8/12/12 Alright guys! Who's ready to learn more about one of the newest characters to the IC? Because chapter 6 is ALL about the Urgal Rider Raiga and her beloved dragon Criiztak. In this chapter, I try as best as I can to further develop Raiga and Criiztak's characters so that they fit the Urgal culture appropriately. I admit, this is one of the tougher chapters I've written, as I'm not very familiar with the Urgal culture, despite having read all four books of the IC. But not only was this chapter one of the tougher one's to write, but it was a hell of a lot of fun to write. Why was this chapter fun? Because not only do you guys get to learn more about Raiga and Criiztak's characters, but you also get to see them grow on their journey. And on their journey isn't exactly without its dangers, as you'll find out in this exciting chapter. Hope you enjoy the read guys!
8/20/2012 Chapter edited slightly with a bit more content, some error corrections, deleted repeated and unnecessary words, grammatical fixes, etc.
10/12/12 Chapter thoroughly edited with many more grammatical corrections, fixed repeated or missing words, modified quite a few sentences, etc. Chapter is in final draft stage.
6/13/12
Eldäriän
By: Filip Lesiczka
This story was written by Filip Lesiczka. Please do not reproduce or distribute without permission.
This story is in no way affiliated with Christopher Paolini, the Inheritance Cycle or Alfred A. Knopf. This is a fan fiction. No part of this story is associated with the happenings and events of the Inheritance Cycle. This is just my version of a continuation to the story that Christopher Paolini has completed. I am only providing answers for myself, and so many other fans who feel justice hasn't been served for an amazing series of books. All names and characters mentioned in the Inheritance Cycle are copyrighted to Christopher Paolini and Knopf. No copyright infringement is intended in this story. I own only the names and characters that I have created for this story. Again this is only a fan fiction, and I aim to only provide entertainment for myself and many fans, as well as closure.
Chapter 6
Strength of a Thousand Men
Criiztak landed heavily on dried grassy ground just on the edge of a small stand of trees. The light blue dragon walked over to the stand of trees and dropped on his belly to the ground in the shade. He rest his head on the ground as he panted heavily, having flown non-stop for an entire day and night.
Raiga slowly slid out of the crude saddle on Criiztak's back, tired and cold from the long journey. She was hungry and sore as well, for she had not eaten since the day they left her father and the Urgal caravan to embark on their journey. It was the first time in her life she was truly away from her people, away from the arguing and bickering. It was also the first time Criiztak had flown through an entire day and night.
As soon as her left foot touched solid ground, Raiga collapsed onto the hard and dried grass below. She rolled over onto her back and spread her arms out on either side of her. Criiztak opened one lilac eye when he heard her fall to the ground. He reached out his mind to her and spoke in the Urgal language, Are you alright, my dear little huntress?
Raiga closed her eyes and slowly nodded her head, unable to muster enough energy to speak. For once Raiga was both physically and mentally exhausted. The cold had sapped much of the energy from her as well as her muscles. Sitting on the back of a dragon for one day and night had caused many of her muscles to tighten and cramp up, making it hard to move. The lack of sleep had also drained her mentally as she was not used to flying for long periods of time, particularly at night.
But Raiga knew that Criiztak was just as exhausted from the long flight, for he had done most of the work to get them where they were. She knew that Criiztak would need food and water if he was to keep moving forward to their destination.
Slowly, Raiga picked herself up off the ground. Her sore muscles protested by burning every time she moved and exerted them. But she was partially used to this kind of physical pain, as her father had trained her in endurance from the day she was able to walk. Her father was strict about maintaining physical fitness and ignoring pain and soreness was key to not just fitness, but survival as well. If there was one thing that Raiga valued from her time among her people, it was everything that her father had taught her. She valued her training as a warrior more than anything, despite being a female.
Raiga stood up onto her feet and held her arms out to steady herself on her wobbly legs. She looked towards Criiztak, who was still panting heavily. Each time the light blue dragon drew a breath, it sounded like a wind blowing through a narrow tunnel of a cave. Raiga smiled, happy that she had Criiztak with her. Criiztak was the only thing that truly mattered to her in her young life. He was the only thing she's ever held dear to her heart and he was the very thing that gave her a sense of purpose.
I am going to search for food and water, Raiga said as she gently brushed her mind against Criiztak's. Criiztak only responded by opening his left eye halfway to briefly look at her before closing his eye again.
Raiga turned her head towards the trees. Although it was only a small stand of leafy trees in the middle of dried grass and scrublands, it was very dark within the trees. Raiga glanced up towards the sun; it was midday.
She looked back, took a deep breath and walked forward into the trees. No sooner had she walked passed the trunks of the outer trees, Raiga immediately fell into darkness. She lifted her left hand up in front of her face, but could not even see it even though it was a mere few inches from her nose.
Be careful, Criiztak said to her. Raiga glanced over her towards Criiztak. He was watching her nervously as she walked further and further into the darkness. I do not believe I will be able to help you in time if something happens. Be alert, my little huntress.
Raiga looked back into the darkness, Do not fear for me. I shall return to you with food soon. Her eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkness with each cautious step she took. Soon she was able to make out the straight forms of the trunks around her, allowing her to navigate through the maze of dark trees. As she advanced deeper into the darkness, Raiga kept her hand on the hilt of her dagger.
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Twenty minutes had passed since she had entered the perpetual darkness. Though her eyes had by that time adjusted to the darkness, Raiga still had trouble navigating among the hulking tree trunks. She often stumbled over the tangled network of exposed roots above ground. Still she remained vigilant of every little sound around her and kept her right hand firmly on the hilt of her dagger.
