Stolen by the Rebel King
Chapter 252: Draconic III

Chapter 252: Draconic III

"Get down!"

The cry of warning had barely even left the speaker’s lips before a fire blasted through the roof, sending the tiles scattering through the air and raining down on the people below. Men, women, and children cried out, some for the final time.

Atticus looked around, the frown on his face deepening further and further as he examined the surroundings. He had just rushed over, pulled out from the midst of his research with Jonah by a frazzled Sirona. She had brought news of the dragon attack on the nearby town, and worse― Daphne had been sent right into battle alongside the useless group of buffoons.

"I don’t see her!" Jonah said, squinting through the cloud of dust that had risen.

Some of the townsfolk nearby had begun to crawl back onto their feet, clambering away for safety. However, the endless blasts and chaos that the dragon spat out allowed them no time to rest.

"Find her," Atticus instructed. "She is the priority."

"What about the townsfolk?" Sirona asked, her eyebrows furrowed. She glanced at the crowd, wincing when a building in the distance collapsed, engulfed in a billowing haze of debris. "The dragon needs to be taken care of if not it will raze this town to the ground."

"I don’t care," Atticus flatly replied. "The king and queen of Reaweth are sitting idle and safely in their little palace. They are the ones choosing to let their people die. I am simply making sure my queen doesn’t die for the wrong kingdom."

"But you can save them," Sirona forced the words out through gritted teeth. "These are innocent lives."

Atticus’s eyes narrowed. "They will die either way."

"We’ll look for Daphne," Jonah said, swiftly cutting in just as Atticus’s expression turned murderous. No king would enjoy getting bossed around by a mere healer, even if she was an old friend. "Getting rid of the dragon will also guarantee her safety."

At Jonah’s words, Atticus’s lips turned downward even further, evidently heavy with thought. His gold eyes flashed dark, ominous, and carried a distant, troubled gaze as he peered down at the town below. The lines on his forehead were etched deeper, his silence louder than the commotion that rang around them.

Jonah was right and Atticus hated that.

"Fine," he spat out. "But make sure you find her and get her to safety. If I see even a scratch on her, the events of today would be like heaven in comparison."

"Nothing new," Jonah commented, murmuring under his breath. His voice hadn’t been soft enough and Atticus easily caught it, shooting him a glare of warning. Yet, Jonah merely shrugged before he hopped off, Sirona following in tow.

Once they disappeared into the mayhem, Atticus returned his gaze to the skyline of the town. The dragon’s fiery breath painted the sky in hues of crimson and orange as it unleashed torrents of scorching flames upon the town’s beloved landmarks. Market stalls, once bustling with life, now lay in smoldering ruins. The town square had turned into a battleground of chaos and destruction.

The main culprit of it all had scaled one of the buildings, roaring into the sky as it spewed out breaths of fire.

How odd. How very odd.

Dragons were rare enough but it wasn’t completely unheard of. These monstrous creatures could be spotted from miles away and the local security would’ve been able to prepare for it long before the dragon even arrived in town.

But why here? Why now? Why wasn’t the Reawethen royal family informed of this possible hazard?

Reaweth just so happened to be the epicenter of discord, a place where Atticus and Daphne were, along with Jean Nott. Call it a gut feeling for being battle-hardened, but Atticus had an inkling that these two things might be related.

He would bet his ring that Jean Nott had something to do with this seemingly random dragon attack.

"Slimy snake," Atticus muttered under his breath, his obsidian ring glowing. He had wanted to take a nice little vacation with his darling wife and thought that the vilest beast he would have to deal with on this trip would just be that rat-faced half-sister of Daphne’s. "How annoying."

As if the dragon had heard him, the scaly beast locked eyes with Atticus. Fumes erupted from its nostrils, spewing into the skies. Its attacks paused, squinting its slit eyes at the singular man that had his back straight as a rod, staring right back fearlessly.

’This is fine,’ Atticus thought to himself. ’I need a warm-up anyway.’

It had been a while since he had tasted blood on the battlefield.

***

"This way!" Daphne cried out, ushering a group of young children away from the shower of fireballs and into one of the underground passages.

She had run into Silas a little while ago and he had pointed out some of the escape routes in town that would lead outside the city. Trust her younger brother to know these things. Silas was one of the few that frequented Wethstadt the most.

Daphne had followed his instructions and sent the survivors down the marked paths, receiving information from the sodalite Silas had given to her as well. It seemed like he and Luis had more or less kept the fires tamed, other than the random fireballs that the dragon sent raining down every now and then.

Nevertheless, it seemed like the monster had stopped temporarily and Daphne wondered if Leonora and Alistair had finally managed to get its attention. The dragon hadn’t seemed too interested in fighting back against Leonora and Alistair’s pitiful attempts, not discrediting their efforts in trying.

"Luis, there is another batch coming your way," Daphne said, speaking into the glowing crystal.

"Got it. When you’ve gotten everyone, get out of there. That section of town will be a battlefield soon enough," came Luis’s reply.

"Isn’t it already?" Daphne lamented back.

Only, she quickly understood why Luis said what he said.

A huge slab of stone had risen from the ground sharply, wrapped in a thin, shimmery layer of purple. In one fluid motion, it soared through the skies and slammed into the winged creature, causing it to bellow out in pain.

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