(Poster Disclaimer: This story isn't mine! It was originally written by St0rylady35 & Ray-Ken, but this story was sadly removed due to some unknown circumstances. I'm only posting this here again to let others rediscover this amazing story. I found this story on Wattpad thanks to Ray-Ken posting it there! So feel free to check her out over on Wattpad! She and St0rylady35 deserve all the credit for creating one of the greatest FanFics of all time for The Dragon Prince franchise! So yeah, enjoy the story everyone! And hey, Ray & St0rylady, keep on making great stories! :3 )

Chapter 7: Sky Dragon

Now with a plan of action, they set to work the next day. They searched the whole lodge for anything they thought they would need, and packed it into one of two backpacks, the smaller one or the larger one.

Callum managed to find a belt that went through the spine of his book and fashioned it into a strap, enabling him to carry the book wherever he went and stop the risk of losing it.

It took most of the day to find and complete everything they needed, but as they sat down for one last meal in the lodge, there was a sudden noise against the window. Everyone looked to see trails of water running down the glass and more water soaking the ground outside.

Rayla sighed, returning to her meal, "Glad we aren't out in this."

"Yeah, soggy is not my style," Ez chuckled as he bit into his sandwich.

Callum, however, just stared out the glass, "W-what is it?"

"Umm, rain?"

"Rain?"

"Yeah, you know, water that falls from the sky?" Ezran explained.

Callum kept staring before standing up from his seat, and going out the kitchen's back door. He opened it and watched, blinking when he felt water splashing against his face. "Rain?" he repeated once more, reaching out his hand to catch some water, feeling it splash against his skin.

Rayla and Ezran just stared at his back, confused by his interest in the rain.

Before either of them could stop him, he ran out into the dark storm, away from the lodge. They could still see him from the window, watching as he walked through the water droplets, and like he had when he first saw the sun, closed his eyes, letting the feeling embrace him.

Inside, Rayla blinked. "He's never seen the rain before," she realized, then pulled her hood up and headed for the door. The elf joined him outside, "Callum, Callum are you alright?"

He turned to her, water already soaking through his clothes and hair, yet, he smiled. "It's raining Rayla!" he laughed, then looked around for a puddle of water on the ground, wasting no time jumping into it with both feet. The water splashed up and over his trousers, soaking the fabric.

The elf frowned, "Callum, come inside, you shouldn't be out here, you'll get sick."

He ignored her, finding another puddle and splashing around in it as well. He let out a whoop as he ran from puddle to puddle, splashing around, kicking the water when he could and laughing.

"Cal-" she started before pausing, watching him closer.

There was a spark.

A literal spark of lightning crackled around him, concentrating on his arm. Another formed, then another, and another, more electricity beginning to run over his body as he laughed and played in the rain. He didn't seem to care about or even notice it, just going from puddle to puddle.

The elf took a step back, wondering what this could be. In the darkness, it was easy to see the lightning as it continued to collect around him.

Callum turned and ran a little further away from the lodge until he found a much larger puddle, bigger than any of the others. He ran up to it and jumped as high as he could, wings spreading wide as he cheered.

"Fulminis!"

Suddenly, all of the lightning that had been gathering around him, shot up through his body and into the sky, lighting it up in a dramatic and glorious display. It was over in a second as the lightening vanished, but Callum just stood in his puddle, staring up at the sky. He turned to Rayla and pointed upwards, "Rayla! Did you see that?!"

"Yeah, now get back inside you stupid lizard, before you catch a cold!"

Running to her side, he bounced on the spot, "Did I do that? Did I do that lightning?"

"Yes you did, now get inside!" the elf scolded as she grabbed his shoulder, pulling him in and shutting the door behind them, "Honestly, you're soaked, and we don't even have a spare change of clothes for you."

Once inside, Callum realized she was right. He was dripping with water, and now that he thought about it, his feet were very uncomfortable. The feeling of water dripping off his hair onto his nose was also annoying. Trying to remove the irritation, he leaned forward and shook his body side to side, sending the water flying off him.

