Zenora, The Dragon's Fury
16. Way Out

We were still getting shot by all the hunters on the roof, and the pets were now attacking Nicolai and my Rangers as well. Some pets were put to sleep, others stopped at my command, but there were too many to control them all. The first few pets that I had put to sleep, awoke already and the ones that were commanded to stop, shook their heads in confusion already thinking about attacking us again.

I slightly roared in frustration, how are we going to end this?

Brock was fighting with his warriors, trying to push the enemy back. He glanced at my direction, noticing that we weren’t doing any better than him. I could tell that he lost two or three of his warriors already, and my Rangers were starting to wear out as well. One of them even got shot in his leg, but still trying to shoot his arrows towards the men on the roof.

Was it a wrong decision of me to engage battle? Was I too proud by thinking that I could handle the pets?

While shooting my arrows, almost depleting my quiver, I heard Nicolai yell.

“ENOUGH!” He used up a lot of his energy to knock back everyone around him, including us, with an extremely strong gush of wind.

“Are you really that foolish to continue to fight us? By now you must know who you are fighting against? If not, let me enlighten you dumbasses! This is your future Queen!” Nicolai screamed at all of the men.

I know that Nicolai used all of his remaining energy to use the ability to knock us down. So, I sincerely hope that his risky action would lead up to a better situation.

“Why should we care? She came here to attack us!” The Mayor yelled from a distance, slowly coming out of his hiding. The coward.

I wanted to reply to him, but Nicolai shushed me before I could speak.

“You actually think that her powers end here? That she can’t compel the animals to attack their owners?”

Nicolai bluffed, he knew that I couldn’t do that, I tried all this time for crying out loud! Fuck! I hope that he will get through to them.

“And what if you kill her? Don’t you think that the King will send his complete army to this city? To eradicate every single person that is connected to this event?”

The Mayor gasped at his remark.

“I could still kill you all, and just ditch her body in the ocean, no one will get to know a single thing!”

The Mayor still tried to look like a strong figure, but his statement made some of the enemy hunters gasp in whispers. They knew that a lot of them would die, if they commenced in battle against us again. They might win in the end, but at what cost?

I looked around me, and saw the young hunter standing, moving slightly forward to the edge of the roof. He was now able to be seen clearly, as the lights from the street’s torches lit up his face.

He looked me straight in the eyes, slightly bending his head forward. But before anyone else could see, he stepped back in the dark again. Did he just bow to me? I tried reading his mind, but just like the Mayor’s mind, his mind was blocked too. I guess that there are plenty of mages fighting for the Mayor’s cause.

“Yes, you could try and kill me. Maybe even succeed. But I will take down a lot of your men with me, before I die. So, let me offer you a deal.” It was my turn to talk now, if I am going to be their Queen, they have to start respecting me as one.

“I’m listening.” The Mayor replied, clearly his political mind was taunted by the idea of getting out of this unharmed.

“Give me all your ‘slaves’, step down from your function and maybe…”

“Hell no! This city is mine!” The Mayor interrupted me.

“Dad! Listen to her!” I turned my head, listening to the young hunter that just spoke up to the Mayor.

“Do you really want to have the King’s army at our doors? Do you really think that no one in the castle knows about her being here?” The young hunter continued. Clearly he was more intelligent than his father will ever be.

“Shut up! You are just a bastard son of mine, not even capable of killing one of her hunters! You are worthless!” The Mayor screamed at his son, while grabbing the bow from one of his hunters, aiming an arrow towards him.

The arrow went flying before I knew it, I followed its track and without a second thought I shot the arrow out of its trajectory with one of my own, magic infused, Arcane Shots.

The Mayor looked at me in confusion, but before he could command the others to attack us again, he received an arrow in his chest, from his own son. He looked at the arrow in confusion, he couldn’t understand what just had happened to him. He was about to die, by his son's doing. Only because he was too proud to give up his position.

I looked up at the young hunter, who was slightly out of his mind, from killing his own father. But when he took a breath or two, he closed his eyes and spoke with true determination. Determination that I couldn’t replace earlier, when he hesitated to attack us.

“This battle ends here. Men, stand down, I have to make a deal with our Queen to be.” He said.

“You can never lead up to your father!” One of the other hunters at his father’s dead body said, and within an instant he got shot in the head by the same young hunter.

“Any more who oppose me, stepping in to take over? Just tell me now.” He calmly said, but no one replied. He then jumped off from the roof and walked over to us.

By now, Brock and his warriors stood next to us, carrying the three dead warriors with them. I put my hand on Brock’s face and asked him if he was alright. He nodded and then we both turned our faces to the young hunter.

“My name is Byron McTussin, and apparently I have just become the Mayor of Groyhull. Please allow me to show you the way to my office.”

He bowed when he had said that, and we followed him back to the office. The place where we have been already this evening, to take away the two female slaves that were living there.

Only Brock, Nicolai and myself entered the office behind the new Mayor. Our warriors and hunters stayed outside, taking care of their wounds.

Byron let out a sigh, a deep breath that he was holding in. His shoulders lowered a few inches and his bulky attitude went away as soon as the door closed behind us.

“Byron.” Nicolai said.

“Uncle Nic.” Byron replied.

Brock and I both dropped our jaws, looking in confusion at both of them. Nicolai wanted to talk, but Byron placed a hand on his uncle’s shoulder.

“Uncle Nic here, didn’t know that I was here, he didn’t even know that the Mayor was my father. So, please don’t punish him for anything. Furthermore, I wanted to apologize to you both, as I couldn’t interrupt this battle earlier. My father was always guarded by his hunters, and until now, I wasn’t able to pull him down from his throne.” Byron spoke.

“Yes, only because you let yourself show to the Princess I knew for certain, it was you.” Nicolai said.

“You only knew that it was him, after he stepped to the edge of the roof? So, all your talking before that, could have killed us all?!” I stated to Nicolai.

“Emily, please don’t be angry with me. I knew he had to be around in this area and I already knew that he was a gifted hunter, so he had to be in the group on the roof too.”

“But you couldn’t have been a one-hundred-percent sure about it! So, why risk our lives for it? Because I knew you used up all of your energy for that wind-surge you did!” I got angrier by the second.

“Oh, and your plan to put the animals against their owners worked out pretty fine?” Nicolai snapped at me.

I didn’t have an argument against that, my plan indeed didn’t work out the way I wanted to, but I didn’t like his tone with me. My eyes started to glow blue again and he knew he stepped out of line. Brock grabbed me by the waist and pulled me back a bit.

“Nicolai, she is still your Princess, so watch your tongue! And Emily love, you know you can’t stay mad at him, after all that he has done for you. So, please relax.” Brock said to us.

When did he became the wise guy? I thought to myself, while looking up at his face with my brows lifted.

I heard Nicolai chuckle at my thoughts, and I had to smile at my remark as well.

“I’m sorry Emily, I won’t step out of line again.” Nicolai said to me and I nodded back. I didn’t have to think about an apology, he already knew that I was sorry for my outburst. I hugged him and then I remembered what we came here to do.