Dragon Prince: Warrior (Re-Write)

Chapter Nine: New Hope

Sierra gave one final look back at the tower that held King Harrow's chamber, then bolted to the spiral staircase. She ran down the stairs and tried not to look at the dead bodies piling on the stairs. Sierra soon arrived to the courtyard, she started searching for her brothers.
"Sierra!" She sighed in joy when she saw her two brothers hiding in the shadows. The three of them hugged each other. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." But Sierra stiffened when she an unfamiliar person standing next to the two princes and stiffened defensively. "Umm... Who are you?" The person is a slim and white-haired girl with triangles of violet face paint under her violet eyes and reminded her of dragon teeth. She has on a sleek black and green suit that stretched from neck to ankle, she has a pair of immense, gleaming silver blades. The mystery person is a Moonshadow Elf.
"This is Rayla," said Ezran with a smile. "She's a friend."
"Rayla. This is our sister, Sierra." Callum placed a hand on her shoulder. He gazed at the tower where chaos and bedlam ruled. Then he and Sierra both looked back at Ezran with his wide, innocent eyes and his arms clutching an egg.
"An egg?" Sierra looked closer at the egg and gasped at the sight of it. It's a translucent egg as big as a human head shimmered. Its iridescent blues, pinks, golds, and greens lit up the courtyard with a soft, magical glow. "Is that what I think it is?" Callum, Rayla, Ezran, and even Bait all nodded. Everything felt suddenly quiet and clear to them.
"It's up to us now," Callum said. "We must return this egg. We have to keep it safe and carry it to Xadia."
"And find its mother," added Ezran.
"If we return this egg, we could change things," Rayla said. "We could actually make a difference."
"Sierra?" She looked away from the egg and gazed at them firmly. "Will you join us?" Sierra's mind was blank as she held Callum's gaze. Her hands curled into loose fists at her sides, her expression unreadable. Slowly, her gaze flicked to the others that have been self-chosen for the secret mission.
Sierra's heart raced as it dawned on her that each and every one of them knew that her skill matches theirs. She hated the ongoing violence between different people. She want to stop war between lands as much as anyone wants to. And the baby dragon is the key to stopping all of that.
"I'll come with you." Sierra was surprised to hear that her voice sounded strong and calm as a warrior. "For my heart goes out to both of our kingdoms." Everyone smiled at her proudly, she let Ezran hugged her side with a beaming smile.
"Just the four of us," Callum said.
An unpleasant, grumpy snort interrupted the bonding moment. Bait was grumpily staring at Callum, his usually yellow skin flushed into a deep, angry red.
"I meant the five of us," Callum corrected, and Bait returned to his usual golden hue. "Come on, let's go."
They scrambled out of the courtyard, slipping through the castle gates. On the castle bridge leading to the forest, Ezran suddenly stopped.
"Callum, Sierra, do you think Dad will be okay?" Ezran asked as they turned back to look at the tower one last time.
Callum didn't want to lie to Ezran, but he didn't want to distress him even further. He stole a glance at Sierra. She has been adopted into the family two years ago, but now she'll probably going to lose the only fatherly figure she ever had. But she was keeping a brave face to give them her quiet strength. "Our dad has the finest guards in the kingdom defending him."
"Yeah, that's true," said Ezran, sounding relieved. "Yeah, of course things will be okay."
Rayla gave Callum and Sierra a look. Certainly, the finest guards were defending King Harrow. But the three of them knew that might not make a bit of difference.
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Sierra, Callum, Ezran (and Bait), and Rayla walked silently through the forest. Sierra thought this may have been the strangest day of her life. It had started out like any other, with chitchatting and parrying. Now, she roamed the woods with her brothers and an elf, trying to save a dragon egg that the entire world believed had been destroyed. Nothing would ever be the same.
While Sierra was lost in her thoughts and the two princes were keeping a keen eye on the egg, they heard Rayla let out a stifled gasp. Sierra turned to look at the elven girl in concern, she noticed that one of the white bindings had darkened and fallen off Rayla's wrist. Sierra frowned and glanced up at the sky, seeing a faint outline of a bold, strong hawk flying towards the full moon. Sierra felt pain budding in her chest, a mix of sadness and loss. She willed the emotions back down inside before they could grow out of control though. She has to be strong for her brothers.
