Dragon Prince: The Storm's Heart

Chapter Thirteen: King of Katolis

The kingdom of Katolis has started to awaken by the rising sun. Birds started singing their morning songs as the sun had started to rise to from the mountains and the faint silver of the moon could hardly be seen in the morning sky. As the sun had started to rise from the golden and blue sky, the people of the village had started to awakening and getting ready to start their day. The adults had started heading towards nearby markets or started heading towards work. The teenagers had started working their morning jobs or meeting up with each other in their favorite hangout spots. While the kids had started helping their parents, playing with their older siblings or playing with their pets.
Shira's room is neat and tidy at first glance and full of books. The walls and floor were made of finely wrought stone, and the antique wooden furniture boasted delicate carvings animals. Candles flickered, casting peaceful shadows across the walls. 
But Shira sat by an easel in her bedroom. She had a blanket draped over her shoulders and reading a brown-covered book by the candlelight.
"Not long before the founding of Katolis, an Startouch elven archmage whose name has been long purged from history had went on a crusade against his fellow elves and the dragons, claiming the elves and dragons are cruel and arrogant. His methods were harsh, brutal, and deadly and every way he went, he laid waste, killing those he despised the most, leaders who followed their kinds' ways whom he viewed as stagnant and demonstrative of their kind's arrogance and large sense of superiority."
"All would have been lost if it weren't for the Mages of Xadia rising up against this threat once they learned of it. They have sworn an oath to protect Xadia and all who live in it. So, upon learning of the elven archmage and his reign of terror, they came out from the Storm Spire to meet and confront the elf in a final battle, a battle whose name is best never spoken to any elf or dragon. The battle was fierce and both sides fought fiercely for the archmage has great power and mastery of all six primal sources and appears to have the advantage over his foes. When it seemed all hope is lost, King Avizandum, Leader of the Mages, with the help of other archdragons and archmages, successfully defeated the elf and imprisoned in another dimension behind a magic mirror meant to protect Xadia from elf himself, for Avizandum knew that the elf archmage is responsible for another crime he committed long ago and has been waiting for the perfect moment to punish him for said crime once he found out."
"Despite the Mages' victory over the archmage, however, another Startouch elf had a vision that one day, he will return. But, she was ignored for everyone else, expect for the Mages, is confident that the archmage will be imprisoned forever and forgotten as his name and actions are erased from the history books. Feeling bitter upon returning to her home, the elf seer was greeted by a different vision: two new Mages, not elf or dragon, will appear and will be the first of their kind to become Mages of Xadia. Surprised, the elf seer told the Mages her vision and they listened ever since, they waited for the new Mages to appear, even believing they'll be their last hope against the archmage if they did indeed returned just as the fellow Startouch, the Seer, predicted."
Shira wondered if she should get back to sleep as well. Not helping with this is that she reminded of it upon reading the part in her book about the vision of a new Mage appearing that is not an elf or a dragon and that she'll be one of the first of her kind to become a Mage of Xadia.
Before Shira can ponder some more, a small nightingale bird have flew up to the window and pecked at the glass as if it wanted to come in. Unable to resist the urge to try to help a little bird, Shira opened the window and let the bird in. Once the bird is in, it began flying and chirping quietly around the room, much to Shira's confused. She was more than happy to help a small bird in trouble, that is if the bird was in any trouble. If flying up to the window and pecking at it is of any indication, then the bird was definitely in trouble and trying to get away.
"Hey, little one," Shira said quietly as the bird landed on her palm. "Are you lost? Are you trying to get away from someone or something?" Shira closed the window. What she didn't know that something is nearby, and when the bird saw it, it flew off, causing Shira to chase after it and stopped before closing the windows, letting the nightingale fly freely.
She jumped in place when she suddenly heard a hard knock on the door. Shira stood up, feeling wary and opened the door to see an advisor named Opeli.
"Opeli, what's wrong?" Shira asked him.
"His Majesty wants your advice on something," replied Opeli.
⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️
"Hey, you wanted to see me?" Shira poked her head out the doors of the balcony. Ezran stood near the railing with Bait, and both turned to see her with a surprised expression. "Opeli said you looked like you needed some advice from a friend."
"I... I could, use one along with some guidance," Ezran admitted with a small nod. Shira smiled softly as she steps through the doors and walked to him, before she bowed to him. "You know, you ought to be the official advisor next to Opeli."
"Nah, otherwise who's gonna take of the horses?" Shira chuckled as she stood up straightly. "Okay, what's making you so gloomy?"
"Everyone is telling me I should imprison Soren and Claudia because of what Viren did, but I can't do it," said Ezran. "Yet Saleer says I should, and that I should wage war on Xadia because two royals have already been injured by Moonshadow elves."
"That guy? Of all the people to tell you that, of course it had to be him." Shira shook her head in disapproval and looked back at Ezran, her hair gently flowed in the unseen wind. "What do you think you should do?"
"I—I don't know." Ezran couldn't breathe. He put his hands over his ears, trying to drown out the way his heart roared in them with pressure. He screwed his eyes shut, feeling sick that he has been dropped into this responsibility all too soon.
"Ezran." Shira's voice sounded far away. "Ez. You need to breathe." He soon calmed down and Shira showed him how to recover from his panic attack. "Are you okay?"
"Y-Yes." Ezran looked back at the kingdom. "I just don't want any more people to suffer. Like me or Callum. Many of those people down below have families, married ones, children. They'll loose their loved ones to a war against Xadia."
"But you don't want that?" asked Shira.
"No." Ezran lightly hit his fist against the stone railing. His blue eyes shone with the new light of a brave leader, a great king. "I want this war to end. I don't want anyone else to suffer from both sides of our kingdoms."
Shira smiled and nodded. "Then it seems to me that you already have the answer you have been searching for." Her blue eyes almost seemed to be glowing in the light of the sun. "But let me tell you something that my Mom had told me. Be prepared." Shira and King Ezran both looked at the kingdom. "Just when you think you found your way, life will throw you onto a new path."
Ezran chuckled. "I guess you're right about that." He was about to leave, he stopped mid-step and turned around. "Oh right. Shira?" She looked at him in confusion. "Can you give these letters to the Crow Master?" He showed four creamy scrolls, all letters stamped with the official red wax seals of the King of Katolis.
Shira bowed to him. "Yes Your Majesty." She took the four scrolls from King Ezran and walked away.
"Shira?" She stopped near the door. "Thank you. You're very wise. And once you're done, search for any of the Moonshadow elves."
"Will do King Ezran." At that, Shira walked back into the castle. Several fires lit up the rookery halls. Shira looked around with wary curiosity when she saw dozens of cages dangling from the ceiling, each harboring a captive crow. Crow droppings dripped to the ground at regular intervals. Shira felt a little lost when she arrived, carrying four sealed scrolls that needed to be mailed.
Nevertheless, Shira saw a young man feeding one of the caged crows.
"Umm... Excuse me?" The young man seemed to be around Soren's age. He wore his black hair slicked up and spiky. His nails were painted in a shade of purple that almost looked black. His tunic was pale, untucked, and covered in bird droplets. Shira looked at him curiously.
"Oh!" The young man jumped back nervously when he saw her, making her swallow another sigh. "I'm the Crow Master. How can I help you?"
Shira showed the scrolls to him. "His Majesty wanted me to send these letters to the other rulers."
The Crow Master smiled and nodded. "I think I trust you more than Viren."
Shira smiled and shrugged. "Won't argue against that." She watched as the Crow Master tied the scrolls to four different crows. "Thanks mate."
"Sure thing lass," said the Crow Master.
Shira soon left the tower, she soon found the twenty guards chosen directly from Opeli. She gestured for them to follow Shira, remembering the secret passageway that King Ezran had showed after they arrived to the castle.
Shira had looked around warily when she saw a portrait with a girl holding a lamb. She noticed a strange, orange mark on the side of the portrait frame. Shira moved closer to examine it. It looked like a faded handprint and smelled like... jelly tart?
