Broken Heart (part 2).

(Devaltan, huh?...) The mention of the name caught the attention of Prince Felix, but he didn't had the time to brood over it after hearing what Omar had say.

"Your highness, he's the 2nd son of lord Aston, a former student of mine also" chimed Gauss, who was by Felix right side.

(The son of the leader of the royal knights! Well that's definitely a surprise!) Thought Felix.

(What's he doing here then? Quite far from the battlefield! But more importantly, that information, what is it? I doubt he's lying, and Gauss also vouched for him. From his tone whatever he has to say is important, well, let's hear him first).

"Move aside, he is no threat" ordered the prince to the guard who stopped Omar from approaching.

(Now then...)

"Information, of what kind exactly?" Inquired Felix, narrowing his gaze, the glint of his eyes was simmilar to that of a bird of prey, reminding Omar of that of a haughty hawk for some reason.

"I was originally deployed at the Dragon's head..." Omar explained the situation from the begining, going from moments before the attacks to that of the explosion and how he luckily managed to survive only thanks to his distance from the wall, then helping looking for other survivors and how they tried making their way up.

But when Omar reached the part about how the injured of his group remained behind in order to ambush and delay the enemy, the prince pensive expression turned into that of shock, finally making him connect the dots, realizing that the sounds of explosions from earlier meant.

"... It was thanks to their sacrifice we could reach here so fast" said Omar as he finished his story.

"Just now... The sounds from these explosions. I'm sure, it was them!"

"I can't be certain of how much time we have right now before the enemy reaches here. For that very same reason I'm relaying this information, all in the hopes your highness can make use of this"

"Right now the lives of everyone in this fortress are tied together! And the only one capable of guiding us, is you, your highness" Omar knew where his strenghts lay, he was no thinker so he planned to seek out for the prince.

"Hmmn!..."

"If it is indeed as you described, then we could have an opportunity in our hands to turn things around" said a thoughtful Felix as he played some possibilities in his head.

(Hmmn, most of those in the lower section were originally from outside the fortress, they came here as part of the reinforcements i asked for) looking at the present Omar in front of him and the other troops further behind, Felix thought.

(Their chemistry among themselves is strong, but not so much for those outside of their group. They seem to have taken Omar as their leader subconsciously, i could make use of that trust, if so then...).

"You said your name was Omar, right?" Asked Felix.

*Nod*

Omar although surprised at the prince sudden question, even though he said his name earlier, he nodded and awaited for the primce to continue, as he belived that there must be a motive behind the question itself.

"You father prestige among the royal knights is unquestionable. I had the privilege of meeting him only on rare occasions. Even father's opinion of him is very high" said Felix in praise of Omar's father.

(Why mention my father all of a sudden?) Omar was confused.

"My father surely would be glad to know he has leaved such a deep impression in his highness's mind" although surprised, Omar still returned the prince's gesture in the form of pleasantries.

"Save that flatery for after the battle, all that i wanted to say it sure was a surprise to find the son of an acquaintance here" replied Felix shaking his head, not pleased at all by Omar's words of courtesy. In the Prince's mind, these words sounded too much alike that of the nobles in the capital.

"Look I'll be direct, i want you to lead the troops" said Felix bluntly.

"...!".

"Lead the troops? Me?!" Said Omar baffled, replying with the first thing that came to mind.

"Hmmn, yes" nodded the Prince.

"From what i can see they trust youna lot" motioning with his right, the prince pointed behind Omar.

Omar followed the prince's hand, and looked behind, only to find the group of soldiers from the Dragon's head with his gaze, also looking in his direction.

"Although I've been in charge for a little over 3 months, being always holed up in my study didn't help me gain the trusts of the men here one bit" Felix said.

"You instead are different!" Continued the Prince, now pointing directly at Omar.

"After living and working together for a couple of months, you've acquaintanced yourself with many of the soldiers in the fortress, and by going through life and death in the recent attack, the bond you and your companions share now, is stronger than anything my status as royalty could make up for" Felix honest words, deeply struck at Omar, leaving him deep in thought.

"So what is yout answer?" Asked Felix at the pensive Omar.

"...".

"It'll be my honor to serve his highness as the leader of the fortress troops in this battle" answered Omar.

"Then we better be making use of the time the ambush got us".

"His highness" came une of the soldiers that came with Felix.

"Speak".

"Thanks to the mages, most of the survivors are mostly healed, and those who were gravely injured are now stable thanks to the potions. Also by taking into account those who died to the bombing, and the survivors who managed to get here, the estimated amount of casualties reached aproximately 124, that leave us with roughly 173 men, 161 by taking out those injured"

"Ummmn... Is that so? The losses sure were heavy. Anything else?" The visage of Felix turned for the worse when he heard the report.

The death toll from product of the bombing reduced the combat strenght of the whole fortress by at least half, and Felix, now sure that the recent chaos in Augusta was also caused by the enemy, knew that he couldn't count with the return of the other portion of the troops as reinforcements before the enemy attacks once again.