Then, Raiga stepped around from behind a rather large tree trunk and out of the darkness of the forest. She put her hand up to shield her eyes from the bright sunlight. She blinked several times before she looked up to see where the sunlight was coming from. There was a large opening within the canopy of the dark trees, allowing a good amount of sunlight to shine down on the ground below.
Raiga took another step forward into the sunlight and lowered her hand. Directly in front of her, in the center of the sunlit area was a small circular pond. A few small cattails grew in small clusters around the edge of the crystal clear waters. Raiga could hear frogs croaking somewhere by the waters edge, a sound she had heard many times before and was all too familiar with.
But as she took another step further into the light, Raiga became aware of another sound, one she was not familiar with. It was almost like a panting noise, but sounded closer to that of a mixture of the hissing and spitting of a snake. She froze upon hearing the sound, trying to distinguish from where the sound was coming from. As she scanned the edge of the sunlit area around the pond, Raiga nervously but carefully edged back into the darkness and hid among the tangle of tree roots.
She sat in the cover of the roots and darkness as she nervously waited for whatever creature there was to emerge somewhere from the darkness. She grew tense with every passing second, gripping the handle of her dagger tighter and tighter, unaware that her knuckles had gone numb.
The strange hissing spit sounds continued to approach closer, echoing softly back and forth among the silent tree trunks. Raiga knew that it was the distinct hissing of a snake, as well as the spitting noise they made, but she had never heard a snake quite as loud as what she was hearing.
As she watched the far edge of the darkness on the opposite side of the pond, Raiga thought she could see something moving; she thought she had seen sunlight reflect off some kind of smooth surface within the darkness. She squinted, trying to catch a glimpse of what she thought she had seen. All the while, Raiga's anxiety grew more and more as she kept her eyes transfixed on that one spot of darkness on the other side of the pond. Not one muscle in Raiga's body moved nor twitched at all.
Then, a dark and slender form emerged from the darkness, almost seemingly to detach from the darkness from which it stepped out of. Raiga's eye's widened in awe upon seeing the creature. She also felt something she had never once before felt in her life; fear. The very sight of the dark and slender creature sent a fearful chill running down her spin.
More and more details of the creature came into view as it stepped further into the sunlight. The creature walked in an upright position on two legs, albeit the upper body being slightly hunched forward. It stood on legs that closely resembled those of the lizards Raiga had seen in the plains below the mountains of The Spine. The feet, however, were similar to those of a mountain-lions feet, with short toes and large talons on the end of each toe, albeit the feet were slightly more bulky around the ankles than those of the lions. A long slender tail slid out of the darkness on the ground behind the creature; the tail was easily twice as long has the creatures body length.
The creature stepped further into the sunlight, revealing that its entire body was covered with many small and smooth black scales.
Raiga's eyes went up from the creature's lower body, up its very slender and snake-like belly before meeting its upper body and torso. Where the snake-like belly ended, a very wide and human-like torso began. The arms were long and muscular, with claws adorning the tips of each finger. A dead hare hung limply in the grip of its left hand.
Then, Raiga saw the head of the creature, which sat on the end of an elongated, snake-like neck. Its jaws were parted, exposing the soft pink tissue of its mouth. A row of backwards curved needle-like teeth lined the edge of its jaws and a pair of long fangs protruded from its upper jaw. A long, very slender forked tongue hung from its mouth, the tips of the forks twitching with each hissing-spit pant. The creature's unblinking eyes were very serpentine, the pupils being elongated vertical slits and the head being shaped like that of a snake.
That's when Raiga finally realized that she was looking at a tall, serpentine humanoid creature. The serpentine humanoid was a frightful sight, but a magnificently frightful sight at that. Never had Raiga seen such a creature before nor had she ever heard of any descriptions of a creature that resembled what she saw before her.
The serpentine creature took a few more steps closer to the pond before it released its hold on the dead hare. The hare hit the ground at the edge of the pond with a soft thump just as the creature dropped forward onto its hands into the water. It extended its neck forward, dipped its lower jaw into the clear water and proceeded to slurp up mouthfuls of water.
Raiga watched the creature with fearful awe. Every instinct told her to get away, to leave the creature unaware of her presence, but her feet refused to move from where she crouched behind an uplifted root. She hadn't realized that she had broken into a cold sweat until a droplet of sweat had rolled down the bridge of her nose and dripped from the tip of her nose, falling to the ground and hitting the dirt with a silent pat.
No sooner had the droplet of sweat hit the ground did the creature stop, close its jaws and look up in the direction of where Raiga crouched behind the root. Raiga gripped the handle of her dagger even tighter when the creature looked directly at her for a brief few seconds. She had to get out of there, but her feet refused to move. Raiga slowly and quietly unsheathed her dagger as the creature continued to look around, searching for the source of the noise it had heard.
Still frozen with fear and keeping her eye on the creature, Raiga lowered the point of the black bladed dagger until the tip touched her right thigh. She hesitated as she contemplated what she was about to do, but she knew it was necessary if she was to even have a chance at sneaking away unnoticed. She bit her lower lip, slowly drew a silent deep breath and with all the strength she could muster, plunged the eight and a half inch blade of the dagger halfway into her thigh.
Raiga shut her eyes tightly as the pain shot up through the whole of her leg. However, fearing that the creature may have somehow spotted her, she opened her eyes and looked up towards the beast. To her relief, she had remained undetected. She watched as it flicked out its forked tongue several times, batting up and down a few times before retreating back between the creatures jaws.
The serpentine creature lowered its head down and resumed gulping up the crystal clear water. Raiga quietly exhaled and fell forward onto her knees, her feet finally free from her fear driven paralysis. She drew quick breaths, fighting off the urge to cry out or groan in pain as she pulled her dagger free from her thigh. She quickly wiped the blood from the dagger onto the skirt of her hide tunic to prevent any loose drops from falling to the ground.
