And the ship sailed onwards gliding serenely down the moonlit river toward the dark lands beyond ~Inheritance, Christopher Paolini.
As Eragon looked over the prow of the ship he sighed. Months had long since passed. The group had long since exited the Beor Mountains and great plains stretched out to the left while the sea glistened on the right. Gazelle hopped and ran with the ship but fled when Saphira showed herself. Saphira would sometime swim but she would often fly high above the ship just conversing with Eragon on her back.
A year passed and another year passed through uncharted lands until they found the perfect place to raise the dragons. It was a large group of mountains that rivaled the Beor Mountains out off the coast nearly beyond the sight of even a dragon. The sea crashed against certain mountains while others looked to be halfway in the sea. The sea hugged the mountains with sharp and rocky shores on one side; creating steep and equally sharp cliff sides.
A cluster of mountains were deemed the perfect place to live since they were slightly smaller than the others. One had a flat top like the tip had been cut off by a god's sword, while another spewed lava into its own molten lava lake. The elves docked the ship a ways from the mountain formation and everyone disembarked.
"It is perfect. All sides are steep enough that neither human, urgal, dwarf, nor elf could climb without the use of magic. Easily reached by flight but that is another matter altogether. We have the perfect natural protection." Eragon stated with one of his hands resting on Saphira's enlarged shoulder.
I agree there is also food aplenty here. The eggs have long since been ready to hatch. Plus, they feel that this is also a prime place to live, they are ready.
"Yes, the forests at the base of these mountains will help provide resources to build our city. We will need to test the plants here to see if any can be used as replacements for our normal herbs."
Here, there is no fireweed that I can see. Saphira replied.
Well, it would take even you a good three months to travel the distance back to Alagaesia. I think it is high time to say we have found home. Umaroth said to everyone.
"Yes, we can create a cavern in the volcano like what was on Vroengard for all of the Eldunari. The flat topped mountain can be for the city that everyone can live in and it won't be too hard to build air bridges and the like to connect the mountain tops." Eragon said back in response.
A small rush of activity came about the boat as the elves unloaded everything onto the coast. Eragon jumped onto Saphira's back and strapped his legs down. The dragon flew out of the water easily and reached the top of the barren lava extruding mountain. Eragon and Saphira inspected the lava covered mountain before inspecting the flat topped mountain.
Saphira flew back down to the group of busy elves and grabbed a crate with one paw and a waiting elf in the other. Each crate had special straps attached so Saphira could grip them and haul them easily. Each elf was attached to a similar strap like the ones used in the battle against Galbatorix and his fortress of a city. Eragon helped the first elf on the mountaintop as Saphira easily hauled the rest of the gear from the ship. Some elves stayed on the ship, but most had been taken up to the top with little effort.
As Saphira finally carried the twenty or so hut-size crates and the thirty elves, she lay down to give her energy to Eragon as he created his home. The thirty elves barely touching their fingertips began to sing. They sang a song in the ancient language a song Eragon had creates for the other elves to sing over and over while he himself sang different lyrics to mold the building. Eragon had drawn the designs for the first buildings they would need for now. He took into consideration the size of Doru Araeba and the designs of Cuenon.
For now, they were just creating Eragon and Saphira's home, the nesting house, and the first part of a soon to be very large library. They sang the house across from the center of the mountaintop. Eragon then situated a courtyard area in front of his home, large enough than Thorn, Firnen, Saphira, and Glaedr could have sprawled comfortably. The library was made just across from Eragon's home and they just sang the husk of the central wing. After an hour of rest, they finished the vast insides of the central library wing which included intricate carvings and stone shelving for the different books and scrolls. The library was large enough that the diseased Belgabad (largest of the dragons during the fall of the riders) could have walked in and read a scroll or two.
Finally they sang out the nesting house and Eragon included the little cubby holes that would hold the eggs or hatchlings. The nesting house had certain play areas for the growing hatchlings to play on. Once the large buildings were completed, everyone rolled out different sleeping mats and went to sleep exhausted. The nesting house was large enough that Saphira could raise her wings and not touch the ceiling. Saphira, Thorn, and Firnen could walk shoulder to shoulder and not scrape the sides of the nesting house. Eragon was determined to lay out the Rider's new city to accommodate dragons.
Over the following weeks, everyone helped build the special air bridges Eragon had designed. These 'bridges' were magical platforms that could only be used at night or near the volcano. A person would step on a fluffy white platform that resembled a cloud and it would zip off in the direction the person needed. The little clouds would always find their charging place after exactly waiting for two hours to go back and re-charge by the light of the sun.
