow in challenge.
Sergon sent him a chilling glare.
Lodin sighed audibly. "Fine, whatever, I will go and apologize to her later." There was no fighting with Sergon when he was like this.
"No, you will do it immediately. And while you do, I will have a talk with Arthas about all this."
Narza nodded, mostly to himself. "I will prepare a message to sail back to the Dragon Kingdom as soon as possible. Afterwards, we should send a search-team to find the bodies and have them buried properly." He looked up at the king, who was trying to disappear in the throne. "You should ask the princess if they have any special traditions regarding this if you get the opportunity."
"I will, I will." Lodin sighed, getting out of the throne slowly. He might as well get this over and done with as quickly as possible.
"Walk slowly – you should give her some time to compose herself," Sergon said when he'd taken the first step down his little podium.
"Hells..."
...
Ciara closed the big doors behind her, resting her back against them, her hand hovering over her hammering heart.
What had she done? She'd yelled at a king! He definitely hated her now. And surely he'd send her back.
How could she be so stupid? It was clear from his reaction that he had nothing to do with it – just like their escort had told them.
How could she have allowed herself to do something so stupid and disrespectful? No matter how angry she might get, she should never shout at a king.
"Are you okay, princess?"
She jumped up in surprise. She was without a doubt her heart had skipped an entire beat.
She looked up and saw it was just one of the guards who'd brought her here earlier.
"Oh," she breathed.
The first guard scratched the back of his head with a little, lopsided smile, which brought out charming wrinkles around his mouth and eyes.
"Sorry but we kind of heard everything in there - you were not being particularly silent."
She mustered up a little smile as well, though she felt her cheeks burn at the mention of it all.
"It is quite all right, you could not help but to hear all that." These two seemed very nice – even if the other one was mostly silent. "What are your names?" she asked as she pushed off from the doors, looking at the two alternately.
The one who'd given her the pat on the back earlier spoke up as the other one seemed a little stunned.
"I am Elias and that is Alex."
She nodded to herself, storing those two names in her memory.
"Can I ask one of you to show me the way outside? I am not really familiar with the castle yet."
Alex continued to look surprised. "Oh, yeah, sure. We can figure something out." He then looked at something past her. "Hey, Greg!" he called out to another guard, who walked down the hall. "You doing anything important?"
"Not particularly." 'Greg' shook his head and approached them.
Alex smiled. "Great. Would it be all right with you to stand guard here a while?"
Greg shrugged. "Sure."
Alex gave the guy's shoulder a pat. "Thanks, I owe you." He then looked at her. "Come on, princess, let me show you the way."
She smiled widely. It was nice with a little bit of warmth and kindness after all.
"Thank you, you are a lifesaver." She didn't miss the way he so easily matched his pace to hers either.
He smiled brightly at her. "No problem, I will always be ready to help a lady if she is in need," he proudly declared.
"Well, then I hope you will not mind my relying on you - if I am allowed to stay here after this," she laughed.
His smile faltered a bit. "Listen, you do not have to beat yourself up over this, princess. It will be fine, you will be allowed to stay. I am sure of it."
"I am not so sure about that. I was being very disrespectful."
"Maybe, but you were not the only one. He should not have yelled at you either," he argued. "Besides, I am sure Commander Sergon will scold him for that. He has really taken a liking to you, you know."
Ciara smiled. She hoped that was true. "Thank you, Alex. I needed that."
"And you know what? I have too now. Takes guts to put the king in his place like you did." He grinned "Just give him some time. Once you have broken his ice, he is really a nice guy," he promised her. "Or so I am told by the Commander, anyhow."
So, he didn't actually know if that was true himself, in other words.
"Well, I may not have had any success with it yet-" he paused to give her a dashing smile over his shoulder. "But, I mean, with your position and all, you likely have much more chance of it than I do."
"You might be right."
She truly hoped that was the truth. Otherwise she wasn't quite sure what she'd do.
Just then, they turned around a corner, leading to the sight of bright daylight streaming in through the large gates. The exact thing she'd been looking for.
Truly, this place was a maze like no other. She knew she couldn't find her way back to anything, even if she was threatened.
"There you go, princess. The grand outside!" He spread his arms out in a flowing motion as if it was something never before seen. He sent her a knowing look. "Please follow me, and we will find that dragon of yours."
She felt herself flush. "Am I that obvious?"
He smiled amusedly. "Well. If you just wanted some fresh air, you would have likely asked me to simply bring you back to your room and the balcony instead."
"You are right." She smiled to herself. She needed her best friend at the moment, and that title was and would always be held by Kaisog. He was everything she had.
