Christino turned his head back, his dark brown eyes falling to the tree. As if it was waiting for him to turn, the crack grew longer, and louder, before the tree cracked in entirely in two.
He turned to Stilow, his eyes wide. "That could have killed me bastard." He all but shouted.
Even though his mask still muffled his words, Stilow heard him, and shouted back, "It won't kill you, but it will hurt you enough to wish that you were dead."
Christino blanched for a second, as if surprised by the Stilow's words, "As if that makes it any better!" it almost sounded as if he was crying as he hoisted Yasmine over his shoulder even further, ensuring that he had carried her as carefully as he could.
"Then it would do you well to put her down." Stilow said, as he cocked his gun once more, and the whirring of the gun began as he poured mana into the gun. "Or else I won't miss again."
"Be careful," Thyra shouted to him, "Do not harm the princess."
"You don't need to worry about that," he raised his gun up, "I never miss,"
"Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! We don't want to hurt the princess either." It was still Christino who was shouting, and his words caused Stilow to lower his gun slightly.
"Neither do we." He said, his gun lowering even more, "Who are you?"
"We are…"
"Christino," Doug silenced him, "It is our time to go."
He had contemplated taking the children's father with them, but had deemed it unnecessary, thus he planned to pick up the youngest child before running off.
"Wait!" Thyra stopped them with a shout. She had noticed that the one with a quiver was planning on going to where Elroy lay, "Who do you work for." Her question caused Doug to stop moving.
"We only work for the ruler of Asmina. Without the princess, we serve under the princesses and the prince."
"What do you mean without the princess?" This time, it was Ranky who asked. He had finally walked forward, after resting enough. Leylanie had prevented him to help in the fight, which had caused him to replenish his mana reserves ever so slightly thanks to her. It had been over six centuries since the princess had been lost, and five centuries since the prophecy of the return of the royal descendants. Thus, everyone had thought that the prophecy was about the Queen's descendants, not her actual children.
If what the strangers said was true, then the royal blood was stronger than they might have ever seen before, which was as dangerous as it was amazing.
"We do not plan on harming the prince and princess either." Ranky raised his elbows slightly, trying to show that he was harmless. This was not greatly achieved, seeing as there was a koala in the form of Leylanie strapped to his back. She tilted her head slightly, causing her long pale white hair to swish with her action. Her dark gray eyes stared at the two perpetrators, Doug and Christino.
Then, with eyes as lazy as a drowsy cat's, she turned to look at Vadmira. Her eyes flitted between the three for a couple of minutes.
Although it was not very dark, she could clearly see a line connecting the males with the female. Such a thread was only possible between family members.
It was almost as if she was their mother, or aunt. Still, it seemed that Vadmira herself did not notice the connection between the two of them. Perhaps it was because centuries had passed in their timeline, which caused the dulled connection.
"What they say is true." Leylanie's voice was slow to an extent that it almost sounded seductive. "The children's mother was lost but a couple of weeks ago." She lay her cheek on Ranky's shoulder, breathing in his scent. She had yet to garner control over her Eyes of Truth, which could see into the thread that connected people. This was what her people used to find out the fates of people, but hers usually happened involuntarily seeing as she had yet to master the ability. "Their mother was the lost princess."
It was only after the prophecy had been passed that the lost princess had been dubbed a Queen, just so that her descendants could have a proper title to come back to. Nevertheless, there were a few people who still referred to her as the lost princess. Such was the Banshee people that Leylanie was from.
"Which makes them direct descendants to the throne." Her eyes fell to Elroy. The boy was still passed out, but his hair had turned white from the roots to the tip. Even though he had just gotten a light brush with death, the threads around his heart throbbed with vigor. It was not his time to die yet.
The realization that they were standing in front of direct blood descendants to the lost princess, all of them felt the urge to bow their bodies in respect. That meant that the royal blood had not been diluted too much, which meant that they would be just as strong as the late Queen was rumored to be.
"That isn't what matters now." Alec appeared behind Doug, holding his large sword next to his neck, "What matters is that they let go of the princess." He pressed the blade onto the man's dark skin, just enough to pressure his identical brother.
Yasmine, who was in Christino's grasp, was slowly coming to from the hallucinatory voice that had attracted her, and thus she was confused as to why she was being held in a man's hand. The man was attractive to say the least, but being held like a baby like she was had her confused.
"Um," she spoke softly, her head throbbing with the slight movement of her lips. She felt as if a truck had ran over her head over and over again, leaving nothing but mush. In fact, it felt worse than a hangover did.