Dragon Prince: Warrior (Re-Write)

Chapter Fourteen: A Wolf Girl

Once Callum's cold has improved, he was the first one to awake before anyone else. He put out the fire, cleaned the camp, and gingerly placed his adoptive son in his pack. Then he woke up Rayla, Sierra, Ezran, and Bait.
"Lets go," he said.
He watched as everyone woke up, but he stood near Rayla's side as she woke up and smiled at her with a wave of gratitude washing over him towards the elf.
"Thanks for saving me, Rayla." Callum felt himself warming up to the elf.
"You're welcome, Callum." Rayla's voice has became warm and gentle towards the determined boy.
Everyone hurried into the snow without a single piece of hesitation. They left the cave quietly and made their way through the quiet forest where there was no fear of any wolves, much to their relief. Callum walked near Rayla, while Sierra and Ezran walked alongside with each other. It took a while, but it wasn't long till Sierra saw something up ahead. They soon came up a hill to see a mountain village. The small, quaint houses were covered in at least a foot of snow, and smoke rose from the chimneys. A towering mountain with a flat top created a backdrop for the town.
"Uh oh." Sierra suddenly recognizes the village with a touch alarm and glanced at Rayla. She had almost forgotten that she village is paranoid about elves. "I think we've found some trouble."
"Oh boy." Callum cringed at the village as soon as he recognizes it. "This village holds a massive grudge regarding elves. We're gonna have to pass through an elf-hating town."
Everyone exchanged uneasy glances at Callum's warning, Sierra exchanged a look with Ezran uncertainly and looked back at Callum nervously.
"How are we going to get through?" Sierra asked Callum, who shrugged helplessly.
"I've got this covered." Rayla butt in a little too happily before reaching into Ezran's backpack and pulling out a long dark green hooded cloak. "Meet Human Rayla!" The elven girl spun herself around and pulled the hood up, grinning proudly.
The two princes and Bait just looked at her in confusion, but Sierra looked slightly confounded of the sight of Rayla pretending to be a human.
"Okay." Sierra gave Callum a flat look. "How hard did I hit my head, Callum?"
"You didn't," replied Callum.
Sierra and Callum both looked unconvinced, while Ezran looked a little curious about the sight of the idea.
"You know you're going to stick out, right?" Sierra asked Rayla.
"Relax." Rayla smirked playfully. "I'll just wear my disguise with my perfect human impression."
"Can't you use a disguising spell or use something to cast an illusion of a fifth finger?" Callum asked her. "You're a Moonshadow elf after all. You're connected to it."
"I can't do that without the Moon." Rayla pointed up to the sun. "Also, I don't know a lot about doing moon magic. I'll just find something to cover my hands." She stared around and to her surprise, she saw a figure of snow built near a hug. "Perfect! A snow-elf." She dashed off to it.
"That's a snowman," corrected Sierra. She watched as Rayla run to the snowman made of three large balls of snow with twigs poking out its sides, a carrot, stones resembling a mouth of teeth and eyes.
The elf pulled the gloves off the sticks and covered her hands. "See perfect." She held up her gloved hands, but the pinkie fingers fell.
"I'm started to have second thoughts about this," Sierra muttered under her breath.
"Just don't shake hands with anyone," said Callum.
They walked off towards town, but not before Rayla pulled the carrot nose out of the snowman's face and split it in half to place it on top of the head as ears. "Snow elf." The four of them (including Bait) headed towards the center of town despite Callum's worries about attracting unwanted attention.
They soon came across a large crowd that had formed near an old stone fountain. A slender young man was standing on the edge of the fountain talking loudly to the crowd. He appeared to be putting on some sort of show and repeatedly pointed to a sheathed dagger on his belt. He waved his arms in the air theatrically. The four of them moved closer to see what was happening.
"I defended the Border against all manner of horrors and monstrosities — things you can't even imagine! There's nothing I, Tristan, fear now." The man strutted around the fountain, fluffing up his fur collar and smoothing down his mustache. Then he held up gloved finger as if struck by an idea. He swiped a pouch from his belt and threw it down with the coins jingling inside. "In fact, I wager I could defeat any challenger here with nothing, but my dagger." He patted the small sheath on his hip.
Sierra scoffed softly as the crowd started chatting softly about the idea of it. After all, her late mother and the three fallen queens were the true heroes. The man was clearly a conceited mercenary, but no one really wanted to take him on.
"Anyone dare to challenge me?" Tristan taunted.
Just then, a massive shadow fell over the performer as an enormous man in full armor stepped forward. He sheathed an immense weapon and crackled.
"This isn't even my biggest sword," he said, making the crowd whispered in excitement.
The giant and the mercenary squared off, Sierra listened to Callum as he said quietly, "Everyone's distracted. Let's go."
"Wait." Rayla's violet eyes were on the knife. "Look."
As the giant swung his sword as Tristan pulled the dagger out of its sheath. As Sierra suspected, the blade was only a few inches long, but it glowed fire orange as though it had been pulled out from the heat of a forge.
The magic dagger sliced through the giant's sword like butter and the broken half clanged to the ground. The hulk stared at the hilt of his sword, utterly dumbfounded, then dropped it and backed away in fear.
"Anyone else?" Tristan asked.
The crowd gasped in awe as Tristan scuttled around to pocket his winnings.
"What was that?" Callum asked.
"A Sunforge blade," replied Rayla.
"What's a Sunforge blade?" asked Ezran curiously.
"In Xadia, Sunfire elves can make magic weapons that stay as hot as the moment they're forged for hundreds of years," Rayla explained.
Sierra observed the man getting given money for his victory. She eyed the scabbard intently. "The sheath is inscribed with special runes to protect him from the heat."
"Otherwise, his pants would be on fire?" Ezran asked, making Sierra chuckled quietly in her amusement.
"Yeah. His legs too," said Rayla.
Callum's eyes widened. "Rayla, if that blade can cut through a steel sword, would you say it can cut through pretty much anything?"
"My binding," said Rayla.
Callum nodded. "You will have to get that dagger. Let's split up. Ezran and I will find help for the egg. Sierra, you will get the supplies. Rayla, you work on your binding. Then we'll meet back here at the fountain."
"But how will you get the dagger?" Ezran asked Rayla.
Rayla tugged up her hood and narrowed her eyes. "I'm going to ask nicely."

