Chapter 139: Chapter 139

“This…” Henry tried to find appropriate words but there were none, he thought the chaos in the capital was something to worry about, especially with the way Eren was acting, the shadows’ lord who was flying near the castle chose to remain silent since they found the shredded bodies, but the moment the report arrived about the holy tower, he knew things were going to be more than just chaotic.

“I…” once again, he wanted to say something, anything to break that unbearable silence that settled on the group of people, humans and demons, he was with but nothing came out, there was nothing there to say, only a hope that his friend would remain rational and not jump to conclusions before they find out the whole truth about the matter, but a single look at Eren’s gloomy expression made his hopes flatter, not that it was a surprising at all considering the scene that greeted their eyes.

They were all children!

Eren stared at the horrifyingly and staggering sight, his face grave and clenched and his eyes blazing with restrained anger, it took him everything in his power to not lose it and lash out at everyone he doubted had a hand in that crime, whether it was intentional or not.

It was beyond his ability to forgive or resonate, the way those demon children, the eldest of them not even fifteen, were not only killed but decapitated, and while their shredded bodies were left in the Taghit capital of all places, their heads were all brought to where the holy tower used to be, and with the help of spikes, were lined to form the symbol of a circle with the head of the youngest demon in the middle, a boy who was only four years old.

Eren’s first thought was that the humans did it, after their alliance, and after using his people’s strength, they betrayed them and declared war on them by killing their children, but a certain scarred face appeared in his head and just like always, casted her light on his troubled mind, and gave him the necessary calamity to reason out the dreadful situation they had in hand.

Even if they were children, the demons were still stronger than humans, except the youngest ones, let alone the fact that the demons were not solely from his empire, there were some ice demons and fire demons as well, all the bodies were fresh, which meant that they were recently killed, to travel to the demon empires, kidnap their children and then kill them in such a horrible way, it couldn’t be the work of mere humans unless there were thousands of them, a gathering as such wasn’t to be missed by his eyes, which only left him with one option.

Gods, and the symbol was but another confirmation.

The question, however, was which one?

“You what?” Eren heard Andrea hiss behind him, her voice angry and menacing, not that he blamed her, a demon’s life was a precious one as their reproduction wasn’t as easy as the humans, and due to their instinctive natures, demons cared for their children, all of them, to lose so many of their young ones in such a horrifying way, and then have their heads on spikes to form a bloody divine symbol to mock them was more than anyone could endure.

“Watch your mouth, woman!” one of Henry’s guards took a step back, enraged by the disrespectful and accusing way the demoness was addressing his king, Henry however only spared the demoness a glance before looking back at his friend, Eren was obviously angry, but the frown between his dark eyebrows made him think that he was thinking, a sign good enough considering their situation and the way the other demons were behaving.

“You know I had nothing to do with this, right?” hearing Henry’s skeptical question, Eren sighed tiredly before nodding, he didn’t doubt his friend, but it was never about Henry himself, it was about his kind, his people, the people he was barely containing if it wasn’t for his and Sara’s help.

As a lover, he understood Sara’s motives and her desire to give the people power, but as a ruler, he understood what giving too much power meant, and one of it consequences was having the people act on their own despite the king’s orders and command, it was why he always ruled with a iron grip, preventing anyone from going against him, and if that happened, it was punished by death, the question was, was Henry ready to execute his own people to give the demon children the justice they deserved? and were his people ready to accept his verdict if he did so?

Not that it mattered! Eren thought as he looked back at the young demon boy in the center of the circle.

“My Lord, Human scent is filling the air!” Andrea’s words were pressed, low, but obviously angry, she loved her lord and trusted him, but the way he was taking the human’s side on everything and trusting them blindly was harming his people, as a shadow demoness, she felt betrayed by him, and she feared that before the day when the humans would betray them again, the shadows’ empire would betray its lord who was betraying it right then.

“It is not the humans, Andrea, don’t let yourself be fooled!”

