(Hybrid Chapter 3)

Naruto and Murtagh ran for their lives upon their powerful charges like the devil himself was chasing them, which wasn't all that far from the truth. They had been riding no stop for the two days and they and their horses were about ready to drop. Naruto had fed the horses what little energy he had left to keep them from killing themselves via over work.

"Naruto we are going to have to stop soon or the horses will die" shouted Murtagh as he looked at the back of Naruto and glanced at the dragon eggs that were in the sack. He felt like a champion for his part in the rescue of the dragon eggs and a fool because of what the king would do if he caught them which was highly likely.

"We have no idea what my father has sent to capture use. If we slow down they may catch us unawares and kill us" shouted Naruto but even he knew they wouldn't be able to run for much longer. The horses were selectively bred to make them stronger than regular horses but even they couldn't run forever.

Murtagh didn't say anything but he stopped his horse and let him trot over to a small stream they had been running alongside. He watched as Naruto shot him an angry look but sighed and followed Murtagh's example.

The surrounding area had a few trees surrounded by flat grasslands that were great for farming. The stream that ran through the area kept the lands fertile and kept the animals from going thirsty. The sky was clear and the sun was beating down on them causing Naruto and Murtagh to take refuge under a tree.

"You were right" spoke Naruto as he laid against a tree beside Murtagh and watched the horses gulp down the water greedily. He hated to admit he was wrong but Murtagh was his friend so it wasn't such a big deal to him.

"I get that you're stressed out, trust me I am to, but were going to need to keep our cool if we want to survive you father" spoke Murtagh as his eyes fought back sleep. He wasn't like Naruto; he was a pure human, so staying up for three nights without sleep and factor in the stressful situation they were in and you had an extremely tired human.

"Yea, but we can't rest for too long. The gods above could only guess what my father will do when he discovers out treachery as well as the absence of this precious dragon eggs if he hasn't already found out" spoke Naruto as he closed his eyes. Before he fell asleep he pulled out Shruikan's egg and fumbled with it in his hand with a smile on his face. Even if he died he would be remembered for weakening his father enough for someone to kill him.

"That isn't something I am looking forward to, though hopefully someone kills him before he can kill us" spoke Murtagh as he glanced through cracked eyes over at Naruto and watched as he held the black egg. He had meant to ask him about it but he hadn't had the time.

"It really wouldn't be so bad to be killed on my father's orders, what would be horrible is if we were captured alive and brought back to UrĂ»'baen for torture" spoke Naruto as he looked over at Murtagh who was barely awake. He saw him eyeing the dragon egg and decided to mess with him. "Here hold onto this for me" spoke Naruto as he reached into the large back holding the dragon eggs and pulled one out only to give it to Murtagh.

Murtagh was shocked to say the least when Naruto had handed him a dragon egg, but his surprise quickly turned to anger. "Why would you give me this? You and I both know that there is no way a dragon would ever hatch for me and to add insult to injury you hand me a red dragon egg, the same color as my father's dragon" shouted Murtagh though it was kind of weak since he almost didn't have any strength left. He certainly wasn't expecting Naruto to start laughing.

"You have a much better chance than me of becoming a dragon rider" spoke Naruto as he held up his hand showing Murtagh the ring his father had given him which had the empire's royal family seal on it. "After all, my father is the reason the dragons are no more" laughed Naruto though it was hollow and filled with sadness.

"Sorry" spoke Murtagh as he dropped his head. He remembered the reason he and Naruto had become friends was because they were both scared shitless of their fathers and weren't treated very well by them either. Murtagh's father was more physically violent while Naruto's father took a sadistic pleasure in taking everything Naruto loved from him and then killing it or them. Come to think about it Murtagh was lucky he wasn't dead since he was Naruto's best friend.

"It's cool. I know your tired, hell so am I, so let's just drop it and catch a few Z's" spoke Naruto as he fell asleep as he leaned against the tree. Because of his shade blood he really didn't sleep very deeply. It was more like a strong daydream or a quick nap but that was all he needed to recharge his batteries.

"Alright I can sleep to that, but don't you think it would be ironic if we did actually become dragon riders? The son of one of the Foresworn and the son of the mad king teamed up to stop the destruction our father's had caused" joked Murtagh with a wistful tone in his voice. Naruto could tell he really wanted others to not see him for who his father was but for whom he was. Becoming a great rider for 'good' would obviously do that for him.

