(Author's Note: Okay, warning, it diverges a little from Canon from here)

Rhun could swear he had left skid marks on the stairs from his hurry down the stairs and the sharp turns he made in an effort to get away. "Hurry up, follow me!" called Ezran.

"You're only making this worse!" shouted the elf girl from somewhere behind them.

"Oh, joy, this day can get worse," Rhun grumbled.

"This way!" Ezran ran to the left, and Rhun had to grab Callum's wrist as he slid.

"Cannot have one of you two falling with an assassin on our tail because then you are on your own!"

As they got to the wall Ezran had took him through before, Callum stumbled back, obviously not knowing the wall to be anything more than a dead end. "Time for a puzzle!" Ezran grinned as he began to press different stones in the wall. "Rock, rock, stone, rock, stone, stone, rock, stone, rock, stone, stone-"

"Wait, what's the difference between the rocks and the stones?" Callum questioned.

"This is not the time, Callum. Just go with it," Rhun sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Ugh! You made me do stone instead of rock!" Ezran exclaimed. "Rock, rock, stone, rock, stone, stone, rock, stone, rock!" A spiral staircase opened below Callum's feet, and Rhun ushered the brothers down as quickly as possible. As they went down, he remembered what Ezran had done last time and pushed down a small totem to close the staircase. "Yes!"

"You sure she won't be able to follow us?" Callum asked.

"No way. It took me over a month to figure out that combination!"

"Careful, you might have just jinxed it," Rhun said, more intent on finding a way out from here. And then the staircase opened and spiraled down, revealing the elf girl on its steps. In an instant his weapon was drawn.

"But how did you..." Ez started.

"I just pressed all the stones with the jelly handprints," the girl smirked. With narrowed eyes, Rhun glanced at Ez, who gave a bashful apologetic look after he facepalmed and left an orange jelly handprint. The girl approached slowly, looking around at the corpses and parts of animals. Rhun fought the urge to do the same, remembering the dreadful feeling that made him sick to his stomach.

"What is this place? Runaan is right. There's nothing in humans worth sparing. Time's up." The elf pointed her blade at them. "Humans destroyed the egg of the dragon prince. There must be justice."

"You'll have to get through me." Rhun stepped in front of the princes. "This isn't right, and I think you know that. Either that or it was just way too easy to make you fall for one of the oldest tricks in the book.

"Really?" she growled. Her eyes were red and the skin around them was irritated. Every now and then, she'd blink furiously and it seemed she was making an effort not to rub her eyes to get out the burning sensation. She walked closer.

"Wait! You need to see something," Ezran peeked out from behind him. He started to walk in front, but Rhun held out a hand to keep him back.

"I'm not falling for any tricks this fine!" The elf held her blade up.

"Sorry about that." Ez replied. Bait croaked and turned an orange color. "But there's no trick this time! Please, look."

"Fine. You uncover it. Slowly."

"I know why you're here. You're here to kill us and Dad, but you don't have to. The egg's here, and I can hear inside. It's alive!" Ez pulled off the cloth, revealing the dragon prince's egg for them all to as see.

"It-It can't be..." the elf girl gasped. "The egg... It wasn't destroyed..."

"No," Rhun said slowly. "Have we made our case?"

"So this is it? The egg of the dragon prince?" Callum leaned closer.

"I can't believe it! If the egg lives..." The girl trailed off.

"It could stop the war," Rhun finished. "No more fighting, no revenge cycle. Just peace. Imagine that, just for a minute."

The elf came closer and knelt by the egg. "Don't worry, he's okay in there. I can feel it!" Ezran smiled. To his surprise, the elf smiled back.

"But how?! W-Why wasn't it destroyed?" Callum questioned.

"Because my father saved it." A stray but familiar voice came from behind the group. Rhun and the elf whipped around to find Claudia walking toward them. Her eyes centered in on the girl and then to Rhun. "He was right then, about you." This she directed at Rhun, her eyes narrowed. "You're a spy, aren't you, and you let them walk right in!"

