by Aaron Ehasz
“What now?” Rayla asked. It was as clear to her as it was to Callum that if they were going to get the egg safely off this fragile ice, Rayla would need to be part of the relay.
“Rayla, I’m going to hand you the egg. I’m sorry if I was a jerk before,” Callum said. “We’re lucky to have you as our friend. I do trust you.” He held the egg out to Rayla like a peace offering, with a warm, trusting look in his eyes.
But Rayla shook her head as guilt welled up inside her.
“No, don’t give me the egg,” she said. “I don’t deserve your trust, not yet. I need to tell you the truth.” She closed her eyes. “This morning, the big rush was because I was attacked by someone. It … it was a human who was following us. I think he was sent by your aunt Amaya. I fought him off, but it was hard … because of this.” She held up her injured hand and pointed to the tight ribbon constricting her wrist.
“This is an assassin’s binding. A Moonshadow elf ritual. Before I met you, I swore an oath—I bound myself to end Prince Ezran’s life. And this binding will never come off while he’s alive. It will just get tighter and tighter until I lose my hand.” Rayla looked at the princes. “But I’m ready to pay that price.”
Ezran caught Rayla’s eye. She’d lose her hand for him?
“Thank you for telling us,” Callum said. “But we need to focus on the situation.” He started to hand her the egg but Rayla took another deep breath and held up her hand.
“There’s one more thing. The night I met you, something bad happened—”
CRACK! The ice beneath Callum split.
“Rayla, there’s no time right now.”
“Callum, I need to tell you—the king—!”
But the cracks were spreading rapidly in every direction.
“Just take it!” Callum pleaded. He shoved the egg into Rayla’s arms.
Rayla was caught off guard, and though she tried to catch the egg, it was too heavy for her injured hand. It escaped her grasp, hit the ice, and broke through.
Callum’s jaw dropped. There was now a huge hole in the ice, opening to the cold, black water beneath. The light of the egg faded and then disappeared as it sank in the deep water.
“You dropped it,” he said to Rayla.
“I just told you my hand was messed up,” Rayla cried.
“Well, use the other hand,” Callum said.
“Stop arguing!” Ezran said. “We have to do something.”
But before Callum or Rayla could make another move, Ezran dove into the icy hole. He disappeared into the murky water.
“Ez, no! Ezran,” Callum called out into the hole. “I’m going after him,” he said to Rayla.
But Rayla grabbed his arm.
“Don’t,” she said. “He has to do this alone. He’ll get it; he’ll save the egg. We must believe in him. And we’re going to need to be up here to pull him out.”
Ezran hadn’t thought before diving into the freezing water. He wasn’t sure if he had chosen his destiny or it had chosen him; he only knew that this was what he had to do.
But under the ice, the water was nearly pitch black. Ezran could barely see his hand in front of his face, let alone the egg. He paddled desperately in the direction he thought the egg had gone, scanning the dark for any sign of it. The cold pricked at his skin like daggers until numbness started to take over.
And then he saw something. It wasn’t much—a glint of blue. His lungs burned as he pushed through the water, but the speck of light seemed to bob farther out of reach.
Then a strange sensation crept over Ezran’s body. Warmth traveled from his toes to the top of his head. His mind went fuzzy.
But there—a bright light seemed to be getting closer. Without really trying, he drifted toward the white glow. The light started to take shape and a silhouette emerged. A sense of comfort washed over him—it must be his mother, he thought, here to retrieve him from the frozen waters. He did not remember her, but somehow he knew her. She smiled and beckoned Ezran toward the light. He paddled to reach her, and as he came closer, she appeared ready to hold him in her warm embrace. Ezran held his arms out in a circle to hug her.
But the moment Ezran wrapped his arms around the glow, he knew something was off. He wasn’t hugging his mother; he was holding something hard and cold—it was the dragon egg!
Jolted out of his dreamy stupor, Ezran thrashed his legs to propel himself and the egg to the surface. But where was the hole he’d fallen through? He searched left and right but it was too late—his head hit ice. With one fist, he whacked on the ice above him, pounding as hard as he could.