Sadly, Rayla hadn't moved from his side, so she ended up taking the full force of the water droplets. "Ah! Callum!" she shrieked, now feeling undoubtedly soaked.

Ezran, who had stayed inside the whole time, giggled at her distress, but then kindly offered her a cloth to dry off with, "I hope no one saw that lightning," he said casually.

The next morning, Ezran walked out to the front of the lodge to watch the birds while Rayla and Callum finished packing inside. He heard the sound of horses approaching and looked up to see a group of around ten people riding towards the lodge, "Oh no," he whispered, wondering if he should head back inside to warn the others, or try and stall the new arrivals.

The choice was made when they pulled up in front of him and two riders climbed down, removing helmets, and one revealing a familiar face. "Aunt Amaya?" he asked, confused.

His aunt hurried over and quickly swept her nephew up into a hug. Once done, she stepped back and began to move her hands, the man behind her watching and translating. "It's good to see you Ez. I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Yeah," Ez gasped from her tight hug, "But... what are you doing here?"

"We were on our way to the castle. King Harrow has sent for me and my Battalion, but last night, we saw some strange lightning and decided to detour here to investigate." She smiled brightly at him, "I wasn't expecting to find my favorite nephew here. But I'm quite surprised to see you out here alone. Surely your father sent someone to protect you?"

"Umm, yeah, he did. He sent a load of guards with me but... they had to go back to the castle."

Amaya frowned as she signed urgently, "So, you're here alone?"

"Ah... no... I'm here with... Callum," he said, deciding Callum was a more normal name than 'Rayla'. "He's... the lodge keeper."

The general looked back at the lodge before marching inside, looking around the room. She turned and signed to her translator, "Where is this 'lodge keeper' Ezran?"

Panicking, the human thought for a moment. He'd last seen Callum in the kitchen so... "I saw him in the study a few minutes ago."

With a nod, the woman marched up the stairs, her translator following. Fortunately, the other guards were staying outside, but that would also mean there was no way for the others to escape the building. He hoped he could buy them some time, but he didn't know how they'd get out of this one.

If Amaya found out there was an elf and a dragon in the lodge, she'd probably kill them both before anyone had a chance to talk things out. Years on the breach fighting elves, it hadn't made her welcoming towards them.

"Ezran, there is no one up here," came the translator's voice as he returned downstairs.

Acting innocent, Ezran scratched his head, "Oh? I wonder where he went."

"Ezran? Is that you?" came another voice from the door into the kitchen.

The general walked towards the door and quickly pushed it open. Ezran prepared himself for the moment she saw the dragon, but oddly, Amaya just stood and signed calmly. "Are you the lodge keeper Callum?" Gren asked.

"Umm, yes, that's me. I'm Callum."

Gren signed for a moment, and as he did, Ezran carefully peeked between the door and his aunt, realizing at once why Amaya wasn't attacking and why the translator was signing for 'the lodge keeper' as well. Callum had his cloak on with the scarf pulled over his mouth, and the hood over his horns. All that could really be seen were his eyes, and he was too far away for them to notice they were reptilian in nature.

Deciding to play along, Ez pushed past, "Callum, this is my Aunt Amaya, the one I was telling you about."

Confused, since she had never been mentioned, Callum froze, "Ah..."

"You know, the general of the Breach?"

"We were on our way to the capital when we saw strange lightning last night."

"Well... there was a storm," Callum said, trying to remain calm as he looked over the two armed and armored humans. Until that moment, his only human interactions had been Ezran, his former master, and his master's daughter. It was two very bad experiences, and one very good experience, so he was still cautious around the species.

"Yes, we noticed the storm, however, this lightning went up into the sky, not down from it," Amaya signed as she walked to the table and sat down, noticing the three plates of food that had been prepared. "Is there someone else here?" she asked.

Callum backed off a little, "Umm... no. That third plate is for... Bait!" he almost shouted, glad to have thought of an excuse. "Bait is... is a hungry little toad."

Amaya paused, but then nodded, "Yes, that he is. Tell me Callum, why do you have your face covered like that? Would you please remove your scarf?"

