Dragon Prince: A Warrior's Journey (Under Editing)

Chapter Seven: Flight of the Moon

Sierra 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 Sierra 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 bag, 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." Sierra 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 private 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. 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?" Sierra 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, Sierra realized with horrified sadness 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, Sierra heard someone call her name.
"Sierra! Ezran wait up!" The two looked over their shoulders to see Claudia and Soren running over to them and Sierra quickly used her leg to push Ezran behind her.
"Lets get going." Sierra 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, Orion, and Phoe-Phoe's home. The Moon Mage and the Moon Knight 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 and Orion," Sierra said to the two elves 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."
"I'm glad to have met you." Orion locked eyes with Sierra, both warm smiles decorating their expressions.
"Can we go now? Before the sun sets and it gets dark?" Soren asked loudly, earning a glare from Sierra. 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, Sierra 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."
Sierra 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!" Sierra 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?" Sierra 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. Sierra jumped off of the cliff and was immediately caught by Phoe-Phoe.
Rayla was already holding onto Phoe-Phoe's feet as they were flying away, but from where Sierra could see, she saw what looked like a large tentacle flying out from the trees and grabbing them.
Before they 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!" Sierra 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 moon phoenix down out of her hand.
"What are you doing?!" Claudia yelled.
"Protecting them from you!" The tracker retorted.
"Mate, look out!" Sierra 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. She shook her head sympathetically. "That's gotta leave a mark."
Ezran looked down from his seat on Phoe-Phoe. Ellis was sitting on Ava's back, waving and cheering. "Goodbye! Good luck! Come back someday!" Ava barked enthusiastically.
"Bye Ellis!" yelled Sierra with a wave.
But she fixed a disappointed stare into Claudia's eyes. Claudia's expression flickered with guilt. She understood why Rayla and Callum have asked her for some assistance in the huts. Claudia and Soren weren't their friends after all. She was disappointed, but she wasn't shocked. She'd always put a lot of trust in Callum and Rayla.
Rayla punched Callum lightly on the arm. Her white hair was whipping around wildly in the wind.
"We got 'em! I was right," Rayla said.
"Yeah. You were right." But Callum wasn't smiling as he was staring out at the night sky mournfully.
"I'm sorry." Rayla put one hand on Callum's shoulder. "I wish I wasn't right."
Ezran coaxed Zym out of Callum's backpack. "It's okay, Zym. It's safe to come out now."
Zym seemed nervous, but he crept out of the backpack into Ezran's arms. The baby dragon shuddered when he noticed he was thousands of feet up in the sky. Ezran knew his little nephew was scared, but he couldn't help and see an opportunity.
"Hey — We're up in the sky!" Zym yelped in fear, but Ezran smiled at his little dragon brother encouragingly. "Wanna see how flying feels?" He patted Zym to reassure him, and then lifted him carefully into the wind. "Come on. Spread your wings."
Slowly, Zym unfurled his wings. The strong wind beat against their upturned faces. Ezran could feel the dragon's fear falling away.
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When Sierra woke up, she could count more hues and shades than in the box of paints and watercolors that she had bought a few years ago. Shades of sapphire, violet, magenta, amber, and gold shimmered and shined, like a giant rainbow had blanketed the sky and stretched out over the land.
It was barely morning, but the night stars continued to sparkle like diamonds. Despite the lightness of the dawning sky, the stars were so bright and clear like distant diamonds sparkling in the morning sky. While the faint outline of the moon was in a pale circle of silver, glowing faintly in the dawning sky. As the sun started to rise, it had caught the colors of a blazing, aflame ember as it rise in the east.
Straight ahead of them fluttered a kaleidoscope of birds, thousands of them. Phoe-Phoe flew straight into them, Sierra glanced down at her. With her giant wings enveloping her, the dawning sky shining above, and the everlasting blue sea shimmering below, she looked serene as a book illustration. She felt winded with joy and excitement. Sierra caught her breath and watched the world pass underneath her feet, blurred and beautiful. They headed up, and then suddenly, Phoe-Phoe lifted her beak and shot to the tops of the clouds. Here, the wind filled Sierra's ears and blew her hair down.
The sky became painted with pink, orange, gold, and blue the tops of the clouds skidded underneath them, momentarily darkened by the moon phoenix's long shadow. After a few moments of gliding, Sierra stopped gripping the handles and let one of her hands fly up into the air. The wind, chilly as it was, felt like a god's touch on her skin. She closed her eyes and reveled in the feeling of absolute freedom.
They rode like that for a few more minutes, both enjoying the gradually rising sunlight, dipping into and out of the cloudbanks like curious dolphins or playful otters.
