The Rose That Blooms In North
Chapter 6: Fleuve de Vie

The sound of lightning sounded so loud that it felt able to split the sky. Anna and Bernard are on their way back after retrieving explosives from Duke Francis's home. They were in the middle of the forest, just a few minutes away before reaching the Village Chief's house. Anna stopped and got off her horse. Bernard, who was not far from him, did the same.

"Miss, what's wrong?" Ask Bernard.

But Anna did not answer. He walked away from Bernard to an oak tree not far from where he left the horse. Anna knelt down, closed her eyes and closed her ears. Trying to block the memory of that night. He had trouble breathing and his chest felt tight. When he opened his eyes again, his eyes blurred. The world became as red as blood and as dark as night. While the air became so cold it gripped him that it made him shiver.

The rain started to fall and even louder sounds of lightning rang out, making Anna scream hysterically. The shadow of the night was clearly visible before his eyes. As the rain fell and lightning roared over the sky, Anna returned to tragedy that night.

He returned to the Palace filled with corpses, with blood flooding the floor. She again heard the sound of Queen Isabella's cries and roars from her room. He heard the footsteps of the people, the Nordhalbinsel warriors who quickly finished off the people in the surviving Palace. He could see some of the rooms in the Palace burning, and the flames started running down the hallway he was standing in. Anna tried to run away from the fire, but her legs felt hard to move so she fell down. He could not go anywhere and felt very helpless.

"No! No!" Anna continued to scream and cry, beating the torrent of rain that washed over her.

Bernard who was panicking and did not understand what was going on to Anna, tried to calm her down, "Your Majesty, What happened? Your Majesty, please calm yourself."

Bernard tried to touch the frightened looking Anna, but Anna immediately shook her hand. “Don't touch me! Go!”

“I'm sorry, Your Majesty. But you can get sick if rained.” Said Bernard. He looked around to find out if he could ask someone for help. They were not far from Kleinesdorf Village, but there was no one in the forest.

At last, from a distance came the voice of a man, "Anna, Bernard! Where are you guys?"

Bernard recognized the voice. A heavy voice that he had often heard many years ago on the battlefield. Leon's Voice.

"Master! We're over here!" Bernard felt relieved when he heard the voice.

Shortly thereafter, Leon appears with a lantern in his hand. He ran towards Anna who was still crying and screaming hysterically. "Your Highness the Princess, it's me. You're okay.” Leon grabbed Anna and patted her on the back gently, calming her down.

It managed to make him stop screaming, but he still did not stop shedding his tears. He could not see well, his eyes blurred by tears.

"Leon? That you?”

“Yes, Your Grace. Its me. It's all right. You're safe with me. Calm down, Your Majesty."

“Why did you leave me? Need you. Don't ever leave me again.” Said Anna, in between her cries that had begun to subside along with the rain that had stopped.

***

"I'd be very grateful if you'd be willing not to tell anyone about Princess Anastasia's condition." Leon said to Bernard Blanc as they returned to the Village Chief's house with two horses loaded with explosives. By then, Anna had stabilized and was warming herself in front of the fireplace eating hot soup and reading a book lent by Bernard. Explosive device manufacturing manual.

"Is..." Bernard hesitated to ask. "Is His Majesty like that because—“

"Don't ask." Cut Leon. Anna's mental state should remain a secret. "Don't ask anything. You just need to keep that secret."

"I swear on behalf of my family that the secret will be safe forever, General" Bernard said, like a young man taking a knight's oath.

Leon patted Bernard on the shoulder as a thank you and left him to approach Anna, who was still looking through Bernard's self-written manual for explosive devices. Anna is so immersed in her reading that she is barely aware of Leon's arrival.

"You okay?" Ask Leon.

Anna looked up, "Yes. Thank you." she said shyly.

Leon knows that the Princess is only fine for a while. In fact, the traumatic event still lingers in his mind and disrupts his mental stability at certain times. Anna is not completely okay. And only time can tell if he will be able to recover from his trauma.

Knowing that Anna did not want to discuss the incident further, knowing that Anna was embarrassed that she was still unstable, Leon decided to change the subject.

"Did you meet Duke Francis?"

"No." Anna replied quickly so it sounded very clear that she was lying.

"You know, you can't lie."

"We didn't meet." Saying, slowly. "But I'm sure he saw me and recognized me even from a distance. That's why he left the gate wide open as Bernard and I were leaving with the explosives. He already knows I'm alive."

"It's okay, the important thing is that you're back safely." Leon's words calmed Anna down. "It's important you survive" he said again.

