"Aren't you big enough to step on a human uprising?" Ruby asked.
"Usually yes, but they've never rung the third bell before. This is bad. I have to go. Stay here with the kids." Cynder said. Ruby followed her as she rushed out the door, grabbing her staff as they stepped outside. Her handmaidens were currently going berserk on a group of dragon hunters that made the mistake of thinking that they were just devout followers of a goddess. One of them quickly nodded to her goddess as she walked by, carrying a bloody sword.
"To the beaches. Get the archers to high ground." She called out.
"No." Cynder commanded. "Fall back to the temple. I'll clear the beaches. Hold the temple."
"But we can fight, my goddess." The woman almost pleaded. "They dared to desecrate our sanctuary. We want to destroy them."
"Look at you." Cynder growled, gesturing at her blood soaked clothes.
"Blood washes out, my lady." Her handmaiden replied.
Cynder seemed to understand that none of them were just willing to hide in the temple. "Alright. Secondary defense. Archers to the walls but that's it. If they push, you fall back." Her handmaidens rushed inside, returning within minutes armored and carrying longbows and quivers. They made their way to their positions and Ruby followed Cynder down to the beach. They crouched down into the bushes and looked out over the leaves where an army of men and women had hit the sand. All of them were dressed in black and red with the symbols of dragon hunters on their chests, which essentially depicted a dead dragon wrapped around a sword. They were placing little boxes all over the beach, burying them in the sand and setting up ballistae. "By the gods, what is this?" Cynder whispered. "This has never happened before. A full on assault, this is madness!"
"Yeah, well, madness is gonna kill us all if we don't do something. Can't you fly down and burn them all?" Ruby asked.
"No, they're masters with ranged weapons. I would be shot down before I was in range. Those boxes on the beach explode and electrocute us if we land."
"Then they would kill themselves. Just use a giant rock."
"It still won't be enough. Let's fall back and alert the others before they can attack. We need to get the others to safety." Cynder started moving back.
"You don't have any traps like the tree one you used on Kagan?"
"Of course, but not on the beach-" Ruby yelped when an arrow caught her in the shoulder. Before she could react she was dragged out onto the beach and she immediately got up fighting, snapping the necks of two guys and stealing their swords.
"Cynder, run!" She roared, stabbing yet another guy and shifting into wolf form. Almost instantly one of the buried boxes exploded, knocking her backwards, leaving her convulsing in the sand. Cynder grabbed her staff and fired a ball of red fire into the air to alert her maidens before taking a deep breath. She couldn't let them get to the temple. Her children were there, her grandchildren were there. She shifted into her dragon form and grabbed Ruby, wincing as spears, arrows and bolts hit her scales. She tossed the werewolf back towards the temple and threw all of her weight onto the beaches. The explosion shook the entire island…
/
Regina knew something was wrong when Cynder didn't return right away. Maleficent sent the children into the cellar with Henry and Tia. Emma and Lily were sent to guard the door after it was closed. When the island shook, she knew they were about to do battle again.
"Regina, fly in from the west side. I'll take the east. Meet on the north beach." Mal commanded.
"Mal, we don't even know how many there are." Regina said, snapping her fingers and conjuring her favorite war outfit along with a couple swords. "And if Cynder couldn't just wipe them out then maybe we need to slow down and figure out a plan." Of course, Mal didn't want to do that. They were all set to go to war when the door flew open and Ruby stumbled inside smelling of burnt flesh and smoke. She was covered in burns and her hair was singed. Cora waved her hands over the wolf, healing her injuries and fixing her hair for her.
"There are dragon hunters on the beach. At least a few hundred, but there were more boats coming in. They're laying traps on the beach, these boxes they bury in the sand and explode if you touch them. They have ballistas and bows and crossbows. If you try to fly in, they're going to shoot you down." Ruby said. "Cynder set off all the boxes. It might've knocked her out or something, we have to go help her."
"We will." Mal promised her. "We'll approach on foot then."
"Mistress!" Diaval came running out of the back room, holding up one of Regina's mirrors. It showed something she had never seen before. A very pissed off looking Belle French who had a stream of blood pouring out of a cut on her forehead. All of them stiffened a bit seeing the two crossbows pointed at her head.
