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

Chapter Nine: A Shocking Surprise

As the afternoon goes on, a few raindrops continued wetting the upper deck of the Ruthless became a full-fledged storm. Strong winds knocked the boat back and forth, and hard rain pellets pummeled the seafarers.
As the ship rode huge swells up and down, Callum, Rayla, Sierra, Ezran, Bait, and Zym all watched the lightning bolts crack over the water. Sierra could see a faint outline of a nearby island in the middle of bay and pointed it out. The Isla was a tempting place to stop... if Captain Villads could get control over the boat.
Sierra loved the wild movements, the wet wind in her hair, and the sense of adventure. But when she and Ez glanced at Rayla, they could both tell that Rayla would never get her sea legs. Her face had turned an interesting shade of green.
"You're turning different colors," Ezran teased her. "Is that your Moonshadow form?"
"No, Ezran," Rayla said. "This is my rare glow and impersonation. Gruuuumpp."
"Oh brother." Sierra rolled her eyes, but a small smile of amusement graced her expression. She wondered how an elf developed this weird rivalry with a grumpy glow toad.
Bait was staring back at Rayla judgmentally. Then he changed color to match Rayla's sickly green.
The boat suddenly heaved.
"Storm's too strong! Best we moor in the lee side of the island and wait till it calms." Villads managed to sail through the slanting rain and point the boat in the right direction. It lurched towards the island. Callum stood at the helm near Captain Villads, clutching the railing and looking at the storm.
"Berto, to the bow!" Villads shouted.
"Aye, aye, Captain," said Berto.
Captain Villads moved to the left, and the ship made a sharp turn.
"Starboard! Starboard!" Berto squawked.
Captain Villads yanked the ship to the right. Sierra, Ezran, Callum, Rayla, Zym, and Bait slid back and forth on the deck.
Then the boat was on top of the island. As they approached land, the mist cleared, revealing a rickety dock surrounded by large, jagged rocks. The dock was broken down and abandoned, but there was just enough space between the rocks for the ship to dock.
Sierra couldn't believe it — the ship slid right into the open space on the dock. They'd managed to navigate numerous rocky obstacles with a blind captain.
"Current fast! Drop the sail!" As Berto yell, Captain Villads untied a rope, and the front sail dropped. The boat stopped pivoting on its bow and swung in between the rocks, landing exactly parallel to the dock.
"Nailed it. Squawk!" Berto flew a rope over to the shambles of the dock and looped it around the mooring point.
"Did you just say the word squawk?" Ezran asked curiously.
"Never mind Berto," said Villads. "He's always thought of himself as more human than bird... if you can imagine such a thing."
"Squawk means squawk," Berto explained. "Same in human language as it is in bird!"
Ezran nodded understandingly.
"Anyway, since we didn't beat the storm, we'll just have to wait it out belowdecks." Captain Villads turned on his heel and nimbly skidded down the steps to the hatch.
"Hooray." Rayla pretended to celebrate sarcastically. "We're all wet, miserable, and we saved no time at all."
"Lets just go belowdeck." Sierra led the others belowdeck  and they each started sitting down on the crates and boxes.
One by one, they each fell asleep belowdecks on their makeshift beds. But they didn't notice that Zym has woke up and slipped out of Ezran's grip. The young dragon sniffed the air to smell a new scent of the Sky from Callum, not a single trace of dark magic marked his pure soul and Zym recognizes him as his father the day after he hatched. He ran up to the ship's main deck and gazed up at the thunderstorm. Zym was at home in the storm, much like Sierra and Callum. He was literally in his element. Lightning flashes glinted in Zym's wide, innocent eyes. He is going into the storm.
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Sierra yawned and stretched from her supposedly bed. But as she gazed around, Sierra was horrified to see that Zym has gone missing.
"Oh no." Sierra dreaded that Zym has wandered outside into the storm. She quickly raised her voice. "Guys, wake up! Zym's missing!"
That woke everyone in a instant. Callum bolted awake immediately, while Rayla jumped up to her feet with her swords in her hands and Ezran started looking around frantically with Bait glowing softly in Ezran's hands, illuminating the corners of the room.
"Zym! Where are you?" Ezran started looking around frantically.
"I think I know." She and her friends turned to see the door was partially opened.
"He went into the storm?!" exclaimed Callum. He shook his head, fatherly worry and concern went over his features. "Sierra." She perked up and glanced at Callum. "You and I shall start searching for Zym. We might be able to sense him with our Sky magic."
"You've figured it out?" Callum smiled and nodded to Sierra's question, making her smile at him proudly.
"I haven't tried it out yet, but let's focus on finding Zym first," said Callum. He soon turned to look at Rayla, Ezran, and Bait. "You three stay here in case he comes back."
The flash of lighting sent a flash of light stretching through the door. They looked up and they didn't see him on the masts, not even on the higher decks.
As Callum and Sierra disembarked from the Ruthless, Rayla shook her head at the duo. "If you both die out there, I swear I'll kill you two!"
