"This changes everything."
"So this is it, the egg of the dragon prince?" Callum asked closing in on the egg.
I gave a warning growl.
"And is that the dragon princess?!"
"I can't believe it. If they both live then..."
"Maybe they could stop the war!"
Rayla approached the egg and I backed off. She kneeled down in front of it and watched it glow. the child put his hand on the egg and I snapped at him.
"(Y/n) it's okay, I won't let anything happen to either of you," Rayla said.
I allowed the boy to touch the egg. While doing so, he said:
"He's okay in there. I can feel it," and indeed he could. I could feel it too.
Rayla smiled at the boy.
"But how?" he stammered "Why wasn't it destroyed? why wasn't she killed?" he said pointing at me. I glared at him
"No offense," He added.
I saw a shadow approach the stairs and I growled as I jumped in front of the egg and used my body to protect it. As I did, Rayla turned around too and drew her swords.
"Because my father saved them!" A girl yelled from the staircase. "Callum, Ezran, get behind me I can protect you from them."
"He didn't save us!" I snaped, "he took us from our home!"
Ezran was the only one who understood what I said.
"Your father didn't save them, he stole them!"
"That's a lie!"
"Then Claudia, why are they here?"
"My father took them to protect us, Callum, so the elves and dragons couldn't use them."
"What are you talking about? how can we 'use' them?"
"Don't play dumb! you know they are powerful weapons!"
"They aren't weapons, they are dragons, and one of them is just an egg."
The girl turned to Ezran .
"Ezran, do not be afraid. Walk towards me and if they move even an inch..."
She began casting a spell in the air. Seeing this, I got on guard in front of Rayla and prepared my throat for a blast while growling.
"Just bring that thing here."
"It's not a thing."
"Yeah, he's my brother!" I roared.
"It has a mother and it has to go back to her."
"You're right, it wants its mother."
"Ezran be careful!"
"Kid, you know what the right thing to do is...we need to go back to Xadia"
The kid looked at me, then at the egg and then at Rayla.
"Follow me," he said turning around and running away. As commanded, me and Rayla turned tail and followed.
"Don't worry, I wont hit Ez," I heard from behind me. I ignored it and kept running.
There was some struggle, and a few more screams heard, but I couldn't focus on that at the moment, my freedom was so close. Callum reached us soon after but he did so with wolves on his tail.
"There's something after us," he said once he was with us.
"Keep running!" me and Rayla said, as we turned around to fight whatever was chasing us.
Soon enough, two wolves reached us. I jumped at one and tried to bite it, but its form dissolved in my mouth. I noticed that the other one had done the same under Rayla's swords. The wolf reformed behind me and jumped on my back, it managed to bite my injured wing and I let out a howl of pain. Rayla hit both wolves with her swords again, making them dissolve into smoke. We both jumped out of the way and charged again. Nothing was working, so we ran.
"We can't stop them, they're just smoke," Rayla said for the both of us.
"My swords pass right through," she explained.
The wolves had us cornered but still I was in the front ready to protect my brother no matter what happens next. I was growling, but it was useless, these wolves weren't scared of me.
"There might be something I can do, but I don't know if I can do it," Callum said.
"Is this a guessing game? Just do it!" Rayla exclaimed.
The wolves began charging and I got ready for their attack, but before they could bite their teeth into me and Rayla, I heard Callum scream "aspiro!" and the wolves blew away.
"You did it!" Ezran exclaimed happily.
"You never mentioned you were a mage," Rayla told Callum.
"Who me? No I'm... I'm not really anything."
"You just did magic," Ezran said.
"Yeah, that what a mage is...you're a mage."
"Oh. really?" Callum asked, he prosseced it a bit then screamed "Wow, I'm a mage...IM A MAGE!"
"Nobody likes a loud mage," Rayla said shushing him.
"Honestly..." I added.
Before we kept going, I took some time to hug Rayla. I jumped on two paws, pushed her on the ground, and pressed my forehead against her own.
"Hey (y/n), I missed you too," she said, petting my head.
She noticed my dragon form and asked "Are ya stuck?"
I nodded sadly.
"Wait, what do you mean stuck?" Callum asked.
Rayla and I just ignored him as we kept walking.
A few minutes later, Rayla made up her mind about something. She approached Ezran and said "Listen, I need you to give us the egg. We have to get it to the roof, right away."
"What? Why?" he asked.
"Just trust me," she said showing her hand ready to accept the egg.
"Right. Right. That makes sense...since we go way back. Like that one time, ten minute ago when you chased me around with a sword?" Callum said sarcastically then laughed, "Good times."
"I don't want to get on his side...but he has a point," I mentioned to Rayla. Of course she didn't understand me.
"You might not realize it but I'm trying to help you. Any moment now, others will be arriving. Others like me."
"Assassins"
Rayla turned to Ezran
"I need to show them both (y/n) and the egg to stop them," she said kneeling down to his level, "Just give it to me."
