The Last Dragons

Disclaimer; I don't own the Inheritance Books, they belong to the talented Christopher Paolini, I only take credit for the plot that is original.

Prologue

Inwin glanced backward passed his brother, Frenwin and his long time friend Ingwe to his pregnant wife Fellatai where she chatted to her sister, Omelai as the rode through the forest of Du Weldenvarden. The were on their way to a small family house out to the southwest of their home in Osilon where Fellatai was to give birth to their son, already named Caleb.

It was getting close to dusk when their horses shied away instants before the smell of Urgals reached their noses. "Fellatai! Either!"(1) Inwin shouted over his shoulder. "Frenwin! His brother nodded as turned his hose just as Fellatai and Omelai started running back the way they had come.

He and Ingwe aimed their bows just as scores of Urgals flooded onto the track from the trees around them. They fought valiantly to give the trio time to retreat but they were far outnumbered, every time one fell under their swords two more took it's place. Ingwe fell first to a blow to the back of the head and the last thin Inwin ever saw was when he turned to take out an Urgal behind him. A blade sliced deep into his back as he saw Urgals falling upon Fellatai, Omelai and Frenwin. Darkness covered his sight as he wept for all those that would die that day.

XOXOXOXOXOX

The Captain, cloaked in the red garb of the King's Army stared down at the skirmish below him. His men were destroying a small group of Urgals that had been sighted by fishermen at the Northern end of Lake Isenstar. As he watched one of his Lieutenants and five men broke away from the fighting. He thought for an instant that they were fleeing and was about to order the reserve force to shot them down when he realised that one of the men was carrying a human body.

As they got closer he realised that it wasn't a human but an Elf, a female elf, a pregnant female elf. He jumped from his horse as the group came to a halt near him. "Captain, we found this elf being held prisoner to the Urgals!" The Lieutenant told him.

"Give them horses!" The Captain called back to the reserve troops before turning back to the Lieutenant. "Take her back to camp. I'm holding you personally responsible for her safety. Do what I ask and we'll take her to Uru'baen together."

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Uru'baen

The Captain walked into the room along with the midwife who had been in there for almost four hours. The She-Elf lay dead on the bed whilst a thin woman cradled a new born baby by the wall.

"She died in childbirth just like I predicted." The Midwife muttered emotionlessly, completely unaffected by the recent death. "The child is as healthy as I've ever seen one but since it's an elf I don't know much."

"The King will be pleased." The Captain muttered. "The child will be well taken care of." He drew his sword from the sheave and before the midwife could react he cut her throat. He span on the Midwife's apprentice. "Place the baby on the bed and you wont be harmed."

The servant shook with fright as she slowly stood. Faced with her own death she didn't care what happened to the baby in her arms. She placed it on the bed and turned to leave but before she got within two feet of the door she felt pain as the shoulders sword pierced her heart.

The Captain gathered the baby in his arms, covered its face with its blanket and left the room. He strolled through the King's Castle to the stables, his horse was already saddled and waiting and he swung up. He rode for half the day into the South to a large estate with four buildings and a huge mansion. The home of Morzan, first of the Forsworn. The Captain repressed the shiver he felt before walking up to the door.

In the last day he had assured that nobody was alive to know of the baby elf's birth. Word would be spread that both She-Elf and baby had died at birth, it was that or kill ever person who had seen either. For his own silence he had been given the position of Captain of the Castle Guards as soon as his mission was done; Deliver the baby to Morzan so that he could be raised along side his own son.

A servant led him up the main stairs to a study where both Rider and a servant lady sat calmly. He felt a mind brush almost overwhelmingly over his own and he clamped his own defences down. Morzan sneered at him before looking at the bundle in his arms. "This is the Elf-child?"

"Yes, My Lord." The Captain said, "No other knows of his existence but the King himself."

"Good." Morzan muttered. "Selena, take the baby down with Murtagh. I'm sure you can look after the both of them easily enough."

The Captain passed the baby over to Selena, Murtagh's mother he assumed, "His name is Caleb. The mother had the blanket with her and the embroidery is knew." The blue blanket had the name Caleb written across it is a language that the Captain didn't know.

"Very well Captain." Morzan spoke as Selena left. "You've done your task well." There was a tone of finality in Morzan's words that made the Captain glance at him. He felt the full force of a Dragon Rider's mind slam into his defences, he struggled to hold them up but he felt them crumble under the force of the attack and before he could try to run he felt his memories before searched through.

After almost two minutes of the Dragon Rider searching through the Captain's memories of the last three days the Captain crumbled to the ground as his heart was crushed in a flow of power as the Rider muttered the words, "Thrysta."

