The Warlock and The Pale Dragon
Chapter 2: Fighting for Freedom
Disclaimer: I do not own Inheritance Cycle or Harry Potter
Hope y'all enjoy R&R pls.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." -Thomas Jefferson
-LINE BREAK-
"Harry…" Hermione warily stated, shifting closer to him as they stared at the imposing circular wall that surrounded Dras-Leona.
"I can feel it too." Harry sighed, focusing on a large black cathedral that seemed to radiate dark magic. It was just the two who had visited the city, as Neville had chosen to stay behind to keep Luna company instead of joining them. "I think it's centered around that church, but it's radiating throughout the entire city. Still want to explore?" he weakly joked.
"We definitely should, at least to figure out what's causing the dark magic to permeate over the city."
"I figured you'd say something like that… honestly, the one time I say let's leave instead of checking it out."
"I guess your saving people thing is rubbing off on me." she grinned.
They entered the city under the pretense of business inside, and cautiously made their way to the black cathedral that towered over the rest of the buildings in the city. The feeling of unease they had when looking upon the city only grew the closer they got to it, pervading their senses. Hermione even had her wand in a white knuckle grip in her hand, though Harry was more constrained; but even then, other pedestrians walking past them felt a sense of heaviness in the air around them, like the air itself was pushing down on them.
After strolling through the close-knit city streets for a few minutes, they came upon the large black doors built to match the dour, malevolent church. Harry pushed one open enough to let them in, and the door closed itself behind him.
At this point Harry's danger senses were off the charts, his magic practically screaming at him about the sense of wrongness stifling the duo inside the building. Even inside Grimmauld Place as a teenager, Harry had never before been willing to call a building evil, but this cathedral made him completely rethink his views, because if anything could be evil, it would be this church and the people in it.
The nave of the church had pews set up in rows, with deformed humans sitting silently watching the dais in front of them. Harry almost vomited as he followed their gaze and found a quadruple amputee allowing someone to slice open an area on his chest and fill a goblet with his blood, taking a large gulp of it immediately afterwards like a man dying of thirst. Harry noticed the drinker wasn't without injuries, himself, as he was missing all fingers on the hand holding the goblet save his index and thumb.
He was startled by Hermione grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back to hiss in his ear, "we need to leave now!" she whispered urgently, urging him to turn around and sneak back out. Harry almost wanted to draw his Holly wand from the holster on his wrist and blast everyone participating in this black ritual to oblivion, but allowed her to stealthily guide them back to the door and outside. Hermione immediately went to a nearby bush and vomited her breakfast into it, before turning to Harry tiredly. "That was horrible!" she exclaimed.
"The puking or the ritual?" Harry asked for clarification.
"The ritual! That was blood magic, Harry. You know, evil magic, not just dark but actively malevolent."
"I know, I got a good sense of what was going on while we were in there. The leader, the guy on the throne, was compulsing his blood as they drank it. It's basically turned everyone in there into mindless drones with him leading them around. I also felt some kind of compulsion on him, but it was different, stranger…" he trailed off.
"Is there any way to help them?"
Harry sighed and ran a hand over his face before answering. "Not that I know of. They're addicted to blood and flesh through the compulsions now, probably were ever since their first time drinking from the head priest. There's no helping anyone in there at this point."
"How horrible…" she repeated with a shudder.
"I can always go back in there and put a stop to it?" he almost hoped she said yes.
"Not...yet. We don't want to attract attention to ourselves yet, and if no one else has bothered to stop this then apparently they're condoning it, which means it would be criminal to destroy this. We don't want to go back to undesirable's number 1 and 2 yet do we?" she said with a chuckle.
"I suppose not… but I will be putting a stop to this, and soon." Harry promised.
"And I'll help you, now come on let's go and see if this place gets any better or if the cult is the best they have to offer." she grabbed his hand and began pulling him forward as they went to explore the rest of the city.
-1 hour later-
Apparently there's a market in the middle of town, at least that's what I heard from that couple that walked by us," Hermione said. "Let's go see what they're selling Harry. Maybe they'll have some magical things we can examine to see the differences between how they use it compared to us."
