Drake slept in late. He had changed back to his human form while he was sleeping, just like that first time.

Vanda slept on the headboard of Drake's bed; he having left the cage open for her to fly around.
She'd fallen asleep not long after he finally had; perching herself above him as if on guard, as if fearful that something would happen.

Once Drake finally had given up his escape attempts and had gone to bed, he slept deeply. Vanda had seen him pack and the escape plans begin. He took his falconry gear, which led her to hope he was taking her instead of leaving her in the tower with that red-robed demon.

Drake had wings, too, Vanda noticed. During one attempt, he'd climbed onto the dragon’s perch outside and his wings had grown.

She'd flapped hers, trying to show him how it was done, how to fly!

 

 

Nevertheless, he shook his head like it hurt and backed away from the ledge... curious behavior. She couldn’t understand why, with the wide-open sky in front of you and wings on your back, why not just fly way?

 

She stayed because he fed her and cared for her. Why he stayed, Vanda wasn't always sure. She blamed the red-robed one; he was wicked. It must be his doing. True, humans and human like beings seemed to prefer being in flocks and stayed with their families far longer than necessary, but Drake was different. He was special, she’d always known that. Now he had the wings he’d longed for so long, it should have been easy to just fly off…

Something must have been keeping him grounded—his wings didn’t look too small, or damaged. Some sort of leash was the only explanation.

Vanda woke up before Drake did as well, and looked down to be sure he was still there, still alive, and still sleeping. Once satisfied that he was, she went about her grooming and hoped the day would not be as eventful as the last one.

 

 

 

A little while later, there was a knock at the door. Drake's ship was leaving soon; or was at least scheduled to. Eclipse wanted that boy on it and on time too. Who's job was it to make sure he was up, and had his breakfast delivered? That's right. Ellipsis' job.

 

Drake, still half asleep, threw a book at the door and put a pillow over his head.

Vanda knew what that meant! Oh yes, she'd seen it before! That was another way the human creatures informed one another that they'd rather sleep in.

 

Rarely was it ever listened to.

 

Ellipsis was persistent, and resumed knocking on the door seconds after the thump. Which he assumed was a boot, book or a dismembered body part from another servant. Oh wait; this was Drake, not Eclipse.

Drake was almost as unpleasant to wake up.

 

Drake groaned. “Ellipsis! Go away!” he ordered, then moved the pillow and shouted it again.

Vanda looked at the book he'd thrown. It was black with white words that, had she ability to read, she would've known said 'the medical effects of blunt force trauma.'

 

“But I have your breakfast! And your ship leaves in an hour!” Ellipsis called through the door. It’s not like he could just give up and go away. Even if he wanted to.

“Your bacon is getting cold!” He added, hoping it would help.

 

Drake lit the plate on fire.

 

“...Now it's getting hot...” Ellipsis announced.

 

 

Drake put the fire out and got up, tiredly. Hunger was a cruel enemy... and he liked bacon.
Reluctantly, Drake opened the door.

 

Ellipsis rolled in the cart with the smoking plate on it. Drake had totally ruined the black pudding... but then again, it was always that color… and he knew Drake never ate that anyway... The bacon looked even crispier, though.

“Good morning, your highness…” Ellipsis greeted.

 

Drake snatched up the bacon, tossing a piece to Vanda and eating the rest. “Grandest greetings to you, Ellipsis, and good night.” Drake said, and went back to his bed and closed his eyes.

His temper ruined his breakfast quite a bit... but bacon needed to be crispy, very crispy! The cooks always got it wrong anyway; he liked it better this way. The rest of the food was junk to begin with. It wasn’t food; it was the worst parts of the animal! It was what was left over after the food was taken.

 

Ellipsis sighed. The boy was so hard to manage if you didn't have the power to force him to do anything. The prince was probably hard to manage if you did have that power…

However, for once, Ellipsis did have the power to punish him, in a way. He could only take the child's back talk for so long.

Therefore, he picked up the full jug of orange juice that had come with the cart. Complete with several ice cubes. Ellipsis walked calmly over to Drake's bed, and then steadily poured the entire contents of the jug on Drake's head.

“It's time to get up,” he informed the prince.

 

Vanda inched away.

It was almost a pity; the blue robed one didn't bother her. Such a shame to watch him die.