Eragon and the elves placed powerful wards around the forests on the mountain the city was growing on they called it Du Fell Kverst, The Cut Mountains. They began to sing homes for the elves in the forest; each formed their home as it pleased them while receiving energy from everyone else. Once the homes were finished, they began to work on the building that would act and function like Tialdari Hall. They even made a docking area for ships, a ship repair building, and a restocking and loading building near the shores protected by wards against the elements.
The next thing they did was to widen the cave systems in four mountains which easily took over three months. Cave opening dotted each of the mountains facing the sea and other mountains. They even found an underground system of caverns and caves that looked like great cathedrals and banquet halls with stalactites and stalagmites hanging from ceilings and growing from floors. What Saphira liked best about the mountain island were the lava lakes and the underground sulfur pools. She even found a hot desert like area in the center of the island that got no rain but only sun which she would roll around like a hatchling.
Finally, they created an area exactly like the Rock of Kuthian in the volcano mountain they called Du Fell Istalri, The Fire Mountain. They placed the hundreds of Eldunari in their niches each in their dream like enchanted slumber. The magma that bubbled under their feet wouldn't be able to overflow the edges of the platform because of even more wards. The opening of Du Ebrithilar Vrangr, The Wandering Masters, was sealed and only a special written clearance that contained characters from the humans, dwarves, urgals, and elves language would let anyone pass.
Anytime someone wanted access, they wrote out 'I _ wish to have right of entry to Du Ebrithilar Vrangr, by right and order of Eragon Shadeslayer son of Brom and Saphira Bjartskular daughter of Vervada; let those within know of my existence and judge me worthy to enter.' If the sane Eldunari see the mind of the person wanting access are true and have no ill intentions, the stone door below opens then an enchantment will automatically erase the words on the tablet the clearance was written on. This took place in a small building that was always guarded by a sane Eldunari and an elf.
Other elves including Blodhgarm volunteered with the work of helping the insane Eldunari that had been slaves under Galbatorix. The ship had long since left back to Du Weldenvarden and the remaining elves and Eragon helped watch over the dragon eggs. Saphira also had laid her own cluster, courtesy of her short time with Firnen, of the eggs there were twenty-three.
Over the course of the months of refurbishing and building, twelve wild eggs had hatched out of the hundreds, four female and eight male. The small creatures squawked and fought constantly if they weren't eating or sleeping. They learned language from Saphira almost acting like rider's dragons. Once most of the construction had ceased a good fifty other wild dragons hatched. One of the rider's eggs hatched to an elf, but that just started the learning rider's curriculum.
The hatchling's scales ranged from purple to brown, from green to grey. The caretakers constantly broke up fights and fed the hungry. Saphira gently played with the newborns and let them romp around or play with her tail. They still portrayed tamed tendencies like speaking and learning from Saphira who all the newborn dragons mistook for their mother even though told otherwise.
When some of the hatchlings turned one month old, Saphira took them out into the open air and taught them the art of flying. She would herd them to the forests around Du Fellar Vaetna, The Scattered Mountains, to teach hunting.
The caretakers constantly told the young dragons the fact that Du Fell Kverst was never to be on once they were let out onto the other mountains, Nidhwal, Fanghur, and Uluthrek. Saphira was constantly busy with the training of the groups of dragons and everyone agreed that the younglings would be moved to the caves once they got three months old. Still, Saphira became the mother of her race and if she ever felt a strong emotion, the wild dragons felt the same emotion.
After five years of raising more dragons, the two newest dragon riders came in with a shipment of books to begin filling up the library. Three ships had come packed with the knowledge found at Galbatorix's castle. More elves had come to help but were turned away to keep from becoming an elvin colony.
The two newest dragon riders were both young, one was a female urgal bonded to a mud brown dragon. Her name was Ucglugt while her dragon's name was translated to Shining brow. The dwarf was a small boy whose name meant Falconheart and his dragon was a bright yellow named Naina, Make Bright.
Both dragons had only just learned to breathe fire so each were still young. Once the both showed up, Eragon made them help him with making four very large reed boats. The leaves were woven into sails and Eragon even added small details such as spokes to the wheel. He carried two down to the coast while his new students carried one each. On the inside of the read and grass boats were placed one rider egg.