"Lead the way, 'Mione." Harry smiled, letting his energetic friend drag him ahead once again. She dragged him through narrow streets and alleys, taking a few slight wrong turns and detours, until they were near enough to the center square of the town for her to see what was going on, which made her stop and cause Harry to bump into her back, not expecting the sudden brakes. She slowly put a hand to her mouth as she gazed upon the center of the square with a horrified gaze.
Harry had to adjust his glasses as they had been knocked askew when he hit her, but when he looked up after fixing them, he murmured. "Merlin…"
Before their very eyes was a slave market, humans being led onto a wooden stage collared in iron shackles, mothers holding their crying children like they were the only thing in the world, as though they knew they were about to be separated forever. He saw malnourished men stumbling up onto the platform, being whacked in the back for taking too long by the guards surrounding the stage. A grand crowd watched over the proceedings, some with a sad gaze but many shouting out their preferences, holding bags of coin in their hands.
Harry's green eyes, his vivid, bright green eyes that reminded so many of his mother's loving gaze, stared upon the scene with an easily recognizable expression: complete and total fury the likes of which he hadn't been seen wearing since his last duel against Voldemort, or the trials of the many death eaters as their crimes were listed for all and sundry to hear.
He couldn't hear Hermione's whimpers as she turned and hugged him tightly, he couldn't hear the shouting of the potential buyers anymore, he couldn't even hear himself think over the blood roaring in his ears, over the urging of his magic to do something. Harry finally came back to himself and whispered to Hermione. "Looks like we'll be going back on the wanted lists after all, eh Hermione."
By this point, her own emotions, which were predominantly a horrified mix of misery and sorrow, were overtaken by the same rage that Harry felt, and she nodded sternly, a hint of a smile breaking through.
"You focus on breaking the chains and apparating them out of here. I'll deal with the guards and anyone else that tries to interfere." he growled at the end, before reaching up to his neck where he wore his mokeskin pouch. He opened it and accio'd out his trump card, The Elder Wand. the wand he'd won from Draco Malfoy that after he broke, made its way back into his hands that very night after he went to sleep. He'd tried everything he could to get rid of it, breaking it, burying it, burning it, letting Hermione disarm him, but nothing worked. Until someone legitimately stronger than Harry came along proved themselves to be worthy, Harry was its master along with the other two Hallows.
He also drew his Holly wand, and with one wand in each hand he strolled out into the square, leaving Hermione to wait until he made an opening for her to get in. he cast a sonorus on himself before he apparated onto a nearby rooftop.
"I must admit to being a fresh face in this land you all call Alagaesia," Harry began addressing the crowd. "But where I come from slavery was one of the worst of the worst crimes possible to commit, and would see you rotting behind bars like the scum you are!" he snarled at the crowd in general, along with the guards. "Where I hail from, there are a great many quotes from famous men and women about the issue of slavery, but I'll keep it simple with a quote about inequality in general for all of you simpletons. A man from my homeland once said "What a treacherous thing to believe, that a person is more than a person." Do even one of you understand what he means?" he asked rhetorically.
"Of course you don't, or you wouldn't be selling off your brothers and sisters in race like fucking cattle! You wouldn't be bartering gold for life, separating families and treating your fellow humans as pack animals or whipping posts or any-fucking-thing else other than your equal! I will not sit idle and allow this injustice!" his booming voice echoed across the entire city, not just the courtyard itself. His aura glared the same vivid green as his eyes, tinting the sunlight shining behind him viridescent, giving the ground a neon green tint at his rage. The crowd had to squint simply to see his outline, so great was the glow of his aura mingled with the sun's gaze.
"I give all those who would oppose me one opportunity to lay down your arms. I will not be held responsible for defending myself." he was practically whispering, but the sonorus carried his voice to them all just the same. Their only responses were shouting at him to come down and surrender, and the clanks and hisses of weapons being drawn and readied. "Very well." he nodded, his face blank.
When he struck, it was not with a shouted incantation or a wave of his wand. He simply raised the elder wand and aimed it right in the center of the spectators of the market, shooting off a stunning spell as large as a beach ball that, when it made contact in the center of the group, exploded outwards in a wave of red, causing everyone in the circle to collapse, unconscious.
