Chapter 23

A/N: hey everyone! Welcome back! Good to see y'all again and I loved hearing the reviews about the last chapter! So, the Survivors belong to Mandalore the Survivor and Trezac belongs to Gabeherdon308.

"Trezac stumbled on deck, rubbing his eyes as the boat swayed gently under his feet. Looking around, he could see Ezran lying on some crates with Bait and Zym, looking bored, as Rayla heaved over the railing, nearly making his own stomach revolt again. Agir, was probably harassing Callum since he'd been sleeping when the other boy came down.

"Ah, yes, the smell of land," Villads sighed.

This, garnered everyone's immediate attention. "Where?!" Trezac exclaimed whirling around to look up at the Captain.

"Sweet, sweet land!"

"Whoo-hoo!"

"Berto flapped his wings, squawking in annoyance. "Let him finish!"

"The faint, distant smell of land that is."

"There it is," Berto chirped.

Trezac deflated, he'd been hoping they would be closer by this point. He wanted of this karabast cursed ship. "How long?"

"About a full day of sailing ahead until we reach the shore!"

Both elf and padawan gave despondent groans as they leaned against whatever was closest in despair at the thought of another day. Meanwhile, Ezran picked up Zym, "You wanna go count clouds again?"

Zym didn't respond other than a snore.

"Or we could nap," the young prince agreed.

Trezac grimaced as he watched the pair just flop onto the deck and promptly pass out. Seriously, how could anyone fall asleep so fast on this thing? He would be too worried about falling off.

Glancing behind him, the padawan considered going back below deck to rest more. The journey to Xadia was going to be hard and long once they got to shore. He'd need all the strength he could get. But…after sleeping longer than he had in a while, he doubted he could fall asleep again—despite how much he wanted to in order to make time go by faster.

With a sigh, he walked by the synchronized sleepers. Sitting down, he closed his eyes in an attempt to meditate. The Empire was here, the inquisitor was proof of that; he was with Soren and Claudia. Who knows if there were more on the way. If there were soldiers coming to conquer this world, of even if the human lands had already been conquered. Even with their strange powers, Xadia would barely stand a chance; everything they had was just so primitive in comparison.

And that wasn't his only problem, if the inquisitors were coming after him that meant only one thing: he found him. After all the effort Trezac had put into following his master's orders and covering his tracks, he still found him. What did that mean for his master? What about him? He knew his master bad been foolish to go back to that sand-trap; especially if even he was found in uncharted areas of the Outer Rim. And if he was found…

No, now was not the time to worry about those of his past. Jedi rules dictated that attachments were forbidden; he couldn't worry about his master…no matter how much he wanted to miss the man who practically taught him everything he knew.

It was in the past, and that is where he needed to leave it.

Right now, what he needed to do was focus on the task at hand: protecting the people of Xadia and ending this war.

His musings were interrupted by a grunt.

Trezac sighed in defeat, opening his eyes and turning around to see Bait giving Ezran and Zym a pouting look, his wide eyes looking sad. A pang hit him in the gut as he saw his color change to grey, he didn't need the force to know that Bait was feeling lonely. Meeting eyes with the small creature, Trezac tilted his head in his direction and he smiled slightly as the little toad lit up for a moment, happily scampering over into his lap with a small croak.

"Don't worry, Ezran will come around," Trezac reassured gently patting Bait's back. "Right now, Zym's still a baby, he's learning about the world around him. You're still his number one…glow-toad?"

Bait gave a grunt, his chin resting on Trezac's thigh.

"I know it's hard right now," he sighed. "New things are always hard."

Bait gave a croak and Trezac raised a brow, looking down at the little frog-creature. He was looking up at him, head cocked; one could almost say he was trying to say something.

"Sorry Bait, I'm not Ezran," he shrugged. "I mean, my people can calm animals and sometimes control them—I mean, I can too, but I'm not good at it—but as far as I know no one's ever been able to talk to one." He gave a sigh, "Maybe it was something I was supposed to be taught, my master was pretty good at it. You would like him, you're both grumpy…and you care about those close to you…"

"I smell land!" Villads exclaimed causing the pair to jump as he ran across the deck.

Pulling Bait into his arms, Trezac stood up walking up to the bow of the ship, joining the others. At long last, on the horizon, he could see land. "Oh thank the Force," he whispered.

They were covered in darkness for a brief moment and Trezac shivered as something rippled through the force around him. "What was that? A shadow?" Rayla questioned as they all looked up.

"You're askin' the wrong pirate," Villads shrugged causing Trezac to freeze.

