Falling Dragons

Chapter Three

"Boy am I glad we're out of that bog." Dawn Rose said as they sat around a camp they had made. "Those sirens were creepy."

"Yeah, but that's the least of our worries. We don't even know what else is out there." Toro added.

Nico had a worried look and Toro sighed. "Don't be so worried Nico, we're here with you."

"I know. This is just a whole new world that I'm not used to."

Isaac patted Nico on the back reassuringly and Dawn Rose got up to stretch.
"We've rested long enough. We need to keep going."
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Maera leaned against the side of her cage, continuing to stare at the ground even though she heard the door open.
Someone walked over to her and placed a bowl inside of her cage.
She looked at it and up to the person who had brought it, Prince Kyan himself.

"I do not want your food." She hissed at
Him.

"My father wasn't going to feed you at all. He doesn't even know I'm giving you this." The prince replied, not phased by her attitude.

She looked at him curiously but still full of rage. "You're not going to get the forests."

"I couldn't care less about the forests. That's just what my father wants. Now eat, so you don't die." He said sternly before leaving the room.
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"Well this looks alot different than the springs." Isaac said as they walked through a bunch of trees and came across a cave.

"Ew." Nico said noticing the snakeskin scattered along the inside of the cave. "I hate snakes."

Dawn Rose let out a shriek as something brushed against her ankle and the boys all turned to her.

"Hey uh Rosie... don't move." Isaac said staring at something above her head.
She tensed up and slowly looked above her, seeing a large brown python behind her.

"If we stay still it might go away." Toro whispered to the others. "Dawn, try to come over here slowly."

Dawn Rose slowly started to move towards the boys and froze as the python moved as well. The python went close to her and started to sniff her with its tongue. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to breathe.
The boys also held their breath as they watched. The python went to open its mouth and Toro made a tree trunk shoot up from the ground and knock directly into the snake's face while Nico and Isaac grabbed Dawn Rose and pulled her away.

The python hissed again and Toro hit it with another tree trunk. The python decided it didn't want to be hit again and retreated back to its cave.

"Oh thank Persephone that's over." Dawn Rose sighed out. "I was almost snake food."

"Do you think maybe we should set up camp for the night?" Nico suggested as the sun was now almost completely down.

"We probably should." Isaac agreed "traveling at night out here might be more dangerous."
______

Prince Kyan returned to the room where Princess Maera was being held and looked down at the empty bowl on the floor. She was asleep somehow, even though her bindings must make it terribly uncomfortable for her. Kyan picked up the bowl and looked at the sprite. Her long hair was draped down in front of her face and the top part of her green and white dress. She was nothing like him at all.
He was dark and rather large, while she was bright and small. Looking as though you could break her as if she was a twig, yet was feared by his father.
Sprites were also known for their beauty, and he couldn't argue with that, she was rather stunning herself.

He shook his head and pushed the thoughts away before going to once again leave the room. He stopped at the door and looked back at her. In a way he felt sorry for her, locked away in a cage away from her fellow sprites. But, he once again pushed the thoughts away. He was the Dragon Prince after all, he shouldn't feel sorry for a some Sprite. And with that he left and shut the door behind him, leaving her alone in the dark.
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Dawn Rose bit her lip anxiously as they stood atop a mountain and looked at Dragon's Cove in the distance.

"Do you really think we can do it?" She asked the boys. "Do you really think we can get her back? And fight the dragon king?"

"I hope so." Toro replied.

"C'mon! Stop talking like that!" Nico yelled, startling them. "If you talk like we can't do it, then we won't be able to! We have to believe in ourselves and do our best. We can't do that if we doubt ourselves. I mean, Dawn, you fought against a dragon army and you're still alive! I think we can!"

"I like the way you think." Isaac said grabbing Nico's shoulder. "I believe in us, and I believe we can do it if we work together."

Toro and Dawn Rose smiled before they nodded in agreement.
"Let's go kick the Dragon King's Ass." Dawn Rose said with a grin as they set off down the mountain.

When they reached the bottom they were in a grassy field filled with butterflies and wildlife.
"You wouldn't think with how beautiful this place is, that we'd be so close to a place like Dragon's Cove." Toro said looking around.

"I know." Isaac agreed.

As they walked Nico noticed a small little pond that looked about as black as charcoal. He crouched next to it and dipped one of his arrows in, the water swirling back into a calming crystal blue. He smiled down at his reflection before a hand came from the water and grabbed his face.
He let out a yelp as another siren came climbing out, bearing her razor sharp teeth at him. Nico froze until Isaac came flying in and punched the siren back down into the water so hard he and Nico both got splashed.
Nico stared down at the now empty pond with the siren's lifeless body laying in it.

"You alright Nico?" Toro asked as he knelt next to him.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Nico replied, still catching his breath. "I didn't know Isaac was that strong."

"Typically Dragonfly and butterfly sprites are very physically powerful." Toro told him as he helped him up. "That's why the dragons got rid of them, all of them but Isaac. He's the last one."

Nico looked to Isaac. "The last one."

Isaac put his lavender wings away and sighed "She's really dead." He chuckled.

"Well I'd say so, considering you punched her into next harvest season!" Dawn Rose said looking down at the siren's corpse. "Not even a graduated Sprite Scout could've handled that!"

Isaac let out a little giggle and Dawn Rose rolled her eyes before laughing with him.
"You boys ready to keep moving?" She called down to Nico and Toro. The two boys quickly caught up to her and Isaac before they continued on their way.

"Next stop can we please eat something?" Nico asked shyly.

"Oh why didn't you say you were hungry!" Dawn Rose exclaimed. "I packed us some fruit, you should've said something." She reached into her bag and pulled Nico out a few peaches. "Here, you can eat these while we go. And if you're still hungry I have more."

"And I can always pull us a tree out of the ground." Toro chuckled with a little wink that froze Nico in his tracks.

"Hey, you alright?" Isaac asked as Nico turned pink.

"Yea." Nico replied after a few seconds of silence. "I'm fine... just hungry." He chuckled softly.