Next Harry aimed several smaller stunners at the line of guards circling the building he was on, collapsing their ranks easily and causing the remaining ones to run for cover.
He heard a slight whisper on the wind, and quickly put up a shield as several arrows and crossbow bolts approached him at rapid speed. They smashed against his shield, some breaking on impact but all falling to the ground. He whispered, "homenum revelio." and saw several red auras appear in his vision, indicating lifeforms still conscious and moving around. He also realized from verbalizing his spell that the sonorus was still active, and cancelled it with only a thought.
Harry began rapidly apparating around the square, dealing with the ranged soldiers attempting to kill him from afar. He risked a glance at Hermione, and saw she was nearly halfway through the chain of people on the platform, apparating to their manor and back after she dropped them off.
Suddenly Harry felt a battering ram strike his occlumency shields, forcing him to throw up several shields to cover himself as he put all his mental effort into blocking off the attack. He didn't know just how he was being assaulted as an attack of this magnitude usually required eye contact on his world, but he put as much effort into violently rejecting the probe as possible, and was rewarded with a man in a robe collapsing screaming in agony in an alleyway across the square that he only saw in his peripherals. Did he actually need to put so much effort into repelling the attack, not really, but damn it felt good.
He took another glance at the center of the square, and saw that Neville had come back with her and was speeding up their exfiltration. He kept up with his attack on the city guard, not fatally injuring anyone but mildly injuring a great many with concussion and banishing hexes followed by his area affecting stunners.
There were only four people left chained on the platform, so Harry chose to apparate back there and meet Hermione before she left again. He was spooked as she appeared just in front of him, wand aimed at his waist about to unleash a cutting curse on the chain behind him.
He raised his hands in a surrendering gesture and called out over the shouting of the remaining soldiers. "Since we're already going to be on the wanted list, I'm going to deal with the blood magic cultists while I'm here. Focus on getting our new arrivals calm and I'll join you all soon!"
She looked worried, though. "Harry you should wait a moment and let Neville come to. We don't know how dangerous they are."
Harry let out a frustrated breath but acquiesced. "I'll give him three minutes, then I'm going alone." she didn't like it, but gave him a grudging nod just as Neville popped in, causing her to smile.
Harry clapped a hand on his shoulder, causing Neville to shoot him a questioning glance. "Well Nev, let's go kill a crazy cult of black magic practitioners. I was going to go alone but Hermione was kind enough to recruit you to help me." he said grinning.
Neville for his part only grinned back and stated. "Remind me to thank her afterwards, maybe I should hide a few of her books for a week or two…"
"Neville, we're living dangerously just by fighting these guys, but even I think that's too dangerous." he chuckled
He side-along apparated both of them back to the front door of the black cathedral, the entire area clear of both civilians and guards as they were all back at the center of town, or on their way there. When he'd glanced back just before they left, Hermione was applying a temporary ward to protect the stage while she got the last three prisoners, so he knew she was fine without their help.
"How do you want to do this, Neville? Loud or quiet?" Harry asked cheerfully as they stared down the large black doors.
"I like loud, sounds fun." he said mischievously. Both boys who could fit the prophecy that foretold Voldemort's downfall raised their wands together, one holly and one cherry, and intoned as one. "Bombarda Maxima!" sending two powerful exploding charms at the front doors. They exploded against the doors with enough force to make the duo stagger, but there was barely a dent in the black entrance, though Harry felt a spike in the malevolent magic that radiated from the place.
"Well if nothing else that was a hell of a knock. I think they have some kind of blood ward protecting the place from magic, it's outright evil I can tell that much from the feel of the magic, but effective. I'd rather not waste any time breaking it so let's just let ourselves in." Neville simply nodded and they opened the doors with a heavy push, letting light flood the dark central chamber of the church.
"Honey I'm home!" Harry sang as they walked forward, casting dual shadows on the stone floor. The chamber itself seemed the same as before, worshippers sitting in their pews fervently muttering to themselves, though the High Priest had actually deigned to notice them this time, and was glaring hatefully at the two.