Anna immediately finished off the warm soup made by the Village Chief's wife before returning to carry out their plan. The residents calmed down a little as the rain that fell filled their dry wells. But the rain won't last forever. While they can not continue to rely on rain that is uncertain when it comes to survival.

After making sure everything is ready with their plan, Anna and Leon lead an army of villagers to the dam.

The sun had not yet risen and it was still very dark, but they could all clearly see the great dam before them not far from where they stood. The dam is still not perfect, but enough to hold the river water so that no more water flows out of the dam. At the sight of the mighty dam, Anna's heart ached knowing that the dam used by the people of the north to fetch their river water was built using the blood and sweat of the people. Prosperity for their land was shaped by the suffering of their people.

Given that, it further ignited the flames of anger in Anna's heart. But he knew that carrying out the plan properly according to what he had already laid out was far more important than completing his revenge. Do not let his anger and revenge actually endanger the lives of the villagers he wants to help.

They also began to carry out the plan that Anna had compiled before the sun really rose. Anna and her group secretly take away the slaves unnoticed by the Nordhalbinsel soldiers and escort the slaves to the Village to be treated by Louis and his friends. As the number of slaves working at the dam dwindled to the point of being counted on the fingers, the Nordhalbinsel soldiers began to notice.

“Hey, you! Where are you taking those people?” Asked one of the soldiers when he saw Anna leading an old man full of whip wounds to get out of the ranks of the dam worker slaves. The man pulled out his sword and prepared to swing his sword towards Anna as Leon suddenly came between them, fending off his attack.

“Not your business!” Leon swung his sword quickly and fought the person. “Anna, quickly go from here. We run the second phase of the plan.”

Anna nodded in understanding and immediately led the grandfather away to safety.

“Who are you?” Asked the soldier, panting, trying to resist the barrage of Leon. He tried to see the face of the person before him but even to balance his steps he found it difficult.

As the reddish rays of dawn began to shine on the sky and give a hint of color to the gray world, he was able to see the figure before him more clearly. His hand trembled until his sword fell. His eyes widened in shock at who his opponent was. “Lion from the South!"

***

After escorting the slaves to be treated by Louis at the medicine hall, Anna returns to the base where Bernard is concocting an explosive device they will use to destroy the dam. Meanwhile, residents have been evacuated to the middle of the forest, away from the village in case something unexpected happens.

“It's almost done Your Majesty. Please trust this to me.” Bernard said as from the corner of his eyes he saw Anna entering their headquarters.

“Where are the farmers?” Anna asked after confirming that Bernard really did not need his help to assemble the explosive device.

“They still make additional river flow, Your Highness.”

Anna frowning, “Still unfinished?”

“Not yet, Your Highness.”

Anna looked up at the rising sun. They don't have much time. The sky was the color of her hair. A few more minutes before the world was illuminated by the sun and the Nordhalbinsel soldiers assigned to guard the dam awoke from the negligence of their duty.

“Then I will entrust the explosive device to you, Bernard. I have to go help the farmers.” Anna said as she went with a shovel to dig up the others.

***

When all their plans seemed to be working perfectly, when everyone had completed their respective tasks as planned, the explosive device was ready to be activated. Bernard takes the explosive device to the dam with the help of a group of war veterans and young men led by Leon. The Nordhalbinsel soldiers who saw Leon and the explosive device immediately ran away from the dam without being warned.

"Where's Anna?" leon asked as he saw Bernard coming alone.

"I think Yang Mul—I mean, Miss is with another group of citizens right now. He said he was going to help the farmers."

But soon, the citizens and farmers in charge of making additional streams came to the place.

"Sir, we've all done our job" said one farmer.

"Thank you so much for all of your hard work. Now, go to the evacuation center with the other people." Said Leon, while his eyes were busy looking for Anna among the group of citizens. "Where's Anna?" he repeated the same question to the farmers.

"You mean, the red-haired Miss, sir?"

"Yes. Where is he?"

"We haven't seen him since, sir. We thought—“

Without waiting for the farmer to finish his sentence, Leon immediately ran towards the man-made stream to find out Anna's whereabouts. His feeling is not good.

"Master! The explosive will be active in five minutes!" Bernard tried to remind Leon, but the General had already run too far to be able to hear him.

***

At the additional riverbed, Anna was still busy digging. The river flow created by the citizens was not yet wide enough so he continued to dig even though he knew there was not much time left.

"You're here apparently."

Anna looked over, looking for the source of the voice. His heart awaited Leon's arrival to help him.

But what came was not Leon.

Some men walked closer towards him. Their hands were placed behind them, as if they were hiding something. But Anna knew that they were preparing to attack her. On their backs were swords that they would immediately pull out in one short movement. And with that one short move alone, his life would be over.

