"See, this is why I don't trust magic," Soren huffed. "If the Moon Moth really worked, then how did we manage to miss a couple of Moonshadow elves hiding out in the forest waiting to snatch up the prince?"

Viren sighed. "If the moon moth failed, it was only because you failed to see them. You must never forget that Moonshadow elves are deceitful by nature; chances are they were hiding in plain sight, staring right at you, Soren." He banged his staff onto the floor and turned to address his daughter. "Claudia, did you get good look at them?"

Claudia nodded. "There were three, but I don't have anything from them to make a tracking spell," she said slowly. "The most I could do was send out a summon so that if we can't find them, they can." She suppressed a shudder. She could never say truly who they were; she'd never seen them. All she knew was that they sometimes brought her father some of his...ingredients for whatever dark magic he was experimenting with this time. Either way, neither were good for Ezran if the Moonshadow elves' spell had convinced him that they were on his side. They were known for efficiency in getting the job done, not gentleness. "Listen, I think they have Ezran under a spell or something. He actually wanted to go with them; he used Bait against us and helped those would-be murderers escape!"

Viren looked over them both and looked deep in thought. "Of course, he's a child. Children will believe almost anything they're told. Who knows what those elven assassins may have said to bamboozle him. Trust nothing they say. Elves will lie until their last breath if it means getting what they want. Do you both understand?"

Soren and Claudia nodded in unison.

"Good. Now, with the moon at its highest, you'll never catch them. Your best bet is to set out at dawn. Every moment is vital for the chance of returning Prince Ezran alive. And make sure no matter what happens, the egg is safe. If the elves get their hands on it, it would mean another Thunder will rule the sky in another decade, and all those deaths will be for nothing."

"But..." Claudia hesitated. "Shouldn't our priority be Ezran?"

"Yes, yes, of course. However, the egg is just as important, and we can't let it fall into the wrong hands for Xadia to use it. How many more will die from such a weapon like many had fallen by Thunder's doing?" He observed the stone in his staff, pretending to brush it off. "Besides, leave the little prince to us."

"Us?"

Then from behind them came the sound of a slow, leisurely clapping. Claudia and Soren turned to find their father walking toward them with a smile on his face. "Quite a performance, if I may add," Viren--the real Viren--said. "Claudia, you said before you wanted to meet the people who would handle getting Prince Ezran back to us, so allow me to introduce you." The imposter Viren walked forward, handing the staff to their father before standing beside him, a small incantation muttered before the illusion fell off him to reveal a woman--no, girl from how she looked barely older than Claudia--standing a few inches taller than Viren, a smirk on her lips. Her eyes held violet irises surrounded by black sclera, her skin a tapestry of colors in an array of blues, yellows, and pinks, freckled with shining stars like tiny diamonds had been embedded into her skin. Long black horns curled upward from white hair. Like a twilight sky in human form.

Like an elf, regardless of how beautiful.

Soren had his hand on his sword when Viren stopped him. "She and her brother are on our side. Meet Theodosia," he introduced, gesturing to the elf girl who was now sweeping into a bow. "She knows her way around illusions better than anyone."

"Apologies for my deception," she drawled, her lips curling into a smirk. "I simply enjoy getting into character. Was I good? Be honest, as I am always open to constructive criticism."

"She is rather one for theatrics," said another voice. The owner stepped out of the darkness to reveal a boy. This one appeared an abnormality as well but different. He had no horns and his long hair swept into a messy bun was a rich auburn, but his ears tapered to a point. Faintly darker marks than his copper skin tone went through and around his eyes, and in a line down his chin from his bottom lip to his neck like...like elf markings; they could have been birthmarks and no one would have known any better. One hand held five fingers, but the other had only four. Soren actually recognized this one.

"Rhun?" he muttered, recognizing him as the shy, quiet boy from the village who ran away years ago. Back then, he had been constantly on edge, always keeping his head down and never getting into trouble. Now, he seemed confident, something dark about him, deadly.

"Surprised?" Rhun tossed something from one hand to the other before tossing it to his sister, his elf sister (both siblings were still wrapping their heads around the mere concept), who inspected it a moment before tucking into pocket of her long skirt that swept over the floor. "You remember our deal." This was directed at Viren.

"Go," Viren said instead, "you'll get your payment when I see the boy."

