Rustam and the other kids backed up as the man slowly approached them. His heart was beating so fast that he felt like it was going to come out of his chest.

“What do we do?” Rhodaph asked. They didn’t have any weapons to defend themselves with. All they had around were rocks and water.

Rustam looked back at his brothers. He saw Rexus putting on a brave face even though his hands were shaking and Rhodaph was desperately looking for a way out.

“What is that!?” Ignacia shouted.

A large beast slowly walked up next to the man. Even on all fours, the beast towered over him. It reminded Rustam of the gray dragon. It had the same sickly gray color and mysterious black web-like material covering its body. Black liquid oozed out of its eyes. The beast looked like a smaller dragon only without wings and the way it moved reminded him of a lion or tiger. 

“That’s a drake,” he muttered.

All the other kids looked at him with wide eyes. “A drake? I thought they went extinct?” Daelyniel asked.

The man chuckled as he got closer to the light. His long blonde hair was tied back and his beard was neatly trimmed. His light blue eyes stood out against his all-black wardrobe. “Good eye. I can execute all of you myself if you stay still, but if you fight…”

“That thing will eat us,” Rustam finished.

“W-Why are you doing this? Do you know who we are?” Rexus asked.

“I do, Prince Rexus. Or are you Prince Rhodaph? It’s hard to tell. I know the little redhead is Prince Rustam,” the man replied. “And you three are the reason why I’m here.”

“What do you mean?” Rhodaph questioned as he pushed Rustam behind him.

“People want the three of you dead. Plain and simple,” the man revealed. “And there’s a bonus for Princess Galenova too.”

The kids backed up as the man continued walking toward them. Fearing what was to come, Ignacia charged a spell in her hand and threw the ball of light through the opening in the ceiling. She stuck her tongue out at him when he glared at her. “Now, we just have to wait until help arrives.”

The Dwarven man sneered at her. “You’ll be dead before it does, mongrel.” He aimed his sword at the group. “Kill them!”

The drake let out a loud roar and ran at them. Galenova stepped in front of everyone and quickly created a large water whip from the pool. She used it to swipe at the drake before it could get too close and knocked it back. It went flying past the man, and she quickly used it to wrap around his waist and threw him in the pool. “Run!”

All of them started running out of the grotto as she flew ahead. When the drake got up, Galenova used another whip to knock it out of the cave. Rustam and the others made it out but stopped when a large fireball hit the ground right in front of them. He looked back and saw the man looking at them angrily with a fireball in his hand.

“You’re not getting away!”

The drake charged and swiped its claws at Rexus and Rustam. Galenova formed an ice shield in front of them to keep them from getting scratched, but the force of the hit broke the ice and knocked them back. Rustam bit his lip to keep from screaming when he landed on his broken arm. The beast quickly collected itself and ran at them, but a fireball hit its face hard enough to knock it back.

Ignacia stood in front of the princes with Daelyniel. The little girl’s face looked serious, something that Rustam wasn’t accustomed to. The only time he saw that look was whenever she was concentrating on her studies. She had a fireball in her hands and narrowed her green eyes at the assassin and beast. “I won't let you hurt them.”

The man smirked at her. “Think you can best me in magic, little girl? Don’t make me laugh.”

The little blonde girl smirked back at him. “I’m the future court wizard, sir. It’s my duty to protect the royal family.”

Daelyniel held his hand out as a few rocks floated above it. “I won’t stand by and let you kill my cousins.”

Rustam stood up with Galenova’s help. “You two won’t be the only ones.” Before his brothers could say anything, he created a stone dome around them. “That’ll keep them safe for now.”

“Rustam!” Rhodaph shouted through it.

"Let us out!" Rexus screamed as he banged his fists against the stone.

Galenova frowned. “Are you sure you don’t want to be with them?”

The young prince nodded. He didn’t know how he was going to help, but he wasn’t going to stand by and let this man kill them. “I’m sure. You can fly away and get help if you want to.”

The Nymph girl shook her head and smiled at him. “I won’t leave my friends.”

“Let’s take this guy and beast out!” Ignacia exclaimed as the fireball got bigger in her hand.

The man let out a battle cry and charged them with the drake. Galenova flew up and spun around as she formed a water ring around herself. She brought her hands up and the ring moved above them as it turned into ice. Galenova threw it at the assassin. The man barely dodged it and glared at her. Just as he charged another fireball in his hands, a big one came flying at him. It knocked him back as it hit the ground and sent rocks flying everywhere.

He quickly recovered and ran at the girl with his sword. “You’re really pissing me off, mongrel!”

Ignacia yelped as she barely dodged the first slash. When he slashed at her a second time, she tripped. Her eyes widened when she saw him bring the sword down. Galenova quickly created another water rope and used it to grab his wrists. She used all of her strength to pull him back to give her friend enough time to get away. The assassin managed to free one of his hands and shot a fireball at her. Galenova gasped as she quickly changed the water into a shield right before it hit her, but the force was strong enough to send her plummeting to the water below.