I must leave at once, Raiga thought to herself as she turned to head away from the sunlit pond and leave the strange serpentine beast alone. This place is too dangerous for a lone hunter like myself.
She made as little noise as she possibly could as she limped back into the darkness. Putting weight on her right leg sent shocks of pain up her leg and spine, as well as producing gushes of warm blood from the fresh wound.
But Raiga hadn't made it a few steps from where she had been crouching when suddenly, something smooth wrapped around her neck. She gagged as she was instantly yanked back, her feet lifting off the ground from the amount of power behind whatever was pulling her back. Then she was thrown to the ground into the sunlight and into the waters at the edge of the pond, the dagger falling free from her grip. Raiga grabbed at whatever had wrapped around her neck and attempted to pry it off. But her struggles only served to cause it to squeeze tighter around her neck, choking her.
Then, a long, drawn out hissing and high-toned masculine voice spoke, "Ssssssoooo, you've been watching meeeeee." Raiga looked up to see the serpentine creature standing up, its slender snake head angled downwards so that it could look at her directly in the eye. The creature took two steps towards Raiga and pulled her closer towards it with its long tail, which was what was wrapped around her neck. "Very few have ever ventured thisssss far into theeese woodsss, esssspecially your kind." The snake-like creature stopped and bent down, balancing itself on the balls of its powerful lion-like feet. It rested its forearms on top of its thighs and clasped its hands together, waiting for Raiga's response.
Raiga was surprised by the shear power in the creatures tail. She was surprised more so by its ability to even speak. Being this close now to the creature, Raiga could see just how closely its head resembled a snake, much like the corn snakes she had occasionally seen in the woodland forests of The Spine.
"What bringssss an Urgal heeeere?" the creature asked, its unblinking snake eyes staring down at her.
But Raiga remained silent, unable to understand its words. Instead, she contemplated her situation, thinking of how she might possibly get herself out of it. But she could not think of any means of escaping without getting herself killed. Is this how it's going to happen? Raiga thought to herself as her life flashed before her eyes. Am I going to die at the hands of some unknown creature?
"Not the converssssational type, are weeeee?" the creature asked. "No matter. Your kind issssn't very bright to begin with. You brutessss wouldn't entertain a wereserpent like mysssself in a conversssation anyway."
Though Raiga was not familiar with the human language, which the creature spoke fluently, she was sure that the word 'wereserpent' was what the creature called itself. She knew from listening to Nar Garzhvog speak with humans that the word 'serpent' was another word for snake. But what a wereserpent was, Raiga had no idea. She'd heard about werecat's before, but nothing like the predator that crouched over her now.
Raiga began to struggle again, not so much out of fear, but more so out of the urge to continue to live. No! I will not die here! she thought to herself angrily as the fear in her heart was replaced with renewed courage. She thought about Criiztak and how alone he would be if she were to die there, I won't die in a dark place such as this at the hands of this drajl! She released her hold on the wereserpents tail and swung her fists up at the wereserpents head. But the wereserpent simply avoided her attacks by arching its long neck upwards and pulling its head back.
The wereserpent let out a soft hissing-like laugh, "Ahhhh, I seeee the fear has left you. You are a brave ssssoul indeeeed, for very few have found the courage to fight back against a wereserpent." It squeezed its tail tighter, causing Raiga to pry at the powerful tail once more, "But it's uselesssss. I am the predator and you are the prey."
The words predator and prey were familiar to her ears, as her Nar Garzhvog had used it many time when speaking with a dragon whom he called Firetongue. Raiga let out a choked snarl and spit up at the wereserpent. Her spit hit its mark on the top of the wereserpents head, giving Raiga a bit of satisfaction.
This caused the wereserpent to constrict its tail even tighter and hiss angrily, "You've got gutssss kid, I'll give you that. But your life issss at its end!" With that, the wereserpent suddenly struck its head forward with its jaws wide open, its two large upper fangs gleaming with saliva in the sunlight.
At the same time, Raiga also struck at the wereserpent with her right hand, the hand with the gedwëy ignasia. She felt something well up inside of her, some kind of unfamiliar energy the likes of which she had never felt before.
Her hand met the tip of the wereserpents snout. She shouted, "Ghalvuq!" which meant 'away' in her language.
Suddenly, there was a flash of blue light, followed by a soft bang. At the same time the wereserpents tail released its hold on her neck and the beast was sent flying back into the air. The wereserpent let out a surprised spitting noise as it was sent backwards about ten meters through the air, its body impacting the trunk of a large tree with a strong thump that Raiga could hear.
The strange energy that Raiga had felt moments before faded no sooner had she uttered the word, and she began to feel drained of energy again. As she coughed and gasped for breath, she glanced down at her right palm. The strange silvery mark that had appeared when she first touched Criiztak was glowing slightly.
Then her thoughts returned to the dangerous predator before her again, which lay sprawled out beneath the trunk of the tree it had hit. Without another thought, Raiga sprang to her feet, causing pain to shoot up through her right leg again. But she ignored the pain as she stooped down to pick up her dagger, and charged towards the wereserpent.
As the wereserpent rolled over onto its belly and placed its hands on the ground to pick itself up, Raiga bellowed as she leaped up into the air over the beast, her dagger held high above her head in both hands. The wereserpent barely had time to turn its head to look up before Raiga came down on top of it with the dagger, sinking the full length of the blade into the beast's skull. The wereserpents head was pinned to the ground, as the blade had gone out the soft underside of its lower jaw and sunk into the ground.
Raiga scrambled over the wereserpent and straddled its slender neck with her knees on the ground as she put all of her upper body weight onto the black gem pommel of the dagger.
