The Dragon Prince - Book 1: Cold War

Conclusions and Reunions

Dawn was beginning to break and the contingent of Sunfire Elf warriors had yet to overcome the chaos left behind by Aaravir. The brackish, oily goo was resilient to all but the most powerful bardic spells and even then, they had injured several younger troops.

Fortunately the sun was a natural repellent to the goo and so Callum was able to harness its cleansing power to destroy the last of the necromancer's foul spell. Even Claudia and Soren helped out by finishing off smaller goo golems that had some of the necromancer's fighting spirit left. Rayla and Nivin combined their bardic abilities to suss out any remaining goo hidden from the sun while the army of elves sorted through the destroyed remains of Zalmai's house.

For Claudia, the twitter of birds that heralded the sunrise made her suddenly aware of just how tired she was. All the dark mage wanted was to find a nice piece of grass to curl up on the ground and sleep for a day but the bleating sound of a horn startled her from weariness.

"Make way for Head Bard Erdna!" shouted a regal looking sunfire elf who seemed particularly proud of his position. The Sunfire elves turned and bowed in response leaving the heroes to look at one another with wide eyes.

"Where is he? Where is that wretched human responsible for this madness?" came a voice that made Claudia's ears ring.

The Dark Mage could feel the blood draining from her face as she saw the twisted image of a Sunfire elf cresting the hill while floating on magical tendrils of swirling light that lifted her effortlessly above the ground. Claudia's eyes locked into the elf's and she suddenly felt like her heart was stabbed by an ice cold dagger. She tried to run but found that her muscles wouldn't allow her to even blink.

"More humans!?" Erdna howled, "so it was YOU who sicced a sky dragon upon my village!"

Claudia's mouth froze open in a silent scream as she felt the familiar, agonising feeling of pins and needles one might get from sleeping on their leg wrong only the feeling went over her entire body. The pain was unbearable but the Master Bard's magical spell held her in place.

"Mother! Stop!" Nivin shouted and his words had a magical tinge to them. His magic was paltry in comparison to his mother's but it was just enough to break his mother's focus. Claudia collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. She noticed that Soren, Callum and Rayla were also collapsed to the ground in a similar state.

"These people saved our village from Aaravir and his dragon. I tried to tell you before but you wouldn't listen. You never listen!" Nivin said, drawing his blade.

Erdna's eyes darted to the Sunfire blade her son was pointing at her.

"Mother, I'm begging you to listen to me for once in your life! These people are not our enemies."

Nivin explained how Aaravir planned to turn all living things on the planet - Elves and Humans - into the living dead. He explained how Aaravos captured thousands of souls, including his father as well as Rayla's mother and father. He finally explained how Callum and Rayla defended the village from the dragon. By the time he had finished explaining, Claudia could see how the sun made his cheeks glisten with tears.

Erdna's face showed no emotion as she listened to her son's story. She rolled her eyes, and waved a hand toward Claudia and Soren said, "and what is your story for these two?"

Claudi took that as her moment to interject, "h-hi! I'm Claudia and this is my brother..."

"Silence!" the Bardic master bellowed and once again Claudia felt every muscle in her body clench like a knot.

"They're my friends!" Callum shouted, "err, at least they were my friends. In any case the more time we spend fighting each other the more time Aaravir has to unleash an undead army on Xadia!"

"Callum's right," said Rayla as she swiftly wrapped her arms around Callum's shoulder and pulled him in for a tight hug. He smiled as he wrapped one arm around her and Claudia began to notice all of her old friend's injuries. Callum noticed her gaze and Claudia could feel her cheeks burning as she quickly turned away.