“Galenova!” Ignacia screamed as her friend fell. A hard hand wrapped around her throat and she found herself staring into the eyes of the man. "Let me go!"

Rustam and Daelyniel looked over to their friends as they stood behind a stone wall. The drake was continuously attacking them and trying to break through the shield. But all the fear Rustam felt at that moment was for the Nymph princess as she fell. As much as he wanted to help her, he had to stand strong to keep his brothers safe. He and his cousin were struggling to keep their shield up. 

Ignacia kicked at the man as he held her over the cliff. She saw the waves crashing against the large rocks below and knew she wouldn’t survive the fall.

“Looks like you won’t survive before help arrives,” the man told her. “Any last words before the drake and I kill your friends?”

The little girl stopped struggling but held his wrist with both hands. If she was going to die, she wanted to make sure he wouldn't harm her friends. “Sorry…I don’t know levitation magic well enough to make a whole person float.” A strange glow came from her hands.

The man narrowed his eyes at her. “What do you-” He felt a strange tugging at his eyes. When he tried to blink, he found that he couldn’t do so all the way. “What did you do!?” The pain in his eyes got worse, and he let her go to cover them.

Ignacia screamed until the wind got knocked out of her and looked up to see Galenova. 

“I got you,” the older girl said. She saw the man screaming in pain as he covered his eyes. Blood was pouring through his fingers and down his cheeks. A loud roar caught her attention. She saw pieces of the stone shield covering Rustam and Daelyniel breaking off. She brought her friend down to the ground and began forming another ice ring to throw at it.

Rustam and Daelyniel gasped as the drake tackled the last remains of their stone wall and knocked them back against the dome protecting Rexus and Rhodaph. The beast growled and slowly walked to them. Both of them tried to create another wall, but neither had any more energy to do so. They’d spent almost all of it on keeping the last one up. His whole body felt sluggish and he could barely move his good arm or legs. He and Daelyniel looked at each other, seeing the fear in their eyes, but both were ready to give their lives to protect Rexus and Rhodaph.

Just as the beast leaped to attack them, something large flew by and grabbed it. Both boys gasped when they saw what grabbed the drake. Daelyniel’s lilac eyes widened. “Is that…?”

“It’s the Bronze Horror!” Ignacia shouted.

Rustam watched as the drake scratched and bit at the large dragon’s tail in a futile attempt to get free. But the Bronze Horror wasn’t even fazed by it and brought the smaller beast up to its hands. Rustam and the others flinched when Yamanaereus effortlessly twisted its neck and ripped its head off. After letting the body fall into the water, the dragon looked at them for a few seconds before flying off.

Ignacia and Galenova ran to them and checked them for injuries. “Are you okay?” Galenova asked Rustam.

He nodded and winced when she helped him stand. “I’m okay.”

Daelyniel stood up with Ignacia’s help. After making sure he was okay, she made the dome around Rexus and Rhodaph disappear. The older princes quickly stood up and checked their younger brother.

“Rustam! Why would you do that!?” Rexus demanded.

The youngest prince was confused as to why his older brother was so mad. “We had to protect you and Rhodaph.”

Anger flashed in Rexus’ hazel eyes and he gently shook Rustam’s good shoulder. “That’s not what I meant! You-You-!” He was at a loss for words as so many emotions swirled inside him.

Rhodaph put a hand on Rexus’ shoulder. “What Rexus means to say is that he was really worried about you.”

“I wasn’t going to let everyone fight off the assassin and that beast alone.” Now that he mentioned it, Rustam looked around and didn’t see the man anywhere in sight. “Where is he?”

Ignacia looked away nervously and covered her face with her hat. “I…might’ve used levitation magic on him.”

“You made him float away?” Rexus asked.

“Not exactly,” she replied. “Remember when I said it’s hard to make a person float?”

“Yes…” Rhodaph was a little frightened of where this was going.

The little blonde girl kept her head down. “Well…I think his eyes floated…and he fell from the cliff when me and Galenova landed.” She didn't want to see their faces, afraid that they would look at her with disdain.

Daelyniel flicked her hat and smiled when she glared at him. “It’s not your fault, Igy. I’m surprised you didn’t set him on fire.”

“And possibly set myself on fire too? No way!” she shouted.

“Kids!”

All of them looked back and saw their parents and grandparents running to them with some guards. Rexus and Rhodaph ran to their parents while Galenova went to her father. Luvern and Melita reached Daelyniel and checked on him. Ignacia stood next to him and both of them looked to where Yamanaereus flew away to.

"Think we'll see the Bronze Horror again?" she asked.

Rustam shrugged. "I'm not sure." He couldn't help but wonder why the dragon helped them both times and why he appeared now. It's been over a century since the dragons were seen and now, they'd seen a legendary one appear twice in a short amount of time. A part of him wondered if this was an ill omen of sorts, but decided to think about that another day. Right now, he just wanted to go home and be with his family. And prepare for the inevitable lecture about safety.

Need something to read while waiting for the next chapter? Check out these other Tapas AF Tourney novels! Links below! <3