"Haha yea that would be a great sight, the sons of Alegasia's greatest villains teamed up to kill their fathers riding upon the same type of dragons their fathers had cut down so long ago on the road of revenge in both our own and the dragon's names. The pseudo immortality wouldn't be so bad either, so long as I had a good friend to spend that time with" spoke Naruto as he shifted his head a bit trying to get more comfortable. A cool wind blew against his face causing him to smile.

"What are you talking about you are immortal Mr. Shade" laughed Murtagh as he looked down at the red dragon egg in his hands. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life and he even entertained the thought of it hatching for him. He smiled a sad smile as he knew that would never happen.

"We don't know if I will live forever like Shades, Elves, and Dragons" spoke Naruto as he twirled the dragon egg in his hand before stopping it and marveling at the way the light bounced off of the dragon's reflexive shell "but it wouldn't hurt. I could spend eternity trying to stop my father and help whatever rider who is able to hatch these eggs kill him as well."

"Good idea" laughed Murtagh as sleep finally took him.

"I thought so" spoke Naruto as he to fell asleep.

XXX

Naruto and Murtagh awoke to the sound of heavy marching. At first they were not sure what it was but then they remembered what had happened the past few days and quickly jumped up and ran towards their horses.

Before they got to them Naruto grabbed Murtagh by the shirt and pulled him down while whispering a few words in the ancient language to make the horses transparent. It was a great spell for hiding but any magic user would be able you actually used magic so it was a double edged sword.

"What are you doing" whispered Murtagh furiously not understanding what was going on. He saw Naruto making a 'shushing' sound towards him so he shut his mouth. He felt something gently press against his conscience and slammed his shields into it as quickly as possible. That was when he felt Naruto slap him in the back of the head. He looked over at Naruto and saw the 'are you serious' look in his eyes and knew it was Naruto who had tried to contact him via the mind.

'Dumbass' was the first thing Naruto said as he gave Murtagh the 'you're a dumbass' look which caused Murtagh to glare at him.

'Fuck you' spoke Murtagh as he looked at Naruto with annoyance written all over his face. He wasn't happy at all. He was hot as hell; he had dirt in his mouth, grass in his eyes, and someone calling him a dumbass in his mind.

'This isn't the time. Slowly look up over in that direction' spoke Naruto as he pointed to their right. Murtagh did as he was told and raised his head a bit looking over the long grass but quickly pulled his head back down. Marching right there on the other side of the river was an entire clan of Urgals along with Kull.

'What the hell are they doing here' shouted Murtagh so loud through their mental connection that Naruto had to put up some of his own mental shields or else he would have gotten a serious migraine.

'Calm down you loud ass, jeeze. In case you have forgotten I am not physic, well I kind of am, but I can't predict the future and I am not all knowing so this doesn't count' replied Naruto as he glared at his best friend who returned it in full.

'Urgals, let along Kull, this close to the capital of the Empire is unheard of. What do you think they are doing' asked Murtagh trying to get their conversation on more appropriate levels. Naruto nodded his head and smiled a bit at his more serious side.

'I don't know, but I can feel an odd energy in the air. It feels like Durza and the Urgals are acting oddly obedient. Usually they are more energized than this but the looks on their faces say that they are solely focused on whatever task they have set out on' spoke Naruto as he examined the Urgal as they marched on by. It was rare to see one of the larger war bands to mobilize on this level.

'What should we do' asked Murtagh as he held onto the bow on his hip. It looked like one of the ones the empire soldiers used so Naruto figured he got it off of one of the three soldiers he helped Naruto kill.

'If Durza is involved then things are not good, because Durza as much as he hates it cannot defy my father so whatever he is doing has to have my father's schemes all over it. The only thing I can figure is they are using the Urgals to look for us but even if that were the truth then they would have had to already know that we were going to leave even before we did' spoke Naruto as he started to count the number of Kull and the number of regular Urgals.

'There is no way the Urgals would agree to whatever the king wanted. They hate him just as much as the Varden though they are more than happy to ignore him and continue bashing in each other's skulls' spoke Murtagh with venom in his voice. He didn't have any strong love for the Urgals that was for sure but honestly there was a time and a place for grudges.

'Do you think Durza is controlling them' asked Naruto more to himself than anything else. He knew Durza could do it if he wanted to but for what reason he had no idea since his father had a deep hatred for the Urgals so their purpose was unknown to him.

