Dragon Prince: The Storm's Heart

Chapter Eleven: Heart of Sky and Earth

"Almost there Corvus! Just a little way's ahead!"
Shira yelled as the cave was getting closer. The dirt trail had ended, now turning to one made of stone, but that didn't stop Shira from moving forward.
"Hang on, let me go first." Corvus stopped her from moving forward. "Just in case the path gets too narrow for us or if a part of it broke off during the rain."
As they went up the mountain trail, Shira have accidentally crunched on some wet leaves and twigs. She exchanged a glance with Corvus, and he quickly took her hand with his.
"Who's there?" shouted a familiar voice, making Shira sniffle a gasp. "Show yourself or I'll greet you with my pointy friends!"
They both exchanged swift glances. The two of them both stepped out of the shadows.
"You." Rayla stopped to size them up, recognizing them at an instant.
Then Corvus saw Ezran. He placed his weapons on the ground and raised both hands, as Ezran stepped out of the cave with Zym and Bait by his sides.
"I'm not here to fight," he said to Ezran. "General Amaya — I mean your Aunt Amaya — sent me. My name is Corvus." He walked slowly toward Ezran, who nodded at the elf to let them know to stand down. Rayla narrowed her eyes, but she relaxed and lowered her weapons, and let Corvus passed.
Corvus paused when he got near Ezran. A strange quiet hung in that pause, and somehow Ezran felt that this moment was a cusp, though he didn't know what was coming next.
Then Corvus dropped to one knee and bowed.
"I am here to serve the king," he said, making Ezran stood frozen and confused. "King Ezran."
"But I'm not the king. I'm just a prince," Ezran said as the realization was started to sink in. "My dad is king."
Corvus was silent. Ezran started to panic. "Wait, that's not what you're saying? He isn't..." Ezran inhaled deeply and looked over at everyone that he traveled with. Rayla had tears rolling down from her face. Shira looked stricken with empathy and sympathy. "Did any of you knew?"
"I've only heard a few rumors about the assassination," admitted Shira quietly.
"Me and Callum knew it too," Rayla added quietly.
Ezran shook his head, still in disbelief. Everyone had known about his dad, and they'd all been keeping it from him. Did they think he couldn't handle his father's death? He was king now — he was going to have to handle a lot of serious problems.
"I'm going for a walk." As Ezran walked away from them, Corvus tried to follow him and ended up being separated from the young king by Shira.
"Leave him," said Shira softly to Corvus. "It takes time for such a scar to be healed. He'll heal, but let him recover in his own time." She sighed and met his eyes with her sad, empathetic gaze. "Trust me. I would know."
After a moment of tense silence passed and they started resting, Rayla decided to break the tension between them.
"I'm Rayla." She looked at Corvus warily. "Shira." She looked at Rayla in concern. "Callum might need your help."
"What?! What did he do?" Shira asked in worry and looked over at the passed out teen. His skin was very pale now, and he was sweating up a storm like he was feverish and dark circles were under his eyes.
"This idiot did dark magic, that's what he did!"
Rayla replied as she swiped the sweat off Callum's brow. "I can't believe he did that!"
"Dark magic? How did he even do that?" Shira asked as she walked over to Callum to kneel down next to him. "Oh Callum, what did you do?"
"A red dragon was flying over the town nearby, it got hit by a ballista and crashed in the woods, Soren and Claudia were gonna cut her up and use her for dark magic," Rayla explained. "I tried to cut her free, but they had chained her down and Callum stole some dark magic book from Claudia and did some kind of spell to turn the chains into snakes. Then the dragon got free and starting fighting with Soren, but she hit him with her tail and he crashed into a rock. Zym left the cave to stopped her from finishing off Soren."
Shira walked towards Callum and placed a hand on his chest. She felt worried about him as she listened to rapid breathing. It almost sounded as if he was drowning in a stormy ocean or something.
Shira started tracing a shimmering rune shape in the air. As her fingertips moved, arcs of light formed, creating the glowing curves of the ancient, powerful symbol.
"Fulgur Pulsus." All at once, the shiny rune disappeared and the spell happened as she kept her hand on Callum's chest. It sparked with a crack keeping still as if she was feeling what was wrong with Callum.
Shira's eyes widened with horror, but she quickly strengthened her resolve to help him. "He needs to be purified, the dark magic is in his heart and it's slowly killing him." Shira let out a breath as she gazed at Callum. "I'm going to need to use a spell that's supposed to be used on Sky dragons."
Shira started tracing a shimmering rune shape in the air. As her fingertips moved, arcs of light formed, creating the glowing curves of the ancient, powerful symbol.
"But... isn't it dangerous?" Rayla asked cautiously.
"We'll see." Shira's eyes flashed with electricity. "Sanitatem Fulgur Percutiens." Lightning came from all directions as the lightning travelled into Callum's body. He started pulsing a jerking upwards into her hand, leaving a smoking mark on his chest as he took a deep gasping breath, but still remained unconscious as purple smoke left his mouth and dissipated into the air before sagging.
Shira sighed and smiled at the others. "He should be fine."
