Gilbert

"Sakura!" I commanded as I walked away from Eliz who was engaged in a conversation with her father. He had startled me when I had dared an improper move towards his daughter. Yes, I wanted to kiss her; even if I was the Prince and she a pirate – but that was her past now, she was a member of the Borussian military forces. Who could blame me if I wanted to touch her and show her my affection? We would be separated in a war. After those adventurous weeks, I had fallen in love with her. Even if it first shocked me, I was not as disappointed as I thought I would be. She was an extraordinary companion, a fighter, caretaker and not superficial. Dresses, Accessory and ranks did not catch her interest – the evidence: she abducted a prince in order to save her father. To compare her to other females of society was impossible. Without a doubt, her beauty had taken my breath away, but it was her being that had stolen my heart.

My eyes wandered back to her and her father, causing my cheeks to heat again. The appearance of Nikolas had causing my nerves to go crazy. I even called him Sir due to my nervousness; my rank was far above him and I had been more civil to him than to my father.

I focussed back on my task of calling Sakura to go to our position. I shouted her name again only to be faced with an angry Kirkland whose flustered visage was indicating his displeasure. I had surprised them in the same manner as Eliz's father had startled us.

"Your Highness," Sakura exclaimed before pushing an annoyed Kirkland away from her.

"We need to take our positions."

Kirkland was still glaring at me before uttering a reluctant "Understood". While doing so, I quickly kissed the mermaid's forehead. The blonde quickly whispered something in her ears before joining Elizabeta on their way of entering their ships. They were already introduced to the marine officers that would help them in the fight. It was obvious that both parties hold no affections towards another but a cold acquaintanceship with the purpose of winning this war.

"We will stay at the harbour, where we can observe the fights. I can contact everyone for changing tactics and call on the dragon. We have the control over everything that happens on our side," I told Sakura on our way to the building on the port. We would settle on the rooftop, which would give us a good view on the battlefield.

Half an hour passed and as we arrived on the top of the building, I noticed the horizon: It was practically filled with lots of ships; Edelstein's and Captain Roberts' army.

"Oh my," I murmured, turning around to watch Sakura's reaction. She on the other hand had a challenging look in her eyes and I could see some flickers of red in her irises – which I had seen only once, during the battle on the ancient island. The mermaid was already channelling the magic for the war. Good. She wanted be over with this situation as fast as possible: Crushing the enemy within hours.

"Your Highness?"

It was Toris' voice. I turned around for the source of the sound and was rather flabbergasted as no one was behind me until Sakura pointed with her fingers on the patch. "Oh."

I lay my hand on the patch and focussed on the general. "Toris?"

"Yes," he answered, sounding as surprised as I by this extraordinary technic of communication, "We have taken our positions on the east side of the Kingdom and their army has already taken action. We are under attack."

I was not as astonished as I thought I would be. The enemies were quick in their attacks and did not want to waste any minute.

"All right, we will be soon under attack at the ocean," I told him, "take care, General, I trust you."

He quickly replied, "Thank you."

The ships of Edelstein and Roberts were nearing the coast. Once again I put my hand on the magical communication tool and gave my three admirals the order to fire while I asked Sakura to summon the creatures of the ocean – except for the dragon – to help us in the fight. She nodded only to open her eyes which sparkled with magenta. The colour was more intensive as I have ever witnessed. The first canon shots sounded through the area.

I knew that my father was not as convinced by my way of handling the war but I had other methods which he had not: A dragon, magic and a mermaid that was loyal to me. It was a new kind of waging a war, but I was sure that victory was not far away. We could manage it; we had our reasons to fight: new made friends, the urge to protect those we cared about and love. None of us stepped back from this war.

My mother always told me that war could never achieve peace; that bombs and death was not a peaceful way of handling conflicts; She was right. But if we were provoked by others which wanted to destabilise regions and countries for their own greed, we had to defend ourselves. It was not only the royal family and the population of Borussia that was in danger, but the creatures of the ocean were just as concerned. Sakura was hurt because she wanted to protect me: she was an innocent – although seeing her right now with red eyes and the expression of someone who would tear anyone apart, was far from innocence. Elizabeta and her crew were blackmailed and forced to abduct me. All of those that shared the same path as them were now fighting against Edelstein and Roberts'.

The view of the battlefield was accompanied with the sounds of screams, canons and crashes. My eyes focussed on the ship that belonged to Elizabeta; they were still irrespective of any damage – thank God. Apart from aforementioned sounds, new explosions appeared underneath the water surface.

"What?" I breathe. "Don't tell me Edelstein has put mines under water."

When did they manage to do that? My thoughts were immediately filled with Roberts' crew and their nasty methods. One ship was attacked rather brutally – it was Kirkland's ship.

"T-they use canons under water," a new voice interrupted my thoughts. It was Kirkland himself and he did not sound extremely amused. This new information was important and some moments later, new explosions were heard over the place. Smoke disrupted the view of the ship and I was uncertain until I heard Sakura saying something. And her expression was angry.

"They have arrived," Sakura muttered darkly.

And I did not understand her words, "What?"

The question remained unanswered as I noticed them. It was an army of mermaids: some were fighting; others were creating shields around my army's ships.