Princess of the Damned

by Dahlia Lu

  Nala was right about Fai traveling much faster on flat land.

  They cut through the air with the ground gliding beneath them. They hunched low to lower wind resistance, because their combined weight kept shifting to the back. There wasn’t time for a saddle to be made.

  “Aren’t you tired, Fai? You have been running for hours. You can stop if you are tired.”

  “If a mount can’t even handle a few hours of riding, can you still call yourself a mount?”

  Fai let out a low growl.

  “Don’t anger him, he is helping you!” Nala elbowed him. “Besides, Fai wasn’t intended to be a mount. You two will have to ride out into battles together, so you should learn to get along. I don’t want either of you to get hurt.”

  “I prefer horses.” Sayan replied.

  “The beast is more crazed about killing than anything else. He’s nothing more than a wild beast.”

  “You are the one to talk, Sayan!”

  “What about me?”

  She let out a long sigh. “Must I get started about you?”

  “I can stand a few verbal attacks. It won’t kill me.”

  “Ever since you were a child, you’ve lived with a set of principles. You have a weird sense of justice. You put on a façade of calmness, but you actually have a very impulsive personality. You plan ahead, but you still just do whatever jumps into your mind that minute and hope the rest will work itself out. Your patience is as thin as a layer of ice and people haven’t got a clue when you are going to break.”

  “Enough, Nala. That actually hurt a little bit.”

  “You don’t like people to point out your flaws either, huh?”

  “Where should I start with you then? You are a dancer on stage and in real life. You are actually not that great of a dancer, but you are compellingly smarter. You like to dance in the dark and use other elements to draw attention away from your techniques and you enhance the overall beauty of the dance. You are emotionally challenged, although I don’t know where the line is for you. However, to make up for it, you are remarkably sharp at reading people. You have no common sense in certain aspects of your life and you are incredibly stubborn.”

  She frowned. “All I heard from that was ‘you are not that great of a person, but you get by anyway, because you are as slippery as an eel’.”

  He tried to hold back a laugh and failed miserably. He hadn’t been able to laugh in a while. “I don’t recall saying that.”

  “But you meant it.”

  “There, the Black City!” Sayan pointed at the wall formation in the distant cliff. They had arrived at the city just before nightfall. “The red army is still a day away. That will give us some time to prepare the soldiers for the attack.”

  “Sayan…”

  “Yes?”

  “Promise me that you will survive this battle.”

  He shuffled her hair as she used to shuffle his. “Don’t sound so gloomy all of a sudden.”

  Fai ran across the thin bridge and leaped onto the top of the city wall. The soldiers guarding the wall were paralyzed by the sight of the beast. They were both terrified and confused when they saw their prince mounting it. The city streets were almost empty, making it ideal for Fai’s movement. Normally, these streets would have been crowded with people. Tonight was different. These next few nights may be the last peaceful nights this city will ever know.

  Fai reached the palace’s gate. Sayan jumped off the beast and helped Nala down to her feet. She quickly pulled the hood over her head to avoid anyone recognizing her. The guards were frightened by the beast, but they performed their duty and opened the gate for their prince.

  “Where is His Majesty?” Sayan asked when he saw the face of the captain of the palace guard.

  “He is in the meeting room at the moment, your highness.” The Captain replied, although his eyes were glued on the black beast.

  “May I borrow your cloak, captain?” Nala asked while keeping her head low.

  The captain quickly removed his cloak and handed it over to her. She thanked him and then placed the cloak over the beast’s shoulders.

  “It will be more convenient from here on if you change.” Nala said to Fai.

  The soldiers blocked their eyes with their forearms when they saw a bright flash of light. When they dared to open their eyes again, their prince, his companion, and the beast were already gone.

  Nala and Fai stopped in front of the meeting room and allowed Sayan to go in alone. Sayan closed the door behind him and then knelt to his King.

  “Your Majesty, I came as soon as I was summoned.”

  The King pushed his chair back and strode to him. “Sayan! Thanks the gods you’ve came so soon! We got news that that bastard Ce will attack at in two days.”

  “Two days, Your Majesty?” It was sooner than he had anticipated.

  “Did you bring all of the soldiers at the borders back with you?”

  Sayan shook his head. “I came back alone, Your Majesty.”

  The King stared at him with a confused expression on his face. “You came back alone? You came back alone?!”

  The nobles in the room whisper among each other.

  “It will take at least six continuous days on foot from the border to the capital.”

  “You are so insanely stupid!” The King placed a foot on Sayan’s shoulder and pushed him back. “You can’t even do something simple! I need soldiers to protect me! What is one man like you going to do?”

  “General Malin will send twenty thousand soldiers as reinforcement as soon as he can. They should arrive in ten days.”

  “Ten days is too late!” The King shouted. “Send a messenger to Malin and tell him to send at least forty thousand. They will have to walk nonstop to make it here in time.”

  “The soldiers will be too exhausted to fight, Your Majesty!”

  “Silence! Make yourself useful and try to stop the Red Army from reaching my capital.”