Drake growled and his eyes glowed as his fangs grew. “Nenorocit! Ce curu' meu vrei?”

 

What do you know? Orange juice really did seem to help with a person's energy. Drake was certainly more energetic now. However, was that a good thing? No, if you considered the last time Ellipsis had done something like this to the boy, it had taken Ellipsis months to grow back his eyebrows…

 

When he found out it was his job to wake up the prince this morning, he was almost afraid… After what he’d seen the boy turn into; it… he had mixed feelings. Eclipse had always wanted those changes, but Ellipsis secretly didn’t. None of the Lessers had any sort of dragon appearance or forms… Ellipsis worked for Eclipse, but he did not want Drake to become anything like the man. He was actually happy when he heard Drake’s scream. It would annoy Eclipse in the end, Ellipsis knew, but it showed… something. Drake hadn’t liked that form.

 

Ellipsis told himself he was being foolish, though. What was there to be afraid of? Why treat the boy differently now? Drake wasn’t dangerous like everyone thought; not without reason, anyway… Ellipsis was sure the boy wouldn’t hurt him… he never had.

“Like I said, you have less than an hour to get ready. It seems like you need to wash up, too.” Ellipsis said, though his first instinct was to raise a shield spell.

 

Drake threw a poorly aimed fireball at Ellipsis and headed for the washroom because he reeked of orange juice and he hated orange juice.

Vanda looked at Ellipsis. Bravo! She thought. You're still alive! Impressive! “Whhooo!”

 

Ellipsis might have thanked Vanda for the comment if he had both understood her, and not been trying to put out his sleeve, which was now on fire. The robes were Drake-resistant, like Eclipse's, but Drake's power still let him keep things burning, even if the material wouldn't normally allow it. He'd been able to do it for a few years, but to Ellipsis, it seemed like decades.

 

Drake got cleaned up and dressed and then walked back out, greeted by Vanda who hoped onto his arm.
She “whoooed” and then looked at Ellipsis which Drake took, correctly, to mean 'come on, Drake, let the funny man go; you can kill him later!'
Drake put the fire out.

 

Ellipsis glared at Drake after the fire had gone out. “Your ship leaves in about thirty minutes. Shouldn’t be late for the dear empress. She so loves your visits.” the Lesser informed the prince, and then went to leave. Taking the breakfast cart with him.

 

... Drake fireballed him again.

Vanda had to admit; even she saw that one coming.

 

Ellipsis sped out the door faster the rest of the way. Trying to put out the fire again.

 

 

Drake watched him go and then made a new plan... he'd get on the ship. He'd get on the ship and get away from the barrier, and then... abandon ship. Or convince the pilot to take him to see Severo…
Drake grabbed Vanda's travel cage and his bag before heading down the stairs.

 

Eclipse was waiting for Drake at the bottom of the tower stairs. Most noticeably, he had the slightly thicker robes on that he usually used for traveling, but he didn't have any luggage.

“Ah, you’re ready?” He asked when he saw Drake.

 

Drake made sure to keep Vanda away from Eclipse. Vanda puffed up and made little hiss like sounds.
“Yes,”

 

“Alright, let's go.” Eclipse announced, and opened the double doors to exit the tower. Then he paused to lower the barrier, closing his eyes as he did every time he knew Drake was, or might, be watching.

 

... Time for a new plan. Drake decided as he heard, 'let's'.
Apparently, Eclipse was going to make sure he went.
Drake walked out the doors while trying to think of a solution.

 

Eclipse led the way casually to the airship dock. However, although one might mistake it as so, he had not let his guard down. He knew what Drake was like. It was the whole reason he was going in the first place. At least on the trip...

He could set the barrier on the ship to make sure he didn't fly off, but that didn't mean he couldn't influence the pilot...

He would need to change the barrier over to the castle once he got there. Without Celestina, that was tricky.

 

Drake got on the airship and walked to the front. He sat on a box and Vanda hopped around exploring, almost as if she'd forgotten how to fly or decided she preferred to walk… He didn’t know why, but Vanda did that more often than she flew.

Drake came up with a plan rather fast. He would just have to kill Pricilla. There wasn't any way around that, she'd just have to die.

Pricilla wasn't born royalty, no. She was engaged to the Emperor who was thirty at the time Drake had first met her… Drake remembered that day, he’d cried and ran to his mom wondering what this pink thing was that kept stalking him saying weird things.

