Chapter 9: braving the storm

Kaja and Walter had now arrived at the town that Rigran, Callum, Ezran and Rayla had arrived in some time earlier, "a boy with a sword on his back sorry love haven't seen him" said one woman of the village, "now that you mention it yes he wanted my dagger to help cut something for a friend of his, it didn't work and she got a little burnt left said the man with the sun forge blade when they ran into him.

"A group of those kids did want to speak to my daughter about a miracle that happened to the cursed Caldera," said the father of Eliss. Finally they spoke to the doctor and they got more answers than they had been expecting.

"I'm sorry…an egg?" Walter questioned, eyes wide, "a Dragon's egg?!", "believe me I can hardly believe it myself, had the boy with the swords study a corpse that had been in the cursed caldera" the Doctor said.

"A dragon egg?" Kaja questions dunable to believe it herself, "yes they wanted me to help it but I couldn't do I told them about a miracle that happened at the cursed Caldera and now they and Eliss and Ava are going up the Caldera to find the healer" the Doctor said.

"Who's Eliss and Ava and what did this miracle healer do exactly?" Walter asked, "Ava is a wolf who lost her leg when she was a cub and Eliss looked after her, the miracle healer made Ava's leg grow back" the Doctor explained to their wide eyed astonishment.

"Than we are heading up the Caldera as well" Kaja said with finality turning on her heels and exiting the barn, "she just curious and wants to figure things out and in all honesty I want to make heads and tails of it as well" Walter explained as he followed.


Back up the Caldera

"This is it!" Ellis exclaimed, pointing to a massive tree just ahead. "We hid in that three when the miracle healer found us!" Ducking inside, the girl pet her wolf, "Remember this place girl?" Ava gave a short bark, laying down panting as they all filled inside.

"So now what?" Ezran asked looking around.

"Uh, Miracle Healer?!" Callum yelled up into the hollow tree. "Hello! We're here!", "how did you find her again?" Rayla asked.

"I don't know. I just showed up and then she just showed up." Eliss answered, "real helpful" Rigran deadpanned sarcastically, that is always the way with miracle healers wasn't it they just showed up without warning.

Light began to filter in through the hole they cam through. Looking at each other, the group filed out, looking up as the moon began to glow. "I think it is working," Rayla commented.

The light got brighter, and they could see something approaching. The call of a bird echoed over them and the large shadow landed revealing a glowing blue bird and an elvish woman.

"Oh no!" Rayla gasped. "Ez was right about everything. There's no miracle healer, she's a fake!", "what?" Rigran demanded, wondering if he had heard right

"How do you know?" Callum asked.

"She's a moon mage, an illusionist. She can't heal anything."

"It's true," the elf spoke up, "I am no healer. I am Lujanne. Guardian of the Moon Nexus."

"I'm such an idiot, I should've figured it out, none of those monsters were real, they were all illusions."

"Yes," she confirmed. "They were just to scare you. That's how I protect the Nexus."

"But…I don't understand," Eliss voiced, looking confused as her hand gripped Ava's fur. "If you're not a healer, how did you save Ava's leg?"

Lujanne knelt in front of them, gently scratching under Ava's chin, "I remember you and that little cub, both so frightened and sad. I saw she had lost her leg and I understood humans would have trouble accepting her. But I knew her spirit was strong and that was all that really mattered. To help you, I created an illusion," she placed her hand on the jewel hanging from Ava's collar.

"A leg that others would see and feel even though it wasn't real. I enchanted the moonstone collar to hold the spell. She never needed that fourth leg to be happy; everyone else did." Removing the collar, they all watched the illusion fall away.

"But the help we need is real," Ezran said, biting his lip, "an illusion won't help us." Stepping forwards, he pulled his bag around and undid the latch, revealing the dimly glowing egg within.

The elf gasped, looking grim. "It's the egg of the Dragon Prince," Rayla continued. "It was stolen but we saved it—I mean, we were trying to save it and return it to its mother. But there was a terrible accident. You see I—"

Lujanne raised her hand, cutting the younger elf off as she leaned forwards. She reached out a hand, going silent for a moment before a shadow crossed over her face as she closed her eyes. "Life is fading quickly. I'm afraid the only way to save it now is to hatch it…but…but that won't be possible," she looked up to the clear night skies, "Sky Dragons can only be born in the eye of a storm; the weather's clear for miles."

"No, that can't be it," Ezran pleaded. "There has to be a way to save it!"

"I'm sorry," Lujanne whispered as they all watched the glow practically fizzle out. "No…" Callum said despair sinking in. Rayla closed her eyes, looking away. "I dropped it. This is all my fault."

"No, I should've trusted you," Callum reassured. "Things only went wrong cause we kept fighting." Rayla shook her head, tears trailing down her cheeks, "I let you both down. I let the world down.", "You tried Rayla," Ezran sniffed, hugging her, "you're so good and brave.", Rigran settled to pat her on the shoulder.

Rigran then Turned to the moon elf "There has to be a way" he told her, "There isn't, like I said, Sky Dragons can only be born in a storm."

Callum's eyes widened, "Wait…" reaching into his satchel he pulled out the Primal Stone, "a Storm…What if I—I know what to do." All eyes turned towards Callum in surprise as he raised the Primal Stone and smashed it against the ground. Lightning crackled and thunder roared over them, shaking the mountain as the storm was unleashed.

The moonlight began to fade away as clouds began to circle overhead, causing a cold breeze to wash over them. Those breezes only grew in strength, forcing everyone to duck down close to the ground as the winds began to try to push them back. A strong gust nearly made their grip slip, and, to their horror, the egg began to roll out of the bag.

