Dragon Prince

Chapter 14: In Which Dragons Host Tea Parties

CHAPTER 14

IN WHICH DRAGONS HOST TEA PARTIES

All too soon, their short victory was over and it was back to work. Isaac shocked not only himself as he dutifully took up his spot in the crow's nest without being badgered by the captain. Woogah settled beside him on his shoulder as if he too were keeping watch.

Left to his thoughts, Isaac retreated into his mind to ask Osyren numerous questions about dragons to keep his mind off the curse. Osyren had oblidged and gave exaggerated detail of certain quirks and pet-peeves dragons had that brought a faint smile to the prince's face.

...And that is why you should never touch a fire dragon's hoard, Osyren finished with a flare of importance.

Because I would try to steal a dragon's treasure purely out of boredom, came Isaac's reply.

Hey, Osyren said defensively. You humans are messed up.

This coming from the dragon that enjoys terrorising people with fire for fun.

The dragon scoffed. Well, it's funny to watch.

"Hey, idiot,"

A hand waved in front of Isaac's face and he snapped out of his stupor. Callie was in the crow's nest next to him and had once again invaded his personal space so he was now hyper aware of her presence.

She poited to the longboat that was lowered at the side of the ship as Neil, Aurora, Ram and Erik were preparing to board.

"Somebody's been sleeping on the job," Callie repremanded with a smirk, her dark eyes boring into his.

"What?" he asked.

She sighed. "There are too many jagged rocks and protrusions for the ship to pass through, so we're taking the longboat,"

Isaac nodded and she gave him an amused grin before making her way down. He stood to follow but something weighed in his lap and he looked to see the swift-gust bird had lay fast asleep on his lap.

With a sigh, he made his way down the main mast and to the longboat. He watched Callie yell last minute orders to Arty before Ram took hold of the oars and began to row them to shore.

Isaac felt even closer to the sword now. Anxiety built within him and he felt even more restless.

It had been a silent few minutes before Neil had broken it as he had seen Erik aim his slingshot at a bird nest on top of a protruding rock. He explained a few tricks he knew which got snickers from Raine and Aurora.

And so they had argued whether using a slingshot was an art or a child's weapon.

Ram remained in stony silence so Isaac cleared his throat.

"I gotta ask," Callie said, cutting off his lame attempt at casual conversation. "What exactly is this whole thing about? Not everyday a royal sets off for a weapon in the Reched Isles,"

Isaac stiffened. He was bursting to tell someone - anyone - about his curse but he felt too embarassed to even begin. He couldn't think of an excuse so he simply turned away.

"You're not one of those idiots that chase legends, are you?" she asked accusingly. "Because if this is all just to prove some kind of myth, I swear -"

"It's not a myth!" Isaac bellowed, his eyes swirling a firey sapphire. "The sword is real and I know it's real because I've been cursed to find it!"

There. It was all out in the open.

Conveniently because they had reached the shore. Isaac didn't wait for the rest as he stormed off, following his instincts and ignoring the way his boots squelched on the wet sandy beach.