A/N: Well, gonna start the big one here. This takes place partway through Inheritance...primarily because that's how much of the cycle I've read. Please don't kill me for it, but I got distracted by a lot of things.
This is going to be a big ol' crossover, incorporating the Eragonverse, the Dragonriders of Pern, R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms characters (Namely Drizzt, Cattie-brie, Cadderly, and Danica), and the Warlock of Gramaraye series by Christopher Stasheff. Yes, I do have a good way to tie these all together that actually makes sense.
Lil' Line O' Litiguous Lard: I own none of the material of these various universes. I will have a couple OC's in this, but beyond that...
I'm starting with a short-ish intro chapter here, hope you guys enjoy.
Chapter 1: Disappearance and Return
A roar ripped through the battlefield, causing the heads of many Varden to snap upward.
That's our cue, Saphira, said Eragon to his dragon as he dispatched two imperial soldiers. Less than ten seconds and a series of elfin-agility-enhanced acrobatics later, he was astride her and taking off. He always tried to be useful in the battles, but in this situation, his responsibilities were clear. Thorn and Murtaugh are our problem.
The approaching clash of the two dragons would have been mesmerizing to any but the two armies currently locked in combat below. The Varden were too experienced to allow themselves to be long-distracted. Thorn was a rare and never-welcome sight in the battle, but they knew he was manageable if Eragon was there. As such, it was only a few dozen that saw what came next.
Saphira roared and all but rammed into Thorn. Eragon and Murtaugh's blades met with an almighty *CLANG.* It was a frenzy of flapping wings, raking claws, and sparks from swords. A red and blue clash of titans. In the midst of the chaos, Murtaugh began to chant a spell in the Ancient Language. Eragon's eyes widened. He knew that spell, but what did Murtaugh think he could accomplish with it? What was he going to use it on? He didn't have time to contemplate it as he and Saphira had to react to an agile corkscrew maneuver from Thorn. Murtaugh took advantage of this distraction to simply reach out and touch Eragon's shoulder as he flew overhead, uttering the final syllable of the spell he'd been chanting.
That was when the world exploded.
The explosion and subsequent shockwave managed to make even the most experience veterans glance upwards. What they saw shocked the imperial troops and froze the blood of the Varden. There was no trace of the blue dragon and her rider, and the red pair was dropping from the sky.
Nasuada's eyes quickly shifted to the nearest elf, Arya, for an explanation. The look of shock and pain on the elf's face was definitely not a good sign. "Arya, what was that?" she snapped.
She somewhat regretted her sharp tone, but it seemed to have done the trick. "That was the transport spell…the same one I used to send Saphira's egg to Brom. To send something as big as a dragon and their rider…How could they do that?"
She didn't need to vocalize the rest of her response. Nasuada understood enough about magic to realize that the life force of a great number of people had gone into the execution of that spell. She gulped at the enormity of the act. "How far?"
The elf turned haunted eyes on the Varden leader, "I can't tell…the link was completely severed. I've never experienced anything like it."
"Do you think they're…" she let the question hang in the air.
Arya slowly shook her head. "No, I would've been able to sense that, even if it were instantaneous. I believe he is still alive, although he may be incapacitated."
Right then, Thorn's wings spread to break his and Murtaugh's plummeting descent. The red dragon looked utterly exhausted as it glided over to and half crashed into a hill at the rear of the imperial forces. At least there was one upside to all this, Thorn and Murtaugh were out of the fight as well.
Nasuada wasted no more time, "Messengers, hear my words and spread them: Eragon Shadeslayer is alive. The red dragon is out of this battle. We will fight on, and we will win. FOR THE VARDEN!" Not her most eloquent of speeches, but to the point and should do the trick. She had faith in her people, and she had let them know that.
Two hours of bitter fighting later, night began to fall. The stars twinkled in a mocking counterpoint to the grisly battle slowly abating below. The Varden had taken Nasuada's advice to heart. Belief in Eragon's survival only changed their reasoning and not their ferocity. Those that believed fought with the faith in their Shadeslayer and the confidence that the red dragon and rider were out of the fight; those that did not attacked in vengeance.
A few of the elves had attempted, separately and together, to scry Eragon. Arya had told Nasuada to be heartened by their lack of success. Eragon's anti-scrying pendant could only work when he was alive. Nasuada artfully rephrased it as, "the elves used magical means and were able to determine that he was alive, but not yet his location," and used her spy network to disseminate the information as a morale-boosting rumor through the camp. Let them sleep at least a little easier tonight.
Three hours later, the Varden camp had settled down to an uneasy sleep. A puff of freezing-cold air was all that announced the arrival of a large creature with three passengers above the recent battlefield. The creature quietly hovered for a moment before gliding unobserved by both magical and non-magical sentries toward the rear of the Varden encampment. The creature landed with practiced silence and discharged the three passengers. As if this wasn't strange enough, all the trio did was lie against the creature and fall asleep.
Well, hope you guys like it, I don't normally intend to jump around as often as I did in this chapter. Yes, what exactly happened is supposed to be a mystery, as are the identities of the two people with Eragon.
Review to let me know what you think!
Tzapporah signing off.