Dragon Prince: A Warrior's Journey (Under Editing)

Chapter Eight: Across the Sea

After descending the cliff, the team arrived at some docks by the edge of the bay. There were boats and sailors as far as they could see. Callum thought Rayla looked a little greener than she had before, but traveling by sea was the only option.
But Sierra was uncertain finding a decent captain who would let them board and won't call the guards to arrest the Moonshadow elf. She was unsure of how to keep their elves friends safe from the villagers.
"We need to find a decent captain who could help us," said Sierra determinedly.
Callum led them to some boxes that's tall enough for them to hide the elf. She covered her horns with her cloaks before she have approached the village. The two humans, the grumpy glowtoad, the Sky Flenimu (using illusion Moon magic), and the hidden baby dragon started searching for a ride.
"Excuse me?" Sierra asked a sailor.
"Beat it girl!" snapped the sailor, making the girl flinched back from him and walked away from the cranky sailor.
"Rude." Sierra scoffed and shook her head before she started searching for the two princes.
"Sierra!" She turned to see Ezran running towards her with Callum not too far behind him. "We've found a captain!"
"You did?" Sierra smiled at them. "Nice going mates. Let's get our mates."
They returned to the crates where the hidden elves were hiding behind. Rayla peeked through the holes in the crates and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Ezran running towards their hiding places, Callum and Sierra right behind him.
"We found the perfect captain," Ezran said.
The elves began adjusting their hoods to hide their horns better. They stuffed their hands into their pockets.
"Don't worry." Callum grabbed Rayla's hand and pulled her out from behind the crates, Sierra could see a spark between them. "Your horns aren't going to be a problem with this guy."
"You're kidding," Rayla said. "Is he some kind of enlightened human who can really see the good in elves?" She could scarcely believe that she wouldn't need to use any kind of disguise.
"Hmm... I'm not sure he can see the good in anyone," Callum said mysteriously. "But that's part of what makes him uniquely qualified."
"You're being awfully cryptic," Rayla said. "Mysterious Callum is my least favorite kind of Callum."
"Well, the mystery is almost over," Callum said. "There's our captain." He pointed to the only person on the dock. It was a tall man, standing in profile, gazing out at the sea.
Rayla could see the captain's long red beard and wavy auburn locks tucked under a traditional black pirate's hat. He was wearing long brown gloves, a puffy white shirt, and a green coat and breeches. A patch covered his left eye, and a blue and red parrot was perched on his left shoulder. He looked like the captain out of one of the made-up seafaring stories Runaan used to tell her, where fearless sailors battled monsters ten times their size.
"We're back," Callum called to the captain.
The captain turned to face them. Rayla gulped. Even in the most outlandish yarns Runaan had spun, Rayla'd never heard of a captain who wore patches over both eyes. Rayla caught Callum and Sierra looking at her, trying to stifle their laughter. Rayla stared at Callum in disbelief.
"You were gone for hours," she whispered. "This was the best you could come up with?"
"Greetings," the captain said and faced the baffled elves. "The name's Captain Villads. The D is silent."
"There's a D in that name?" Rayla asked. She was going to give this so-called captain a tough time. Callum noticed that Sierra is struggling to keep her amusement at bay from Rayla's teasing.
"Arr," Villads said.
"Wait, there's a silent R?" If Callum wanted to be Mysterious Callum, she was going to be Befuddled Rayla.
"Narr," Villads said.
"Oh. Okay, so it's just the silent D, then." Rayla glowed inwardly under Callum's glare.
"Oh boy." Sierra rolled her eyes at Rayla's jabbing and Callum's scolding.
"Aye," said Villads.
"Ahh, so there's a—"
"Ahem," Callum said, interrupting. "We need to get moving. They are our friends. The one who was speaking to you was Rayla. Behind us, is Sierra."
"Spelled like it sounds," said Rayla. One final jab. "And these are our... weird dogs... Zym and Bait."
"Ahoy, maties. Ahoy, doggos," Villads said. "And this is my first mate, Berto." He pointed to the parrot.
Ezran seemed delighted. "Oh, 'Bird-O' is such a great name for a—"
"BERTO," the parrot said, interrupting Ezran. He sounded offended. "It's short for Roberto, not Ro-BIRD-o."
"Me ship's this way." Villads walked down the pier to a rickety old ship. "Welcome to me water home, the Ruthless! Named after me dear wife, Ruth. Who sadly" — Captain Villads placed a hand over his heart and shook his head dramatically before continuing, a bit choked up — "doesn't enjoy sailing."
