"Wait... what is this?"
Emmelyn's eyes bulged when she saw white flakes came down from the sky and the temperature became so low. She knew it was at the end of autumn, but it shouldn't be snowing yet, right? Winter was not until several more weeks.
This looked so suspicious and magical at the same time. Her body no longer felt hot. Instead. she was slowly feeling chill. She wrapped her coat more tightly.
Maxim was surprised too. He raised a hand and opened his palm. One by one, snowflakes came down and touched his skin.
"It's snowing already?" He muttered his question. In the next instant, he answered it himself. "No, this is not natural. This must be magic."
Emmelyn agreed with him. The sudden change of temperature, and even season, made her believe that they were dealing with magic.
Her heart beat faster. What if the Leoraleis were angered because Maxim ordered the burning of this wilderness?
What would they do now?
SCREECH!!
SCREECH!
While they were still processing what was just happening, Emmelyn and Maxim were shocked by the screeching sounds.
They immediately turned their heads toward the direction of the noise and saw three medium sized dragons with white scales, flying from the east.
From afar, the dragons looked like giant snowflakes that came charging at them in high speed.
Only after they got closer, Maxim could see they were actually dragons.
Ice dragons?
There were a man in blue armor riding each dragon and they all carried a long spear for fighting in their right hands. Their movements looked very dangerous and exuding threats.
Maxim quickly took out his bow and arrows from his back. He was a trained archer and he carried them mostly to hunt animals to eat during their trip. He didn't expect that he would need to use them to fight the people from Myreen.
"Stay still, I will move to be in front of you," Maxim said to Emmelyn.
He got up so quickly before Emmelyn could respond to his words and immediately moved to sit in front of her. Since now they were attacked openly, Maxim decided he must make sure Emmelyn was protected behind him.
Before Emmelyn realized what happened, Maxim had now changed position and sat before her.
The man had such a great balance. After he got his bow and arrow ready, he tapped Aslain's back and ordered him to fly toward their attackers.
Emmelyn was so shocked when Maxim suddenly stood up on the dragon's back as Aslain dashed forward, and he fired his arrow.
"Oh my god.... Max! It's so dangerous...!" Emmelyn blurted after she found her voice.
What Maxim did just now was so dangerous. They were flying 200 meters above the ground. If he fell down to the ground from such height, he would definitely die.
After he fired his arrow, Maxim sat back and clamped his thighs on Aslain's back. He tilted his head to see the damage caused by his attack.
The king smirked when he saw one of their attackers fell to the ground and his dragon was flying in a circular movement in the sky, looking confused.
The fire was now gone, as the earth was covered in snow. Emmelyn and Maxim could see the dead man was covered in his own blood as it seeped from below him to the white snow. The arrow hit his neck. So, actually the man was already dead before he reached the ground.
The sight was gruesome and Emmelyn immediately looked away. Her heart palpitated and she almost got a nervous breakdown.
This was not what she expected when they set off to find Myreen. She thought they would be able to meet the Leoraleis and she would have to beg them to lift their curse.
However, apparently, she wasn't even able to enter their place without bloodshed. Now, she was worried that their quest to free her from the curse would end tragically on their part.
Emmelyn had accepted the fact that she was unlucky and probably the only way to stop the curse from affecting her loved ones was for her to end her life. However, she felt bad about involving Maxim. The man had done too much for her.
He was the king who was responsible for millions of his people. His mother depended on him and loved him. If anything bad happened to Maxim in this wretched place just because he wanted to help Emmelyn... she would feel so guilty.
Because his rider was dead, the dragon didn't do anything to Maxim and Emmelyn. He was only floating above the dead man, as if mourning his good friend.
Meanwhile, the other two ice dragons and their riders were busy attacking Renwyck. It was two against one. However, the wizard was very powerful and his dragon was almost twice the size of the ice dragons. So, it was not an unequal battle.
Eris and Renwyck could dodge attack after attack and even charged back when they saw opportunity. Renwyck waved his hand elegantly and muttered his spell. Suddenly, his right hand let out a blazing light and shot at one of the dragons.
ZING!!
It happened so fast and the dragon didn't have time to dodge. Something like lightning hit his back and burned him together with his rider in flame.
With a loud screech, the ice dragon fell down to the ground. His rider tried to jump out but he only fell under the dragon and got crushed by it.
Emmelyn almost passed out at the scene. She pounded on Maxim's back frantically. Now, she really got a nervous breakdown.
"Please stop.... please stop..." she was crying. "No more deaths... We are supposed to come here in peace. Now that we have killed their people... how would they spare me...?"
Maxim's heart ached when he heard her plea. He didn't mean to kill anyone. Those people attacked them first. However, he understood why Emmelyn cried. The battle and deaths were too gruesome to witness.
No matter how tough she was, Emmelyn was still a woman with a gentle heart. She was not like Maxim or Mars who were used to battles and deaths.
"I'm sorry..." Maxim turned to see Emmelyn and held her arm. "No more deaths. I will talk to them."
Emmelyn shook her head. Her body trembled and her voice stammered when she spoke. "Y-you shouldn't involve... yourself... further... It's... too dangerous. Your people need you..... Let ME speak to them, Max."