Bloodthirsty Part 1:

The moon shone high over the forest plain where the party had set camp for the night. The egg was stowed away safely inside Ezran's large bag. He and Willow huddled up together, bundled under Caroline's cloak which she had played over to them singing their mother's lullaby. She leapt near the egg protectively near a dying fire, cuddling Felix to keep them both warm.

Raylan sat on a nearby rock keeping watch. He looked at his hand bindings; they would never turn red as long as the royal children were still alive. He clenched his fists. He bit his teeth into the silver binding on his left hand and tried to snap it in half; it didn't work. He tried the right hand; didn't work either. He huffed. "Unbind yourself," he spoke out loud. The bindings didn't come off. "Unbind…thyself," nothing again. "Unbind yourself!" he shouted louder. HE growled and smacked his forehead.

A loud croak made him turn his head. He saw the grumpy Bait staring at him from his spot next to Ezran's head. He scoffed. "Don't judge me," he sat in a forward position to have a proper conversation with the toad creature. "So, what, I'm talking to my ribbony things? How is that any worse than talking to a…" he paused. He wanted to say toad but Bait was bigger, had skin that was yellow and blue, a lower jaw that bit over his upper jaw and a long tail the length of a tadpole's. "Whatever…you are," he stared at Bait. Bait stared back turning pink. They had a staring competition. It lasted for ten long seconds and then Bait licked his left eye with his long slimy tongue. "Looks like I win the competition," he smirked and turned away. Bait growled and went back to sleep.

Raylan looked again at his hand bindings; how was he going to take them off? His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sudden dinging of a bell that echoed through the trees. Staring up through the branches he saw the castle in the far distance. Though the chiming was loud and frequent, they didn't wake up the children much to his delight. But sorrow too. He looked despondently at the three children, particularly Caroline. He imaged all the guilt she would feel if he told her right now what had just happened. He stared out to the castle again with a remorseful face. "I will protect your children. I will protect her," he swore his oath, praying to the fallen king.

Though Harrow had only just met him that night after he had pulled Caroline into his room, he had trusted him instantly because of how his daughter had told him how he had spared her life and betrayed his kind to help them. This was the first time Raylan had ever seen a human king put some much faith in him instantly. And it was because of that human princess he had spared, then rescued, and was now protecting.

"Why Runaan?" he lamented. "Why?"

He wondered where Runaan was right now. Where all the other assassins were? Did they make it? Were they returning to Xadia without him? There was nothing he could do now. He looked again at Caroline and walked over slowly. He unzipped his knapsack and pulled out his long black cloak and placed it over her, warming her and Felix up. He then sat down against a boulder and stared up at the full moon wondering how this quest to return the Dragon Prince would turn out.

Caroline's eyes flickered to the tweeting of birds. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Birds tweeted about her on some branches and she whistled a tweet back. A little one flew around her and landed on her open palm. She pulled out some bird seeds from her belt pouch and fed them. Then the other two came and she fed them. They tweeted goodbye and fluttered off.

She heard moaning and felt Felix on her lap stretching. "Good morning Felix," she stroked his head. "Much better?"

Felix licked her face affectionately. She turned her head to see her siblings still fast asleep with Bait. She looked at the egg in the rucksack and it glowed brightly. "We've got a big journey ahead dragon prince. You'll be back with your mama in no time,"

As her fox stepped off her, she noticed the long black cloak that shrouded her up to her waist. "Mm.." she turned her head to see Raylan fast asleep against a rock. She looked again at the cloak and then back at him, smiling a little. How kind. She thought. She stood up carrying the cloak with her and placed it over him.

She sat against a tree and pulled out her sketchbook from her rucksack and her primal stone. To pass the time until the others would wake up, she started drawing the stone on a blank page, etching every single detail in it.

"I see you're awake," a voice spoke up.

Caroline nearly jumped. She saw Raylan standing over her. "Ahh, you're awake. I thought you'd be asleep for a while,"

"Well…I spent a few hours keeping watch then did a perimeter check," he said.

"You didn't have to place your cloak over me,"

"I thought you and your fox would be cold in your sleep,"

"Well, that was generous of you," she said. "Thanks,"

"Whatcha drawing?" Raylan sat beside her.

