Chapter Five: Captured

Callum was riding a palomino stallion named Bolt with Diana on a silvery-blue horse named Tempest by his side. King Harrow had encouraged them to ride outside with some of the Crown Guards for a breath of fresh air and enjoy being outdoors. Diana, at the moment, is wearing new clothes for her new warrior status: the upper-half of Diana's shirt is dark blue, while the lower-half of her shirt is an extremely deep shade of blue. There's a piece of navy-blue material covering one of her shoulders with a white Katolis insignia on it. Attached to her shoulder-pad is a thin strip of navy-blue material that crosses her torso diagonally. Her skirt is mainly dark blue, with a piece of light blue fabric peeking out complimented by dark brown combat boots that's wrapped and laced up to her mid-shin. But strapped onto her belt is her late father's sword, and a bow and a quiver of arrows strapped to her back.
The farther they rode, the more Diana felt it like they were traveling out of time, away from the modern world to a mystical place where anything was possible. They rode toward the eastern part of the mountain range, just beyond the large kingdom. From the summit, there was a view of fields and the lights from village beyond it. On the clear night, Diana could see the lights in the castle windows. Though, she prefer the moon and the stars guiding her way towards the campsite. The castle served as a kind of beacon for the riders traveling through the rural northeast corner of Katolis. Diana was dazzled by the sparkling colors of the mountain forest.
Callum turned around and looked at Diana, who was riding right besides him like a protective guard, she looked up at Diana with a weary smile. Tempest's ears were pricked as she nimbly trotted up the hill. Callum gave her an encouraging smile and Diana felt herself smiling back at Callum.
Several other riding guards were nearby, but they mostly kept to their own little groups. Some went alone. A few there were plenty of others to form a long line of riders. A couple sang well-known traditional songs and the long journey toward better times. Diana let the song warm her heart and soul, she allowed the song go into her mind. Several people took the opportunity to stop at the crest of a hill; their horses walked on a long rein and stopped to graze occasionally.
Maybe it was the singing, the lights, or the soft evening breeze, but Diana began feel like anything was possible. Diana started to think back to the morning when she and her uncles had arrived to Katolis. Everywhere, there was shining stars and the fading rays of the sun, the silvery moon rising from the east and a few silvery clouds strayed past village.
"It's so amazing," murmured Diana.
"It sure is," Callum agreed.
"Lets get to camp you two," Soren said, pretty much destroying the peace of the moment.
As nighttime fell upon them, several other riders had lit lanterns and hung them on long sticks. But Diana was holding an aflame torch in her left hand and was holding Tempest's reins in her right hand. The fiery amber light reflected into her bright blue eyes. But when they and the guards looked up, they both soon saw something astonishing in the sky.
It was so beautiful. She could count more hues and shades than in the box of paints and watercolors that she had bought a few years ago. Shades of sapphire, violet, magenta, and amber shimmered and shined, like a giant rainbow had blanketed the sky and stretched out over the land. It was barely evening, but the stars started to sparkle brightly in the night sky. Despite the darkness of the appearing dusky sky, they were so bright and clear like distant diamonds sparkling in the night. The stars sparkled like distant diamonds in the sky, while the sky is like deep sapphire blue velvet that sparkled with the beautiful constellations overhead. As the clouds cleared, a silver circle of the full moon had also appeared in the night sky and had casted its soft silvery beams of light over the lake. Not just that, but they could the lakes taking in the silvery reflections of the glowing moon and the sparkling stars.
Diana has set the fireplace aflame with hardly any trouble with her flaming torch. The fiery amber light had helped Callum and the twelve Crown Guards set up their tan-colored tents on top of the mountain. The buckets are filled with either apples or oats and the troughs are filled with fresh water for the horses. They started roasting chicken and placed a pot full of soup above the fireplace. The lights from the red and amber lanterns flickered warmly in the night. Diana felt warm inside, something about this ride was doing her good.
"Hey, step-prince, maybe you could tell us the story of the Xadian Guardians?" Soren asked Callum, earning a slight glare from Diana.
"Sure Soren." Callum chuckled at Soren's question. "I thought you were bored of it."
"Nah, we may as well tell some story." Soren shrugged offhandedly at the prince, making him roll his eyes.
