(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 8: Lies

In the boat, Ezran yawned as he sat up from where he'd fallen asleep, against the dragon's leg, "Guys? I had a weird dream."

"No Ez, that was real," Callum sighed.

"Are you sure?" Ezran frowned as he rubbed his eyes, "There was this giant pink hippopotamus and I pulled its ear off. Because it was made of taffy."

The dragon and elf looked at each other, "Uh no. That that was a dream. I thought you meant leaving the lodge, and being fired at, and the boat."

"Then I tried to thank the hippo for the taffy, but he couldn't hear me, because I was eating his ears," the human continued, ignoring him for a moment before chuckling.

Rayla snickered at him, then gasped as the boat rocked slightly to the side with the current. Callum frowned as he watched her.

"Rayla? Are you alright?"

"Yeah Callum, I just love boats."

"Really? Because you don't look like you love boats."

"It's called sarcasm dummy," she groaned as she knelt inside of the boat to hide from the water, "It's when you say one thing but mean something else."

He thought over her statement, "So... when you say you love boats... does that mean you... really hate them?"

"Give the boy a jelly tart," she groaned.

Biting his lip, he thought for a moment, "You know, when I'm upset, you guys do things to get my mind off it? So... why don't we try that?"

"Like what?"

"Well... how about we ask some questions? To help take your mind off things."

Knowing how curious he was, the elf sighed, "Alright, go ahead."

Smiling, Callum thought about his questions then nodded, "What is Xadia like?"

"Well... it's a place where there's magic everywhere. You can't look at something without magic being a part of it. Remember what I told you? Everyone in Xadia has some bond to magic. It's no different from saying, Everywhere you look, there's nature. It's just part of the vibrancy or spirit of things, you know?"

"I can't wait to see that." Callum smiled at the idea.

"It sounds incredible!" Ezran added with a nod.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is."

"Are you feeling better?"

"Maybe so. Ask your next question?"

"Okay..." he thought for a bit and smiled, "What are your parents like?"

An emotion Callum couldn't name crossed her face, and she looked away from him, "They're dead."

"Oh.." He slouched down, "I didn't know."

"It's fine. It... it happened a long time ago."

At that moment, the boat rocked again, and both Rayla and Callum yelped in surprise. With his yelp, Rayla looked at the dragon who blushed slightly out of embarrassment, "Umm... I don't like boats either."

Ez smiled at them, "Then maybe we should stop and walk."

The others instantly agreed, pulling the craft to the bank and climbing out. They allowed the vessel to continue downstream without them and began to walk eastward. The sun set, and they found a safe place within the twisted roots of a tree for protection. Ez was sleeping with Bait in his arms, as always, and Callum had lied down behind him, wings and tail keeping the pair safe.

Rayla, meanwhile, had taken a perch on an above branch. While she did manage to get some rest, it was soon disturbed by the agony of her wrist.

Sitting up, she tried to control the pain, using all the tricks Runaan had taught her, but they barely subsided the pain this ribbon was causing her.

A noise in the distance did more to break her out of it than anything else, and she ran towards it to check for possible danger. The fawn she found instead was adorable, but even its gentle licking caused a throb of pain.

However, when the little deer ran away, she suddenly found herself face to face with a hunter of some sort. She made sure to draw him away from the sleeping boys, but her hand made the fight twice as hard as it should've been. Luck, or skill, or something allowed her to throw him down into a ditch, giving her the chance to head back.

She found them both awake and looking around the trees. Callum looked terrified until he saw her, and ran over with tears in his eyes, "Rayla!" he sobbed as he hugged her, "Where were you?! We woke up and you were gone!"

"Yeah Rayla, where were you?" Ez questioned, his voice also filled with worry, but not scared like the dragon's.

Rayla looked at them both and decided to save them from the worry, "I was just doing a Moonshadow elf thing," she lied, "Now come on, get your bags, we need to head off."

"But..."

"Come on, let's go!" she snapped, then hurried to gather the supplies.