Ezran thought about it then shook his head.
"I'll take you to the roof," he said then walked off.
I saw Callum smirk from the corner of my eye so I tripped him with my tail. Honestly I would just fight them and take the egg if I was in any other situation. But I don't want to put Zym in danger, so for now, I'll just have to deal with this kid holding him.
We reached the outside and Rayla made me and the boys hide behind some barrels. I could feel the power of the stars starting to give me back some of my energy. But it still wasn't nearly enough for a transformation.
"Wait here," she instructed then ran off to meet with the other assassins.
"You're here," she said to the night, "I know you are."
"Rayla," I heard Runnan's voice call out, "You defied me," he continued.
"Runnan, you need to call off the mission."
"And why would I do that?"
"Please, listen to me. I've found something. The egg of the dragon prince, and the dragon princess."
"That's impossible."
"They weren't killed, they were taken. Their high mage was going to use them for dark magic, but the humans princes found them, and they're only trying to help--"
"No. Humans are liars. This is a trick and a trap. You're a fool Rayla!"
Suddenly Callum jumped out from behing the barrels and called out saying "She's not a fool."
"Whats she's telling you is true."
"You've made terrible mistake," Runnan said.
"Ez, show him."
With that, Ezran and I came out from behind the barrels.
"It's beautiful," Runnan said while looking at the egg. He then put his bow down.
"How can we take vengeance for an act that never happened? You have to call it off," Rayla began.
"Rayla, you know it doesn't work that way. We bound ourselves. There's only one way to release."
"Runnan please, there has to be another way. This is a miracle, a chance for peace," Rayla said pointing at us.
"The humans struck down the king of dragons. Justice will not be denied."
At the mention of my father's death, I could feel my throat constricting and my eyes filing with tears. I pushed them down and used the energy I recovered with the stars to speak human.
"Runnan, as your princess, I command you to call it off," with that, I felt even weaker than before. The stars were helping but I would not be able to pull off something like that any time soon.
"She can talk?!" Callum asked baffled.
"(y/n)..." Rayla said.
"No! You are being manipulated, it is dark magic, I won't listen to you! Now give me the egg!"
"Callum, Ezran, (y/n), go."
"But--"
"Just keep them safe."
I turned around and followed the princes. We ran from Runnan and Rayla.
"Good luck," I said before leaving the area.
As we reached the plaza of the castle, Callum made me and Ezran hide with the egg inside a cart filled with hay. He helped Ezran on while I just jumped in and hid myself. I used my unbroken wing to hold up the hay so it wouldn't suffocate us. Ezran sat himself in front of me with the egg on his lap and his pet on top.
While hiding, Callum said "You need to stay here, hidden. Just keep the egg safe. I need to talk to the king."
"Callum. Why don't you just call him dad?"
"Because he's the king and I'm his step son."
"I think he would want you to. If you wanted to."
"I don't know about that," He replied, "be right back."
After saying that, he left. Me and Ezran had a conversation to pass the time.
"Why didn't you tell me you can speak?"
"I thought you could always understand me."
"Yeah, but everyone else couldn't, I thought I was the only one."
"Oh. Well, you can understand me all the time, others can only understand me when I speak in human tounge, but doing so takes energy and magic, so in this form, I don't do it so often."
"This form?"
"Just...forget about it kid."
I nudged the egg with my snout a bit. I was making sure that Zym was still safe inside and all this running didn't agitate him.
"He's fine in there, I can feel it."
"I was just making sure."
Ezran started moving the egg into his bag.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?"
"I'm putting it in the bag, the egg will be safer there."
I thought about it for a second, and although I did not like the idea of reducing my little brother into mere carry on, the situation did call for him to be more mobile.
"Fine, just be careful with him."
"I will."
After a few minutes, I could smell Rayla approaching. Once she was near, the kid's pet started glowing. Rayla opened a hole in the straw.
"This one's not so good at hiding," she said.
"I told him that!" Ezran exclaimed standing up on the cart.
I put down my wing and got off.
"Uh, where's you brother?" Rayla asked Ezran.
"He went up to the tower to see our dad."
"Oh no, that's the last place he should be right now."
A few more minutes passed before Callum came running out of the castle.
"Callum did you talk to our dad?"
Callum shook his head no.
"Say the word and I'll go back in that tower with you," Rayla said readying her swords.
"Me too," I agreed.
Callum looked at the egg, then me, then his brother.
"No, it's up to us now. We have to return this egg and bring (y/n) home. We have to keep them safe and take them to Xadia."
"We could change things, we could make a difference," Rayla said determined.
"Just the four of us."
The toad grumbled and turned his skin red.
"The five of us," Callum corrected.
Before we left the castle, Ezran asked his brother "Do you think dad will be fine without us?"
To which Callum answered, "He has the finest guards of the kingdom with him."
"Yeah, yeah, he does."
With that we headed out. Out of the castle. Out of the kingdom. And out to my freedom.