 

Pricilla had not been forced into the wedding, rather she fought and clawed her way into a regal position by getting married— which was all the union meant to her. Royal husband put her and her family into a high-class life…

Pricilla actually married him when she was twelve and he dropped dead right after the priest pronounced them man and wife, leaving everything to her as was stated in the will he had changed at her request the night before.

Quite the coincidence...

Now she was after Drake. Well... she had been since she'd first met him, but now that her husband was dead she was even more apparent about her desires.

Drake told her he'd only take her hand in marriage if it was separated from the rest of her body. Kept telling her that, but she thought it was a joke.

This trip was a nightmare.
At the very least, he was forcing Eclipse to ride on an airship for several hours with commoners… which was always fun.

 

Eclipse didn't waste much time once on board to put up the barrier around the bridge, so Drake couldn't go inside. Now he wasn't sure what to do with himself. He supposed he would have to act as a bodyguard...

The ship was swarming with commoners, people puking over the side and children. More unpleasant than he had expected.

 

Drake growled when he realized he couldn't get to the captain, but found ways to entertain himself...

Like paying people to go ask Eclipse if he realized how pale he was, poke him, and just generally be... humans.
He did advise them to run as soon as they'd done it, though.

Drake found a few kids his age and stayed with them through the trip, them and Vanda.

One little boy had made a mistake and been in the wrong place when he got airsick... and Drake had to grab him before Eclipse could toss him overboard— which just nearly happened…

 

After the extremely long, yet not long enough flight, the airship landed in Shivel.

The castle was too big. It was short and long, wrapping around the entire town. You could literally spend days just walking inside the castle and get to any place in the town you desired without hardly ever having to go outside.

Whoever lived in the town had to be relatively wealthy, as Pricilla charged a tax for them being protected by the castles walls.
If you were poor, you either lived in the very center of town, far from the castle walls so no one had to see you, or lived just outside of Shivel…

Drake groaned as the ship landed and people started getting off.

 

Eclipse seemed to have developed a twitch since the trip had begun. Maybe it was the accumulation of his irritation. Or maybe he just had a very strong sense of smell, and regretted not bringing a spare change of robes.

He'd have felt a lot better if Drake had let him kill that little...thing that had dared to vomit on him. Therefore, when he went to help Drake disembark, he made the barrier around the castle extra strong.

It was a shame that the whole castle offered so many places he could hide from Pricilla, but then again, he did want the boy to remain sane.

“See you in a month…” he said as farewell to Drake; trying to stay back from the crowd of people trying to get off the ship like a swarm of rats on a sinking ship… the ramp allowing them off was packed full enough that people were struggling not to be pushed off.

 

Drake sighed and jumped off the ship, wanting nothing to do with that ramp. He had to admit he took some pleasure in the fact that Eclipse looked about as annoyed as he himself felt.

“Drakey!” which is why he made the mistake of not paying attention to who might be around.

Pricilla... glomped him. She'd snuck up behind him while he was waiting for his bag. “You finally came!”

“Let me go! Let me go or die!” Drake warned.

“You're soooo silly,” she giggled.

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!”

“You get to spend time with me for a whole month! Is that not fantastic?”

“I wanna die.” Drake cried, “And I can't breathe! Let me go!”

“No; then you'll run like last time. I'm not as fast as you, remember?”

“Trust me! I remember!” Drake replied, trying to free himself.

“Ezekiel, get Drakey's bags.” Pricilla ordered as she halfway let Drake go, hanging onto his arm and starting toward a castle door swiftly and rather suddenly.

“Gah!” Drake screamed, trying desperately to get away. The castle was large, yes, but he needed a head start in order to hide!

 

Eclipse waved cheerfully to Drake, and even smiled as he turned away and headed inside the ship. He had seen the people lined up to board the ship; many children included...There had to be a quiet room somewhere... Regardless of how much Eclipse hated having Drake in this territory, so close to Poseidon’s realm and despite how far away it was from Eclipse’s control in Daguerreo… Drake was relatively safe here; well… safe and that he wouldn’t die unless it was by his own hand and the empress didn’t leave him alone long enough for a suicide attempt. Sometimes the boy did need to be watched, but Eclipse sensed no danger around… and he was in no way willing to spend an entire month at this place.