AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I want to talk to them,” Zalith says, his face grim.
“Talking won’t help.” I find myself speaking for the first time, and my voice is low and hoarse.
Shrill screams fill the air then, and we turn to look at the movement of the mob up ahead.
Thick, black smoke is rising into the air, colored with orange flames that spit and crackle dangerously.
“They’re going to burn the fucking place down,” Lasta mutters, but when I turn back to them, Zalith still has his eyes on me.
His eyes are hard, and I know he is finding it difficult not to hold me entirely responsible for everything that is happening right now.
Deal with your guilt later. Do what you can now.
“Why won’t talking help?” Zalith snaps the question, his hand going to the hilt of his sword.
“Because they’re Kriseri’s men. The rules of Lodra do not apply to them. Anyway, those aren’t the men I worked with in Yadat. They’re a few rogue men who aren’t following any leader.”
“Well, talking might not help them, but I’m going to make them listen somehow,” Zalith says, his lips pressed into a thin line.
He simply gestures at Lasta, and we all walk towards the mob.
The mob is being contained by some of the Lodrian Royal Guard, but they aren’t doing any good.
The naga who are at the center of the mutiny are violent, powerful, and hungry for blood.
And they know that they have King Kriseri on their side.
“He wanted this,” I say aloud. Lasta doesn’t need any explanation. He has been preparing for this moment for months now.
In fact, we were both preparing for this. For a war.
I just happened to help speed it up.
My heart drops into my stomach then as I remember the bodies of the Lodrian naga that are spread out in the town center.
I helped kill them.
I try to shake the thought away. I try to rationalize and barter with myself.
You tried to stop it. You did your best to stop it. This mob isn’t even your men.
But I know I will always feel guilt for those dead naga. I am still responsible, even if only a little bit.
Because I decided to cross that border all those months ago.
I decided that my desire for revenge was more important than the potential lives of the naga of Lodra. The naga of the kingdom that I had loved all my life.
You became responsible for their deaths the minute you crossed that border. The minute you sold your soul to Kriseri. The minute your ego became more valuable than your values.
And look where you are now. In love with a human woman. In love with the very thing that drove you into Kriseri’s arms in the first place.
We have broken into a run and are merging with the mob before I know it, and I draw my sword, my anger sharp and brittle.
Being right in the middle of the mob is overwhelming. It is loud and bright and painful.
The air is filled with smoke and the roaring sound of the fire almost drowns out the sounds of the screams and shrieks of the naga who are trying to burn Lodra to the ground.
I notice then that some of the naga who are caught up in a mob are actually from Lodra.