'It is possible, he isn't the most powerful shade but he is still a shade. More importantly did you notice which direction they were running' asked Murtagh as he started thinking very hard. Naruto looked over at him with a raised eye brow which made Murtagh sigh. 'They are running towards the Hadarac Desert, but the question is why?'

'I don't know the only thing on the other side of the Hadarac Desert is the Beor Mountains and Du Weldenvarden and I know an army of Urgals aren't even stupid enough to think they would be able to march in on the elves, not even my father is that stupid' spoke Naruto as he watched the fleeting image of the Urgals running off into the distance.

'So they are heading towards the Beor Mountains? That means their target is the dwarves, but why would the king care about them now? The dwarves went into seclusion a long time ago and haven't done anything to attract the attention of the empire' spoke Murtagh as he mounted up on his horse. The horse seemed much happier than it had in recent days.

'No not the dwarves, the Varden' spoke Naruto with a surprised mental voice. He hadn't thought about the Varden much since his father viewed them more as a joke than any real threat. It seemed that his father was done playing with them.

"What should we do? If the Urgals take out the Varden then the king will take out the Urgals which will only leave the dwarves though how long they will last against them is up for debate. Once they are taken care of the king will amass his armies and march on the elves. The elves are strong but they won't be able to stand up to the combined might of empire once he takes over the rest of Alegasia" spoke Murtagh as he looked over at Naruto with a worried look in his eyes. He really didn't want the empire to completely take over or else they were completely screwed.

"We have got to do something" spoke Naruto as he got up on his stolen horse and got comfortable in the saddle. He couldn't say that the captain who rode him before Naruto was that great but the horse certainly was. His saddle was soft and he rode with such grace that it really shocked him.

"Like what? You want to fight the Urgals face to face and get slaughtered or do you think we can out run the Urgals, find the Varden, warn them of the attack, and not get killed by either the Urgals, the Varden, or possibly Durza" asked Murtagh incredulously as he looked at Naruto like he was stupid. He wasn't going to go to the Varden to save them as he would be the one who ended up being killed because of who his father was.

"If we could kill Durza then the Urgals will be free of his control and will turn on one another. There is no way they will stay together once they are free of Durza's magic. If we kill Durza the Varden will be safe as will the elves and dwarves" spoke Naruto as he started ridding off across the grasslands towards the last place he could see the Urgals as they were running. Murtagh spurred on his own horse to catch up with Naruto.

"Are you crazy? Naruto I know your strong, maybe you are as strong as Durza, but even still he has an army of Urgals on his side. There is no way we will be able to kill him while he is surrounded by them" spoke Murtagh as he and Naruto rode their horses towards the Hadarac Desert at full speed. Murtagh groaned as he felt the hot air of the desert brush up against his face. He wasn't one for hot and dry it just wasn't his thing.

"You forget If Durza really is controlling them then his powers will be stretched thin trying to control the Urgals. He will be severely weakened when we catch up to him, enough so I will be able to kill him" spoke Naruto as he continued to spur his horse on. He could already see the ground starting to turn from lush grass into hard earth. Soon the earth would be sand and they would be officially in the Hadarac Desert.

"Even so he will still have an ARMY on his side. How do you expect to get close to him while surrounded by massive Kull? We would be dead before we even saw Durza and even if we did get to him it's not like you could just kill him just like that. It would take time, something an army of Urgals wouldn't give us" spoke Murtagh as he watched Naruto start moving even faster towards the Urgal army.

"If we just blend in by wearing their armor we could get close enough to Durza to kill him. All we would have to do is kill a scout party and we would be in" shouted Naruto as he spurred his horse onwards.

"You're impossible! At least let's stop by Bullridge to get some supplies" shouted Murtagh as he stopped his horse and changed direction.

"Urgh the fate of Alegasia may be in our hands and you want to take a giant detour for a few supplies" shouted Naruto as he started following Murtagh. By now it was getting late and the sun was starting to sink in the sky.

"Unlike you I need to eat every day to keep my strength up. I don't have a shade for a mother" shouted Murtagh as he and his horse charged on towards the city of Bullridge. Naruto just huffed a bit but ignored his annoyance to follow his friend.

They ran in silence for hours on end not talking to one another as the horses ran across patches of sand and grass. Bullridge was at the edge of a river that bordered the Hadarac Desert so it was kind of a highway for people coming and going from the Hadarac Desert though they were still kind of few.