"Belle, what's going on?" Mal asked.
"Aldric surrendered to save us." She said, swallowing hard. "They want all of the dragons to leave the Isles and never come back. They want to cut off the head of the snake."
"And the body will die." Regina said softly.
Belle nodded. "Yes, they will execute all of the leaders they capture at Aldric's palace at dawn tomorrow." One of the men with the crossbows hit her hard in the back of the head, eliciting a dangerous thud. An inhuman growl bubbled out of Ruby's throat as Belle was carried out of the way and the mirror moved to show Aldric chained from head to toe with a collar on his neck and his followers staring down more crossbows and bows. Cynder was suddenly dragged into view as well and placed next to her mentor. One of her handmaidens was dropped at her feet, another crossbow aimed at her head so if Cynder even tried to fight back, she would be shot.
"I will get you out of this." Cynder said to her.
"You should just fight. Kill them all."
"You would die."
"Rather me than all of you." Both of them received strikes to the head with the butts of the crossbows for their exchange.
One of the dragon hunters moved in front of the mirror. "Morvath will soon be the lord of the Isles. The end has come for your kind ruling over us, flaunting all of the wealth you murdered to obtain, killing innocents who got caught in the middle of your wars. The time for humans to rise again has-"
"Admirable goal, but unfortunately you will fail because I am going to kill every single one of you. Tell Morvath that." Maleficent hissed, smashing the mirror.
"They must have spellcasters to be able to get away with Cynder that quickly." said Regina.
"We're not going to wait until dawn for them to murder my mother and our friends."
"Of course we aren't." Regina scoffed. "But we will need a plan. Aldric and Cynder only surrendered because people they cared about were put in danger. We can't make it worse."
"They must've attacked Aldric and us at the same time. If that's true, then they're attacking again. Probably as we speak." Cora surmised. She turned and walked out of the temple. Regina and Mal exchanged looks before following after her with Ruby in tow, leaving the others to guard the temple and make sure the kids were safe. Cora lead the way to the beach that was now empty. She paused before stepping on the sand and used magic to see if there were any traps that needed to be unearthed. The only thing they found were the broken bits from those Cynder had activated. Cora moved down to the water and tapped it a few times.
"Mother, what are you doing?" Regina asked.
"Calling a newfound friend who might know what we're up against."
"A friend?" Mal asked. "Is this friend why you didn't come back to the temple the other night?"
"What?" Regina arched an eyebrow at her mother, who to their surprise was almost bright red. "Are you blushing? Who is this friend of yours?"
A little blue koi fish emerged from the water and swam around Cora's legs. "Get Tanana for me please." The fish quickly hurried off and Regina's jaw dropped. Her mother and Tanana? It never once occurred to her that her mother would even want to date again and even more surprising, it was a woman this time. A woman who happened to be Tia's teacher. Granted, she didn't know Tanana half as well as she probably should've, but that was going to be rectified immediately if this woman was going to be dating her mother. She had been through heartbreak before and she didn't wish that for her mother, especially since she knew that her mother had never truly loved anyone before. Not even Gold. Not her father and certainly not Zelena's father. Besides, she wanted to know the person who Cora Mills was willing to give her heart to.
"Aw, congratulations, Coco." Ruby smirked. "I know this isn't the time, but I'm happy for you."
"Thank you." Cora said softly, swiftly turning her backs to them.
"Mother-"
"We will talk about this later, Regina."
"Talk about what, Gorgeous?" Tanana asked, appearing next to Cora. "Why are you so red, love?" The dragon tilted Cora's head in concern.
"It's nothing, we have a bigger situation." Cora quickly explained the surprise attack and the message they received from Belle.
"I know no man by the name of Morvath. Sounds like something someone made up." Tanana replied after hearing the latest news. "But this is concerning. If they are rounding up the leaders, then they will attack the most powerful of our kind, and that means that this has been in the works for quite some time. Dragon hunters should not be so numerous."
"Well, what are we going to do?" Ruby asked. "They have Cynder and Aldric."