"Okay, okay." Callum cleared his throat and started telling the story. "Once upon a time, when Xadia was one land, the six elven races and six dragon species stood divided. Fighting and warring against each other and the dreaded birds known as hagsfiends. The only hope for peace is a prophecy by a Startouch elf that tells of a coming of a hero born of the Star Primal who will unit the elves and dragons. Being creatures from a time before the six Primal sources were defined as they are now, the hagsfiends, not wanting any further change, sought out the hero. Once they find them, they will killed them so the prophecy will never come true. Eventually the hideous creatures' search led them to the lair of a pair of Star Dragon named H'rath and Siv with an egg due to hatch. When the hagsfiends attacked, H'rath fought bravely against them. But in the process, he sacrificed his life to ensure his mate and their egg can escape."
"Devastated by the death of her mate, Siv vowed vengeance on the hagsfiends. However, she also knows that the safety of her unborn dragonet comes. So, after flying for many days and many nights, she sought refuge in the home of her old friend, a Sun Dragon named Grank, who became the first collier. Siv told Grank about the attack on her home and the death of H'rath by the hagsfiends and he, in return, told her about the prophecy of the hero born of the Star Primal and their coming and that the hagsfiends didn't want it to come true, which is they attack H'rath and Siv's home. Deciding to make the prophecy came true, Siv entrusted her egg to Grank in the hopes her dragonet might be the prophesied hero. Grank took the egg to a remote island, where it hatched on the night of a new Moon. Grank named the young male dragonet 'Hoole', after spotting the constellation of an owl in the sky on the night of his birth."
"For years, Hoole lived with his adoptive uncle Grank on the island of his birth. He only knew of Xadia and the creatures that lives in it from stories Grank, yet he earned to explore it, to know more about it beyond what his uncle has told him, always asking himself "What is Xadia really like?" Then, one day, curiosity led to finally fly away from his island home and into Xadia for the first time. There, he saw a land soaked in blood and tears, and ravaged by years of war, shattering his once naive view of the world. Yet, hope for something better was never completely lost when Hoole met his mother who told him the story of his father's death and her hope he is the hero born of the Stars destined to unite the elven and dragon tribes. And together, mother and son, and Grank, found elves and dragons who wants the years of fighting and war to end. Over time, Hoole and his new friends formed a band of noble warriors who swore an oath to make strong the weak, mend the broken, and vanquish evil, the Guardians of Xadia. With their courage and determination, they put an end to years of fighting and war and finally unite the elves and dragons and Xadia become a peaceful land."
All of the Crown Guards and Astra were stunned to silence by the story. But fierce hope has started to rise from all of them, the hope for all of their futures have started to rise.
"Do you think if it's possible for us to gain the peace?" Marcos asked Diana.
"One could only hope," said Diana softly.
A redheaded Crown Guard named Kludd snorted and tossed a piece of wood into the fireplace as he said, "If they were so great, they should of involved humans too instead of letting us suffer with our lack of magic."
"Some things are harder to understand than others," said Diana quietly. "After all, we've lost many people to Thunder when he was simply doing his duty as a Guardian."
Kludd scoffed and muttered, "Some Guardian."
"Listen, we're all tired," intervened Callum. "Lets get some rest and head out in the morning. Okay?"
The Crown Guards and Diana all nodded their agreements to the prince's reasoning. Callum smiled, pleased that he has managed to calm down the almost blown fuse. Callum and Diana entered their tents and fell asleep inside.
That night, Callum had another dream, only this time it was different. He was in a dark forest at nightfall. Luckily, he wasn't alone for at his side was the same young Storm dragon he saw in his other dream the night before. It was rubbing affectionately against Callum's legs, purring as it did. Callum laughed as he felt the young dragon affectionate rubbing and was to pick up it and pet it when it sensed something that made it feel uneasy, giving out scared whimpering as he search for the thing it had just sensed.
"What is it, little guy?" Callum asked. He was now as confused as the little dragon is now. The dragon looked around for a little bit before it sniffed out an unfamiliar scent. Then, he bolted towards the direction where the scent came from.