Both brother and sister bowed deeply before they saw Theodosia transform into a more human-like appearance and the two were off. The minute they were gone, Soren went to his father. "Dad, are you...are you sure we can trust them not to hurt him? They're--"

"I trust them to complete their job," Viren said, clasping his hands behind him. "Your priority is the egg. What she said was true. We cannot let it fall back into the wrong hands. Leave the problem of the assassins to them. He knows his way around a weapon, and will fight, but she, she knows how to tear them apart from the inside."

"Okay, but say," Claudia started with a nervous laugh, "say something were to happen, and we're forced to choose between saving the egg and saving Ezran..." She deflated slightly as she looked down at her hands. "Which one should it be?"

Viren observed the stone in his staff, tapping it with a finger. If Ezran was kept alive, besides using him for a bargaining chip, he could also prove valuable to them if they managed to turn the young prince against them. "We still hold the king on the throne, and Prince Callum shall be regent should anything happen until the heir is returned, an heir whose head may have already been tampered with, or another replaces him-" he didn't miss Claudia's wince at 'replace,' as if she could already tell what he was implying- "but there is only one egg. So if you had to choose..." Both siblings shared a worried glance as their blood ran cold, not needing him to finish to know what he was saying.

It wouldn't come to that, right?

"Choose the egg."

☪️☪️☪️

Luck was on their side. Or to be more specific, the moon. Its primal essence was embedded in their blood after all.

In the moonlight, it was difficult to see the elves at all. The only hint to their presence was their shadows and you could catch maybe their outlines if you squint. There was a reason not many knew what Moonshadow elves looked like. Nights of the full moon was the main time they struck, and on those nights the moon's essence allowed them to blend in with the darkness. Thus, most humans didn't see Moonshadow elves, per se. That was the point, being natural assassins and illusionists. That meant most of their targets either never saw them coming or never lived longer than the sight to tell the tale.

Thankfully, they'd made it to the courtyard without too many incidents. And once they were out into the open, Runaan whistled in a way that sounded like the birds Ezran had heard Gren impersonate on outings his dad couldn't make it. He swore he caught a trio of shadows climb down from the tower where his dad's chambers were, but...they promised they wouldn't hurt them, didn't they? So, he shouldn't worry. Right?

He shouldered the bag with the egg hidden inside. He had insisted on carrying the egg himself, and Runaan had tried to take it from him, but Rayla had taken his side, saying that there didn't seem to be any reason the egg wasn't safe with him.

Even now Ezran could hear the gentle heartbeat coming from within the shell, its glow throbbing with each beat. It was alive, it was well, and Ezran would try to keep it that way. If it was causing all this trouble, it had to be important, right?

People would be after them soon enough. Claudia would try to take the egg back, where it would be stuck in that dark, scary lair until it hatched, and then what would they do with it? Ezran frowned at the thought and Bait was seated on his shoulder, giving a sympathetic croak as he tuned into his master's turmoil.

And...Callum would be okay with it. He knew now what Claudia and Viren were doing to the egg, he knew now that the egg everyone thought had been destroyed was actually safe and sound, and he had sided with them. He wouldn't believe Ezran, and this time no matter the pleading, he wouldn't take his side.

But there was also that moment where that one look had conveyed all that Callum thought he had to say. That even if he didn't agree, he would do his best to help him out. That was the Callum he'd known and loved, even if he seemed to be there for a fleeting moment.

Maybe if Ezran ran into him again, he could convince him. But he was older, and so was Claudia; adults always thought they knew more than he did, and maybe they did, but not this time. This time he knew keeping the dragon egg here away from its mother was wrong. Even if...everyone else was telling him it was for the best.

Did his dad know?

He recalled the elves' leader, Runaan, snapping at him when he tried to convince them his dad really was a good person.

Your father orchestrated the murder of the Dragon King and then destroyed his only egg!

And Ezran knew his dad would never do that. Lord Viren probably didn't tell him about the egg. If his dad had known, he would have tried to give it back. Probably. No, he would, because Dad was a good person.

Now, they were all back at their camp, and he could see all the adults looking over a map, talking to each other in low voices. The look on Runaan's face as they discussed their next move reminded Ezran of the kind of look he'd seen many times on his father's face during meetings Ezran had snuck into or accidentally wandered in on (the passages could get tricky to navigate at times) when matters of Katolis required the king's hand.

