Chapter 22
A/N: Hello, I'm back. Good to see y'all again. Remember, Trezac belongs to Gabeherdon308, and I'm just the story writer for his idea. And neither of us owns the Dragon Prince.
"We found the perfect Captain!" Ezran exclaimed running over and pulling Zym into his bag as his brother grabbed Rayla and yanked her to her feet.
Coming out of their hiding spot, Rayla pulled the hood of the cloak lower over her head. "Oh don't worry," Callum waved, "that's not gonna be a problem with this guy."
"What is he some kind of enlightened human who can see the good in elves?" Rayla deadpanned.
"I'm not sure he can see the good in anyone really," Callum considered. "But that's what makes him so uniquely qualified. We're back!"
A man at the end of the dock slowly began to turn around, Trezac raised a brow as he noticed the eyepatch over his eye. Were the boys just planning on having Rayla stick to his blind spot the entire trip? The man turned to face them and Trezac's jaw dropped. There was an eyepatch on his other eye. The man had two eyepatches for two eyes. This man, who would be commanding the ship they would be in could not see karabast!
"Greetings!" the Captain grinned. "The name's Captain Villads, the D is silent."
"There's a D?" Rayla asked.
"Arr!"
"Wait, there's a silent R?"
"Narr!"
"Oh, so it's just a silent D then?"
"Aye!"
"Ah, so there's a—"
Callum cleared his throat, cutting off the ongoing conversation of confusion. "These are our regular human friends Rayla and Trezac."
"Spelled like it sounds," Rayla smiled.
"And their cute, unusual dogs, Zym, Agir, and Bait."
"Ahoy, Rayla. Ahoy, Trezac. Ahoy, doggos!" Captain Villads waved in their general direction. "This is my first mate, Berto!"
"I'm a parrot!" the bird on his shoulder squawked.
"The bird talked," Trezac whispered in shock. Since when could birds talk?!
"Me ship's this way!" Villads jumped, walking through the group of teens. "Welcome to me water home, The Ruthless!" They looked at the ship he waved to and Trezac and Rayla shared a look. How on Xadia, could a blind man, control a ship that big alone?! "Named after me dear wife, Ruth, who sadly," he sniffed, "don't enjoy sailing."
"So you said if the wind's on our side we could make it across the bay pretty quickly?" Callum inquired.
"Aye! Course, there's a storm comin'."
"A storm? That could be interesting."
"So we have to delay departing for a few days."
"Uh, we're on a tight schedule," Rayla spoke up. "Isn't there anything we can do?"
"Hmm, I suppose if we leave right now, we could race across the bay and beat the storm."
"Yes, let's do that."
"No problem! Unless the storm catches us mid-bay and kills us all!" Villads laughed.
Trezac exhaled, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "I'm gonna die, surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy."
-.-
Ezran leaned over the railing with Zym, Agir and Bait as the ship cut through the waves, cheering as dolphins leapt up from the water, spraying sea foam up towards them. On the upper deck, Trezac sat with Callum, making sure none of them fell in as Captain Villads pulled on various ropes.
"Ya might be wonderin' what happened to me eyes?" the sailor spoke as he took the wheel again.
"Well, I didn't want to be rude," Callum said.
Villads didn't seem to mind, in fact, he seemed more than happy to tell them. "Me left eye was taken by a flock of mutinous seagulls."
"Wow," Callum remarked. "And what about your right eye?"
The Captain gave a nonchalant shrug, "Don't know, came at me from me left."
Nearby, a seagull squawked and Trezac raised a brow as Callum flinched. Was he seriously scared of birds now? With a nervous smile, the other boy gut up, looking over the ship. "Wait, how is it we're going that way when the wind's blowing that way?"
"Oh, that's how you sail, me boy," the blind man laughed.
"How?" Trezac spoke up, feeling intrigued by the less advanced method to transport. "It's not like this thing has engines."
"I don't know what those are," Villads cocked his head. "But we got sails! The sail is more like a wing, flying through the wind, pulling the boat against the water currents below us. It's like shooting a willow-melon seed between your fingers! Ya squeeze it on both sides, but the seed shoots straight out," he explained firing a seed and hitting Callum between the eyes.
"I think I get it," Callum said feeding Berto the seed.
A wave came by and newly knocked them off their feet; Villads quickly corrected the ship, losing his hat in the process, but Berto got it back. "When you're in the elements long enough, ya get a feel for where the wind is and how it's about to change. It's like a connection, deep in me bones."
This, unsurprisingly, got Callum's attention. "Hold on, you feel a connection to the wind? How did you get that?"
"What? Just because I'm blind and have narcolepsy you thought I wouldn't have sailing sense?!"
"No, no, no! that's not what I meant!"
"What's narcolepsy?" Trezac asked suddenly feeling very worried.
"Narcolepsy?" Callum realized.
Both heads snapped back to the Captain and saw him sleeping at the wheel. Berto, was pecking his companion's ear, repeating, "Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up."