"I'm not a spy, and I didn't plan anything," Rhun shot back, practically rehearsed from all the times he had to convince anyone who suspected his heritage.

"Of course you did, my father told me that you said yourself your father was part of the party, and he still decided to trust you." Rhun tensed at her words. So someone had listened in. "How could you do this?"

"You have to believe me, it's not what you think," he pleaded, sparing a glance behind him at Callum as if also begging him to understand. "I am trying to keep them safe from him."

"Yeah, right! Callum, Ezran, get behind mine! I'll project you!" Claudia growled as she raised her hand to perform a spell, a dark orb in the other.

"Your father didn't save the egg, he stole it!" the elf girl protested, fury in her voice. Ezran quickly took the egg off the pedestal and held it close.

"That's a lie!"

"Well, Claudia, why is it here then?" Rhun demanded.

"My father took it to protect us. So the elves and dragons couldn't use it."

"What are you talking about? how can we use it?!" The elf kept her blade up, pointed at Claudia.

"Don't play dumb! You know it's a powerful weapon."

"An egg?! I can't even make breakfast with this thing" Rhun snapped in exasperation.

Claudia scoffed, then turned to Ezran. "Ezran, don't be afraid. Walk towards me, and if she moves even an inch!" Claudia threatened as she drew a rune, lightning building in her hand. "Just bring that thing here..."

"It's not a thing! It has a mother, and it needs to go back to her!" the elf girl said.

There was a moment in which Ezran looked between her and Claudia, between the dark mage he'd known all his life and the assassin who'd stated her assignment to kill him. Then that moment ended and he seemed to have decided.

"You're right. It wants its mother," he nodded.

"Ezran be careful..."

"Follow me." Ez ran out down a hall with the others following close behind while Callum burst forward at Claudia. Just as Callum caught up to them after taking care of her, a loud howl echoed through the hall.

"And it's official. I am never babysitting again!" Rhun grumbled.

"There's something after us!" Callum cried out. The elf slid to a stop and took out her blades.

"Keep running!"

"Wait, not that way!" Ezran called out. "This way!" Quickly, Rhun grasped the edge of Callum's scarf and pulled him along to go the way Ezran had scurried, following the bright glow Bait gave off.
.
"Why not?" Callum asked.

"Because that way's a dead-end!"

"Sounds right," Rhun panted. He faltered when he remembered the girl was no longer with them.

"And you, what was exactly was Claudia talking about back there?" Callum demanded suddenly.

"Let's wait for the time to have this talk."

"Oh, sure, let's all wait for the designated talk-about-your-dad-trying-to-kill-ours time!"

With Ezran leading the way and halfway up another staircase, Rhun began to fall back. He glanced between the princes and the way back, listening to the girl elf's struggle against the monsters. "Listen, go on without me, and if I don't catch up, go to your father!"

Without waiting for a response, Rhun rushed in the opposite direction, his steps slapping against the stone. By the time he returned to where he'd seen the girl last, she was fighting off a pair of large black and purple wolves made of smoke, her swords passing straight through before they'd rematerialized. She wasn't looking too well with burns and bite marks on her skin from where the wolves had gone past their defenses.

"I can't stop them! They're just smoke. My swords pass right through," the elf tried to explain as she backed away from the smoke wolves.

Somehow Rhun knew it to be a result of dark magic. He'd never seen it up, except the once Desdemona showed him a last defense spell if all else failed and he was backed into a corner. But the impression has stuck with him. Dark magic had an unnatural feel unlike that of using the arcanums

Putting his fingers to his mouth, Rhun whistled to gather the wolves attention, then in a swift motion drew the rune in the air, whispering the word, "Confundo."

The rune still hanging in the air, he blew on it, causing a similarly-colored dust to fall upon the wolves, who blinked and shook their heads before opening them again and growling at invisible prey in the opposite direction before taking off. Ignoring the girl elf's incredulous look as she looked at him then at the retreating wolves, he went back the way the princes had gone.