  “Your Majesty, it would be wiser to fend them off from behind the city walls. Our city is well fortified and our terrain is our best advantage! Sending outnumbered soldiers face to face against the enemies is suicide!”

  “Who said anything about sending soldiers? They must stay in the city to protect me. I’m ordering you to try and stop them by yourself.”

  “Your Majesty!”

  “I didn’t realize that Prince Sayan of the Great Northern Kingdom was a coward. All you need to do is follow orders! Now, get out of my sight!”

  Sayan bowed his head and exited the meeting room. Anger was apparent on his face, but he did not say a word. Nala and Fai quietly followed Sayan back to his corner of the palace.

  Sayan only rested his eyes for an hour before he was on his feet again. He finally lay down again when Nala asked him to sleep a little more. It saddened her that he had to serve that fool of a king, but it couldn’t be helped. Sayan had always been a loyal man.

  Nala mopped to the floor in front of Fai and stroked his head. His black fur felt soft between her fingers. He looked up at her with sleepiness in his eyes.

  “It is suicidal, but I know I cannot stop him from going. His sense of duty is too strong even though his own king is trying to have him killed. Fai, protect him on the battlefield for me. Don’t let him die by the hands of his enemies. Do whatever it takes. I just need him to come back alive.”

  Fai gently licked her face and then changed into his human form.

  “There is a way to keep him away from the hands of death, master.”

  “How?”

  “You can seal a blood pact with him. He just needs to consume a single drop of your blood and he his lifespan will be equal to yours. All that will cost him is his salvation and a little of free will.”

  “Salvation and free will, what do you mean?”

  “The salvation part, or whatever the humans call it these days, is the denial of access to the three realms – Heaven, Hell, and the Realm of the Dead. He will live off of your energy and once the sourc
e of the energy is cut off, he will begin the dying process.”

  “And his free will? Will he be a different person?”

  “He will change very subtly, but he will not notice the change himself. He will see you and only you. He will live for you and he will die for you. He will be forever bound to you and you alone.”

  “That is brainwashing!”

  “Yes, master.” Fai agreed. He seemed distracted by the front door. “Your kind has every advantage over mankind.”

  “What about you, Fai?” She stared into his golden eyes. “Are you with me because of this pact?”

  “I serve you by my own free will. Your blood has no effect on controlling me, although it is very delicious. If I desire to kill you, it would be no challenging task. I am one of the few who know how to slay a true demon.”

  “I am very curious as to why you want to serve me.”

  “That, Nala, you will have to remember on your own. It saddens me that you have forgotten our past, but I alone can carry the memories for the both of us.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sayan couldn’t wait until dawn to depart for battle. He needed the cover of the night to aid him in his one-man ambush.

  She begged and begged him to take Fai with him. He had to agree, since she looked like she was about to cry. Sayan let out a troublesome sigh when he realized he had fallen for one of woman’s oldest tricks. Nala had never used any womanly tricks on him, so she caught him by surprise. Only after he promised did he remember he had only seen Nala cry once in his life. She would never shed a tear for something like that.

  She even asked to come with him, but he couldn’t afford such a distraction. With her around, he may die even quicker.

  On the other hand, Fai was a lot more obedient than usual. He hadn’t growled or tried to throw him off his back yet. If only he remained this stable during battle. His instincts took over as soon as he smelled the scent of blood in the air. The thicker the atmosphere, the more crazed he became. Whoever in his way must die and it didn’t matter if it were friend or foe.

  But this battle was an exception.

  The Red Army was moving toward the capital in neat rows of eight. From his view, they looked like a great, red serpent slithering from the West. He had faced armies greater in number, but never alone. If he was lucky enough to avoid being impaled, he would eventually die from exhaustion. One man taking on an army was absurdly unheard of.

  The years of experience on his shoulders did not make him confident. He knew his own ability and could have already guessed the outcome. Even with Fai by his side, his chance of survival was minimal.

  It wasn’t his stubborn nature or his sense of loyalty that he accepted this impossible task. He had never pledged loyalty to the new king and if he did, it may have been a motivation. If he had refused to go in the first place, he would have been beheaded for treason. If he came back after failing, he would still be charged with treason. He would rather die on the battlefield than rot in a dungeon cell. That is how all warriors prefer to die.

  In all honesty, he had never expected to go this far in the first place. He was fifteen when he joined the Black Army and all he had expected at the time was to get stronger. He aimed to get promoted to captain, so that when he found her again, it would be his turn to take care of her. He did not expect to rise through the ranks so quickly. Within three years, he was already second-in-command to General Malin. The sword that Nala left him had a lot to do with it. What he had not expected was to gain the attention of the King, who saw potential in him. He adopted him under the oath that he would never attempt to usurp the throne from his son or future descendants. He became a prince overnight.

  When he had reached that position, he could not think like an ordinary man anymore. He could not have a simple dream, like that of herding sheep or raising a family. He was now one of the people who could directly impact the future of his nation. He was now a part of a chess game and he didn’t mind being the pawn. He had the power over life and death. A single one of his decisions could change countless of lives.

