Page 173 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)
Then, a deafening crack echoed through the rift, breaking the tension.
Men on both sides looked around and up, trying to find the source of the sound. Then another crack was heard, louder, and all eyes shifted to one of the largest mountains overlooking the area. A block of snow had detached itself from somewhere under the tip of it.
At first, and with the distance, it only seemed like an inconsequential event, but the sound it had made upon detaching itself indicated it was going to be anything but.
Every single fighter in the area was frozen in nervous anticipation, watching with growing horror as it slowly rolled down and more and more snow toppled, blowing thick clouds of white smoke in its wake.
It was picking up speed, and more chunks of snow were detaching, adding to the white tidal wave.
“...That can’t be good,” Kiera swallowed.
Kassein was the first to snap his focus back to the battlefield. That avalanche was going to hit the rift. There was no way around it.
With the way that mountain was positioned, it was going to tumble straight toward them. It was coming down fast, growing larger by the second, and they probably had less than a minute before it struck.
The trajectory itself was hard to predict, but if he had to guess, Kassein estimated it was going to hit somewhere between where their armies met, and farther down, where he’d forced their opponent to come to them.
The enemy would be the most impacted, but the men who’d followed him to the frontline were also at the forefront of the impending catastrophe, and there was no time to evacuate them.
Kein wouldn’t be able to carry dozens of men to safety, and he couldn’t even predict how far that avalanche was going to reach.
Kassein began to frantically look for a solution, glancing at the mud-covered cliffs, the dozens of men standing there in petrified shock, and the jagged stone pillars scattered along the floor of the rift.
His heart accelerated. They were massive.
Sharp, towering like the fangs of some buried monster pointed toward the sky, and they were all standing in its open maw.
He glanced up again at the avalanche, the looming wave of snow gathering speed and heading straight for them.
“...Kiera,” he called his sister with a hoarse voice.
“We don’t have time to evacuate,” she retorted with a tight jaw.
“No, we don’t.”
He turned to her as she approached, her eyes riveted on the impending catastrophe.
“Then what do we–”
“You have to use your water thing.”
His sister’s eyes snapped back to him, and after a second of taking in what he’d said, her jaw dropped. She let out a nervous laugh.
“You can’t be serious,” she muttered.
“You have to,” he insisted.
“Kassein, I haven’t-... I haven’t done it in years, and I’ve only succeeded twice!”
“It doesn’t matter,” he retorted. “It’s all ice and snow. Do it.”
“But–!”
He didn’t stay to listen to her protests. He vaguely heard his sister complain and maybe let out a couple of bad words, but he was already running, his eyes riveted on the incoming disaster.
“Sir, what do you want us to–”
“Run! Find cover!” he barked behind him.
He left his men, charging ahead. No one stopped him when he pushed past the enemy lines; most were frozen with fear, and those who weren’t had already begun to run. But the rift was too deep, and there was nowhere they could escape to before the avalanche reached them.
If they couldn’t stop it, they had to block it.
That was Kassein’s plan as he darted toward the largest spiked boulder he could find.
It was half-buried in ice, the tallest of the jagged rock formations scattered through the rift, at least five or six times his height, but that didn’t stop him.
He threw his sword to the ground and lunged at it, ignoring the shouted warnings from behind.
His body slammed into the rock, shaking loose a shower of ice and, against all odds, triggering a sharp crack.
His shoulder flared with pain, but he didn’t stop.
He slammed it again, this time angling himself toward the weak spot he’d felt at chest height.
He planted his boots in the mud and shoved with everything he had. Another crack. Another wave of pain.
Yells and chaos echoed around him, but all he registered was Kiki’s shriek above, Kiera urging her dragon into the air.
Somewhere down the rift, a rock spire collapsed with a thunderous crash; Kein was doing the same.
But Kassein was alone with this one. He gritted his teeth and slammed his shoulder once more.
Blood hit his tongue, but he ignored it.
The crack was growing. He dug in again, using his hands now.
His palms bled against the stone, bronze scales beginning to creep along his fingers.