He protected each of the boats with wards and enchantments; one to fly swiftly to Arya and one to Nasuada, one to Nar Garzhvog and one to King Orik. To each, he attached a note and sent them on their way. Nothing would be able to catch the little ships even with magic until they reached their destination. The four eggs would take less than a month to reach their destinations allowing time for the rest of the wild dragons to hatch.
Saphira had talked with Eragon and the Eldunari and the old dragons agreed that Saphira should speed her growth early in the trip to find a home for the dragons so she could handle the newcomers and the wild dragons. Eragon had to be persuaded but over the years, but hatching the eggs and then the wild dragons flying over the mountains, he grew glad that she was at least twice the size Glaedr was before his body passed into the void.
Naina and Shining brow apprenticed under Saphira and were forced to live with the wild dragons, they grew stronger with time and the wild dragons grew even more civil. Their rider's stayed in a student dorm area and took the cloud-bridges to their dragons. Eragon taught the basics of mathematics, science, and the ancient language to Ucglugt and Falconheart. He waited a good year to teach about the mind and another year before teaching magic. As years passed, he created more reed boats for more rider eggs as the hatched dragons came to Du Fellar Vaetna.
Over the course of twenty years, Eragon and Saphira had students aplenty and the first three: the elf, the dwarf, and the urgal had still not finished their long and proper training. Eragon taught everything he knew to his students and relayed the hidden thoughts of the Eldunari. Once the students reached an appropriate level, he let them fly to Alagaesia to see Nasuada, Arya, Nar Garzhvog, King Orik, and then their families before returned to learn the undisclosed Rider's secrets such as the Eldunari and the ability to use energy from nature in spell casting.
Eragon was still the only rider that the Eldunari were comfortable consulting with and there for he became as wise as an age old elf sage. He rarely used the name of the ancient language and never taught it to anyone else. He was only in his early fifty's and he was the founder of the riders and Saphira was the mother of dragons. Eragon became much of a tinkerer and inventor; delving into mechanics, magic, cooking, and the combination there of.
"Master, I don't understand this, can you help me?" asked a five year old student.
"Ah, this is a wonderful question, it is a logic question meant to expand your mind and let you see the world differently. Look outside the box, and did Saphira give you this question?"
"Yes, Master Eragon, thank you." Said the youngster, Eragon smiled and ushered the child out of his office room where students could come and go freely. He put down his small screw driver on his desk where he was combining magic and metal mechanics to hopefully create a messenger bird that could find flying dragons to relay a message as fast as possible. He looked out the window of the Great Library and saw the city was growing beautiful. He had contacted Murtagh and Thorn over the years with little grass boats enchanted to give a message to the other person. The latest message he had received was that Murtagh decided to visit by the time the next moon waned.
Saphira had stopped her enchanted growth and lay outside under his window letting the sun warm her scales and she was at least three to four times the size of Glaedr. More eggs were in the nesting house since the since the 'wild' dragons didn't make nests and entrusted their great mother, Saphira, with everything. Each mountain in Du Fellar Vaetna was so large that even though there were at least five-hundred 'wild' dragons they barely occupied one mountain.
The 'wild' dragons were not so wild anymore since they had been near the Eldunari for close to a hundred years and then raised for the short period of hatchling-hood by intelligent beings such as Saphira and the elves. They lived in the cave systems with designated living quarters. Since hundreds of magical creatures lived in the mountains, their magic shaved off into the mountains creating weird magical occurrences. When the 'wild' dragons let Eragon walk through their caverns, they allowed him only because he was bonded to Saphira; he would be able to find waterfalls of molten silver, the normal sulfur pools, sets of tunnels that constantly shifted every thirty minutes on a set pattern that could be mapped, rooms with walls of pure crystal or diamond, and a room where one sip of the water in the room could cure any illness but if it was transported turned into a poison which killed in seconds (not that it was tried on any person).
The dragons had grown smarter and acted civilized especially were eating, sleeping and daily life occurred. Even Eragon was hard pressed at finding a dragon who didn't like chocolate mousse. The wild dragons still hunted and ate their kills like any other wild animal, but they read and wrote literature. The wild dragons even came up with the idea of having games to be able to compete against other dragons in contests of brute strength, agility, endurance, and combat. They conducted their dragon games at the desert arena (the desert had stone seating surrounding the vast desert creating the arena) monthly to keep their brutish and animalistic behavior under control.
