Hi again, here I am again. I'm still working on other stories but I couldn't resist doing another chapter for this. I hoe you all enjoy it. Please send reviews and let me know what you all thought.

Voyage of the Ruthless Part One:

The group of four and their animal companions sat on Phoe-Phoe the whole night. The sun was rising and the kids remained asleep. Raylan and Carol, already awake, allowed them to lie against them. The sleepy Zym curled around Carol's shoulders whilst Felix was curled up in Willow's arms, Bait in Ezran's, asleep too, snoring a little loudly.

Ray noticed how quiet Caroline had been as she stroked Ezran's hair. Her head was hung down. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she said glumly.

"I truly am sorry for Claudia's betrayal,"

"I just can't believe she and Soren tried to kill me," she lamented. She was deeply angered when Ray told her that it was indeed Soren who had cut that zipline and nearly killed her and Felix. But she was more heartbroken by her former friend's betrayal than outraged at her bully.

"I don't think Claudia wanted to kill you," Ray comforted, trying to lift her spirits. "Soren definitely did but I doubt a girl who's always looked out for you would do that,"

"She still betrayed us," she bemoaned. "I could have got us all killed," It was just like what happened all over again when she was young. A friend who was supposed to have her back had let her down completely. She felt as if she had no real friends in the world other than her siblings, Caldor, Ray, their animals, and Caldor; she felt alone.

Ray pressed his lips in sorrow seeing her like this. He reached to touch her shoulder when Willow in front of him woke up yawning. "Sleep well?"

"Sure did," she stretched her arms.

Ezran woke up. "Morning guys,"

"Good morning Ez," greeted Carol.

"You okay?" he asked, detecting the sadness in her voice

"You don't need to worry about me, Ezran," Zym around her neck woke up, feeling her heartbroken betrayal and licked her face. "Good morning Zymie,"

Ezran fished into his rucksack and pulled out a berry. "Hungry?" he offered.

Zym suddenly nibbled on it. "Zym! That was for Carol!"

Sorry. He apologised.

"Don't at all. You need it more than I do. Sweet dreams, Ez?"

"Yep. This time I dreamed about a monster of jelly tarts trying to eat me,"

Carol giggled. Ezran's funny dreams always made her life. They provided a good distraction.

"Guys…is it just me or are we losing altitude?" Ray spoke up.

The group noticed something strange in Phoe-Phoe's flying.

"He's right. I think we're going…dooowwwnnnnnn!" Willow screamed. The Moon Phoenix plummeted from the sky. They spun around in circles, kids and animals clinging onto teenagers. Phoe-Phoe crashed onto a cliff and they spun around in circles right towards the cliff edge. She stopped herself from falling off the edge but Carol and the kids with the animals fell off her back. Quickly Raylan grabbed Carol's feet. Carol, with Zym clinging tight to her back. grabbed Ezran and Willow's hands. Ezran and Willow clasped Bait and Felix's paws and they dangled over one hundred feet. "Man, it feels great to have hands again!" the elf cheered.

"Stop enjoying the moment and pull us up!" whined Willow.

"Okay right. Sorry. My bad. Just really enjoying my hands again,"

Phoe-Phoe stood up slowly and walked always from the cliff, helping Ray heave his friends back up onto the rock surface. They panted in exhaustion. "Is she okay?" Ray hoped she wasn't injured or anything.

Ezran conversed with her and she chirped. "She's okay. She's just tired. She gets her power from the Moon Nexus. The further away we go, the harder it is to carry everyone,"

"We're a good distance away from Claudia, Soren and those masked mages," said Carol. She came over to pet the moon bird. "Thank you for getting us this far,"

She cooed and Raylan and Willow stroked her goodbye. Bait, Zym and Felix purred and she chirped back before taking off into the sky again.

"So what's our next stage of the journey?" asked Willow.

"We have to go this way," Raylan pointed from the cliff and they looked beyond, spotting a wide ocean of shimmering water that reflected flashes of purple and pink and orange from the sunrise. "Across miles and miles of fluid, I both need to survive and hate more than anything in the world,"

"Is there no way around it?" asked Carol, not wanting to put him through facing his phobia.

"That will take too long. Our enemies could catch up to us and we need to take Zym to his mother as fast as possible," Raylan looked worriedly at the dragon who played with the fox and the glowtoad. "We've got to go straight across,"

"But how are we going to get there?' asked Ezran.

"Look!" Willow pointed west. "There's a town!" They copied her line of vision and they saw a port.

"Perfect," beamed Carol. "All we have to do now is just find a boat that'll take us across as fast as possible,"

"I have a feeling that's going to be easy," the positive prognostic sister said.

"What makes you say that?" asked Ezran.

"You'll see,"

"Then let's go," said Raylan. "We have to keep ahead of our enemies before reaching Xadia,"

They made it down the cliffside and into town without being spotted. They looked in their goody bag and saw they still had enough supplies for the trip. "We seem to be good for food. Now to find a captain," said Carol, peeping over a stack of large crates they were hiding behind near the ships. "And one who doesn't hate elves,"

"I'll disguise myself as a human again," Raylan decided, pulling on his cape again.

