OH 

MY 

GODS

WE

HAVE

 THE 

EGG!

I don't believe it. No one does as Oli disappears from sight. A moment passes of shocked silence before-

'DUDES!' Ren squeals. 'DUDES WE DID IT!' 

'THE EGG IS OURS!' Martyn holds it above his head. 'WE HAVE IT! WE DID IT!'

'Oh man... that was... that was not what I expected...'

'He was just the messenger... just the guy tasked with stealing the egg.' Cub figures. 'He wasn't behind it.'

'Then who sent him?'

'Pix. Obviously.' Martyn replies immediately. 'You heard him talking, insisting he had to get it to Pix, had to get it to him.'

'That makes sense... Oh man we actually won!' Ren hugs Cub, who's closest. A hug back. I just catch Cub's smile. But he's uneasy. He's still worried about True.

'Well... what now?'

'True will be waiting for us to come back. Or still coming to find us here.'

'We have to hide.'

'Now?!'

'We don't know where they've got to. She might've been waiting out for us to leave the forest still back before the mountains or be mere minutes away.' Cub's pacing. I cross over, trying to placate him with a hand on his shoulder.

'It's ok. We can do whatever you want.'

'I don't know what to do. If they come... they find us. They hurt us. They get the egg.'

'Or we fight them and win. Instead of running.'

'They killed Grian in 1 hit! You KNOW what they're capable of! We can't fight them and lose again!'

'Is there another way back to Hermitia? Another path? Could we cut through the forest another way? Take a boat from The Capital instead?' Martyn continues arguing 'Losing the egg isn't the only way this can end!'

'If they find us, yes it is.'

'DUDES! Can we just celebrate for 5 seconds?!' Interrupts Ren 'We have the egg! We're victorious!'

'Not yet.'

I hear the pain in Cub's voice as he walks away. I follow, keeping an eye on everyone behind me.

'Hey, it's ok.' I insist as he falls to the ground behind a tree.

'I'm sorry.'

'For what?'

'For causing True to be after us. Be after... you.' His admittance on the boat comes back. I see one hand raise to where they hurt him. Tears shine in his eyes.

'I thought when we got the egg... all our problems would be gone. But it's not over. It's not the end. True- True is still after us.'

'Maybe Martyn's right. We could try to fight them...'

'You don't want to fight them.' 

Cub's right.

I don't.

'We'll find a way out of this. We have before. You're smart. We've faced worse.' A pause. 'I've faced worse.'

'WHERE'S THE EGG, SCAR?'

Silence.

'Does it still hurt?' 

'What?'

'How much does it physically hurt?'

'Not much.' I feel it now. 'I... can ignore it.'

'Scar...'

'I can ignore it.' I repeat. 'Believe me. I can ignore the pain. I'm used to it.'

'I'm sorry.'

'Don't be. It's ok. We have the egg.'

'We have the egg.'

'We'll be fine. You and Doc... you're big brains. You can find a way out of this. We can all find a way out of this... everything will be ok.'

He's still close to crying. I hold out my arms, offering a hug. A nod back is all he can manage. We hug. I'm comforting him as he starts to sob, lying in my lap.

'It's ok.' I repeat. 'We're ok.'

'Cub? Scar? Is everything ok, dudes?'

I flinch at Ren's voice. 

'Oh no- I'm so sorry dude. Are you ok?'

I fight the rising pain, nodding.

'Yeah. Yeah.' Cub's stopped crying, just lying in my lap staring out on the forest. 'We just needed some time out.'

'I'm sorry for yelling. I just... I needed something good. And we got back the egg and now... we have True to deal with. Again. But... Doc's happy celebrate now. And me and Martyn. If you want to just stay quiet and keep each other company that's fine. But... we'll be partying a bit. And keeping an ear out for True.

'Cub?'

'Hmm?'

'You wanna party?'

'We can party. Let's go and party.'

It's a couple hours into partying that the letter arrives. A pigeon flies into where Ren and Martyn are showing off some incredible singing, landing in the middle of our group. I laugh.

'What're you doing here?' A coo back. The bird approaches Cub. He's the only one who notices the letter tied to their foot. And he takes it, and reads it.

'True isn't coming.'

'What?! Dude that's great!'

'She's waiting for us to bring the egg to her. She's blocked our only way out. And if we don't bring the egg in a day... she'll hunt us down.'

'Then let her come!' Martyn decides, recklessly intoxicated by the hope of having the egg. 'You've got a sword. We've got fists. We can fight her.'

'We're not bringing her the egg.' Doc agrees. 'We're safe here for now...'

'Maybe we bring the egg to Pixl. He can give us protection.' 

'And risk starting a war between Hermitia and The Great Empire?!' Cub shoots back at Ren. 'No way.'

'Cub...'

'There's no right option.'

'We bring the egg to Pixl, hide there, and don't worry about Pearl. Pixl gives us protection, Pearl accepts not having the egg...'

'Pearl won't accept not having the egg.'

'What is your problem, man?!' Doc snarls. 'We're giving reasonable solutions and you're refusing to accept them!'

'WAR isn't a reasonable solution!'

'Pix wants the egg anyway! Pix asked Oli to steal it. Pix is already involved, Cub. We can't get back to Hermitia, so we join Pix's side. And maybe Pearl and Pix will come to a nice reasonable solution, and we'll be safe from True...'

'SHUT UP!' 

Everyone falls silent at my yell. 

'We're safe now. And it's dark. So we should sleep on the problem, and decide what to do tomorrow morning, ok?'

A few grumbles, but everyone accepts. The next problem is where we sleep, gathering branches to make 'tents' in case it starts raining, and to hide in case True comes. And then we call final goodnights, disappearing into our tents. I lie in the dark, curled up, and quickly fall asleep.

A muffled scream.

I scramble up. The camp is silent... I creep from my tree branch tent, looking around. A rustle in the bushes giving away whoever's running. Whoever's just hurt someone. 

True. 

True's here.

WHY IS TRUE HERE?!

I cross the camp, looking behind me every few seconds to check Hels isn't behind me... glancing around to see who's-

No.

No no no.

Martyn lies sprawled in a pool of his own blood.

And the dragon egg next to him is gone.

Pain chokes me. Emotion. A wave of sadness, but behind a larger wave of fury. 

I need to get his killer.

Now.

I sprint towards the trees I saw them pass, breaking through the leaves, into a clearing.

I skid to a stop.

Recognition floods me at the sight of the figure there. I can't move. I can't even breathe as I stare at them. Bloody sword in one hand. Precious dragon egg in the other.

Cub.

:))