Above the ice, Callum and Rayla waited in silence for Ezran to reemerge.
“Come on, come on …” Callum muttered. He thought he might throw up.
“It’s going to be okay,” Rayla said. “Ez will get it.”
One minute passed, then two. Callum couldn’t believe this was happening. He spun around toward Rayla.
“You were wrong, Rayla,” Callum said. “He’s not coming back.”
Tears formed in Rayla’s eyes as she accepted that Callum was probably right. “I’m so sorry, I thought he would be able to do this. I thought it was the way it had to be.” She brought her hands to her face to wipe away the tears, her injured hand feeling extra cold.
Wait. Her binding.
“Callum, he’s alive! Ezran has to be alive. Look at my binding. It’s still tight.” She looked around the ice frantically.
TAP! TAP! TAP!
In a flash, Rayla skidded over to Ezran, lay down, and used her blades to bash a hole in the ice. She dragged Ezran to the surface, struggling with the weight of his soaked clothing and the egg.
Callum grabbed Rayla by the ankles and pulled both her and Ezran back to shore, trying to ignore Ezran’s bluish skin. Once on land, he wrapped his arms around his brother to generate some warmth. The egg rolled out of Ezran’s grasp.
“Ezran. Ezran! You saved it, you got the egg back! You did it,” Callum said.
There was no response.
He placed the back of his hand on Ezran’s ice-cold cheek. “Please, Ezran, you’ve got to be okay! Just say something—speak to me.”
Finally, finally, Ezran blinked his eyes open.
“I think I got a case of the frozey toe-sies,” he said.
Callum hugged him tight and kissed him on the forehead. Rayla hugged both princes and everyone laughed with relief.
Then Ezran looked over at the egg, lying on its side nearby. “Oh no,” he said. The egg’s bright glow had dimmed to a flicker. “There’s something wrong with the egg.”
Ez, you should really try to sleep,” Callum said.
Ezran sat close to the campfire, straining to stay awake. His teeth chattered and his whole body shivered, but he refused to rest because he wanted to watch over the ailing dragon egg. He wrinkled his nose, scrunched up his face, and sneezed. “I’m fide,” he said through his stuffy sinuses.
Rayla and Callum had dragged a half-frozen Ezran and the egg up the mountain, where they located a small cavern that would protect them from the elements. Rayla built a fire and placed the egg nearby to warm it, then she left in search of food. Callum had his sketchbook on his knees and was drawing intently, but every few minutes he shot worried glances in the direction of Ezran and the egg.
“You’re not fide,” Callum said. “You need rest.”
But instead of lying down, Ezran shuffled closer to Callum.
“What are you drawing?” he asked, leaning over Callum’s shoulder to look. Callum braced himself for his brother’s reaction.
“Oh …” was all Ezran said.
Callum thought he’d captured their mother’s serenity and kindness pretty well. She was dressed in her crown and royal robes, with her hands clasped in front of her.
“When you were down there, under the ice, I was so scared,” Callum said to his brother. “I thought I was going to lose you like we lost her.” He tapped the drawing. “But somehow, you made it. And now I can’t st
op thinking … maybe she was watching over us.” Callum knew it was his responsibility to talk to Ezran about their mother’s death, to help him get through it, since he was the older brother. But so often, the subject was simply too difficult to broach.
“I miss her,” Ezran said.
“If she knew what we were trying to do, she’d be proud of us,” Callum said. Then he shook his head at Ezran. “And she would yell at you to go sit closer to the fire and bundle up,” he added.
“I doe,” Ezran said. He moved closer to the fire and warmed his hands.
“Oh, she’s beautiful,” Rayla said. She had entered the cave quietly and was admiring the drawing of Queen Sarai. “Is that your mother?”
Callum nodded.
Rayla didn’t know what else to say, so she changed the subject. “Um, I found some moonberries. I already picked out the poison ones.” She placed a sack on the ground with her good hand, then unwrapped it with her injured hand, wincing. A small bunch of red berries rolled to the edges of the cloth. “This should keep us full for a day,” she said.