XOXOXOXOXOX

Five Years later

Caleb stared across the room he shared with his brother Murtagh, his dark haired brother was sitting on his mother's lap as she read to him. Caleb pulled himself up from playing with the small puppy that had taken to almost devoting itself to him. The puppy followed at his heels as he crossed the room. He came to a halted beside the rocking chair and looked down at the pages of the book open on Murtagh's lap. He followed the words for a few minutes as she read them out. He could fluently read the writings and so could Murtagh but they both enjoyed being read to by their mother.

Caleb had always known that Selena wasn't his real mother, she was Murtagh's but his own was dead, killed in an Urgal ambush. He had been given to Selena to raise and she might as well be his mother as well. She raised a hand and gently patted down his black hair and he looked up at her. She was worn and tired, something that Murtagh was oblivious to but Caleb was more sensitive to everything around him. His violet eyes noticed things that his taller, human, brother missed.

Slowly Murtagh fell asleep on his mother's lap. That was another difference between them, Murtagh slept whereas Caleb fell into a meditative trance that was never waking nor sleeping. "Go to sleep, Caleb." Selena told him with a small smile.

"What's wrong?" Caleb asked, it was another trait of him that endeared him to his mother but aggravated Morzan to no end, he tried to help everything in pain. Selena told him it was because of his Elvish heritage that he loved everything that grew.

"What do you mean, love?"

"You feel wrong." He told her simply. He had always been able to feel if someone was ill but this time her very essence felt off.

She sighed and hugged Murtagh to her tightly even as he slept then she seemed to come to some sort of decision and she bent closer to him. "I'm pregnant, Caleb."

"Pregnant?" Caleb frowned in confusion.

"You and Murtagh are going to have a little brother." She said before a tear fell from her eye and she started to cry. "I'm sorry, love, but I have to leave. Eragon can't grow up here with Morzan, he has to be free of him. Murtagh's father doesn't know that I'm pregnant and I have to leave before he figures it out."

"Why?" Caleb asked, genuinely curious rather than offended that she wanted freedom for the unborn Eragon over Murtagh and himself.

"I feel like you, Murtagh and Eragon will be special, vital to our future. I hate to say it, by your life will be hard, Caleb. You and Murtagh will have a hard time surviving and I wont always be here to protect you." She sobbed slightly before continuing. "I have to give Eragon the chance to lead a happy life or the three of you will surely fail. I'm so sorry for leaving you in this life, Caleb. Will you forgive me?"

"It isn't your fault." Caleb told him. "Will we see you again?"

She nodded to him. "I promise I'll come back if I can as soon as Eragon is born. Make sure you practice you mental shields like I taught you and the magic I showed you but keep to yourself." She was crying freely by this point. "If I don't return promise me you and Murtagh will stick together despite everything?"

"Eka weohnata," Eragon swore in the Ancient language that governed all magic. Morzan knew some of it and through him so did Selena who had taught what she could to Caleb to help him better understand his magic. He didn't know enough to make a proper promise to stay with Murtagh but he knew enough to say "I will."

XOXOXOXOXOX

Seven months later

"She'll be home soon." Caleb muttered to Murtagh as the two stood on the roof of the house. They had done this many times since their mother had left the estate. Caleb never shared with Murtagh or anyone else the real reason for their mother's absence and whenever Morzan was not off doing something with his Dragon he tended to drive the two of them up to the roof in an attempt to avoid him. It was a short trip from the balcony of their room up onto the roof of their small turreted room on the top floor.

The house had two main floors with an arched roof. There was a one story turret in the front right corner of the house which housed their room and the roof had a parapet around it with crenulations that made it impossible for anyone on the ground to see what was up their. It was the ideal place for the two five year olds to spend most of their waking hours whether they were playing with faked swords or just talking together. Caleb also used this space to practice his pitiful array of spells under Murtagh's watchful eye.

Now they were standing at the edge staring out through two of the dips in the parapet staring off down the road into the distance. Caleb could almost sense her approach which amused the normal sarcastic Murtagh to no end. Caleb always knew where both Selena and Murtagh were at all times and how they were feeling as long as they were close enough.

They stood there silently for an hour and then firstly Caleb and then Murtagh saw a small black figure of a woman coming down the road on the back of a horse. Caleb turned to Murtagh to see him grinning in happiness but Caleb found it hard to feel happy because he didn't know how Morzan would react to her presence. Luckily though Morzan had been away for the last week and wasn't due to return for a few more days.

Morzan almost fell from parapet in his eagerness to jump down onto their balcony on the side of the house and he darted inside with barely a glance up to Caleb and a distracted wave for him to follow. Caleb jumped lightly off the parapet and absorbed the shock by flexing his knees and he quickly caught up to Murtagh as they both ran through the doors. A servant woman followed them and seeing the horse and rider coming up the road the ran back into the house.

