Page 162 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)
She looked up, and Kiera marched over, snatching Tievin’s notepad out of his hands on her way, before she slammed it on the ground at their feet, and began drawing something.
Alarmed, Alezya approached, wondering what had Kiera all riled up, but quickly, she recognized a landscape, a strange landscape with what looked like giant stalagmites and a narrow rift.
“The Wailing Rift,” Ekata muttered.
“ This ?” Kiera tapped the drawing. “ Battle, yes ?”
“ Yes ,” Alezya nodded.
“It’s too small for dragons ,” Kiera said, mainly to her brother.
Kassein nodded, but they weren’t as surprised as Alezya had feared; she’d managed to warn them of that ahead of time.
So, she turned to Kiera, trying to understand.
“ I told you, ” she said. “ Last night. ”
“Too small for Kein ,” Kiera scoffed, “ but too small for Kiki too! ”
“I know,” Alezya bit her lip, “but I think we still can fight. Battle with a lot of Dragon Kulani men. Kiera and Kassein battle too.”
Kiera groaned.
“ But Kiki loves to fight! ”
Alezya’s jaw dropped. Was that what she was annoyed about? That her dragon wouldn’t get to fight?
Alezya slapped her forehead. Of course. She had never seen Kiera actually look intimidated by anything. She should have known better than to think a battle location was going to be an issue.
“ More for you and me ,” Kassein shrugged. “ And Kiki can fight a bit.”
Kiera grimaced, but he was right. Kiki was much smaller than Kein, and the dark gray dragon’s body was considerably leaner too. Alezya would agree that Kiera’s dragon could probably find ways to cause a lot of damage to the enemy even without being able to get everywhere.
Moreover, the stalagmites, or whatever those spikes were, wouldn’t move, so it’s not like Kiki could be hurt unless the dragon impaled itself.
.. It was more of a solid anti-dragon defense for the area, as they had probably tried to pick the one area that would be bothersome to dragons.
Seeing the others were worried, Alezya quickly explained why Kiera was upset, and they relaxed.
“How much farther is it?” Ekata asked. “This is unknown territory for us beyond this point; we’re going off what we learned from our allied clans...”
Alezya relayed the question to Kiera the best she could, who shrugged before drawing a line and marking points.
“...We’re almost two-thirds of the way?” Ekata gasped. “Did we make it that fast already?”
“We had a heavy load taken off our shoulders and good weather conditions,” Alezya said, “and the Dragon Clan is doing much better than we expected too.”
“That’s good,” the Samial Clan Chief nodded. “We could have time to rest before the battle and take them by surprise!”
“I doubt they expect us anytime before dusk,” Ekut agreed, “but we might make it, and with some energy to spare!”
“ Kiera ?” Alezya called out to her. “ Take Kein and Kiki and fly the mountains. Fly this. The Wailing Rift.”
She pointed at the drawing with intent, teaching her their name for it, and Kiera nodded with a shrug.
“Why?” Ekata asked.
“If Kiera keeps flying over it, they’ll see the dragons,” Alezya said.
“Even if they don’t expect us, they have to be watching the area since we’re bringing the battle to them, but they don’t know when.
It’s better if we keep them on their toes.
Either they’ll be on edge the whole time, or they’ll relax and think the dragons being sighted before dusk doesn’t mean anything.
Like you said, they don’t expect us until then; let’s ensure they might not expect our fighters when we do arrive. ”
“Brilliant,” Ekata smiled. “Brilliant idea, let’s do that.”
Just like that, Kiera took off, and Kein and Kiki left the supplies in the clearing for them to take the rest of the way later while the humans covered the trip by foot.
Their lunch break had been long enough, and no one complained when they resumed their march.
Alezya was most surprised by Kassein’s men; no one dared to voice a complaint no matter how harsh the trip was getting, and in terms of speed, no one was slacking either.
She had seen how much all of those men trained, so she couldn’t say she was completely shocked, but she certainly felt appreciative.
The last part of their journey seemed to be the longest, though; this time, the trail was more tortuous, even forcing their forces to stand in one or two lines at times and slowing them down as they had to double-check slippery paths and treacherous gaps.