Ezran couldn't help but wonder what would happen to him now that the elves had the egg. They said they wouldn't hurt him, but...Claudia insisted they were liars. At the same time, they had been nothing but honest, more so at the very least than his father's friend. Rayla was nice and she had every opportunity to hurt him, so he had no reason to be scared of her.

Still, although the other elves didn't seem to have any intention of hovering near him, there was an unspoken tension whenever they looked at him. Like there was something they weren't telling him.

He so badly wanted to believe this whole night was all a dream, but...

He was sitting on grass somewhere in the woods. With a dragon egg inside his bag.

None of this was fair. He couldn't understand why Lord Viren would— Okay, so maybe Lord Viren had done bad things before, but he always said they were for the greater good. There hasn't been any reason to lie, at least in Ezran's mind, so he'd trusted him.

But when Ezran had realized Lord Viren had lied about the egg being destroyed, he hadn't understood that. Then, Callum had taken Claudia's side, and he hadn't understood that either. Maybe Callum had his moments where he could be a real jerkface (hence the dance) like that time after their mother's funeral or that time Ezran tried to tell him about how he understood animals, or this morning when he exploded at Ezran about assassins coming to kill their dad. But he'd always been there whether way, to apologize and be by his side.

He'd never actually been against him. He had never seen that side of his brother before, nor their mage friend for that matter, the side that showed such bias towards the elves.

Why did it matter either way? He had seen the picture books, the ones depicting elves as scary, horned, four-fingered monsters, yet the ones he'd seen today didn't match that at all. Alright, so the horns and four fingers part was correct, but not the scary part; besides the horns and pointy ears, they almost looked like any other people he'd see at home.

So, no, the elves themselves didn't scare him, not in the slightest. What did scare him was what they might do. He wasn't stupid, after all, he could hear them before. Being young didn't mean he didn't have ears as much as Rayla tried to veer around what exactly their words meant.

Runaan's finger trace a path on the map. "We go northeast a short distance, then we shall have to go west through the Ethermind Forest."

"You sure about that?" Kouru raised his brows. "We don't need to take any more risks than we have to, and the passage we came through worked just fine."

"Yes, but that was when we all had use of both hands," Callisto reminded, displaying the binding on his wrists similar to the ones all around. "The one we came through is crawling with humans, and it was risky enough even before the binding ritual. You know the longer we take, the tighter these get, and if they get too tight, we might as well all be without our hands. What would we do now if we ran into one and we can't fight?"

A tense silence settled over them as his words sunk in. Finally, Runaan gave a nod. "The Ethermind Forest is avoided by humans and elves alike. Unlike the Breach, the humans won't be guarding it."

"That's because almost no one's crazy enough to go near it," Kouru snorted.

Surveying the map as she sent Kouru a look, Hyla added, "Also because the rumors say it's home to creatures that devour anything that moves."

Everyone looked to Kai.

Kai sighed and made an unsure gesture with his hands. "Well, I'm sure anything living there wouldn't have natural means to survive, and that's not really a good thing. No sunlight, no water for miles, and nothing but trees. And dark magic beasts are things you don't want to come across."

"What are you saying?" Runaan asked.

"Well, I'm sure you've heard the stories if even humans know it. They say the Forest is where they buried one of the first dark magic users. The mages of old caught him experimenting with dark magic, stealing the life from everything around him to unnaturally prolong his own," Kai explained. "They say that it was among the first and last things elves and humans ever joined forces for since the Divide. Since he wanted to live forever, they made sure he did, but he could never leave. Too far from the border to draw on the essence of any magical creatures and break the spell. Far enough from Katolis that nobody would find him. Just him, alone with his decaying body and fraying mind. Forever."

"As lovely as that little history lesson was, how exactly does that help our case?" Kouru demanded.

Kai rolled his eyes. "They say because of the experiments he carried out on the land, it was turned into little more than a dark wasteland rid of all life, but the side effects of the magic left a lot of nasty things in those left behind. No one really knows what because nobody has ever gone through and come back. They also say that dark mage still wanders around the forest looking for a soul to corrupt or to take their life for himself."

"Oh, thank you, that just makes me feel oh-so-much better," Kouru grumbled.

Kai shrugged.

"Runaan, are you sure about this route?" Hyla asked cautiously.

"Would you rather take your chances with humans or a myth? With the prince missing, they'll already be aware of us and on the lookout, so they'll be prepared, more so than we'll be by the time we get there as Callisto pointed out. And with the forces on our trail, it's best to go a way that'll throw them off," said Runaan. "I am well aware of the dangers, but the safest route is the best route."