King Ezran. Shira rolled her eyes fondly, remembering that the young boy had inherited his obsession of jelly tarts from the late Queen Sarai.
Shira placed her hand over the handprint and pushed the picture to the right. She felt herself smile when it swung open to reveal a dimly lit passage. The soldiers couldn't believe how adept she was at navigating the dark passageways — Shira had never even found these secret tunnels before. The secret tunnels were cold and crypt-like. Loose stones and a strange dim lighting from glowing crystals made the winding paths even more chilling.
Shira skidded to a stop in front of a stone wall, which confuses the soldiers.
"It looks like a dead end," one of the soldiers commented.
But she turned back to the wall and started to tap out a pattern on some loose stones that was covered jelly tart handprints in the wall. After a while, she stepped back from the wall.
"Hopefully it works," another soldier said.
A moment later, the floor beneath the girl and the soldiers began to grumble and creak. Shira realized the code had initiated some mechanism and now the stone floor was grinding apart, revealing a long spiral staircase to an even lower level!
The girl and the soldiers raced down the stairs, and at the bottom Shira quickly dashed over to a small statue of a unicorn's head, feeling curious about it. She grabbed hold and turned it ninety degrees to the right, then pulled the horn down like a lever. The lever triggered the staircase to rise back up into the rocky ceiling and it shut with a loud kerthunk.
She could see rickety wooden shelves lined the stone walls. The shelves were covered in dust, cobwebs, and unpleasant artifacts — animals preserved in jars, mysterious magic diagrams, live spiders with eerily pulsing abdomens in terrariums.
"Oh, this place is gross!" complained Shira.
It wasn't long till the soldiers had made no attempt to hide their disgust at the sight of the artifacts. She heard a loud click and turned around to see the floor starting to shift. The floor shifted itself until it looked like a staircase leading somewhere dark.
"Start looking everyone." Shira led all of the soldiers into the dungeons. Everyone started looking through the dungeons. Shira remembered that Viren is in prison, until a thought suddenly slammed into her head. "Take all of the ingredients out of here and destroy it."
"What?!" exclaimed some of the soldiers.
"These ingredients are too dangerous around an imprisoned dark mage," Shira explained. "If he escapes, he might use it."
"We'll take care of it," reassured one of the soldiers.
"Thanks." Shira looked at the soldiers. "Lets get back to work everyone."
She saw a smaller dungeon and went to have a closer investigation. Shira glanced at the empty shackles, where were strangely locked shut. These shackles have held a prisoner hostage and it still did when Viren probably used some sort dark spell on the prisoner. Poor guy. I wonder what happened here.
"Sweet Xadia!" Shira jumped back when she saw something so big it made her wonder how she missed it in the first place. It's a giant mirror with runes around its golden frame edges and on a pair of wheels underneath the mirror. She gained a new wary, nervous feeling towards that mirror. If the Dragon King have kept this mirror, he might have a reason of why he had such a strange object.
Shira sighed and calmed down when she saw a table behind her. She went to it and lit up the candle when she saw a leather pouch on the table. Shira narrowed her eyes thoughtfully and poured out three coins. She glanced at the coins, the sight of it gave her a double-take. These were no ordinary coins. They were powerful, magical, and cursed. Shira's heart twisted in agony when she saw the anguished faces captured on the surfaces of the coins, the faces of people she has yet to meet and are horribly trapped.
"Oh dear." Shira let out a hoarse breath. "Rayla is not going to be happy about this."
She carefully collected the three cursed coins into the pouch. A look of confusion and wariness entered Shira's expression as she stared at the mirror, but there's more important things to worry about than a cursed mirror. Shira soon walked out of the dungeon and caught the eyes of the soldiers, who all started looking at her. "Okay. I've found what I was promised to find. Let's go and report back to King Ezran."
Once they did, he told Shira in private that she should leave Rayla's coined family with Lujanne, who might find a counter spell to get them out of the cursed coins and head towards Xadia to find her father.