Disclaimer: the Inheritance triology and any characters from there are the property of Paolini. Anything you don't recognize, belongs to me.

Aberon, capital city of Surda.

Late at night.

Pushing everything at the desk in front of him out of the way, only just missing knocking over the candles providing him with light, Eragon had to make a great effort to hold back a cry of frustration. Ever since that messenger had arrived earlier in the day, just before the evening meal, bringing the news he had been dreading-- the young dragonrider had locked himself in his quarters.

Four weeks ago, after the army of the Empire had been forced to retreat, he and everyone else in Surda had permitted themselves to hope that they had struck a great blow to their enemies. Or at the very least, Galbatorix wouldn't be able to regroup his forces to attack again for quite some time.

But then frightening rumors was heard in the streets, that an even larger army was marching through the Empire to join the remains of the defeated army waiting just outside the border northeast of Aberon. Scouts and spies had been sent out to investigate, and there had been a tense two and a half weeks as the Varden and Surda waited for the rumors to be confirmed or debunked.

Now rumor had become fact.

:It is bad, I know that. But hiding in your room and despairing is not doing any good, Nasuda and the king have asked about you: Sapphira said.

Outside, the blue dragoness returned after a hunting trip carrying some kind of gazelle in her talons, and as she landed outside-- the windows rattled in the backdraft of her wings. Eragon leaned over the desk as Sapphire started eating, trying not to 'listen' too much to it, he just didn't like the thought of meat these days...

"I'll go to them soon, did they say where they would be?"

:In the...:

There was a pang of surprise from Sapphira, and then a deafening boom shook the room.

Throwing himself backwards to avoid a falling bookcase, Eragon hit the floor hard, nearly knocking himself out. Either way, the sound had left his ears ringing and he felt rather stunned, so he didn't really notice the strange lights shimmering across the abruptly cloudy sky outside.

Or that something was moving towards him across the fallen bookcase for that matter.

Outside, in the courtyard next to the building where Eragon had been assigned his quarters, Sapphira was painfully getting back up at her feet-- even as she watched the unexpected guests in front of her. Despite of her dragon instincts and what she had been taught by Glaedr, what she saw in front of her came periously close to going beyond her comprehension.

For several moments, she considered the possibility of that it was some kind of illusion or other spell cast by a user of magic-- but soon her own senses told her that it was very much real. That didn't change the fact that she wasn't sure that she wanted to believe what she did see, as it really went beyond anything she had learned during her short life or what she instinctively knew.

It was one thing to see a creature that looked like a long-haired cat the size of a very big horse, watching her in much the same way as she would have watched a deer or a cow. The fact that it was undoubtely as intelligent as her.., didn't exactly make its presence less unnerving.

Neither did the sight of what appeared to be a metallic black and red wasp the lenght of a man's arm do much to make her less nervous about the entire situation.

However, it was the third 'guest' who truly caught the young dragoness' attention.

For what stood in front of her was another dragon, larger than she was at a lenght that seemed to be about 55 feet, watching her with a mix of wariness and curiosity, mirrored by the young woman sitting in a rather strange-looking saddle at its neck-- that appeared large and bulky to accomodate for the rows of spikes at its neck.

Well, at least Sapphira thought it was a dragon, although it was about as similar to her as an eagle would be to a falcon. Despite of its somewhat compact and muscled body, its limbs and tail were long and slender, so were the horns curving back from the top of its head. The scales covering its body were cobalt blue with nearly black markings, more metallic than gem-like, and its cat-like, blue-green eyes glimmered in the darkness.

Exactly what the rider was like was more difficult to determine though, as the riding gear she wore made it difficult to establish anything else than that she was most likely a female. Neither did it seem like the rider carried any weapons, though that did little to make Sapphira less wary, as any dragon could be a formidable opponent-- she had already learned that around Glaedr and Thorn.

Sensing the approach of several guards, and other people who had noticed the strange display in the sky or the strange visitors in the courtyard, Sapphira knew that she had to make sure that they would not be harmed by the intruders. Something that worried her though, was the lack of response from Eragon as she called him. While she knew that he was in the building just to the left of her, it was like that he couldn't hear her, and except for knowing that he was there-- she couldn't sense much from him either.

:What.., who are you? What is your purpose of being here?: she asked as the first guards entered the court yard, comming to a sudden stop when spotting the intruders.

With a low rustle of scales, the strange dragon folded her wings and lowered her head slightly to look at Sapphira.

:Hmmmm..., in the matter of why we are here, your guess is as good as mine: the cobalt blue dragon said, her mind voice making it clear that she was female:this place is certainly not where I intended to go when I teleported:

Glancing back at her rider, the dragon seemed to speak with her, before taking another look at the surrounding buildings, the gathering 'spectators' and finally the sky-- where the strange display of light was slowly fading.

:As for names-- Aino is mine and my rider is Elii, the fact that we aren't exactly from around here is quite obvious I believe. Our world of origin is Lentheas, and I believe That has something to do with us appearing here:

With a throaty hum, Aino indicated the sky by stretching one wing straight upwards.

Sapphira threw her head backwards with a nervous snort, thoughts racing through her mind. Judging by the subtext leaking from the other dragon's mind as she spoke, this 'Lentheas' was no place in Alagaësia or the lands that lay beyond, and the act of teleporting she understood to be some kind of going between places without covering the physical distance.

How such a thing was even possible evaded her, but it certainly caught her interest...

Another and no less important matter was how Aino and the others had been brought to Aberon, if Aino did in fact speak the truth. Sapphira's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at the other dragon's rider, the cat and the 'wasp'-- none of them had spoken, but neither did they seem about to turn hostile.

There was not really any warning as it happened, only a slight pulse of anxiousness in Sapphira's mind that caused her to start turning her head towards the windows of Eragon's quarters, only to be forced to scramble as far away as the court year allowed as the entire wall seemed to explode outwards.

Rocks and splintered wood flew everywhere, one of them hitting Sapphira hard enough at the side of her head to make her see stars, and staggering-- she probably would have fallen if Aino hadn't flung out an arm to steady her.

Then darkness burst from the jagged hole left by the explosion, seeming to materialize into a monster-- like a small and stunted dragon with arms and legs that were mote like those of a human its scales gleaming red, black and white. With a thunderous cry, the creature looked down at those of the ground, shifting its powerfull arms slightly to let everyone see the young man it held in its clawed hands.

Beating powerful wings once, then twice, it surged upwards and out of sight-- carrying the unconscious Eragon with it.

For the first time in her young life, Sapphira noticed her vision darkening as the blow to her head and everything that had happened simply became too much, and with a sound of protest-- she dropped to the ground as she passed out.