Phoe-Phoe slowed down a bit, but Sierra enjoyed the ride with the others. She smiled as she looked up to see the bright colors of the dawn appearing in the sky. The stars sparkled like faint diamonds in the sky, while the sky is like bright golden and blue silk that sparkled with the beautiful dawn colors can be seen overhead. As the clouds cleared, a golden circle of the sun had also appeared in the sky and had casted its fiery yellow beams of light over the clouds and the land.
It was the first time they've had ever slept on the backs of flying moon phoenix. Callum closed his eyes and crossed his legs with Zym in his lap. Callum began watching his thoughts go by and very soon, his mind started to clear. He felt the breeze pass over him as Phoe-Phoe glided effortlessly through the sky. The wind was cool, and the air was fresh. He felt the others wake up around him.
"Hey." Rayla sounded nervous. "Is it just me, or are we losing altitude?"
Callum opened his eyes and held Zym in his hands, but he also gripped Phoe-Phoe's bright feathers as she careened downward toward the earth at breakneck speed.
"Wuuuuhhh!" The sudden plummet woke up Ezran too. He hung on for dear life as Phoe-Phoe plunged through the clouds, rapidly approaching the ground below. If ever there was a time for Ezran to use his talking to animals powers...
"Ezran, what's going on?!" Callum yelled through the rushing air. "Is she crashing?"
"I don't know," said Ezran. "It looks like she's heading for the edge of that cliff."
Ezran was right — if the moon phoenixes didn't correct their angles...
"Thwummmp."
They landed hard on the cliff top, and the two moon phoenixes skidded to a stop, coming to a halt just inches from the edge. With the momentum of the sudden stop, Team Zym fell off of the two moon phoenixes.
Ezran, Callum, Rayla, Zym, Bait, and Sierra stood in a circle around the moon phoenix on the top of the cliff. Ezran crouched near Phoe-Phoe's lolling head and stroked her iridescent feathers.
"Tell me what's wrong," Ezran whispered to the moon phoenix. "Maybe we can help." Then he buried his head in her soft feathers and listened.
Phoe-Phoe responded with a combination of chatter and trill punctuated with clicks of her tongue and beak — Ezran loved the rhythm and musicality of the way she communicated. When anyone spoke, whether a person or animal, Ezran always listened with his ears, but also with his heart. He could feel the great bird's exhaustion in his own bones. As he stroked Phoe-Phoe's feathers, Ezran's own breathing synchronized with the great bird's.
"Phoe-Phoe is okay," he said to everyone. "She's just tired. But she feels strong."
"Maybe she's carrying one too many passengers?" Ezran caught Rayla giving a meaningful look at Bait, who hurried over to Ezran and hid behind his leg.
"I'm just teasing, froggo," Rayla said.
Ezran shook his head. Phoe-Phoe wasn't just tired. She was getting too far from her home.
"She get her power from the Moon Nexus," explained Ezran. "The farther away we go, the harder it is to carry everyone."
"Wow, Ez, I can't believe you could understand all that," Callum said, impressed by his little brother's gift.
"You did such a good job getting us so far, Phoe-Phoe," Ezran said. Phoe-Phoe cooed pleasantly in response.
Ezran gave her a soft pat on the head, and Phoe-Phoe took off with majestic whoosh. She cawed as Phoe-Phoe reached her full wingspan and both soared into the sky. A tiny dark blue and teal feather floated down and gently landed on Bait's nose. It tickled, making him wriggle his nose. Then he sneezed.
"So. What do we do now?" Ezran asked.
"Well, Xadia's that way." Rayla pointed across the wide bay visible from the cliff. "Across miles and miles of that blue fluid I both need to survive and hate more than anything in the world."
Sierra felt sympathetic for Rayla and her fear of water, but she knew their elf friend could face the fear again. She was about to encourage her and give her some advice.
"We don't have to," offered Callum to Rayla.
"Thanks for the offer," said Rayla. "But walking around is going to take too long. We need to get the Dragon Prince home to Xadia as fast as we can. We've got to go straight across."
"You mean over the water?" Ezran wanted to make sure — sometimes the way Rayla spoke was confusing.
"Shh! Don't speak its name," Rayla replied with a glint in her eye.
Sierra's expression became uncertain as she looked at the seaside village and the ships that stood by the docks as she looked at it from the cliff. But she could see humans trimming within the seaside village, which could cause some trouble for their elf companion.
"We have to be careful." Sierra looked between the boats and the elf. "I'm not sure how they're going to react towards us once we arrived."
Everyone looked down at the seaside village from the cliff warily. But as the sun started to rise on their backs, Rayla agrees with Sierra's words and kept herself hidden underneath the hood of her cloak.
"Lets get going," said Rayla. "We still have a long way to go from here."
Rayla wasn't wrong, but their path is long and complicated. Despite that, they have each other's company to find the Dragon Queen.