Tanana looked at Cora. "We should check on your other daughter. They may have attacked Kassandra's kingdom and if so-"
"Zelena just gave birth! We have to go!" Cora exclaimed. "Take me there, please."
"We'll go too." Regina added. She didn't like her sister or Mal's sister, but she hoped Zelena had given birth safely. She remembered what it was like when she thought they had lost Magnus and she didn't wish that kind of pain on anyone. They appeared on Kassandra's island a few moments later to find it in disarray. Bodies, both dragon hunter and dragon lay everywhere. It was a warzone. Regina covered her mouth as she followed the others across the field to the gates of the castle. The doors were broken and a large green dragon lay in the entrance, as if trying to block it with its body.
"By the gods." Tanana whispered. "Kassandra didn't go down without a fight."
"With all those heart scales, she should've won." Maleficent muttered, helping the older dragon move the body so they could go inside. More carnage awaited them. Blood spattered once spotless walls. More bodies were found, piles of them, leading them to Zelena's birthing chamber. Every single dragon had given their lives to protect the precious newborns within. Cora rushed inside. The bedroom had been destroyed of course and the only thing inside was Zelena, lying unconscious in front of the fireplace.
"Zelena." Cora moved to her eldest daughter's side and inspected her injuries. She was bloody, but none of the blood seemed to be hers. That is, until Cora rolled her over and revealed the broken crossbow bolts in her chest. Ruby knelt down to help her remove them. Having been on the receiving end of Granny's crossbow many times, she knew exactly what to do. Tanana moved off to inspect the bodies while they woke up Zelena. The witch woke up as soon as she was healed, fireballs forming in her hands in an instant. "Zelena, wait! It's over." Cora said, extinguishing the flames and gently pushing her hands down.
"They took Kassandra?"
"Looks that way, yes. We tried to make it here before they attacked, but we were too late."
Zelena ignored her and scrambled to the fireplace, furiously tearing out the wood and ash. Buried in it, were her eggs, one green, one red and the final one was a dark gold with strange rosette markings on it. She let out a happy gasp after each egg was pulled to safety, but her smile disappeared quickly when she started digging again. "One of them is gone. They took my baby!"
"We'll get them back." Cora assured her, but we need you to take a deep breath and think for a second, okay?" Zelena ignored her suggestion, almost whimpering in pain finding that her child had been taken from her. She did manage to answer some questions though.
"Did you evacuate the rest of your people?" Tanana asked.
"Yeah. We got the children and the elders out in time. Most of the warriors died protecting us. Kassandra was in the thick of the fight…Is she…"
"I don't think she's dead. Not yet anyway."
Regina crouched down next to her sister. "A man named Morvath inspired a human uprising. They're capturing the leaders to be executed at dawn. They want to bring down the dragons by destroying those with the greatest power. Most likely, they're holding your egg hostage to keep Kassandra from fighting back."
"They're incredibly organized." Cora added. "With numbers that apparently are much larger than normal. They came to take Kassandra and they left. Can you recall anyone by that name? Did Kagan's dragon hunters say anything before they were exiled?"
"I don't know any Morvath and I never talked to the dragon hunters. I've been here almost the same amount of time you have and I've spent barely a day with humans. Besides buying things in the marketplace or ordering supplies for the birthing, I never spoke to them either." Zelena sighed. She took a deep breath and got back to her feet to go to the bed and tear off one of the furs to wrap the eggs in.
"I'll send for my people. They'll guard your eggs for you." Tanana suggested. "I would imagine you want to help us take back your stolen egg and Kassandra."
"I do, but…" She looked back at her children.
"Relax, no harm will come to them."
Zelena slowly shook her head. "I'll find a way to protect them. Do you have a plan of attack?"
Regina looked at Ruby. "Do you think you could get the werewolves to help us?"
"Absolutely."
"Good, because we have until dawn to figure out a way to slaughter an entire army."
/
An hour later Regina watched Zelena's people return and the witch helped them clean the place, making a giant pile of dead dragon hunters and burying their dead warriors. The dead enemies were set a blaze and the returning warriors prepared to guard their leader's children.
The sisters were alone for the moment as everything grew quiet. Zelena appeared to be searching for something and Regina was simply waiting for the others to return. She thought she might as well attempt to hold a conversation with the witch.
