Melina, on the other hand still shown red, her powers sapping little by little and she could feel her strength diminishing.
Nonetheless, she carried on, chanting the same spell Kilgharrah had whispered in her mind.
Her body turning pale but this time not from the cold. It was from weakness.
In such a short time, the weather had changed. The night, once cold and unforgiving, now pulsed with life remade by Melina's fiery essence.
The villagers who were once shivering, looking for shelter as the war carried on now felt safe under the warm breeze that touched them.
It was like an oasis in the desert.
"What sorcery is this?" An elderly man asked among the people as they watched their knights conquer the enemies fiercely.
Earlier, they had all been dreading when they saw how Vagary defeated their men. It was a sour sight as they made peace in their hearts, preparing themselves mentally for the hardship that would come when they were conquered and dragged as slaves to Vagary.
However, upon seeing this, they shuddered as though their burden had been lifted by someone they knew nothing about.
"Surely it was a sorcerer. I can feel it." Another man spoke convincingly as he stared at the glow that came from the far end of the forest.
"A dark magic sorcerer." He emphasized and the people with him gasped as it had been a while they knew any priest or magic user who could perform dark magic.
Such magic was ban a long time ago by the first king from centuries back. Since then, it had not been practiced by the people for fear that they might be executed for it.
They only practiced mild magic.
But Lo and behold, at this moment their kingdom had been saved by a dark magic user.
At this time, there were very few remaining soldiers at the enemy's zone.
All through the night, Leon and his army slaughtered mercilessly over ten thousands and now, the day had slowly begun to brighten, indicating that it was very early in the morning.
The crow of a cock awakened the few who had managed to fall asleep later on when Vlamunda took control in the fight.
It had mostly been children who sought shelter from their parents and slept in the middle of the battle.
Meanwhile, the parents had stay awake all night, watching to make sure the battle was still in their favour.
Finally, a spent out Melina whose magic had manifested throughout the night dropped her hand in exhaustion, her glow that had warmed the night ceased and dulled out, returning the forest back to its eerie state.
The entire time, it was like she was in a trance as her energy depleted.
Her body stayed put all through as the fog that helped her people filled the air, suffocating the soldiers and giving Vlamunda an upper hand.
Now, however, she had achieved her goal and slowly, the air cleared as dead bodies, both those that had began to rot and those that were fresh took over the break of dawn. Their odour wafting through the air.
There were cheers and railing as the people from district 2 let out a loud cry of joy at their mysterious salvation, oblivious to their saviour.
'Praised be the gods!' They spoke incoherently as they hailed their king, Leon and his twelve remaining knight.
Matthew and his fellow knights were attended to by the people as they were thoroughly exhausted, their body turned limp immediately the adrenaline died off. The people rushed to their side immediately they fell off their horse, pouring water on their bodies to refreshen them.
Leon on the other hand, though tired still stood his ground as he raised his sword on his war chariot to hear the people cheer loudly, screaming at the top of their voice and hailing the king with the most soothing words.
"All hail the king!" A man shouted and the people chorused, ecstatic about their victory.
They had forgotten about the dead bodies that piled and were subtly oozing.
Meanwhile, Melina's eyes had turned back to normal, her hair that shone brightly dimmed in the morning brightness.
As she slipped away, Kilgharrah's proud voice resonated deep in her head, "Well done, child,"
She praised her and just then, an exhausted Melina dropped to the ground, unconscious.
Her body temperature high from the nonstop amount of heat her dragon power had emanated.
The area she had hidden to perform her magic was deserted, making it difficult for anyone to see her.
The people who were rejoicing, oblivious to the redhead witch who had passed out some meters away from them continued to attend to the knights before them.
They brought fruits and food for them to eat to their satisfaction as well as water to drink.
The women of the village sang with their children and danced endlessly, happy to see another beautiful day without being captured as slaves since they knew what other kingdom villagers suffered when they were captured by another kingdom.
News begun to spread to other districts, claiming they had defeated their enemies who invaded.
They bestowed the king special attention, giving him the best of everything and though Leon took the praise, he knew it had not been him who saved his people.
He also didn't know if it was truly the gods. They have been dormant for years so it was hard to believe they cared enough suddenly to intervene.
Also, such magic he had seen last night was dark and sinister and Leon knew that. The gods did not support dark magic so why would they use it themselves?
It was really hard to believe.
As he basked in his thoughts rubbing his fingers that had turned rugged from the ruthless spearing, someone suddenly tapped on his shoulder and he looked behind to see who it was.
"Matthew," he called his right-hand man and tapped on the space beside him for him to sit.
Matthew understood and sat down there before looking at Leon with a smile.
"Thank you." Leon said out of no where as he held his shoulder, a brotherly gesture he always did that made Matthew feel safe around him.
"I should be thanking you, Your Highness. We would not have been able to do this without you." He told Leon with gratitude evident in his eyes.
Truth was, they all played a role and none of them would have been able to do this without each other.
However, Leon knew someone else had intervened. The only problem was he didn't know who. Matthew was also aware of that but decided to save this discussion for later.
They were all tired and needed to rest. Such could be dealt with later.
Leon gauged his few remaining men and their condition. Despite being taken care of by the villagers, they still looked sick and weak.
Their clothes had torn from the war and their armours now punctured. Some of them were still bleeding and wounded while the others looked fine.
The knights took their time to go through the difference bodies that lay on the ground, looking for their fellow men that were still alive or could be saved.
They took their time, making sure to not leave any breathing person to die and the villagers assisted as well.
