Page 58 of The Wild Prince’s Favorite (The Dragon Empire Saga #3)
Alezya ignored him all the same, just approaching the corpses without fear.
It seemed these had been the first to die, for Kassein’s warriors had already pushed the rest of the attackers back to the edge of their territory.
One had an arrow planted in his neck, and the other had been slain by a sword ripping his body open from shoulder to gut.
Alezya wasn’t one to be scared or horrified by such a sight.
She had seen bodies before, from unlucky watchmen who had been half-eaten by predators overnight or those she had found, long after they had fallen to their death in some forgotten crevice.
When she’d been lucky to catch one, she had also learned to butcher her prey herself.
She didn’t have a constitution that made her repulsed by blood, gruesome sights, or death.
Thus, she had little qualms about inspecting the dead bodies, ignoring the confused glances her actions were gathering. She was following some gut instinct, knowing something was wrong about a clan sending criminals to attack with no hope of return...
That’s when she saw it.
Pulling a sleeve, she found the cross markings on the man’s forearms. Someone had made crosses on that criminal’s forearms and waited for them to heal... or show signs of disease.
Alezya gasped, and then covered her mouth, jumping back. They had sent infected people! She was about to shout when she realized they wouldn’t understand no matter which words she used.
In her despair, she turned back to Lorey and Tievin.
“Lorey!” she called her.
The young woman exchanged a confused glance with Tievin before they both walked over, trying to understand her actions. With trembling hands, Alezya pulled the sleeves of the corpses, showing them similar marks.
That didn’t need much more words, for when Tievin’s eyes fell on the discolored skin and white bumps, his eyes opened wide, and he jerked back, his sleeve covering his mouth. Lorey was slightly braver, as she pulled Alezya away from it with her.
Then, Tievin shouted something over the ruckus, and all eyes turned to them. Alezya hoped they were going to do something about it, and quick. The men were shouting, and a second later, Kassein and Kiera came running over, both covered in blood, their weapons in hand.
They stopped right in front of the trio, and for a second, Kassein’s eyes were filled with anger as he saw her. Alezya thought he was mad at her, but then, his glare went straight to Lorey, and she understood; she wasn’t supposed to be there, to have seen the fight...
“Kassein!” Alezya tried to get his attention away from Lorey and onto the matter at hand.
His dark green eyes went back to her, and she pointed a trembling finger at the corpses. Tievin began speaking, quickly and nervously, most likely explaining the situation.
To Alezya’s shock, Kiera walked fearlessly to the bodies to examine them.
She lifted their wrists, noticing the signs of disease too, and grumbled something to her brother.
Then, Kassein nodded and turned to his men, and began shouting what Alezya unmistakably understood as orders.
All their warriors began to move as one; those who weren’t in the fight stood back, and those who were grabbed the bodies, pulling them all toward the edge of the camp.
That’s when Alezya understood: they were splitting themselves between the potentially infected people and those who had stood far enough from the fight to be safe.
Then, the Dragon Clan’s fighters all began taking off their outer gear and clothing, and throwing them on the pile of dead bodies.
Alezya realized the fight had already ended just moments ago.
Just as she wondered what they were going to do, Kein and Kiki suddenly came flying in, their silhouettes flashing above the battlefield, causing the nearby warriors to move even farther away from the scene.
Both dragons had different objectives though.
Kein landed right before them, turning its back to Lorey and her, and immediately began growling at the pile of corpses.
Kiki, on the other hand, hadn’t stopped and was running toward the mountain with a furious, high-pitched growl that echoed Kein’s.
Then, Kiera walked up to them, and before Alezya could understand, she and Lorey were suddenly grabbed and mounted on the dragon’s back, brutally thrown against a mass of orange, warm scales.
Even worse, and much to her horror, Kein took off.
She’d had no time to prepare herself, but suddenly, the ground was jumping away from her.
She would have screamed in fright if her voice hadn’t been stuck in her throat.
