The Dragon Prince storyline altered

Chapter 17. Lepidolite

Lepidolite, Soren, Claudia, and Corvus arrived at a border town.

Several soldiers were patrolling the streets, even though it was barely morning, and they barely noticed the four of them.

They, for one, were tired of their prisoner, who kept trying to escape.

Soren: Now that we're here, we can ditch Corvus in jail and be done with him, right?

Lepidolite: He IS slowing us down.

But Claudia wasn't paying attention. She looked like she was thinking about something else.

Claudia: We're so far off Callum and Ezran's trail now, do you think we can catch up with them?

Soren: Of course we can. We promised Dad.

Corvus: You know, I could help you track them. If you untied me.

Lepidolite: You're just gonna try to escape again.

Corvus: No, not this time. This time will be different. I promise.

Soren: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times... back to you again.

Corvus: That's not how it goes.

Soren: Shame. On. You.

Soren hurried over to a group of soldiers.

Soren: We're looking for a town jail. We've got a horrible traitor to lock up for traitorous words and deeds. Standard traitor stuff.

The soldier didn't pay any attention to him, and Lepidolite could tell that something was off.

Soren: Hey! Crownguard here!

Lepidolite: Something's not right.

Soren: I know! No one's listening to me!

Claudia: Huh?

Suddenly, a soldier screamed and pointed at the sky.

Soldier: It's back!

A dragon broke through the clouds at full speed. It flew dangerously close to the ground and growled at the town.

Lepidolite glared. This dragon, not unlike any others, was terrorizing the town, circling it over and over, itching for a fight.

Soldier: That's the third night in a row it's flown over us.

Lepidolite: Why would you watch and let the dragon terrorize and intimidate you? Why haven't you fought back yet?

Soren: We will fight back. I'm taking command here. Crownguard, I might have mentioned.

Soren started climbing up the wall ramparts to make it to the top of the tower. Lepidolite and Claudia followed close behind, as well as Corvus.

Lepidolite: This dragon is terrorizing us, itching for a fight. You do realize that even though it's not expecting us to fight back, it won't go away if we do.

Soren: I know that, but we have to show it that we won't stand by and let it terrorize and intimidate us.

Lepidolite wound the chains around the ballista as tight as she could, then let Soren fire it.

His aim was spot on. But right at the last moment, the dragon dodged, and the bolt fell back to the earth, taking out a portion of the town's wall.

The dragon swept back up into the clouds.

Soren: See? Dragon problem so-

But then the dragon roared, dove back down in the direction of the town, and began burning it to the ground.

Lepidolite: That thing is good at dodging. We need a way to slow it down.

Claudia: And quick! Before it destroys the whole town!

Villagers ran in every direction, some of them so scared they ran toward the fire. Screams pierced Lepidolite's ears from every anger.

Lepidolite shot an icy glare at the dragon. She had never hated dragons more than right at that moment.

Lepidolite: You. Fucking. Monster.

Soren drew his sword, and sliced through the ropes around Corvus's wrists.

Soren: These people need help. Get as many of them as you can to safety.

Corvus: Don't die.

Corvus rushed into the chaos to help.

Lepidolite: We need to shoot this thing down. Right now. Before it can do any more harm.

Claudia: I have an idea.

Claudia dug around in her bag and pulled out a tiny velvet box. She flipped open the top, and Soren peeked inside.

Lepidolite hadn't seen what was inside the box, but she could guess that it was pretty gross by Soren's reaction.

Soren: What IS that, Claudia?

Claudia: It's the eye of a griffin! With this, I can enchant a ballista bolt to never miss its target- no matter what!

Soren: So you just carry a griffin eyeball around with you? Who does that?

Lepidolite laughed.

Claudia: How about "thank you for carrying this griffin eyeball with you Claudia"? How about "you're so prepared, you're the best"?

Soren managed to reluctantly thank her.

Soren: Thank you... Claudia.

Claudia smiled and rushed over to the last ballista. Claudia held her hand to the tip of the ballista bolt, and the energy ignited around its deadly point, charging the bolt with magic.

Claudia: Kram ruoy dnif tlob rekeestraeh!

Lepidolite aimed the bolt to face the dragon. As it neared, Lepidolite fired, and the enchanted ballista appeared to grow wings. It changed directions to follow the dragon.

Confused, the dragon panicked and dove to the left to dodge the bolt. But then the enchanted bolt took another impossibly sharp turn. This time, it hit the dragon deep beneath its wing.

Lepidolite: Take that, you monster!

Claudia: My magic worked!

Soren: Yeah!