'The flames... those people didn't deserve that.' I thought.
I was breathing heavily. Chang was looking sadly at the town.
I heard growling and snarling.
I snapped my fingers to get his attention.
He looked at me surprised but saw me pointing at something.
He sees a monster in a boat that is moving across the body of water. I hear the growls and snarls getting louder. I look over to the bridge and see a hoard of them running towards the bridge.
I grab his hand and drag him across the sand while running at my highest speed. Chang turns his head to look over his shoulder to see the hoard running to us.
"Don't look back Kwan." Chang said while running.
We continue running through the woods. I can hear the monsters catching up to us. I started to breathe a bit more heavily from all the running. Sweat rolls down my head.
I see a bridge coming up. I point to it while running. Chang takes the lead and makes us run faster towards the bridge.
I hear something hit a monster making a few of them tumble down. I hear the hooves of a horse coming to the bridge.
"YOUR HIGHNESS! KWAN!" Muyeong yells while drawing back his bow to let an arrow out.
We hit the platform of the bridge and the monsters right behind me get shot down by Muyeong. I trip on the planks of the bridge while doing so I let go of Chang's hand. I turn around and crawl backwards fast.
Chang grabs my arms and pulls me up so we can get to the other side of the bridge. I can hear splashing of water.
"Run you both!"
We ran faster off the bridge. Muyeong grabs Chang's hand to pull him up the horse. Chang grabs my hand and pulls me up behind him.
A monster grabs the horse and bites it making the horse neigh loudly and go on his hind legs. I almost fall off but Chang grabs my arms and puts it tightly around him.
"Hold on tight." Muyeong says trying to move the horse.
We all fall off the horse. Chang falls on top of me which makes me get winded. Muyeong falls right next to us looking at the horse sadly.
Muyeong gets up just to have a monster get on him. He kicks the monster back and takes him sword out stabbing it in its chest.
Chang gets up quickly followed by me. Chang takes out his borrowed sword and runs to the monster heading towards us. I pull my sickle out and go towards Muyeong. I chop the monsters head off.
I snap my fingers at Muyeong and motion for my head.
"You must aim for their heads." Chang said looking at Muyeong.
"Kwan, Your Royal Highness! The barracks.. We must head towards the barracks now!" Muyeong says back.
Muyeong grabs my arm and makes us both run with Chang following behind us.
A few moments of running and we end up running up a hill with the monsters behind us.
I hear movement behind me stop. I stop and turn to see Chang stop. Muyeong stops as well. Then I hear the sounds of scared people running.
"We must hurry, Your Highness. Your Highness!!"
Chang starts running as the people get closer.
When we hit the clearing, there was a crowd of people by the barracks. They were shouting and crying.
"Is anyone inside?" I hear as we run past the person.
"Please let us in." I hear people say.
We move our way to the front.
"IS ANYONE THERE!?" yells Muyeong.
I move to the wall and start climbing it.
"I don't think anyone is there." I hear Muyeong say.
I continue to climb. The people below me say, "Let us climb the wall!"
The fence shakes when all the people start climbing.
"Get off the fence at once!" Someone inside yells.
I was near the top but I stopped when I heard that voice.
"Someone's inside!" A person below me yells.
Because I was near the top, when the person peered over he drew his bow at me and aimed his arrow at me. When I see his fingers slipping, I let go of the wall. I closed my eyes as I was free falling.
I knew this was the end of me Kim Kwan.
But someone caught me. I landed in their arms. I slowly opened my eyes just to see Chang's face close to mine.
"Kwan are you alright!?" Muyeong yells worriedly.
I continued looking at Chang and nod my head at his question.
Chang snaps out of it and lets me go making sure I was on the ground safely.
Muyeong looks up at the wall and yells, "You idiot! He is the Crown Prince of this nation! Open the gate now!!"
A man in white peeks his head over the gate and yells back, "Don't try to fool me! Don't give me your nonsense, and scram! All of you! Anyone who climbs over this wall shall be dealt with by law!"
More people start climbing the wall. The wall starts shaking and moving.
The man above screams, "Get down! Down! Didn't you hear me? Push them off!"
More men behind the wall points sticks at people climbing the wall. Hitting them making the people fall off the wall down to the ground.
More arrows hit the ground. I grab Chang's hand just knowing this is our end.
The crowd and us included move back.
"How dare you?" Muyeong screams at the men.
The man in white yells, "If you get any closer, these arrows will pierce your bodies!"
A lady in the crowd cries out, "I beg you. Please help us! Please don't leave us here to die!"
The growls of the monsters got louder. I felt my own tears going down my eyes.
'I don't want to die just yet.' I thought.