Leaning back, he mouthed to Callum, "Pirate? You hired a pirate?!" The other boy didn't even notice his companion's horror.

""There's something up there."

"Something really powerful."

-.-

Eleven leaned over the railing, watching as Viren rode back into the castle grounds, looking defeated. "Oh, looks like someone's plans went well," she smirked, "like uniting people on their common humanity would work. Right little friend?" she strokes the small worm on her shoulder. Glancing to the other side, she raised a brow as she saw a woman in white robes stomping down the stairs. Even from where the inquisitor stood she could feel the rage and hatred for Viren seething off of her in waves. "Ooh, this'll be interesting."

"How dare you?!" she exclaimed stopping Viren in his tracks. "You used King Harrow's seal to summon the Pentarchy?! And then you lied to them?! You called yourself the Regent of Katolis! You committed treason Viren, and for what?!"

Eleven scowled as she missed the mage's response. She could feel it, misery and shame were coming from him strongly. Her puppet was growing weak. Clearly she underestimated his drive for power, pity. He'd been so useful to her.

"You'll be removed from the Council for this! And you'll be lucky if that's all!"

And he was about to become obsolete to her as well. This would not do. Twirling a piece of hair around her finger, Eleven smirked. Well, just because her current toy was about to be useless politically, didn't mean he still couldn't serve some use. He would be desperate to redeem himself after such a failure, a perfect weakness to exploit. Viren would do anything, show her anything she wanted.

And once she got all she wanted, then she'd put him out of his misery. It would after all be a mercy.

-.-

That night after, they made shelter in a large cave on a cliffside. Trezac sprawled on the ground, looking up at the stars. He was supposed to be on watch, but there was only one way up, and Callum woke up not long ago and playing with his cube, so everything seemed fine currently.

"Hey Trezac?" Callum spoke up, "What do you think this is anyway?"

"A glow cube?"

"Well, in my dad's letter, he said it was a key," the elder prince informed, "But a key to what?"

"I dunno," Trezac shrugged. "Could be a holocron?"

"A what?"

Trezac groaned, sitting up, "Basically, an information container. My people used them all the time. They can only be opened through the Force."

"But this is a key?"

"Hey, I'm just throwing out ideas," he shrugged.

"Well, you can still do magic, you open it," Callum huffed tossing the cube his direction bitterly.

Catching it with the Force, Trezac pursed his lips as he tried to open it as it hovered in front of him. He hadn't worked with holocrons much, only the masters on the council were allowed—though Anak—Master Skywalker let him mess with one once when he was first starting training under his former teacher. But from what he did know about them, is that there were supposed to be areas that one could move to unlock it, all he had was a glowing symbol in his face.

He tossed it back to Callum, "Welp, it's not a holocron."

"You two practicing magic or just playing a game of rolly-cubes?" Rayla spoke up, joining them at the mouth of the cave.

"Magic," Callum answered.

"What I do still isn't magic," Trezac repeated.

Not that anyone heard him for the hundredth time as Callum continued, "I think I'm getting close. There's so much swirling around in my head, but I need a way to bring it all together."

"Like some kind of breakthrough?" Rayla offered.

"Yeah!" Callum said moving the cube and frowning as it glowed in front of Rayla. "What about you? You were born with the Moon Arcanum."

"Uh, I suppose so?"

"So, when you do cool moon powers you're connecting to the moon, right? What does that feel like?"

Rayla shrugged, "I don't really think about it. I just, stand in the light of the full moon, and then there's a feeling like," she waved her hands around making whooshing noises, "and then there's a sort of ting! And then BAM!" she exploded to her feet, "Moonshadow powers! Does that help?"

"No not at all," Callum answered. "But I enjoyed it. Trezac what about you? How do you connect to your Force-magic stuff?"

Trezac blinked at them, "Um…well, I've been able to use it as far as I can remember, so I guess I was born with it," he shrugged. "My people…the temple I was raised at, they only take in those who have abilities like mine. It's just, I dunno, we're born with it? I don't know how they figure out who has the connection and who doesn't; they just know."

Callum groaned, flopping onto the ground staring up at the sky, "Why is this so hard? I have to be a mage again. I mean, we saw a dragon in the clouds yesterday! Things will only get tougher when we get into Xadia. And crossing the border? That's going to be crazy dangerous."

"Eh, well," Rayla shrugged, "maybe not."

"There's a river of lava!"

"Oh great," Trezac groaned.

"One does not simply walk into Xadia," Callum said.

"Actually, one does simply walk into Xadia," Rayla corrected. "There's a secret path: the Moonstone Path. It'll be safe and easy, even for you, magic or no magic."