Pulling the scarf up a little more, just in case, he looked away from her, "Umm... well I..."

"Amaya!" Ez called, waving his hand to get her attention before beginning to sign, a little slower than Gren or Amaya herself, since he wasn't perfect at sign language, but knew enough to get his message across.

Amaya suddenly tensed and blinked before looking at Callum, "My apologies, I didn't mean to offend. I am deaf and need to see lips to know what people are saying to me. I did not know about your... condition."

Wondering what Ezran had told her, Callum just nodded, "It's alright. N-no harm done. Umm, if you will excuse me I need to... go pick some berries!" he blurted, then headed for the side door to leave as fast as he could.

Left alone, Amaya looked at her nephew, "He is... odd," she signed, Gren translating. His tone showed he agreed with her.

"He's nice. I like him," Ezran said as he picked up his plate and began to eat, trying to act normal, "So, now that you can see I'm safe, you'll be heading to the capital?"

"If it's alright, we'd like to stay a while," she requested, "The storm last night washed away a lot of our supplies and we could do with some time to get back in order."

"Umm... how long is 'some time'?"

"We'll probably leave tomorrow. Besides, it will give me a chance to catch up with my favorite nephew." She smiled kindly and ruffled his hair, "And I would like to get to know this 'Callum' a bit more, make sure he's suitable to look after you."

Ez stared at her, then thickly swallowed a mouthful of food.

Amaya and her troops soon set up camp at the front of the lodge, and a patrol scouted around the building, but mostly stayed outside to recover the damage the rain had caused.

Despite Amaya's best efforts, Callum had managed to avoid being caught for another conversation with the general, making good use of their time playing hide and seek. He kept making sure he was seen around the lodge, but never close enough to speak to.

Ezran tried to get close, but someone was always close to him. Just as the day began to draw to an end, there was a sudden racket from outside, and all of the guards hurried to see what was going on. Ezran hurried as well, but felt someone grab his arm and pull him behind a chair.

"Ezran, it's me," Callum whispered, kneeling down to hide, "Rayla untied the horses outside to give us a moment to talk."

"Is she okay?"

"She's staying hidden... somewhere. I don't know where, but she talked to me while I was outside. She told me to pass on a message," he explained, checking to make sure no one had come back yet, "She says we need to leave when it gets dark. The bags are packed and she got them out before the others arrived. She said she'll come get us when it's dark and we'll head out the back before any of them spot us."

"But... what about Amaya?"

"I-I don't know," he whispered, "But Rayla said we need to leave tonight."

Thinking it over, the other boy nodded, "Alright."

"She said I'm to stay away from everyone if I can help it."

"Right." Ez nodded then held his friend's shoulder, "Stay safe Callum."

He smiled and pulled his scarf up once more, quickly hurrying for the kitchen as Amaya came back in. The general frowned, then signed to her translator. Ez managed to make out the words 'danger' and 'trap'.

As he watched his aunt, he thought about what he was going to do, and decided to head to the study. After rummaging around in the drawers, he found a pen and paper and wrote a letter, rolling it up and sealing it. He smiled as he put it in his pocket to keep it safe.

The rest of the day passed, pretty eventless. However, Amaya did ask to speak to Callum again, but Ezran managed to find the excuse that he was busy in the washroom, taking some time to relax and get cleaned up.

Once the night arrived, the general herself took him to bed and tucked him in, smiling softly as she did. 'I have decided to stay here,' she signed, keeping it slow and steady so he could understand. 'The others will go to the palace, tell the king where I am. But I want to stay and keep you safe.'

"But I have Callum?"

'I do not trust him. He's hiding something.'

Ez looked at Bait in his arms, then sighed, "He's nice."

'Nice can often hide danger Ez,' the general said with a slight frown, but then hid it and smiled, leaning over and kissing his brow. 'Don't worry, I'm here and you're safe. Now go to sleep.'

"Aunt Amaya?" he asked, reaching out and holding her hand to get her attention, "I...I just wanted to say..." he paused, and contemplated his next move, "Thank you. For... everything."

