Ascendant

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE DRAGONBLOOD

[GEM]

It was dark in the ship's hold, nothing really to shed light besides some old lanterns hanging on the walls. But they were used to it given their time in the labyrinth.

Moira's hands fiddled with her amulet as the small amount of light glistened off its beautifully crafted design...

"I spy something... wood," Tuffnut said.

"The ship," Faelan guessed.

"Yep."

"Right now... I spy something... wooden."

"Oh no... oh man... uh..."

"Are you kidding me?" Arne questioned him with frustration.

"Uh..." Tuffnut looked like he was thinking very hard about this.

Arne just looked at him incredulously.

"Oh don't tell me."

"He shouldn't have to."

"You've got this," Faelan encouraged.

"This barrel!" Tuffnut said.

"Are you kidding me?!" Arne demanded.

"All of you!" Uriah finally snapped. "Enough," he said like a father to his kids.

[MELODY]

Moira had tried to completely block herself off from her surroundings as her head was hurting immensely. She was pretty sure she had a concussion so sleeping wasn't an option... not that she could right now. She sighed, irritated as she opened her eyes again looking over at the others.

[GEM]

They looked guilty and Faelan said, "Sorry," in a sheepish way.

Tuffnut leaned over and began to whisper, "I spy—"

Arne hit him in the arm.

"Ow!"

Uriah had his head leaned back against the wall as he tried to let the ship's movement relax him. He had spent most of their ride silently praying but he seemed to find it hard to not worry. This was different from the other times he'd been in captivity like this. Now he had his friends and Moira to worry about. He didn't care much what happened to him. He knew he'd be alright either way but he often carried the lives of the people he loved on his shoulders a bit too much.

With what limited "supplies" they had, they already patched up their injuries as much as they could, Uriah helping Tuffnut set his broken wrist as well.

The man once known only as Apostle looked at his love who sat hip to hip with him, sympathy in his eyes. "How are you feeling?" He basically asked this every thirty minutes.

[MELODY]

"..like me head is going to explode still.." Moira said as she closed her eyes again fiddling her amulet around it her hands. She tried to distract herself by going with her fingers over the carefully engraved flowers and symbols in the silver.

[GEM]

He shut his eyes, not wanting her to be in pain. "Head injury is rather a deja vu, don't you think?" he said quietly, remembering when they first met.

[GEM]

He had tried to clean his face of the dragon blood that covered it with what remained of their drinking water, getting most of it off but the cut on his cheek was still there, beginning to scab over now.