"What's going on?" Callum asked. "Is something wrong?"
Rayla looked at the humans, a startling look of sadness and worry entered her violet eyes. Strong grief and sad understanding had entered Sierra's heart. "We should stop and rest." Rayla stopped at a large flat rock and sat down. "It's a long journey to Xadia. This is as good a place as any to rest for the night."
The three humans looked at each other, then back at Rayla, their faces full of uncertainty.
"What, you don't think we're going to make it to Xadia in single evening, do you?" Rayla asked.
Sierra smirked playfully, trying to cover her emotional turmoil from her companions. "Is it wrong for me to say yes?" A round of laughter could be heard by them.
"It's just, we've never slept in the woods before," admitted Callum. "We don't really know how."
"Does being knocked unconscious in the woods the same thing?" Sierra asked innocently, earning a surprised look from Rayla and snickers from her brothers.
"First of all, Sierra. No." Rayla rolled her eyes at Sierra's mischievous smirk. "Secondly, it's real easy. You're just take whatever it's you are carrying and use it as a pillow and blanket. You humans do sleep with pillows and blankets, do you?"
Callum gave her a look that clearly says he didn't appreciate her sarcasm, but the three siblings bunched up their sacks into pillow-shaped lumps and wrapped themselves in their cloaks anyway. They laid down on the hard ground. Rayla watched them from her rock.
But a worried look entered Rayla's violet eyes when she spotted Sierra's injured arm, Rayla went through her pouch and pulled out a shiny gem. Rayla jumped down from her seat. "Hold still, Sierra. I'm going to help you." Sierra stiffened and stepped back from the elf, a wary look entered her eyes and was gently holding up her left arm.
"Take it slow, Rayla." She glanced at Callum when he spoke to her. "She's pretty wary when it comes to meeting new people."
Rayla nodded and glanced at Sierra, who was eyeing her warily. Rayla's eyes softened as she offered the moon gem to Sierra. They both locked eyes. Sierra hates the ongoing violence between the kingdoms, but Rayla was offering to help her. Sierra decided to take a leap of faith, she gave her injured arm to Rayla and watched her with wary curiosity as the elven girl gently held her injured arm.
Rayla crushed the moon gem over Sierra's bleeding scar. She started tracing a shimmering rune shape in the air. As her fingertips moved, arcs of light formed, creating the silvery glowing curves of the ancient, powerful symbol over Sierra's injury.
"Sana Eam Injuriam."
All at once, the shiny rune disappeared and the spell happened. Sierra's eyes widened as she watched as her injury started glowing in a silvery color. It soon started closing up and cleaned up the mess on her arm, only a faint outline of a scar remained on her arm. Sierra smiled at Rayla gratefully and nodded her thanks to her as she gotten ready to sleep.
"Hey, what about you?" Callum asked Rayla. "Aren't you going to sleep?"
"In a little while — I'm still wide awake," said Rayla.
Sierra knew how Rayla felt. How would she ever fall asleep given all that had happened in the past few hours? Terrifying visions of the battle she'd witnessed flashed in her mind as the forest wind went through her hair.
Callum placed a gentle hand on the egg with a fatherly smile. "Don't worry. We'll take you back home to your mother." Sierra watched as Callum fell asleep next to the Dragon Prince's egg. But she glanced at Ezran curiously as he snuggled with Bait. Ezran breathed in deeply and hummed the lullaby to himself.
"The Sun is down, and the Moon is high.
Baby yawns wide with a sleepy sigh.
The Sky fills up with Stars that blink.
Baby's eyelids start to sink.
The Ocean kisses the Earth good night.
The waves say hushhh... little baby, sleep tight."
Somehow, Ezran felt as if their father were there with him. He was almost sure he could feel the king's warm lips press against his forehead. As usual, Ezran yawned and was off to sleep.
Sierra yawned and laid down on the other side of the egg. She gently placed her hand on the egg's shell and smiled as she felt the warm heartbeats underneath the glowing shell. "We'll protect you, young one." She placed one hand over her heart and placed her hand on the egg's shell, feeling the heart beat strongly underneath the shell. Just as Sierra was about to fall asleep, she was almost sure she could feel the king's warm lips press against her forehead.