Sierra felt a slight, but familiar shudder go over her. It wasn't from the chill of the rain, it was from the chill of the similarity of Rayla's warning. She lowered her head close to Callum. "Geez, she started to sound a lot like Mom. She only says that whenever I was about to do something bold and stupid."
Callum chuckled and gave her a empathetic smile. "The feeling's mutual." It wasn't long till they both arrived to the center of the island. They pulled their clocks on and their hoods over their heads, they set off into the rain and boarded the island. It was small, but still Zym could be anywhere. "Sierra, I'll check one side and you'll check the other. Okay?"
Sierra smiled at him. "Fine by me."
They two of them both split up as they searched the island for the young dragon. They climbed rickety fallen trees and walked along the narrow ridges. The minutes passed quickly as they navigated the many obstacles, and continued searching for the young dragon.
"Zym!" Callum was dripping wet as he searched for the baby dragon on his side of the island. Callum rubbed the rain out of his eyes and his hair was dripping with rain. "Son! Where are you?!"
But on the other side of the island, Sierra was soaked just as well and continued searching for the baby dragon. "Zym!" She looked up at the trees, trying to blink the raindrops out of her eyes and her hair became sleek with the rain. "Where in the heck are you?"
They dashed off in separate directions yet again. Callum searched the beaches at the far west, keeping as much as he could away from the rough waters. Sierra searched the cliffs on the far east, but still no sign of the baby dragon. He must have enjoyed it so much that he wanted to go out and play without getting anyone to come out with him. But all of the sudden, a flash of lightning can be seen from the dark thunderclouds. She felt a strong tingle in her heart.
She soon saw a large windmill nearby and on its roof was a lightning rod stretching up the sky. That was the most likely place Zym would be. She facepalmed at the mere, but stupid and obvious idea of it.
"Callum!" He stopped in mid-step when he heard Sierra's voice was carried by the stormy winds. "Go to the windmill!" He saw lightning flashed across the dark, stormy skies and it revealed the outline of the windmill on the hill. "He might be there!"
Callum felt horrified at the thought of it and he immediately started running towards the windmill. He splashed through some puddles and ignored the racing raindrops as he raced to the windmill. Callum soon spotted Sierra racing to the windmill from the other side too.
But luck wasn't on their side, another strike of lightning has hit the lightning rod on the windmill.
"Ahh!" They tried to cover their eyes, but it was too late; they were momentarily blinded. Callum's sight was starting to come back, but everything was still fuzzy. Sierra stumbled back a bit, but she placed a hand on the nearest tree. Sierra's sight was starting to come back, but everything was still fuzzy. She shook her head as her vision has started to come back.
Once they recovered from the flash of lightning, Sierra sensed something. She looked up at the rooftop and was horrified to see that a certain baby dragon was laying on the roof, next to the lightning rod.
"He's on the roof, Callum!" By Sierra's horrified cry, Callum used a ladder to climb up to the rooftop and gently gathered an unconscious Zym. She watched as he climbed down carefully with a limp Zym in his arms. "Is he alright?"
"He gotten struck." He lifted Zym up. He was unconscious. "The lightning struck him on the roof. He was near the lightning rod. He won't wake up." Callum looked sadness and regret went over his features. "This is all my fault. It was my responsibility to take care of him. I should have known he'd go out by himself, but I carelessly allowed him to wander free."
"Callum, it's not your fault," said Sierra gently. "All three of us are drawn to this storm. It was an accident. Accidents do happen."
By those words, Zym woke up and started licking his father's face. Callum sighed in relief and hugged him, overjoyed. Sierra gently ran a hand over the baby dragon's wet mane.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again," Callum scolded Zym firmly. "Do you have any idea how scared I was? When you took off?"
"I'm sorry," Zym whimpered remorsefully. "And I'm sorry I put both of you in danger. I just wanted to be out in the storm, so I could connect to magic."
"Lets get back to the ship before Rayla decides she wants to kill us," said Callum.
Too tired to say anything, Sierra nodded her agreement. They started making their way back to the ship. Callum, Sierra, and Zym was hugged by Rayla and Ezran (with Bait and Zym in the center of the hug).
"Ahoy laddies and lassies!" cried out the captain from the ship. "The storm's passed. The sea's looking clear ahead." The team turned and they saw that further out to sea, the ocean was calm and gentle and the skies were clear as a sapphire gem. The voyage had not yet ended. "You ready to sail off again?"
"Absolutely captain," Rayla saluted. She wasn't afraid to get back on the ship again.
They walked up the plank to board the ship again, Zym in front of them. Ezran picked up Bait and he and Sierra boarded behind them.
The ship cast off and the group were now sailing across the sea. Callum and Rayla sat at the very top of the mast, Zym sitting between them. Sierra and Ezran sat at the front, the prince stroking sleeping Bait. It was a beautiful peaceful moment which they didn't want to forget.