Caleb hung back patiently as Murtagh ran to meet Selena at the gate that kept out wild animals from the main buildings of the estate. Selena dismounted as the horse crossed through the gate and a groom who had been lingering at hand darted forward to take the black mare into the stables. Caleb rocked on his heals wanting to run forwards to hug to woman that was as good as his mother but he wanted to give Murtagh the chance to greet his mother without interfering. Murtagh hadn't known the true reason as to why Selena left and Caleb didn't think he'd be able to handle the fact that his little brother would grow up to be loved by both parents whereas Murtagh and he would be raised by an uncaring, foul, beast that enjoys causing pain.

Selena walked over to them with Murtagh firmly hugging her waist. "Caleb?" She asked and held out her other arm for him. He closed the gap in an instant and hugged her closely putting his arms around Murtagh's as he did it. This was his family and no matter what happened he'd always love them. He'd learn how to control the gifts given to him by his real parents and with them he'd make sure they were never harmed again.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Two months later

Caleb slipped through the door to his mother's room and let his Elfish eyes quickly adjust to the darkness inside until it was like looking around a brightly lit room. He walked over to her bedside and climbed onto it to lie beside her. He felt her turn to look at him.

"I didn't want either of you to be here." She muttered.

"I could feel it from my room." Caleb murmured with tears in his eyes as he grabbed her cold hand in his own.

"Does Murtagh know you're here?" She asked him quietly. He shook his head almost violently, he hadn't told Murtagh because he hadn't thought she'd want him to be by his side. "I'm sorry, Caleb. I'm sorry I couldn't teach you two more about the world. Tell Murtagh I love him."

He cried freely as he felt her very essence slip away, her mental walls collapsed and he heard her last word. "I love you three more than anything. Murtagh, Caleb, Eragon, my three wonderful angels." With those fourteen thought words her essence disappeared and her hand, cupped in his own, went limp as she died.

"Mum?" He sobbed quietly not wanting to believe that what he had felt had actually happened. He'd known for two months that she was getting weaker, killed by some unknown disease that even Morzan, rider and leader of the non existent Forsworn, couldn't heal. "No." He whispered quietly as he backed off of the bed and looked down at her. She looks so peaceful, as if she was sleeping but there was nothing there but a body, no essence, no mind, nothing.

He couldn't take it anymore. He ran from the room and out into the corridor. He tore down the halls, his feet making only the slightest of sounds as they touched the ground. He slammed through his room, throwing the door open with enough strength that it bounced off the wall and slammed shut behind him as he ran across the room and onto the balcony. He leapt up and just managed to grab onto the parapet, ignoring the iron drain they normally used to get onto the roof. He collapsed onto the ground on the middle of the turret and curled into a ball. Rain began to fall and it soaked through his clothes unnoticed as his mind swept across the halls of the manor unconsciously searching for Selena.

He cried because of a pain he had never felt before, not one from the body but from the mind, he cried for the unknown future that awaited him and Murtagh who he had sworn to his mother that he would always be with no matter what. His mind, searching for that mother he loved threw itself outward, never settling on any of the minds it reached in his frantic search for something that he knew he'd never be able to replace.

He found himself staring at a small room in distant lands. A human baby, not much passed a newborn stared up at him with the features so similar to Murtagh that he knew that it must be Eragon, their little brother. A two year old stood next to the cot looking down at the baby, he had brown hair but he looked slightly similar as though he was related by only distantly. He had some of the traits of Selena's but none of Morzan's, maybe he was Selena's nephew. She would only have left Eragon with someone that she trusted and who better than family.

He snapped out of the vision as two hands circled him and pulled him close. He opened his eyes and felt the sting of rainwater in his eyes. He felt himself pulled into the larger form of Murtagh, though they were only six months apart in age, they were beginning to go in the different paths of their races. Whereas Murtagh was beginning to show the signs of bulking out, even if he probably wouldn't be a large as most men in the army, Caleb would always be lithe and compact even if his strength outgrew Murtagh's.

He curled around into Murtagh and wept silently as he slipped his arms around his brother. "What's wrong, Caleb?"

"She died." He sobbed. He felt Murtagh tense as the words sucked in before he backed away across the soaking wet roof top and collapsed against the parapet, drawing his knees up and hugging them to his chest. Caleb rose and walked over to him, he sat next to him and mimicked his brothers position and leant into him. Tears were streaming down both of their faces, mixing with the rainwater already there. "I'm sorry, Murtagh."