"Why do you disturb our worship?" the torso rasped.
"Mostly because I can. Also because this is magic of the blackest arts, a bastardization of what magic should be. I'm ending this right here and now."
"The only thing that shall be ending here are your lives, fools. Our lords have blessed us with power beyond your comprehension!" as he was speaking, Harry felt the presence of the dark magic stifling them, attempting to subjugate them, so he flared his own aura in challenge, matching power with power.
"Stick close to me Neville, this entire church is a trap to any attackers." Harry said to the man standing at his side. Harry silently cast a flame whip spell, and cut through a set of pews to his right as he cracked the whip like a knife through butter, leaving the cleanly cut edges blackened and burning.
The worshippers were standing up, some without feet or legs deigning to crawl towards them instead, but Harry was a lion tamer in action, forcing them back with the orange whip lest they get licked by the flames. While Harry was keeping the shuffling acolytes back, Neville was casting exploding charms and cutting curses and blasting hexes rapidly into the groups, taking out as many of the monsters, for they were no less than that anymore, as he could. The High Priest narrowed his eyes into slits from his seat, and Harry felt the magic grow even heavier, forcing him to take a knee, so much was his aura weighed down by it.
Still, Harry was not deterred. He yelled at Neville, "Be ready to run, I'm going scorched earth for this!" Neville's eyes widened but he nodded. Harry raised the elder wand that had been idling in his other hand and hissed, "FiendFyre!" causing the cursed hellfire to leap forward from the deathstick and eagerly consume the members of the cannibalistic cult, forming a large gryffin as it charged around the room, the dark red flames growing even darker as they consumed the evil magical energy of the cathedral, lessening the strain on Harry's own magic, allowing him to stand and start backing towards the entrance. The priest yelled through the roaring fire at him. "This will not be the end of us, boy! Our lords will simply convert another High Priest and start again! You have achieved nothing, and shall achieve nothing greater than causing a temporary inconvenience."
Harry simply stared back at the torso with a head. He sent the near black-flamed gryffin at the Priest, burning him to less than ash instantly. Harry cancelled his hold on the magic and sprinted for the door, using a summoning charm to slam them shut and trap the Fiendfyre construct inside the building to let it starve until it returned to its own world. He also used as many locking charms on the doors as he could to prevent anyone opening them for a while to make sure the cursed flame actually dissipated.
Harry and Neville caught their breath for a minute at the doors, before Neville breathed. "Merlin, Harry. You sure know how to show a bloke a good time…"
"I aim to please." He responded arrogantly.
"Remind me to up the time I'm hiding her books up to a month, that was bloody terrifying." Neville said.
"Will do, and I agree. Those deformed husks are just as bad as inferi aren't they. Bloody nightmare fuel." Harry shuddered. "Let's get out of here before the guards wise up, Nev." The man in question nodded, and they apparated back to Potter Manor v2.
-LINE BREAK-
They arrived to controlled chaos on the grounds of the manor, the group of freed men and women all huddled together looking terrified while Hermione and Luna spoke to them calmingly, Harry's dragon lying in front of the house watching the scene curiously.
"Everyone, I understand you're all scared, who wouldn't be after what you've experienced." Hermione soothingly said. "But we need to check you all over for injuries and infections, Merlin knows what all has happened to you while you all were captive." Harry performed a head count on the calming group, and counted out twenty five people they'd rescued. There were ten men, ten women, and five children comprising the group, with the men taking the front in an attempt to shield the women, who in turn were trying to protect the children from any threats.
Harry stood off to the side, knowing that his presence would only throw them into disarray again, and watched as the two got everyone to form three lines and let them perform diagnosis charms on all of them, starting with the children. After a few minutes, Neville went off to start gathering some food for a feast later on, while Harry watched the scene and made sure none of them tried anything threatening.
By the time they were done Hermione looked haggard both from use of magic and the state of their new arrivals, and collapsed next to Harry with a huff. "They're all malnourished, the females and children were left alone physically, it appears that none of the women were raped thank god, and the men had injuries of varying seriousness, none fatal." she sighed heavily. "What I wouldn't give for a fully stocked medical cupboard right now."
