Tempest Chapter Nine (or eight or whatever number we are on)
I own nothing. Long AN that has a few questions for you guys at the bottom.
Percy watched the water in the lake rise and fall with the wind. He swirled his finger, sitting by it's side and unable to take his eyes away. To think he could do this, and without knowing it his whole life. It was not really hot, but not cold either. Almost… perfect.
Like it all was meant for him.
Blackjack nickered next to him, drinking from the swirling water like it was the best thing in the world. The pegasus lefted his head, watching Percy from his side sight. "Whats up, boss?" the horse asked. Percy sat up, reaching out to touch his muzzle.
"Just thinking," he said. A sudden thought came, unbidden by anything he did. "Why do you call me boss? It's not a word I've heard anyone but my mom say out here." Percy stood up. "Did you come from the same place as my dream? With the giants sitting in chairs and looking down on mom and me?"
The horse moved away from Percy, clearly uncomfortable. "I think you owe me a reason." Percy added. Blackjack sighed through his nose, blowing some of the sand away to create a dent.
"Alright boss," the horse said. "Truth is, I don't know how I got here. I was just a foal and living in a huge city and flying with the gods and suddenly I'm here where they don't even have donuts."
More questions. That was all he got. Percy decided to leave it and stood up. He'd understood like none of that.
Blackjack followed a few feet behind him, careful to stay out of reach like he was scared of something. Murtagh sat on the sand at least five minutes down.
Percy settled in next to him. The elder boy was tending to his own wounds again that had not healed yet. He sucked in a deep breath and pulled more on the bandages. "You don't know how to do this, do you?" Percy asked with a soft chuckled. Murtagh shot him a glare.
"No, I do not. We always had medics to do that."
That surpsrised Percy as he remembered Murtagh had not lived like he had, on the run with the Varden, hardly ever leaving their caves. Murtagh could go most anywhere he wanted to. If he wanted to. The fact that they had made it this far said some things about Murtagh though.
What they were, Percy did not wrap his brain around.
Percy took one step out of the water and suddenly felt weak, a lot more than he should have. He nearly fell over, but Blackjack laid down to catch him. Percy patted the horse and gestured mentally towards Murtagh.
Blackjack set him so his legs touched what remained from the tide. He felt a little better after that, less like he could not take care of himself. "You okay, boss?" Blackjack asked. Percy nodded and looked at Murtagh.
"I'm fine." he waved.
Murtagh scoffed. "Aye, if you say so."
The younger shook his head, and stood up. "I do," he moved slowly over so he was closer to Murtagh and grabbed the bandage. "Let me take care of this because I know how."
The elder sent a smirk in the younger's direction and offered his leg. "Take care of it, then, oh, Mighty One."
"I will," Percy agreed and ripped the bandage off the others leg. Murtagh let out an ear piercing scream loud enough to sent Tornac in a frenzy. "He's alright," Percy called back to the actual horse. Blackjack agreed and went over to comfort his friend, swishing tails together only a few minutes later.
"What was that for?" Murtagh whispered loudly, his voice hoarse.
"Getting your wound open a little so I can wrap it up the right way," Percy retorted and continued to do just that.
The pain was great but Murtagh just barred his teeth and ignored it. "Watch it," he snapped a few times but let Percy do his work. Just over an hour, all of Murtagh's hard faught work was done and the wound was clean and rebandaged.
The horses came up behind them, pushing both of the teens into the water, Percy reached out to keep his balance again and grabbed Murtagh by the leg. The pain started as soon as he fell, but once the tide started again seconds later, water reaching them faster than it should have, it stopped.
In fact, the pain lessened and it felt easier to breathe. Murtagh took in deep breaths, making sure to keep his face above the water. "What did you do?" he asked Percy. Percy shrugged, holding his breath and half way still underwater. In fact, he was almost covered in it.
Murtagh sat up to pull Percy out when he finally took in a breath. Murtagh held his own breath and waited for Percy to start shaking and thrashing. But he just froze, eyes now open and surprised.
He wasn't drowning.
Over ten minutes of shocked silence later, Percy sat up. His eyes were wide and his face opened in a grin. "That is amazing!" he shouted, thrusting each of his hands into the air.
Murtagh smirked, shaking his head. "Amazing is not the word I would use. I was worried you would drown."
The grin fell. "Then why'd you leave me?"
"I wanted to see what would happen. If you paniced, I would help." his smirk grew wider, "besides, a little lake water might help that sea brain of yours grow."
"Sea brain?" Percy stuttered.
"I rest my case."
The child muttered things Murtagh knew he should just ignore. So he did. And stood up.
When he moved his leg, it did not hurt as bad. In fact, it almost felt new. Good as new. Better than new. "What did you do?" He asked Percy.
Percy turned slowly to look at him. "What do you mean?" He asked.
His leg came forward before he even thought about it. "I'm healed." he said. Percy rushed forward, checking every part of his leg.
"You mean, I did this?"
Murtagh shrugged. "I know I can't. You're the one with the werid water things happening." He lifted an eyebrow. "How did you not know about all of this before?"
Percy turned red. "My mom doesn't like me near water too much. Said it reminds her of somethings, but never said what."
"And none of that seemed weird?"
This time, Percy shrugged. "Well, I know about it now. What do you say we move everything more towards the water a little and set up again for tonight?"
"Sure."
Percy stood up from the water. Murtagh followed and felt weighed down by the water on his clothes. "Wait," he said, and looked at Percy. Instead of being wet, he was dry. The sand under his feet dried as Murtagh watched. "How are you so dry?"
Percy seemed nervous. "That is one thing I knew I could do," he shrugged and put a short arm on Murtagh's shoulder. He had to stand on his toes to do it but suddenly Murtagh was dry as well. He felt warm, so warm it was like a fire.
He shook his head, moving to get camp ready for the night.
So I think the short chapter but timely update shows I might actually stick to this story this time. I have two possible endings, just basing it off the end of the first Eragon book or ending with the death of king Galby? Which do you guys want to see? This will only be one book and it's about a third of the way done.
I just want to get it done so I can focus on Twisting Torrent. Because that one has only one chapter, I can actually do something with it and not entirely ruin the idea like I did here. This story will never be deleted because of the amount of amazing reviews I have, so don't worry about that.
Just Twisting Torrent will be the one that goes through all the books and has more demigods and everything in it. Unless you don't mind me contridicting myself a lot as I try and sort out and make this story the epic idea I know it can be. My skills were just not what they needed to be when I started this.
So basically, should I try and fix this story from here on out, or finish this one quickly and work on Twisting Torrent? If I do make Twisting Torrent as epic as I can hope any epic xover could be, how should I end Tempest: with King Galby's death or battle of the Varden?
