Billy and Clara had stared in complete shock for a moment, not believing their eyes. All of a sudden, the prince that they had known to be a human was now a great dragon, standing in front of them.

It only took a mighty roar from the dragon to help Billy and Clara snap out of their temporary shock. Clara started to scream as she held Billy tightly.

"Billy! I'm scared!"

"Don't worry, Clara!" Billy shouted back, as he picked her up and started to sprint out of the chamber.

Faster he ran, as he could feel the dragon closely behind him. The dragon snarled and roared, sending blazing fire from out of its throat that quickly became a wild inferno loose in the castle. Clara screamed even more at the sight of it. Billy held her closer.

"It's okay, Clara! It's okay!" Billy desperately tried to comfort his sister, and himself too.

He knew that the exit wasn't too far away. He just had to make it down the long flight of stairs that he had used to get to the second floor.

Billy quickly saw the beginning of the stairwell, and hurried with Clara still in his arms.

The dragon was not too far behind, and sent more fire from out of its throat. This time, the stairwell had taken the blow. It was completely destroyed with the strength of the dragon's fire, and Billy and Clara started tumbling down. The dragon roared victoriously.

Billy tumbled all the way down to the first floor, and got up quickly, panicked

at the realization that Clara had left his arms.

"Billy!" She called out, coughing under the smoke that the fire had caused. She was on her knees, too weak to get up.

Billy hurried over to his sister and scooped her up into his arms once more, where he knew that she would be safe.

He knew that the dragon was coming for them, feeling its closeness from behind. He ran at full speed out of the castle, and across the drawbridge, where he was surprised to see his friends standing, having of course, seen and heard the wild commotion that the dragon had caused.

"Sir Edward!" Ella shrieked. "The dragon! We have to get out of here!"

"Take Clara," Billy instructed, about to hand her to Ella.

"Sir Edward!"

"You need to take her to safety! The dragon will come after you all if I don't face it!"

Billy drew out his sword and prepared to attack the dragon that they knew was coming closer. There wasn't any time to waste. They heard the mighty roar of the dragon as it swiped its tail and knocked down the palace's towers.

The sight terrified Clara, as she screamed. "Billy! Billy, don't go!"

Ella quickly looked over at Clara, and then at Billy. She had a determined look on her face, and Billy almost knew what she was about to say.

"Hand over the sword. You take Claria to safety."

"What?!"

"She needs you!" And with that, Ella swiped the sword out of Billy's hands and started charging towards the fallen palace, where the dragon lay in wait.

Billy and the rest of the group watched, horrified.

"No!" Billy shouted, starting to run towards the demolished palace where Ella had gone off to, but he was stopped by Grunt who had grabbed him by the arm.

"Sir Edward, no! We have to get to safety!"

"But Ella! We can't just leave her there, she-"

"If we follow her, her brave decision will have been for nothing," Grunt said meaningfully, giving Billy a grave look.

Billy looked behind him quickly, seeing the burning palace, and then back at Grunt. He knew that he was right, even though he hated to admit it. He nodded at Grunt.

With that, the group raced off, back the way they had come, towards the mountain path.

They ran and ran. Billy could occasionally hear the ferocious roars coming from the dragon, and the sound of the palace collapsing. He shuddered at the sounds of it, and held Clara close as if protecting her from just hearing the horrible brawl that was going on.

Finally, the group had to stop and rest. They hid in a small, closed space in the mountain path that was well-hidden.

Billy sighed, looking away from the burning palace that they could now see from a distance. They were safe, but Ella was not. Billy hated knowing that.

Dusty put a comforting hand on Billy's shoulder. "Sir Edward...she did it for us all...it just goes to show how much she cared..."

Her voice had faltered away when she had seen the sad look on Billy's face.

She looked over at Grunt as if looking for help. Grunt sighed sadly, and moved closer to Billy.

"She really was your friend, that girl, wasn't she?"

Billy nodded sadly, trying hard to hold back tears he could now feel pooling in his eyes.

Grunt sighed and said softly, "Don't worry...she'll pull through, I'm sure. She's strong-willed."

"But how can you be so sure?" Billy blurted out. "How can you be sure that anyone can survive that?" He pointed at the burning palace from a distance away and buried his head in his hands.

Grunt paused for a minute, looking at the magnificent sight in front of him as well and taking it in. Then, he replied softly,

"Well, just think about how you saved Claria. I mean, come on, we all saw you run out of that burning palace. And if someone were to look at the whole big mess it was, well, they would probably think that nobody could make it out alive if they tried."

Billy gave him a questioning gaze. Grunt continued,

"What I'm saying is, your will to save Claria is what helped you prevail. And I'm sure that Ella has just as much will to save all of us, and I'm sure that that alone will help her to succeed."

Billy nodded slowly, taking in what Grunt had told him. He remembered the battle he had with the young prince just a while ago, and how he had fought to keep Clara away from him. His love for Clara and his desire to keep her safe was the only thing keeping him going. That was his will, and it had been strong. It was then that he finally understood what Grunt was talking about. If Ella cared just as much about the whole group as he had for his little sister, her will would probably be strong enough to help her succeed. It was a hope, and maybe it would be naive, but hope was the only thing that the group had left.

Then, suddenly, a magnificent noise was heard. It sounded much like the dragon's roar, and it was, but this time it had been very different. This time, the roar from the dragon sounded painful.

Everyone exchanged glances, all thinking the same thing. Had Ella been successful? It sure sounded like she had.

And sure enough, minutes later, a strange creature was seen flying towards them. Everyone peered at it, trying to identify what it was. It looked almost like a horse, but it couldn't be. Horses couldn't fly and Billy knew that even his little sister knew that.

"Billy, what is that?" Clara had asked him, pointing at the creature.

"I don't know, but it's coming towards us...with Ella!"

Billy pointed excitedly at the creature and encouraged everyone to look too. Sure enough, there was a girl riding on the flying creature's back, and that girl was Ella. Everyone cheered and waved at her, beyond grateful for her great victory. Ella waved back, just as grateful, and triumphant even more.