Page 19 of The Diamond Dragon Prince
“We can go with you,” Prince Selle spoke up, standing taller.
“We will not,” Gildur countered him with a frown. “We have a precious egg at home that needs us.”
“Our eggs can do without us for a short time,” Prince Tovey said, appealing to Rufus. “If you’d like, we can stay in the background and only act if we’re needed.”
“Our triumph would be guaranteed if we had three dragons with us,” Leo said, energy and excitement pulsing through our bond.
I rather liked the feelings of Leo’s emotions wrapping themselves around me. He was so full of life and determination. It was like feeling a bracing breeze that encouraged action.
“We have to help our people,” Prince Selle appealed to Gildur one last time. “Our Father would destroy them all if given half a chance.”
Gildur let out a sigh. I knew my brother well enough to know that settled the matter. “Alright,” he said. “But you will stay well back from any danger. Our child needs you.”
Prince Selle practically burst with excitement as he turned to Leo. “What do we need to do?” he asked.
“First, we need to see what we’re up against,” Leo said, then glanced at me. “Can you make a doorway into Berk?”
I nodded. “Easily.”
I sensed Gildur’s disapproval and Rufus’s excitement as I waved a hand and opened a portal off to one side in the parlor. The only one of my kinsmen who was better at creating doorways than me was Emmerich. Fortunately, we didn’t need that level of precision for this particular door.
My door opened into an abandoned street at one end of Berk. As soon as we stepped through, the scent of burning and the cries of wounded animals assailed my ears.
“We’re too late,” Prince Tovey said, clinging to Rufus’s arm.
“We cannot be too late,” Leo said, marching forward, one hand on his belly.
I strode after my omega, ready to jump to his defense if he needed it.
There were no soldiers in the streets like there could have been, though. There weren’t as many people as there had been before the battle either.
“How much time has passed?” Leo asked, glancing to me as we marched side-by-side to Berk’s main street, searching for the people who had become our friends before the attack.
“I can’t tell,” I said, “but at least a day.”
“You’ve returned!”
Our small procession stopped and turned to find the alpha who had been skilled with making barricades coming out way.
“What happened?” Leo asked without hesitation, moving to meet the man in the center of a crossroads. “How did you fare in battle?”
“We held out as long as we could,” the alpha said, his voice laced with defeat and exhaustion. “They broke through our defenses and started burning buildings after a few hours.”
“Do you need help putting the fires out?” Prince Selle asked, stepping forward.
The alpha started to speak, then froze and just stared at him. “Prince Selle?” he asked. “We all thought you were lost. And Prince Tovey. Your Highnesses.”
The alpha moved like he would kneel before the three princes in front of him, but Leo stepped forward and stopped him.
“There will be time for that later,” he said, as strong as any leader. “Right now, we need to know where the army is and what hostages they’ve taken.”
The alpha only looked surprised that Leo knew hostages had been taken for a moment. “It must be ten hours at least since the soldiers swept through the village, taking as many of the vulnerable as they could.”
A woman who had been working near by noticed the conversation and came over to join us. Her dirty face was streaked with tears. “They took my sister and my papa both,” she said, sniffling. “I overheard one of their generals say King Freslik would be pleased to have such comely prisoners and that his noblemen would pay handsomely for them.”
I hadn’t thought my disgust in King Freslik could sink any lower, but the hint that he planned to sell his own people as slaves disgusted me.
“We need to find the camp where they’re being held,” I said, glancing first at my brothers, then at Leo. “This kind of cruelty by a king against his own people cannot be tolerated.”