"What are you looking for?"
"A weapon. The one I'm going to use to dismember Morvath." The redhead turned around when she heard someone call. They both watched the warrior race towards them, holding Kassandra's giant sword. It was cracked, but intact for the most part. "Thank you." Zelena breathed fire over the weapon, repairing it to its perfection. The witch conjured a sheathe and hooked it to her back, sliding the great weapon inside.
Cora appeared next to her daughters. "We're meeting on the beach. Is everything alright?" She looked at Regina, who nodded, and then turned to Zelena.
"Those sons of bitches have my mate and my child in captivity. I am far from alright." Zelena growled.
"Good." Cora said. "We're going to need that anger."
With that done, they gathered on the quiet beach near a bonfire. With the werewolves and Tanana's people, they should have enough soldiers to win a battle. Also, with Cynder's maidens and Diaval, Will and Keith guarding the children, they had Lily, Emma, Tia and Henry to fight now as well. Tanana took a quick trip around the Isles and found that more dragon lords had been kidnapped and their followers were willing to fight as well.
"Well, we have an army, but we can't attack without ensuring the hostages are safe." Mal said, looking around at their little war party.
"They have the palace surrounded." Regina added. "It's still pretty dark so we'll attack from the shadows. Pick them off one by one, don't let any raise the alarm. Then...we'll need a distraction."
"I volunteer." Tanana said, raising her hand.
"Are you sure?" Cora asked. "If they capture you, we're all screwed...if you're as powerful as you say you are."
"I do believe I showed you how powerful I was when you spent the night." Tanana wiggled her eyebrows and smirked, again causing the Heart-ripper to turn red and look away.
"Oh gods." Regina and Zelena groaned in unison.
"All I need is a little water and I can get everyone out safely." Tanana added.
"Good, let's get started." With so many minds working together as one, their plan was completed and sent to the others. Regina and Zelena took the scouting job. Cynder told them of a secret path leading into Aldric's palace and the two sisters quickly made their way to the entrance. It was a long, winding underground tunnel that would get steeper until they were eventually climbing up the side of the mountain upon which the palace sat. It would give them time to see about the perimeter and allow the others time to move in.
The walk through the tunnel was quiet, utterly silent in fact. Regina knew Zelena was trying to ignore her, but once they reached the mountain and began the climb, she couldn't help but fill the silence."So…" Regina said as they climbed. "How's life?"
"Challenging." Zelena replied, pulling herself along the rockface in a frighteningly easy manner. Regina was already winded and her sister was barely out of breath.
"That's a curious adjective."
"Well, unlike you, we've had to fight almost nonstop for our positions as leaders and worthy successors to Kagan. It's been an uphill battle."
"A challenge."
"One eventually overcome. We were finally in a good place and then this bullshit happens." Zelena hissed. "Morvath better be ready to die." The witch pulled herself onto a small ledge and waited, looking down at Regina.
"How is this so easy for you?" Regina panted, drawing upon her magical energy to keep herself moving quickly.
"It's as easy as chopping wood with a cracked rib." Zelena shrugged.
Regina paused, looking up at her. "Cracked rib?"
"Did I not tell you about the abusive adoptive father? No?" Zelena shrugged again.
"I had no idea what happened to you. Just like Mal and Kassandra, I didn't even know you existed."
"But I did." Zelena said. "And it changes nothing."
"It changes everything!" Regina snapped, pulling herself onto the ledge next to her sister with a sigh. She rubbed her aching arms with a soft groan, envisioning soaking in a hot bath. "If I had known what I know now, nothing would've stopped me from finding you." She said, searching Zelena's eyes and hoping she found nothing but truth in her own. "Maybe then I would've never even been seduced by Rumpelstiltskin into casting his curse. Maybe I wouldn't have become the Evil Queen. Mal wouldn't have been so alone if she had Kassandra. The two of them together would've brought the Enchanted Forest to its knees. If we had known, the possibilities of our lives then would be endless." Zelena looked away and she sighed. "I know it must've hurt growing up, but don't think we had perfect lives either. Without her heart, Mother was exactly that, heartless. She couldn't feel, she knew the things she did hurt, she knew I hated it, but it didn't matter. Growing up forced to do stupid etiquette lessons, waste hours in a day talking to airheaded nobles, stuffed into corsets and dresses and sold off like a broodmare, you think that was easy? You think being forced to be someone else, someone who wasn't me, was easy? I had no control over anything, not my life, not my future, our mother killed the man I wanted to marry! And Mal didn't have it good either. She lost her mother at a very young age and was forced to grow up without her. She had to learn how to be a dragon, how to live, how to hunt, and she had to do it alone. Centuries of loneliness could break anyone."
