Ezran gazed at the letter before him, before he heaved a breath and opened it. It was a reply from Duren-Queen Aanya to be exact-and was a very important reply to a letter he sent when he had first received news from Rayla about the attack.

As he read the letter, he smiled. "Queen Aanya agrees that we should be readying our armies for an attack," he said. "Firstly, General Amaya, I think we should be preparing for defense. Then, prepare to have a small force enter Xadia in case there's a threat there."

Amaya nodded firmly, agreeing with this statement.

"We need to secure our borders and make sure that nothing can get by without our knowledge," Opeli said. "After all, if any of these undead monsters are able to come here…who knows what will happen."

Ezran nodded. "Keep an eye on the border for now, all the borders, although I am sure that Duren will be doing the same. I can't speak for the other human kingdoms…"

While the other human kingdoms no longer, for the most part, viewed Xadia as an immediate threat, their hatred for elves were still almost unrivaled.

"Callum has just passed the border into Xadia," Ezran noted, remembering the birds who had reported to him yesterday morning. Judging by the time it would have taken for the birds to reach him with the news, Callum must be getting close to Lux Aurea, where he and his traveling companions would rest for a night, before heading back on their journey.

Ezran felt slightly guilty at his insistence for Callum to travel slowly and carefully—but it was for the best. The Storm Spire was far too far away to recklessly travel, or worse, fly, to. And knowing Callum, Ezran knew his older brother would throw all intelligent thought out of his mind in his eagerness and panic to get there.

Ezran couldn't quite blame him. Rayla was pregnant! With Callum's child. Of course Callum needed to get there as soon as possible. If Ezran had the freedom to, he would go with Callum, and they would race there as soon as possible.

But Callum was the High Mage of Katolis. And Ezran was the king. They had a responsibility to their people and lands.

Phoe-Phoe chirped quizzically at him, rubbing her head against his chin, and he smiled, playing with her little beak for a moment with his fingertips. She fluttered from his shoulder down onto the tactical table, tilting her head at him. "I'm alright," he answered, rubbing the feathers under her chin affectionately.

Callum could almost see Lux Aurea in the distance. Or at least, he thought he could. The city was a beacon of light—and in the setting sun, it glinted in the distance. That, or it was just the setting sun. But he had come this way many times before on his past visits to the Storm Spire, and he had almost always stopped in Lux Aurea, so he felt he knew the city well even from a distance.

Callum had almost punched Corvus when the man said they weren't to travel through the Midnight Desert, and instead would travel around it. There were too many of them to safely travel through.

Callum had to admit there was some truth in that, but he still hated to take the long way when time was so pressing. He settled down next to the campfire. "I still don't see why we can't go through the night," he muttered to Corvus. "After all, Lux Aurea is just ahead. We'd be there by daybreak if we left now."

"But then we would have to rest during the day to catch up on energy," Corvus pointed out. "My Lord—we have to be wise—"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Callum said, rolling his eyes. "I'm just…I'm going to be a father, Corvus. And I didn't even know it." He looked down at his hands. "Rayla must think I was ignoring her this whole time. I can't even imagine what she's been going through. She's been going through this all alone, all while thinking I didn't care. That I was purposefully ignoring her and our child. I don't even want to fathom what she must be thinking of me."

"But you sent a letter at least, explaining things," Corvus said. "So she shouldn't be too upset with you once you get there." Corvus smirked slightly. "Otherwise she might have punched your lights out."

Callum snorted. That was still a possibility, he figured.

"I have to say, you haven't seemed…very…excited," Corvus said, carefully. "Finding out you're going to be a father."

Callum didn't respond to that. It's true, his reactions were more aligned with panic, fear, and guilt. Finding out that the woman he loved was pregnant with his child, the woman he was no longer with, and that she was on the other side of the world, alone and in danger…It was hard to have the jubilant reaction he deserved to have.

"I am happy," Callum said. "But I'm also afraid. What if something happens to Rayla and the child? What if the child doesn't even…" he trailed off, unable to think about that much without his heart constricting painfully. No human-elf pregnancy had ever been successful in the past. The child might even already be…

He felt Corvus place a hand on his arm. "Don't worry," Corvus said. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Rayla is sure to have gotten your letter by now, and you'll be there within two weeks. Elven pregnancies are long I've heard—so even being half human, there's a good chance that she'll still be pregnant when you get there."

