Arlen and Herbst followed Artsanna as she followed the wagon carrying magicians to Dras-Blöthr. The two men were far behind Artsanna, as she was as far as she could be behind it without losing sight. Her silvery scales blended with the snow well enough, and her slow movements helped her sneak behind it as well. She was like a wraith—a white wraith with red eyes.
They'd started this earlier when Artsanna woke them up before dawn. As it turned out, Dragons didn't need to sleep as often as Humans, so she watched the north road out of Gil'ead as Arlen and Herbst slept. And so they'd followed all the way to midday when Arlen started to wonder if this was the best idea.
What if the wagon kept going after nightfall? The three of them couldn't keep following them continuously for days. That's when it occurred to him that while the men driving the horse could sleep in shifts, the horses couldn't. The horses needed rest just as much as any of them, so they definitely needed to stop some time.
As they were walking around a hill next to the rode, Artsanna suddenly headed for deep snow, disappearing beneath it. He wondered why she did that as he heard a faint flapping sound. He turned to the source of it and saw two Dragons flying down upon them. Riders!
He didn't run, and stopped Herbst from running as well. If they ran, then they would be run down and taken for guilty. If they didn't run, they might be able to talk their way out of it. He put more faith in words than his legs so he'd try talking for now.
As they were about to land, he could see some very distinct differences between them and Artsanna. While he'd seen other Dragons before, he hadn't really studied them, except maybe Thorn, who was definitely a different matter entirely. The larger of the Dragons was a misty blue color, with elegant features, wings just large enough to fly, and thin torso and limbs. The other was only slightly smaller, with a thick head plate—like Artsanna's, but thicker—and a very muscular body. Its scales were a color between yellow and brown, like the sand on the beach of the North Sea. The two were a very odd pair, and their Riders were even more so.
As the two dismounted and walked to Arlen and Herbst, their oddness was evident. One was an Elf man with black hair and a disapproving look to him. The other was a short, stout woman, who had to be a Dwarf, and had thick blond braids running down the sides of her head, as well as a grin. The Elf had dismounted the blue Dragon, and the Dwarf the sand-colored one. He'd never seen either of them, though they did live up to their reputations—he imagined that if either of them was a woman, he might be attracted to the Elf, but he had no idea.
The Dwarf spoke first in a thick accented voice, after bowing. "I am Glarda of Dûrgrimst Gedthrall, senior Rider, and this is Vanir of… whatever Elf family he says he's from, gods know I can't keep em' straight."
Vanir sighed. "You know saying you're the senior Rider just confuses them."
Glarda laughed heartily. "The truth of how you were held back doesn't mean I shouldn't say mine rank."
"But I do not have seniority and yet I have the larger Dragon," Vanir countered. "Don't you think it is slightly confusing?" Arlen could only wonder why Vanir was held back.
Glarda shook her head. "Not to me." She turned back to Arlen and Herbst. "So, any reason you two are following that wagon?"
Herbst put his best confused look on his face and said, "What wagon?"
Vanir sighed again. "The wagon just up the road. You can't tell me that…"
The Elf looked back to his Dragon, as did the Dwarf. A conversation must have taken place between them, because immediately the Dragons started searching like hunting dogs for something. Glarda asked, "Do you two know anything about a Dragon around here?"
Arlen pointed to the two Dragons sniffing along the ground. Vanir shook his head. "A Dragon other than those two."
Herbst shook his head. "Why do you think we'd know anything about a Dragon?"
As Vanir replied, Artsanna contacted Arlen. It drowned out his reply so that all he could here was Artsanna's plan. When I tell you to, attack the Riders. I'll handle the Dragons.
Arlen didn't know if he could reply to her, so he'd just have to go along with the plan. As much as he was worried that his training with Murtagh wouldn't work, he couldn't let Artsanna down. No matter his feelings, if Artsanna attacked the Dragons while the Riders were unoccupied, then she'd have to deal with magic that she had no defense against. He'd just have to hope it would work.
Before anything would happen, Arlen had to decide something. Would he kill the Riders? He'd killed before, though mostly that was just Urgals. Could he be responsible for killing two Riders—peacekeepers of Alagaësia—as if it was nothing? No he couldn't do that. He wouldn't kill the Riders, though that would make things much harder—or perhaps easier, he had no way of knowing.
After several seconds of waiting, Artsanna made her move. She leapt out of the snow right under her hunters, grabbing onto the sandy Dragon, and slashing it in the jaw. The Dragon went reeling as his or her blue companion tried pouncing on her. Artsanna dashed out of the way, slashing the blue Dragon in the side as she did. She was doing well so far, but her opponents had more years than her, so that would soon come into play.
Arlen decided to attack just as the Riders moved past him to get a better look at the situation. He began to draw his sword, but as he did so, Vanir immediately reacted. He began to turn and draw his sword, but Arlen managed to strike him with the pommel of his long sword just before he could draw. The Elf was disoriented, but that wouldn't last long.
Before he could continue his attack, he had to deal with Glarda. He kicked her in the stomach before she knew what was going on, sending her back. That would buy him time—not a lot, but some.
He parried Vanir's sword just in time, and tried slashing him in the hand. It didn't work, as the Elf was too quick, and he blocked.
The Elf began to say a spell, much to Arlen's panic. He managed to throw him off though, kicking him in the shin—which turned out to have light armor on it, which was unfortunate for his toes—and interrupting the Elf midway through his spell. He had to keep the Elf off balance enough to keep him from using magic, or else this duel was doomed to failure.
Glarda had recovered, and was about to join the fray when Herbst wacked her in the head with his staff. Vanir must have seen this and chuckled. "One of Alaric's original Riders and she can't even remember to include that among her wards," Vanir said.
Arlen was surprised. She had been of Alaric's class? She was one of the original students of Eragon? Vanir took advantage of Arlen's surprise and struck. Arlen—forgetting his training for a moment—blocked, and was knocked to the ground.
Vanir started to say, "Alright, whose Dragon is…?" but was interrupted by Herbst. It sounded like Herbst was speaking in the Ancient Language or something, but he wasn't a magician. Was he? It didn't matter, as Vanir was distracted enough by Herbst so that Arlen could slash him in the hand and leg. Before the crumbling Vanir could speak a spell, Arlen rose and finished him off with another strike of his pommel right to the head.
With both Riders unconscious, Arlen looked to see how Artsanna was doing. It seemed that she was talking to the blue Dragon, and not out of anger. They were sitting like dogs would sit, looking at each other, and probably having a very involved conversation. The sandy Dragon was grasping its wound, which had fortunately stopped bleeding, and may have been talking as well. Though each of them had their share of wounds from each other, it looked as though they were being civil about it.
Something he soon realized was that Glarda couldn't have been one of Alaric's classmates. Her Dragon wasn't much larger as Karasi's Dragon, which was much smaller than Magnora. Besides, she hadn't put up much of a fight. He imagined that Alaric or one of his original Riders would have fought harder than that.
Artsanna turned to Arlen and said, Vrenshrrgn and Datia are not going to pursue us. We've come to an understanding.
"Well that's good," Arlen said. He was glad he didn't have to explain it for once.
Soon enough Artsanna looked back to the Dragons, as if in conversation again. She shook her head, which now seemed strange to him. The other Dragons, as they conversed, didn't use any body language he could recognize. How different Artsanna was from other Dragons. She was soon done, and she beckoned for Arlen and Herbst to follow.
Before they did, one of the Dragons said to Arlen, Safe travels, not-the-Silver-One's-Rider. Arlen could only imagine what prompted that.