"You know – and I say this with all the respect in the world – you are a curious lady, princess."
"How so?" Was she really so different from the other ladies around here?
"You can be afraid of a human man, and then run to a dragon with open arms right after."
She smiled. "It is true dragons can be very dangerous, but I find them to be much more trustworthy than humans," she said. "Even if you find a bad one, they will still not lash out at you without good reason."
"I am guessing that is what you told Sergon as well?" She looked at him with furrowed brows. "He was the one who managed to calm it down and get you inside, even though the thing had been furious. Without a sword or anything."
"It was the first thing I taught him." She smiled. "It looks like it really paid off, then." That surely hadn't been an easy task for him.
"Sure did."
The moment they entered Kaisog's field of vision the young drake gave a squeal of delight, already moving to rush towards them.
She saw Alex take a step towards her, going completely rigid and a hand on his sword. He was clearly thinking the drake's intention to be something else than the innocent excitement it was.
She smiled, stepping forward with just one step and passed Alex, spreading her arms out wide for the drake. Kaisog slowed his charge down just in time for his headbutt to become barely anything more than a mere nudge to her frame.
She giggled, unable to help it. His childish energy was really reassuring.
"Thank you for waiting, Kaisog."
She could almost hear Alex' sigh of relief even over Kaisog's deep purring.
"You named it?"
She smiled, gently resting her forehead against the drake's.
"Of course." Her smile turned melancholic even though no one could see it. "A strong, brave drake needs a strong, brave name."
"Kaisog, was it?" a voice that didn't belong to Alex asked behind her. "If I remember correctly, that was the name of the Tao warrior who was supposed to take you here."
She already knew who it was even without having to hear the rustle of armor that was Alex bowing.
"Your majesty!" she blurted out, turning around and flew into a deep curtesy as fast as she was able. "Please forgive me for my outburst earlier – I do not know what came over me!"
A heavy silence followed her apology, leaving her clutching the dress and her eyes clenched shut in pure anxiety.
Finally, the king shifted. "At ease, all is forgiven already."
She heaved a relieved breath, inwardly thanking the gods as she eased back up.
"Thank you so much!" The feeling of Kaisog's breath on her back reminded her of something else she probably also needed to thank him for. "And I cannot put into words how much I appreciate your letting Kaisog stay. I really cannot thank you enough." She bowed her head just slightly.
A little huff of a chuckle seemed to escaped him. "Even if I had not given my permission, I believe there was little I could have done to move it anyhow." He sounded genuinely amused. "It has been sitting there, waiting for you to wake up like a loyal, little dog. Not even the Dragon Slayers' numerous advances seemed to faze it. Rarely do you see such straightforward loyalty."
Kaisog snorted angrily behind her at the mention of the Dragon Slayers, all while her blood seemed to run cold in her veins.
"The Dragon Slayers. Right," she almost whispered to herself. For a moment, she'd completely forgotten that those people also lived and worked in this castle.
Seemingly realizing the change in her mood, the king's changed as well.
"I will be preparing a search-team to send out later today. Any and all information you can provide us would be invaluable." His whole demeanor turned serious and curt, as if the almost easy-going, light air he'd had about him before was only something she had imagined. "Showing us where it happened would be especially helpful."
She couldn't help but note how he stated it like he expected her to do just that.
She bit down on her lip slightly, her gaze falling to the ground. "I- I am not sure I am ready to see that place again, your majesty." She kept her voice low. "Besides which, I cannot find my way around that port-city the slightest," she added and immediately paused. "But maybe Kaisog would be willing to show you the way, if you let him." She tipped her head back and looked up at the drake inquisitively.
He didn't even hesitate nodding in agreement. It seemed Kaisog knew his way around this place well enough already.
Not even the king could hide his surprise at the drake's human-like response and alas it took him a little while to get his words back.
"That... would be helpful." His eyes were trained on the drake as he spoke - she wasn't even sure who he was speaking to at this point.
She smiled. He clearly wasn't comfortable in Kaisog's presence, but he didn't seem out-right frightened of him the way Alex was either. And he'd also let Kaisog stay here. Maybe she could-
"My king," a voice spoke up, making all of them turn. "Your presence is required in the throne room. Commander Sergon has gathered everyone," a guard curtly announced.
The king nodded. "I see. I will be there shortly." The guard turned around to leave as soon as the king turned back to her. "A messenger will be sent to your people as soon as everyone has been recovered. Until then, please do excuse me." He turned on his heel and briskly walked back the way he'd come.
He really didn't seem to care to talk to her at all, did he?