"This primal stone," Caroline showed him her mother's gift again. "It's so amazing,"

"This stone contains a primal source inside. All magic in the world comes from Primal Sources. They're the original and purest forms of magical energy," Raylan explained. "They're…"

"The Sun," Caroline started drawing in her sketchbook again. "The Moon. The Stars. The Earth. The Ocean. The Sky," she showed Raylan her page and to his astoundment, he saw six insignias.

"Wow. You know a lot. How'd you…"

"I've always been fascinated with magic for as long as I can remember,"

"Is that how you knew all those spells you used yesterday?" Raylan asked curiously.

"Yep. Thanks to this," she pulled out her history book from Caldor from her rucksack and opened her book to the pages of spells.

The elf stared at it in amazement. "Where did you get this book?"

"My friend Caldor gave it to me. This is my favourite book to read about magic from the library,"

"No wonder you knew how to escape me and my party," Raylan replied admirably. "Primal stones have been sought after by the most powerful arch-mages in history. How did your mother come to have one?"

"I don't know," Caroline shook her head. "I'd rather not talk about her,"

"Oh," Raylan encountered what she said during their confrontation. "Sorry. Well, Caroline, or Carol if you don't mind, we need to hit the road," he stood up.

"Absolutely. The sooner we get to Xadia the better," Caroline agreed. "But first…we need to make a stop at the Banther Lodge,"

"No. We head to Xadia straight away," Raylan crossed his arms, getting serious.

"At the Banther Lodge, there's a cube with these exact symbols on. I think it could be magic and now that I can do spells, I think we might need it," Felix barked in agreement much to her delight.

"We have a real problem to think about," Raylan reminded as he folded his cloak and packed it back in his knapsack before slinging it over his shoulders. "Ending the war. Taking the dragon egg back to Xadia. Remember?"

"Of course, I remember," Caroline pulled out a map from her rucksack and unravelled it. She showed it to Raylan who marvelled at the artistic drawing of the large continent with the Human Kingdoms on the left and Xadia on the right separated from it by a long orange line through the centre. "We're here," she pointed to the forest outside Katolis. She traced her finger along a road to a small brown hut. "The Banther Lodge is on the way. It'll just be a quick stop,"

"No way are we going there. It'll be crowded with humans who will love to kill me the moment they see my horns and pointy ears," Raylan pointed to his short horns and pointy ears.

"If you're concerned about us being discovered don't be. It's the winter lodge. And it's springtime now. It'll be empty for months. Trust me,"

Raylan stubborn as ever still shook his head.

Caroline sighed. "For as long as I can remember I have always been…different from other people. Instead of being all girly like princesses are supposed to be, I've just been creative, doing things royals don't do…but ever since I got this stone from my mother, I've suddenly felt like being a mage is what I'm meant to be. Maybe she wanted me to learn magic. And I want to honour her wishes," she touched the spot above her chest where she would have originally felt her pendant. After learning she had lost it the other day, she was so heartbroken.

Raylan observed her, feeling his hands trace to his pocket. He was about to say something when Ezran and Willow woke up.

"Morning guys," Carol greeted. "Sleep well?"

"Sure did," Willow yawned and stretched her arms. "Thanks for letting us use your cloak," she gave it back to her and she pulled it on again.

Ezran rubbed his eyes. "I had a weird dream,"

"It wasn't a dream Ez. Everything that's happened is real," Willow said.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "There was this giant pink hippopotamus…" Ezran's comments made Willow roll her eyes in annoyance. At times she felt like Ez was the youngest. "…and I pulled its ear off. Because it was made of taffy,"

Carol giggled in amusement and knelt in front of him. "That was a dream, Ez,"

"Then I tried to take the hippo for the taffy, but it couldn't hear me because it was eating its ears,"

Caroline giggled in amusement. Ezran's weird dreams always made her laugh. Willow however was not amused. And neither was Raylan. "Okay, guys. Let's get going," she pulled Ezran up on his feet. "We've got an egg to deliver,"

"First we'll go get your cube," Raylan spoke up.

Caroline turned to him in surprise. "Really?"

"Yes. Just no more detours after that, please. Or heartfelt speeches,"

"You have my word," she promised.

