Page 255 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
“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 DragonKulanimen. 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. TheWailing 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.
