The Dragon Crown

Chapter 19

Standing in front of me was cerberus, tail wagging, clearly he was happy to see me. All three heads nuzzled me, causing me to giggle and pet them. "Cerberus! What are you doing here, boy?" He barked and looked up to the sky. I followed his gaze to see Razor Beak flying around the house, ramming it and screeching. "Razor Beak!" He noticed me and landed, then immediately used his sharp beak to tear off my cuffs. I pet him, then said, "Leo's still inside locked up, we have to get him out!" They both looked at the house, then cerberus barked, and when I turned towards him, he was kneeling down. I knew exactly what he wanted, so I climbed on his back. "Razor Beak, continue ramming the house, try to knock it apart if possible!" He flew up and continued circling and ramming the house, good thing Soren is gone right now. "Let's go cerberus!"

Cerberus charged forward, busting right through the door. I pointed him in the direction of the basement. He burst into the basement with ease, "Emmy?! Cerberus?! What's going on?!" "It's alright Leo, we're being rescued! Stand back!" He stood as far away as he could as cerberus grabbed the bars and ripped them apart. I jumped down and ran to Leo as he did the same. I tackled him in a hug, "I'm so glad to finally get you outta there." He chuckled, "I'm just glad to be able to hold you again." He pecked my lips, causing me to smile.

We climbed on cerberus, who immediately turned and rushed out. On our way out, we grabbed our bags that Soren and Spirit looked through, but luckily they didn't take anything out. I had no idea where Spirit was, but I really wasn't concerned. As soon as we got out, I saw Razor Beak ram the house one more time, causing half the thing to fall apart. "Razor Beak! We're all out, now let's go back to see Buck and Alice!" Razor Beak squawked and took off in the direction of Buck's place. "Cerberus, follow him!" He barked and took off running, following Razor Beak, who was soaring in the sky above.

After awhile, we made it back to Buck's house. Razor Beak landed, and Buck and Alice immediately rushed outside to us. Alice rushed over and hugged my leg, "I'm so glad you're ok, Emerald!" I smiled and kneeled down to her, "Of course, I told you not to worry. I told you we'd be fine." She smiled, then looked at cerberus and asked, "Who's the big doggie?" I walked her over to him, "This is cerberus, it's ok, you can pet him." She pet him, causing his tail to wag. I left her to play with cerberus and Razor Beak, I went inside to change out of the nightgown, then walked back to Leo and Buck.

Buck held out a box to Leo, he took it and opened it, revealing the Dragon Crown, with a new piece added to it. Buck smiled, "I kept it safe, just like you asked Leo." "Thank you so much, I really appreciate it." "It was no problem at all." I decided to ask, "So you had the third piece of the crown after all?" He looked at me, "Oh, that's right, you weren't with us at the time." Leo smiled, "He had the third piece, and generously gave it to us. Then he kept it hidden when we were captured." I nodded in understanding and smiled.

I then said, "Well, I guess we'd better be on our way, still gotta find the last piece. Thanks again, for everything." Buck nodded, "Of course, I'm glad I was able to help." I went over to Alice and hugged her, "We gotta go, bye Alice." "Will I see you again?" "How about we come visit after we finish our journey, then we can play together and make flower crowns." She smiled, "Yay! Bye bye for now, I can't wait for your next visit!" I smiled and went over to cerberus, "Cerberus, thank you for helping us. I want you to stay here." He tilted his heads in confusion, "I bet it was pretty lonely back at those ruins, but here, you have Alice to keep you company. Look after her for me, ok?" He whimpered and let me pet him one more time, "See ya later, you big puppy dog."

I climbed on Razor Beak with Leo right behind, we both yelled out, "Bye for now, we'll come and visit you soon!" Buck and Alice waved, and cerberus barked as I held out the crown. The light pointed us in a direction, Razor Beak immediately took off toward it. Leo wrapped his arms around me and rested his head on my shoulder, causing a smile to form on my face. Everything was back to normal, and so we continue on our journey for the last piece of the Dragon Crown.

Soren's pov

As I flew back home, I saw my mansion was destroyed. I landed and marched up to Spirit, who was sitting on the ground in defeat. "Spirit! What happened?!" He looked at me with a sad expression and mumbled, "They got away." I groaned, "What good are you Spirit, you can't even watch over prisoners! You really are a failure! And now my home is destroyed!" He got up and yelled back, "Well, if you hadn't failed before, none of this would have happened!" I opened my mouth to reply, but said nothing. Finally, Spirit sighed, "I give up, I don't want Emerald anymore, not if this is what I get in return." I sighed, "And I give up on the crown, there's no way I can get it now. The king can find someone else to do his dirty work." "So...what now?" I shrugged, "I don't know." "Wanna go get something to eat?" I sighed, "Sure."