In no time, the sun is peeking over the horizon, and the birds begin their morning song. Sarah wakes up feeling refreshed and ready to escape with Sapphire and the others when she sees Trent standing above her with an evil grin plastered to his face. She gasps and sits up quickly, looking around the room for her fairy friend. Sapphire is not beside her but standing with her arm pinned behind her back and a burly arm around her neck as one of the other servants holds her at bay.
“Sapphire!”
“Don’t worry your pretty little head over the fairy, Sarah, I will take care of her tomorrow. Right now, it is about us and our wedding,” Trent says as he glances at the other servant. “Take the lying wench to the dungeon and lock her up. I will decide what to do with her and her family tomorrow.”
The servant bows his head and then drags the struggling fairy girl out of the room, terror embedded in her eyes and her breath coming out in sharp gasps as she tries to escape the brute’s hold. Sarah watches helplessly as they drag Sapphire out of the room and the door slammed behind them, blocking Sarah and Sapphire’s views from one another. She can hear the fairy screaming and struggling, calling out her name as Sapphire is being dragged away from the room.
Sarah screams at Trent to let her go, leaping off the bed and rushing for the door, easily side stepping another giant brute of man before throwing the door open. She slides into the hallway and lunges forward, grabbing the man from behind. She carefully gets him untangled from Sapphire and twisting so that the man is twirled away from her and the fairy.
The servant stumbles, surprised by the sudden attack, tripping over his own feet and falling hard to the ground. Sarah grabs Sapphire’s hand and drags the girl behind her as she heads for the stairs. They rush down the stairs, hearing Trent bellowing behind them for the servants to give chase and catch the Elf and Fairy. Sarah ignores the yelling and keeps running until they are in front of the door. Sapphire and Sarah shove it open and rush out into the courtyard, Sapphire whistling for Laeros. The dragon circles around above them but does not drop, still being told what to do by Trent.
“We need something to destroy that gem around his neck,” Sapphire says, spreading her wings. “I don’t know if I will be able to get close enough.”
“Do you know where I can get a stone and a slingshot?” Sarah asks as she glances behind them, not seeing anyone rushing out of the castle just yet.
Sapphire looks around and finds a stone but no slingshot. She looks down at her clothes and rips off a strip of shirt, holding it out to Sarah, “Will this work?”
Sarah nods, taking both into her hands, slipping the stone into the middle of the sling she makes out of the cloth. She twirls it around her head, monitoring Laeros to watch for a flying pattern. Sapphire places herself behind Sarah, eyes on the door and a ball of magic in her hand at the ready.
Sarah can hear someone coming but does her best to block out the noise as she swings the rock at Laeros’ neck, but the rock sails past without hitting its mark. Sarah finds another stone and slips it in the crook of the cloth before swinging it over her head as Sapphire lets the ball of light go, hitting the ground in front of the man, blasting the man backwards into another man and woman servant.
Sarah flinches at the sound, but she keeps her eyes locked on Laeros. Finally, she lets the second stone fly and this time as if in slow motion the rock hits the ruby, shattering the gem into thousands of little pieces that rain down around her and Sapphire. Sapphire looks up as the ruby shards fall and lets out a loud cry of joy before she does her special whistle, calling her dragon friend down from the sky.
Laeros circles once more as he regains his own thoughts and control before he swoops down towards them. But before he can get to them, Trent’s dragon appears from nowhere, slamming into Laeros and sending both dragons hurtling out of the sky over the castle walls. Sapphire screams for her dragon, holding her hand up towards the two, dropping to her knees.
Sarah runs over to Sapphire, pulling her to her feet and dragging the poor fairy towards the front gate. They can hear the dragons fighting somewhere on the other side of the wall as they race towards the open gates.
“Close the gates!” Trent bellows from behind them as he races down the stairs, his cloak billowing out behind him and his staff raised as he readies himself for casting a spell.
“Trent! Don’t you even think about it!” a forceful voice rings throughout the courtyard, starling the girls and making Trent freeze.