At that, the four of them split up in the village. Farther inland, Sierra could see stands of stands displaying fruits, meats, fish, clothes, paints, and so on. Sierra fed off the noise and became worried at the energy of the town as Sierra has managed to purchase more food, water, and supplies. She made her way through the winding streets to the statue, only to see a gloomy Rayla sitting there. There was a chill in the air; it's going to be another cold night.
"Did you find the knife guy? Did you get his knife?" Ezran suddenly appeared, running up to Rayla with a huge smile on his face and accidentally startling Sierra, making her step back from the young prince. Callum was right behind him. 
Rayla held up her wrist. "The bad news is that the Sunforge blade didn't work." Rayla breathed deeply for dramatic effect. "The good news is the binding with fall off eventually... when my hand does." Sierra grimaced at that piece of news.
Callum winced. "Ugh, Rayla. I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's fine," Rayla said. "Just give me some good news. Tell me something good happened with the egg."
"Yes and no. Well, no." Callum's statement confused Sierra and made her feel curious. "Not yet, but maybe! So yes? In a way."
"Okay, that's averaging out to around a 'maybe minus'," Rayla said.
"Yeah, that's about right," agreed Callum.
"We learned about a miracle healer," Ezran said. "Someone who might be able to help the egg. And maybe your hand too!"
Ezran's enthusiasm was contagious. Rayla felt a glimmer of excitement. "Really? A miracle healer?"
"Oh, now I remember." Sierra remembered about a rumor of an injured wolf pup, a brave girl, and a miracle healer when she was purchasing some supplies. "That was a talk of the whole village." She looked at the boys with a smile. "You two met Ellis and Ava, haven't you?"
Callum nodded. "Yup." He soon looked at Rayla. "The only catch is that the healer lives up there." He pointed to an ominous flat-topped mountain in the distance. "It's called Cursed Caldera."
Rayla hung her head towards him and said, "Please tell the mountain is named that because it was discovered by the great explorer, Sir Phinneas Kirst."
Sierra grimaced at the mention of the caldera. She overheard that it has some monsters streaming through the haunting forest, which keeps everyone away from the forest.
"Well, no." Callum gave Rayla a sympathetic look. "It's apparently infested with horrible monsters—"
"Yeah, I know, I know," said Rayla.
Suddenly, they heard shouting and clanging heading in their direction. A familiar voice shouted, "There they are!" Their eyes widened in fear. Tristan came running from around the corner leading a pack of angry villagers.
"They're elves!" Tristan yelled.
Rayla jumped up and covered herself with her cloak. "Oh, right, I forgot about the other bad news. Let's move!"
They sprinted away from the violent, elf-fearing humans with Callum, Sierra, and Ezran behind Rayla. The crowd chased the gang over bridges, through narrow passages, and all the way to the edge of the village, swords and pitchforks ready to slaughter the enemies.
"Suddenly, the Cursed Caldera doesn't seem like such a bad option!" Rayla yelled over her shoulder.
As they fled into the caldera, where black winds swirled wildly around a volcanic-shaped peak. They ran through snow and mist, barely noticing the darkening sky.
Finally, gasping in the air, the group collapsed at the base of a tree and looked down the mountain for their pursers. No one was coming; they were entirely alone on the caldera.
"I think we're safe," Callum said.
The forest stretched around them in all directions, and the path upward loomed darker than where they had come from. Creepy, mysterious sounds echoed all around them.
"Guys, this place is pretty creepy," Ezran said, while Bait grunted his agreement.
Sierra looked around warily. "No kidding. I never even been here before."
"Safe. Sure," Rayla said. "How are we supposed to find anyone? And what's that?"
She pointed to a rock just above them.
A large, shadowy creature stood looking down on them with glimmering green eyes. The beast pawed at the ground, snarling under its breath. Rayla put one hand on a blade and Sierra placed a hand her blade, but the last of the fading daylight illuminated the creature.
It wasn't one creature — it was two.
There's a young girl on the huge creature. She was wearing a hat, boots, and a heavy winter coat. Her long black hair hung in a single braid down her back.
The girl was riding a full-grown wolf — a very big wolf. The wolf seemed taller than the girl. The wolf is light brown and wearing a green collar with a shiny stone dangling from it.
"Hi," said the girl. "I'm Ellis, and this is my sweetie-wolf, Ava." Ellis ruffled the fur on Ava's head. "Come with me. I'll help you find the healer."