The wereserpent hissed loudly as it began to thrash about. It reached up with its clawed hands, scratching at Raiga's arms as it tried to pull her off its neck. Blood ran down from the scratches on Raiga's arms and ribcage, and soaked into the ground beneath her and the wereserpent. Its clawed feet dug into the ground as it attempted to stand up and its tail whipped and flailed about wildly.
"I don't know what you are," Raiga shouted in her language, "but I am the predator and you are my prey today, drajl!" With that, Raiga took a firm grip of the daggers hilt and twisted it clockwise with all her might.
Upon twisting the blade, the wereserpent immediately stopped moving. Only its tail continued to twitch wildly.
Raiga leaned forward until her mouth was level with the wereserpents unblinking left eye. Her long black hair fell forward over her eyes as she spoke in a hushed voice to the wereserpent, "Even the hunter may become the hunted." Pushing back on the pommel of the dagger, Raiga leaned back up as a long drawn out dying hiss escaped from the wereserpent. Blood began to ooze out from between its jaws. Then, its body went limp and collapsed back onto the ground. The only part of it still moving was its twitching tail. But that did not concern Raiga, for she knew that a snake's tail will continue to move, even after it was dead.
Raiga sighed, relieved that her harrowing experience was finally over. With a grunt, she wrenched the dagger from the wereserpents skull, wiping the blood from the black dagger onto the side of the wereserpents head.
"I still have much to live for," she said to the dead beast as she thought of Criiztak, "and no amount of monsters will ever stop me from moving forward. I will cut down every single monster that dares stand in my way…and you're just the first of many." Raiga slammed her black dagger back into its sheath as she stood up. Pain shot up through her right leg once more, but Raiga shrugged it off as she looked towards the pond, her eyes falling upon the corpse of the hare on the opposite bank.
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Raiga stumbled over an uplifted root as she made her way towards the edge of the woods. She could see the outside world; a single sliver of light and parched grassland framed by the black shadows of two trees. The open grasslands through the trees was a relieving sight for Raiga. Never had she been happier to see open land and sky.
The rabbit swayed side to side at Raiga's hip, where she had tied its hind legs to the leather belt around her waist. Behind her, Raiga dragged the heavy corpse of the wereserpent by the tail. Despite her smaller size compared to the wereserpent, Raiga dragged the dead beast over the tree roots with relative ease thanks to her strength. As she dragged it over the root she had stumbled over, the wereserpents head slid limply over the root and hit the ground with a "thunk".
As she emerged into the sunlight, Raiga squinted as the intense light blinded her. She released her hold of the tail with her left hand to bring it up and shield her eyes from the intense light. She pulled with all her might and dragged the whole corpse of the wereserpent into the sunlight.
Still shielding her eyes from the sunlight, Raiga glanced over her left shoulder, but only saw the vast open grasslands. Glancing to her right, she saw more open grasslands. Criiztak was no where to be seen. Worry gripped her, but Raiga remained as calm as she could.
Perhaps he has moved somewhere else, Raiga thought to herself as she searched for Criiztak's mind. She happened to chance a glance upwards upon feeling his mind. But just as she was going to ask him where he was, a dark object fell directly in front of her with a sickening thump, causing Raiga to jump back.
Looking down at the object at her feet, Raiga instantly recognized it as one of the same monsters she had slain only a little while before. It was another wereserpent, only this one was much more stockier than the one she killed and of a brown-tan color.
The brown beast stirred, shifting its narrow and slender head to look at Raiga. It feebly reached out a clawed hand towards Raiga. But its arm and head dropped back down to the ground as it let out an abrupt sighing hiss as its life began fading from its crumpled form.
Raiga looked up in time to see Criiztak descending down in a soft incline from a low hanging cloud. Raiga smiled when she saw him heading towards her, but the smile was short-lived. Criiztak was twisting and turning in the air, turning his head this way and that as he roared in anger. She saw something she did not want to see.
Criiztak landed and trotted a few yards before coming to a halt. A wereserpent clung to his back, clawing at his sides with its hands and digging its hind claws in between his scales and into his hide, causing Criiztak to roar and hiss angrily with pain. Another wereserpent clung from the neck spikes on the back of his neck just halfway between his head and his shoulders. It kicked out its lower legs, trying to dig its hind claws into his throat.
Raiga released her hold on the dead wereserpents tail and set off into a full on charge towards Criiztak, pulling the dagger out of its sheath. Pain shot up through her right leg with each step, but she did not register the pain, as she was only focused on one thing; helping Criiztak.
Criiztak hissed in pain and pure rage as the wereserpent on his back dug its hind claws further into his hide. He then tucked his wings tightly against his sides as he fell over onto his side. For a moment, Raiga feared the worst that the damage the wereserpents had inflicted on him was far worse than what she could see. But that soon went away when he rolled all the way onto his back, crushing the wereserpent under his weight.
However, this gave the wereserpent clinging to his neck the opportunity to latch its hind claws to his throat. As he rolled back onto his feet, Criiztak looked down, intending to snap his jaws shut on the annoying creature. Instead, the wereserpent used its powerful legs to climb up his neck, grab the horn on the right side of his head and up onto his head. As it hoisted itself up, the wereserpent swiped upwards at Criiztak's right eye with its free hand.
He barely had enough time to close his eye as the wereserpents inch and a half long claws found their mark. The claws traveled up from his lip at a diagonal angle towards his horn, leaving behind four thin parallel wounds that began above his upper lip, ran over his eye and ended about two or three inches above his eye.
Although Criiztak managed to close his eye in time, he let out a cry of pain as blood began to ooze from the new wounds. The wereserpent let out a satisfied hiss as it perched up on top of his head, holding onto his horns to keep itself from being thrown off.
