The Little Star Princess (The Dragon Prince)

Chapter 22.

POV Narrator:

Aaegaon was humming a song quietly as he worked on something in the corner of the cave. Suddenly his head snapped towards the exit. He had heard something. The noise, a rustling, sounded again and this time Rayla had noticed it too. "Who's there? Show yourself or I'll greet you with my pointed friends," she called and jumped up, ready to defend the princes. Aaegaon also stood up and walked towards Ezran. A dark-skinned man had emerged from the bushes, he looked familiar to Aaegaon. But Aaegaon did not remember unimportant people, so he decided not to interfere in the situation. "You." The two prepared for a fight and Aaegaon would have liked to watch, after all he did not yet know much about Rayla's abilities, but he noticed out of the corner of his eye how Ezran pulled himself up. When the unknown-familiar man saw Ezran, he gasped. He raised his hands in a calming manner. "I'm not here to fight," he said calmly, laying his chain weapon on the ground. "My name is Corvus. Your aunt Amaya sent me." Rayla looked questioningly at the young prince and he nodded in confirmation. She stepped aside, still scowling. Slowly, watched by Rayla, Corvus walked toward the young prince. "I'm here to serve the king." Aaegaon pricked up his ears. What was going on now? Corvus put a hand over his heart and knelt down. Shock was etched into Rayla's face. "King Ezran." "That's what I call a surprise!"

Confused, Ezran stumbled back. "But I'm not the king. I'm just a prince. My father is..." Then it clicked. "Wait. You're not saying that. He's not..." Rayla closed her eyes, damn it. Corvus was still kneeling in place as Ezran panicked. "No! No, no, no!" Rayla rushed to him to comfort him. "Ezran, everything will be fine." She reached out a hand to him, but he slapped it away. Tears gathered in the elf's eyes, and now the only wizard in the group decided to intervene. "You knew? I'm an idiot! I should have found out. When we met you, you had two of those murderous bands, but one of them fell off that night." The white-haired elf knelt down beside him. "That's right. He must have fallen." The elf's tears dripped onto the stone floor of the cave. "'Fallen'?" "Yes," she murmured, turning her head away. "Fallen? He didn't fall, Rayla. He didn't trip and land on the floor. He was killed!" No one, neither Rayla nor Ezran, noticed that Aegaon was standing behind Ezran. His eyes were cold as steel. "I-I'm going for a walk!" "No, you're not." The wizard tapped him with just one finger and Ezran, the current king, collapsed. "King Ezran! What have you done to him?" Aegaon smiled and let Ezran slide gently to the ground. "He's only a small human. He could have put himself in danger. That would have been pretty suboptimal, you humans don't have such a long life expectancy." He grinned and folded his arms in front of his chest. Corvus deftly picked up his weapon from the ground and aimed at the tall elf, who now stepped out of the cave and stood upright. Rayla knelt down next to Ezran, he was still breathing. "Aaegaon!" "Wake him up, now! You little piece of-" Aaegaon raised his hand and fell silent. "This weapon can't hurt me, just for your information. And who are you to tell me what to do? You only serve, you worthless cockroach. Go back to your mistress and leave the matter to the elves. They can at least do something." He practically spat out these words. "Aaegaon! That's... You can't just put Ezran to sleep, he has to... You simply can't do that!" Aaegaon bowed his head. "Hm... But I'm right, aren't I?" "Yes... No, not quite." "I thought you were friends of the king! Friends don't do that!" Aaegaon rolled his eyes. "Oh please, shut up. You don't have a say in this." Rayla gritted her teeth. There was something strange about him. There was nothing left of the gentleness from before. "You have to wake him up, now!" Aaegaon sighed and shook his head. "He's only putting himself in unnecessary danger if he goes now. Rayla, please understand, we have to do the smartest thing." "If you don't wake him up, I won't tell you where your daggers is!" Aaegaon frowned. His eye twitched slightly, something Rayla couldn't identify. "Hm, I see." The elf shrugged his shoulders and snapped his fingers. Ezran sat up abruptly and grabbed his throat. "I have to go on a walk, now!" Aaegaon had already turned around to look for Callum and no longer paid attention to the king. Ezran jumped up and disappeared. Corvus wanted to follow him, but the elf stopped him. "Leave him alone." "Rayla, darling, you have to give me something don't you think?"

Corvus stayed outside the cave, perhaps out of fear of the elves, but perhaps also because he suspected that the elf would kill him if he came too close. Aaegaon put his hand on the cool stone wall and a curtain covered the entrance to the cave. "I don't like him," murmured Aaegaon and sat cross-legged. Rayla sighed and gently pulled the backpack out from under Callum's head. Slowly she opened the buckles and pulled out a covered dagger. His eyes began to shine when he saw his dagger. Gently, almost tenderly, he took it and pulled out the blade. Rayla gasped. It was the most beautiful dagger she had ever seen. The blade represented the starry sky and you could even see the signs of the human zodiacs. The stars seemed to move slowly and shine less/more. "Isn't it beautiful?" he asked dreamily and smiled. "Yeah, it's like something my foster father made." He grinned and put the dagger back in his pocket. "Are you going to help Callum now?" Aaegaon started to laugh. "No! He has to sort it out himself. I'm going to sleep now." "Wait a minute! You can't! And he layed down..."