Sometime after the attack on Buckingham Palace...somewhere in the skies of London...
"Argh! Let me go!"
"Hold still human!"
"I said, LET.ME.GO!!"
The angered voice of Evaline rang in the air as she angrily struggled while in the grasp of a dragon.
To sum up how she even got into such a situation; she went to her father's bedroom for safety during the attack in the throne room but then one of the enemies-disguised as a butler of the palace, suddenly transformed into a full-grown dragon right in front of her eyes and subdued the 2 Knights that were escorting her before finally taking her and smashing the wall as it flew away into the skies of London.
The dragon was easily something that was as tall as the palace, with dull bronze-colored scales and its wingspan easily reached more than 20 meters and judging from how long the tail and neck is from Evaline's perspective, the dragon could be estimated to be easily more than 23 meters long.
Of course, any normal young girl would be silenced out of fear and shock before such a daunting beast of legend, but Evaline was far from what anyone would call a normal young girl.
"Let me go you stupid over-grown lizard or else I shall make you!! Do not blame me if you lose a couple of fingers!!"
Instead of being in shock, she was obviously more than just simply irritated. She was downright furious and defiant as she tried to wriggle her way out of the dragon's tight grasp.
"Foolish human! If you continue with this, you will fall to your death! Have you no sense of danger?!", the dragon complained without sparing so much as a turn of its head towards Evaline as it continued to fly.
"6,000 feet in the air is nothing to me you idiotic dragon! I have fallen from somewhere far higher than this so you can bet your scaly rear that I can survive a mere 6,000 feet drop!"
Evaline declared bravely.
Her voice lacking any semblance of bravado, the dragon was taken aback as it flapped its huge wings, "What kind of human are you to be able to survive such a height?! Do you realize how ridiculous you sound right now?", the dragon questioned.
"Oh you can bet your scaly rear that I am not being ridiculous here stupid dragon! Try me! Drop me from this height! Let us see who gets the last laugh!"
Evaline dared the dragon.
However-
"Hmph! I apologize, but such a blatant attempt to mislead me into making an obvious mistake will not work young human."
-the dragon simply scoffed at her.
"Tsk! Smarter than I thought."
Evaline clicked her tongue. Disappointed that her plan did not work.
As she had said, she is currently high-up in the sky in the grasp of a dragon. Because of that, she was able to observe the entirety of London with a bird's eye view;
The entire city-including the vicinity of the palace, lie ruined with very large craters and riddled with flashes of lights Evaline presumes to be from explosions due to magic or explosives, and innumerable pillars of smoke rising up to the skies continuing to turn it gray.
'There is no way Father would hear me even if I scream at the top of my lungs...I hope he and Mother are safe at this moment...'
As soon as she thought of that, a rather familiar feeling of exasperation washed over her and she soon realizes what the cause was,
'Well...I bet Father is causing trouble for Mother again by not staying put and is probably wandering about the city right now causing mayhem and chaos upon the enemy.'
She then remembers that her father was supposed to be watching over the Saint from Lothargien,
'If that is the case, did Father bring the Saint along? That is rather troubling to imagine...I wonder if the Saint can even keep up with Father's pace? Father has the nasty habit of leaving behind anyone who cannot keep up afterall...'
Somehow, despite being in quite a predicament herself, she could not help but worry for the well-being of the Saint whom she presumes to be currently in the care of her belligerent father.
'No use thinking about it now I guess? Afterall-'
"Father is the strongest Knight in the world!"
She declares so in a hushed voice as she rests assured that one way or another, her beloved father would be able to do something about this siege and save her as the dragon flies across the gray sky, headed for a rather large floating structure that loomed ominously high above the sky of London.
*****
Buckingham Palace Throne Room. 2 hours after the appearance of the floating tower...
"Mages, forget repairing the glass panes! Focus on creating and reinforcing stone walls to protect the archers and riflemen! The latter, ATTACK WITH ALL YOU HAVE GOT!!!"
The voice of Guinnevere echoed like a roar in the air as she issued command after command to the many knights and servants in the throne room who were doing their utmost to erect barricades of stones using magic to protect them from the countless magical and metal projectiles that entered the windows. Effectively creating a perimeter around the middle of the throne room.
Just as one of the butlers had reported, a massive hostile force that numbered in the hundreds came from the direction of the River Thames.
Guinnevere worried that her husband may have ended up facing the army but felt relieved when she saw the flash of white light atop the ominous tower.