Whenever they checked any pulse that was still alive, they rushed to aid them and the villagers used local herbs to treat some of their wounds at least before they reached the royal infirmary to get proper treatment.
Finally, they managed to gather as much soldiers as they could.
Taking a brief moment to mourn the lots that had died in the battle, they took off their armours and placed it in their saddlebags before attaching it to the saddle.
Word reached the palace quick enough and they sent carriages on their way to carry the injured soldiers while those who had died will be carried later.
"Your Highness," the coachmen who had been sent of their way bowed in greeting when they reached, their bodies trembled as they saw the pile of dead bodies from the war, wrinkling their nose and feeling the urge to throw up from disgust. It was an awful sight.
They managed to get the injured soldiers into the carriage and the remaining who couldn't fit into the carriage were put on horseback with some knights.
They all got on their chariots before bidding the villagers well, set to head to the palace.
As they turned around to leave, the villagers kept cheering at them, throwing palm leaves at their horses' feet for them to pass and chorusing praises in their faces.
Swish!
A sharp arrow pierced one of the Knight's in the belly and he fell from his horse with a loud thud.
"Ahh!" Matthew screamed in pain as he fell down, blood gushed from the stab wound uncontrollably, spreading throughout his tunic.
"Matthew!" Leon panicked and dropped from his horse about to rush to his side when suddenly, a strong gush of wind drew Matthew away, startling everyone who was watching.
They gasped in horror and silence filled the people when Matthew was dragged by the strange wind and propelled to the air.
He stood mid-air and struggled to take out the spear that went through his abdomen, his face crunched and twisted as he held the arrow.
Leon looked at a groaning Matthew who gritted his teeth in pain, blood dripping down from his brown tunic.
He attempted to move forward and help him when he saw a sharp dagger materialize from nowhere and pressed to Matthew's throat.
"Move and I'll kill him." A dark feminine voice spoke, sending chills down everyone's spine.
On any normal day, Leon would have ignored this threat, tagging it empty but not now.
The sinister voice was so convincing that Leon halted in his steps immediately, not wanting to test the waters with Matthew's life.
A tall female figure appeared from the nearby forest, her hand raised, indicating she had been the one to put Matthew mid-air.
She rolled her index finger slightly and the dagger pressed closer to Matthew's neck to hear him wince in pain as blood briefly shut out from his neck.
"Matthew!" Leon yelled in concern but didn't try to move from where he stood.
All the other knights dropped down from their horses in alarm, unshielding their swords while the villagers hid behind each other and the carriages stopped abruptly.
The female voice laughed hysterically looking at their reactions while taking slow elegant steps away from where she hid.
Her black boots made subtle noises as she walked majestically towards Leon and his men. The air suddenly turned suffocating and the villagers instinctively moved back, finding her presence overwhelming.
She wore a black, skin-tight trouser with knee-high leather boots along with a fitted leather high-neck armour corset, accentuating her curves.
To crown it, she had a flowing, dark crimson cape, draped dramatically.
Her skin was porcelain, radiant and flawless together with her toned and sculpted physique.
She held Leon's piercing gaze as her full lips curved into a mysterious smile, making Leon narrow his eyes.
Dasha.
"King Regaleon Williams of the all exotic Vlamunda," she called with a smug smile, eyeing around at the ruins that remained of district 2, dead bodies scattered about and beginning to rot.
"What a pleasure to meet you." She said and dropped her hand down nonchalantly, making Matthew fall to the ground unexpectedly and he groaned louder, the spear that had struck him dug deeper into the flesh of his abdomen.
Leon stared at the woman before him in shock and bewilderment, every other thing she had been saying earlier skipped his mind.
"Oh, my bad," she tilted her head and placed her right palm on her chest in gesture, "I forgot to introduce myself," she said and turned to the villagers who kept looking at her in weary, her emerald eyes taking in their nervousness.
"I'm Dashavera Macron but you can call me Dasha," she said and the people couldn't help but whisper. They were surprised she didn't introduce herself with her royal title since they knew she was a princess and that was usually how royalties acted.
Royals were noble-minded and well spoken but this mysteriously pretty lady before them looked nothing like nobility.
That wasn't what got their attention the most though. It was her outfit.
It was strange to see a lady in male clothing.
.
Leon, however was dumbfounded. He stared at Matthew who was still writhing in pain and signalled for his knights to aid him.
The knights, not caring about Dasha's earlier threat as they only answered to their king went ahead to Matthew's side, helping him get up and hurriedly pulling out the spear, using a cloth to cover up the wound to stop the bleeding.
"Who are you?" Leon finally spoke up, confusing everyone with his statement.
Who was she?
That was what he had to say?
There was no way he didn't know who Dasha was. She was standing right in front of him and not only that, she even introduced herself.
But Leon's mind was fixated elsewhere.
It was her hair.
It reminded him of a certain someone and even though at the moment she looked nothing like that one person, he felt it strange to see someone with her hair colour.
It was a unique trait he knew she singly possessed in his kingdom and though, he never thought much of it, seeing an enemy on it peaked his curiousity.
An unfazed Dasha slightly raised her brow at Leon, "Our not so smart king," she mocked him and proceeded to take a stride toward him when his knights blocked her way without question, pointing their swords at her.
Dasha's smile flashed, and one of the knight's sword flew from his hand, hovering in the air before clattering harmlessly to the ground. The knight moved back startled.
"Forgive my manners but I hate being threatened," she deadpanned and put her hands behind her in authority.
As the morning breeze blew, Dasha shook her head slightly, loosening her curly strawberry red hair that was tied in a ponytail and letting it cascade down like waves.