"Unbind yourself! Unbind thyself? Unbindo!?"
"If it came off just like that, it'd defeat the whole point." Said Zill cheerfully as he limped to his sister using Shade as a crutch. "Like i said before-"
"Ugh, yes yes. Dragon royalty have the power to remove the binding so we should hurry to Xadia to get it undone, but i don't know if i can get to Xadia with one hand or you with one good leg!"
Before Zill could reply, Rayla locked eyes with Bait, who was awake and was technically glaring at them, and glared at him.
"So what I'm being pessimistic? Don't judge me. It's not like you're any better with thaf face of yours." She said with a deep frown.
Zill quietly giggled causing Rayla to frown at him. Their small quarrel was, however, soon interrupted by a bell coming from the castle.
Rayla couldn't help but feel anxious as she listened to the sounds of the bell.
xxXxx
"Callum! Callum! Hey!" Said Rayla trying to get Callum's attention. "That's your name, right? Clem? Or was it Camel?"
"Uhm, it's Callum." Said Callum who was under a tree, distracted by trying to draw the primal stone in his hands. "I'm just trying to draw this...primal ball."
"Primal stone!" Zill said cheerfully as he stopped being invisible, scaring Callum in the process.
Unlike Callum, Rayla was just disappointed. So, she crossed her arms and spoke.
"You need to stop doing that." She said with a frown before turning to Callum. "Anyway, yes, primal stone."
"Right, it holds the pure essence of a primal spirit inside." Said Callum as he stared at the primal stone.
"Primal source. You really need to read up on this stuff." Corrected Zill cheerfully as Shade, who was acting as a crutch for Zill to walk as well as a bandage for his injury, looked at him in disappointment.
"Right."
"Do you even know what the six primal sources are?" Asked Zill tilting his head.
"If i say yes, will you make me say them?" Asked Callum with a nervous smile.
Rayla sighed and gestured for Callum to give her his notebook and he complied.
"All magic in the world comes from the six primal sources which are the purest form of magical energy." Said Rayla with a smile as she drew the symbols for each primal. "The sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, the ocean aaand the sky." Rayla gave the primal stone a tap.
"The sky." Said Callum with a smile staring at the stone.
"Yes. To cast a spell, a mage needs primal energy. So that wind breath spell you did, you'd usually need a storm or at least a strong breeze. But with that stone you have all the power of the sky." Said Rayla calmly.
Callum nodded in understanding, but there was something that felt odd. He turned to Zill and asked.
"Wait, then how can you cast magic without moonlight or a primal stone?"
"That's easy." Said Zill cheerfully. "I learned how to store moon energy so i have some for later."
'a technique inspired by dark magic.' Deadpanned Shade. 'And rechargeable batteries, but mostly dark magic.'
Zill rolled his eyes at his other half's comment and focused on Rayla and Callum's conversation.
"Yeah, but Zill's an exception. Primal stones are very rare. They were sought out by the most powerful archmages in history!" Said Rayla with a smile as she handed Callum his book back. "And now, you somehow have one."
Callum smiled before noticing something about the symbols. "Wait, I've seen these before; at the banther lodge! There's this little cube thing and it has these symbols on it."
"Uhh, neat?" Replied Rayla in confusion.
"Just wait for it." Deadpanned Zill causing his sidter to give him an odd look.
"It might be magic! We have to go get it." Callum already began preparing for the trip.
"What? No!" Said Rayla in surprise. "We have real problems to worry about. Like stopping a war, bringing the dragon egg to Xadia, remember?"
"Xadia is to the west, right, so is the lodge. It's on the way." Said Callum excitedly
"Great!" Exclaimed Rayla sarcastically. "Cause it's crawling with humans who want to find you and kill me and my brother, yay!"
"They can try." Commented Zill with a smug smile and Rayla glared at him.
"It's the winter lodge, it's been empty for months, trust me." Callum added cheerfully and Rayla looked away. "...*sigh* look, Rayla, princes are supposed to be good at things, swordsmanship, leadership, riding horses-"
"You should've said horsemanship." Zill pouted at Callum's choice of words.
"Right, but I'm not good at, well, everything. So when i did that spell, i was sure i would end up on fire or covered in spiders, but it worked and then you called me a mage and Zill said welcome to the mage club and it just felt...right and i thought that cube might help."
