Zyanna.

Her eyes, they flickered, dimmed and then all of a sudden - the calm spark stroking her pupils raged into a blazing fire.

The knife struck right against Rain's leg, and in mere seconds, her small face sunk and fell to the ground.

No.

The petite body of the nine-year-old lied there with cascades of blood starting to stain her legs.

I have to do something.

I immediately started to tug the ropes holding me down, gnashing my teeth as I tried my hardest to free myself.

Zyanna's eyes zeroed in on the dancer's smug form that stood over Rain's unconscious self, and everything that happened next - it could have easily be passed off as a dream of simple trauma.

But a dream might have been a little more gentle with the visual flashes it gave me.

And this wasn't simple, gentle nor was it not relentless - in every way possible.

Zyanna's hands clenched and she raised her fist into the air, impelling it straight at the dancer's nose.

The female violently faltered and nearly lost her balance, head almost lolling to the back.

But she fluidly steadied herself with a trace of surprise in her stance, and nastily wiped the blood under her nose with the back of her palm. She shook her foot out with a revived smile and kicked Rain's body away with a force that was so hard - it startled Zyanna herself; making her exhale shakily.

It was only her and the dancer, face to face, with nothing in the middle.

Zyanna isn't trained enough to take that woman down in a fight. I have to get myself out.

I tugged again, attempting to somehow wrench my body away from the pillar.

I met with failure.

"That was completely unnecessary. Emotions that trigger such stupid actions - I don't encourage it," Blood continued to pour from her nose, and she touched off a drop of it and pointed it at Zyanna. "Mind getting even, bitch?"

Zyanna's gaze sharpened wildly and she began stepping back as the dancer smirked and prowled forward; their footsteps mirroring eachother as one pair of feet moved backword, the other following it.

Predator and prey - but what if both of them were tigers?

Her back hit the pillar and Zyanna locked her hands behind her back, staring right into the dancer's eyes.

The murderer didn't see it, but I did. It happened in a handful of seconds, but I saw it.

Zyanna's hand silently swept to the back of the pillar, her body moving with her arm so swiftly that it could have simply been called fright. Fright that causes the body to cower - the victim reflexively flinching away from the enemy.

This was not fright.

Something seemed to clicked because Zyanna's arms stiffened and out of nowhere but somewhere, a tall sword rode forward as her elbows piercingly clashed against the dancer's chest.

"Agh!" The dancer screeched as she hit the floor.

Zyanna wordlessly walked forward, and softly brought up her foot with such a mighty elegance, that it could have fooled anyone to think she was going to do anything other than what she actually did next.

She placed it down on the dancer's wrist, and pressed hard, forcing her foot against the cry of her bones.

"Don't ever call me that." Zyanna tightly whispered, standing above her.

The dancer pressed her lips together, seemingly slashing back a pained wince. Her voice cracked, and she attempted to move her right arm that was still free.

"Don't call you what? A bitch?" The dancer somehow managed a smirk in the midst of the palpable pain, and enunciated the words, "Only a true bitch would say that."

It shocked me, but she never stood a chance.

Zyanna swiftly threw her sword up, grasped the circular pommel of it and made it lunge forward as it crashed down on the dancer's forehead with an unbreakably erect stance.

"Those eyes - what's their worth?" Zyanna questioned, increasing her foot's pressure on the dancer's wrist while making her sword inch closer and closer down the dancer's face.

"Would you like me to answer that? Truly?" The corrupt female sputtered out with agony, clenching her fist against the floor.

The pair of females - without a touch of a movement - glared at each other, in absolute, striking silence.

Wait.

I scanned the enormous hall as much as I could, but I couldn't find her.

Where is Rain?

That was when I felt something pinching its way around my restrained arms.

I haltingly turned around, straining my head to see what was near the back of my arms tied to the pillar.

"Rain?" I cracked out, stunned by the sight of the little girl squeezing her hands around the rope.

"You'll be fine, your h-highnessy. I'll try my best to free you, it's just, eesh, I'm just awful at untying ropes. I've o-only untied small bags of groceries for my mother, so this might take a teeny minute." She stammered, her eyes hurriedly flickering between the tense scene in front of us and the rope.