While the boys gobbled some berries, Rayla examined the dragon egg, which was wrapped in cloth near the fire.
“It’s even dimmer than when I left,” Rayla said.
Ezran nodded. “We gotta fide help.”
They looked at one another in silent agreement.
“That’s what we’ll do first thing in the morning,” Rayla said. “Right now, the best thing we can do is sleep.”
The next morning, Ezran’s cold had improved significantly and he couldn’t wait to get moving. He was the first one awake, so he put out the fire, cleaned the camp, and gingerly wrapped the egg in his pack. Then he woke up Callum and Rayla.
“Guys, let’s go,” he said. He hurried into the snow without waiting for a response. Callum and Rayla scrambled out after him, rubbing the sleep from their eyes.
It wasn’t long before they came to a mountain village. The small, quaint houses were covered in at least a foot of snow, and smoke rose from the chimneys. A towering mountain with a flat top created a backdrop for the town.
“I knew I saw smoke!” Rayla said. “Maybe we can find help.”
“Okay, sure. We might find a dragon egg expert,” Callum said. “But we will definitely find a bunch of elf-hating humans. And that’s a problem.”
“Or maybe it’s not a problem,” Rayla said. She had an idea. She ran over to Ezran’s pack and grabbed his cloak. Then she turned away from the princes. “Get ready to meet”—she draped the garment over herself, making sure the hood covered her horns and pointy ears, then twirled around in the snow like a magician—“human Rayla!”
The boys didn’t seem convinced.
“Just wait,” Rayla said. “Once I pair my ‘disguise’ with my perfect human impression, the illusion will be complete.” She stepped back and puffed up her chest.
“Greetings, fellow humans—human fellows.” She spoke in a high-pitched, nasal accent. As she passed the boys, she elbowed Callum in the ribs and clapped Ezran on the back so hard he lost his balance. “I sure do like hanging out with other humans and talking about things like money and starting wars.”
“That’s pretty good,” Ezran said.
“Totally, my good human friend,” Rayla said. “Bring it in for a high four!” She raised her good, four-fingered elf hand up in the air and Ezran slapped it.
“Uhhhh … can you impersonate a fifth finger?” Callum asked.
“Right, right. I need some kind of a … hand disguise,” Rayla said. She pondered her options. As luck would have it, someone had formed a mound of snow into the shape of a person. It was wearing gloves on its stick-arms.
“Look, guys! Snow elf,” Rayla said, sprinting over to it.
“I’m pretty sure that’s a snowman,” Ezran said.
Rayla relieved the snowman of its gloves and pulled them on her own hands. She wiggled them in Callum’s face. “Hand disguise,” she said.
Callum poked the empty pinky finger and it bent backward. “Good enough, I guess. Just don’t shake hands with anyone.”
The trio (and Bait) headed toward the center of town despite Callum’s worries about attracting too much attention. They came across a large crowd that had formed near an old stone fountain. A slender young man was standing on the edge of the fountain talking loudly to the group. He appeared to be putting on some sort of show and repeatedly pointed to a sheathed dagger on his belt. He waved his arms in the air theatrically. Callum and the others moved closer to hear what was going on.
“I defended the border against all manner of horrors and monstrosities—things you can’t even imagine! There’s nothing I, Tristan, fear now,” the man said. He strutted around the fountain, fluffing up his fur collar and smoothing down his mustache. Then he held up a gloved finger as if suddenly stricken by an idea. He swiped a pouch from his belt and threw it down. Coins jingled within. “In fact, I wager I could defeat any challenger here with nothing but my dagger.” He patted the small sheath on his hip.
The crowd broke into chatters. The man was obviously a conceited mercenary, but no one really wanted to take him on.
Soren would be all over this if he were here, Callum thought.
“Anyone dare to challenge me?” Tristan taunted.
Just then, a shadow fell over the performer as an enormous man in full armor stepped forward. He unsheathed an immense weapon and cackled. “This isn’t even my biggest sword,” he said.
The crowd whispered again, this time with excitement. A matronly lady whipped out a coin purse and shouted, “I’ll take that bet!” Next to her a man called out, “My money on the big guy.”