Zelena scoffed. "You grew up in a mansion on your own private estate. I grew up in a shack in the woods with a drunk for a father. I spent almost every day looking for my next meal, wondering if Daddy was going to beat me today. He did. He always did. After all that, I had to support myself. Chopping wood, hunting, sewing, scrounging for every last coin I could. No friends, no family. The only thing I had was magic and if I so much as even thought about using it, I was beaten for that too. It was a vicious, endless cycle of pain. I can't tell you how many bones he broke. And as for Kassandra, how's about growing up with a mother who hardly cared about you. Cleo was so busy trying to worm her way between Kagan and Cynder, she forgot she had a daughter. Being born the child of a blackhearted bastard like Kagan was strike one, being treated like she was dirt was strike two, disowned and kicked out, humiliated and left with nowhere to go was strike three."
Both of them went quiet and Regina looked down, feeling angry about...everything. She hadn't known their pasts were so bad, but just because you grew up in a bad way, it didn't give you the right to do anything you wanted to the rest of the world. "You still didn't have to attack us. Kassandra didn't have to attack Mal. She almost killed my children."
"Didn't know her then." Zelena shrugged. "And as for my attack, believe me it was supposed to be much worse. Kassandra was the one who talked me out of it."
"Why are you so reluctant to face the fact that I'm not what you thought. I'm not the spoiled, prissy, bitch who had everything handed to her. You were wrong about me and you attacked the wrong person. I would be upset too if I were you, but attacking my family was completely unnecessary."
"It made me feel better so I beg to differ."
"Do you want me to hate you?" Regina frowned. "Is that it? You would rather spend your life in hatred than attempt to form some kind of truce, some kind of relationship that doesn't involve us constantly fighting? At this rate, we will never stop. Our children will be fighting our useless war, our grandchildren too. I know that this is your first time being a mother, but one thing you shouldn't do is pass on your hatred to them. We are not our parents, our children are not us."
"I know."
"Then start acting like it!" Regina snapped. "You seem to know but I can't tell."
Zelena suddenly laughed. "You are hardly the person to be judging anyone, don't you think?"
"I don't like you." Regina said simply. "And I'm tired of fighting you."
"You think I'm not? Sure, we can stop fighting. We can pretend we don't even exist to a each other, we can drop this feud where it stands. I want nothing to do with you, Regina. Not anymore because I realized something. I have lived my entire life hating you, envying you and what a life that has been. It ends now. I want to spend the rest of my life forgetting you. Can we do that?" Zelena shrugged and moved to continue the climb. Regina glared at her back and picked herself up to follow, knowing that no matter how often she blew it off, she knew Zelena was actually thinking over her words. Her sister reached the top before she did and was already assessing the situation when Regina pulled herself over the edge. The witch was moving a small rock to reveal a small opening in the wall. She barely waited for her to follow and Regina rolled her eyes as she crawled after her. It would take another few minutes before they arrived at the throne room where the hostages were being held. The tunnel's exit was up in the rafters of the room. They looked down at all the Dragon Hunters and the former merchants and farmers, each one armed to the teeth. The hostages were held in four places. In three corners of the room and the leaders were in the center, all bound and shackled with spiked collars around their necks. Regina let out a sigh seeing Cynder. Her handmaiden remained sitting in front of her mistress. Belle was tied up in front of Godric. She glanced around for Kassandra, finding her separate from the others and laying on the floor. She looked like she had been through a war: bloodied, bruised and bearing the injuries from trying to put up a fight. She was silent, staring at the silver egg laying in front of her, just out of her reach with a man holding a hammer to it. Dragon eggs were meant to be indestructible but she could see the faint glow of an enchantment on the hammer.