"No. No. We are not doing that. You just stay here and keep hidden with Zym while we go and find a captain," she said. "As you said, the faster we get ahead the better," She lifted Zym off her shoulders. "Okay Zym. You need to stay here with Raylan until we return. Got it?"

Yes. He chirped.

"That's a good baby dragon," she handed him to Ray and she and her family walked off, leaving the Xadians behind with them. "Let's split up. We can cover more ground that way," she instructed.

"Aye-aye," saluted Ezran. They went to three docks and started asking several captains. But with every offer they made, each commander of the ships in the town refused, rudely telling them to go away.

Ezran and Carol met up. "Any luck?" she asked.

"No. He just told me to buzz off,"

"Typical rude men," she scoffed. "I'm beginning to doubt Willow's prophecy about us finding a good captain to take us across this huge lake,"

"Hey, guys!" Willow came charging over to them. "I've found someone. You two go and get Ray and Zym. Meet me at dock five,"

Carol and Ez made their way back to Ray and Zym. "We've found a captain,"

"Great!"

Carol opened her back. "Come on. Inside Zym," Zym didn't want to go in. "It'll just be for a while I promise,"

Okay. Zym hopped inside and Ray pulled his hood over. They snuck to dock five where Willow waited for them, the captain at the far end of the dock behind her with his back turned. He wore a scruffy cotton sailor's suit with a black captain hat with features of blue and red. "You can forget the cloak, Ray,"

"Let me guess. Does this captain like elves? Does he see the good in them?" he asked sarcastically.

"Not exactly," she leaned her head forward closely; she was whispering. "He can't see anything at all,"

Ray got confused. Carol cleared her throat. "Excuse me. Captain?" she addressed the sailor. "Willow says you can take us across. Might we know your name?"

The captain turned around revealing a middle-aged man with bushy hair and a matching beard with two eyepatches over his eyes, a red and blue parrot perched on his shoulder. Ray was befuddled. A blind captain sailing them across the sea.

"Greetings," the captain addressed in a jolly voice. "The name's Captain Villads. The 'D' is silent,"

"There's a 'D'?" asked Ray.

Villads spoke in pirate language. "Arr!"

"Wait, there's a silent 'R'?"

"Nar!" he growled like a sea swashbuckler.

"Oh, okay. So it's just the silent 'd' then.,"

"Aye,"

"Ah, so there's a…"

Carol cleared her throat. "Okay back to the topic. I'm Carol and you've already met Willow. This is our brother Ezran and our friend Raylan. And these our companions Felix, Bait and Zym, "Felix and Zym purred. Bait croaked.

"Aye Raylan and aye companions. And this is my first mate, Berto," Villads introduced his parrot.

"l'm a parrot," the bird talked.

"What a beautiful bird," complimented Ezran.

"Why, thank you, laddie," the blind man said. "Me ship's this way," to the children's surprise, he walked along the docks without falling into the ocean. "Welcome to me water home, the Ruthless," the ship was tall and high and it had a main mast and a triangular mast attached to it. The group was awed at the well-built and painted vessel. "Name after me late wife Ruth…who sadly…" he sniffled. "..don't enjoy sailing,"

"I'm so sorry," apologised Willow.

"Can we make it across the bay?" Carol asked. "It's extremely important we get across as fast as possible,"

"Hate to say this lassie, but there's a storm coming," said the captain grimly, looking up at the air. Felix's ears dropped. "You'll need to delay the trip for a few days,"

"Uh we're on a tight schedule," Ray didn't want to sound pushy. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"I suppose if we leave here right now we could race across the bay and beat the storm,"

"That's perfect," Carol beamed. "Thank you, sir. I mean captain,"

"No problem," he swung his leg in a dancing spin. "Unless the storm catches us mid-bay and kills us all,"

The group stiffened. Felix hid behind Carol's legs. "Well, all aboard then," he walked up the plank onto the dock of his ship.

Ray glanced at the three siblings, all looking a little bit unsettled. "You guys sure about this?"

"We need to Ray. It's our only chance," said Ezran.

"The question we're asking is if you're sure about this," Willow comforted. "We won't force you,"

"Zym getting back to his mother is more important than my phobia," said Ray. "He has to come first,"

"We'll be with you the whole time," Carol promised, earning a smile. Felix whimpered again; she stroked him, knowing how much he disliked storms. "We'll be fine Felix. I'll be with you the whole time," she stroked him before lifting him into her arms. He didn't want to but he knew they had no choice.

Okay. He gathered up the courage. Let's do it.

They boarded the ship and the captain went to the wheel. "Anyone being willing to un-rope us from the port?"

"Aye-aye captain," Carol saluted. She found the ropes and unlopped them from the dock with Raylan's help. Then Berto pulled a rope with his beak and the sails were released. A strong gust of wind pushed them out from the dock and in mere minutes they were now out on the open water which was calm and gentle. For the time being. They sailed under the bright blue sky, the sun's reflection shimmering on the surface of the water like treasure.

Raylan didn't feel afraid at all. Carol leaned over the edge, Felix and Zym joining her. "Look, Ray! Guys look! Dolphins!" they all rushed to the edge and they saw dolphins clicking as they leapt out of the water.