Rayla turned to Zill as she felt sympathy for Callum who gave her a nod of agreement. Even Shade joined in, transforming into the words 'just go with it.'
But suddenly, before Rayla could say anything, Ezran woke up and spoke.
"I just had a weird dream." Said Ezran as he rubbed his eyes.
Callum approached his brother and put a hand on his shoulder. "It wasn't a dream, Ez. All of it was real."
"Are you sure? There was this giant pink hippopotamus and pulled its ear off because it was made out of taffy." Said Ezran prompting Zill to burst into laughter.
"I think he meant us and the dragon egg." Said Zill between laughs before brushing a tear off his eye.
"And then i tried thanking him for the taffy, but he couldn't hear me because i was eating his ears." Said Ezran cheerfully, reciting his dream.
Before anymore talk about taffy dreams could commence, Rayla approached Callum with a smile.
"Hey, sad prince, *sigh* let's get your cube." She said as she turned around.
"Really?" Callum asked excitedly.
"Yeah, just please no more detours, Alright? Or heartfelt speeches." Rayle added before approaching her brother. "You sure you can walk with us?"
"Yeah, it doesn't hurt as much anymore" said Zill cheerfully with a shrug. "I think it's getting better."
"Remove the illusion." Ordered Rayla tiredly
"But it hurts so much!" Whispered Zill with a pleading look.
"We talked about this. How else can i tell if the injury's getting better or worse?!" Exclaimed Rayla quietly. "Remove the illusion, now."
Zill whimpered before dispelling the illusion that removed his sense of pain and all of it hit him at once. He winced in pain and Rayla patted him on the head.
"It's okay, i promise it'll get better in a bit. Just do tell me if it the opposite does happen."
"That's not very reassuring."
"Do you want to be reassured or have a properly working leg by the end of this?"
Zill couldn't help but groan before they headed out to the banther lodge.
xxXxx
"Hey can we-"
"We're not stopping." Replied Rayla firmly.
"But i-" Ezran tried to speak.
"No snacks." deadpanned Rayla.
"I was gonna say thirsty." Said Ezran as his shoulders drooped down.
Rayla sighed and before pulling out a bottle of moonberry juice and handing it to Ezran. "Fine, drink this."
Callum immediately stopped Ezran from taking the juice as it looked too mucb like blood.
"No thank you, we don't drink...that." he said gesturing towards the juice.
"What?" Asked Rayla in confusion.
"They think it's blood." Replied Zill with a chuckle before turning to the princes. "Moonshadow elves are vegetarian. That's moonberry juice, not blood. I have some in my backpack too."
"Oh." said Callum in realization as Ezran took the bottle.
"Is that what humans think we are? Bloodthirsty monsters?" Asked Rayla in exasperation.
"N-no no no, it's not that!" Exclaimed Callum immediately. "Well, i-i have heard stories. Horrible stories--oh look, we're here!" He continued trying to bury everything he had said before.
Everyone stared at the winter lodge and saw there weren't any humans around.
"See? No winter, no humans." Said Callum with a proud smile.
Rayla rolled her eyes. "Okay, where's the cube?"
Callum quickly drew a map of the lodge and Rayla took it and headed towards the building.
Seeing as there was nothing to do, the older prince spoke.
"Sooo, question. Is your shadow, like, alive?" Asked Callum curiously as he looked at Shade.
Zill smiled and nodded before turning to Shade who was currently acting as his bandages and crutch.
"Yup. Wanna know what a solid shadow feels like?" Replied Zill cheerfully as Shade made two pupils and rolled them in exasperation.
"How would that even-"
"Huh, Isn't it weird that nobody's here? This is where dad was sending us." Asked Ezran all of a sudden.
As if on que, before Callum could reply, the sound of a horn could be heard and the group was able to see a group of soldiers and warriors approaching the lodge.
"Yeah, we shouldn't have come here."
Callum and Ezran quickly headed out to meet the troops and Zill decided to turn himself invisible and watch.
Sadly, being stealthy isn't the best idea when you have to use a crutch. Especially when the person you're hiding from is THE general Amaya.
xxXxx
Sorry, i have to cut this chapter short. My head isn't at it's best right now and i can't sit through the episode and pay attention to all the words. There are no transcripts to make this easier sadly.
Tell me how i did. Leave a review.
Toodles.