Callum frowned as he looked at her and turned to Ezran, who just gave an 'I-don't-know' shrug. Together, they hurried to grab their bag and followed her as she hurried into the forest. She kept ahead of them and walked abnormally fast, which was odd, considering how she typically stayed close and allowed them to set the pace for travel.

Today, she kept snapping that they were falling behind.

Eventually, Callum stormed up to her. "Rayla, stop it."

"Stop what?"

"I dunno what it is, but something is wrong with you."

She blinked, then glared at him, "What is wrong is that you and Ez don't seem to be keeping up."

"Because you're going too fast! And you didn't give us a chance to eat anything."

"Well, eat on the go," she huffed, then pulled away from him, hurrying along so she could hide the look of agony she was feeling.

The dragon paused for a moment, then looked back at Ez, who was trailing behind, "Ez, you okay?"

"Th-this bag is so heavy Callum," he sighed, "It's okay normally but... it's so heavy."

"Let me take it for a while," Callum offered, kneeling down and holding out his hand.

Ezran looked him over then shook his head, "No, I'm alright. I just... I don't want you to strain yourself."

"Ez, I'm stronger than I look."

"Yeah, and you don't look too strong." He walked past him, determined to not to let the dragon carry the supply bag, "Let's just keep moving."

"Alright, but keep still for one moment."

"Why?"

As he stood, Callum quickly opened the bag and took out a small loaf of bread, breaking it, and passing him half, "It's not as good as stopping, but at least it's some food."

"True," Ez sighed, taking the bread and beginning to eat. Callum, however, quickly took three blankets and a water skin out of the backpack to help lighten his load.

Having put the supplies in his smaller bag, the pair carried on down the path to catch up with Rayla. They spotted her leaning on a tree, clutching her arm. She had her back turned, but as Callum got closer, he heard painful panting.

"Rayla?"

She quickly stood up and let go of her hand, glaring at them, "What took you?! Come on, we need to keep moving."

"Rayla!"

But she was already carrying on without them. She appeared to be leading them off the road and into wilder, harder terrain. The path was becoming difficult for the two males, but Rayla didn't seem to care. She just snapped, and shouted, and told them to hurry up.

It irritated Callum, but it also made him slightly worried. There was something. Something wasn't right. He didn't know what, but he knew she was hiding something from him.

However, his worry vanished when they turned a corner and found himself surrounded by a white surface. Rayla was already storming through it, but Callum just stopped, "W-what is this?"

Until then, everything had been brown, green, or a rocky color. This white was new.

Rayla glared back at him, not in the mood for his lack of understanding, "It's called snow Callum. You walk through it just as easily as you do on dirt. Now come on."

He was tentative about walking on the surface, but when he didn't fall, and didn't feel any pain, he continued. He reached down and scooped some of it into his hand, but then dropped it quickly, "It's cold."

"Callum, stop messing about with the snow and keep moving."

"Rayla, please, can you slow down!" he shouted up after her, "Ez is falling behind, he can't keep up!"

She turned and put her hand on her hip, "How about I slow down when we're in Xadia?" she turned back, rubbing her arm.

Far away, back in the human kingdom of Katolis, Lord Viren sighed after watching his daughter try a revealing spell on the mysterious mirror. He explained that he'd tried everything to work out what it was and its meaning, but so far had come up with nothing.

Claudia smiled at her father, "Then we'll figure it out. Whatever it takes." She turned to the mirror and pointed at it, "Hear that, mirror? I'm putting you on notice." She paused before looking back at it, "Kind of weird how the mirror did it right back at me. Like it was putting me on notice."

The father, holding back his frustration, sighed, "We have something important to discuss. Your mission."

"To rescue the prince."

"Yes, but you will have a secret mission that is far more important." He held her shoulder, "Claudia, you must get that dragon back."

"It's traveling with Ezran, so it shouldn't be a problem," she said confidently, "Prince, dragon, I've got room for a third mission if you need anything else while we're out."