"We'll just have to make do with healing spells and large meals until we know what magical plants do what in this world." he said.
Harry saw the children had grouped together and were talking quietly, so he decided to summon a few rocks from nearby and transfigured them into stuffed animals, pouring enough magic into each one to make him break a sweat, but ensuring that it would be months before any of them turned back to normal. He then levitated them over to the children, dropping one in each of their laps. When one of them pointed out that it was Harry that did it and they all turned to look at him, Harry just gave them a wave and a warm smile.
It took Neville some thirty minutes to gather up enough food for everyone and return, and by the time he had Harry and Hermione had gotten most of the adults to trust them, while Luna and the dragonling played with the kids. The menfolk quickly got to work stripping the animals and preparing the meat, while the females of the group went about preparing the furs to make a sort of communal blanket for them all to sit on.
"You know Nev, we could have just used an engorgement charm on one carcass and put the rest under a stasis and shrinking charm when we were done." Harry pointed out to his friend, who just smacked his hand against his forehead and groaned.
"Next time Harry, give out your pearls of wisdom before I do something wrong." Neville said after a moment.
"Ask and you shall receive," Harry smirked. "But I don't want any complaints about backseat broom flying or anything like that afterwards."
"We'll see about that, I make no guarantees about anything if you decide to be a smart-arse about it."
"You wound me! I would never… ok yeah I would. I take after Sirius in that regard I suppose." he chuckled heartily and was joined by Neville.
They turned back towards the group, and were surprised to see a man and woman walking towards them. When they got close enough, they stopped and the man spoke. "You there, with the scar on his head. Are you the leader of your little group?" he asked.
"As good as any I suppose, though I like to think we're all equals cause I listen to what they have to say."
"Well then I would like to extend our most humble gratitude for rescuing us all from that fate. I speak for all of us when I say that words cannot describe…" The man's voice got so thick he choked for a moment. "You saved us all from a fate worse than death, there is no way we can truly repay you for what you've done."
"No reparations needed, I just did what was right." Harry said plainly.
"Something so few have the courage to do nowadays." the man replied.
"An old man from my home told me once 'there will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right'. I tend to stick by that advice, the old man wronged me, but he was, in the end, a wise man who made mistakes."
"Aye, it is sound advice to live by." the man stated.
"Might we have your name?" the woman asked.
"May I have yours?" Harry countered with a smirk, making her blush slightly.
"I am Adra, and this is my husband Skall. We were of Therinsford but we were caught by bandits and sold to the slavers."
"I'm Harry, I come from… far away. I wound up in Alagaesia with my friends by complete accident."
"A devil of an accident, to wind up in a completely different country without meaning to." Skall noted.
"You have no idea," Harry said. "When you're a wizard, accidents can be much worse than just being an ordinary farmer or soldier. A soldier has an accident it usually means he forgot to sharpen his sword before an inspection or put his boots on the wrong feet. A farmer has an accident he might throw out his back. A wizard has an accident, gets caught in an explosion with his friends, and winds up in a country he's never heard of." he chuckled at their wide eyes.
"I suppose so…" they breathed after digesting his statement.
"But enough about me, tell me, what are you all planning to do now?" Harry asked curiously.
"Your friend, the one who told us to call her Her...Hermione?" Adra questioned, and continued after Harry nodded. "Told us that we could stay here and safely recuperate, and most of us are leaning towards that option if it is alright with you. A few of us have families we could return to, but most of our families are either with us or were killed when we were taken." she finished sadly.
"I don't have any problems with you lot staying here, but don't expect us to go hunting for you every day." He warned. "If you go hunting and bring back a deer once we run out of these, which we won't for awhile once I'm done, then I'll preserve it with magic and make it grow into more meat so there's more to eat. My friends can also do this, and if we find another mage or two here that we can trust enough to teach, they will be able to do so as well. But be warned that once you leave, I make no guarantee you will be able to come back here as I've put extensive magical protections over our home, enough to… deter any who would wish us harm, but it will more than likely keep anyone we don't personally bring here out." Harry finished explaining.