"NO!" Ezran shouted, his voice barely audible over the storm.

Rayla was the first to react. Forcing herself to her feet, she raced against the winds and chased after the egg. It continued its role towards the cliff, and she barely reached it in time before it went careening over the edge. Rolling onto her stomach, she struggled to push against the winds as they attempted to drive her over the edge.

However Rigran grabbed her anchoring himself with his tomahawk and began pulling her in and pulling himself away from the edge as well, A stick slammed into her injured arm and she cried out, trying to keep her hold on the egg as agony pulsed through her.

Through the pain, she could dimly make out the face that she now seemed to be facing the ground, as if she was being sucked into the air. Tilting her head down, she was proven right, a cyclone had formed around them, sucking the air up into the atmosphere, trying to take her and the egg with it.

Rigran held fast and pulled her towards the ground with all his Witcher strength, she was still being pulled in but the good news was, with the cyclone forming, it meant the eye of the storm was about to come. Soon the struggle would be over and done with and they'd be out of the danger.

The winds trying to pull her up slowly died down, and Rayla sighed, hugging the egg close as she landed on her knees. Looking up, she saw stars and moonlight shining as the cyclone still lit with lightning and roared with thunder around them. They were safe in the eye.

A slight tingle ran through her body, and she looked down, watching as small tendrils of lightning began to arch over the eggshell. Eyes widening, she set the egg down, stumbling back as more lightning began to strike and the egg began to retain its glow. Colorful light permeated the air and they could all see the egg rising up from the ground as it began to glow brighter. A large arch of lightning shot out and they could see glowing cracks along the shell.

However, a dark egg still fell to the ground once the show was over, small bits of smoke rising up from it as the storm began to dissipate.

"No…" Rayla whispered, feeling her world drop out from under her. They'd been so, so close! They had the egg, they had the storm, why didn't it work?!"

Rigran silently prayed that this was one of those moments where it turned out good, he prayed to every single god that Dravaan had told him about, every spirit, every fiery every single one that things would turn out all right.

He reached a hand out and touched the egg, and he felt something, it was like a small steady beating getting stronger and stronger almost like…a heartbeat!.

"It's alive!" he exclaimed right as they all heard the first crack.

They all looked down in hope as they watched cracks spreading across the dark shell, and a small piece fell away, revealing a closed scaly eye. The hatchling lifted his head with a little yawn, taking his first breath of fresh air as the shell fell away. He stumbled to his feet, the dragonling's legs barely seeming able to support the newborn's body as he stumbled over himself.

"Come on Bait! Help him! His eyes are stuck," Ezran encouraged setting his pet down in front of the hatchling. "You need to lick them open!" The glowtoad gave his master a glare before turning back to the hatchling turning to a shade a purple to express his displeasure. The long tongue shot out, quickly licking the hatchlings eyes open so he could see the world.

Wide blue eyes opened and the small creature gave an inquisitive yip, jumping on Bait and licking him before he hopped off, stumbling into Ezran's arms.

"You already know your own name! Azymondias!" Ezran grinned, hugging the newborn close. "We'll call you Zym. That's Rayla," he pointed to the elf, "You almost blew off the mountain, but Rayla saved you, Rigran then saved her" he pointed to Rigran who nodded with a small smile.

Zym perked up, turning around and hopping over to Rayla giving her injured hand a few soft licks. "Aw, it's ok little one," she cooed. "The important thing is you. One miracle is enough for me today."

With a chitter, Zym tilted his head looking at the binding. Sniffing it curiously, the hatchling bit down on the fabric, pulling on it till they all heard a snap as Zym was sent rolling back into Ezran and Callum, a silver binding in his jaws.

They all looked in Happy astonishment, Rayla was now free of her band and that meant she now could use both hands

They all sat down, eager to get some rest as Zym stretched his legs, bounding between all of them.


Meanwhile Soren, Snake and Claudia had made it to the very top of the tallest mountain in Katalist, Rigran looked over the side of the mountain standing straight and tall with arms crossed, Soren panted exhausted as he reached the top which was not a good idea considering they were above the clouds.

Claudia prepared the spell, "can't this be done someplace warmer?" Soren asked, "no" Claudia said simple, "but I can use these ingredients to make a blanket for you instead of using them to find the prince's".

"Then get the spell job quick the quicker the spells finish the quicker we find the princes and so the quicker we can get out of this damn cold" Snake said siding with Soren that it was too cold for comfort even if he was a Witcher.

Claudia placed Rayla's braid in a bowl and set it on fire before uttering a chant and the fire turned green then purple along with her eyes, she placed both flaming hands on the jar with spores and they turned purple.

She uttered another short chant then opened the jar and the spores flew out in a wide arc far over the ground below like a comment going further and further away from the mountain over the village and towards the cursed Caldera, getting the attention of Kaja and Walter who had a good feeling they knew where it would lead, and it continued and It exploded in a brilliant display of small purple spores where the team were.


Violet light began to fill the sky and they all turned looking to see what appeared to be a comet or shooting star of some sort flying overhead. Like a firework, it burst above them, releasing small little glowing orbs down to the ground.

"It's beautiful," Callum admired. Rayla smiled, reaching out a hand and catching one. "They're gentle. They even tickle a little," she chuckled, gently blowing it away.

Rigran however looked at the top of the tallest mountain in Katalis as it could be seen even from where they were and knew what these spores meant, these spores were just a flare to give away their location and knew what it meant.

Back in the castle of Katalis, Viren watched the arc of purple from one mountain to another knowing himself what it meant.

The hunt continues