The Dragon Prince: Breath of Hope

Chapter 14- Ruthless Voyage

It was not the wakeup call any of them expected, but as Phoe-Phoe began to lose her strength with the rising sun, they started to crash towards the ground. All of them screamed in terror as dirt was thrown up into the air and Ezran fell over the edge of a cliff, a loose grip on Bait. Fortunately, Rayla grabbed both his leg and Bait's tail while Callum, in turn, held her. She smirked as they hung over the sheer drop.. "It's good to have both hands again."

Callum groaned, tempted to let her fall for her terrible humour, but then pulled, managing to get them all back to safety. "Is everyone alright?"

"I am," Ezran said, going over to the phoenix who was lying on her front, too tired to speak. "But Phoe-Phoe is exhausted. She gets her power from the Moon Nexus."

"And we're so far away from it now... it must be hard for her," Callum guessed, stroking the magical bird. "You did amazing, thank you. But you should return home. We can handle it from here."

The phoenix cooed, nuzzling both him and the human before taking off into the sky. Rayla sighed. "Well, she saved us a few days... and got us away from that... witch."

"So, what do we do now?" Callum asked, looking out over the cliff and the water that was before them.

"Well, Xadia's that way," Rayla explained, pointing east, "Across miles and miles of the fluid I both need to survive and hate more than anything in the world."

"I'm not fond of water either Rayla," the dragon reminded her. "So... why don't we walk around it?"

"That's a nice idea," she said with a shy smile, "But... but walking around is gonna take too long. And we need to get you back home as fast as possible. The war is only going to get worse... if we take too long... it will be too late."

"So... what do we do?"

"We've got to go straight across. And to do that, we need a boat," she decided, looking at the water before them, "And a captain who knows how to make it go."

"Okay."

"Specifically, a captain who doesn't hate elves... or dragons."

"Hey, I can shift now," he reminded her, "I'm as good as human."

"Apart from your eyes."

"I just don't look at anyone," he chuckled, but then looked down at the water. "I'm sorry I can't fly us across... from what Lujanne told me, in my draconic form, I could make it across in a day."

"Hey," Ezran comforted, holding his hand, "It's not your fault."

"But how are we going to find a boat?"

"Well... there's a town over there." The human pointed to the side.

Rayla and Callum looked in that direction, spotting the smoke and buildings marking a town on the edge of the water. "Well... if nothing else, we should be able to get a place to sleep. Come on, we should head that way," Rayla suggested as she judged the distance. "Should make it by nightfall."

~#~

It was dark when they arrived at the town, finding it mainly deserted as everyone had turned in for the night. As they stood to the side, Callum looked around. "Well, time to shift," he said to the others before closing his eyes and thinking of the incantation.

Ezran gasped as he watched his tail and wings vanish, his horns shrinking into his head. "Wow... that never gets old."

Rayla however, was searching the bags. "Oh no!"

"What is it?"

"I can't find my cloak!" she groaned, "I must have left it at the nexus."

"That was silly," Callum chuckled, then reached to his neck and pulled off his own cloak. "Here, it's a bit warm sometimes, but it will do the job." He placed it over her shoulders and pulled it into place for her. "Now, let's see your human impression again."