She frowned at his odd words, but nodded. 'Goodnight,' she signed before heading out, closing the door behind her. For an hour, Ezran just sat in his bed with his blanket draped over him, and looked at the letter he'd written.

All of a sudden, there was a subtle knock at the window, and he quickly hurried out of bed and pulled the curtains away to see Rayla kneeling outside. Opening the window, he looked at her, "Rayla."

"Come on, we need to go. I already got Callum out, now it's your turn." She glanced out over the grounds, "But we have to go now. The guards will be back any second!"

Nodding, Ezran ran back to the bed and grabbed Bait before picking up his letter and placing it on the pillow. Glow toad in arms, he ran over to Rayla and climbed out onto the roof. Quickly, the elf wrapped an arm around him, "Hold tight," she whispered, then checked once more before quickly jumping down. She put Ez on the ground and sprinted with him to the trees.

Callum was waiting for them with the bags by his feet, his hood still up. "Ezran!" he whispered, glad to see him safe.

"Come on you two, we need to go. Now." Rayla whispered back, crouching down as a guard passed around the lodge, "I found a boat by the river. We can use it to get out of here."

Together, they grabbed a bag each and headed for the river behind the lodge. The boat sat, tied to the dock, and hastily, they put the bags in first. Ezran and Bait got in before Rayla climbed in too, holding out her hand to help the dragon in. Callum was a little unsteady as he put one foot in the boat and felt it rock under him, so his wings spread out to help as a counter-balance while he climbed aboard.

"Wait... what the..." came a voice from behind them, and the group turned quickly in time to see two guards with a torch, staring at them.

For a heartbeat, no one moved, but then Bait croaked and the guards ran forward. "Dragon!" one shouted as he drew his blade.

Terrified, Callum did what he normally did when scared, and wrapped his tail around himself and Ez.

The guards soon spotted the third party on the boat, and froze, "They're kidnapping the prince!" they shouted again, attacking with a new found determination.

Rayla looked back as Callum realized he was making the situation worse. He let go of Ez, but it was too late, the alarm was raised and the battalion was on their tail. Archers began taking aim and firing. Callum threw himself over Ez to protect him while Rayla sliced the arrows down in mid-air.

As the others took aim once more, Rayla took her blade to the mooring and sliced it away. The rain made the current stronger as it quickly pulled them from the bank, downstream. She kept standing at the edge and glared back at the guards as they stood on the bank, their general giving them orders, but the boat was soon too far away.

As they disappeared into the night, Callum sank in his seat, "I'm sorry... this is all my fault. If I hadn't lost my balance..."

"They still would have spotted us," Rayla explained, turning to face him, "Those guards were going to see us, no matter what."

"But if I didn't grab Ez..."

"They were shooting arrows at us Cal. You were keeping him safe."

"But..."

"Callum, we got out of there, none of us are hurt, we have our supplies, and we are heading in the right direction to Xadia."

"But... if I hadn't let out that lightning last night... they never would have even come to the lodge."

That they couldn't argue against, so Ezran just shifted around, "How did you even do that? The lightning."

"I don't know," he confessed with a shrug, "I... I was just... so happy. The rain it... it made me feel good and... then I said something and then the lightning just ran through me."

"Did it hurt?"

"No. It... it felt... good. Like when Rayla scratches my ears."

Rayla smiled at his comparison, "Fulminis. That's what you said."

"Fulminis?"

"It's draconic. It means lightning. It's a part of magic." She moved towards them, reaching into one of the bags and pulling out the storm orb.

"You see, for every living creature, there are rules. Humans aren't meant to be able to do magic. They don't have an Arcanum."

"What's an Arcanum?" Callum interrupted.

"Let me speak and I'll tell you," she chuckled, "Anyway, an Arcanum is a bond, something deep inside you that links you to a primal source."

"Ooo! Like the box!" Callum exclaimed, pulling it from his bag and holding it towards the orb. The storm symbol glowed as he did.

