"Uh…" Ryker seemed rather confused by this, but just watched as Kaylum lay down and went to sleep, or at least…appeared to.
There were two guards outside of Nikolas's cell, and the human prince was inside. He was crumpled on the floor, body curled into itself in a fetal position intended as some measure of protection. His clothes were tattered and pretty much ruined, and most of his skin was covered in bruising or drying blood. He was breathing, but each one was slow and painful and slightly wheezing.
Kaylum noted the two guards before inspecting the crumpled form in the cell. He wasn’t too different from the last time Kaylum visited him. His soul was withered and blackening, reflecting the physical and mental trauma he was inflicted with and the curse that still had a hold on him. Kaylum stared, saddened but unsurprised. He reached out, wanting to hold that little ball of shifting, dimming light, to smooth it over and comfort it, but hesitated. Messing with someone’s soul was dangerous business, and he didn’t trust himself with such a power, if he even had it. So, he spoke to it instead. His unheard whispers attempted to be of comfort, assuring of his safety and that he and his friends would rescue him soon. Just wait a little longer. Soon this suffering will pass.
Kaylum slowed, and tried to regain his vision of the material world. He noted the state of Nik’s body, the wounds, the breathing, his position, then made his way back to his body.
He opened his eyes, though now he was much more tired. He slowly sat up, peering over at Nik’s guards.
The guards had all been watching his body, with various expressions of confusion and uncertainty, and when he moved they all shifted, still studying him.
"What just happened?" Ryker questioned, narrowing his eyes faintly as he tried to understand what Kaylum had just been able to do. "What did oyu…do?" he didn't understand how Kaylum could have been checking on Nikolas, when all he did was lay down on the ground and lie motionless for a few minutes.
Kaylum’s gaze landed on Ryker before flicking off to the side. “Prince Nikolas looked to be in a lot of pain. There were many scars and bruises on him, including his legs, and I highly doubt he can move, much less walk. He should be handled gently when we go for him.”
Ryker stared at Kaylum for a long moment, processing those words. "I…thank you, but how do you know?" he asked, crossing his arms loosely. All four guards looked very tired, but unwilling to sleep yet. Aron was pacing faintly, and Lieze was just…watching, her gaze slightly unsettling.
Kaylum sighed deeply. After being interrogated and tortured all this time, he relented quickly to questions. “I can astral project. My body stays in one place, but my spirit can go outside of it and travel through the spiritual realm.”
Ryker frowned, yawning after a moment. "Alright." he finally said. "I…will not pretend to undestand what that means." he shifted, taking off his armor finally. "We should all get some rest, if we want to be in decent shape for rescuing Nikolas tomorrow." the other guards began to reluctantly prepare to sleep, though Aron did not.
"I'll take first watch." Aron said, settling down with his armor still on.
Kaylum just scoffed, shaking his head. Of course. Humans. Seeing the others preparing for bed, he stood up again, but this time only going just outside of the camp. He shifted into dragon form, as was his habit at this point, and curled up in the grass. It was warm out, but the open air and the stars above him was nothing like the cell. Maybe father and mother had ascended by now, and they were in the stars, watching him from above. Kaylum took comfort in that as sleep came over him.
(alright)
In the morning, Lieze woke up everyone by shaking their shoulders. Except for Kaylum. Him, she sent Aron to wake up. The tall guard approached the dragon shifter, a little unsure how to wake him in this form. "Uh…" he paused for a moment, then reached out and gently shook Kaylum's shoulder. He hoped the prince wouldn't wake up, startle, and kill him. That would be a messy ending. "Prince Kaylum?"
Somehow, Kaylum had a dreamless sleep. Though he was peaceful, sometimes he was disturbed on mornings like these by touchy human guards who would demand that he turn back into a human for some reason or another. This always made him on edge, and he did not fall as deeply into sleep as he used to. So, when Aron touched his shoulder, he did, in fact, startle awake. Instead of immediately killing him, however, he just jerked away from whoever was touching him, a growl rumbling in his throat and his feathers ruffling up. He soon recognized Aron, though. “Ah. Sorry.”
Aron stepped back at the growl, then shrugged at the apology. "Don't worry about it. Thought you would kill me, so a growl is nothing." he replied. "Ah…'s about 8 in the morning. We need to figure out a plan to get Nikolas out, though we'll have to wait until dark to enact it." dark was easiest. Dark would mean it was easier to throw off pursuers. "Seren already has men looking for you, so we might have to move camp, too."