Again, she was impressed at how organized Kassein’s men were, some of them taking the lead to secure paths or rearranging the ranks, others relieving each other from scouting missions, and some even running back and forth to check that everyone followed and could keep going.
At some point, she wondered if this wasn’t also about pride: no one from the Dragon Clan wanted to lose to the Northerners’ quick pace or slow down their group.
Most of the men seemed incredibly determined, and as they got closer to the Wailing Rift, Alezya noticed the atmosphere was getting tense, a foreboding tension gradually rising.
The skies above them were getting darker too, adding to this ominous feeling; the rain that had been a drizzle until then seemed to be menacing, and about to take a turn for the worse at any second.
They had reached one of the rare areas with trees, nestled between two mountains along a winding trail.
It was lower than the cliffs above, offering shelter from the wind and making the air less biting.
However, the terrain was steeper and more unpredictable, demanding careful navigation and for them to tighten their ranks.
Suddenly, a pair of scouts ran back, making large gestures and clearly making them all stop. Kiera arrived too, but Alezya hadn’t seen Kiki land anywhere nearby.
“We’re almost there,” the scout said, out of breath. “Our scouts ahead confirmed it. We’re now about five miles away from the Wailing Rift! If we don’t stop here, it will be hard to conceal our arrival.”
Next to him, his partner from the Dragon Clan was probably saying the same thing to Kassein, based on his animated gestures, and Kiera seemed to confirm his words.
She went on to make some gestures that had Alezya guess she was explaining what the Wailing Rift looked like from above to her brother, so Alezya focused on the clan chiefs instead, and they all looked shocked.
“Already?” Ekata gasped. “We’re more than two hours ahead!”
“That’s good,” Ekut nodded, checking the dark skies above. “Dusk isn’t going to be soon; that means we have plenty of time to get ready and rest before the battle.”
“Did you see the enemy?” the Samial Clan Chief asked.
“Some of them,” he nodded. “It looks like some clans are positioned already, and we’re trying to inform our allies that we’ve arrived so they can join us here without being noticed, but it might take a little while.”
“Hopefully, we can meet some of their representatives without Darak knowing we’ve arrived already...” Ekata muttered.
“The Dragon Clan’s helping us out,” the scout nodded, pointing at his partner. “I admit they’re... they’re outstanding fighters. We were spotted twice, but they killed the enemy scouts before they could report back.”
“That’s good,” Ekut nodded. “Keep moving with them then; just be sure they don’t kill allies. We can’t afford a rift with our allies.”
“We’re good at communicating now,” the scout nodded confidently.
“Alright,” Ekata sighed. “We all should have stopped walking by now; let’s inform everyone we’re taking our last break before the battle. I’m guessing the dragons will bring our supplies, so we should have the men use the extra time to eat and rest, and wait for our signal to get ready.”
“Even if they spot us, Darak won’t come here,” Alezya said. “He’s too afraid of the dragons. It would be better if we kept the element of surprise though, so let’s keep scouting the area. And I’ll ask Kassein to have more men ensure that we’re not noticed until the right time.”
“Sounds good to me,” Ekut nodded along.
So, Alezya was in charge of explaining the situation and their current plan to Kassein, Kiera, and Tievin, while the twins and the Samial Clan Chief did the same with their men.
It took a while for her to explain with her limited vocabulary, but once they did understand, no one argued; instead, Kassein called over his senior warriors, they discussed for a couple of minutes, and then, everyone parted ways.
The dragons flew away for their last trips to bring the belongings before they rested along with the humans; it would have been suspicious if they made too many flights above the Wailing Rift now that they were near.
While scouts from each of the three clans scattered, everyone else prepared for a long, deserved break that was utterly different from the previous ones, Alezya realized.
First, as soon as Kein and Kiki had brought their things over, she saw all the men work together to distribute their gear and the extra weapons, allocate food, and carefully pack up the rest of the supplies.
Some established tents, and she realized those were for their healers, as some who had suffered injuries during the trip were brought in to be cared for.
When the food was all distributed, they all ate quickly, no longer in a cheerful mood like before but instead in understandable silence, mindful to not attract attention to their location.
Then, as instructed, all the men decided to rest, some sitting, some lying down. Still, Alezya noted everyone had been allocated their equipment and kept it close in case they were suddenly under attack.