He pushed harder. His boots slipped an inch, sweat running down his back, and the roar of the avalanche grew louder by the second.
He let out a breath, gathered his strength, and slammed forward.
This time, the crack split wide. One final push, and the column gave way, crashing heavily into the snow.
“ HIDE!” he roared, one of the few words he’d learned in their language.
It took a second, but then, dozens of men from the opposite side glanced at the collapsed trunk of rocks and threw themselves behind the barrier he’d just created. Seconds later, the rumble of the avalanche grew louder and louder, until there was a split second of haunting silence.
And then, all hell broke loose above their heads.
The avalanche didn’t come down as solid snow to bury them.
It slammed into them like a freezing wall of sleet and water.
The force alone pinned them to the ground, the weight of it knocking the breath from their lungs.
The jagged rock column shook, but it held, and the men braced themselves against the slick, frozen stone, gritting their teeth as the relentless downpour battered them.
The flood didn’t stop. It pounded over them in crashing waves, drenching them from head to toe, soaking through armor and cloth until the cold felt like it had seeped into their bones.
Men coughed and sputtered, spitting out water, their hands gripping anything solid as the muddy, freezing current surged up to their waists, their chests, threatening to swallow them before, finally, it began to recede.
The flood drained as fast as it had come, leaving behind knee-deep pools of slush and icy mud.
Kassein spat out water and pushed himself back, his boots sinking into the flooded ground. He glanced up, catching sight of his sister.
Kiera was standing, her arms raised, but her entire frame seemed arched with immeasurable effort, her body shaking violently as she held the massive, white, and terrifying frozen storm at bay.
The avalanche hadn’t disappeared. It was right there, hovering dangerously just above Kiera, frozen mid-collapse, a massive wall of ice and snow ready to crash down at any second.
It churned like a storm caught in place, twisting and writhing, fighting against the force that held it back, the invisible barrier Kiera’s hands held.
Instead, it was falling slowly, controlled, inch by inch, turning into thick, steady streams of water that rushed past her ankles and knees, the same water that ran like a heavy downpour into the battlefield and drenched the men below.
Kiki had to be somewhere ahead of her, likely taking the brunt of it, shielding Kiera from the worst of the force, but it was clear this was Kiera’s doing. She stood at the center of the chaos, the avalanche roaring around her like a beast on the verge of collapse. But she wouldn’t let it.
A proud smirk appeared on Kassein’s lips as he witnessed his sister’s power.
All around him, the men clung to the barricade of jagged stone, shivering and coughing, still in tight bundles, but the worst of it was over. Farther down the rift, the soldiers in the collapsed tunnels were in the same condition, half-drowned but alive.
Kassein looked up. The avalanche had broken apart, crashing at Kiera’s feet in heavy waves. It was a waterfall now, its crushing force spent. It wasn’t a perfect save, but it had been enough.
Kein swooped low overhead, skimming just above the battlefield now that the jagged stone barriers no longer threatened it.
As the dragon passed, Kassein didn’t hesitate.
He leapt, catching onto Kein’s extended paw and letting the dragon launch him toward the ridge, toward where Kiera had just stood, locked in the fight of her life.
He found her on her knees beside Kiki, both of them drenched and breathing hard.
“...You did it,” he said.
“Shut up,” Kiera hissed angrily. “I didn’t think I’d be able to do it again. You are mad! That was a crazy idea!”
“But you did it.”
His sister rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, well... I’m not Cessilia, but Kiki’s still a Water Dragon, so... I figured it was easier to turn it all into water... Well, most of it. We did what we could.”
He walked over and offered a hand to help her up. She sighed but took it, getting up with visible exhaustion.
“How are things down there?”
“Hopefully over,” Kassein hissed.
Kiera nodded, and the two of them jumped back down into the rift, landing from a height that would have shattered a normal human’s knees.
The fighters on both sides were slowly recovering.
Many were shivering, coughing up water, or helping by patting backs, while others were staying down on their knees, looking exhausted.
Some were staring at Kassein with confusion written all over their faces.
They all knew he didn’t have to save a single one of them, but he had nearly broken a shoulder to protect hundreds of them.