Disclaimer: Alagaësia belongs to Cristopher Paolini. Any original characters and the rest belongs to me.
Uru'baen, capital City of Alagaësia.
Evening, the day after.
Deceptively slender fingers curling around the top of the fence of elaborately shaped stone lining the balcony outside of his quarters, Galbatorix-- king of the Empire, blankly watched the distant, glittering band that was the Ramr River. Once a rather handsome man, his features had long since hardened and became pale enough to be mistaken for the marble favored by many artists throughout the Empire. Dark eyes as lively as those of a crow watched his surroundings impassively, and his hair had been dyed a dark brown and cropped short for convenience.
These days things were better left simple if it was possible, the work to ensure that none could challenge his hold on Alagaësia, soon also the lands beyond-- was more important by far. Already the Urgals had proven to be of little use, and the defeat of his army when he had launched his first attack at Surda and their allies from the Varden had seemed like a great blow at first.
That the elves also seemed reasy to attack, that was another problem that had to be dealt with.
After all, there was a limit on how many civilians that could be conscripted from cities, towns and farms without compromizing future resources. Quite unfortunate really, but even if kept on the smallest possible rations, food for his armies had to come from somewhere.
Still, the state of things was not nearly as problematic as it might have been, had he not been able to gain some invaluable allies...
A startling change happened to the king as he raised a hand to shield his eyes against the sun, and there was a wide smile on his face as he looked southwards. For a moment or two, nothing could be seen, before three winged forms suddenly dove into view. The smallest, who also was the one to move the fastest, was a young red dragon-- the scales covering his body gleaming in the sun.
It was clear by their behaviour though, that neither the young dragon nor his rider, were happy about their company. Though flying fast, they both frequently glanced back at the two larger beasts gliding through the air behind them.
First of the two was a dragon many times the size of the red one, this one's scales a bluish-black-- Galbatorix's own dragon, Shruikan. It was the appearance of the last one that he truly welcomed though, and while sending a greeting to each of the four, it was the last dragon that kept his attention.
Slightly shorter than Shruikan at a lenght of about 41 meters, the non native dragon still appeared larger due to sheer muscle and the orange-yellow skin covering his body-- appearing almost lumniscent as he angled his wings to land.
That he would gain such a valuable ally, that had not been what he had expected when his soldiers had brought back a half-dead humanoid creature, of no race he had seen before, from a patrol. Naturally there had been certain...misunderstandings initially as he tried to figure out the true nature of his guest, but they had been able to come to an agreement eventually.
The losses of certain residents of the city during their initial argument had really been quite small, entirely justifiable compared to the advantages of co-operating.
Folding massive wings, the dragon waited till most of the dust whirled up by the backdraft generated by him and the other dragons had settled or been blown away by the wind, and then he changed. Within the span of a few seconds, the dragon had became a tall humanoid man-- his hair being black-brown and skin that was nearly as dark, contrasting with the dark grey and blue-grey of the clothes he wore.
"Apparently your servants here did not go through with the simple little task you gave them" the dragon turned man, Thelyr, said. And there was a faint smile on his face as he indicated Murtagh and Thorn.
:We found them plodding along the river miles from here. The oath they swore would force them to return here of-course, but they were certainly taking their time about it: Shruikan said slyly, only a slight trembling of his wings betraying the internal conflict that sometimes got the better of him. Though since Thelyr had helped to strenghten their bond, such unfortunate episodes during which the black dragon had had to be restrained, had became less common.
Curse those dragonriders of old for corrupting the bond between him and the dragon who was his...
One hand clenching briefly, Galbatorix banished all such thoughts from his mind, instead concentrating about the far more important matter of dealing with the disobediance of his two servants. Murtagh had showed promise certainly, but the young man still had a lot too learn about what mattered, and what that did not. Neither could the fact that they had disobeyed an order be tolerated.
Galbatorix leaned slightly forwards, giving his servants a few moments to think about what was coming. To punish his apprentices was not something he did lightly, but unfortunately-- sometimes it was necessary.
"I see that you have both returned in one piece, but it also grieves me to see that you have failed to bring me the female dragon and her rider. This despite of that you could easily have done so, as I can see in your mind".
Any sign of the smile that had spread across his face earlier was gone as Galbatorix straightened himself.
"Another agent has been sent to do what you could not. But it is clear to me that you need another reminder of what your duties are, to me and to the people of Alagaësia and Surda".
There was no need to speak an order, and when Galbatorix turned away to go back inside, Shruikan and Thelyr were already advancing at the two younger ones. Neither did he really permit himself to hear their screams.