A/N Thanks for the constructive reviews. I've decided to do it the hard way here, so stick with me while I develop some characters and lay some groundwork. Hit counter was down, so I've no idea on the readership of this story at this point. We were closing in on 1000 hits last time the counter worked, so I'm going to assume we're there or at least close. I appreciate you reading, and as always, constructive comments are appreciated.
Eragon stared down at the torn body of the water dragon as it rose and fell in the small waves that lapped at the lake shore. Fundor's rear claws had torn through the underbelly leaving a grotesque display of internal organs blood and fatty tissue exposed. It was a good thing death had come from the snapped neck instead of the many minutes of agony it would have required the creature suffering such injuries to die, he thought. The other, his arrow lodged in its brain stem had also met a mercifully quick end.
"I have killed, yet again!" he thought bitterly. "What am I becoming?"
"Fundor!" Eragon called suddenly as the blur and haze caused by the shock of what he had just participated in began to dissipate.
The stub winged dragon, who had been about to leave the narrow beach and enter the forest, returned to his side, gazing down at the carcass to which Eragon pointed.
"You need to help me drag this body up into the forest, we need to bury it quickly" he said as the enormity of the decisions and actions he had taken began to settle, crouching and snarling in his troubled soul.
Together they pushed and pulled the dead body of the male up over the stony shore, through the brush and into the tree line, Eragon having to return several times to retrieve bits and pieces of intestines that spilled out of the open body cavity before Fundor managed to roll the creature over onto its back. Handling the wet slimy organs made Eragon want to vomit. There was so much blood. Watching Fundor as he grasped the creature by the neck, Eragon suddenly was struck with a thought.
"Fundor, do you have any desire to feed on this one's body?" He asked cautiously.
Watching the dragon's face, it occurred to him how short a time he had known the dragon and how unlikely it was that he would be able to decipher what it was thinking by looking at facial expressions at all. When the answer came, it actually relieved the elf somewhat to hear it.
"As little as I look forward to the work it will take to dig a hole large enough to bury it, I feel great disgust at that suggestion" replied Fundor, locking eyes with Eragon.
He continued as if reading the elf's thoughts.
"I know you consider me a bloodthirsty meat eater, but would YOU eat another elf that you killed defending someone in your family?"
"No I would not," answered Eragon, the bile rising in his throat at the thought.
"We elves to not eat meat at all, but even if we did we would certainly not eat our own kind."
"Although I once was once told about an extreme winter when dragons ate their own kind to avoid starvation" Fundor replied icily. "The thought of it is disgusting to me"
"I wonder why?" Eragon thought to himself, but did not send the question to the dragon who was now beginning to dig rapidly in what looked like an already previously partially excavated burrow.
"I pulled some animals out of a hole here a few days ago" Fundor explained to the unasked question. "It seemed a good idea to drag him here and follow up on the work that I had already started. It will save some time"
Eragon watched in fascination as the dragon used both sets legs in unison, it's sharp claws cutting through the soft earth like large garden trowels. His muscular rear legs pushing the ripped up dirt backwards, up and out of the quickly expanding hole. There was not much he could do to help, but the dragon made relatively quick work of it. For digging at least, it seemed advantageous to Eragon for the dragon to have smaller wings. Larger ones would have certainly trapped at least some of the dirt the dragon was vigorously throwing out behind him.
"How did you learn to do that?" He asked as together they pulled the body into the hole. "You have obviously never had anyone that could show you how.
The dragon paused a moment, as if thinking.
"I don't know" it finally said. "I guess it is just a skill I was hatched with."
"That would have been a relatively useless skill if you had come with flippers" Eragon commented, but nodded with admiration as Fundor, after pulling the dead dragon into the hole with a squishy plop, began piling the dirt on top of the body. At last he finished it off by pushing the large boulder that had been laying nearby over the top of the freshly turned earth.
"Do you think another of your people will find him now?" Fundor suddenly asked.
"You have done your part" replied Eragon. "Leave the rest to me."
"What about the other one still in the lake?" Fundor asked.
"That one is actually more important." The elf said. "Its got two of my arrows still sticking out of it."
Fundor only growled in acknowledgment, a low rumble that sent shivers up the elf's spine as he turned and started to move quickly away.
"I will have to wait. I go now to hunt" he said, violently shaking the remaining dirt from his body as he walked toward the trees.
The elf watched him go, standing silently and allowing his thoughts to calm. Then reaching down with his mind he sent tendrils of thought into the soil that covered the newly filled hole, Patiently he sought the location of the hundreds of thousands of seed spores that lay sleeping within the top few inches of the newly turned dirt. He could see them in his mind's eye, laying there filled with life. so many pinpricks of energy, like stars dotting the night sky. Locking onto them with the power of his mind he said the words.