She messily dug her nails into my skin, grunting and groaning. "But please don't worry, I can do this! And don't look at me like that, it's kind of scaring me."

I blinked my eyes and shook out my head.

This is not a result of the concussion.

I pulled in a breath, and shifted my gaze to the side to see that Rain's leg was still bleeding.

"Rain!" I gasped, startling her.

"What?" She scowled, just about holding back tears. "I told you, this is going to take a while, I really am trying here!"

I rapidly shook my head, and desperately searched around for some sort of a cloth.

"Rain, please find something to tie around your leg before doing anything else!" I switched my glance to her leg again.There's so much blood going out. "You can do this but do hurry up, before the bad people come back, okay?"

She nodded in response, and instantly latched her hands onto my suit, ripping out a piece of fabric from my black shirt.

My eyes widened, but I quickly gave her an encouraging smile, as she got back to working her way around the ropes after tying the cloth around her leg.

I looked back at the dancer and Zyanna, and though there was so much running through my head, I couldn't catch and reign in a single thought, and somehow carve it into a solution. An idea, at the least, that could get us out of this disaster.

Only thing I did know: we didn't have much time at all.

Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice of whisper behind me.

"Do you know what's better than a damsel in distress? A brother with a constipated face who looks like he's seriously considering what should be written on his gravestone."

Oh, thank absolutely everything that is honourable.

I tried to whip my head around, but miserably failed.

"Do not break your neck, brother. There's too much on my crown already."

From what I could mostly see, my sister sat next to Rain, narrowed looks of focus framing their faces as Lia quickly started to untie the ropes. Using a sharp knife of small size, every arrogant knot bowed down to her fingers with their bitter noises of failure.

Slish, slash. Slish, slash.

My body nearly wobbled down with the sudden feel of release, as a hurricane of hope came crashing down.

I spun around instantly - meeting Rain, Lia, and also Vladimir, all stood up in prepared postures.

My eyes quickly went to the long gash of red marking Lia's face, beginning at the corner of her forehead and snaking down to end at the corner of her lip.

I scowled and balled my fists.

"Waiting for your command, your highness." Vladimir uttered, though his gaze was fixed in Zyanna's direction.

I cracked my neck, not wanting to waste another moment. "Lia, you know what to do - father and mother, three pillars down, get them out now. Rhea and her mother, right after. Vladimir, get the little girl to safety, I want her parents found and informed." Rain's face fell with instant sadness, as she subtly jutted her lower lip out.

Lia rushed down to my parents, while Vladimir picked up Rain in his arms, turning toward the exit.

I hurriedly placed my hand on his shoulder, looking at Rain peeking over it.

"You were amazing today, Rain. You aren't just more prettier than me, but you're so much more brave too. Remember that." I rushed out, patting her cheek.

Once Vladimir exited the doors - holding the girl who had a massive beam on her face with drowsy eyes - the only thing in my head was one female.

I briskly crouched down, whipping out a pair of handcuffs and a sword from one of the many unconscious soldiers' uniform, and ran towards Zyanna and the dancer.

I vigorously kicked the dancer's head up with my knee, and dug my fingers across her neck as I locked her against me.

Zyanna tentatively took her foot away from her wrist and hesitantly stepped back, throwing away the sword in her hand.

Ragged breaths were reincarnated from the dancer's throat, and handcuffs wound itself around her hands, once again - just like the very night she attacked me.

No escape, not this time.

I looked up at Zyanna, and smiled with a tired sigh.

She didn't respond.

The grave silence the dancer held with Zyanna's anxious self apparently stayed as Zyanna didn't stop looking down at her.

"Don't look at her, Zyanna," I tightened my arm around the dancer's neck. "Walk away and stay with Lia."

She slowly nodded, beginning to turn away.

The dancer's legs started to kick and fight against the empty air, repeatedly colliding against the floors. She forced out hard coughs despite being under a prisoned hold, and before her eyes completely closed shut to oblivion - she loudly whispered out one word.

"Bitch."

***
Wow. It's like they come prepared with the last words, lmao.

How are we all? And what are our overall thoughts on this chapter?

Stay blessed,
OceanaCamerons 🌹🌹🌹