The people ran to the wall. I turn my head to see the monsters jumping on people biting at them. The crowd was screaming and running in different directions.
"Your Royal Highness.. Kwan, you both must go. Run! Everyone, run! Run away!!" Muyeong yells at the people.
The three of us slid down a slope near the barracks. We continued running but had to redirect because the monster slid down the slope towards us.
We ran towards the cliff. Chang jumps off the cliff followed by me and Muyeong. I happened to let go of Chang's hand in the water. I see Chang and Muyeong swimming back up.
I tried following them but I couldn't swim up.
My vision starts fading from lack of air. I close my eyes.
///
The sun hit my eyes. I opened them to see that I am on land.
'How'd I get here? I was in the water ready to die.'
I hear someone kneel down next to me, "Kwan. You're alright!"
I look and see Muyeong. I look around to see Chang closer to the ocean looking at Dongnae. Muyeong could see that I was confused.
"Do you want to know what happened?"
I nodded my head.
3rd POV
While Kwan was still under the water. The other two were up breathing the air.
"Your Royal Highness, the physician lady spoke the truth!" Muyeong said. Chang was frantically looking around.
He looks at Muyeong and says, "Where's Kwan?"
At the same time, they both looked at the water. Chang dives back under the water to see Kwan sinking.
He swims faster. He grabs Kwan by her stomach and swims towards the surface. When they reach the surface, Muyeong helps Chang bring the unconscious Kwan to the little island.
They lay her on the sand. Chang quickly goes into action. He puts his head near her nose.
"She's not breathing." He said panickly.
Chang starts performing CPR. He breathes into her mouth after a few moments Kwan coughs out all the water that filled her lungs.
Muyeong hugs Kwan quickly but softly while patting her back. Chang lets out a relieved sigh.
Kwan POV
I get up and walk towards Chang. I hugged him from behind. He turns around while in the hug and hugs me back.
After a few moments, I let go of the hug. I mouth and sign at the same time, 'Thank you.'
He nodded his head at me and smiled.
A few hours later
We were walking through Dongnae. The town was destroyed. Blood splatters are everywhere. Wood littered the streets and homes.
We were walking towards the yelling. I saw the man in white and felt rage. I also saw Seobi and Yeongshin kneeling down in front of him and another man. I gasped and ran to them. I pulled my sickle out and stood in front of Seobi and Yeongshin.
I signed, "You will have to get through me.'
Seobi says, "She said 'you will have to get through me'."
My sickle was aimed towards both of the men.
Chang says, "Their safety is your responsibility how incompetent?"
I was ahead of Chang. I walked toward the man in white and drew my fist back and hit him hard. The people gasp and the other man said, "What are you doing?"
Chang and Muyeong pull their swords out and point it at the man in white.
I hear the other men around me pull their swords out. I move towards them and point my sickle at them.
Muyeong turns and points his sword in my direction.
"The instant you draw your sword, you lose your head!" Muyeong said seriously.
'Good for them.' I thought furiously.
The man in white spoke up, "Who are you that you dare do this?"
Chang spoke up, "Your are not only incompetent, but also endlessly vile. You locked the doors to the barracks last night, countless innocent people died."
The man answers back, "If I had opened the gate, the soldiers would have been in danger."
Chang says, "Firing your arrows at Kwan . But also at me is punishable by death and annihilation of your family. You have committed treason!"
The other man spoke up, "Who are you?"
Chang reaches into his side and pulls out his identification card. He throws it at the man's feet. The man picks it up.
"The four-clawed dragon... You are... It's an honor to greet the Crown Prince!" The man said while bowing down. The people bow down at Chang.
Chang says, "I should kill you right this instant, but we need help so..."
"Please spare me." The man in white says.
'The damn man has the nerve. He let all those people die but wants us to spare his life.' I angrily thought.
As Chang moves his sword away from the man in white, I walk towards the man in white and kick him in the stomach. I grab him head and force him to bow.
Chang pulls me away and says, "How many soldiers are alive?"
A soldier answered, "Only 50, Your Highness."
Chang then says, "Have every soldier search for bodies. They must burn them immediately."
As I begin to hear an older lady speak, I pull away from Chang and walk towards Yeongshin and Seobi. I let tears fall and move their heads up. I kneel in front of them.
I signed at them, 'Are you okay?'
Seobi says, "Kwan we are alright." At the same time Yeongshin nods his head.
I let more tears fall and pull them into a hug. I silently let the tears fall and bury my head deeper into their shoulders. Seobi pats my back while Yeongshin pats my head.
I pull away and dry my tears. I sign to them while smiling, 'My family.'