Rayla rolled her eyes, "Yes, like the box. See, this-" she held up the orb, "Is a primal stone. Within this stone is a storm, trapped forever in the glass. They are very rare and very powerful. It's a way humans can do magic, by being linked to a source like this."

"Wow!" Ezran thought about this while they floated along with the current, "What about you Rayla? Can you do magic?"

"Elves have a connection to an Arcanum, but it's our choice if we decide to learn magic. I never saw the appeal myself so... I only have my natural skills."

"Like what?"

"Well, when the moon is full, all Moonshadow elves are filled with the power of the moon. We can change our forms to one that's as dark as the shadows, practically invisible to anyone with normal eyes." She smirked, "I was able to do it the day we met. Shame you never saw, you'd have been super impressed."

"Can you do it now?" Callum asked eagerly.

"Not now you silly lizard; I need a full moon."

He looked up at the night sky, "Isn't that one full?"

"Nope, that's a half. You got about fifteen more days before I can change again."

"Will you show us then?"

She rolled her eyes with a fond smile, "Alright, I'll show you then."

"So... why didn't you learn magic?" Ezran asked.

"Some have a naturally stronger bond and find it easy, but others can take years to learn even the simplest spells. I never had the patience to learn the words and the runes."

"Runes?"

"When you said 'Fulminis' that was part of a spell. If a sky mage... that's an elf who knows sky magic, wanted to cast the lightning spell, he would need to combine the draconian word with a rune. It's like a... word that is written. They draw it in the air, or on paper, or... well, however they need to."

Callum thought back, and glanced at the orb in her hand, "That human... the one that... tried to stop us." He winced a little at the memory, "She drew something."

"Yes Callum," Rayla sighed, her voice softer, having not intended to bring back the memory, "That's a rune."

"But... I didn't do that when I made the lightning."

Glad to move on, Rayla nodded, "Draconian magic is different. See, dragons like you are much stronger than elves. Your bond to the six sources is a part of your very being."

"Really?"

"Yes. Dragons can shift remember? You can change forms," Rayla explained, watching him light up, "Dragons are the only ones that can do that. I hear some elf mages can change half, or parts of their body, but not like dragons can."

"I can?!...How?!"

She shook her head, "Well... I don't know. I never studied draconian magic so... I don't know how it works. But I know you aren't strong enough yet Callum, it takes a lot of power to shift."

"So... I can change forms... and I don't need a rune?"

"Nope. Magic is so powerful within dragons that you can call on it with the words," she smiled, "You will only be able to do sky magic, since you're a sky dragon, but you will be able to do it much better and more powerful than any mage."

Callum blinked, then looked down at his hand, swallowing softly before holding it out. He concentrated on the idea of lightning. After a moment, he spoke, "Fulminis." Nothing. He frowned at his hand, "Fulminis," he said a little louder, "Fulminis!" This time he shouted.

Nothing happened, and he sat back, pouting in disappointment.

Rayla however, was beaming. "I'm proud of you Callum. A few days ago, you were terrified of magic. Now look at you; trying to do it."

His frown turned into a smile, and he leaned back in the boat, staring at his hand like it would suddenly do the magic he commanded.

Back at the lodge, Amaya glared after the boat, unable to believe what she had just seen; the 'lodge keeper' was a dragon and he had helped kidnap the prince. She turned to her translator, "If they realize we followed them, they will kill the prince. We need to be careful." She turned, "Corvus!"

At the call, a man with dark brown, braided hair tied back in a bun, came forward.

"Track them, but stay out of sight. And when you get the chance, kill the elf and the dragon, and get my sister's son back!" Her hands became fast, sharp, as if shouting.

He nodded and turned to head down the river. Meanwhile, Amaya turned to the others of her group, "The rest of you, pack up. We need to get out of here, now."

In their rush to leave, none of them went to the prince's room, and none of them saw the letter he had left for them. It sat on the bed, its message remaining unseen.

Authors' Notes:

SL: Okay, so we may have changed the rules of magic a little bit for our AU... but when you think about it, does anyone every really talk about how magic works in the show?