Eragon looked up at the noon sky and noticed a small speck that grew larger as it flew closer. Eragon walked out of the library and climbed onto Saphira's back. She was large enough that no saddle could stay on her so her saddle magically stuck to her scales. She shook herself roughly as Eragon clutched the saddle and roared at the newcomer. The wild dragons heard her roar and answered back waking everything on the island with the noise. Thorn came flying in a quarter the size of Saphira and flew a few feet below Saphira once she took to the sky. They circled each other chasing the other's tail and playing for a second. The two dragons landed and let their riders jump off.
"Ho brother, how have you been?" Murtagh yelled out exuberantly as he clasped his forearm against Eragon's.
"Ah, very well, and you seem like you have finally found yourself."
"That I have, how are my cousin and his daughter?"
"Roran, he definitely had his hands full raising Ismira, but now she's grown and has three kids other own. Roran and Katrina did have another child though, a boy named Alexander. I remember having a conversation with him and he has two boys of his own."
"I saw, I visited them some years ago and I never stopped by again. Though, I did give everyone a gift before I left."
"Nice, I talked to them the other day and it's sad to see Roran and Katrina growing old."
"They have had their time."
"Yes, though I will mourn them in their passing." Eragon stated and then gazed to the sky. "Have you come to stay or are you going to leave soon?"
"I don't know, I will stay for a while at least."
"Great!" Eragon yelled out with his mind, Prepare for a feast is upon us! "Even you must pitch in to create something! Since I am the Master they all decided for any feast that I must create the dessert. The dragons help with the main course and the students help with sides and drink."
"Won't the main course be just burnt or raw meat?"
"Well not really, Saphira does help pack in herbs and such. They slow roast a lot of meat so everyone, including the dragons, can have their fill."
"Don't you worry about the herds dying out?"
"No, if the herds on the island are low, Saphira tells the wild dragons to hunt on the mainland where the wild dragons will always come back."
"Tells them?!" He asked in surprise wondering how dragons could be told to do anything.
"Yes, they are a lot like bonded dragons. So alike really that the Eldunari are surprised, they have some more human tendencies then even Saphira does."
"Interesting."
"Yes, anyways, what shall we create? You must have seen some amazing things on your travels."
"Yes, I saw a pool that showed you your hearts true desires. Also, I saw people who were animals at the same time, and I met ghosts that took different ghostly forms."
"Interesting, I can spin sugar of these but what to do with the pool of wishes." Eragon said almost to himself.
"You can spin sugar?"
"Oh yes, years ago, a ship brought in these cadies and I grew to love them so much I learned to make them. Once a student passes, I spin an enchanted dragon that is a small replica of their own dragon. They can eat forever off it and it will never diminish, it even points to their own dragon."
"Isn't that unhealthy?" Murtagh asked with his eyebrows raised.
"Oh no, I create these master pieces that hold tons of nutrients. If you had one of my sugar dragons you would never have to eat anything else because it has everything in it while tasting amazing!"
"But it isn't sugar?"
"Actually no, not even a hint of manufactured sugar but with my special blend it tastes like sugar."
"Fascinating, very fascinating." Over the day, Eragon would collect the ingredients and he hid the recipe jealously from Murtagh. Murtagh was given plenty of blank slates to recreate the images from different angles.
The heat of the day didn't melt any of the candied statues as Eragon slowly finished. The last details he added were of Thorns scales and saddle. Murtagh even had to call upon his bond to placate Eragon on the exact to of color the wing membranes were.
As he created the master pieces, Eragon sang of life and movement. As Eragon created the pool of wishes, he sang of the wishes in the hearts of whoever looked at the sugar. Murtagh could only watch as Eragon put on the final details.
"I must say, these are amazing to look upon." Murtagh admired.
"Hmm, come here and show me the designs of your new sword. I don't think I got the hilt correct."
"I don't think it would matter, I've eaten some of your discards and it almost tastes like Faelnirv."
"That's where I got the idea for the ingredients." Eragon stated plainly.
"Well, I love them, they are magnificent."
"Ah thanks, if you wish, I can give you an enchanted dragon. I model the sugar after your own dragon and not only does it move around like a real dragon, but it always looks towards the direction of the real dragon."
"That would be a wonderful gift, but alas, I have nothing to give in return."
"Your being, here is enough. You are a good friend and have been with me for a lot of my travels. I will finally have someone who understands what it was like to run from Galbatorix."
"Yes, but I will come as often as possible and send you constant notes from my travels, because I cannot stay. "
"I understand and that is your choice. As a gift, I will make two dragons for you; one to model Thorn and the other to model Saphira so she can always point home."
"Thank you, come, we must get these to the dining hall." Murtagh