Chapter 11
Lineage of a Rider
Bella POV
A soft wind smelling of berries caught my awareness. As I regained my composure I realized I was once again inside the vast forest of my dreams. My mind felt itself drawn towards one of the many spaces between the tall oaks and before I could stop myself I was running and maneuvering between the roots and branches.
Bella…
Bella…
Bella…
It was all I could hear, the voice soft as a feather and on par with even Edwards with its beauty. Finally I broke through the trees and found myself in front of the same white haired male. I took in his profile while we stood there in silence and I realized with a shock that he was as beautiful as a vampire, but somehow his aura was warmer.More humane…
He suddenly turned and faced me with a huge smile. He reached his hand out once more and equally I stretched my hand forward. This time when our hands made contact nothing happened and at this I smiled. I realized he was staring at me, and it was hard not to blush.
"Ah, the spell I created worked I would suppose. You have lived longer than your years and have no recollection of it. What a sad fate… but it was the only choice I had, believe me" he said with the same honey sweet voice that filled my head. I bowed my head in forgiveness, even if I knew not of what he spoke of.
"The time is short and I deem it you need the aid of the elves, but the elves are not what we used to be apparently. Much mistrust and much hatred now surges from its depths, but it was not always like that. No…" he said with an expression that indicated me that he was somewhere far away.
"Would you like to hear a story, child? One of the time of peace and prosperity, one of the Age of Gold?" His voice quieted down and I took it as a chance to nod. He smiled once more in happiness and I was struck by his beauty. It wasn't attraction that made me grab his other hand; it was simply an urge to want to be close to him, almost as if seeking comfort.
His smile did not falter and instead he lowered to the ground, bringing me with him. We now sat in the middle of a peaceful meadow, and the warmth in my hands made it hard for me to believe it was all a dream.
His presence made me relax and oddly enough it comforted me. I suddenly felt like a child once more and with a prang I felt myself realize I had never felt this way before, not even with my parents… The man drew in a deep breath as he began his story.
"Once upon a time, when the lands of elves were rich and the arrogance was thick, a young male left the mighty walls to hunt outside the city. It was a warm day if I recall and nothing seemed out of ordinary, except maybe the fact that a ferocious war was about to arise.
The young man, like many of our race, had become arrogant in his powers. Both magical as well as with a sword and bow seeing as we elves train with both. Such a shame, that day the sky would be tainted by blood.
As I was saying, the young man took out to hunt and after many hours had passed the sun had set and his boredom grew. He proposed to himself a challenge. 'I shall become Ellesmeras greatest hunter and by morn I shall come to the gates wearing dragon scales as my cloak. All shall bow to me and many shall envy me'.
Alas, if he had know that he was destroying a thinly balanced treaty between both races he might have stopped, but at this time one can never be sure.
He doused the fire and sprang to his feet, running swiftly into the night the loosing himself in the dark. As the morning star arose in the skies, the scent of blood prevailed the land. The silence that followed was one to remember, as it was preparation for the destruction to come.
Many maiden gasped as their eyes were blinded by none other than a snow-white dragon hide. From ear to ear, he wore a smile. But no one could be as blind, as to miss the horrors within. The moment he stepped foot within the once forgiving city, the roars could be heard across the realm.
Oh foolish child he may be, but another morn he never got to see…
The war that fell over the land destroyed many and no one could be as blind, as to not see the horrors without. I forget how many years exactly we fought, but I do not wish to recall. For it was when the extinction of our kind started, it may not be noticeable for you now, but once you learn more about us you shall understand.
Alas, the only way that the war could end was for a small white haired child to find a small white dragon egg. Hidden among the trees the dragon was raised, and after many years of hearing his kind's death he drew the line.
And so the dragon riders were born."
I sat in the middle of the meadow; the young man in front of me suddenly looked much older and very weary. Our hands were still intertwined and from the middle of his palm I could feel a silvery-white scar touch with my open palm.
My own scar was also in his other hand, but I had not noticed it until he was in the middle of lecturing. It was a spiral in the middle of my hand, but for some reason it radiated power. My thoughts were snapped back to reality as the male spoke once more.
"And that is the story of your heritage…" he said in a whisper.
"What is this scar, we both seem to have?" I asked him, the curiosity could be heard ringing in the air. He laughed and I felt myself laughing with him.
"It where your dragon first touched you, it's the mark of the Dragon Riders." He laughed once more as he saw my expression.
"Can I ask one more thing?" I said after a few moments of silence. He nodded. "What is your name?" I asked. He laughed once more; apparently it was something he liked to do.
"Which one, I may ask… Alas that is a question that I have no answer for. Eragon, yes that was my name." he replied.
"Eragon…" I mumbled and suddenly I felt myself very far away. Somehow I realized I was waking up once more. I panicked; I did not want to leave yet. I wished to stay here and talk with Eragon, ask the questions that burned my mind.
He seemed to see my distress seeing as he raised a hand to my cheek and left it in place. "You need to awake Argetlam, if not who shall save the elves from themselves once more?" Were the last words I heard, before feeling something warm beside me.
The warmth beside me awoke me from my dream, and as I opened my eyes to inspect my surroundings I was shocked beyond movement. A patch of emerald was the source of the warmth and as I continued inspecting it I realized it had many odd dents in between.
"Scales" I heard myself mutter as I ran a delicate finger over them.
