Dragon Prince: Warrior (Re-Write)

Chapter Twenty-One: Flight to Freedom

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 headed outside, stretching and breathing into the fresh morning air.
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 petted the grumpy glow toad's head. "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.
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.

The sun was starting to set, casting a soft golden light to the mountain as the group was preparing to depart from Lujanne and Phoe-Phoe's home. The Moon mage 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," Sierra said to the Moon mage 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."
"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.
"I'm going to miss you." Ellis beamed at her, in which she returns.
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 the two princes on Phoe-Phoe's back.
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 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 comes up behind him. Before the huntsman could even react, the guard bashed the rock against the back of his head, knocking him out. She clucked her tongue sympathetically and helped Rayla into the saddle in front of her. "That's gotta leave a mark."
Sierra 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! Bye Ava!" 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."
"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 received an encouraging nod by Callum and the baby dragon 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 Callum smiled at his dragon son 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.