The Dragon Prince:The Prophecy

Chapter 26:Messages and Dreams

Sultan followed closely behind Ethari, who continued to lead him to Zane's burial place.  Staying silent most of the way, which Sultan found uncharacteristic of his friend.  Usually the blacksmith is quite charismatic and upbeat, but now he is detached and silent.  Though Sultan understood Ethari and the pain he is currently having, with the recent news of Runaan now being gone.  It took him a long time to recover from Yuki's death, hell he is still recovering from it.

  Sultan was so caught up in his own thoughts, that he didn't see the root, torn up from the earth. Causing him to fall face flat on the ground.  This sudden fall caused Ethari to turn in surprise to see his usually vigilant friend getting a face full of dirt. 

The sudden blow to the head made Sultan remember some very important little creature who was with him.  Sultan instantly shot up, "Fuckin Zym!!  He was with me before I passed out!".

"Relax you big dummy he is right here with me." Ethari said calmly with Zym now on his shoulders.  "He was flying above us the entire time, I'm surprised you didn't notice since you are usually very aware of your surroundings." Ethari said sounding surprised as he turned to continue leading his friend.  Sultan quickly stood up and brushed himself off the best he could while following Ethari.  "Yeah, my mind was just else where, I more surprised at how quiet you are though.".

"Well how do you expect me to act after the recent events that happened." Ethari snapped, which caught Sultan off guard.  Ehtari is one of the sweetest elves you'll ever meet, and to here him snap like that is a rare sight indeed.  Sultan figured now wasn't the right time to talk about the 'recent events' with Ethari now, and would be best to give him time to work through it one his own for now.

"So where are Rayla and the human prince?" Ethari asked trying to fill the silence that was caused by him snapping.  "Rayla and Callum?  Well when we noticed Zane disappeared...." Sultan swallowed finding it hard to talk about the subject.  "Callum thought they should continue to a town near by, since Zane's trail lead us to a more dense and hard to reach places.  We didn't want something to happen to Rayla or the baby, so we split up, and I promised to bring Zane back with me and meet them at the town." he said.

"Speaking of which we should probably start our way there, as soon as we get back to camp." Sultan finished.  Ethari nodded in agreement, but the lingering question as to why he came was still stuck in Sultan's head, not leaving his thoughts even for a second.  "Okay, I have to ask this, otherwise I am gonna lose my f-ing mind.  But, why did you come?  No offense.  But why?"  Sultan asked curious as fuck to know why his friend would leave the comfort of his home. 

Ethari stopped and looked down at the ground in silence, before turning his head so only half of his face was visible.  "Because you guys are the only family I have left, and I love Rayla too much to not help her in anyway I can." Ethari said softly, before turning back and continued to the now close clearing where he buried their old friend.

Sultan grew a small smile on his face, knowing that Ethari was and will always be there for his daughter.  He continued forward after Ethari, it wasn't long until they walked into the clearing.  Sultan was amazed at the beauty of it, a slow running river cut the meadow in have and flowers of all kinds fill the great opening in the forest.  "You picked a wonderful spot Ethari.  I am sure Zane is thankful of you." Sultan said smiling as he put his hand on Ethari's shoulder.

Ethari said his thank you to Sultan and brought him to Zane's grave, a stone, with carving that read-

'Zane a beloved brother, uncle, friend, mentor, and leader.  He will forever inspire us and be in our hearts, as we were in his.'

Sultan and Ethari stood there in silence, but it wasn't a terrible silence, more like a beautiful silence, that was much needed for the two elves to reflect on the good and bad times they had with their former leader.  Ethari gave a little chuckle at a memory from so long ago, his chuckle caught Sultan's attention quickly.  "What's so funny?" he asked the blacksmith.

"Heh, do you remember the time where we were in the secret place between the rocks with the waterfall, and heh Zane thought it would be a good idea to sneak up on Yuki and scare her?" Ethari replied.  His reply causing Sultan to laugh aloud as the memory came to him, "Oh how could I forget, You, Runaan and I tried to talk him out of it but he wouldn't listen to reason.  And when Yuki entered the hideout and Zane jumped in front of her and-"

"She kicked him right in the nuts." they both said in unison, causing them to laugh loud enough to shake the earth.  Chichi and Zym looking at each other very confused but none the less happy to see the two elves smile and laugh for a change.  The two elves laughter eventually died down allowing them to catch their beath's and wipe away tears of happiness that fell.  "Oh how I missed the good old days, when we were Rayla's age, and didn't have to worry about Dragonguard duties." Sultan expressed, which earned him a nod from Ethari who completely agree with him.

A crow cried out, scaring Zym into Ethari's arms, making the blacksmith giggle and console the dragonling.  Chichi shot sparks out of her body ready to attack if needed.  Sultan put his hand up to Chichi, "Relax Chichi it is only a messenger bird, most likely from Callum and Rayla.  Sultan whistled to the crow, triggering it to swoop down onto Sultan's arm.  Sultan took the message from the crow and set it off back to where it came from.  he unfolded the letter and quickly read it, with each word he read worry spread to his entire face.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Ethari ask as Zym who is now on his shoulders yipped.  "We need to move now, Rayla is due in a week, we need to get to them." Sultan said quickly before running back to the camp, with Ethari following behind.

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Callum tossed and turned in his sleep, in the mists of a nightmare to Callum.  Within his dreams he was being chased by a tall dark shadow with piercing red eyes.  Callum scrambled to get away before coming to a wooden door, seeing that as his only escape Callum quickly opened it and threw himself inside locking him in.

In took Callum a moment to focus his vision and catch his breath and when he did, he was surprised he found a warmly lit room with a bed, a fireplace and a place table present.  The door then opened and in came a woman that Callum was very familiar with, his mother.  Callum was shocked to see his mother, a younger version of her anyway with him as a newborn in her arms cradling him as she went to sit on the bed.

Sarai was humming to sooth the baby Callum's discomfort,  Callum was wondering why he was dreaming this, or if it was even a dream.  Sarai seemed to not be able to see Callum, after him trying to catch her attention with waving his hands in front of her face and him sitting right next to her.  All the while he continued to look at her face, she looked a little different than her paintings in the castle.  Which was most likely due to her being younger in this dream or whatever it is.  

Callum heard footsteps from the hall coming towards the room, and someone a male voice shout out his mother's name.  "Sarai?" said the mysterious person, Sarai answered saying she was in the bedroom.  Callum became even more shocked and a little alarmed to see a Startouched elf come in.  This sparked a bunch of questions, all of them swirling around in his head.

'Why is an elf here?  How does he know my mother?  Who is he?  What does he want?' .  All these thoughts sent Callum into a heavy breathing frenzy, he began to panic, wanting the answers to all his questions.

Callum then shot up from his sleep breathing heavily and looking around to see that he was still in the stables.  He sunk back down to where he was resting slowly catching his breathe as he put his hand on his chest to help him steady himself.  He looked over to Rayla, the moonlight shinning down on her sleeping form.  Callum smiled warmly at her, glad that she was able to get some rest, he slowly put his hand onto her belly, trying to not wake her.  Rayla grew a smile but stayed asleep when he placed his hand on her now bigger belly.  

Callum let out a silent sigh, glad he didn't wake her, and diverted his attention back to her belly.  He felt a little kick from the baby where his hand was placed, and chuckled a little as his heart warmed with love.  "Gods, I can't wait to meet  you.  Heh I guess we're both having trouble sleeping, huh?" Callum whispered.  Callum then maneuvered himself so his head was now on Rayla's chest and his hand still on her belly.  As he closed his eyes and tried to find sleep again.