"Who are you?" Anna asked, trying to recognize the faces of the people who were approaching her. They wore ordinary clothes like ordinary people. But Anna knew, they were not the villagers she had met. Their pale white skin seemed to be the main feature that they were not even Schiereiland's people. They come from the North. They're Nordhalbinsel.

One of the men chuckled amusedly hearing Anna's trembling voice. "Silent. We will not be rude to the Princess of the Land of Mercy, Your Majesty."

They know his identity. Anna doesn't understand how they can find out, but Anna's instincts say they have no good intentions. They may have been sent to kill him.

"I don't understand what you mean. You guys are wrong." Anna had now removed her hoe and drew her sword towards them. "Go from here! The dam will soon be blown up and this place will soon be flooded with river water." Anna warned them.

"We already know everything. Some residents mentioned that you were Princess Anastasia." One of the men smirked vilely. He did not step back from where he was standing, even though Anna was already armed. He only saw a helpless Princess. Princess without crown and kingdom. Not a woman directly trained by the Lion of the South.

The other man approached Anna with a unsheathed weapon. When he pulled out his sword, the other man did the same. Anna was able to draw the conclusion that this man was the leader.

"Crown Prince Xavier ordered us to arrest you without getting hurt in the slightest." Said the leader. "But if you put a gun on us like this, then don't blame us for doing the same thing."

Anna did not believe what she heard. Crown Prince Xavier found out about him and even told these people to arrest him? They had never even met before.

One of them attacked him without warning. But Anna managed to dodge quickly and counterattacked with her sword. There were about seven men in front of him and they had all taken out their respective weapons. Anna noticed they all had the same tattoos on the face and hands. It was the tattoo that made Anna realize that they were not soldiers or men of the Nordhalbinsel kingdom.

The tattoo is in the shape of a black snake that encircles a sword. Leon once mentioned about the people in the northern regions who do not have a state due to the seizure of the territory of Schiereiland and Nordhalbinsel. They live in the border area and become the deadliest enemy for the border guard soldiers. They are a notorious and dangerous bandit group, the Black Mamba.

Anna had no choice but to fight the seven gunmen before her. He did not like bloodshed despite being trained to use his sword. But right now, he had to save his own life before being able to save his mother and sister. He did this for the sake of his people and kingdom. Anna swung her sword quickly as Leon had taught her. The bandits were already used to using their swords, but their techniques were not as good as the techniques taught by Leon. They make too many moves that should not be done. And Anna was able to avoid those attacks easily because their movements were too readable. Anna fended off the attacks of the bandits precisely. But their numbers were too many and Anna began to feel exhausted after a night of not sleeping.

Just as Anna was about to swing her sword again to attack one of the bandits before her, a blade pierced her back. Anna could feel her blood coming out of her body. The iron from the blade that stuck on his back he immediately pulled out and threw it at the person who had already stabbed him, into one of the bandits. As she turned around, Anna realized there were more than ten bandits surrounding her.

While enduring the pain, Anna tried to get back up and fight the bandits. Anna knew that there was not much she could do if faced with that many people, especially in her current condition. The amount of blood coming out of his body made him feel cold. His entire body was trembling and felt hard to move. His head began to turn.  He tried to yell out to call Leon, or anyone, but to make a sound alone was very difficult for him.

Anna could hear a rumbling sound from a distance, but could not be sure what it was. Anna wondered if Leon had succeeded in expelling the Nordhalbinsel soldiers? Is Bernard done making the explosive devices? Have all the people been evacuated? Will their plan work?

From far away, Anna could see a huge explosion. The explosion destroyed the Scheine River dam. The bandits who had been besieging him immediately ran away from the stream of water. Anna tried to run as well, but her legs felt very heavy to move. He's lost a lot of blood. His breathing was short and the pain was overwhelming from the stab wound on his back. In just a few seconds, the river's water will flood the artificial flow and he will be washed away in it.

Suddenly, something enormous gripped his entire body, bringing him soaring into the sky, far above the river water that flooded the artificial stream. In just a split second the river water had filled the artificial flow and swept away the few bandits who had attacked Anna. Anna's body was lifted further and further from the land. Anna looked up, and was shocked by what she saw.

A Dragon was gripping him. The dragon saved him from the bandits and from the river water that could wash him away. Before the river water filled the artificial stream, the Dragon had time to wag its sturdy tail, long and filled with sharp scales shaped like thorns. The dragon tail flickers form an additional river flow that is the same size as the flow of water river made by the villagers.

The dragon not only saved him, but also helped him save the village.

***