Raiga reached her mind out to Criiztak, but she could only feel his blind rage and hatred of the annoying and nimble creature that was easily inflicting wounds on him. Still, Raiga called out to him with her mind, Criiztak! I come! Lower your head!
She hoped that he had heard her, even in his rage. She was only a few yards away when Criiztak lowered his head down closer to the ground.
Raiga closed the few yards between them and leaped up the right side of Criiztak's head.
The wereserpent was so focused on priding itself in the fact that it had subdued something far larger than itself that by the time it noticed Raiga, it was already too late.
Raiga thrust the dagger upwards with all her might, and the blade slipped up through the soft flesh of the wereserpents lower jaw, with two inches of the blade emerging from the top of its skull. As Raiga passed over Criiztak's head, she pulled with what little remaining strength she had left on the dagger, and the wereserpents body followed after her.
As her feet hit the ground, Raiga crouched forward, and brought the wereserpent over her shoulder, slamming it head first into the ground. The wereserpents body followed afterwards, hitting the ground and sprawling out in front of Raiga, its tail pointing out in the direction she faced. Raiga quickly stood up, and in a split second had lifted up her left leg and stomped down on the gem pummel of the dagger, sinking the entire dagger through the wereserpents skull.
"That's what you get for harming Criiztak, drajl!" Raiga snarled angrily. She lifted her foot and brought it down forcefully again on the wereserpents lower jaw, crushing its entire skull. Again, she lifted her foot up and brought it down upon the wereserpents under jaw. And then she stopped, huffing heavily as she realized that this wasn't her rage that she was using; Criiztak's rage had bled into her mind, over powering her senses and blinding her.
All the while Criiztak had been watching, surprised not by the fact that Raiga had been able to dispatch the wereserpent, but by the fact that she still had all this raw strength left in her. In all his time he had been with her, he'd never known her to possess such incredible amounts of strength. It was as if she alone had the strength of a thousand Urgals.
Still huffing heavily, Raiga spoke directly to Criiztak, "What happened, Criiztak? Are you alright"
Criiztak blinked, arched his neck upward and brought his head closer to Raiga, I believe I should be asking you that question, Raiga. You're severely injured.
Raiga grunted as she kicked the now dead wereserpents head to one side to expose the handle of her dagger, which was covered with gore and blood and buried up to the hilt in the ground. She crouched down and pulled the dagger free from the ground, "I'm fine. It's nothing I can't handle." She stood up and turned to face Criiztak. Her stern gaze softened upon seeing the worry in Criiztak's eyes, and stepped over to his right eye. Blood still trickled from the fresh parallel wounds. "What happened here?" she asked as she gently placed her hand above the wounds, causing Criiztak's closed eye to wince.
They emerged from the forest as I rested, Criiztak replied. The surprised me by jumping on my back, trying to bite me. But their long teeth only broke on my scales. I took to the air to try to shake them off but-
He was cut short when a loud hissing shriek erupted from the woods. Raiga spun around, her dagger ready. But fear gripped her when she saw what emerged from the darkness of the woods.
At least twenty or thirty wereserpents charged at them on all fours.
"They don't just hunt in packs," Raiga said as she realized something upon seeing the hoard of wereserpents, "they hunt as a whole community!"
Quickly! Criiztak said. On my back!
Raiga was already halfway in the saddle by the time Criiztak finished his sentence. As she finished securing the last straps around her thighs, and Criiztak unfurled his wings, she pointed down to the dead wereserpent, "Take this thing! We may have need of it!"
Why? Criiztak said as he hesitated to pick up the snake-like creature.
"Just take it!" Raiga bellowed.
Criiztak obeyed and wrapped his claws around the limp wereserpents waist, then leaped into the air.
However, a slim wereserpent that had pulled ahead of the rest of the hoard leaped up after Criiztak, reaching up with its hands outstretched. By some chance, the wereserpent managed to grasp onto one of the claws of Criiztak's right hind foot. Criiztak growled in anger, arching his neck downwards to look back and see the wereserpent clambering up his leg.
Criiztak kicked out his leg as he climbed higher into the air to try and shake off the bothersome creature. But the wereserpent had already managed to clamber up onto Criiztak's back. Suddenly, Criiztak was struck with fear as he realized what the wereserpents goal was.
Raiga! Criiztak exclaimed as he lifted his head up to see the wereserpent quickly making its way towards Raiga, Behind you!
As Raiga spun around in the saddle, the wereserpent hissed as it lashed out at her with a clawed hand. Its claws easily sliced through the soft skin of her left ear and cheek, leaving four deep and parallel wounds that immediately began gushing blood.
Raiga cursed loudly as she quickly turned her head away for a moment upon feeling the claws rip through her flesh. This gave the wereserpent the opportunity to pounce on top of her, digging its claws into her shoulders. But Raiga wasn't about to let the wereserpent do anything else besides digging its claws into her. She growled as she reached up over her head and wrapped both hands tightly around the wereserpents neck, just behind its head as it was opening its jaws to bite down on her throat.
With her hands secured firmly around the slim wereserpents neck, Raiga heaved the beast over her left shoulder, intending to toss it down towards the ground. But the wereserpent caught a hold of her left wrist, pulling her downwards as it dangled in the air. The only thing keeping Raiga in the saddle was her thigh straps; she would have fallen to her death had she not secured those in the brief moment she had. Raiga growled in anger again and clenched her right hand into a fist.
The wereserpent snapped up at her, but Raiga's fist met the side of its jaws. Dazed for a moment, the wereserpent recovered snapped up at her, but was again greeted with her fist. Criiztak turned his head around and snarled just before he opened his jaws and let loose a jet of blue-gray flames upon the wereserpent. Raiga gasped in surprise and shielded her face from the heat with her right arm. It was the first time she'd seen Criiztak breath fire.