"Oh, thank goodness." Rayla sat down next to Callum and started wiping the sweat off of his brow.
Shira soon heard an eager yipping sound from the cave. She spun around and smiled at what she saw stepping out of the cave."Zym?" Shira smiled at the baby dragon.
Upon seeing Shira, the young dragon tackled his human friend with affection, giving her zappy kisses and rubbing himself against her as he made happy puppy-like sounds, before Shira pried the dragon off of her playfully. Yet, the little dragon didn't stop and continued to give Shira love and affection by rubbing against her and licking her.
After everything was cleared out, Corvus started pacing back and forth outside the mountain cave, furious with himself. It had been hours, and the young king had still not returned.
"The king is missing," Corvus told them.
"He's not 'missing,' he just went for a walk," said Rayla as she polished her blades.
"And he hasn't returned, and we don't know where he is," Corvus said.
"Right," said Rayla.
"That is the definition of missing," Corvus said.
Rayla counted on her fingers, putting things together. "Yeah. You're right. He's missing."
"We shouldn't have let him go," Corvus said. "We need to find him."
"Aren't you a tracker?" asked Rayla. "Isn't this your whole job?"
"Yes." Corvus was a terrific tracker. He hadn't wanted to budge in on the young king's mourning, but now King Ezran had been gone too long. Corvus would show the elf exactly what he could do. "I shall bring the king back safely. You have my word."
They watched as Corvus left to track down Ezran into the woods. Shira exchanged a look with Rayla, who looked slightly amused of the tracker.
"Should I have told him that Ezran knows how to communicate with animals?" Shira asked, feeling uncertain about the situation.
"Don't worry." Rayla smiled at the girl playfully. "He'll find out eventually."
Shira shrugged as Zym gently nipped at her fingers playfully and continued petting him. "If you say so."
After a while, Corvus soon returned to them with a horrified look in his gaze.
"What's wrong?" asked Rayla. "What happened? Did you lose his trail?"
"No," Corvus said. "It's worse that."
"What do you mean?" asked Shira.
"King Ezran's trail ends," Corvus said. "Very clearly and very badly. His footprints are replaced by banther tracks. The king has been eaten by a banther."
The two girls bursted out laughing at Corvus's news of the young king. He clearly doesn't know the young prince as much as they do. Shira placed a hand on the boulder next to her to keep her from falling.
Rayla was laughing so hard tears were streaming down her face. "Great job; you've lost the King of Katolis."
"This isn't funny," Corvus said, scratching his beard. He'd been prepared for the team to pull their weapons and magic on him. They were certainly unpredictable. "Why are you two laughing?"
"Your king happens to be a very special boy. He can talk to animals," said Rayla. "So, if there are banther tracks, it means Ezran caught a ride on the banther, not inside the banther."
Once their laughter calmed down, they watched as Corvus walked off with a chafed expression as he returns to his search for the young king. Those minutes have become hours. Shira had sat down next to Zym and Bait. But Rayla was growing frantic with Callum's lack of response and started hugging him.
"Callum, wake up!" Rayla yelled. "You've got to stay with me! Please come back. It doesn't matter what you did before. I just want you to be okay again."
But Shira noticed that Callum's cube was glowing bright blue on its Sky symbol in Callum's backpack and Callum has woke up in Rayla's arms.
"Wake up!" Rayla repeated. "I can't lose you like this. You mean too much to me. Callum, I—"
Callum sat straight up and looked directly into Rayla's eyes.
"What were you saying?" Callum looked at Rayla in confusion, while Shira tried to keep her amusement at bay.
Rayla didn't respond to his question. Instead, she disentangled herself from Callum and stood up. She looked around at the cave, at her feet, and outside. She looked in every direction, but Callum's direction. Rayla cleared her throat.
"Oh, you're awake now," said Rayla. "You're even looking cheery."
He sat up straighter. "I have it! I understand the Sky Arcanum!" Without waiting for a response, he hurried out of the cave.
Rayla, Shira, Zym, and Bait hurried after him.
"You understand the Sky arcanum now?" Rayla raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the left.
"The arcanum isn't one simple thing," Callum said. "It's all the things. They just had to come together, you know? It's like, when I had the primal stone, I held the power of the Sky in my hand, but now it's gone. But Rayla, the whole world is like a giant primal stone and we're inside it! I'm inside Sky magic, but it's also in me, with every breath I take." Callum walked towards the edge of the cliff.
"That kind of makes sense," said Rayla as she came up beside him.
He has a blue spark flew from the tip of Callum's finger. Callum started tracing a shimmering rune shape in the air. As his fingertips moved, arcs of bright blue light formed, creating the blue glowing curves of the ancient, powerful symbol.
"Aspiro." Callum exhaled. He pushed all the air out of his lungs, and he could feel the difference. It wasn't a normal breath. A powerful blast of wind erupted from his lips. The wind rushed around his eyes and nipped at his cheeks.
The magic wind swirled and grew stronger. Callum closed his eyes eyes and grinned as it gusted around him. When he'd had enough, Callum let the magic gently die down. He took one last deep breath, then opened his eyes with a smile.