Regina scanned the area for Morvath. She didn't really know what he looked like but common sense would tell her that it would be a guy who commanded all of the others, but there was several people who seemed to be doing that. Zelena tapped her shoulder and pointed at the figure hidden behind a piece of painted glass. Out of sight of any visitors and out of range of any invaders, it was the perfect place to hide and protect this great and noble leader. A voice from below drew her attention and Zelena tapped her shoulder, pointing to the two new arrivals. It was Emma's friend, Trace and Cynder's informant, Moro. Both of them stormed into the center of the room.
"Have you all lost your fucking mind!" Moro roared. He looked at the others. "We're Dragon Hunters. What would we hunt without dragons? Who would pay us? You force them to leave, you think they're going to leave their fucking gold?!" He pointed at the wall of glass. "That fool is gonna get every one of us killed. Every leader you kidnapped has a fucking army! Every single soldier is probably a dragon and on their fucking way to save them. How does this make any sense?"
The glass wall moved and out stepped a man that Regina thought was vaguely familiar. Maybe she had seen him around, like at the market or at the Moors. Either way, he was going to die today. He bore the tattoo and armor of a Dragon Hunter, along with a golden belt to distinguish himself from the common rabble. Besides that, he seemed like any other of his kind. Scruffy beard, dark eyes, short, cropped hair and bearing the scars of fighting giant winged beasts for a lifetime. Then again, so did half the other men he commanded. She silently wondered how such an unimpressive looking man managed to inspire a revolt from the majority of the human population in the Dragon Isles.
"Moro, you of all people should be happy about this. We are finally taking what we deserve. The time of dragons is over. The time of humans has come. Aren't you tired of them ruling over us like lords just because they're not like us?" Morvath asked. "We serve them, we worship them, we trade with them, we treat them like gods and they treat us like nothing."
"Not every dragon." Moro replied. "Some dragons are complete assholes, yes, but then they're just like you. Yeah? Dragons Hunters are made for one thing."
"Hunting dragons-"
"No, you dumbass, making gold. That's what the dragons pay us with. They don't want to dirty their claws so we do the work for them, we kill the dragons pestering the humans, as long as they have coin. And who has ever been upset about making coin?" Moro looked around at the others. "Gold, gems, that's why the Dragon Hunters were made. Because a few men decided to make themselves rich. You go through with this, you're all dead. Your families are dead. Your distant relatives are dead. Your descendents 100 years from now bearing the tiniest traces of your blood, are dead. Do you all understand that even if you win this day, they will come back twice as hard, twice as pissed!"
"And we will be prepared!" Morvath roared. "All of their gold was taken from us. We deserve every coin. We deserve to live in those castles, those palaces. They should be ours."
"What about the Dragon Hunters or humans who are mated to dragons?" Trace asked. "What about the children they have?"
"Who would want to be with a dragon?" He frowned, the most disgusted look taking over his face. "Besides, their half breed offspring can easily be disposed of. Bind them."
Moro immediately pulled out a dagger and stabbed the closest man next to him. Trace whipped out a sword and slew two who tried to capture her, but both would fall with a couple crossbow bolts to the knees. "If you will not stand with us, then you will fall with them." Morvath walked over to Kassandra and grabbed her by her neck. She growled and tried to shrug him off, desperate to get to her egg, her child. Morvath wouldn't allow it. He dragged her to the middle of the room and forced her to her knees. He drew his sword and placed the blade at her neck. Zelena fidgeted but Regina put a hand on her arm, warning her not to betray their cover.
"Am I late for the party?" All eyes turned to the entrance of the palace as Tanana walked in, leading half a dozen of her people. All of them carried large jugs and pitchers that Regina knew were filled with water and each was scantily clad in little more than bikinis and speedos, except for Tanana. They bowed deeply and placed the jugs on the ground. Tanana approached Morvath. "Do you know who I am?"
"Am I supposed to?" He asked, stepping around Kassandra. Two more guards immediately took his place.
