Dragon Prince: The Storm's Heart

Chapter Eight: Fight for Freedom

Shira wasn't even sure what time she drifted off, possibly in the early morning. The team and the animals were already gone, their things packed up and the bed's neatly made, leaving a small note by the desk Shira was asleep next to to tell her where they were. She quickly packed up her belongings and at the last minute decided to slip the hunting knife into her boot, just in case.
She found Ezran outside playing with Zym and Bait and a small smile breaks out on his face.
"You're finally awake! Rayla and Zym wanted to wake you up but Callum said to leave you alone and we did," Ezran stated as he stood up with Bait in his arms and held him out to her. "I woke up to find Bait wide awake and curled up on your lap."
"Yeah Zym woke him up and he needed some sleep." Shira laughed as she accepted the grumpy glow toad and tucked him under one arm. "Now, where are your brother, Rayla, and Ellis?'
"Uh...not sure where Ellis is, but she's probably with Ava in the woods letting her do her doggy business, I think Rayla is patrolling again and I don't know where Callum is at," Ezran admitted with a shrug as he picked Zym up. "Also, he's been acting weird lately. Like a few days ago I caught him talking in his sleep about peanut butter, and yesterday he was still being weird asking how his hair looked. And this morning he was a bit emotional too for some reason, but I guess it's because he was going to give me a talk about life."
"Oh? And what was this talk of life is about?" Shira asked, wondering if the prince have managed to tell his baby brother about their father's death.
"Responsibility! And I see that it is my responsibility to teach Zym to fly since his dad's not here," Ezran replied cheerfully as they started to walk down the steps. "I don't know why he was so sad and hugged me afterwards, but it felt nice."
So, he didn't tell him, Shira realized sadly when they reached the bottom. Well, I certainly would have a hard time telling my little brother about a subiect as sensitive as this. She gave a slight flinch. Especially the passing of my mother.
As she was about to ask Ezran something, Shira heard someone call her name.
"Shira! Ezran wait up!" The two looked over their shoulders to see Claudia and Soren running over to them and Shira quickly used her leg to push Ezran behind her.
"Lets get going." Shira ushered Ezran away from the two siblings to join the others.
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The sun was starting to set, casting a soft golden light to the mountain as the group was preparing to depart from Lujanne and Phoe-Phoe's home. The Moon mage had came to bid them farewell and give them a bit of advice, along with the moonstone collar Ava had been given as a pup to give her a fourth leg.
"Thank you so much for letting us stay here and revealing my past to me, it's been a pleasure to get to know you Lujanne," Shira said to the elf and she smiled warmly.
"The pleasure is all mine, it's nice to have some new company once in awhile that's not my latest illusion," Lujanne said with a smile. "Perhaps when relationships are better with Xadia and you all can visit."
"Can we go now? Before the sun sets and it gets dark?" Soren asked loudly, earning a glare from Shira. She still couldn't believe Callum agreed to let the siblings come along with them, but he said it'd be nice to have some more people to help protect the Dragon Prince on the way to Xadia. But she doesn't trust Soren and Claudia as well as she could throw them.
She shifted her weight underneath her bag and threw a wary glare at the two newcomers. "Alright, let's move out!"
As the group moved down the mountain towards the woods that was on the other side of it, Rayla looked back at Soren and Claudia, who were several feet behind the princes. "It's going to be a long journey, let me just go around this corner an' get some berries."
"Be careful!" Callum yelled as the elf girl hurried off into the bushes in search of some berries.
After a while, Shira kept her distance from the others as for the right time to ambush them and hid with Ellis and Ava. She felt determined to defend her friends. But she suddenly remembered the farm animals at her home. "Ellis, can you and your family take care of the farm animals at my house?"
"Sure, sounds fun." Ellis beamed at her, in which she returns. "I'm going to miss you."
Shira smiled softly at the girl. "Me too." She lightly touched Ellis's hand and petted Ava's head, earning an excited lick from the affectionate wolf.
"Soren! They're fake!" Shira smirked slyly at Claudia's yell. "What did you do to them, elf?
"I can't wait to see the look on your stupid face when you see this," Rayla snickered and yelled,
"Ellis, show them!"
Out of the bushes leapt Ellis and Ava, who quickly removed the moonstone collar from around the wolf's neck. The collar glowed brightly before it faded. Soren gave a frustrated groan before racing after Rayla, demanding to know where the princes were.
"Hey, have you tried looking up?" Shira yelled pointing at the sky before quickly scaling down the tree. There was another flash of light from the sky and a familiar blue moon phoenix came flying down with Callum, Ezran, Bait, and a hidden Zym on her back.
Rayla was already holding onto Phoe-Phoe's feet as they were flying away, but from where Shira could see, she saw what looked like a large tentacle flying out from the trees and grabbing them.
"NO!" Shira cried as she saw her friends being pulled down. She ran towards where Claudia were and mentally braced herself to tackle Claudia to stop the spell. If she had to attack her friend to save her brothers and new friend, then so be it.
Before she could do anything, a large silver chain with a grappling hook attached to the end came flying out of nowhere and latched itself around the young mage's wrist.
"Stop! Let them go!" Shira nearly cried in relief when she saw it was a tracker. He gave his chain a firm yank, pulling Claudia to the floor and knocking the strange tentacle thing she was using to hold onto the phoenix down out of her hand.
"What are you doing?!" Claudia yelled.
"Protecting them from you!" The tracker retorted.
"Mate, look out!" Shira yelled when she saw
Soren come up behind him. Before the huntsman could even react, the guard bashed the rock against the back of his head, knocking him out.
"Shira come on!" Ezran yelled from Phoe-Phoe.
"We'll catch you!"
"Keep going without me!" Shira ran towards the dark mage and jumped on top Claudia, keeping her pinned from casting another spell. "Warn the Dragon Queen!" With that, the group took off, leaving the other four people behind.
Shira sighed, but she was roughly pulled off of Claudia by Soren. She gave him a glare before glaring at Claudia.
"Why did you run into me?" Claudia asked in disbelief when she saw the anger in the girl's eyes.
Shira scoffed. "What do you think? You've betrayed your friends and I was about to return the favor." She gave them a fierce glare. "You're both trending on dangerous paths. Stop yourselves before it's too late."
"Looks like we're bringing you along." Shira didn't even struggle as Soren restrained her, tying her wrists together and dropped her next to an unconscious tracker. Shira inched closer to the man, trying to keep each other warm. As much as she wished she was flying away with her friends, the last thing she wanted to do was slow them down. The least she could do was give them more than enough time to get to Xadia, slow down Claudia and Soren to keep them from getting to the Border.