The Dragon Prince: Breath of Hope

Chapter 13- Scales and Dumb Lump

Taking a deep breath, Viren walked over to a small chest sitting at the back of his office. Grabbing a key from around his neck, he unlocked it, and lifted the lid to reveal its contents. Inside, were around twenty glass vials, neatly stacked and labelled. He looked them over, reading the text on each one. "Let me see..." he mumbled to his collection, "Ah... there." He reached out and picked one vial in particular.

Carefully, he placed it on the desk, then pulled out a cylinder with a hollow chamber and a sharp, but short needle at the end. The vial slid perfectly into the gap, and the mage held it to his shoulder. He stuck the needle into his arm before pressing the end to inject the liquid.

He grunted at the pain, but then sighed at the flow of power running through his veins. "Ahh... that's better," he said to himself, standing up and stretching his back out before looking at the box. The mage frowned at his depleting collection, but locked it up, and headed out to face the day.

~#~

"Callum! Catch!" Ezran laughed as he threw the ball at the dragon. Unfortunately, he wasn't paying attention to the game, and the ball ended up hitting him square in the groin.

He collapsed forward with a grunt, wings coming around to protect him from any further injury. On the side lines, Rayla laughed, but still hurried over. "Callum? You alright?"

"Fine," he choked, his voice a little pitched while he slowly stood up.

"Umm... Mr. Dragon... sir?"

The group looked up to see Soren coming over. Rayla quickly got defensive, but Callum gave him a little benefit of the doubt. Unlike his sister, this one hadn't done anything too bad yet.

"It's Callum."

"Right... yes, Callum. Umm... I was wondering... could we... talk?"

"Talk?"

"Alone?"

Rayla reached for her blades. "Umm, not gonna happen. I'm not leaving Dumb Lump there alone with the prince. Either prince, after that whole... zip-slide thingy."

"Rayla, we talked about that," Callum mumbled, "This one is alright. I can tell."

"You can?" Soren questioned, "What is it? The way I smell or... something?"

"I don't know how to explain it. It's a dragon thing. But... if you want to speak with me, then so be it." He stepped forward with a small limp, but it soon settled. He paused, then looked back, "Stay close to Rayla, Ezran."

"Alright," he agreed.

"And you be careful with him," the elf snapped, glaring daggers at the guard.

Sighing, Callum began to walk with the other sibling until they were both down the pathway, far out of sight of the others. "Sorry about Rayla. She's protective."

"I-I understand," he sighed, "I would be the same... in her position."

The dragon gave a small huff in agreement as they continued to walk around the nexus. After a few minutes in silence, he sighed. "You wanted to speak with me?"

"Yeah... um..." Soren looked to the sky, anywhere but the dragon, "Claudia... my sister... she... she told me that... you were... umm... you had been..." He took a breath and let it out quickly, "Did my dad really hold you prisoner for ten years?"

"You didn't know?"

"I had no idea..." he confessed, "I... I don't do all that magic. I just... I'm a member of the Crownguard. I prefer strength and skill over... magic."