Viren didn't look amused by her casual attitude, "The dragon cannot be allowed to realize its full power. It is too powerful, too dangerous. Whatever happens, whatever accidents, or tragedies may occur, above all else, you must return with that dragon!"

Serious once more, Claudia nodded, "I understand."

"Good. Now, take this." Viren reached to his pocket and pulled out a small pouch, "It contains the dragon's talon clippings."

"Uh, dragon toe nails?!" she asked, taking the bag and holding it slightly away from herself.

"Use them to track the creature. And when you find it, use this." This time, he pulled out a tube of red liquid, "It's a vial of the dragon's blood. I've placed a powerful spell on it, so when it's broken, it will put it to sleep for several days. That's more than long enough for you to get it here."

"Right, thank you father. One question." She tilted her head to the side and began to wave her arms around, "Let's say we're attacked by giant Bumble-Scorps, and they're all buzzing, and flailing their scorps at us, and I'm forced to choose between getting the dragon and saving Soren. What should I do?" Her father frowned at her, contemplation clear on his face, but Claudia soon retracted her question, "Dad, it's a joke. Relax, I'm kidding. Everything will be fine." She began to head towards the door.

"The dragon..." came the man's voice from behind her, "If you have to choose, choose the dragon."

Looking down, the young mage left the room with items in hand.

For the last few hours, the trio had headed even further into the snow, Ezran really struggling to move through snow so deep. He ended up having to hold Callum's tail to keep himself from sinking too far into the banks.

The dragon himself was getting angrier with Rayla every passing second. He wasn't used to the feeling, but knew he didn't like it. He was trying to work out what was wrong with her, why today she was acting so strange. Finally, he came to a conclusion, and stopped where he was, "You're hiding something Rayla."

"Callum, now is not the time to talk about this. We need to keep moving."

"Tell me what it is."

"Callum..."

"Tell me."

"No."

"Tell me."

"Callum, stop this."

He frowned before quickly sitting down in the snow, arms crossed and pouting, "Tell me what you're hiding."

"Callum, get up, we need to get moving."

"No."

"Callum, get up!" she snapped as she marched over to him, looking down at her feet where he sat.

"Tell me."

"Callum! You're acting like a baby!"

"Then tell me the truth!"

"It's not important!"

"It is to me!"

She stared at him, then went to grab his arm, but quickly, two wings came around and cocooned the dragon, blocking her reach. Rayla let out a frustrated groan, "You stupid lizard!"

The wings pulled back for a second, "Stupid elf!" came his shout back before they closed once more.

"Umm, guys?"

"Will you just get up?!"

"Will you just tell me the truth?!"

"Guys."

"There's nothing wrong!"

"You're lying!"

"Guys!" Ez hissed slightly, breaking them away from each other, "You guys need to stop fighting. Look! All your yelling is cracking the ice."

They looked behind him and saw that the ice cliff was indeed cracking. Callum gasped softly as he stood up and looked it over. "Is... that bad?" he whispered.

"Yes, that's... very bad Callum," Rayla whispered back, "We need to keep quiet now."

"But Rayla is still hiding things."

"Then talk about it when we don't have a million tons of ice hanging over us," the youngest of them huffed quietly. He began to walk on ahead, careful not to make any noise as he went.

For a few steps, they were silent, but then, at the back, Bait let out an enormous, cataclysmic belch that echoed around them.

The ice that had stopped cracking, suddenly shattered, and began to tumble down the mountain side. Rayla looked up, eyes wide in terror. "RUN!" she shouted, no longer bothering with noise as the crashing snow came down.

The group turned around and began to run the way they came, but unfortunately, the snow was hard to walk through going up, and even harder to run through going down. It wasn't long before Ezran stumbled and fell down into a bank.

Rayla turned back, reaching out to help him up, but had naturally offered her right hand. She almost screamed as he grabbed and pulled against it.

"What's wrong with your hand?" Ez asked, looking at the blackened skin.

"Don't worry about it!" she shouted, turning and grabbing him with her good hand.