By early the next morning the horses were tired but they had served their purpose and gotten them to Bullridge. The town was kind of small having mainly a small fishing trade and a large farming trade to keep them afloat. The buildings were kind of old and in disrepair but nothing major. They had an odd look to them though. Instead of being made from wood like most houses they seemed to be made of sand that was formed into the shapes of houses with weird curved tiles on the roofs for shingles.

"You go get your supplies while I go get a drink" spoke Naruto as he threw up a hood over his head to hide his face. Murtagh did the same but then let out a sigh.

"I don't have very much money because my escape was sort of rushed and Tornac had most of our money on him. We will have to spend our money wisely" spoke Murtagh as he showed Naruto a small purse that only had a few gold crowns in it.

"Here I was able to grab a few things while I was in my father's vault" spoke Naruto as he passed Murtagh a larger bag full of golden crowns, rubies, diamonds, and other jewels that were of great value.

"This is perfect now we won't have to eat dried horse meet" spoke Murtagh but then his horse made a weird sound. "I wouldn't eat you" spoke Murtagh which got him an appreciative sound from his horse.

"Weird, but yea something other than horse meet would be appreciated" spoke Naruto as he walked towards a large tavern with doors that didn't touch the ground and had where set up with hinges on the side so they easily opened up.

"Gotcha" spoke Murtagh as he walked off to go find a place that would sell them some supplies.

As Naruto entered the tavern he was greeted with odd looks of curiosity, confusion, and a look that said they were gaging whether or not he was worth robing. The tavern was dark and only had a few candles sitting on some of the walls and a few of the tables giving the tavern a dim lit look that would have hid many of the more shady people who were sitting in the corners but the darkness wasn't an enemy of Naruto's eyes.

Naruto walked over to the bar and looked up at the bar tender and nodded his head. The bartender, a large man with bulking muscles and only one eye nodded his head and walked off to get Naruto his drink. As Naruto was waiting on his drink he heard something that really interested him.

"Did you hear? They say that a new rider has been spotted in Alegasia and it isn't the king's dragon" spoke a shady man at the other end of the tavern in a hushed whisper but Naruto's hearing was way better than any humans and could hear him with ease.

"Yea I heard the dragon was truly fearsome and that its rider was a monster with a sword" spoke another man who was sitting with two other men.

"I heard that the dragon is as blue as a sapphire and its rider has the strength of ten men and is faster than the eyes could see" spoke the last man as he started to scratch his beard.

"Yea they say that they were last seen flying out towards the Hadarac Desert. Maybe the dragon rider is planning on joining the Varden" spoke the first man again. Naruto nearly fell out of his chair when he heard this last piece of information.

'So that is what the Urgals were chasing after' thought Naruto as he drained his ale and put his money on the table. After that he quickly rushed out of the tavern to go look for Murtagh. He found him five minutes later in what looked like a shouting match with a guard. Naruto quickly knocked out the guard and drug Murtagh away.

"Dude what are you doing" demanded Murtagh as he slapped Naruto's hand away from his shirt. He had been trying to get a few extra things for the stupid trip Naruto was about to force him on that he just knew was going to get them both killed.

"I found out why the Urgals were moving so fast towards the desert" spoke Naruto with glee in his voice. He seemed like a child who had figured out how to put his first puzzle together.

"Really? What is it" asked Murtagh as he looked over at Naruto. They were walking towards their horses that they had tied up to go do their business in the city. The horses seemed alright but they both knew they would have to be taking it easy as the horses would need time to recover from their long trip.

"I overheard some people talking in the tavern about a ferocious dragon and rider who were flying out towards the desert. That must be what the Urgals are chasing! Durza must be trying to kill this new rider at my father's request" spoke Naruto as he checked to make sure the dragon eggs were still in the bag on his horse. Murtagh had taken to carrying the red egg but Naruto kept the other ones. Naruto did notice that Murtagh was strangely attached to that red egg.

"So the blue egg that Galbatorix is so fascinated by did finally hatch for a new rider. The rider is obviously not safe in the empire so leaving was smart but by leaving he is making it official that he is against Galbatorix which is not very smart" spoke Murtagh as he and Naruto ran off into the desert. He wasn't thinking that running into the freezing desert during the night were sand storms were frequent as well as the dangers of the Urgals was very smart either but he didn't want Naruto to start making fun of him for bitching like he used to when they were kids.

