The Dragon's Flame Queen ✔

Chapter 94 - The Three Assassins

Seraphina huffed as she ran through the dark depth of the forest and the dragon guards followed her from behind. One of the guards was running beside her. It seemed Master Valentine had sent some familiar faces with her. It was Reginald who was leading them. He had no trace of exhaustion on his face while she felt tired already by the time the sun went down.

It took them a few hours to mislead the watchdogs of the general and for that Seraphina's anxiousness grew to a certain extent. Her mind kept repeating the worst thoughts and the way time was running out, the thoughts grew more detailed.

The sky had gone dark a while back and it was almost impossible not to be hit by trunks or tripped from tree roots. Leaves, twigs crushed beneath their feet as they moved forward.

"Shall we take a rest for a while, Princess Seraphina?" Reginald asked as if he sensed the tiredness from Seraphina.

"No." Seraphina replied as it might become a worse decision. What if they did something to Demian? Her heart thundered along with her steps and sweat bids appeared on her forehead. "We can't take a rest now. There's no time."

In the dark she could not see if Reginald nodded at her but he kept quiet as he led them to the enemy hideout.

She asked, "Do you know their hideout?"

"No, Your Highness. But we have a hunch where they could be found."

"How did you find them?"

"After the abduction, we followed their leads but as they mentioned in the note, they wanted the Flame Queen to come alone in the old ruins."

"But they could have set up traps there." Seraphina said between her breaths as her feet stepped on dry twigs of the forest.

"Yes, that is why we wouldn't go there."

Seraphina halted and the men stopped with her. "What?" She crooked her brows in the dark, unable to determine where Reginald was. "What do you mean we aren't going there?"

"Err..." Reginald's voice came from beside her as he said, gaining her attention from another direction, "Your Highness..."

"Then where are we going?" She asked again as she moved her head following Reginald's voice.

"Master Valentine seemed to be determined that they must have taken Prince Demian to the next town after Rockmond. It is quite deserted and the population there is very small. It might be the perfect hiding place for them as our dragon guards barely go there for strolling." Reginald paused and added, "Although, it's still not determined."

Seraphina nodded that it might be possible because telling the enemy their location in a note wouldn't be a wise move a dark guild would make. She had fought with dark guilds before and not a single guild was foolish enough to leave any information of their location. They even kill their own comrade to secure their information.

A lot of missions had told her that large and powerful dark guilds even place some sort of magic curse to keep their members' mouths shut and even if any one would want to tell any kind of information, they would die immediately. It was very unlikely that a small dark guild would capture Demian. Her heart thumped loudly as she felt a tug in her belly.

"Then keep going." Seraphina said as she took a step forward but Reginald stopped her, "Wait!"

Seraphina stopped immediately and her heart thumped loudly against her chest. Was there any enemy? "What!"

"That is not the path, your Highness..."

A thick silence embedded them as Seraphina asked, "But weren't we going in that direction all this while?"

"Yes, but from here we will enter the town in small groups to avoid suspicion. Otherwise they would point us out." Reginald answered as Seraphina nodded and tightened her hood so they wouldn't notice her red hair.

He made a twittering sound as if a night bird chirped in the middle of the night and in an instant the other three guards made the same sounds from their mouths before leaving them. Each one of them took a different route and vanished in the darkness.

Suddenly there were footsteps right before them which made Seraphina on alert. However, Reginald didn't flinch. He stood there and kept his cold eyes on the silhouettes.

The dark individuals came before as the moonlight peeked from the gaps of the leaves and fell on their faces. From tip to toe they were covered in their attires yet the leather belt seemed familiar. As Seraphina looked closely she found one of them had a dragon claw and her heart jumped with joy. They were the three dragon princesses from Hidden Valley of the Dragons.

Seraphina gasped and got near them immediately, "Sakina! Xia and Hena!" She couldn't contain her joy as she wrapped them in her arms and they returned the same postures.

"So, human Princess or shall we call you the Flame Queen?" Sakina asked in a teasing manner as Seraphina chuckled nervously avoiding their eyes.

"Err... Well, I was..." Seraphina could not think what to say next as she scratched the back of her neck.

The three girls chuckled and Hena said, "Don't worry, we already knew the moment you stepped inside the barrier. I can sense powers and Sakina can see through anyone and what their powers are."

"You knew?" Seraphina asked as she was shocked about why they didn't tell anyone or why hadn't they harmed her even though the wizard race was enemy of them.

Sakina nodded and said, "I saw your powers are being blocked by some ancient magic and it is very powerful."

Seraphina's heart sank as she recalled the caster of that spell. "It's a curse." She mumbled.

"No. It's not a curse." Sakina added as Seraphina looked at her with a shocking gaze.

"If it was a curse, it was impossible to break it without any proper materials or rituals but..." Sakina's gaze washed over her as she added, "I can see the magic can barely hold your powers now."

"So, it is not a curse?"

"Well, I can't say for sure but it is not a curse. A powerful magic to numb other magic, I presume but I have never seen anything like this before."

Seraphina nodded but her head tried to recall if there was any magic like this that she had learnt. But as she was a very good student who slept all throughout her lessons, she remembered nothing. She sighed. She could have concentrated on class.

Seraphina looked at the three girls as she asked, "Why are you all here? Has Master Valentine sent all of you?"

Sakina shook her head, "Unfortunately, no. Prince Billard sent a message to our Lord and he said to us to help you since the old sage foreshadowed again."

"Wh-what did he see?" Seraphina asked as a lump appeared in her throat.

"He saw the ragnarok again." Seraphina recalled the prophecy from before and what Zenith had told her. So, was it going to happen today?

"But this time, it was devastating as our Old Sage fell ill immediately." Sakina informed as Seraphina saw them with wide eyes. A shivering wind blew over her as she finally understood the motive of their coming.

"So, you are here to..." Seraphina gulped, "Kill Demian?"

A strong wind came rushing as all the leaves shook with it and moonlight hit Sakina and her companions' faces. There was no evil intention on their faces but their eyes screamed the cold and hard demeanor. They were assassins and they were sent to assassinate Demian.

Both Seraphina and Reginald jumped back and brought out their weapons as Seraphina said, "I would not let you kill Demian while I'm still alive."

Sakina grinned, "Then we would have to wait until you are dead."