Hi guys, this is my first story on the site, so I hope you bear with me until the end. Just like to say a special thanks to wildskysong for betaing this chap/story. Enjoy!
1. Hate
Galbatorix's eyes flickered fearfully at the door time and time again, his muscles frozen in place with terror, his mother's screams reverberating around in his head. He closed his eyes and covered his ears with his hands.
Fire. Pain. Heat. His city in turmoil, people's minds clouded with hateandfear of the unknown. Hundreds of shapes, blacker than the night, floatingdown. They looked like dragons exceptall of them were black with leathery skin instead of scales and sharp, wicked beaks instead of teeth.
Human-like forms leaped from their backs,hunched and humpbacked,cloaks covering their faces. Anyone close enough to see beyond the hood wasas good as dead. No one could fight them, no one received mercy, and no one died without screams ripping through the air from their mouths.
These were monsters, desecrators, vicious beyond reason. Their steeds made quick work of all the animals, severing spines with quick snaps of their beaks before gulping down their prey.
Were these the devil's minions? Or some vile creatures come from across the sea, from distant, unknown lands? No one wasted time working it out; all they had time for was escape.
Suddenly, in the distance a multitude of roars could be heard, ripping through the air like an avalanche. The hunchbacked creatures and their steeds turned to meet their foe and a hundred wild dragons and fifty Dragon Riders approached, bloodlust rising in them.
"RA'ZAC! LETHRBLAKA! COME AND MEET US, OR ARE YOU TOO COWARDLY? COME AND MEET YOUR DOOM HEAD ON!" Vrael's voice boomed across the distance, enhanced by magic.
Enraged, the Ra'zac and Lethrblaka threw themselves at their foes, but no flying creature was equal to a wild dragon in combat and aerial manoeuvres, and no creature of land was equal in swordsmanship to the Dragon Riders.
Three of the largest Lethrblaka pitted themselves against Ramratha*, a huge red dragon, old before the bond between riders, dwarfing Wyrda's size. The Lethrblaka could fit in between his teeth when his maw was open and so they were greatly disadvantaged. Furious clicking washeard asten more Lethrblakacame shriekingto bring this monster of a dragon down.
Three Lethrblaka fell, one after the other, deep gashes in the sides of two, with the third almost rent in half, held together by a few strands of flesh and sinew. The Lethrblaka, enraged by the deaths of their kin, doubled their attack. Numerous cuts opened on the mighty warrior, looking like pinpricks compared to his size. Droplets the size ofhuman childrendripped to the ground and enraged Ramratha opened his maw to its full extent and a raging torrent of red flame, ten feet in diameter and fifty in length incinerated the flesh of another five. That left five Lethrblaka against him. One fell when it got too close to his mouth, snapped up and crushed before sliding down his gullet. The remaining fourdove athis neck in the hope of severing vital arteries. Ramratha tilted backwards until he was upright, supported by his wings before the Lethrblaka managed anything, and snapped up three of the remaining four. The last one, despite trying desperately to flee, was caught on the spine by his tail, before falling to the ground paralyzed.
Ramratha roared his challenge to the Lethrblaka, the sound carrying to the people in the city below.
The Lethrblaka and Ra'zac were crushed, but many fled, never to be seen again, until the Dragon Riders rooted them all out. But two Ra'zac and Lethrblaka had hid in the city, and the Ra'zac, angry and hungry, had come into Galbatorix's house…
"HIDE" his mother had screamed, before she and Galbatorix's father were slaughtered by the razak, their corpses taken outside to their steeds as food before the monsters winged their way to the rest of their race and vanished.
Galbatorix awoke with a start, and a quick glance around told him that last night really had happened.
Mother. Father. Gone.
Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes as he contemplated his future.
What future?He thought venomously, I have no family, no money, a house with memories best left alone. How will I get food? A home? How will I even survive? A gutter rat, a little runt, that's all I am now. I'm nothing. Doomed to starve like all those before me.
Revenge, he decided, was the only way forwards, the only way to save himself, but he needed to grow first. Become strong, quick with the blade, and get magic.
He set out from the poor parts of the city, making his way to the inner parts, with wealthy people. In their confusion, no one noticed a ragged young boy sneak into a large building, looking for a sword. The building was nothing but a barracks, like most places here. He walked out. Second time around, he struck lucky and found a weapon master's work place, complete with a forge to make weapons.
Galbatorix stared at the weapon racks, picking up random swords until he found one that felt right.
An elegant swordhe thought idly as he twirled it around. Now to find someone to practice with. But not now, tomorrow.
The next day Galbatorix awoke with a start, intent on learning to fight with the sword. He made his way out of his now ruined house to the barracks, to watch recruits being trained. By now, with the help of the Riders, the city had calmed down considerably, seeing as there were two dragons and their Riders left in the city.
When he arrived, veterans were training recruits, as he had hoped, and, in a secluded spot, he began to train. He couldn't train with other people of course, but he sparred with imaginary foes, namely the Ra'zac and Lethrblaka.
Whilst learning to fight with the sword, he mercilessly fought with other beggars in the lower part of the city, fighting for food, shelter, and money. Being one of the only with a sword, he thrived on the streets, loving the way people shrank back when he walked past, fearful of a beating or worse. But he never took food or money without cause, remembering the hard days back when his parents were alive, when they had been robbed so many times they went hungry more often than not, left sitting in front of the fire with no food to eat, only filthy water to drink, and no protection from further robbing when they slept.
Before long Galbatorix was a competent swordsman, but he still wanted proper training. Galbatorix walked down towards the recruits, already arrogant enough to believe he was better than them, and called to the trainer.
"I will fight any of these recruits, and if you deign me good, will you train me personally?"
The trainer sneered at Galbatorix.
"Agreed," he said. He pointed randomly at a recruit and called him to fight.
Galbatorix dropped into a fighting stance, left leg in front of his right, knees bent, prepared to jump either side with his sword help horizontally in front of his face, eyes cold and hard as frozen steel.
They circled each other for a time, until with a roar the recruit charged, swinging his sword around his head and cleaving a path through the air towards his head, but by the time it reached where Galbatorix's head was he had moved out of the way. Galbatorix was in a perfect position to bring his sword up to the recruit's neck, but that would be boring, so he refrained. Galbatorix stayed on the defensive for a few more minutes, before moving to offensive, weaving his sword to and fro, feinting here, parrying here, stabbing here, before his arms started burning. When they did, he began taunting the recruit, calling his mother a pack mule and his father a common beggar, saying he would fall to a farmer in a swordfight. Eventualy, the recruit became so enraged he tried cleaving Galbatorix in half, which is what he wanted. As before, Galbatorix moved out of the way before swiftly moving his sword up to the recruit's neck.
"Dead."
He turned to the trainer, "Your deal. Tomorrow at dawn?"
The trainer stared at him, speechless at what he had just witnessed; a scrap of a boy had defeated his recruit. "Impossible…"
Thank you (whoever reads this) for finding the start of my book and reading it, I hope you enjoy it! There won't be any specific update times, I'll just update whenever I can. Hope you stay with the story.
(Sorry WSS) ~James