The Dragon Prince: After the War

14-Ezran

14

Ezran

It isn't long after I wake up that the nervous butterflies come. It's the day of the festival, and I can't help wondering if this was a bad idea. I push the feeling down. Stressing about it won't help at all, and, though this sounds very roundabout, if I allow myself to stress then I'll be even more stressed by the time the festival comes. I take a deep breath and put on clothes. They're not very kingly, but I'm trying to hard not to stress to worry about my wardrobe.

I walk out the doors, the guards stationed there instantly parting. I smile at them, which I think they're used to by now. They smile back with a small wave. As I start to walk down the halls, they follow me. I've been king for a month and the fact that I have bodyguards always weirds me out. It's strange to me that there are people whose whole job is to protect me.

When I get into the courtyard, I see people dressed in bright-colored clothes setting up some stands. The stands feature various aspects of the culture of the different types of elves. I'm hoping if they can see how similar elves are to humans, they'll see that elves aren't monsters. At least, that's the plan.

"Yazmin!" I call out to a petite young woman standing with a clipboard. She turns her head, her dark brown hair swishing around.

"Your Highness," she says with a bow. I've long since tried to convince her not to do as such. "Is everything satisfactory?"

I nod. "Thank you. How is setting up going?"

"It's going along very successfully, Your Majesty. I think this a very smart idea." I smile at her. She beams at me. Then, another woman with wild red hair comes up to her, curtsies to me, and whispers something to her. She nods and looks up at me. "My King, it seems I have to go and continue with preparations. May I be dismissed?"

"Of course!" I say. "You don't even have to ask. May I help you with anything?"

The new woman sizes me up, probably noticing just how young I am to be king. The gossip has of course spread, but I imagine it's an entirely different thing seeing a ten-year-old king in person. I can't say I blame her for looking so surprised.

"Excuse me, Your Highness, but this is not work fitted for a king!"

I try to give her a kind smile, though I'm secretly irritated - not at her, at how being a king means that I'm viewed as higher up than everyone else. "I am your king and that means I serve you. Please, is there anything I can do to help?"

Yazmin and the other woman exchange glances and seem to come to a silent agreement. "Of course, Sire. I meant no disrespect," says Yazmin. "If you like, you can help Ady put up streamers. Of course, it might be dirty and-"

"That sounds amazing." I turn to the woman, Ady. "Show me where the streamers are."

The streamers are multicolored and beautiful - they're the same ones that I had Callum take to the courtyard. It's strange, that. People don't make as much of a fuss of him helping as me. I mean, he's royalty too. I don't know.

Ady and I start hanging up streamers in silence. I drop one, and it lands onto the dirty courtyard floor. I bend down to pick it up, but Ada is already at it. "Your Highness," she says, handing the streamer to me.

"Please," I say, accepting it. "Call me Ezran."

"Your Highness?"

"Please."

"Well... Ezran-" she clamps a hand over her mouth and a giggle escape her mouth. I smile.

"So, tell me about your life," I said, eager to escape the awkward silence that makes me stress out even more about this festival.

She's hesitant at first, but then she starts talking about her life. About how she grew up penniless in a small hut at the edge of town. Of how she made a living from there. And then she says something that fills me with reminds me of something.

"We believe in you, Ezran. We really do. There are some who think you should abdicate, but the rest of us support you. You've been a good king. This is going to work." The conviction in her voice gives me hope that everything will be alright.

That's all you can do sometimes. Believe. This is going to work.

And then the festival is less than an hour away.

***

It's finally festival time, as Soren says. He might be slightly depressed these days, but he's right about that. Opeli insisted I wear fancy clothes, so I'm stuck in a gold-embroidered suit. Looks like I'm not the only one; Callum looks even fancier than me with his shoulder brushes. I can't believe Opeli convinced him to wear that. Even Rayla's wearing a dress. I don't think I've ever seen her in anything other than her assassin outfit. Callum keeps gazing at her, which is kind of funny.

As soon as we step onto the courtyard, the whole crowds stop their conversations to stare at us - especially Rayla and Callum, who are holding hands. I wave at them. Some look away, embarrassed, while others look with glares. I step up to the podium followed by Callum and Rayla. I nervously stare at the crowd. I will never get used to public speaking.

"Hello, all." I silently chastise myself. I sound like an idiot. "Thank you all for being here. I know you all have preconceived notions about elves, and the purpose of today is for you to learn that elves aren't so different from humans-"

"Elves killed my grandmother! They're vermin!" calls out a voice from the audience. Okay, maybe they didn't all come with open minds. I hold my hand out for silence as there are mutterings of agreement.

"No," I say. "They're not-"

And that's when everything goes wrong. "He's right." The voice is all too familiar. I glance at Soren, who is standing with his battle gear and looking in horror at the source. Her black hair is now mostly white, but other than that, her face is exactly the same. I look back at Callum, and his look of horror is almost equal to Soren's.

"Have any of you ever wondered why his stance on elves changed so drastically in such a small period of time," asks Claudia.

"Claudia..." Soren sounds like he's going to be sick. "What are you doing here?"

Claudia looks at Soren. "I'm here to save you."

"From what?" he asks. He's clutching the wall.

"Him!" she screams and points in my direction. A gasp goes through the crowd and I turn to see Callum looking very pale.

"D-Do you see him?" he whispers. He's looking at something that isn't there. Rayla takes him by the shoulders.

"Who?!"

"A-Aaravos." He's trembling so much, I'm sure he'll collapse any second.

Rayla's eyes widen in shock, but before she can say anything, Claudia interferes. "He has you all under some kind of spell to force you to forgive elves for all of the terrible deeds they did."

I have no idea what's going on, but it isn't good. It is the complete opposite of good. Then, fire engulfs all of the meticulously put up decorations and exhibits. The banners I worked so hard to put up are now a pile of ash. That's when pandemonium breaks out. I can barely see Claudia or the ghost with the stampede. Though I long to join them, a wall of flames stops me from moving. We're trapped. Callum stares at the wall with haunted eyes, while Rayla hardly seems to notice, screaming Callum's name.

This is so not good. I don't know what to do.

I shut my eyes and take a deep breath. How can you believe when life is so dark?