Villads starled awake, swatting at the bird as his head wildly swung around. "What happened? The last thing I remember was talking about narcolepsy then falling asleep!"
"That's about right," Callum nodded.
"Wait, Narcolepsy causes people to just fall asleep?!" Trezac exclaimed.
"Yep!"
"The padawan gaped as he tried to process the information. He was on a non-flying ship, with no engine, that relied on the sheer luck that the weather wouldn't turn on them, with a blind Captain who could fall asleep behind the wheel at any moment while they were literally in the middle of nowhere. Turning away, he ran his fingers through his hair before his gaze landed on a dark shadow looming closer over the horizon, and he could feel some wet droplets landing on him.
"Storm's a comin'. "Seems that we won't beat it after all!" the Captain cackled.
"Great," Trezac muttered under his breath. "We're doomed. We're all gonna die."
"Ya got that right," Berto confirmed.
Hey, don't be so negative," Callum said. "This could be a chance to learn."
Berto squawked unbelievingly, "To learn how to drown!"
-.-
Viren and Eleven set the supplies down on the table in front of the mirror, turning, the elf on the other side picked up the cloth and began sewing a symbol into it. Following the pattern, Viren lifted the cloth, a frown on his face, "I've never seen this rune before."
On the other side, the elf moved his hands, glowing symbols coming to life as he did so. The symbols on the three pieces of cloth flashed. The rock he had then levitated under the cloth, being wrapped around it for a brief moment before it unwound, revealing two separate halves.
Smirking to herself, Eleven used the force to keep the cloth floating in the air before moving the rock. Closing her eyes, she visualized what she wanted to do. It had to be like putting together a lightsaber, she needed to visualize what would happen. The rock went into the cloth and it was wrapped up, through this, she sent a fierce shove through the force, willing the rock to cleave in two. The cloth fell away and the two separate pieces fell into her hands while Viren had to break his by hand.
Turning back to the mirror, she saw the elf put on half down and picking up the primitive grinder, quickly crushing the insides of the geode before pouring the contents into the chalice.
Following his lead, Eleven raised a brow as the water turned purple and strange smoke began to emanate from it. "Interesting."
Viren, on the other hand, scoffed, "You expect us to drink this?"
"Don't be a coward," Eleven sneered, "it's unbecoming of a future king." Raising the glass to her lips, she watched out of the corner of her eye as Viren followed her lead. Ancients, he was so easy to manipulate.
"Surprisingly, not terrible," he gulped setting the chalice down.
The elf picked up a knife, holding the blade over his hand and held them both above the chalice.
Eleven was eager to follow to uncover what secrets this being could reveal, but it appeared Viren, was not as…willing as she'd been expecting. "Why should we trust you? I don't even know who—I don't even know what you are."
The elf held up his hand expectantly.
Viren scoffed, "I need time to think." Stabbing his knife into the table he stormed out of the room.
Eleven rolled her eyes, and quietly closed the door as he left. He wouldn't miss her for a few minutes. Stepping back to the mirror, she picked up the knife a malicious grin breaking out across her face, "Unlike him, I know what it takes to get what I want," she held the knife above her palm, "Now, where were we?"
-.-
Trezac sat with the others at the entrance to below deck as the ship swayed underneath them, making his stomach churn. Whatever this infernal piece of transport was, it did not feel like a ship at all. Ships were smooth, and even though he'd feel his stomach drop at times from the crazy stunts, it was nothing compared to the endless churning this never-ending swaying brought about.
"Is that your Moonshadow form?" he heard Ezran ask.
Looking to his right, he could see Rayla, slumped over just as he was, he cheeks turning different shades. "Nope," she gagged. "This is just my rare glow-toad impersonation."
Bait looked slightly offended at that, but didn't make a sound as Rayla's stomach finally gave up and she leaned over her barrel to puke. Trezac felt himself gag and he gripped his own barrel, feeling queasy. "I never thought I'd miss Master Skywalker's driving," he groaned.
The ship lurched as it turned and he held on tightly to his barrel. He could barely make out Berto yelling something to the Captain. The ship began to spin around wildly and sent the small group tumbling down the staircase. With a final sway that sent them slamming into a wall, the disoriented teens stumbled up the stairs to see Berto sitting on a post over a rope that secured the ship to the dock.
"Nailed it! Squawk!"
"Did he just say the word squawk?" Ezran questioned.
Trezac didn't answer as he ran to the side to lose his lunch.
-.-
The heat of the lava pouring down on the right as it came over the cliff caused sweat to trickle down Amaya's back. As unbearable as the heat was, she needed to find out what had arrived on the other side near the outpost. Especially since hostilities were growing.
It was moments like these she found herself wishing she could hear. This way she could tell if there was any noise of their enemies up ahead. Amaya glanced down at her horse's ears, watching as they twitched every now and then. They were pointed back towards her, looking attentive, but relaxed. Which meant he was listening to the men behind her. Good, that likely meant there was nothing up ahead yet that was causing the stallion concern, yet.