"Eldhrimner nuanen, dautr abr deloi, Eldhrimner un fortha onr feon vara."
The rich brown soil overturned and disturbed by the efforts of the dragon began to twist and writhe of its own accord, as the seedlings and plants within it answered the ancient call of magical power. Grow! This was Eragon's greatest skill and he smiled to himself as the plants began to spread and cover all evidence of their having dug there In only a few minutes the explosive growth was done. An unbroken field of green meadow and low lying plants lay before him. It would take someone deliberately looking to find the body of the dragon that Fundor had killed. Looking back toward the lake, Eragon wondered if he was going to be lucky enough to find and hide the body of the one that he had killed with the arrow. For this task he would need the female. Fundor had said her name was Candasar. She was, no doubt resting in her cave after her ordeal with the two males.
Retracing the path over which Fundor had pulled the dead body, Eragon moved small rocks and branches and sent small magical requests for additional growth from various plants that they had disturbed along the way. By the time he reached the lake shore, except for a few smears of blood that the next rain would wash away, there was nothing to show even his trained eye that they had dragged something large though here.
The underwater entrance to the cave that Fundor had been sharing must be directly below the cliff face, Eragon realized as he swiftly climbed the side of the steep hill overlooking the water. It was from here that Fundor had leapt to disembowel the first male. It was from here that Eragon had fired his arrow, in an impulsive decision to help this strange pair of dragons. Whatever the consequences, there was probably no turning back now.
Suddenly he felt surprisingly light headed. Staggering a little he stopped for a moment to lean against a tree overlooking the water. The magical energy he had used to grow the plants quickly along with the grisly physical effort of dragging the bloody carcass through the brush must have taken more out of him than he thought, he realized. He quickly pushed the feeling aside. He had no time for weakness.
Before removing his green forest garb, to keep it dry, Eragon scanned the shoreline for signs of the other lake wardens. He had a good vantage point from the cliff top. There was no one in sight. If he was to be seen, however, as he entered the lake, having to answer to them for breaking the rule about swimming in it's waters would be the least of his worries.
Stripping off his clothes he quickly hid them under a rock. Feeling the wind bite at his naked body, he gathered a lungful of air and dove headfirst into the lake. The water was colder than he had expected.
Candasar awoke in throbbing agonizing pain. The powerful jaw of the male the elf had killed had deeply bruised the bones in her neck. She groaned and started to try and shift herself to a more comfortable position but suddenly stopped, a rising sense of terror seizing hold of her. Fundor was nowhere to be seen, but due to the faint luminous glow of the cavern walls, she realized that she was not alone.
Ancient fears and a lifetime of living in hiding rose to a fevered pitch as she spotted the elf squatting on a large boulder near the water's edge. He seemed to be staring at her. Strangely he was no longer green in color, but his body seemed a almost uniform brown. She squirmed under his gaze, unsure what she should do. There was nowhere to go, except past him and into the water. Remembering that it was the elf that had killed the male that had almost crushed her spine, gave her the confidence to do nothing. If he had wanted to harm her, she would be dead already. Strangely though, she did not see his weapon. Pointing her long slender head directly at him, she waited. It did not take very long for him to speak.
"I thought we should meet" he said. The unheard words tickling strangely in her mind. "I hope that you are feeling better."
"My neck still hurts!" thought Candasar, surprised when the elf seemed to nod as if understanding her thoughts.
"If you wish, I will try to help you" came the strange musical words again into her mind.
Candasar only nodded.
The elf paused for a moment than spoke aloud.
"Heill"
The word meant "Heal" and its power to effect her was felt immediately. Even as she marveled at how "suitable" the word sounded in her ears, how correct its purpose for this occasion, she felt a warmth in her neck and a great easing of the ache, deep in her bones. In addition the puncture wounds on her skin and in the muscles seemed to quickly fade. Candesar could almost see the energy flowing in the eye of her mind as it left the elf's outstretched hand and flowed first to the skin of her neck and then deeper into the bruised muscles and bones. She was amazed that she could even help guide the direction of it's healing power to the places that hurt the worst. The energy seemed a silvery blue string of light. It felt wonderful. Grasping at it with her mind, she caught the end, like a rope and began to help it along, pulling as the elf pushed.
Suddenly she felt a great resistance and tension on the cord as it snapped taught. Caught up in the wonder of feeling incredible heath and even a sense of renewed youth, she resisted, continuing the flow. Savagely the energy began jerking and shaking as finally it tore free of her grasp. The marvelous healing flow of power was stopped.
Candasar stared at the elf in grateful amazement but then watched in surprise as his eyes rolled up into his head and he crumpled, followed by a huge splash as he fell face first into the dark murky water at the shallow end of the cave. He did not move.
Confused, she thought to herself
"Fundor will be very disappointed with me. I have already managed to kill his elf"