"Then let's go," Ezran slung the egg on his bag but because it was a little big it nearly made him topple but his older sister caught him. "Blimey. This egg really is heavy,"

"Why don't I carry the egg?" she offered. "And you can carry my back. It'll be lighter,"

"Okay. So long as you haven't got too many books in there,"

"Only my history book. And sketchbook. And my diary,"

"Deal," They swapped bags and Ezran was glad to be relieved of the heavy load. Caroline didn't mind at all. Willow hoisted her bag of goodies and necessities and the three with their animals followed Raylan through the forest for a long distance.

They walked for what seemed like hours. Willow started to become a little worn out. And so was Ezran. Even if their bags were much lighter than Caroline who didn't get sweaty at all carrying a huge dragon egg.

Caroline walked next to Raylan. "I never thanked you for saving my life loads of time,"

Ray was surprised she hadn't forgotten how he had saved her from his own people. "l never thanked for saving my life from those smoke creatures in the dungeons. And for defending me from you father," he reached for his pocket. "There's something I think you should have back..."

"Hi guys," panted Willow. "Can we…"

"We're no stopping yet," Raylan silenced him.

"But I'm…"

"No snacks,"

"I was going to say I'm thirsty,"

"Here's some water," Caroline gave her a canteen of water and Willow took a sip.

Raylan was uncomfortable. "Are you drinking that from the river?"

"What else are we going to drink?" she asked.

"Here," he reached into his knapsack and pulled out a vial of red liquid. "Drink this,"

Ezran tried to take it but Caroline stopped him. "Before we drink that, what is it?"

Willow cringed. "That looks like the colour of blood,"

Raylan scoffed. "It's Moonberry juice. And it's very delicious and full of nutrients,"

"Okay. I'm trying it," Ezran took from him and gave it a sip. "Mm. it's good. Here try,"

Caroline sniffled from the bottle much to Raylan's confusion and she drank. "Mmm. Quite tasty. You Willow?"

"No. I'm good," she refused.

She handed it to Raylan who stuffed it in his knapsack and walked ahead hiding an angry scowl. "What's that for?"

"Do you guys think we're bloodthirsty monsters who drink blood?"

"We didn't say that,"

"Willow said it looks like blood,"

"She said that looks like the colour of blood. We just wanted to make sure it was drinkable for us,"

Raylan flashed his face at her. "Wait? You guys thought I was going to poison you?"

"No. That is what we said," she tried to calm him down. "You know what look ahead. We're here,"

Raylan turned around and saw ahead of him a giant wooden chalet. They walked behind a tree. He peered out for humans. None at all.

"See? No humans at all like I promised," Caroline assured.

"Okay. Tell me where to find the cube," Raylan requested. "I'll be in and out in a jiffy,"

Caroline pulled out her sketchbook from her rucksack and quickly etched a small drawing and tore out the page. "This is an image of the game room. You'll find the cube in there in a box of keys,"

Raylan took the piece of paper. "I'll be quick. Stay here," he stuffed it into his pocket and shot off with the pace of a deadly assassin. He sprinted past the barns and storehouses and came to the front porch of the giant chalet made of hard dense wood. He stared up and saw an open window. Perfect. He climbed up the wooden bannisters supported by the porch roof and flipped onto the ridge and then snuck elegantly through the window.

The siblings waited by the tree. Willow fed Bait a jelly tart and Ezran munched on a cupcake. Caroline drew the rest of the primal stone in her sketchbook and gazed at it again thinking about her mother, and how she came to have it. And she packed the items up again, she looked at the colourful glowing egg, sensing the dragon prince inside it. She stroked it gently.

Willow stared out at the lodge. "Don't you guys think it's strange that there aren't any humans here even though dad sent us here?"

"Yeah. It does seem strange," Ez agreed.

"Guys, we didn't get a chance to leave before the assassins came. There's no way…" Carol was cut off by a loud horn. Her heart jumped. She peeped from behind the tree and saw an army approaching the area. "Oh no," she breathed.

Her siblings saw what was happening.

"What do we do?" freaked out Ezran.

"We have to stall them until Raylan comes out,"

"What about the egg?" Willow asked.

"We can't leave it. We'll need to stick together and keep it with us," Carol pulled off her cloak and covered it over the egg in the strike to hide its glow before closing the bag again. "Come on," she and her siblings slowly stepped out into the light and stood in front of the Banther Lodge entrance as the army approached them. "Just act natural,"

They stood still and watched the general, a woman approached them with her right-hand man with ginger hair and freckles. She pulled off her blue helmet revealing short, parted hair and a scar just under her eye.