“But…”

“Enough!”  Eren gave Andrea a sharp glare as he continued with a serious tone, “Track down the humans’ scent and capture them, alive that is, so I can give them a death that is a thousand times worst than the one they gave our children!” Eren didn’t need to look back to see that Henry didn’t like the order but he didn’t care, if anything, then his friend should be the one to help hunt down the bastards who did this to the demon children, nevertheless, he focused on Andrea whose eyes were gleaming with satisfied malice and bloodthirst as she nodded respectfully and approvingly before leaving the scene.

“You don’t approve?” Eren finally turned to look at Henry whose face was indecipherable, and while the human soldiers and the shadow demons awkwardly worked together to gather the heads of the demon children, the king and the lord stared at each other, one with a reserved expression while the other’s was daring and defiant.

“As long as you don’t mistakenly kill any innocents!” Henry answered calmly, a little part of him understanding his friend’s reaction but at the same time, demons killed and fed on thousands of human children before, there were still even some reports about demon attacks here and there, with that at hand, Henry couldn’t help but find Eren’s reaction to be hypocritical.

“You don’t know whether they are the ones who did it or not!” Henry tried to reason with his friend, but the shadows’ lord chose silence, he was weighting Henry’s words, which made sense if he thought about it, the humans’ scent only indicated that the humans were there, and not that they were the ones who killed the demon children, nevertheless, there was a possibility that they witnessed what happened, and that was enough reason to go after them.

“One way to find out!” Henry sighed as he watched his friend turning away, his people following behind him but not before sparing his soldiers a few hisses and glares.

“What do we do now, Your Grace?” a guard walked to Henry, his voice obviously worried as it should be, no one wanted the enmity to return between the humans and the demons, for the night creatures were equally bad as enemies as they were good as allies.

“What needs to be done, secure our towns, especially the ones on borders with the demon empires, call out the entire army if necessary, and prepare for the worst.”

......

“This is just awful!” Nara said while placing her hands on her mouth, her eyes gleaming with unshed tears as she roamed the capital’s streets with a few guards and her knightess, only to end up in one of the main streets of the capital, one which no longer looked as it did before with blood covering the walls, the windows, the marble, with flesh chunks thrown here and there, the limbs they saw obviously belonged to youngsters, humans or demons, they were all too young to die, and not in a kind way, but by being butchered so horribly, the thought of their pain, their fear, and their helplessness.

Hearing the pain and sorrow in her sister’s voice, Sara couldn’t help but step closer to her and wrap a protective arm around her shoulder, it was strange, an hour ago she was so angry with the princess but right then she was comforting her like she never did before, maybe because seeing her in such a state reminded her of the pure soul her sister was, when she wasn’t acting like an insufferable spoiled baby that is.

“Who do you think did this?” Nara sniffed and nuzzled closer in her knightess’ embrace, feeling the excessive warmth her body radiated, one which would have made her suspicious in any other time but not right then as she needed the comfort, the streets were cold with the stench of blood and death lingering in the air, not a sign of another soul was to be seen as everyone was ordered to enter their homes and stay inside until the capital was declared safe.

“The symbol is that of the Gods, so I strongly believe that it was the remnants of the holy tower’s priests, Nicholas included!” Sara answered calmly and truthfully, therefore, she wasn’t surprised when Nara pulled away abruptly, her face a mixture of worry and disapproval.

“Careful with the things you say, Dahlia, don’t just throw baseless accusations that you can’t back up!” Sara resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her sister, it was something she noticed about herself since Eren’s return to her life, she was more…feely, she wasn’t as cold headed and stone hearted as before, she wasn’t that indifferent and patient anymore, if anything, she was more irritable, more vulnerable, but also more alive.

“Look closely, Princess!” Nara almost winced at the sharp way her knightess addressed her, her face bare of the ice and softness it used to carry when looking at her, instead, her eyes were sharp and penetrating, so vivid and threatening, making the frail princess want to run back to her room and hide from the one who was always there to protect her, “This that you see, is enough to break the alliance between the humans and demons, it is enough reason for the demons to start a war against us!”

“That can’t be, Rima and lord Eren will not betray us!” Nara half cried half whispered defensively, making Sara even more irritated, especially with the way she spoke Eren’s names, as if she was tasting it, tasting him.

