Kaisog returned from the mission quite some time before the knights did, deciding not to hang around them any longer than absolutely necessary. She'd been staring at the group when she saw them come in through the gates again, trying to see if there were any of them who hadn't been there when they'd left.
The only difference was a filled carriage with a sheet over it.
She wasn't even halfway done processing it when a soft knock sounded at her door.
"Princess, are you free for a moment?" Sergon's unmistakable voice slowly asked, his voice concerningly heavy.
She got up from her bed slowly, her legs all too heavy to move.
"Yes..." She mentally prepared herself for what he was going to say. It wasn't that difficult to guess.
She slowly opened the door, giving him one of the smallest smiles she could remember ever giving anyone.
"Do you want to come in, my lord?"
"I do not think that will be necessary." He didn't even attempt to smile back. "We found the bodies of your guards. They are currently being held underground, where they will be prepared for-" He stopped himself as she clutched her skirts. "Do you wish to see them?"
She only nodded, unable to utter a single word, and silently followed him as he went down the unfamiliar corridors. Her feet dragged along the floor.
He remained silent the entire way, guiding her down the winding staircase and to the underground dungeons. The flickering light of the flames was all that kept the darkness at bay down here.
They stopped up in front of a brown, wooden door, guarded by two rather grim-looking guards, who eyed her when she came into sight.
Sergon turned around, that same look on his face.
"I feel I should warn you, princess. We did the best we could, but not everything could be hidden away with the wipe of a cloth."
Without so much as a twitch - she hoped - she returned his gaze.
"It is fine... I will be fine." She was fully prepared for whatever she was going to be faced with. She'd seen it all every time she closed her eyes - it could hardly be any worse.
Sergon gave her a long look, then slowly pushed the creaking door open. She strained her eyes to see inside, but it was only once he stepped aside that she was truly able to.
Spread out on the floor were nine bodies covered by linen. The exact number of people who had joined her on the way here. No one had survived.
She took a deep breath before stepping inside the clammy, dank room. The smell of the blood that had been cleaned off still hung in the room like a thick, invisible fog.
She went to the first body slowly, kneeling beside him. These men- no, these warriors that she had grown up with. They had all given their lives to make sure she'd get away safely. They'd fought with everything they had. She owed them to keep it together and make sure they were sent off to the afterlife with all the respect and dignity they deserved and more still.
She slowly went around to every single one of them, gently saying her goodbyes and thanking them for their sacrifice before planting a light kiss on their cold foreheads and covering them again. Just as she had seen her parents do it from time to time. The wide gashes in their skin and on some of their faces did not repulse her the slightest. If anything, it only proved just how hard they had fought.
Incidentally, there was only one person left. She'd been able to recognize him immediately through the thin, white sheet. His build and skin was so different from the others'.
She approached him on heavy feet, slowly kneeling beside him. She wanted to see him a last time and attempt to repay him everything she owed. Yet, at the same time, this was the last thing she wanted to do. She didn't want the proof that this truly was the last time she would see him. That the last time they talked had been in such a way.
But she had to. She had to stay strong for his sake as well.
So, she reached out and pulled the sheet away from his face with shaking hands. As the stillness of him was slowly revealed to her, a hand flew to her mouth and she shut her eyes closed, stopping in her tracks.
He never had been an incredibly expressive man, but this was different. It was too still even for him. Too... dead.
She could do nothing to combat the tears which fought with much greater force. She once again opened her eyes to look down at the man she had called her best friend and brother for as long as she could remember.
She pulled the sheet down far enough to reveal the top of his shoulders as well. She blinked the tears out of her eyes as she reached for his hand, cuddling the uncomfortably cold limb in her two hands.
"I am so sorry this had to happen to you, Kaisog," she whispered. Her voice would fail her if she tried anything more. "But you succeeded. Your plan worked. I am safe here in the castle. And the king is working hard to catch those men as well." She squeezed his hand. "You did your job well, I just wish-"
No matter how much she wished it, he would never be coming back to her.
"That drake. I named him after you. He will be staying with me from now on. S-so I will be fine. I will be okay."
She slowly leaned down to press her forehead to his, eyes closed. Cold as it was, it didn't give her the comfort and warmth it had always done. But this wasn't for her - it was for him.
"I will miss you so, so much." She placed a tearful and trembling kiss on his forehead. "Goodbye, Kaisog," she slowly said, pulling the sheet up again and covering him with it.
She sat there for a moment, gulping her emotions down before she would face the living people again. She carefully dried her cheeks, hoping the tears hadn't left their mark on her skin yet.
She got to her feet slowly, hesitating for just one moment longer before returning to Sergon and the guards outside. They had closed the door to give her some privacy.
All immediately turned when they saw the door being opened. Sergon seemed to try to gauge her mood for a moment.
"Are you okay, princess?"
She hesitated for a moment, thinking. "I... Yes, I am," she earnestly told him. "I needed to do it."
"I am glad to hear it." He gave her a thin smile. "If you are up for it, we were thinking of preparing for their burial," he said, once again searching to see if he stepped over a line. "We figured you have some traditions from your kingdom that you would like followed."
She felt tears rise to her eyes once more - though this time for an entirely different reason. She quickly nodded.
"I would appreciate that. It would mean the world to me and them."
...
Everything had been prepared for and the day of her friends' burial had arrived.
Each of them had been placed on a small canoe at the port, decorated with flowers and leaves so that they could be comfortable even in their last moments. They were all dressed in their armor and held their weapons in their hands over their chests.
From a distance it truthfully looked as though they were simply sleeping, hadn't it been for the color having drained from their faces.
She was standing right beside Alex and Elias, and with Sergon, Arthas and the king to her other side. Though a little away and around them, it seemed every single guard, maid and Dragon Slayer was there as well, paying their respects to these men they didn't even know. And that was despite the fact that a drake was right there in front of them.
Kaisog had been allowed to join, though only from one of the mountainous hills circling the port. So as to not frighten everyone else here, who had come to pay tribute.
She watched with emotions welling up in her for umpteenth time these last few days as all nine of them were pushed away from the dock and out into the open sea, carried on the waves.
She knew it was her turn now to do what the king had so graciously allowed her to do. But as she opened her mouth, her eyes landed on her friend a last time, letting only a strangled sob escape her.
Kaisog cried out to her, but try as she might, she could do nothing to push the emotions which had formed a knot in her throat away. When she dropped her head into her hands, the drake did what she could not.
He tilted his head back and released a long, sorrowful howl which would be heard several miles away.
She clasped her hands together and looked up when Kaisog's call was met with a similar reply.
Moments later, a big, crimson dragon came flying lowly overhead, making a round once it came out over the port. It flew above the nine canoes without any hesitation and sent a ray of flames down upon them, setting all ablaze. The heat of it could be felt even from where they were all standing.
She watched as the fire dragon looked down to make sure it had done what it came to do, then set off back where it had come from.
She kept her gaze locked on the nine bright fires out there.
"You can rest in peace now," she said with a garbled voice, knowing it would reach no matter where it had to go.