"Excellent." She smirked. "We are from a tribe that used to serve the water dragons. We heard that there was a revolt and we wanted to join."
"And the pitchers?"
"An offering to the new lord of the Isles. A simple gift of fresh water, the purest in the land." Tanana bowed.
Morvath narrowed his eyes at her and slowly looked her up and down. Regina almost laughed at the powerful goddess playing a demure priestess, and the fact that it was starting to work was even more hilarious. Morvath seemed to like what he saw. "Lord of the Isles. I like that."
"And you should." Tanana assured him. "The man who single handedly brought about the downfall of the dragons. You will be heralded as a god." She smiled. "Would you like us to give your men drinks?" He nodded, watching her intently as she motioned to her followers. They waited for the men to drop their weapons just slightly, making their way around the room...closer to the other hostages... and splashed all of the water onto the hostages. Almost instantly Regina heard the twang of at least 20 bow strings and crossbows, all of their projectiles slamming into Tanana's chest. The woman collapsed to her knees and teleported away, taking all of the hostages who had been touched by the water with her. Zelena unsheathed Kassandra's blade and threw it down, breaking her shackles. The dragoness was on her feet within moments and grabbed her sword, using both hands to cleave her guards in two. Zelena quickly teleported down to grab their egg and get it to safety, using magic to slice off the hands of the man with the hammer before teleporting away. Kassandra quickly picked up said hammer and nearly took his head off with it. Mal lead the charge from the outside and everything after that was a bit of a blur.
Regina leaped down to fight side by side with her daughter against the Dragon Hunters, who were forced to drop their ranged weapons in favor of swords and axes. Mal and Kassandra teamed up for the first time against Morvath, who was a better warrior than she would've guessed. But he was only human...facing two very irate dragons.
Regina followed Tia's lead as her daughter used her quindent with deadly precision, stabbing several men through the gut with it. Regina used a shortsword to slash their necks and kicked them off the quindent so Tia could use it again. Something hard slammed into her back, knocking her to the ground. She rolled onto her back, raising her sword instinctively to block the axe that had been aiming for her head. She kicked the dragon hunter backwards and Tia turned around to try and stab him, but a spear appeared in his neck. She looked behind him, shocked to see Zelena as she wrenched the spear back out and stabbed him again in the back. The witch let him fall with the spear still embedded in his spine and offered her hand to help Regina up. She took the hand and got to her feet. They looked around and Regina noticed Cynder struggling to get the spike collar off her neck. She ran over, dodging swords and axes and used her sword to pry it off. Almost instantly a loud crack splintered the air and half the dragon hunters dropped dead, their necks broken. Regina smirked, watching Cynder snap someone else's neck and Aldric rip a man's arm off. The angry pair made short work of the other dragon hunters and Regina lead the way in releasing any other hostages and dragon leaders that had been captured. Meanwhile, Mal knocked Morvath off his feet with a powerful swing of her staff.
"Filthy lizard scum!" He roared, quickly getting back to his feet. He raised her sword to strike at Kassandra but she deflected it easily and punched him hard in the stomach making him double over in pain. "Your kind should be wiped out."
Kassandra bent down next to him. "Regardless of your reasons, regardless of the truth, this is no longer about humans and dragons. This is about my child that you took from my mate's arms. This is about the crossbow bolts you put in her chest. This is about the lives you took, attacking my kingdom. This is about how you are going to suffer tenfold for your actions today. Your people will suffer for your actions today."
Maleficent moved next to her, a vicious smirk on her lips. "All transgressions are paid in blood. That's what we dragons like to say and I'm sure you're familiar with it. So guess what? Because you put your hands on my mother, I'm going to break every one of your fingers. I'm going to cut off every one of your toes. I'm going to rip out your tongue...gouge out your eyes...slice off your ears...And I will enjoy every moment of it."
A deep laugh came from Morvath and he suddenly lashed out, grabbing Mal's leg and flipping her. He punched Kassandra in her chest, sending her flying. Everyone else took a step back, warily circling him. Morvath stood up a little straighter, cracking his neck as his wounds healed before their eyes. "You really thought it would be that simple?" He chuckled.
Regina sighed. "Oh for fuck's sake…."
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