"I've always wanted to see dolphins," said Willow excitedly.

"I've only read about them in stories," said Carol. "Now's my chance to actually draw one," fishing out her sketchbook, she sat on a barrel and started sketching away in her pages again.

Ray stayed with her looking out to sea whilst the kids went up to the wheel level with the blind captain taking a moment of rest. "I bet you both are wondering what happened to my eye,"

"We don't want to be rude," said Willow awkwardly.

"Me left eye was taken by a flock of mutinous seagulls?"

"And the right one?" asked Ezran, hoping he wasn't being rude.

"Got taken from me right," the captain got back to sailing. The children relaxed for the next hour. Carol finished her picture and showed Ray who was stunned by her creativity. She was quite stunned by how calm he was with being on the water. He was enjoying it. Zym and Felix started playing with each other much to their delight. They wondered what playing would be like for them when he was older and larger. About five times as large as the ship they were sailing on.

The squawking of seagulls made Carol point her head upwards and she saw seagulls flying above the mast. She loved how they could fly. Just then she noticed the wind rotator at the very top was pointed south and she could feel the wind blowing against her, towards the opposite direction. "I wonder…" she left her seat and walked up to the captain. "Hey, sir?"

"How can I help you, lassie?"

"How are we going that way…" she pointed north. "…when the wind is blowing in that direction?" she pointed south.

"That's how you sail,"

"The wind doesn't push us where we want to go?"

"The sail is more like a wing, flying through the wind, pulling the boat against the water currents below us. It's like shooting. Willow melon seed from between your fingers," he pulled out a seed. "You squeeze in on both sides, but the seed shoots straight out," he compressed the seed and it flew from his fingertips right into her face. "Oops, sorry lassies,"

The seed fell on her hand. She fed it to Berto. "I think I get it," suddenly there was a rock of water against the ship. She fell against the rail but Villads hat fell off and blew in the wind into the water. Quickly Berto flew down and picked it up.

"After you're in the elements long enough, you get a feel for where the wind is and how it's about to change," his words intrigued her.

"So…you feel a connection to it?" as Carol's interest grew, Zym could feel her resolve to learn magic again, to be able to do it without a primal stone.

"Yes. It's like a connection deep in me bones," said the captain.

"How did you get that?" when she asked that question, she noticed the captain was asleep. "Uh, Captain? Captain?" he didn't wake up. "Captain!"

He jolted awake. "What? What? Cannonball?!" he exclaimed.

"Sorry, captain. You were asleep,"

"Must have been my narcolepsy," he said. "Just then they heard the loud pounding of thunder and they felt rain falling upon them. They looked up and saw dark clouds brewing in the distance. "Seems like we won't beat the storm,"

Carol gulped.

Thunder boomed again. Felix down the stairs on the lower deck squirmed in fear and dashed up into Carol's arms. "It's all right," she stroked his fur. "We're gonna be okay," She pulled her cape on, pulling her hood over her head and tucking her long hair behind her neck before embracing Felix in its folds to keep him dry.

The kids and Raylan sat under some stairs for shelter but Zym chose to stay out in the rain enjoying it.

As they sheltered from the rain as it grew harder and harder every minute. The sea started to rock and all that enjoyment Raylan had felt died away and he felt green. "If you're going to be sick, please don't be sick on us," Willow begged.

"Then fetch me a bucket," he groaned.

Carol hung onto the wooden rail, holding Felix close to her chest.

"The storm is too strong!" screamed the captain. "Best we moor on the lee side of the island,"

"What island?!" screamed Caroline, shivering cold.

"That one?!" Villads pointed to the west and the girl could just see a large island in the distance. "Berto! To the bow!"

Berto flew off his shoulders and he steered left. "Current fast!" squawked the bird. "Cut the sails!"

Villads managed to find his way to some ropes and pulled the sails down.

"Starboard! Starboard!" cried the bird. Carol looked ahead and they were heading into some rocks. Villads tried to get back up to the wheel but a large wave crashed against the ship and he was knocked off his feet, bashing his head.

"Carol! Do something!" cried Willow.

"I'm gonna be sick!" screamed Raylan. Quickly Ezran spotted a bucket and passed it to him and the green elf puked right into it, making the children groan in irritation.

With no choice and only one hand she could use whilst keeping Felix tight to her chest, Carol grabbed the wheel and steered right. Then she saw another rock coming and steered left. The strain it took to steer the heavy ship pulled her arm muscles and she screamed in agony.

"Port! Port!" cried the parrot.

Carol saw the port coming up but she didn't know what to do. Villads managed to rush back up and she allowed him to take over again. He did a half turn making everyone fall off their feet or butts and they docked against the dock without crashing. They were safe.

Carol grunted as she felt the tension on her stiff arm. Felix licked her face. Raylan puked for the fifth time into the bucket. Willow fainted from their near-death experience. Ezran just puffed out. "What a close one," Zym chirped happily. He loved being in the thunder.

What did you all think of the new dialogue? I hope you all liked it. See you soon in the next half.