“Rima’s rein is hanging by a thin thread, her people lost faith in her long ago, and with the pregnancy, she is uncapable of holding her demons back, Eren on the other hand, he never liked humans to begin with, but this is not about either of them, it is about the demons who never tolerated the alliance, about the families of these children who’d surely want vengeance regardless of their lord and lady’s stance about the matter, blood would surely be shed, and then the humans would want to strike back, and so on with a new circle of vengeance and enmity, so let us hope it is the remaining priests, for they are our common enemy, if they are the ones to blame than we can both reunite to get them, the alliance will be saved, even though I am certain that it is already weakened.”

Nara couldn’t argue with her advisor but not just because her words made complete sense, it was the aggressiveness her voice carried, and the way she spoke about the shadows’ lord…

“You sound like you know a greet deal about him, and you called him with his first name too!”

“I also called Rima by her name, but you only seem focused on the shadows lord’s matters, as for the things I know about him, it is common knowledge, you should ask more about him if you are still willing to strengthen the alliance!” Sara answered more calmly this time, noticing how her sister was frowning in confusion.

What was she faking ignorance for? Sara wondered, it was almost believable with the way she was frowning and looking lost, but the conversation they had was still vivid in Sara’s mind.

“Your highness, Miss Dahlia!” turning away from the beautiful lie which was her sister’s face, Sara looked at the guard whom she sent to gather as much clues as he could, which he did without hesitation, “I did as you said, I asked around to see if anyone saw what happened, but no one did!”

“That is obviously a lie!” Sara murmured to herself, knowing that it was unlikely for the humans whose houses were sprayed with the demons’ blood, and streets filled with their shredded flesh not to notice that something happened, there should at least be a single witness who saw what happened, and the citizens faking ignorance was as alarming as the massacre itself as it only meant that they were deliberately covering for the real criminals which was as bad as helping them kill the demon children.

“That is not all, Miss Dahlia, I…I over heard some people talking!” the guard’s voice dropped as he said the last words, not sure if it was okay to spill them or not, especially in front of the princess, but seeing the nod the black-haired girl gave him, he took a deep breath before resuming his talk, “They are not feeling the slightest compassion towards the dead children, if anything, I heard them blessing these actions, saying it is what needed to be done!”

Sara didn’t know how to reply to that, she knew that humans could be monsters, but the people she knew and cared for were different, she felt it in them, she touched their ability to love and care, it was evident in their eyes the day they all gathered to great her, but what she ignored all this time was their ability and readiness to hate what was different, to exclude those who were not the same and even celebrate their death, not caring I the dead were children.

She didn’t want to believe it at first, the people she loved and cared for were not that, they were not that despicable and hateful, but focusing on the auras of the people around her, she noticed it, the grain of evil that grew many roots to it, fed by hate and intolerance, and it was as scary as the sight of the dead children.

“Glad to hear that this is what they think, now we don’t have any reason to show you any mercy!” Sara turned around to meet the blazing eyes of the shadow demoness, the demoness was mad, Sara thought as she looked at the terrifying anger and threat in her eyes, and instinctively stepped in front of her sister, cursing herself in the process for not noticing the demons’ presence before, what was wrong with her? was it the lack of rest?

“What are you doing?” Nara asked with an exasperated tone as she noticed the other demons who came with Andrea knock down and drag a few of the citizens out of their houses.

“You will know soon enough, now, be a nice little bitch and come with us, our lord wants you!” the demoness addressed Nara, making Sara frown in confusion, the demoness was radiating with malice but she didn’t look as if she was lying, but then, why would Eren ask for her sister and not her?

“Why would he ask for her? and why are you attacking the citizens?” Andrea looked at the source of the sharp words and sharper glares, the black flame as many liked to call her, standing defensively in front of the human princess.

This should be fun! Andrea thought as she prepared herself for any attacks, she wasn’t as stupid or blind as the others to believe that the girl in front of her eyes was ordinary, she had her doubts and there was one way to confirm them.

“Our lord sent us back with an order, to track down the scents of the humans that were found in the holy tower, the one who killed our children, he told us to bring him the humans so he can kill them himself, in the most painful way, and the princess’ scent was among them!”