"We have no guarantee that the Forest is the safer route."

"But we are guaranteed death if the humans overwhelm us from all sides," Runaan said. "We're out of options, and this is our best choice. With any luck, we may be able to skirt around it, but we cannot be sure if we'll be able to avoid or fight off the humans once we are left without our hands. Our main objective now is to keep the egg safe and return it to the Dragon Queen."

"Animals get distracted, but humans have a one-track mind. Their main objective is to kill us all if that means retrieving the egg and the prince" Callisto folded his arms across his chest and glanced at Hyla. "Either way, our chances are bleak, but at least with this one, they're better to adjust in our favor."

"Sure, and then we'll just pray the myth isn't real, and we won't get attacked by the spirit of one of the first dark mage's. I'm just jumping for freaking joy," Kouru said with more than a healthy dose of snark. Everyone ignored him. It was easy to forget his youth compared to the others beside Rayla, that was until he opened his mouth.

Runaan understood their doubts. He could see the same flash across everyone else's faces, but they understood their place and had to trust his judgment. Still, he had some of them himself. Anyone would at the thought of going through a passage nobody was known to come out of once they entered. But they had a job to do. Hopefully they wouldn't have the need to actually travel through and the area around it would simply be enough to discourage any followers.

Giving a heavy sigh, Hyla gave in. "Alright. We can probably start travel tomorrow morning. Humans need more rest than we do, especially ones so young. Give the boy a few hours to rest and we should be able to be on our way."

"A whole night." Kai winced. "I'm not so sure of that idea with them all looking for us. The longer we stay here, the more we're at risk for those soldiers to realize they weren't wrong that first time. And then they will come back."

"Which is why you will do first watch, and Kouru, you'll back him up. When your shift is over, Hyla and Callisto will take over," Runaan said.

"And what will I do?" asked Rayla. The entire meeting, she'd be silent, knowing better than to speak where her opinion wasn't wanted. She knew at this point she was on her second strike, one more and she was done. Regardless of whether her actions had redeemed her or not, there was still a tension in the air between her and Runaan. The others seemed more lenient towards her, their judgment softening towards her after the egg's discovery, but Runaan seemed intent on letting her know he wouldn't let her actions go unpunished once they returned home. When Runaan's gaze flashed to her for a brief moment, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"You will stay out of the way with the prince and keep watch over him," he said in a clipped, dispassionate voice, returning his gaze back to the map and not so much as glancing in her direction as he spoke. "You brought him so it should be your responsibility he stays in our grasp and doesn't run off. Am I clear?"

Rayla opened her mouth to protest, but then lowered her head and looked down at her hands. "Yes." Shouldn't be a difficult task. Since his confrontation with his brother, the young prince seemed to have withdrawn into himself. Likely shock.

As cold as it sounded, she hoped that tonight would suffice for it sink in. They didn't have more time to give him. Runaan was already on pins and needles with the humans in such close proximity and them all believing Ezran to be kidnapped, even though, while it started as such, he was with them of his own free will. Well, not exactly since he was no longer allowed to leave, but he had come with them of his own free will. Still, this had become much more complicated than any of them had anticipated.

"This goes for each of you when I say that our mission is no longer simply about justice. Now there's more at stake if we fail." Runaan's gaze turned to where Ezran sat and the egg he had helped them find.

And it wasn't. Soon enough, others would know about the prince's disappearance. Prince Ezran was now essentially a political hostage whether he knew it or not, something that could benefit Xadia and the greater of the continent's future. There was also the fact, and the secret relief she felt, knowing that there was no longer a need to kill Ezran. She knew that Runaan would have his regrets about killing a child, but if it was for the greater good of Xadia, he would do it without the hesitation she had.

She wasn't so sure about her other comrades (she didn't know them that far beyond this journey except maybe Kouru who was the youngest beside her and though several years her senior, still closest to her age), but she knew that they all believed the same thing she did. Life was precious and the idea of killing a ten-year-old boy would be a heavy weight on their minds—or maybe not.

Assassins didn't feel guilt. She seemed to be the only odd one out. Although Rayla had always wondered if their conscience suffered as much as hers would have if she had gone through with Ezran's murder.

Hopefully, if all went well, she wouldn't find out too soon.