Blade(Part 1): Dawn

Chapter 36: Zabaia

Zabaia's eyes opened after he felt someone's hand patting his face. It was Cytheris.

"I thought you were dead, Guardian," she said. She grabbed Zabaia's hand and pulled him to his feet. He must have been out longer than he thought he would be. The sun was right above him, shining through the leaves of the jungle trees. It was midday.

"Where are we?" Zabaia wondered.

"A few dozen miles south of Eleus," Cytheris answered. "How did you end up here?"

"I spent all of my power while I attacked Xerxei," Zabaia answered. "I was weakened, and I used what I had left to warp away. I shouldn't have, though. What happened last night? Did we hold Eleus?" Zabaia began to sense a sadness from Cytheris. The girl hung her head and lowered her eyes.

"No, we didn't," she admitted. "We were outnumbered, and the city was surrounded." Zabaia gave a deep sigh with his breath. Cytheris wasn't lying. Even if Zabaia had managed to kill Xerxei, Eleus still would have fallen. There was something else that Zabaia sensed from Cytheris, though. It wasn't only sadness. It was grief. There were only two people whose loss she would be truly devastated by. Anorae was still alive, though. Zabaia felt Thesean's light go out while he was unconscious, though.

"Cytheris," the Guardian sighed. "I felt Thesean fade." Both Zabaia and Cytheris were silent for a moment. An even greater sadness came from Cytheris, and she remained silent.

"I'm sorry," said Zabaia.

"Thank you," Cytheris mumbled. "It means a lot."

"What about everyone else?" Zabaia wondered. "Atreus, Anorae?"

"The King and his army retreated while my father bought him time to do so," said Cytheris. "But Anorae fell and drifted down this river. I was looking for her when I found you."

"But this river flows to Astros," Zabaia reminded. "Cytheris, if she ends up there before we find her..."

"I know," Cytheris interrupted. Both of them knew what would happen to a sky-scaled draconian Princess in Skaolan territory. She would be brutally executed with the highest prejudice that could be brought upon a person, under some kind of ridiculous treason charge. What else would be done to her was something Zabaia didn't even want to think about, but all of that was if the Skaolans could even manage to capture her.

"So, down the river?" asked Zabaia, as they both began to walk in that direction. "Sounds easy enough."

"Absolutely," Cytheris agreed. There was dense jungle lining both banks of the wide stream, and there were likely deadly monsters lurking in its depths. Zabaia and Cytheris stayed as far away from it as possible, but still to where they could see it and its banks. They followed the water for an hour, still with no sight of Anorae.

"Maybe she woke up and walked off," Zabaia suggested. Suddenly, they both heard the snap of a twig, and they stopped in their tracks. Zabaia formed his scimitar-shaped aura blade in his right hand, and armed lightning in his left, while Cytheris put her shield in front of her and pointed her glass spear forward. They both crept towards the noise as silently as they could, being careful not to make any noise themselves. Suddenly, Zabaia felt something cold against his throat. His heart raced as he looked down, seeing a familiar mithril makhaira with a flame crystal that enchanted it. It was the Blade of Posidas.

"Anorae," Zabaia greeted. The Princess of Acran stood behind a wide tree with her mithril blade at Zabaia's throat. The Guardian put his hand on the sword and gently lowered it from his neck, then Anorae suddenly snatched him up and pressed him against her chest with tears of joy running from her eyes.

"It's so good to know you're alive!" she cried.

"You, too, Anorae," Zabaia groaned. Anorae embraced him tightly, and he began to lose his breath. He warped out of her arms and took a giant breath of air as she threw her arms around Cytheris.

"What happened at Eleus?" asked Anorae, letting go of Cytheris. Zabaia caught his breath before he answered her.

"It fell," Zabaia answered. He sensed dread from Anorae, but he spoke again before she did.

"Your family is alright," Zabaia promised. "But there's Skaolans crawling all over Eleus."

"We should reach the King as fast as we can," Cytheris suggested. "Anorae, where would your father withdraw his army to if Eleus fell?"

"To the east, ideally, because Xerxei's army came from the west," Zabaia added.

"The closest city to the east of Eleus is Phalinia," said Anorae. "But I don't know for sure if that's where he would go. We'll get there by nightfall if we go now."

"Let's go, then," Zabaia suggested. The three of them went east, from the right of the south-flowing river. Zabaia kept his aura blade in his hand, while the draconian girls both kept their shields and blades out. Nothing seemed to stir in the undergrowth of the dense jungles. Nothing that Zabaia could sense, anyway. The entire jungle seemed suspiciously quiet for such a savage wilderness. The Guardian still had doubts that it would be so easy to get to Phalinia, though. The three of them sometimes heard a noise from deep in the brush, which made them jump almost every time, but it was mostly nothing. Zabaia counted how many times Anorae and Cytheris jumped at even the quietest noise. After two hours, it was about a dozen times. Another hour later, the sunlight began to filter through the trees more clearly.

"We must be getting to the edge of the jungles," Zabaia guessed.

"Hopefully," said Cytheris. The three of them began to see smoke rising in the distance.

"Campfire?" asked Anorae.

"Maybe," said Zabaia. They followed the column of smoke to the edge of the jungle. They at least hoped it was a campfire, but they feared it was something worse. It was even worse than they thought. A field before the jungles held a small village. Every one of its buildings was burned to the ground, and its people were gone. They weren't just gone, though. A huge pile of charred bodies with their flesh almost completely burned off was in the center. It was a dreadful sight, even for Anorae and Cytheris.

"Who did this?" Anorae hissed.

"Aze tribes are constantly at war with one another," said Cytheris.

"That's true," Zabaia agreed. "But that isn't their banner." He pointed to a black banner that flew beside the pile of burnt corpses. It was embroidered with the golden eagle and snake of Skaola. Zabaia could sense rage from Anorae and Cytheris. He wasn't surprised, though, because he was angry, too. All of them had fought Skaola's forces in battle, but they had never experienced their true evil. Now, they had. Men, women, and children, alike were slaughtered, and their bodies piled up and burned, like they were nothing. If this was how King Aziz saw the Aze people, then Zabaia could only imagine how he saw the draconians of Acran, or even the colonists.

"Aziz will pay for this," Anorae declared. "Do you hear me? I swear it on my own life."