The wereserpent let out a shrill cry of pain as it was enveloped by Criiztak's fire. Raiga could feel the wereserpent struggling about as it hissed and screamed in pain. When the jet of flames died, so did the hissing and shrill screaming. Raiga lowered her right arm and look down at the now limp wereserpent, still firmly clinging to her left wrist as it dangled in the air.
The wereserpents entire body was charred and black, having been roasted by the extreme heat of Criiztak's fire. As Criiztak continued to ascend, pieces of the beasts burnt flesh fell away with each downward flap of Criiztak's wings.
Slowly, the wereserpent lifted its head up to look at Raiga…but it no longer had any eyes to gaze up at her with. Its jaws slowly parted as it let out a feeble hiss.
Raiga clenched her teeth in disgust and anger. "Drajl!" she exclaimed, feeling the strange energy she felt before surge through her body, down her right arm and into the palm of her hand. She shot her right hand downwards and opened her palm to expose the gedwëy ignasia as she shouted, "Ghalvuq!"
A flash of blue light lit up beneath Raiga. She felt a jolt as the wereserpent was knocked downwards forcefully by whatever force Raiga had somehow summoned. Raiga sat back upright in the saddle as she watched the wereserpent fall back down towards the earth. She looked passed the falling wereserpent down towards the hoard of wereserpents on the ground.
They had all stopped. All of their heads were pointed upwards towards the sky, their eyes following Criiztak as he quickly grew smaller and smaller in the sky with each flap of his wings. They'd failed the hunt.
Raiga turned back around in the saddle to face forward again. She reached her left hand up and touched her left ear, which had been ripped open by one of the wereserpents claws. She moved her hand over to her left cheek and traced the four parallel wounds with her index finger; the wounds were very deep. Raiga cursed as she looked at the amount of blood on her hand, but at the same time she smiled. Now I can proudly bear the scars of a true warrior, she said to Criiztak, who was gingerly licking at the lower parts of the four cuts the wereserpent had inflicted upon him.
Criiztak turned his head to look back at Raiga with his left eye. He saw the left side of her face covered with the blood as it ran from the wounds and dripped down her neck, staining her tunic. Even her arms were covered with blood from the cuts the first wereserpent had inflicted on her, as well as the sides of her ribcage. Where there should have been skin on much of her upper body, even where her tunic had been ripped, all Criiztak saw was blood and exposed flesh. Even though Criiztak knew Raiga was a strong warrior for her age, he expressed his concern for her well-being, We must find someplace safe and tend to your wounds.
Raiga shook her head, Do not worry yourself with me. We must press onwards.
But Raiga, Criiztak said as he swung his head back to look ahead of him, we do not know how far or where this place that is attracting your attention is. You are losing blood as we speak!
Raiga touched the parallel slashes on her cheek again, Criiztak, my well-being is not important right now. We have to reach Oestaerya! There is something more important there. I am sure there will be people there to help us once we arrive there.
Criiztak moaned to express his disagreement, but he obliged nonetheless, Very well. Then let us not waste any more time. I shall fly as fast and as far as my wings will carry me. With that, he pumped his wings harder, propelling himself through the air faster than he'd ever flown before.
Raiga leaned forward as she felt Criiztak lurch forward with his renewed vigor. She felt the intensity of the wind blowing against her pick up with each flap of his wings. The blood leaking from her wounds sprayed back in the air the moment it oozed out of her veins and onto her skin. Try not to overdo it, she said.
Criiztak glanced back at her for a moment, As you said yourself, little huntress. Do not worry yourself with me.
Raiga smiled at him as he looked ahead of him once more. She was grateful that Criiztak had chosen her instead of the dozens of other young Urgals who had lined up in front of his egg to see if he would hatch for them. She was forever grateful that she had Criiztak, forever grateful that she was his Rider.
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Raiga! Criiztak exclaimed as he snapped his head around to look back at Raiga, who sat slumped forward in the saddle, Raiga! Stay with me! He touched her mind, relieved that he could still feel her consciousness, but it was quickly fading as she slowly drifted asleep. Criiztak roared as he turned his head back around, panic beginning to set in, Stay with me Raiga! Don't you dare die on me now!
He pumped his already tired wings even harder and faster. It was already night, but the night was still young as the moon had only risen above the horizon an hour earlier. He was exhausted and his wings burned like they'd never burned before. It felt as if his wings would fall off at any moment. Strands of saliva that hung from his lower jaw were whipped back from the force of the wind as he increased his efforts to get to the village Raiga had told him about. He panted heavily, utterly exhausted from this endeavor to get to a village that neither of them had ever known about or heard of.
Criiztak snarled, angry with himself that he had listened to Raiga. He was angry that she had been stubborn and refused to land so that she may tend to her wounds. Raiga had not been aware of it, but the intense wind and cold temperature of the air had prevented her blood from clotting, causing her to lose a lot more blood than either of them thought.
I will not let you die! Criiztak exclaimed again, looking back at Raiga. You're supposed to be the stubborn one! You have to fight, Raiga! Fight! He roared once more, this time much louder, causing Raiga to flinch.
Joy flowed through Criiztak when he saw her lift her head to look up at him. Her naturally pale skin was much paler than it was when they left the hoard of wereserpents at the edge of the woods.
Stay awake Raiga! said Criiztak, Stay awake! We're almost there!
He touched her mind again. She was utterly confused, Criiztak? Where are we going? she asked.
Criiztak turned his head back around, We're almost there, little huntress! Just stay awake!
