Accident

As Draco and Snow headed out of the palace courtyard, Draco noticed that there was a trio of armored vehicles following behind them. 

Their own vehicle was a black luxury SUV with tinted windows, but he was informed that it was also armored with bullet-proof windows.

'I can get used to this VIP treatment.' Draco thought to himself, turning onto the main road. 

Draco still remembered the way to the business district, and the ride there was uneventful. 

When he pulled up in front of the clothing store with three armored cars behind him, he imagined that the shopkeeper inside was quite confused. 

He got out of the vehicle with Snow, and he saw that several armed soldiers had also gotten out of their vehicles to follow them.

As Draco and Snow entered the store, the soldiers stood guard on the outside. 

The shopkeeper inside was surprised to see Draco again with such a large entourage, but they said nothing as they went to fetch his order. 

They came out from the back with two carts that had a score of sand-colored uniforms on them. 

Draco walked up to one of the carts and pulled a uniform off of the rack. 

Looking at it, he was impressed with the quality of materials and workmanship. The uniforms looked on par with what a real military would use. 

Draco figured that wearing these would give his forces some legitimacy, and also make his men feel more like a unit. 

Satisfied with the product, Draco went to the counter and paid the tailor for her services. He even left a generous tip. 

Draco walked out of the store with the clothing racks, and then loaded the uniforms into the back of the SUV. 

As Draco was preparing to start the vehicle, he saw that one of the armored vehicles had driven in front of him. 

One of the armed guards walked up to his window and motioned for him to roll it down. 

Draco did, and the guard began to speak to him with a thick Arabic accent. 

"My lord, We have received reports of suspicious activity in the city. Please drive behind the escort, it is for your safety." the man said. 

Draco nodded his head, and he followed the vehicle in front of him out of the business district and back towards the palace in the distance. 

The road was crowded with vehicles, and the traffic was much heavier than it was earlier. Draco's convoy was slowed to a crawl as they traveled through the traffic.

The guard's words echoed in Draco's words, and it put him on edge. 

'What kind of suspicious activity was the man talking about?' he wondered. 

Draco saw that at the end of the road there was a car accident, and this was evidently the cause of the current traffic. 

'This damn city, of course a car accident has to happen now. The people here drive like idiots.' Draco thought to himself, growing increasingly irritated. 

As his convoy creeped upwards towards the car crash, Draco saw that the accident was actually very bad. 

Three cars were involved in the accident. One of the cars was flipped over, and another had run into the third car and crushed it like an empty can of soda. 

First responders had just arrived at the scene, and two ambulances pulled up to the accident with their sirens blazing. 

They pulled out an injured man from the flipped over car, but he was yelling something about his children. 

However, the medic simply shook his head, a pained look on his face.  

Another man was screaming in agony as he was dragged from beneath the crushed car. It looked like his legs were completely crushed, and they would likely have to be amputated. 

Draco had already seen much bloodshed in his life, but this scene still left his heart shaken. 

The armored vehicle in front of Draco went around the accident, driving off of the street and into the sidewalk. 

Draco understood that it wasn't safe to wait here until the accident was cleaned up, so he turned his car to follow them onto the sidewalk. 

However, just as Draco was driving past the accident, the hairs on his neck abruptly began to stand up. 

Before Draco could even process what happened, a sound reminiscent of thunder striking went off next to him.

The next thing Draco knew was that his vehicle was flying through the air, and it flipped several times before crashing down onto its roof.

Draco was now upside down, and he worriedly looked over to Snow. 

"Snow, are you alright?!" he yelled, checking her condition. 

"I'm okay, just a little rattled." Snow said. 

Draco heaved a sigh of relief, he almost forgot that Snow's body was harder than steel. 

He tried to open the door, but found that it wasn't budging. 

Draco unbuckled his seatbelt and positioned himself so that he could kick the door. A single kick sent the door flying off of its hinges, and Draco got out of the vehicle to see chaos all around him. 

People were screaming everywhere, and Draco saw that the area had been engulfed in flames. 

The vehicle in front of him had been completely blown to pieces, and the cars around it were covered in a fiery blaze. 

The ambulances had been set afire as well, and people ran about in agony as flames covered their bodies. 

There was a small crowd around the accident, and after the explosion went off there wasn't a single soul still standing. 

Body parts and disfigured corpses littered the ground, and Draco stepped on a severed arm as he got out of his vehicle. 

Draco wrinkled his nose in disgust at the horrifying sight, he knew they had to get out of here. 

There were still two armored vehicles behind them, and it seemed like they were able to avoid the brunt of the explosion. 

Draco's own vehicle was flipped over though, and he promptly went over to the side and grabbed the edge of it. 

"Hold on to something Snow!" Draco called out, beginning to heave with all of his strength. 

The SUV buckled and creaked under its own weight, but Draco lifted it up enough to get up under it. 

Standing under the vehicle, Draco used his legs and his arms to continue to push the vehicle upwards. 

In a few moments the vehicle was flipped over, and it dropped to the ground with the wheels bouncing under it. 

Draco then climbed back into the driver seat, and got the car to start after a few attempts. 

He drove away from the scene of the accident, driving around the armored vehicle that had been hit in front of him. 

Draco realized that if that vehicle wasn't there, he would likely have been blasted to smithereens by the explosion. 

As Draco drove, wind flowed into his car through the missing door. He sped off towards the palace in the distance, cutting through traffic and running red lights in the process. 

Whoever was trying to assassinate him clearly had great resources, and he wasn't trying to give them another opportunity at his life. 

In only five minutes Draco had reached the palace's gates, and after being let through he drove the car into the palace's courtyard. 

He parked the vehicle and got out with Snow in tow. The two of them walked up the palace's steps and were promptly let into the palace's throne room. 

Inside, Draco found that Prince Rayad was sitting on his throne. He was clearly uneasy and was discussing various matters with his military officers and advisors. 

The prince saw Draco enter, and he addressed him once he got closer. 

"Draco, I was just informed of the situation. My brother evidently has forces within the city, so it's best if you stay within the palace until we begin our operation." he said.

Draco nodded his head with a wry smile, "I don't want to go back out there anyways."

"Understandable. We will begin the assault on the morrow. Please be ready to move out in the morning." 

"All right, I will meet with my forces and brief them. Also, can you please have a servant bring my things from the vehicle?" Draco replied.

Prince Rayad nodded, then directed his attention towards his advisors once again. 

With their conversation over, Draco headed back to the residential hall. 

Draco went back to his room with Snow and collapsed on one of the couches. 

Snow sat down next to him, and they said nothing as they stared at the wall ahead. 

Draco wasn't necessarily exhausted, but he was growing tired of these constant assassination attempts. 

He had never been through something like this, and now he was dragging innocent people into this. 

Draco thought back to the screams and fiery corpses he had witnessed back in the city.

'I'm by no means some saint, but I'll be damned if I let children get blown to pieces because of this petty conflict.' he thought, resolving himself to kill this usurper in Tripoli.