"And even then, I've been around lava more than I'd ever want to," Trezac grumbled. "Depending on the river's size, I might be able to use the Force to carry you guys across. Or throw something big enough in so we can run across before it melts."

"Come on, let's get some rest," Rayla said getting up and stretching.

"You do that," Trezac said staying where he sat at the edge, looking up towards the sky.

"No one's gonna find us here," Callum reassured. "Right?"

"It's pretty hidden," Rayla agreed. "What is it?"

"I don't know, I have a feeling something's about to happen."

"It'll be fine 'Zac," Callum said patting his shoulder. "Come on, let's just get some rest. We can leave as soon as there's light."

With one final glance to the skies, Trezac got up, and followed them into the cave. Lying down in his soft dirt patch, he attempted to sleep.

-.-

Eleven listened to the rhythmic tapping of Viren's staff as he slowly descended the stairs. The fool still had shame rolling off him in waves. "Not sure how much longer he'll be useful," she muttered, moving the small worm onto her ear, letting it curl around before she brought up a piece of hair to hide it.

"Welcome back!" the cheery voice of the prisoner exclaimed. "I hope you had a pleasant trip."

"How can you possibly remain so cheerful in your dire circumstances?" Viren grumbled.

Behind the door, Eleven raised a brow. Yes, that was something she was curious about. Normally prisoners broke being held captive alone for so long; watching them break had always been one of her favorite pastimes. Yet, this one, he didn't. It intrigued her.

"Well, I think about it like this: why see myself as chained down, when I can be chained up?"

"I admire your tenacity," Viren replied.

So did Eleven. This one was so strangely positive. Perhaps when she disposed of Viren this one could be her new toy? No doubt he'd be very entertaining.

Viren opened the door, entering the cell and closing it behind him. "Finally ready?" Eleven spoke up, causing the mage to jump in the air and whirl around to face her.

"Eleven," he sighed clutching his chest. "Don't startle me like that."

"Why not, it's fun," she smirked. "So, are you ready to stop being a coward and finish," she pointed to the mirror where her new friend stood waiting.

Viren looked down, giving a small nod, "I have nothing left to lose."

Eleven smirked and she could see her friend smirking as well. "Good," she stepped aside motioning to the items on the table, "He's been asking about you."

-.-

A thundering roar caused both the assassin and padawan to leap up as Callum and Ezran blearily sat up, rubbing their eyes. "Oh no," Rayla whispered, "I know that sound!"

Racing out of the cave, she led the way as Trezac and Callum were right behind her. They skid to a stop on a rocky ledge, staring in horror. Black plumes of smoke rose up into the air as fire reigned down from above as a massive beast soared over the town. Even from where they stood they could hear the screams of the townspeople as they ran in terror.

And for a moment, Trezac thought he heard blasters.

It dove back towards the town, releasing another barrage of flames. Through the pale light of, they could see a violet bolt shoot past, no doubt a sorcerer was there trying to drive the beast off. the violet plume turned in the air, chasing the dragon before ramming into its side, causing a screech of pain to echo over the valley.

"They hit it!" Rayla exclaimed in horror as the massive creature flew past. Turning in the air, it flew towards them, and Rayla tackled everyone to the ground as its claws passed on where their heads had been a moment before.

It was then they heard the loud crash.

Sitting up, they looked with wide eyes towards the large trench in the ground, a red shape lying at the end. Ezran scampered past them, down into the woods, ignoring his brother's calls as they chased after him, scrambling down the slope and over roots and rocks.

When they caught up, the were at the edge of a clearing, the dragon lying in front of them. "Is…is it dead?" Callum asked.

Trezac closed his eyes, reaching out through the force, trying to sense the presence of life. He grimaced, the first thing he felt was anger, pain, grief; all very negative emotions. "It's alive," he spoke as a soft growl echoed over them and blue eyes slowly opened.

"You're in pain," Ezran said kneeling in front of the dragon's muzzle, hugging it gently. "You're ok, we can help you." Ezran patted the dragon's nose, shuffling around till he pointed at something, "There! Beneath her wing."

Callum was the first to move, running over, trying, and failing to lift the massive appendage. After a moment, Rayla came up and tapped his shoulder, motioning behind them, where Trezac stood waiting. Eyes widening in realization, the prince followed the elf's lead as the scrambled back.

Closing his eyes, Trezac began to lift. The wing was heavy. Surprisingly so for it being from a flying animal, but he'd had to help his master lift ships before, so this shouldn't be too much of a problem. Once there was space to crawl under, Rayla darted for the opening heading right for the spear. Grabbing it firmly, she carefully adjusted so it hopefully wouldn't do more damage on the way out than it had going in. She closed her eyes and pulled.