Criiztak snapped his jaws closed as he inhaled deeply. He had just caught the scent of wood smoke. He turned his head right, then left as he sniffed the air. He dipped his left wing downwards slightly and followed the scent as it grew stronger. Soon, there was a multitude of scents being carried by the night breeze to his nostrils; sheep, horse, cattle, human and another scent which he was unfamiliar with.
Upon seeing lights emerge from behind a small cliff or hill in the distance, Criiztak renewed his vigorous flapping. He let out a roar of joy, utterly happy to see some kind of civilization after three days of exhausting travel.
Raiga! he shouted. Wake up Raiga! We're here! We've made it! Wake up little huntress!
Criiztak quickly glanced back again and growled. He set his eyes upon the lights again. Raiga had slumped forward again and he could feel her slowly losing consciousness.
Suddenly, Criiztak almost stopped flapping as his heart skipped a beat when he heard the distinct roar…of a dragon. He then realized that was what the unfamiliar scent belonged to; another dragon. The roar had come from the direction of the village, which he could clearly see the houses of now as he got ever closer and closer.
Criiztak couldn't contain his utter joy after hearing the responding roar of another dragon. He roared again in response. He opened his mind as he joyfully exclaimed, We're here! We're here!
The first thing he saw was a large pile of rocks just outside of the village, at the base of a large cliff. He tilted his body to the left to glide passed the large pile of rocks, and landed heavily just outside the fence of a small hut at the very edge of the village. He let his wing tips drag over the lush grass as he took a few steps forward before collapsing to the ground.
Criiztak panted heavily as his head hit the ground beneath him with a thud, each hoarse breath he inhaled pulling at the blades of grass in front of his nostrils. He was ecstatic that they had finally reached their destination, yet very exhausted. He could no longer feel his wings, as they had gone numb from excessive use. He'd never been so relieved in his life to see civilization, even if it may not have been an Urgal settlement.
We're here, he said, we're here…Raiga.
Then, his fatigue and exhaustion finally took over, and his mind slowly drifted off into darkness.
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Strange voices surrounded Raiga. She was very tired, so tired she felt like she could sleep for an eternity. She just wanted to sleep and never wake up. But something within her told her to stay awake; something told her not to sleep.
Slowly, her clouded mind began to clear slightly. She slowly opened her eyes, the voices around her gradually growing louder and louder. She couldn't understand what the voices were saying, but she recognized the language they were using; the human language. Did we make it? she thought to herself.
Something brushed her mind, causing Raiga to flinch from the feeling. She opened her eyes wider when she felt hands undoing the straps of her saddle, but she couldn't see anything through her blurry vision.
She heard a woman say something about Raiga being an Urgal, and then the same woman began speaking in the Urgal tongue, "Don't worry young one. You're safe now."
"She's lost a lot of blood," Raiga heard a very elegant female voice say. The woman's voice sounded like the soothing noise of a babbling brook in a forest.
"Get her to your house, Baldor," a nearby man's voice commanded as Raiga felt hands pull her down from the saddle. Raiga closed her eyes as she felt another set of hands on her back as she was passed from one person to another.
"What in the world is that?" yet another male voice exclaimed.
Raiga tried to keep her eyes open, tried to keep her mind from clouding up again, but she was very tired. She could no longer stay awake. The last thing she remembered was hearing a man's heavy breathing above her and the sound of feet running on gravel.
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When Raiga came too again, she was looking up at a high wooden ceiling, with beams running from one end of ceiling to the other. An elk horn chandelier with lit candles hung suspended above her, lighting up much of the slanted ceiling. She blinked as her vision blurred for a few moments before it cleared again. She was light-headed, and she could feel the effects of dizziness whenever she moved her eyes.
She slowly turned her head to see a woman with long curly brown hair sitting in a chair directly in front of her, speaking to someone Raiga could not see. The woman was also rummaging through a bag which was slung over her left shoulder, pulling out various herbs and powders and placing them on the surface of the table which Raiga lay on.
"…sure she would refuse to have her wounds healed either way," Raiga heard the woman say.
"Aye," said a man's voice, "Urgals do not like having their wounds healed instantly, Baldor. They prefer to wear their scars with pride."
"I would imagine that it would be the same for her dragon as well," the woman sitting in front of Raiga said. "Though, I'm not quite sure if my medicinal herbs will do anything for his wounds. At least whatever attacked him didn't take his eye out."
"You think that…creature the dragon was carrying had anything to do with both their injuries?" asked another man's voice.
The woman shrugged, "I cannot say. It's unlike anything I've ever seen before."
"But you've seen a lot of things none of us have," said the other man. "Don't tell me this is the first time you've never seen a creature such as that."
The woman glanced up, looking at whoever stood on the opposite side of the table across from her, "Baldor, there are many things within this world that I myself have never seen before." She returned her attention back to the bag as she pulled out a small wooden bowl and placed it on the table in front of Raiga. "This just so happens to be one of those things. There are many places in this world where a great number of strange creatures can lurk and hide."
Suddenly, a very large cat appeared above Raiga's head, peering down at her curiously. The woman looked up a second later, "You're right, she is awake." The woman leaned forward and spoke in the Urgal tongue, "Don't be afraid young one. I'm here to help you. What is your name?"
Raiga felt the table shift and creak as someone leaned on the table somewhere on her left side. She stared at the woman for a few seconds. She did not understand why, but the woman looked strangely familiar. She looked up at the large cat, and suddenly she remembered the story-teller and her werecat friend. It was the herbalist that had visited her village a few weeks before Criiztak had hatched. It was Angela.
Raiga smiled weakly, "It's me, Raiga."
