The Dragon Prince: Breath of Hope

Chapter 16- The Rise and Fall

Soren stretched his back as he left the trees, and looked over the dragon while his sister examined it. "Claudia? Everything alright?"

"It's still alive. I can hear it breathing. It's faint but... still there." She smirked a little. "Dad wanted the other dragon back... but you think he'd be alright with this dragon instead? If we keep it alive and let it shift... we could take it back."

The guard nodded, even if the idea made him feel sick. "We could try."

"Hey, dragon! Wake up!" She knelt down and began to poke around the eye and the chained muzzle. "Come on, wake up."

There was a faint growl of irritation, but nothing changed.

Claudia grumbled in frustration, then reached up to the dragon's neck to pull on one of the spines, snapping it like an old, dry twig. The pain made the dragon flinch, but she didn't wake or move. Looking at her new prize, Claudia sighed as she stood back up. "We'll have to wait for it to wake up," she muttered, then walked away.

As she left, Soren quickly checked to make sure no one else was near, then knelt down. "Psst, Pyrrah? I have a message from Cadonumis," he whispered.

The dragon's eye cracked open a little. "Cadonumis?" she whispered back, "How do you know that name?"

"He's a friend. Listen, he wanted me to tell you, he's going to cause a distraction for you to escape. When you can, fly to the cave, and meet him there."

Pyrrah closed her eye again. "How do I know you're not trying to trick me?"

"He said... to tell you... dragonic regiis... fi-fi-fid...." He cursed. "I can't remember the last word."

"Fiducia," the red dragon sighed, then opened her eye again, "Very well. I will do as you say."

Looking into her bright blue eye, Soren nodded. "I'm going to loosen your chains. Should allow you to escape. Wait for the prince's distraction, then go."

"What kind of distraction?"

"You'll know when it happens."

"Soren? What are you doing?" He turned around to see Claudia holding her book to her chest.

"Just checking the chains," he lied, messing with the chain near the snout. "Hate for it to get loose and shift."

"Good idea. Let me help."

"No, I got it," he said, standing up and blocking her. "Have you...decided what part you want first?"

The mage turned back to her book. "I think I'll go for the blood. From this, it looks like any dragon blood will work to subdue a dragon of the same Primal Source, even if the blood didn't come from that particular dragon."

"In other words..." her brother said with a frown.

"In other words, I could use the blood of this dragon to subdue... another one." She smirked and closed her book, "I need a bowl and a knife, see if I can make it work."

As she hurried away to get the items, Soren turned back to Pyrrah. "Hope you're strong enough now," he whispered as he slowly walked around and fiddled with each peg. He loosened them to the point where they barely held down the creature's breathing. "Slow your breathing," he hissed as he knelt by her side, "You're going to pull the chains loose."

The growl showed she didn't approve, but then her chest began to slow and stopped pulling on the chains.

With the rest of the chains 'checked', Soren made his way to the side, and picked up a water skin as planned. In the trees, Callum stood watching for the signal. Once he saw, he quickly checked to see if he was alone, then walked out into the clearing. "Hey, what's going on here?" he called to the guards in his human form.