"Thank you, Harry, you truly are a kind soul." both continued thanking him profusely for a few minutes, then went back to their group to convey the good news to those who were staying.
He flopped on the ground tiredly, Neville watching him amusedly, and sighed out. "Why does life always have to get complicated around me, Nev?"
"Because you're you and you can't not do good." he stated it like it was a fact everyone should know already.
"Damn my luck…" Harry cursed.
"You only have yourself to blame." Neville laughed.
"Doesn't mean I have to like it!" Harry petulantly stated, crossing his arms as a child would, making Neville laugh even harder.
-LINE BREAK-
Elsewhere in Alagaesia, the waves of Harry's assault were being felt all around, by all sorts of people. Ajihad, the current leader of the rebellion against the king of Alagaesia and his armies, was one of the people who heard the news as quickly as possible.
He was holding court with his generals in the depths of Farthen Dur, when a messenger burst through the ornate white doors inlaid with gold, showing off dwarven craftsmanship, to deliver an urgent intelligence report to him from their spies in Dras-Leona.
Just starting reading the missive, he immediately dismissed the entire council, save for the twins, who were his only source of information on the magical community of Alagaesia, and Jormundur, one of his more trusted generals. His eyes only grew wider and wider the further he got into the missive, his eyebrows reaching so far back they were touching his hairline. After he finished examining the document he almost wanted to dismiss as fiction, he passed it off to the twins to allow them to have a look, and motioned for Jormundur to wait patiently for his turn at the document.
The twins gaped at parts of the document, and openly scoffed at others, not believing that what they were reading could be true. They practically threw the document at Jormundur and turned to Ajihad. "Is this fantastical story what passes for information nowadays? What they say was accomplished would be impossible for any mage to do, it would take the entirety of Du Vrangr Gata to replicate the results, yet this fool would have us believe that three mages alone were able to free an entire slave market's captives and burn the worshippers of Helgrind inside their own cathedral?! I can tell you I have been to that church, it was one of the most oppressive, stifling magically charged atmospheres I've ever seen." his twin nodded his agreement.
"The source is trustworthy, I have never had a reason to doubt him before, and all the secret codes ensuring the note was untampered were in place. As far as I know, this is completely legitimate."
Jormundur spoke up. "If that is true, we should be seeking out these new mages to forge ties with them. They have much power, and I do not think I need to convince you all of how useful it would be should they agree to aid the Varden."
"They should be brought before Du Vrangr Gata and questioned until we know just what they did, and how they accomplished it." the other twin sneered, but kept his voice without inflection
"We should not be alienating possible allies with threats of interrogation. Jormundur, I want you to keep an eye on this, and should you get the opportunity to send a messenger to them asking for a meeting, then do so. Twins, I do not want Du Vrangr Gata attempting anything against these people, am I clear on that." they seemed to cave under his stern look, and nodded with blank faces. "Good, you are dismissed. I may call you back at some point should any questions about the magic they performed arise, though."
After they left, he turned to Jormundur. "I assume I do not need to tell you not to inform the rest of the council about this?"
He sighed before replying. "Understood, they would simply try to force compliance from them…"
"Yes, and we do not want to risk making enemies where none need be made. What do you think of this, Jormundur?" Ajihad asked.
"Truthfully, I think that had it not come from a reliable source that was proven untampered I would think it a fanciful tale and say that source was discovered and not to rely on them any longer. But the fact that it's reliable information… for three mages to take on the entire order of Helgrind worshippers and Dras-Leona's garrison, freeing slaves at the same time. They must be very powerful. Whether that is good or bad remains to be seen, but I suppose we have no choice but to wait and see."
"Aye, seems we do too much of that lately. I wish we could take the fight to Galbatorix directly more often, but such are the woes of a rebellion…" he sighed and ran a hand through his graying hair before dismissing his general, wishing to be alone with his thoughts for a time.
-LINE BREAK-
Inside the royal palace at Uru'Baen another leader was looking through similar information as Ajihad, a report on the attack at Dras-Leona. Galbatorix, the betrayer of the Dragon Riders, king and tyrant of Alagaesia looked through the document with a sense of detachment, only getting slightly interested at the magic being described, as it seemed relatively powerful, powerful enough to make him curious as to how it was done, but nothing more.