They continued to run for a while, but suddenly found themselves at the top of a high cliff with nowhere else to go. "We're trapped!" Rayla panicked as she looked back at the wave of fast approaching snow.

Callum stared at the drop, his heart racing, but then turned to his friends and quickly wrapped an arm around each one, pulling them towards him. Before they could ask him what he was doing, he spread his wings wide, and a moment before the wave of snow hit, he jumped off the cliff.

He felt tears in his eyes at the pain this was causing for his wings, but he kept flapping them. He gasped at the effort it was taking to keep them airborne.

"Callum! You can do it!" Ezran shouted encouragingly, "Come on!"

"Come on Callum!" Rayla shouted as well, "You're flying! Just hold on!"

Even with their support, the tears from his pain flowed, and he shook his head, "I-I'm sorry..." Then, his wings gave out.

They fell down the cliffside where the snow had gone and landed in the powder below, the last of the avalanche following them down. A few moments later, Callum coughed as he got his breath back, and found himself surrounded by soft, powdery snow. The cold felt oddly nice against his sore wings, but he forced himself to sit up, "R-Rayla? Ez?"

Rayla was head first in a snowbank, but also got up and appeared unhurt, "Callum? Are you alright?"

"Where's Ez?" was his next question.

"G-guys..." came the human's voice, and they turned to see him a fair bit away from them. He was on a flat surface that was cracking, and he looked over at them with a terrified expression, "I'm scared."

Callum began to run towards him, but Rayla soon grabbed him to hold him back, "Don't! That's thin ice! Too much weight will make it crack, and you'll fall in."

"But we can't leave him!"

"We won't. But we need to think about this carefully."

"Why should I believe you Rayla?! You've been lying to me."

She gave him a hard glare, "Not the time Callum."

"I'm angry with you! And I don't believe you!" he looked back at Ezran who was trying to keep as still as possible, but the cracks were still growing. "I'm coming Ezran!" he shouted, then walked out onto the ice, wings wide to help him balance on the slippery surface.

"Callum, come back!"

Ignoring her, he slowly made his way towards the human, getting close enough to see fear in his eyes.

"Callum..." Ez whispered while the ice spread out even more.

He took another step, but splinters appeared where his foot was, so he stepped back to safer ground. They were a few feet apart, just out of reach, but the dragon still tried to think of how he could save his friend.

"Callum... I'm scared," Ezran confessed as the ice cracked more.

"I am too Ez. But... for once, I'm not scared for myself," he admitted, still looking around, "I'm scared of losing you. You're my friend Ezran. So, I won't leave you, and I won't let anything happen to you."

Rayla had made her way onto the ice and stood behind the dragon on a thicker portion, "Callum... please, come back. We can work this out together."

"I'm not listening to you Rayla!"

She glared at his back and frowned, "Fine! You want the truth? I'll tell you! This morning, the big rush was because I was attacked by someone. A human. He was hunting us. I fought him off, but it was hard..." She held up her arm to show the ribbon and the damage it was doing, "Because of this."

Callum glanced back at her, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"This is an assassin's binding. A Moonshadow elf ritual. Before I met you, I swore an oath," she paused and then sighed, "I bound myself to end Prince Ezran's life. And this binding will never come off while he's alive. It will just get tighter and tighter until I lose my hand. But I'm ready to pay that price."

The dragon's expression softened before turning back to her. "Help me save him."

As if the words gave her permission to approach, Rayla made her way over to the dragon. "We need some way to reach him and pull him over."

"Do we have anything that could do that?"

Ezran stared at them, so close, and yet, not able to reach them, "W-What about Callum's tail?"

Looking at the appendage, the pair stared at each other, then nodded. The dragon turned around and concentrated on stretching his tail out as far as possible.

"Take one step back Callum," Rayla said, grabbing his arms as best as she could, hissing at the pain, "I've got you."

He looked at her hand, then her eyes, before glancing back at Ezran as he moved, "Come on Ez, reach!"

The boy managed to wrap his hand around the fur at the end of Callum's tail.