Angela's face lit up, "Oh my. Raiga!" Angela moved closer to the table and dipped her finger into the small wooden bowl, which was filled with some sort of white cream. "I would have never guessed you would become the first Urgal Rider," Angela said as she reached forward to apply the cream to Raiga's face.
But Raiga caught Angela by the wrist, "Where is Criiztak?"
"That's your dragons name?" Angela asked and Raiga responded with a nod of her head. Angela glanced up as a door opened somewhere on Raiga's left and someone with heavy footsteps walked in. She returned her eyes to Raiga again, "He's alive, do not worry. He just needs a long rest." Raiga released her hold on Angela, relieved to hear that Criiztak was alive and well. "I imagine you two traveled for a very long time," Angela said as she applied the cream to Raiga's left cheek and ear.
The slight tingling and burning pain Raiga felt from her wounds suddenly disappeared no sooner had the cream been applied. She felt a cooling sensation as the strange substance began working on sealing her wounds. Raiga closed her eyes, enjoying the soothing coolness of the cream as it worked.
"How is she?" said a very deep and powerful male voice in the human language. The voice alone made Raiga cringe as the words it spoke traveled through the room. Never had Raiga encountered a voice much more powerful than that of her own father.
"She just came to," answered one of the men on Raiga's left.
"She cannot speak our language," Angela added as she gingerly applied more of the cooling cream to Raiga's face. Angela shook her head, "She's lucky to be alive. Any child would have surely died from wounds like these." Angela used the pinky finger of the hand she was using to apply the cream to Raiga's wounds to brush a lock of hair away from her right eye. Then she briefly glanced up, "She lost a lot of blood, so it'll be a few days before she's in any shape to move around again."
A sigh of relief came from the individual with the deep voice, "The important thing is that she has survived her ordeal." There were heavy footsteps again, this time with the sound of claws scratching against the wooden floor. Raiga could hear the heavy footsteps move around the table until they stopped on Angela's right.
"You think that creature the dragon brought did this to them?" the second man's voice asked again.
"Not that creature alone," the deep voice replied, "but yes. They were attacked by wereserpents."
Angela's finger froze on Raiga's cheek upon the mention of the word wereserpent.
"You okay Angela?" the second man asked.
"You know what a wereserpent is?" the first man asked.
Raiga opened her eyes to see that some color had drained from Angela's face. Angela shook her head, "No. I've never heard of a wereserpent." She shook her head again as she resumed dabbing her finger on Raiga's cheek, "But the name 'wereserpent' alone is…a bit unsettling." After covering Raiga's facial wounds with a decent amount of cream, Angela went to work spreading a cloth over the left side of Raiga's face and then wrapping another cloth around her head. "Like I said before, there's a lot of places in this world where creatures like this 'wereserpent' can hide in."
"What about you Ŝtanin?" the second man asked. "You ever hear of a wereserpent?"
Raiga glanced down upon seeing something move in her field of vision. It was a man's arm, only it was covered entirely with scales, "No. The creature outside is one of these wereserpents…but I've never seen nor heard of them until today."
"Then how do you know that's what attacked them?" the first man asked.
Raiga's eyes began to feel heavy again as Angela finished wrapping the cloth around her head.
The deep voice answered, but it sounded much further away than before, "I felt her mind just before she…" Raiga's mind clouded over after her eyes closed, and she let the coolness of Angela's cream slowly soothe her into a deep sleep.
Ä
End Chapter 6
Pronunciation of Names
Alagaësia: al-uh-GAY-zee-uh
Arya: AR-ee-uh
Athgar: AUTH-gar
Bedäi'tal: bed-AYE-tall
Blödhgarm: BLAWD-garm
Carvahall: CAR-vuh-hall
Criiztak: CREE-sh-tock(tock rhymes with lock)
Drëkøn: dreh-KEN
Dheker: DEE-ker
Eldäriän: eld-ARE-eon
Eragon: EHR-uh-gahn
Fírnen: FEER-nin
Flarolth: fla-roll-th
Galbatorix: gal-buh-TOR-icks
Glaedr: GLAY-dur
Hölgeron: HOLE-ger-on
Irethil: EAR-uh-thill
Jeod: JODE(rhymes with load)
Kaeshta: KAY-shh-tuh
Murtagh: MUR-tag(mur rhymes with purr)
Nasuada: nah-soo-AH-dah
Oestaerya: ow-es-TAR-yah
Raiga: RIE-gah(rie rhymes with lie)
Ra'zac: RAA-zack
Řaën: RA-aen(pronounced exactly like rain)
Saphira: suh-FEAR-uh
Seràhjön: sar-AH-gahn
Ŝtanin: STAN-in
T'łiøa: TIL-eh-ah
Tøvrí: TEH-vree
Urȗ'baen: OO-roo-bane
Vrínjäø: VREEN-jay-eh
Zophia: so-FIE(pronounced exactly like Sophie)
The language of the Drëkøn:
Dríon Nävúŝiin: DRY-on NAH-voo-zeen - Draconian Arrival
daecri: dah-kree(possibly the Drëkøn name for R'zac)
delnact: DELL-nah-kt(a Drëkøn slang word meant to insult; no modern translation available)
Ękt øv jeët pfïrnet, Roran Stronghammer bäe Argetlam Arya. - No need for weapons, Roran Stronghammer and Argetlam Arya.
fràinloú: wind
krënat: Drëkøn word for eldunarí.
Lëy nøk jewa kät, daecri. - May your spirit rest, daecri.
The Ancient Language:
Argetlam: Silverhand
elda: a gender-neutral honorific suffix of great praise, attached with a hyphen
fairth: a picture taken by magical means on a shingle of slate
edwëy ignasia: shining palm
The Urgal Language:
drajl: spawn of maggots
ghalvuq: away