"But you don't have a..." She trailed off as her expression turned into one of apprehension. "If you don't have a primal stone, how did you-"

"Less talking, more walking, please," Rhun snapped, thoroughly done with today. "Oh, and in case you've got a smart mouth, too, yes, it seems you're gonna have to wait for the designated talk-about-doing-primal-magic time!"

Once they caught up with the princes, they were opening a portrait into what looked to be an empty throne room. The king had probably already been escorted off to wherever it was thought safest by the Crownguards. Outside, the sun was setting, hastening the coming threat.

"Listen, I need you to give me the egg. I have to get it to the roof right away," the girl elf insisted as she approached Ez.

"What? Why?" Ezran asked.

"Just....Trust me," The elf replied as she held out her hand.

"Right, right, that makes sense!" Callum said sarcastically. "Since we go way back! Like that one time ten minutes ago when you chased me through the castle trying to stab me?! Haha! Good times!" He frowned.

"You might not realize it, but I'm trying to help you. Any moment now, others will be arriving! Others like me!" The elf snapped.

"She's right, they're the assassins I'm trying to keep you away from," Rhun sighed. "A job no one's making easy, but I still have to do."

"I need to show them the egg to stop them. Just give it to me!"

Ezran glanced at the elf, then glanced at Bait, and shook his head. "I'll hold it for now."

"I have another idea," Rhun said, trying to think of which way to go
without drawing too much attention. On one hand, no one would think it odd of them to leave. On the other, they might think it odd they had a Moonshadow elf with them who, if Callum's remark had any base, had likely made enough noise for them to be searching for her. Plus, there was no telling how long Claudia would remain out of the chase. Out that door could be more guards to give the illusion the king was inside. Rhun went over to the nearest window and looked down.

Hay cart. Good enough.

"On one condition. If we live, you boys don't breath a word of this to your father."

"What do you mean-"

Callum didn't get to finish his sentence before Rhun smashed the windowpane with his baton and gestured at the now open window. "How do you feel about heights?"

"No, no, no," Callum protested, shaking his head frantically in a way that told very well how he felt about heights. "That's crazy. We could die."

"Well, we could chance it and head for the roof where we could waste time and the assassins won't be so willing to listen as the one I'm taking you to, or you could take our chances here and trust me. Either way, I'm more inclined to what I think is the best way to do my duty, which is to keep your brother safe."

"No, it's better if we just take the egg to the roof for them to see," the girl argued.

"No, my father told me about Runaan and his team, that he believes in justice and has conviction, that once he makes up his mind, no one can change it. Excuse me if from that description, I'd rather leave our lives to fate than your assumption he'll listen," Rhun said.

She was speechless, then pointed her sword at him, eyes narrowed. "I never said his name."

"I'll explain later, but now..." The sky was getting gradually darker. "We need to leave."

"I'll go first, I trust him," Ezran said, stepping to his side. "If he wanted to hurt us, he would have. He had plenty of chances."

"Alright, but I need you to give me the egg first." Rhun held out his hands. "Just in case." Once the young prince handed it to him, Ezran hugged Bait tightly before jumping out the hole Rhun made.

There was a distant, thump a few seconds later, then a cheerful, "I'm okay! So's Bait!"

Callum was...difficult. Rhun had to practically toss him out. Luckily there was only a pained groan two seconds later, no sounds of breaking bones or agonized screaming.

Also good enough. It was odd. Over the years he'd become used to premeditating plans beforehand, and then carrying them out. And now it seemed he was forced to make it all up as he went along.

It'd been a simple, efficient plan he had to work with. But people weren't like machines or weapons, you could never plan for their actions.

And to think! Tonight of all nights, his plan had warped so out of control he was willing to settle for adequate of all things.

(Author's Note: Hi, again! Also, any name suggestions for the other four elves in Runaan's team because I really wish we at least knew their names here, plus I want to include them! The TDP Twitter account keeps saying they'll release the names soon, but we are two seasons in, guys! Any ideas about what to name them for my fanfic would be seriously appreciated! Either way, hope you're having a lovely day!)

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