However, at that moment, the ice cracked once more and shattered under his feet. The boy dropped instantly into the icy water below.

"Ezran!" Callum and Rayla shouted as he vanished, looking at the broken surface for a moment, but there was no sign of him coming back up.

"There...there must be a current... it's dragged him down," Rayla said, oddly calm considering the situation.

Callum however, stared in horror before throwing his bag and sketchbook off his shoulders, taking a deep breath, and jumping into the water.

"Callum!" the elf shouted, but it was too late. He was already gone, caught by the stream and dragged further under. "No-no-no-no-no!" Rayla looked around frantically for where they could have gone, but the ice looked the same in all directions.

Her breathing was becoming sharper with every second they went unaccounted. She was desperate for some kind of sign.

Under the water, Callum looked for the human. He felt the water pushing him around, but he managed to beat his wings and fought against it. His eyes weren't affected by the chilled water, looking through the liquid like it was just low light. Holding his breath, he swam towards something, and he almost gasped when he saw Ezran. He was unconscious, floating in the water, and his leg was wrapped in some lake-bed plants that were holding him from the current.

Pushing his wings, the dragon swam over, touching his face and feeling relieved when his eyes opened and he clamped his hand over his mouth. Callum nodded before going to his leg, pulling at the weed to get it off him.

As he did, something else moved in the water and darted towards him. Callum caught a glimpse, but then screamed out as something bit into his arm and vanished into the darkness. His air now gone, the dragon hurried to pull Ezran back towards the surface, but somehow, he'd lost the hole he'd jumped through and all he could see was ice.

Panic setting in, he pounded on the surface with his fist, hoping to break it, but it was no good. His vision was getting dark around the edges and he was struggling to keep his legs kicking to stay afloat. Ezran was already becoming a massive weight on his arm.

Suddenly, through the ice, he made out a figure in green and watched them pound on the surface with the edge of their weapon. After a few strikes, the ice shattered once more. He broke the surface with a gasp and used the last of his strength to grip the edge with one arm. Rayla reached out and took Ezran from him, pulling him onto the safer, thicker ice before repeating the action with the dragon. Once out of the water, Callum shivered, but hurried over to the human, "Is he okay?"

Rayla looked him over, "He... he's not breathing," she gasped, rolling him to his side and rubbing his back firmly, "Come on Ez. Come on... breathe!"

Callum watched as she tried to save him and reached out for the boy's hand, "Come on Ez... wake up. Please... I... I don't want to lose you," he whispered, tears running down his cheeks, "Y-You've got to be okay... please! Y-you're like a brother to me... please... come on wake up." He kept pleading desperately.

For a moment, there was nothing, but then Ezran coughed and began to spit out the water he'd swallowed. He opened his eyes, looking straight at Callum, and gave a weak smile, "I always w-w-w-wanted a br-br-brother," he stuttered through chattering teeth.

Callum gasped as he watched him, then leaned forward to nuzzle his cheek and face, "Then from now on, you and me, we're brothers, alright?"

"Yeah," Ez said, then sneezed, "I think I got a case of the f-f-f-frozie-toesies."

Leaning away, the dragon smiled and wiped his eyes, "I... I don't know what that is," he confessed, holding Ez close to his chest.

The human gave a pleased groan, "Man Callum, you're so warm."

"Being a dragon has its perks I guess," he chuckled, then looked at Rayla who was relieved at their safety. Callum gave her a hard glare, "No more secrets Rayla. Promise?"

She looked at him, pausing for a moment, then sighed, "Promise. Now come on, we need to get you and Ez out of those wet clothes and somewhere warm."

Agreeing, Callum picked up Ez and carried him to the side, following Rayla as she checked for weak spots in the ice. However, as they walked, Callum couldn't help but feel a throb in his arm from where he'd been bitten.

Authors' Notes:

RK: Brotherly loooove! Bless brotherly looooove! ^-^

SL: I'm just glad we were able to think of a way to get around the 'ice egg' problem. Hope you liked our solution.