The Prophecy of Five

I: 12 :I

Soren

After spending sooo long away from the castle, Soren just wanted to go back to his nice crazy bed and sleep. He was tempted to just disappear into his room and avoid talking with his father about his failed mission, but he couldn't let Claudia go and get yelled at alone. Soren and his sister walked through the town on their way to the castle and found it to be rather quiet. There were people out and about, selling goods, baking, trading, but there should have been a lot more more at this hour. As they approached the castle, Soren could see a lot of guards stationed around the ramparts and gateway. At least double compared to when they left. The soldiers saw his Royal Guard armor and let him and his sister through the main gate. The inner courtyard was full of soldiers practicing sword fighting, archery, horseback riding, everything they would need to know. But again, there was a lot more soldiers here than normal. Soren went to talk to one of the soldiers who was laying down on break and figure out what was going on.

"Hey. What's up with all the guards everywhere?"

The soldier, eyes closed and head back, waved Soren off. Oblivious to who had asked the question. Soren lightly kicked him in the ribs, aggravating the soldier.

"Hey! Who do you think..." he started to shout, sitting up and seeing Soren. "Oh! Sorry Soren. Didn't realize it was you."

"Uh hu. So why's going on here?" he asked again gesturing to the packed courtyard.

"There's been some attacks on the other human kingdoms. People have been spotting strange elves on the rooftops. Nobody here has gotten attacked here yet, but that could change soon. We're just preparing for the worst."

Soren looked around at all of the training men and women.

"Do you know where our father is?" Claudia asked, "We need to speak with him."

The guard looked at her confused.

"He's locked up. The high priestess arrested him for treason after calling the other human kingdoms to a meeting using the king's royal stamp. He didn't exactly help himself by attacking and killing a few soldiers either."

"Well, where is he now?" Soren asked.

"Where is he locked up?" the guard said, confused.

"Yes. Duh."

"Soren, where do you lock people up?" Claudia said sarcastically.

He thought for a moment before coming to a realization.

"Oh. Oh I know."

Claudia fake smiled at him and thanked the guard for his help. She and Soren walked off into the great hall, looking for the dungeon where there father was being held. They walked around for a couple of minutes before finding the stairs that led to the dungeon.

Great, Soren thought, more stairs.

Ever since Claudia healed his back, Soren had been slowly getting better. Walking didn't hurt anymore and his ribs had mended with the help of his enchanted sleeping bag. However, he still had a subtle limp and had to take inclines and stairs slower than he liked. Oh their way down, Claudia and Soren discussed what they would say to their father.

"Well, we brought one of the princes home. So hopefully he'll be happy with that." Claudia said optimistically.

"Yeah but we didn't get the egg or Callum. And all we have is that." Soren said, pointing to the dragon horn in Claudia's hand.

"Well let's hope it's enough. I know a lot of different spells that use dragon parts but I can't remember any that need dragon horn."

They reached the bottom of the stairway and found the dungeon brightly lit with soldiers guarding one of the cells at the end of corridor.