The spear came out with a squelch and a spurt of blood as the dragon gave a cry of pain. Kneeling by the injury, the assassin grimaced, it was severe, but hopefully it wouldn't be fatal. The wound itself was small, but it was the magic she was concerned about. Crawling back out, Trezac slowly set her wing down as she look at the dragon who gave a soft growl before closing her eyes.

A neigh echoed through the forest, causing the group to turn. Through the brush, they could see an approaching party of soldiers. "The humans are coming," Rayla growled brandishing her swords, "We have to protect her."

"We can't fight them Rayla," Callum said.

"I can't just leave her!"

"Callum's right, and we have to get back to Zym," Ezran spoke up, tugging on Rayla's arm.

"We did what we could," Trezac nodded. "We can't afford to be caught."

With a gentle nudge, they managed to get Rayla moving, allowing them to hide in the woods on the other side of the clearing as the patrol came in.

A patrol, lead by Claudia and Soren.

"That's not good," Trezac hissed through his teeth. They were closer than he thought. After the incident on the caldera, he thought they managed to put some distance between them. How in the world did they catch up so fast?

"Trezac," Callum whispered.

Nodding to the other boy, the padawan slowly retreated into the brush, careful not to make a sound in order to avoid detection. Once he caught up with the others, they ran up onto the rocky path leading the way to the cave.

"Zym!" Ezran called. "Zym, are you ok?"

There was a whimper and the tiny hatchling quickly scampered out and cling to Ezran worriedly. Agir gave a short bark, trotting over to Trezac and licking his palm as the padawan knelt down to pet him. Bait, meanwhile, crawled over to Callum, allowing the elder brother to pick him up.

"I should've done something," Rayla spoke, looking in the direction the dragon crashed.

"Rayla, you're always the one who reminds us that the only thing that matters is getting Zym back to Xadia," Callum reminded. "Why are you hesitating now?"

"I'm not hesitating! This is different!" she snapped. "Every fiber in my body is telling me this is wrong! That dragon is defenseless, and I just left her there!"

"I don't get it Rayla. Why are you so worried about a dragon that just set fire to a town of innocent people?" Callum questioned.

"I've been thinking about something someone once told me," she replied. "About how when one person hurts another and then that person hurts them back, it becomes a cycle that never ends."

"Who told you that?"

"You did," she said.

"Oh.

"But Callum, to break that cycle, someone has to take a stand when no one else will!"

"I agree," Trezac spoke up.

Callum nodded, "You're right. If we're really going to change things, we can't just watch while humans and Xadia keep hurting each other. But how can I take a stand? Believe me, I want to go down there with you guys, amd be the hero who stops all the fighting and saves the day. But I can't do that! I can't do anything!"

"That's not true Callum," Trezac said. "You can do lots of things. Sometimes, figuring out what you're good at just takes time."

"Look Callum, I'm not asking you or Trezac to come with me," Rayla said resting her hands on his shoulders. "Protecting that dragon doesn't just feel like the right thing to do, it feels like the right thing for me to do. It's where I'm meant to be. I'm going back down there."

"I'll come with," Trezac said quietly. "Jedi are supposed to be peacekeepers, I can't turn away…not again."

Rayla nodded, looking back to Callum, "If we don't come back, you and Ezran can get Zym to Xadia. I believe in you." With that, she leapt off the cliff and onto one of the trees.

Following her lead, Trezac used a force jump to fly past. Landing on the ground, he leapt again in the direction of the dragon. As he fell to the ground, the padawan tucked into a ball and rolled quietly to the ground.

"It doesn't matter what happens to us," Rayla spoke quietly catching up, "Live or die, this dragon's going home."

"Nodding in agreement, the pair split up. As she went around to cut the ropes, Trezac knelt in the brush watching carefully. So far, none of the guards seemed to notice. Good, but Rayla wound't be able to get those chains off alone. Stretching out his hand, Trezac tried to pull the chains. He saw them lift for a moment, but it didn't get far with the stakes securing them.

Guess he'd have to get the stakes out before moving the chains.

Raising his hand again, Trezac focused on one stake, trying to move it up out of the ground slowly so no one would notice.

Unfortunately someone noticed. Good news was, it was Rayla.