Callum blinked a few times. "That's right," he said, his mood perking slightly. "I might not miss the birth."

Corvus nodded serenely, as if he were an expert of elven pregnancies.

Callum leaned back against the tree, looking out across the setting sun. He would still push to get to the Storm Spire as soon as possible, but he felt slightly more at ease knowing that he might still get to be with Rayla during this vulnerable time.

Slightly more at ease.

Rayla heaved a breath, not used to feeling out of breath just from climbing the stairs. She stopped, looking down at herself. She glared down at her belly. "Stop growing, you wee little rascal," she muttered. The child still had not moved, but Ibis continued to assure her that the child was alive.

Ibis was also convinced that she would give birth closer to the human expected time, not the elven. The baby was growing too big, too fast, and he even told her they would have to induce labour if the baby got too big, or it wouldn't come out.

That thought had kept her awake for a good two nights.

Quori had agreed with this, and though he did not have the training of a midwife, he was exponentially interested in her pregnancy. He and all the researchers from Lux Aurea were. They were constantly asking her questions, ranging from how she was feeling to awkward and intimate questions about the conception. That had been when she had drawn the line and forbidden them from trying to 'research' her anymore. She was a mother-to-be, not a subject in their experiments.

She paused, pressing a hand to her stomach, trying to find any signs that the child was moving. There were none. She swallowed hard. What if Ibis was wrong? What if the child never moved? What if the child was actually…

It wouldn't be surprising, she supposed. But her heart broke at the thought of this child not making it. She loved the child more dearly than anything else at this point—and she wanted desperately to hold them in her arms.

She slowly continued up the steps.

"Lieutenant Isora," Rayla said, walking up to him once she had reached the training grounds.

The lieutenant turned and bowed as she approached. She had long stopped bowing to the guests—and none of them seemed to mind as they knew that the reason was the fact that she could barely move around at all these days. "Any news from your scouts?"

Isora frowned, before shaking his head. "They are due to arrive back any moment, Captain Rayla. Though…" he looked out across the sky, to the vast lands and forests in the distance. "They are late."

Rayla felt a flutter of worry. "They never have been before," she said. The Lux Aurea troops were exceptional in every way—them being late from a patrol could only mean… "Inform me immediately when they arrive," she told Isora. "I want to hear their debrief."

He bowed again, and she walked into the interior of the Storm Spire.

It was an hour later when she heard the horn blow, indicating that the Lux Aurea scouts had returned. She began to make her way back to the training grounds, where she assumed they would be headed considering that was the last place she knew Isora to be, but it was when she spotted Javina racing as quickly as possible towards the training grounds that Rayla stopped quickly, confused.

"Javina—" Rayla began, before sighing once the elf had disappeared from her sight.

She made her way to the training grounds, and once she reached it she realized what all the fuss was about. All the dragonguards were there, which was strange, because she did not relieve some of them from their posts. But when she saw who they were all huddled around, she knew why.

"Yehven!" she cried out, hurrying as quickly as she could towards the young elf.

She pushed people out of the way and stood, panting, before him. She stared at him, her eyes wide as she took in his appearance.

He looked…

Terrible.

He looked almost pale and ashen, exhausted and starved. But he was alive, and that was what mattered. "You're alive," she said, pulling him into a tight hug. He hugged her back, and she let go, grasping his shoulders and looking him up and down. "What happened to you? Where were you? How did you survive?"

He didn't say anything, only smiled at her.

"He hasn't spoken a word since we found him," one of the Lux Aurea scouts said. "I think because of some sort of…trauma..."

Rayla nodded, feeling a stab of guilt. This was her fault, as his captain, for not protecting the young recruit. "Come, come," she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the doors. "Come inside and rest."

She led him towards the door, and as she did so, his sleeve pulled up his arm slightly, and she caught a glimpse of something strange on his dark skin.

A greenish-grey rash of some kind.

Probably the result of living out in the elements for so long, she figured. She would have Ibis tend to it later.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading!

See you next week with chapter 10!