"Aunt Amaya!" cheered Ezran.

Amaya smiled and hugged all three of them, lifting them off the crowd.

"It's great to see you, Aunt Amaya," cheered Carol.

"We've missed you so much," said Willow.

Amaya let them down and she began communicating in sign language; for she was deaf and needed her assistant Gren to translate for her. "I am so happy you're all safe," he spoke for her.

"Safe and alone," Caroline assured.

Ezran and Willow did their best to stand calm like her. Amaya smiled but then frowned a little at her eldest niece. "Caroline, you shouldn't have run away," Gren's voice mimicked her distress.

Caroline blinked. "How did you know?" she communicated in sign language. Like Gren, she was amazing at translating for her aunt and speaking back with the same interaction.

"We received a message from king Harrow the other day. He told us to search the borders for you," Gren pulled out a letter before speaking again for his general. "I was so worried for you. And you should have known better than to leave like that without someone to protect you,"

Her niece sighed. "I know. I…I thought if I left things would be better for everyone. I thought dad, Ez and Willow would be better off without me," As she spoke, Ezran and Willow hugged her side. Felix purred and nuzzled her leggings. "You've no idea how hard it is to be yourself with everyone taunting you for it. Or make you feel like you don't belong to something you weren't born into,"

Amaya's expression softened and she gently clasped her shoulder. "I know how you feel," she signed with Gren's voice sounding more compassionate and comforting. "I was treated the same way because I was born deaf but eventually I accepted it and I shouldn't let other people's opinions let me down. That's what you've got to do," she hugged Caroline and she hugged her tight before cupping her cheeks. "You get more beautiful like Sarai every day," She missed her sister so much but her distress was healed because she knew that she lived on her eldest daughter. Suddenly the aunt stared up at the open window above the roof. She marched forward.

Carol felt her heart jump. "Wait aunt!" she stopped her. "We've only just got here. And we've yet to find the keys,"

"Yes. That's right," Willow tried to play along with her. "Why don't you wait here and we'll go find the key?"

But their aunt of a general gently pushed them aside and with a simple kick busted the large wooden doors open.

"Wow. That was one strong kick," observed Willow.

"I don't believe in locks," Gren spoke for her. The party walked into the large atrium of hardwood, strong columns holding up bannisters that supported the roof that towered high over them. Amaya stared around. All was quiet. Too quiet. "Someone's here,"

"What? No. No," Carol shook her head. "There's nobody else here. But us. How could someone even get in,"

"Yep. Just us and your human armies," Ezran joined in, shouting at the last pit.

"Ezran, you know it doesn't help to yell. And why are you saying 'human troops like that?" Amaya asked Gren speaking again.

"He's just trying to be funny," spoke up Willow.

"No. I'm not!" whined Ezran.

Amaya kept searching around. Caroline steered her head up frantically, trying to search for Raylan. She saw him at the top of a bannister. He glared down at her, fuming red. All she did was shrug and press her finger over her lip. She banged on her aunt's giant shield attached to her back. She turned to her. "Aunt…the three of us haven't had breakfast yet because we were in a tight hurry to get here. So why don't we sit down and eat?"

"Yeah. Yeah," opted Willow. "Man do we feel hungry,"

"Would you look at Bait?" Ezran held up Bait who croaked.

Amaya frowned. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Never skip," she signed.

With the distraction, Raylan leapt across the bannisters quietly to the first floor.

The family and Gren went to the kitchen and Amaya pulled out a loaf of bread. "The food here is…" Gren spoke for her. She banged it on the wooden cupboard. It clanged like stone. "Weapon's grade," She placed it on the table in front of her nieces and nephew with a short knife. "Dig in,"

Willow picked up the bread and Ezran picked up the knife.

"Aunt Amaya why are you here?" asked Caroline.

"I received a messenger bird from the king yesterday," she said through Gren. She picked up a letter and Carol remembered her dad giving her a letter too. Her aunt noticed she was in a state of mind and moved her hands again. "What is wrong?"

"He gave me a letter too," she answered. "But I haven't opened it yet. What does yours say?"