Coming around a bend, they entered the passage to the outpost. The general pulled back on her reigns as she saw a shadow move through the light outlining the doorway. She raised her hand, to signal the men to stop as she dismounted, pulling out her sword and shield. If the elves were already here, they'd be looking for a fight.
Coming around the bend, a shadow began to pass and she swung her blade, stopping in shock as she nearly hit a small child. Whatever it was, it wasn't human, but it wasn't elf either. The child had two long tails coming out of their head instead of hair, and their skin was green. With wide eyes, the child quickly scampered away, no doubt shouting.
It was then, she noticed all the others, some human, some not, others looking like animals, and a fair number of children. All, pointing weapons at her and her men. And the weapons were strange, they were not swords, but nonetheless, she knew these were dangerous.
Movement above caught her attention and she raised her shield cautiously as two more jumped down. Fire came from their backs as they slowly descended towards the ground, moving through the air like a Skywing Elf.
The two figures landed in front of her. now that she had a closer look, she could tell they were humanoid—like all of these strange beings were—but she couldn't tell what. They had helmets covering their faces, but instead of an opening for their faces, there was a black piece of metal covering them.
The larger of the two stepped forwards pointing at them and his hand moved to the strange weapon the others had on his hip. Amaya grimaced, normally she read lips to understand what was going on, but those odd helmets made it impossible to do so.
Feeling a tap on her shoulder, she glanced to the side to see one of the men glancing nervously between her and the strangers. "He said: Who are we? And what are we doing here?"
She nodded, signing back to the poor lad, who merely looked more confused. Clearly this was a newbie, he hadn't had time yet to learn what she was saying. Fortunately, one of his superiors came to his aid. "We are soldiers from Katolis. And this is our outpost. Who are you?"
Seeming to realized what was going on, the figure in front of her removed their helmet, revealing a young, emhuman/em, man with pale skin, black hair, and blue eyes. "I am A'den Bralor, leader of this clan. We are Mandalorians who have arrived on your world in seek of shelter and refuge," he explained watching her warily. "Though, it seems like your horned friends were not to happy to have us here. We had to drive them out."
Amaya scowled looking around as she put her weapons away. These were not enemies, they had humans among them, and there were children. Elves, even worse than she thought; going after children, it was sickening. She motioned quickly to her translator. "The horned ones are not our friends. They are our enemies. They have killed my brother-in-law, and kidnapped my nephews. I am sorry you had to deal with them and we apologize for our hostile welcome. We were worried that you were them."
A'den nodded, seeming to understand her reasoning. She watched as one or two of the others came up, no doubt whispering something to him. The man raised his hand towards her, signaling a pause in dialogue as he turned to his clan. No doubt trying to put to rest their concerns.
Amaya didn't blame them one bit, the infernal elves had probably left them shaken. There people were fortunate they were able to drive them off. But it did confirm her suspicions, the outpost had been taken by the elves. It was no longer safe nor secret. There was no telling how long they would stay away.
She began motioning to her translator again, "If I may. We are sorry for our cold welcome and wish to apologize for it. You see, we do not know when the elves will be back, and trust me, they will be back. You have children here, they cannot be put in danger."
A'den turned to her, raising a brow calculatingly as he considered her words. "And what are you proposing?"
"We offer an alliance. Our people would be more than happy to help you, and thank you for your aid in reclaiming this outpost. But your children cannot stay here forever, the elves will come back for revenge! We can offer food, shelter, protection."
The same ones who had spoken to him earlier began motioning again, no doubt discussing amongst themselves about what to do.
"And why should we believe you?"
Amaya smiled holding out a hand, "Because, any enemy of an elf is a friend to me."
A'den looked at her hand for a moment, a frown on his face before he nodded, taking her hand. "Very well."
-.-
"Well, we didn't beat the storm," Villads sighed skipping across the deck. "We'll have to wait it out below deck."
"Hooray, we're wet and miserable and we saved no time at all," Rayla huffed. Looking to her right, she raised a brow as she saw Trezac. "You look like death."
"Thanks," he groaned slowly sitting up, his hair plastered to his forehead.
Rayla winced, feeling a little bad for the mage. If there was anyone who understood what he was going through right now, it was her. "You should get below deck," she said helping him up. "Callum, you coming?"
"What? Yeah I agree."
Rayla frowned, he wasn't listening. Patting Trezac on the back, she gently moved him to the stairs. "You go get some rest, I'll keep watch."
Trezac nodded, stumbling by Ezran andZym. Bait gave a worried whine as he toddled after Agir who trailed by his feet, nuzzling his hand. Finding an empty room, the padawan didn't even bother kicking his boots off as he flopped onto the bed with the firefox and glow-toad climbing up and curling up beside him.
Whatever happened in the next few hours, Rayla or Callum could handle it…hopefully.
A/N: hey y'all welcome back! Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter! So, the new arrivals! They belong to Mandalore the Survivor.