“Kill you?” Kaylum said with a small laugh at the end. “Nah. Wasn’t that startled.” He stood up and shook himself, stretching out his wings. The primary feathers had been growing back, little by little. Right now they were just fluffy stubs, rather vulnerable to pain.
“Ah.” He sat down and began grooming himself. “Well. I will be glad to help in any way I can.”
"Ryker wanted me to bring you back to camp." he replied, shifting from foot to foot. Talking to Kaylum as a dragon made him…a touch uncomfortable, if he was being honest. He was used to dragons in the capacity of fighting them. Not speaking to them or working with them. And it was easier to forget what Kaylum was, when the shifter was in human form.
“I’ll be right there,” Kaylum said. “This shouldn’t take too long.” He was only going to groom the feathers on his wings, anyway. He couldn’t reach the feathers on his head and neck anyway, and he wished that someone like Xiomara or his mother could help him with that. His feathery mane probably looked terrible now. But, at least only doing his wings meant that grooming would go faster.
"Alright." Aron stood awkwardly for another few seconds, then headed back towards the camp with a soft, short exhale. Once back at camp, he explained to the others that Kaylum would be there soon, running his hands through his hair and just seeming a touch fidgety about all of it.
After about five minutes, Kaylum shook his body, then shifted to human form and reentered the camp, fiddling with his locs. He was tempted to undo them, wash his hair, and lock it again, but that would take forever due to the sheer length of his hair. Oh well. He decided to twist the locs into a bun as he approached the human soldiers. "Are you still discussing a plan?" he asked when he came up.
They turned to him, nodding. "Your teleportation abilities. Would you be able to take Nikolas with you?" Ryker asked, brows drawn faintly. It would make things infinitely easier if Kaylum could, but if he could not…well, they could work with that too. Either way, it was a useful ability, that Ryker wanted to utilize.
(Y’know, that’s a good question Ryker lol)
(You know what, I’ll just go with the safe option)
They turned to him, nodding. "Your teleportation abilities. Would you be able to take Nikolas with you?" Ryker asked, brows drawn faintly. It would make things infinitely easier if Kaylum could, but if he could not…well, they could work with that too. Either way, it was a useful ability, that Ryker wanted to utilize.
He considered the idea. “I’ve never taken someone with me when I teleport before,” he said. “But theoretically, I should be able to as long as I maintain physical contact with him.”
He remembered years ago, when he was a small child with his abilities undeveloped, that his mother would hold him close to her and teleport them both when it was needed. Of course, it was only when necessary. Young hatchlings always learned how to fly before they learned how to teleport, lest they become overly reliant on it.
Ryker frowned. "Hm." he considered the response for a long moment. "It's risky, balancing the plan on something you say theoretically about." he glanced about at the other guards before his gaze returned back to Kaylum. "I would not want things to go wrong and then have Nikolas suffer."
(Why is this making me think about how dragon shifter pregnancy works)
“Me neither.” He paused, then sighed a little. “I understand it is probably still difficult for you to trust me. But I have seen it done before. I could perhaps practice teleporting with one of you first. If that’s alright.”
(ksdbfjasbhf WHAT)
They all looked at him with squinted eyes, all processing the words and weighing them. Did any of these four trust Kaylum enough to let him make the attempt? They barely knew him, and only trusted him due to his connection with Nikolas. The human prince had always been their main goal, here, and, well…did they trust Kaylum?
Finally, Aron moved towards Kaylum, holding out his arm. "I'll do it." he said, eyes flicking back to the other three guards. Lieze's fingers were twitching on her swordhilt, and Errol and Ryker were both leaning into each other, just a little, in a protective sort of way.
Kaylum’s eyes widened. He didn’t expect Aron to be the one to volunteer. “Oh, alright. Thanks.”
His ear twitched, and he took the human guard’s arm. He closed his eyes, imagining the place where he wanted to be. Upon opening his eyes, he found himself just outside of camp, the same spot where he slept the night before, but Aron wasn’t with him. He had teleported without him, and he was still back with others. Kaylum quickly teleported back and sighed. “Let’s try that again.”