Rayla exchanged a look with Callum. He shrugged.
"So, you said if the wind is on our side, we could make it across the bay pretty quickly?" Callum asked.
"Aye. Of course, there's a storm coming." Villads started walking up the gangplank.
"A storm?" Rayla looked nauseated. "Great."
"Really?" Sierra perked up eagerly at the news.
"Wow, you can just tell a storm is coming?" Ezran asked, genuinely fascinated.
"Well, I can't see, as you know, but I rely on me other senses—"
"I told him!" Berto suddenly interrupted, punctuating with a squawk. "I saw the storm and I told him."
Captain Villads turned to the bird. "And I heard you tell me! Hearing is one of my other senses, Berto. Either way, we'd best delay dependin' for a few days to wait out the storm."
"A few days?" Rayla stepped forward to look at Captain Villads. "We're on a tight schedule. Isn't there anything we can do?"
Captain Villads paused to consider, and then brightened. "I suppose if we leave right now we could race across the bay and beat the storm..."
"Yes, let's do that," agreed Rayla.
"No problem," Villads said. "That should work just fine. Unless, of course, the storm catches us mid-bay and kills us all." He chuckled.
Sierra shot a look at Rayla. "You just have to say it, didn't you?"
"Ha, ha, ha," Rayla said under her breath.
Ezran, Callum, Rayla, Sierra, Zym, and Bait followed the captain up the gangplank and onto the Ruthless.
🌙⚡️🌙⚡️🌙⚡️
Some hours passed at sea. Beneath a cloudless sky, the Ruthless cut through the bright blue waves. Everyone congregated on the deck to enjoy the view. Ezran, Rayla, Bait, and Sierra sat near the bow, watching the horizon. At least for the moment, the sea was peaceful.
A pod of dolphins jumped out of the water almost soundlessly and swam beside the boat. Ezran and Sierra hung over the left rail to get a better look. Rayla was hanging over the rail as well, but she wasn't looking at the dolphins. She was losing the contents of her stomach. Sierra was further away from Rayla and hung over by the right rail to have a better look of the dolphins.
Callum and Zym both sat farther astern, watching Captain Villads adjust the ropes and sails. He was determined to pick up a few things about sailing. He didn't want to interrupt Captain Villads, the captain was such an interesting figure Callum couldn't help staring at him.
"Ye might be wondering what happened to me eyes," he said.
"Well, I didn't want to be rude," Callum said.
"My left eye was taken by a flock of mutinous seagulls," Villads said, almost wistfully, as if the seagulls had once been a band of loyal shipmen.
"Uh... wow." It was hard to imagine being attacked by an entire flock. "And what about your right eye?"
"Don't know," said Villads. "Came at me from me left!"
Callum started to smile, but he stopped himself. He wasn't sure whether the captain was joking. Captain Villads certainly is an odd fellow.
"Father." Callum looked down at his son next to him. "Where are we?"
"At the moment, we're on a ship sailing across the sea," Callum replied to Zym.
Sierra looked around as she searched for the dolphins, but no such luck. She sighed before giving up and looking at the others, who seemed to have become a part of her family.
"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake—" Berto began to chirp, and snapped Sierra out of her thoughts.
Captain Villads bolted awake at the sound of the parrot's squawk. He gave Berto a light pat on the head and said, "Huh?! What happened? The last thing I remember was talking about narcolepsy and then falling sleep."
"Yeah," said Callum. "That's about right."
A soft clap of thunder sounded in the distance, and a few moments later, light raindrops started to fall. Everyone looked up at the quickly darkening clouds. Zym's eyes went wide with curiosity — he'd never seen rain before. He poked his head out from behind a crate to feel the droplets, and then quickly hid again. Ezran laughed as he watched Zym, but Callum chuckled softly as he gently took hold of Zym in his arms.
"Storm's a-comin'," Villads said. "Seems as if we won't beat it after all."
"We should go below decks," suggested Callum as he looked up at the thunderstorm overhead.
Once everyone is below decks, Callum has finished silently reading the scroll that his late stepfather had given him and Sierra was about to read the scroll that was given to her by Lujanne when they were interrupted by a sudden jerk from outside, making everyone fall down from where they were sitting.
"Yikes!" Callum took hold of Zym from falling off their seats.
"Ow!" Sierra glared at Callum, who'd accidentally landed on top of her. "Callum! Get off of me! I'm not a horse!"
"Oops, sorry Sierra." Callum and Zym gotten off of Shira as she spun around to glare at Callum before she huffed and sat down on one of the boxes to put her scroll away into her satchel.