Her brows rose as she saw one of the stakes shaking back and forth as it was slowly coming up from the ground. But it didn't take her long to figure out who the culprit was. As weird as human magic was, she had to admit, it was handy. She turned to cut the next rope when the tap of metal on metal caught her attention. Turning around, swords raised, she saw the guards pointing weapons at her, their leader, Soren. "Ugh, you again, of course."

"A dead dragon and a dead elf all in one day," the blonde snickered. "Everything's coming up Soren."

He charged at her, sword raised and she returned his challenge, their blades clashing, sparks flying off with every strike. She ducked under a swung, stepping back and raising her blades again as he leapt at her. She could feel her arms shaking with the effort to hold him back, when the wind was suddenly knocked from her lungs as something hit her in the gut. Landing on her back, she scrambled to her feet, watching the soldiers around her slowly approaching.

Seeing her predicament, Trezac leapt out of the brush, landing in front of Rayla and throwing his arms out. Rayla nearly stumbled as she felt a powerful wave of out from him and she watched as the knights were sent flying off their feet several meters away.

Yep, as strange as human magic was, it was handy.

There was a slight hiss in the air, and her friend's two sunforged blades came to life, one glowing yellow the other a silvery-blue. Swinging a blade, she watched as it effortlessly cut through the metal of one of the chains.

The guards raised their weapons, charging at them again. Rayla swung her swords, knocking two men back. Leaping back, she landed on the dragon, racing towards the other chains as Trezac fought them off. his blades were just blurs of color, and she could hear them whooshing through the air as they effortlessly cut through the metal swords and spears of the soldiers. One guard who was brave enough to try to tackle him ended up getting a nasty slash through his armor.

Rayla grimaced as she caught the scent of burnt flesh. Whatever those swords were, they were extremely hot. But she couldn't focus on that right now. Flipping a sword into its curved form, she tucked it under two crossing chains. Slamming her other sword on it, Rayla grimaced as sparks flew off and it bounced back. Clearly her blades weren't going to get through these as easily.

"Yeah, the thing about metal," she heard the insufferable blonde scoff, "hard to cut."

"Trezac!" she called.

Soren paled and she smirked as the mage used his magic to lift the soldier he was fighting off the ground and sent him flying through air into several of his comrades. Quickly turning on his heel, Trezac ran over, jumping off a guard's head and landing on the dragon's back with her. Still holding the chains up, she motioned to it with her head and he nodded, quickly slicing through them, causing the molten ends to fall away to the ground.

"You were saying," she taunted back and he scowled, raising his sword again.

"Try not to kill them Soren, they can lead us to Callum and Ezran," Claudia reminded.

"They don't have to." Turning they saw Callum walking from the treeline. "I'm right here."

Trezac's brows furrowed. Something was wrong. Dread pooled in his gut a particular emotion hit him: rage. He hadn't felt this much since…since his last time near a true Dark Side user. And it was coming off of Callum.

Once he saw what was in the boy's hand, he understood why.

The book, Callum had the spellbook, Claudia's spellbook, clutched in one hand. In the other, he could make out something small and green. No, no this couldn't be happening, not again.

Claudia seemed to realize what was going on as well. "Callum, what're you doing?"

Callum raised the book and the object in his other hand, a dark gleam in his eye as anger rolled off him again. "Your kind of magic."

Rayla's eyes widened and she looked at Trezac, noting the same look of horror on his face. The Jedi—as he called himself—had paled rapidly in the past few seconds.

"You don't want to do this Callum," Claudia said slowly stepping towards the step-prince. "It's really dangerous unless someone shows you how."

Callum narrowed his eyes. "You already did." Crushing the creature in his hand, Trezac gasped as he felt a wave of darkness as Callum began chanting. "Nrut ym stelecarb otni stnepres."

Green fire shot from his hand and the chains began to glow, rising from the ground symbols began to appear along the sides as they melted into a single form and the heads of snakes formed at the ends. Multiple hisses echoed over the clearing as the dark creatures unwound themselves from the dragon, slithering towards the guards as they tried to escape.

"Trezac stumbled off the dragon, reeling. No, no this couldn't be happening again. He just lost everyone he knew to someone he cared about turning towards darkness. He watched as he singlehandedly destroyed everything he'd known. He could smell the acrid smell of burnt flesh. Closing his eyes, he tried to make it go away.

Instead, all he could see were the bodies of his fallen brothers and sisters.

Green eyes snapped open. Smoke billowed out from the temple as he saw clones slowly marching towards him, weapons drawn. They were allies, friends, and they were going to kill him. Just like the slaughtered the very generals they served. The stepped aside as a dark cloak billowed around the figure coming through. In that moment, all he saw was him.

And then Trezac saw nothing but red.