Having peeked over the barricades from both sides of the throne room, Guinnevere could see that the entire palace was surrounded and that their foes are besieging them from whatever possible entrance they could find;
Redcaps breaking in through the vents, Barghests prowling the ruined corridors, Hobgoblins and Orcs that climbed the outside walls and enter through the windows, and the most recent one, an ogre breaking through the throne room doors and wrecking havoc.
Of course, Guinnevere did not waste any time and quickly dispatched the said beast with a thrust of her lance.
"Hold fast brave warriors of England! Know that I am here to watch your backs!", Guinnevere declared fervently as she pulled out her lance from the ogre's cadaver, "Fight with all you have! Help will surely come soon!"
"UOOOH!!!", everyone roared in assent and were invigorated to do battle once more.
"Sister! I have finished erecting the barrier!", suddenly from within their encirclement, the voice of Amber called out.
Guinnevere looked to her and nodded.
It seems the plan to completely secure the non-combatants inside a helix of magical barriers is a success. Now Guinnevere and the rest of the combatants can focus on simply facing any enemy who dared to come close.
'I wonder how long will this siege last? The Knights of the Silver Wolf is currently the only Knight Order that has successfully joined us here. Or maybe, they were the only ones who did not turn aside from the Knights of the Ashen King? I hope not...'
Guinnevere wondered to herself as she joined in on the defense formation.
It was troubling that she currently has no idea who are her allies and enemies amongst her people and it vexes her that she did not heed the warning of some of her subordinates regarding the troubling actions of the nobles in the past few years and now she is suffering the consequences.
'It is impossible to think that it is only because of their greed that the majority of the nobles decided to revolt. There has to be a deeper reason. A reason that is convincing enough to even have the Lord Knight of the Lion Queen to join hands with the terrorists...'
She continued to ponder to herself as she reconsidered everything that has led to this civil war.
"GUBAAARRRR!!!!"
The sudden cry of a goblin snapped her out of her stupor and immediately, she moved to defend herself.
*Schluck!*
Her golden lance pierced a couple of oncoming goblins, "O Ifrit, bless my lance with your fiery touch and turn my foes to ashes!", she chants a spell and immediately, Rhongominiad was engulfed in an aura of flames that burned the skewered goblins and quickly turned to ash.
*Schwing!*
Guinnevere swings her lance to brush away the ashes, "At this point, I can only think of a few other reasons as to why, but for now, I have to destroy all of these enemies who are attacking us. Kallen, to the front!", she calls over her other sister who then jumps over the formation to go to Guinnevere's side.
"Yes, sister?", she asked.
"I will have you accompany me in the forefront. We will break any enemy formation that approach us from any direction."
"Would that not be a little inefficient?", Kallen wondered.
"Not exactly. With Amber managing the barrier and providing magical support to the others, the two of us can manage. As a member of the Saint's Guard, are you not supposed to be a match for a thousand?"
"I am just a low-ranking Huntress you know? I am no battle-hardened Centurion.", Kallen lamented.
Guinnevere sighed. She understands where her younger sister is coming from and frankly, she does not want to overwork her anymore than necessary. In the first place, as member of the Saint's Guard, Guinnevere holds no power to command even her younger sister but here her sister stood, obediently following her every command.
'I am a failure as an elder sister...'
Guinnevere lamented to herself but right now, she has no choice. For the sake of her family and her people, she has to use everything at her disposal to protect them. Even if that means taking advantage of the fact that her younger sister still respects her as the eldest daughter.
"Forgive me Kallen. But for now, endure."
"Sure, sure. Not like I have any choice do I sister?", Kallen replied with a wry smile.
Guinnevere could not help but return a wry smile at her understanding sister.
"In any case, brother is probably somewhere out there causing untold mayhem in the heart of the enemy base and would probably end this fight sooner or later.", Kallen chuckled.
"Ho? You believe he will emerge victorious and return alive?"
"Oh yes! I do. Does sister seriously think that brother can be killed that easily?"
"Right. The enemy would need more than a single dragon to actually kill him for good."
"Right?"
The sisters chuckled between themselves just as another wave of enemies entered the room.
"It seems our pleasant chat is on hold for now. Good luck to us both, sister."
"Agreed. May the winds of victory favor you, Kallen."
"Un!"
And with that final exchange, the sisters parted with Kallen headed for the other side of the formation.
Guinnevere, left to face the enemies entering through the throne room entrance brandishes Rhongominiad and with a voice that echoed like a lion's roar, "Knights! Ready yourselves! The day of battle has yet to end!
She remains resolute to protect her people from her enemies.