What gave him pause was that they were apparently strong enough to do away with the cult of humans that worshipped his agents, the Ra'zac. Their own power was not insignificant, and led to Galbatorix developing a slight interest in capturing these mages. Not enough to do anything drastic yet, especially considering all the resources he was funneling into recovering the lost female dragon egg, such as the shade Durza or the Ra'zac themselves, along with many hordes of Urgals. He would wait, wait and bide his time until an opportunity presented itself.
Another thorn in his side was the fact that Morzan's boy, Murtagh, had escaped from the capital and was on the run. Considering he had plans to turn that brat into the start of the next generation of forsworn by getting one of the remaining eggs to hatch for him, as he was sure one would, this put a damper on his day, but he was unimportant compared to continuing the dragon race, and to do that he needed the last female egg, and the dragon inside of it, returned to him until he could find a suitable rider.
But Galbatorix had two things on his side, power and time. He truly was the strongest dragon rider in existence, and had long since destroyed any threats to him and sent them to the next life. His power was unmatched, and through his status as a rider he was blessed with immortality, and did not have to trifle with worries such as aging. He could wait as long as he had too for his plans to come to fruition, but he would one day rule over the entirety of Alagaesia with an iron fist, controlling the country with his very own legion of dragon riders that obeyed only him and his whims.
Galbatorix has been playing this game for many years, after all, so what was a few more years, maybe even decades to finalize his work. He would change the world, shape it in his image, and leave a mark as lasting on history as himself.
-LINE BREAK-
The Cripple Who Is Whole, otherwise known as The Mourning Sage, AKA Oromis Thranduin was sat against his golden dragon, Glaedr, as he watched the passage of the last egg as it journeyed out of the forest and back into human hands for another choosing with a sense of depression and melancholy.
During the fall of the riders, Oromis was lucky enough to survive, but was cursed with the disabilities that plague his body at the present, which would have ended his life long ago were he not so skilled at spellcasting himself. Even his dragon was unable to escape unscathed, losing a foot and gaining a great many scars from one of the forsworn.
He was left unable to fight Galbatorix personally, and bereft of all but hope, secluded himself away in the Crags of Tel'naeir with the wish to simply survive long enough to train a rider capable of besting the betrayer before his wounds extracted their final penance.
He was all the more surprised, then, when his seclusion was broken by the elven queen Islanzadi herself, to bring him news. Normally news was sent through a loyal courier to reach him, his presence an open secret among the elves, so for her to deign to come herself the news must be of great importance. She and her two guards strolled up to him and she stated, "A missive has arrived from the Varden. Someone has stirred up a hornets nest." she said amusedly as she handed him the document.
Reading through the document, he was thoroughly impressed with the deeds these mages had accomplished, and disbelieving that so few were able to succeed. He turned to the queen when he was finished and asked, "Do we know who they are?"
"They are not of the Varden, nor are their origins elven or dwarven. They do not appear to be aligned with Galbatorix's empire so there is hope for an alliance, or so the Varden thinks."
"Interesting... according to this they showed mastery of magic beyond most elves, even. These would be mighty allies indeed, or fearsome foes." he carefully stated.
Islanzadi nodded. "We shall have to tread carefully around them, certainly."
"Tell me your majesty, how fares your daughter?"
She scowled slightly, but schooled her face back to a blank slate. "Still insisting on being the Varden's ambassador."
"She is strong willed, the same as her mother." he said with a hint of a smile.
Blagden the pale raven flew overhead, croaking "Death! Death! Death and it's champion rise in the hidden land!" but he was so high up no one could hear his cries for they were carried away by the winds.
-LINE BREAK-
"What do you want from me!" Harry shrieked at the dragon clinging tight to his hand with her teeth, even as he shook it around in an attempt to dislodge her. "I know I haven't been able to spend much time with you, but I've been busy! I'm sorry, okay." she glared at him, but released her grip on his hand.