"That was amazing," whispered Shira, amazed and proud that Callum have found a new source of magic.
But immediately, Ezran was walking up the path to the cave with Corvus a few feet behind him.
Rayla ran over to them. "Ezran, you're back!" She hugged him.
"He was gone?" Callum asked, confused.
Ezran beamed at his brother. "Callum, you figured it out! You can do magic again!"
"That's incredible, Prince Callum," said Corvus.
"Thanks," Callum said. "Who are you?"
"You missed a few things while you were out," Rayla told Callum. "This is Corvus. He's on our side now."
"I've always been on the same side," Corvus said. "I serve the young king."
"What?" Callum furrowed his brow, but a flash of realization entered his eyes and he turned to Ezran.
"I know about Dad," Ezran said.
Callum looked at his feet. "I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you. I tried to, but I just couldn't."
Ezran didn't reply. He just wrapped his arms around his brother.
⛰️⛰️⛰️⛰️⛰️
Outside of the mouth of the cave, Ezran watched the sun setting in the colors of amber and deep blue. He knows what he has to do. But he felt a lump in his chest, since he knows he that he has to accept his role as a King of Katolis as well as his responsibility to the people, and he can't keep going to Xadia to reunite Zym with his mother.
"Alright who's ready to leave this old town behind and head into Xadia?" Shira started stretching her arms.
"Ready and prepared to go." Corvus gotten to his feet to stretch and turned to Rayla and Callum. "You kids ready?"
"The sooner we get to Xadia, the sooner we can deliver Zvm to his mother," Rayla said with a nod and looked to Callum. "And the sooner we do that, the sooner you two can head back to your kingdom and Ez can take his place as King."
"And the sooner we do that, the sooner you can kick Viren off the council," Shira added as Zym ran up to her, whining to be picked up and she bent down to scoop him up into her arms. "Aww, I'm gonna really miss you too, you sparky little cutie. But don't worry, once we get you back to your mama and we end the war between Xadia and the Human Kingdoms, we'll try to visit. And every time you visit I'm gonna probably spoil you the way everyone in my village spoils my animals."
"What, you going to overstuff him with treats?"
Rayla asked jokingly.
"Eh, probably." Shira shrugged playfully. "But he's a growing big boy and a few pieces of meat won't hurt him."
"We're just a few hours from the border of Xadia," said Rayla.
"Packed and ready," Callum said, emerging from the cave with his backpack on his back.
Everyone was in high spirits and full excitement. Ezran didn't return their smiles. He inhaled deeply and turned to them as he said, "I'm not coming with you."
Everyone seemed stunned to silence by Ezran's announcement to them.
"When those shadow elf assassins were coming for Dad, I ran away and hid myself." Ezran felt ashamed thinking about it now. "When I found out Dad was gone forever, I ran away again. I've been running away from things my whole life. But I can't run away from growing up."
"What are you saying?" Shira asked him, looking at him intently.
"I'm not going with you to Xadia," repeated Ezran. "I must face my responsibility. Now that I'm king, I'll return to Katolis. Maybe I can help the world better from the throne than if I went with you. I'll do whatever I can to stop the war."
"But Ezran, returning Zym to his mother is the world's best hope," Rayla said.
"I know that, Rayla," Ezran said. "And you all will do that. You'll find his mom, and Zym will take his place in Xadia. Just like I have to take my place in Katolis."
"Ez—" Callum started to say.
"I wish I could go with you, Callum," said Ezran. "But I can't. You all must go on without me."
"I'll travel with the king and keep him safe," Corvus said.
"I'll go with them," said Shira.
"Are you sure Shira?" Callum asked. "I mean, there's a chance we might find your father there."
Shira bowed her head and sighed. "I know." She smiled at him sadly. "But I'm not sure if he wants to see me."
"Ezran." Rayla looked at the young king. "Are you sure?"
"I'll miss you guys," Ezran said. "But I'll see you again, I promise."
"And you're sure you can keep Corvus safe from the banthers, right?" Rayla smiled and ruffled his hair.
"Shira, before you leave, can you do something for me?" Rayla took Shira's hand, urgency filled her violet eyes.
Shira turned around and looked at her in confusion. "What is it?" Rayla leaned in and whispered her favor to Shira, the girl widened her eyes in shock, then sharpened into resolve, and stepped back. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you Shira." Rayla released her grip on Shira's hand and watched her as she joined Corvus.
"As soon as Zym is home, I'll come back to help you," Callum said. "I love you."
"I love you too big brother." Ezran hugged Callum. Then he bent down to say goodbye to Zym. "I'm so proud of you, little guy. You're going grow up so strong and strong. I'm sorry if I couldn't teach you how to fly."
Ezran hugged Zym quickly. Then he picked up Bait and walked away before anyone could see his tears falling.
Ezran turned around for one last look at his family and friends. Rayla and Callum were waving. Zym was watching him from Callum's shoulders, heartbroken.
"Ez, remember the first Queen of Katolis," Shira said to Ezran with a smile. "You're never alone."
Ezran smiled at Shira before they walked away with Corvus and seemed to have disappeared into the fading sunlight.