Her aunt handed her the letter and she read it out loud. "General, the castle is under threat. Caroline was nearly killed yesterday by Moonshadow elves that have infiltrated the kingdom but she managed to escape and warn everyone,"

"The worst kind," Amaya pulled up a vicious face with her translator mimicking hers. "When I heard about what happened, I was so relieved you were found but so worried that you might have been hurt," her expression turned to worry.

"Don't worry Aunt. I'm all right," assured Carol with some sign language before continuing with the letter. "Do not bring your forces to the castle,"

As she was reading, Ezran and Willow were struggling to cut some bread together. Whilst Ez held the knife, Willow saw the bread against it hoping it would cut in half but it was so hard.

"Your orders are to proceed immediately to the Banther Lodge. The children will be there and above all see to it that my children are safe," Carol felt touched feeling herself being included in the family by the words 'my children.

"There's more at the back," Amaya informed.

Caroline turned it around. "P.S. Once their safety is assured, the boys may wish to build a dirt man," she frowned. "We are not building a dirt man," Felix barked in agreement on her lap and shook his head.

"Absolutely not," Willow agreed. She growled in anger. "How hard can it be to cut this baguette in half?"

"You're safe now boys," their aunt promised.

Willow finally managed to cut the bread in half. Ezran took a bit but the moment his teeth bit into the hard bread, there was a sharp hard crunch. His teeth hurt.

Minutes passed and all the soldiers surrounded the Banther lodge and more came in. The children sat in a corner. Caroline felt like she wanted to bite her nails. "Oh, this is all my fault. We never should have come here," she whispered to her siblings.

"Can't we just tell Aunt Amaya about the egg and Raylan?" Ezran asked.

"We can't. You saw how she talked about elves. She hates them. And even if we tell her, she won't believe a Moonshadow elf is helping us when I was nearly killed by them,"

"But surely she'd listen to us," Willow said. "She's family,"

"Elves and humans don't trust each other. We tried to talk to Runaan the other night and he didn't listen to Raylan, one of his own. Trust will never happen between Xadia and the human kingdoms unless we take this egg back to Xadia. We need to find Raylan and get out of here,"

On the roof, Raylan stared down at the humans and growled in annoyance. He snuck over the tiles like a ninja and through a window back on the bannisters. He peered down and saw the children again. We're so talking about this. He cursed Caroline. He leapt gracefully onto the staircase, sneaking past like the wind past soldiers until he reached the game room door. He entered inside quietly and then closed it again.

"It's the winter lodge," he mockingly imitated Caroline. "It'll be empty for months. Trust me," he growled. "She is not gonna hear the end of this," He pulled out the slip of paper from his pocket and held it up and down making sure every detail she etched down matched everything he could see. Chairs. Tables. A tall pole in the centre. It was exactly like what was on the paper. He looked around the tables and in the drawers for a box. He looked again at a tabletop and he saw it, brown and silver. He emptied it revealing several keys and a big dice cube with the Primal Symbols on each of the six sides. He growled. "This was what you sent me up for?" he picked up. "It's useless," He stashed in his knapsack. Suddenly he saw a shadow looming over him.

Amaya tried to smash him with her large shield but he ducked and flipped out of the way.

He pulled out his blades and tried to strike her but she blocked every attempt with her large shield her primary weapon. She tried to pin him down but he backflipped out of range elegantly. He made a comeback with some stronger strikes with his swords but Amaya disarmed one of them and kicked him into the column in the centre of the room. She rammed at him but he dodged and she smashed the column.

He flipped back onto his feet and she eyed him, flicking her fingers as if to say, You come on. He growled and she leapt at her but she bashed him with her weapon and he collided with a wooden table. He grunted in pain and tried to stand up but Amaya grabbed his shoulder and pinned her to the wall, before trapping his neck between the top tops of his shield. She pulled out her sword when a voice came bursting into the room.

"General Amaya," Gren cried out. "The children have disappeared,"

Amaya glared and before Raylan could have a chance to try and escape, he felt a fist to his face. He blacked out.

That's another chapter done. I hope you all enjoyed it. Please send reviews and let me know what you all thought. Also please send ideas for Dragon Prince Season 4. I would love to add extra action scenes and everything. See you all soon and thank you for your support.