"Yea he doesn't seem very smart but remember he got past the empire and made it into the desert all by himself so he can't be too stupid, though us stealing from my dad and running away doesn't make us look that smart either" spoke Naruto as he looked out into the desert and groaned a bit himself. He hated when things didn't change and running across a desert that all looked the same for days on end would surely dive him insane. He heard Murtagh grumble something but just ignored it knowing he was always a grumpy guy.

Naruto was right in that the ride through the desert sucked the big one. The sand that was kicked up by the monstrous winds pelted their eyes causing them to squint but even that didn't help much and the grains felt like tiny stingers that were constantly attacking them. When the wind wasn't blowing sand up in their eyes it was still and unmoving making the overhead sun unbearable. Murtagh was sunburned in the areas where his clothes didn't cover and although Naruto didn't burn and was immune to a good deal of the heat the blinding sun was still a killer.

The worst part of all by far though was Murtagh. After the first day all he did was bitch. It had been his nickname when they were kids and he hated it but it was usually really good because he would stop bitching when someone would say 'shut up lil bitch' which was always funny to watch. He complained about how hot it was during the day, how cold he was during the night, how the sun was blinding him, how his back hurt from all the horse riding, etc. All he did was bitch and honestly Naruto was contemplating turning him into a shade just to shut him up.

"Hey Murtagh I think were about half way there" spoke Naruto as he saw a large mountain out in the distance. He had seen plenty of maps of Alegasia and knew that there were two groups of mountains in the center of the Hadarac desert. They were like the oasis in the desert.

"Great now I can finally get out of this hellish heat" spoke Murtagh with little less than a grumble. He had been a pain in the ass for the past few days now as they searched for the Urgals. They didn't know were in the mountains the Varden was so they just figured they would search around.

Naruto just sighed and ushered his horse on towards the mountains. When they got there they quickly found a small lake with trees and grass surrounding it with plenty of shade. They all rushed over and began drinking the pure oasis water until they fell back and relaxed under an open palm tree. Naruto looked over at Murtagh and used the ancient language to heal his sun burn.

"Thanks" spoke Murtagh losing the annoying tone in his voice that had been there for so long. He truly seemed grateful and began to fiddle with the red dragon egg.

"You're welcome. Sorry about dragging you out here" spoke Naruto as he played with Shruikan's dragon egg. He couldn't wait to see how happy Shruikan would be with a real rider. He could only hope that the rider would treat Shruikan how he deserved to be treated.

"It is cool" spoke Murtagh as he put the egg down and began to drink some water from his flask.

"Hey do" but that was as far as Naruto got before a loud cheep cut him off.

"What was that" asked Murtagh but then another cheeping sound came from the other side of Murtagh.

"What is going on" asked Naruto as he stood up.

"I'm not sure" said Murtagh as he did the same.

"Cheep cheep cheep" came to the ears of Naruto and Murtagh but then their eyes went wide as they looked down at the dragon eggs that were starting to roll around.

"There is no way" spoke Naruto as he watched cracks starting to form in the dragon eggs

"That we could become" continued Murtagh as he watched the eggs basically explode revealing small yet cute lizards with large wings that could only mean one thing.

"Dragon riders" spoke both Murtagh and Naruto at the same time as they watched the two dragons walking around bumping into things while making cheeping noises.

"Naruto tell me I am not dreaming" spoke Murtagh not being able to remove his eyes from the two dragons that were in front of him.

"I really hope not" was Naruto only reply as he knelt down and looked at the baby dragon. Its little scaly black head swiftly turned around to look at him with deep glacier blue eyes that bellowed its intelligence.

Naruto stuck out his hand very slowly intending to pet it. The dragon sniffed Naruto's hand for a second before rubbing its head against Naruto's left hand like a cat making cute purring sounds. Unfortunately for Naruto who was sent flying across the ground and into a tree the experience wasn't as fun for him. Every muscle in his body was in pain and it felt like ice water was rushing through his veins. When Naruto was finally able to move her brought up his left hand and saw what appeared to be a small silver dragon wrapped around his index finger.

"Hey murt" but that was as far as Naruto got before he heard a yip sound and saw Murtagh go flying into the opposite direction. He saw the smug look on the red dragon's face and knew that it had chosen Murtagh to be his rider like the black dragon had chosen him.

"Yea" was the painful reply that Murtagh gave him.

"It looks like irony has a sense of humor" shouted Naruto as he began to laugh.

All Murtagh could do is start laughing. This hellish adventure had really turned things around for him and his friend and now it looked like they would become great legends.