'I want to spend time with my rider.' she communicated, causing him to jump until he realized it was her. 'We haven't even named me yet.'
"You're right, I know. But like I said, I haven't just been sitting around avoiding you. I've been busy." he said gently. "Alright let's name you then. I'm gonna sound off some names, tell me if you like any of them. Hedwig?" he asked hopefully, willing to name her after his first and most loyal friend. "No… alright. Let's see… dragon names, preferably girl dragon names… not Smaug, not Fafnir, definitely not Godzilla… you got any ideas?" he asked.
"I am days old, I know very little about my history, save the general ideas you have from Itu and Thenn, so not really, no." she snorted.
"Well I'm terrible at naming!" he retorted. "The only thing I've named before is an owl named Hedwig and you already turned down that name."
"Fine! Svita means ice in the ancient language. I shall call myself Svita, since I was sired in the ice and snow."
"Alright, it's nice to meet you, Svita." Harry said amicably.
'The same to you, Harry Potter.'
The two sat in silence for a while, Harry petting her scales in a comforting way, until he finally decided to get up and go see if anything needed to be done. Neville was busy planting a garden with some seeds he'd been gathering throughout their travels, placing climate controlling wards around the garden patch to simulate a greenhouse until he could get a physical one built. Luna was playing with the children, the mad giggling and laughing bringing a smile to Harry's face as he walked past. Hermione was asking the adults for information about Alagaesia, writing down factoids they were unaware of in another notebook, presumably to inform everyone later.
With nothing else to do, Harry decided to settle inside his mostly bare house and begin crafting some crude furniture for basic comfort until they could replace it with better things later on. He brought in a few thick logs from outside and used cutting curses to shape them into crude chairs, honing them finely to lower the risk of getting any splinters in uncomfortable places.
He made the frames for a few other pieces of furniture, mainly couches and bed frames, but he required more materials before he could take those constructs any farther, instead making some bookshelves and tables to place around the house. By the time Harry was done, the house was full of terribly basic and crooked looking furniture, but Harry nodded to himself with a smile nonetheless, because he was the one that made it.
Going back outside, Harry saw that everyone had settled down and began eating their meals, consisting entirely of cooked meat until Neville's garden started producing fruits and vegetables. He sat down between Hermione and Neville and grabbed a hunk of meat for himself, devouring it ravenously to replenish all the energy he'd used lately.
Harry had no problems falling asleep that night, stuffed and exhausted as he was, Harry was out like a light just as soon as he landed on his cot.
-LINE BREAK-
"So what's on today's agenda, Harry?" Neville asked around a bite of leftover meat from the previous night, just as fresh as it had been when it was just off the spit due to stasis charms.
"I'm thinking today we head north again and explore Du Weldenvarden. At the very least we could find some nice trees and gather some seeds to plant, maybe even some fruit trees, at worst we explore a forest even larger than the Forbidden Forest and see nothing."
"I do love exploring," Luna said seriously. "Maybe we can find a new species of magical animal here that didn't exist on earth, or maybe a different kind of species we already had, like the dragons are different. If they're anywhere, I bet there's unicorns in that forest." she finished, her eyes gleaming at the possibilities.
"I think I'll stay here this time and help our new residents set up some form of shelter for themselves. Should I have them build a few large communal homes, or should I have them build a larger number of small, private homes?" she asked the group.
"I say smaller homes just because I think it's what I'd want." Harry said sensibly.
"I say let them decide." Neville pointed out, to which they all nodded.
"Well now that's decided. Nev, Luna, I believe it's about time for us to go if we want to make any kind of headway through that giant place." he stated as he stood up, clapping Neville's knee as he did.
"Well let's get going then, come on slowpoke!" Luna said giddily, practically jumping in her eagerness to explore.
-Chapter End-
AN: seems like I'm always better at fight scenes than dialogue, at least that's what it feels like when I'm writing… anyways here's another chapter, hope y'all enjoyed. And to answer a review I saw, yes it's set after the fall, just before Eragon meets Saphira, and a great many characters from the book will be making appearances. Also, no I have not read that, I have only read the inheritance cycle, Eragon through Inheritance. See y'all next time.