The last sight she caught was Kassein’s eyes, half-anger and half-worry, turned toward them as he got smaller. Then, Kein flapped its wings, turned in another direction, and took them away from the battlefield.
Alezya couldn’t even grasp what was happening; she was flying!
She was flying and was merely held by Kiera’s strong hand, her body inelegantly thrown across the dragon’s back. It didn’t last long, thankfully for her panicked heart. They landed brutally, and she was dragged off the dragon’s back just as helplessly as she’d been thrown over it.
For a second, she genuinely wondered if they were angry and about to kill her off or something, for the last sequences of sudden actions had been so unpredictable and scary. She had known Kiera was strong, but she hadn’t been prepared to be suddenly passed and tossed around like a lifeless doll!
Fortunately, she soon found ground in Lorey, who grabbed her hand.
While Alezya caught her breath and tried to steady her beating heart, she realized the two other women were hurriedly talking, a nervous tone in their voices.
She wondered what was going on and, more importantly, where they were.
She took a look around. It looked like they were in the mountains, but not anywhere she knew, and she hadn’t paid any attention during the trip to have any idea of the direction they had taken.
Moreover, this place was cold, but strangely... steamy? There was white steam all around them.
Not staying any longer after dropping the three of them off, Kein left without warning.
Was it going back to Kassein, Alezya wondered.
Not letting her watch the dragon’s flight, Lorey guided her on a smaller, rocky path that Kein couldn’t have landed on, and Alezya decided to trust her and follow her.
It wasn’t as if she had any other choice, as Kiera was following right behind them, closing the walk.
Thankfully, they arrived at their destination not long after, and Alezya’s jaw dropped.
Hot springs! They were in the midst of a hot springs area.
.. and a large one too. No wonder it felt hot and steamy around there.
She had been in a similar place, a very long time ago, while with her mother’s clan.
Alezya didn’t have any time to reminisce about some happy memories when Lorey turned to her and, without warning, began to help her undress.
After a moment of shock, she finally understood: they wanted her to bathe and get rid of the disease!
She nodded and began undressing herself obediently, taking over Lorey’s hands.
To her surprise, as soon as she showed she’d undress by herself, Lorey did the same, and Kiera was pulling off the lower half of her battle gear without any embarrassment too.
Although she’d been eager to comply, Alezya now felt a bit self-conscious; she hadn’t been in such an intimate environment with other women in a long while. ..
She slowed her movements and averted her gaze, until Lorey was the first one naked and to dip into one of the hot baths, with a relieved smile. Only then did Alezya feel a bit more confident, and followed after in the hot water.
At first, she grimaced a bit upon the sting of the hot water on her injuries, but this soon eased, and she relaxed naturally.
The water was very hot, maybe a couple degrees away from unbearably hot…
and quite pleasant, once she got used to it.
Lorey smiled but quickly insisted on helping her rinse her hair and rub her skin.
Then, Kiera joined in, and all shame gone, the three women got busy rinsing their bodies with hot water.
Alezya tried to take her thoughts away from there to lessen her embarrassment. Was Kassein alright? He had been exposed too, and he had stayed back there... Were they the first ones taken out of the dangerous area because they were women? How would they deal with the bodies?
She was still in shock at everything that had just happened. She knew the other clans always tried to attack the Dragon Clan, but to resort to this?
This was inhuman. To use criminals and disease?
Had the other clans approved of this? Were they even aware that such underhanded methods were being used?
If they were, how could they have let it happen.
..? She had been raised to respect the warriors above everything else, those who were praised for their honor and willingness to die for their clan.
But this was... different, and odious. She wouldn’t stand for it.
She knew that whichever clan had sent those men would have seen her actions too.
If she was recognized as the woman of another clan, they would know there was a traitor who had foiled their plan.
Had she unwittingly stood with the Dragon Clan and triggered a war between two others? Alezya sighed, and while Lorey carefully helped her rinse her long black hair, she closed her eyes before diving her head underwater to try and drown those thoughts.
Things were just getting more and more complicated every minute she spent with the Dragon Clan... every minute she spent with Kassein.