The giant and the mercenary squared off and Callum recognized an opportunity. “Everyone’s distracted,” he said. “Let’s go.”
But Rayla had noticed something about the mercenary’s blade. She grabbed Callum’s arm. “Check out the elven runes along the dagger’s sheath.”
The giant swung his sword as Tristan pulled the dagger out of its sheath. As Rayla has suspected, the blade was only a few inches long, but it glowed fiery orange as though it had just been pulled from the heat of a forge.
The magic dagger sliced through the giant’s sword like butter and the broken half clanged to the ground. The hulk stared at the hilt of his sword, utterly dumbfounded, then dropped it and backed away in fear.
“Anyone else?” Tristan asked.
The crowd gasped in awe as Tristan scuttled around to pocket his winnings.
“What was that?” Callum asked over the din of the crowd.
“It’s a Sunforge blade,” Rayla said.
“Wow, I can’t believe I just saw a real Sunforge blade,” Ezran said. He paused. “What’s a Sunforge blade?”
A little blip of excitement bubbled up in Rayla. “In Xadia, Sunfire elves can make magic weapons that stay as hot as the moment they’re forged for hundreds of years,” Rayla explained. She pointed to the runed sheath at the mercenary’s belt. “See that? The sheath is inscribed with special runes to protect him from the heat. Otherwise, well …”
“His pants would be on fire?” Ezran asked.
“Yeah. His legs too,” Rayla said.
Callum’s eyes widened. “Rayla, if that blade can cut through a steel sword, would you say it can cut through pretty much anything?”
“Not just pretty much—it can cut through anything.” Her eyes lit up as she heard her own words. “My wrist binding!”
Callum nodded. “You have to go get that dagger,” he said. “Let’s split up. Ezran and I will find help for the egg. You work on your binding. Then we’ll meet back here at the fountain.”
“But how will you get the dagger?” Ezran asked Rayla.
Rayla tugged up her hood and narrowed her eyes. “I’m going to ask nicely,” she said.
The princes walked up and down the town streets until Ezran spotted a sign. It had the shapes of a cat and dog carved into it with a heart between the two animals.
“Look!
Do you think this is some kind of animal doctor?” Ezran asked.
“I think so,” Callum said. “Or … a dating service for pets.”
Ezran gave Callum a look. “Probably an animal doctor.”
“Yeah,” Callum said.
“But that’s a good idea!” Ezran added.
They pushed open the door and stepped inside. A bunch of stalls were occupied by farm animals with all sorts of ailments. Ezran saw a pig with pink eye, a cat with a broken tail, and a cow that appeared to have some sort of fungal infection on both its ears. An older man stood in front of a whinnying horse, tending to its rib cage.
“Be right with you,” the doctor called without looking away from the horse. When he seemed satisfied the horse was okay, he walked toward the princes. But he jumped back when he caught sight of Bait.
“I’m so sorry,” he said as he regained his composure. “There’s nothing I can do for that poor creature.”
Ezran looked at Bait. He was scowling like always but otherwise seemed fine.
“What?” Callum said. “Oh, no, no, he’s fine. We have, uh, a different problem. Ez, tell him.”
But now Ezran was distracted by the frazzled horse. The creature trembled, eyes wide and askew. “What happened to you, little sweetie?” he asked. The horse whinnied in response. “Aw, you saw something really scary, didn’t you?”
The doctor turned back to the horse and put a bucket of feed in front of it. “She sure did. This one ran away up the Cursed Caldera. Whatever she saw, she’s lucky it only scared her. Won’t make that mistake again.” He patted the horse kindly.
Meanwhile, Callum was petting an especially affectionate cat. “I see you’ve met Button Nose,” said the doctor.
“Oh, is she called that because her nose is so cute and sweet, like a little button?” Callum asked. But before the doctor could answer, the cat turned around and slowly pushed her bottom into Callum’s face.
The doctor explained, “She’s actually named that because of how she places her posterior on the noses of people she likes. Guess she likes you!” Then the doctor turned to business. “So, what can I help you with?”