  There were many people who believed that the power had gone to his head and that he had a knack for destruction. He would not deny the first accusation on the fact that he could not walk away. As for the second accusation, there wasn’t an ounce of truth in it. If it wasn’t for war, his family would not have abandoned him to die in the forest to reduce the number of mouths to feed. He grew up in the ravages of war and he had seen more than enough of it. Now that he had gone this far, he just had to walk the rest of the way.

  He wanted to be able to go further, but it seemed like his dreams had to end here. If he was given another chance, he wondered if he would have walked down the same path. Would he have chosen to be a normal man and live a normal life?

  “You should try to save yourself and run as soon as I fall, beast.” Sayan said to Fai as he stared down at his enemies from the mountain side.

  Don’t underestimate me, human! If my master wishes for you to stay alive, then I will bring you back to her in one piece.

  “It is my imagination or is that your voice in my head?” Sayan chuckled.

  It is not how I prefer to communicate.

  “You are full of surprises, beast, but you are right about one thing. I am human. You have always looked down at me because I am one. How about we make this a little more interesting, beast? I will not try to control you in this battle. Show me what you are capable of.”

  The beast snickered.

  “We will die if we exhaust too much energy all at once. I suggest ambushing them multiple times and take little breaks in between. That way it would be easier to break down their defenses and structure. We can create a fear tactic to decrease their morale while they wait for the next attack. Come, we start from the back.”

  An ominous wind was blowing in from the West… his home land.

  Ce was looking back at the trail of his army when he felt a bad omen crawling up his guts. The Northern Kingdom was known for their treacherous terrains. They were being surrounded by mountains and shrouded by the darkness of the night. Normally, dark nights such as this would have been an ideal condition to mobilize an army, but this was not the case. Any misstep could mean a shallow grave at the depth of the mountain cliffs.

  Ah, but victory is so close that he could taste it.

  He knew the status of his enemies like the back of his hands. Fifteen thousand soldiers stationed at the Black City would not be able to fend off his army of fifty thousand. It is true that the Black City is impenetrable due to its fortified design, but there are ways of smoking the snake out of its nest. He only needs to siege the city for a month, maybe even less, and watch the Black City crumble in chaos and confusion. Without any incoming supplies, it would not be long until the people fought one another for scraps of food. Sieging a city had been known to cause cannibalism.

  The face of war is quite ugly, but he would have his revenge!

  He would capture the Black City first, and then he would hunt Sayan down like a common criminal. He would make Sayan bleed very slowly and watch the life escape him through each drop of blood. If the man had not stolen away his bride and then ran a dagger into her heart, he would have granted him an honorable death on the battlefield. It was how a warrior preferred to die and a warrior like Sayan rarely appeared in the pages of history. If they were not adversaries, they may have become good friends, but it was too late for that.

  Ce took in a painful breath.

  He was not a cruel man, but his pride would not allow Sayan to have an easy death. When he remembered Nala’s sweet face and then her bloodied body impaled by a dagger, rationality he became his own enemy. She would have been a most beautiful bride. She would have been a most suitable wife. She would have been a perfect lover.

  None of that can be real now. Sayan would get what is coming to him.

  Ce tugged on the reign of his horse to make it turn around when he heard screams in the back of the line. A deafening roar
sent shivers down his spine. He could not see too far ahead. What exactly is going on?

  “Beast! A giant beast!” the soldiers shouted out.

  “A giant beast?”

  “It is devouring everything in its path! Run! Run!”

  “Deserters will be executed!” Ce shouted out and then guided the horse down the line. “If it is a beast, then kill it!”

  More terrified screams disturbed the peace of the night.

  “A demon is riding on its back! A demon!” the soldiers screamed out.

  “There is no such thing!” Ce shouted at his men. By the time he had reached the end of the line, the so-called beast was already gone. Corpses of his soldiers were piled on one another. Their crimson blood formed a little stream down the mountain’s path. Ce inspected their bodies and at a closer look he discovered there were claw and teeth marks as well as limbs and body parts being cut by a sharp weapon.

  More screams came from the middle of the lines. Ce hurried to find the demon and the beast, but he was too late again. There were only body parts that prove that such a rider existed.

  “Calm yourselves!” Ce shouted to the shaking soldiers. Their eyes were frantically searching from one corner of darkness to another for any sign of another attack. Along with the scent of blood, he smelled urine in the air. Ce let out a disgusted groan.

  Screams came from another part of the line. Ce hurried once again and this time, he was able to catch a glimpse of the ambusher. A black canine beast with fierce golden eyes dwarfed the size of his horse. It bared its long and bloodied fangs and trampled on everything in its path. On its back was a man with a heavy blade that he had seen once or twice before.

  Sayan!

  “That is no demon! He’s the Dark Prince of the Northern Kingdom! Kill him! Archers! Where are the Archers?”

  “It’s a demon! It’s a demon!” his soldiers shouted out.

  Ce fitted an arrow into his bow and let it fly at Sayan’s heart. The beast raised his head and snapped the arrow in half with its sharp teeth. “The beast is protecting him!”