"Hey, wait up!" Callum called out, surprised by the dragon suddenly bolting off, and then ran after the dragon. The chase seemed to be very long as the young mage chased the dragon who is very fast through the forest, and was really up ahead of Callum, making it difficult for him to catch up with the youngster. It didn't stop until it stopped at the forest's edge.
"Whoa, slow down there! You got me worried back there!" Callum said, panting as he finally caught up with the baby dragon. "What if you gotten into a trap or caught by a dark mage that'll harvest you for your magic?"
However, the young dragon wasn't interested in Callum's questions. Instead, it was focused solely on a lone figure standing on the edge of a cliff. Callum saw the figure too and wondered who or what. It didn't take long when the figure turned towards Callum and the dragon.
The young primal mage can see that the figure is an elf. The elf has soft indigo skin and long, layered black hair with twinkling white flecks. He has narrow, upturned amber eyes and spotted in white spots. His curvy horns gleamed in the shade of bronze. He wore a long dark blue cloak covered with crystals and diamonds.
"Guardian," the Startouch elf whispered, his voice strong and warm.
Callum soon jolted awake at the sound of yelling and clashing of blades. He gotten his bags and ran out of his tent, Diana has immediately joined his side with a sword in hand. They watched as a group of masked bandits and magical, smoky elves has started fighting against the Crown Guards. Some bandits had rode over and tossed aflame torches onto the tents, spreading flames in its wake.
"What the heck?" Diana watched on by Callum's side and kept her sword steady in hand.
As the two of them started fighting along with the soldiers, Callum have started using his Sky spells to push back the smoky elves and Diana used her fighting skills to stop the bandits. But it wasn't enough.
One of the bandits has managed to catch hold of them and pressed his sword against their throats, which completely stopped the conflict.
"One more movement, and the kids die," rasped the bandit.
Soren's eyes met Callum's frightened gaze and Diana's furious stare. He's not an idiot when it comes to these situations. Callum and Ezran are both the closest figures of younger brothers for him, while Diana is like a younger sister to him.
"Back up everyone," ordered Soren. "They'll die if we stay here any longer."
The soldiers nodded and rode back, but their expressions remained extremely fierce of the situation they're all in. The other bandits tied up their wrists and hauled them both into a wagon before they took off to who knows where.
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"Callum, look." He looked up at Diana's soft voice and sat up next to her. Callum knew that Diana is always the early bird of the mornings to see the next sunrise. "We're here."
Both of them looked towards an extremely huge and black fortress of a sort. It was so dark, it looks like it could fend of the sun. But, by the time they've gotten inside the fortress, they were immediately pushed into the underground dungeons.
Diana spun around to glare at the guards and seemed ready to fight them, but Callum quickly stopped her from doing anything rash as the guards locked them in. Diana found two gray dishes of water and two empty dishes with strange markings on it. But as they looked for any secret escape route, Callum gasped at what he found in the hay.
A translucent egg as big as a human head shimmered and sparkled from the pedestal. Its iridescent blues, pinks, golds, and greens lit up the terrible room with a soft, magical glow.
"The egg of the Dragon Prince?" Callum said in awe. "The cause of all the fighting between humans and elves?"
"If the egg lives," said Diana.
"Maybe it could stop the war," Callum finished.
"It's doing okay," Diana said. She ran her hands lightly over the glowing shell. "I can feel it moving in there. I think it's healthy."
"But why is it here?" asked Callum as he carefully picked up the egg.
"Viren most of stole the egg," Diana said, clearly angry for the behalf of the egg. "Blasted idiot numbskull."
Callum walked up to it very slowly, then looked at it for for a few moments before he placed a hand on the egg and felt the heartbeat of the young dragon against his palm. Callum didn't move as he felt the beating heart inside the shell. He picked up the egg, sat down on the floor, and held it gently against his chest after setting the egg on his lap, feeling the dragon's heartbeat against his own. It wasn't long till Diana had sat down next to him after she was done grumbling about Viren.
"It's okay. I'm right here for you. I promise we won't be prisoners here for long, young guardian," Callum whispered to the egg in a fatherly tone.
"You are going to become a great dragon," whispered Diana to the egg in hope and determination. "Together, we're going to change the world and stop the world's war once in for all."

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