"My mum?" He sobbed as they looked at each other. "She's dead?"

Caleb let his head fall against Murtagh's shoulder and their arms went around each other in mutual comfort. Like that they watched as the rain stopped, the sun started to rise on the Eastern horizon and the house arose with sobs and cries as they found that their mother had finally succumbed to her illness.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Two weeks later

The last weeks had been rough on the two five year olds. They had both found it increasingly difficult to accept the new emptiness caused by their mother's death but they were determined that they wouldn't fail her and would strive to live a life that she would be proud of.

Caleb glanced sideways to where Murtagh lay next to him and closed his own eyes to slip into his sleeping state. For the last two weeks they'd become inseparable, they slept in the same bed to ward of feelings of fear and they stayed together during the day so that Morzan couldn't take his anger out on either of them without the other being able to help.

Caleb barely noticed as his mind fell into a sleep deeper then he ever had before and his mind, slower than usual in his tired state, didn't have the defences to protect him against the large and powerful mind that sleep into his dreams.

He opened his eyes to see him standing on the parapet of his and Murtagh's turret. He looked down onto the plated roof five four feet below him and stared around in confusion. Elves didn't dream like this, they were in complete control of their dreams. This was strange, he didn't like not being in control. He glanced up at the surrounding to find that the clouds were streaming across the sky in elaborate motions and swirls and with a speed far to fast to be real.

A voice spoke from the roof top below him in the Ancient language though not in words he could understand. He looked at the figure and was shocked to suddenly find himself standing on the roof rather than the wall. She was an Elf, dressed in beautiful robes in a style that he didn't recognise. She spoke again but he only shook his head slightly to show that he didn't understand.

She nodded her understanding before switching to the human tongue. "I apologise, I have not spoken in this tongue often in many years." She spoke, he voice, musical like his but better developed. "What I tried to say was that this is not real." She informed him waving her hand in a circle to point at the scenery around them.

"Where are we?" Caleb asked.

"We have not moved." She told him. "Perhaps we should introduce ourselves, I am curious as to who you are. My name is Islanzadi Drottningu, Queen of the Elves and of Du Weldenvarden."

Caleb knew that Du Weldenvarden was a great forest that spanned the northern reaches of Alagaesia, and according to Selena it hide the entirety of the Elves who had hidden from the King. "My name is Caleb, I don't know anything else. Why are you in my dream?"

"This isn't a dream, this is your mind, or at least the part I could access." She told him. Caleb flinched and tried to raise barriers around his mind. She held up a hand to stall him. "You can block me at any time but you will not be able to hear what I have to say."

"What is that?" He asked eventually giving in to his curiosity.

"You are the only Elf within the boundaries of the Empire ruled by Galbatorix, the only Elf that his men have been able to capture alive. His control over you causes us great unrest." She sighed. "We thought that you were lost along with you mother when you family were ambushed, we did not believe you were alive."

"Did…" He stumbled remembering he was talking to a queen but decided that since it was his mind he could do what he wanted. "Did you know my family?"

"I'm afraid not, they were solitary for the most part however they were skill warriors even among the Elves." She said with a small smile. "You father's name was Inwin, your mother's was Fellatai. Your father's brother, Frenwin, was also killed in the ambush as well as your mother's friend, Omelai, though you father's friend, Ingwe, survived to tell the tale."

"Can I talk to him?" Caleb asked after several seconds of pondering this.

"He isn't capable of using magic, Caleb. I am using a spell to project my own mind across Alagaesia to your own mind." She explained. "I was scrying certain sights two weeks ago when I felt your mind searching out fuelled by pain and sorrow."

He choked slightly at the reminder and suddenly rain was pouring through the air, he shook his head to clear it and it eased to a light shower. She smiled at him slightly but waited for him to speak. "From what I know I was born in Uru'baen but my mother died. I was given to Selena and Morzan to raise along with their son Murtagh. Selena died two weeks ago."

She looked shocked for a moment. "I should have recognised this estate as that of Morzan's, I fear for you little one." She turned tired sad eyes on him. "No Elf has been brought up by humans before but the chances of you being able to escape is slim."

"I cant leave Murtagh here alone, mum said that if we tried to escape the King would send an entire army to retrieve us." Caleb told her.

"The only option is for me to teach you about your race through visions like this." She told him. "I will train you in the Ancient language and then in magic and fighting, though any training in this state will have no effect on your body."

"When do we start?" Caleb asked with a big grin on his face. She smiled back at him patiently before she sat herself down cross legged on the floor and Caleb copied her action a metre before her even as the light rain stopped and the sun broke out across the turret bathing them in warm light.

"Repeat these words after me…"

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter

(1) Either Leave