My mind was utterly blank as I continued inspecting the mound. I could now make out limbs. It had four long paws that ended in sharp, small, ebony claws. A slender neck that extended into a triangle shaped head, with two black horns nested on it. Folded wings could also be seen as an odd assortment of dry parchment and the last thing visible was the thin tail, as it curved around its foot long body.
Its heavy breathing indicated unconsciousness so my gaze moved around me. Apparently I was sleeping inside a spacious sand cave; nothing like the vast, lush forest where I had just awakened from.
An assortment of images were drawn to the edge of my mind at accelerating speed; a group of soldiers, sand speeding beside me, the stone slipping past my fingers, a harsh impact as well a great pain and finally the face of the old man as he died. After that came the feeding of the dragon, but after that my mind came up in a blank.
Unintentionally my body jerked up, successfully sending the hatchling to the floor as well as sending immense pain coursing through my body. I cursed once more, and realized I usually didn't curse so much. I shrugged it off my mind as I searched the room for the small reptile.
Beautiful, large, green eyes met my panicked search as the dragon awoke from its slumber. For the first time since awareness a vast void filled the edge of my mind and I reeled in once more afraid of the emptiness in my mind, even if I had experienced it before.
I gave up with a sigh and proved the mental barrier I had somehow put up. It seemed solid, but in more than one way made me uncomfortable, as if I was hiding from myself. Letting the barrier down I carefully inspected the emptiness, successfully receiving a confused feeling as well as hunger. My own confusion must have shown, for I had no hunger at all.
A small rumble echoed across the room and the source was that of the small dragon. I gasped as my mind caught up with my ears and I realized the dragon was hungry, as well as carrying a confused expression.
I came to the conclusion that I could somehow hear the dragons' thoughts, but I was quickly snapped out of my thinking by a slight itchy feeling in the palm of my hand, the same one that now rested gently on top of the yellowish rock bellow me.
I brought my palm to my face and encountered a silvery spiral-shaped scar. Its color resembled that of the crescent moon that marked the same hand, and somehow I realized that it would not come out either. Unconscious of the time my inspection was taking the hunger struck again, but before I could do anything for it the information became too much.
"So the dream was true…" I mumbled once more.
My mind suddenly spinned viciously and before I knew it blackness had covered my sight again. Once I wake up I would notice the new sore spot on the top of my head, but at the moment the darkness was all I craved for… But of course I wouldn't forget the words within the darkness.
"May the stars watch over you, my sweet child…"
Once I awoke the hunger stuck again, but this time I realized that it came from my dragon. My eyes opened and I searched the cave once more. Nothing much had changed, except for the fact that there seemed to be an excess of food inside the cave.
The fire was still burning and the place seemed utterly abandoned. A rather large mound of green was sitting some paces in front of me and he seemed to be having a staring contest with me. I sighed and stood up, rejoicing in the fact that it did not hurt as much as I thought it would to do so.
Once on my feet I walked over to the bags that lay scattered across the room. My hands roamed and opened every bag, many were small and most were filled with water skins and imperishable food. Alice
was nowhere to be found, but I knew I could do nothing but wait. So after the relatively short search around the bags (seeing as there were only a few of them, maybe ten…) I found what I was searching for.
The whole bag was filled with a large amount of meat and immediately the hunger stuck again. I smiled and pulled out a large piece of dried meat, weirdly the dragon had not yet tackled me to get to the food so I turned around and laughed as I saw him sitting in the same position I found him a few minutes ago.
"Come on. I know you're hungry, but if you bite my hand I'll stab you when you sleep" I smiled at the joke, even if it seemed strange for me to use such examples. It appeared as if the strange world was rubbing on me.
The dragon seemed to understand as it stood up and ran to where I sat in the floor. The food was still in my hand so I ripped a long piece of it and lowered it to him. He squeaked and devoured it without hesitation.
My eyes widened for a moment, before I burst into laughter. The dragon didn't pay attention to my craziness as it stood on two paws and pulled the meat with him. I smiled this time as I watched his eat the whole thing. I probed the mental link and found that he wasn't hungry anymore, at which I sighed seeing as there wasn't enough meat for it if it ate more than that for more than a couple weeks.
The dragon looked as if he was vastly tired so I picked him up carefully and leaned against the closest wall in the cave, which ended up being the one facing the entrance and luckily it was only a few steps away, preventing me from collapsing under the weight. He fell asleep as soon as I sat down, with his head using my left leg as a pillow and his tail around my ankle.
I sighed and patted his head softly, lulling him into sleep. Soon I started to hear a low humming and I smiled as I realized it came from the dragon. Unluckily for me I had never been more awake in my life and after a few minutes of thinking about the trip to the cave I got bored. My attention then drifted towards the green dragon beside me. My green dragon.
The last time I was awake he was about knee high, and now that he lay stretched in the ground beside me he seemed only a little bit shorter than my legs, which got me to the conclusion that he would reach at least to my thigh in a couple of days. His explosive growth worried me, since I had no idea how to hide him once he grew larger than me, but I decided to dwell on it on another time.
Soon he would be larger than the horses and when the time came I doubted I would be able to feed him. The hours passed in the same manner and Alice had yet to come back.
The realization hit after a few more hours of mindless thinking.
I had been waiting all this time for Alice to come back, but Alice wasn't coming back…
Donezzz :D and yeah I know I'm evil and I know I'm over doing the cliffies but they are just so much fun to write!! :P hope you enjoy and please review xD! and hopefully you'll realize that she was knocked out for about a week after chapter 8 i think.
-Mephisto's Daughter (Mephis)