Chapter 7

One second, Danny was calmly walking along the game trail, enjoying the scenery around him. The next, there was a faint buzz in the air, and Danny instinctively turned intangible as an arrow whistled through his ankle. He jumped away as there were three more buzzes in quick succession, one aiming for his thigh, one for his chest, and one for his face. He was extremely glad he could turn intangible, otherwise he'd be… dead? Severely wounded? Something bad.

"Who's there?" he yelled. "Show yourself!"

There was the faintest rustle of leaves from above him, and a figure dropped into view. He was tall and slender, wearing a vest and trousers. He had a bow slung over his shoulder and a dagger in one hand. Most startling was that his hair was the purest silver, like starlight.

Well, cool as his hair was, Danny was severely ticked that the figure had attempted to attack him without first even giving a reason why. "What's your deal?" he protested. The dagger sailed through his intangible chest, aimed with pinpoint accuracy at his heart.

"Are you not the one who destroyed part of the forest?" the figure answered. "I can't allow you to roam free when you pose such a threat."

Then Danny noticed the pointy ears. "Hey, are you an elf?" he asked. Then he yelped as the figure intoned a series of words and Danny found himself bound on all sides, an intense pressure squeezing his head like a grape. He cried out in pain and unleased a wave of ectoplasmic energy to combat the script that was now surrounding him.

Deeper as he was in the forest, and the script thicker and more protected, he actually caused less damage than he had on the outskirts. Danny looked at the destruction in dismay, noting that he'd caused several strands of script to unravel and a whole host of plants to die off.

"Would you not?" he snapped at the elf. "I just want to deliver something, and maybe get some help! Quit attacking me!"

"Deliver what?" the elf asked sharply, a hairs-breadth away from uttering another fatal spell.

"Look, let me get it out of my pack…" Still intangible, Danny slung his bag over his shoulder and placed it on the ground, away from his influence. The bag turned tangible again. Danny turned his hands tangible to interact with the bag, and then he drew out the egg as a peace offering. He really didn't want to fight this guy if at all it could be avoided.

The elf drew in a sharp breath as he saw the green egg. His eyes were wide in surprise. "That's—"

"The dragon egg, yeah," Danny said irritably. "Now, how about you stop trying to kill me so we can talk like reasonable beings?"

The elf blinked, confused. "But didn't you destroy the forest?"

"Well, yes, but this—" Danny gestured around him, "—was an accident."

"An accident?" the elf said skeptically, brow furrowed.

Danny nodded. "Yes."

Danny felt a feather-light touch of another mind against his own. Unlike the human minds he'd been in, this one felt foreign, strained with echoes of fey music. Danny flinched away from the strange touch and barricaded his mind with ice. What was with the people in this world and trying to get into his mind?

"If you are truly not hostile, you will allow me access to your mind," the elf demanded.

Danny grit his teeth. On one hand, he had to allow this stranger into his mind to be cleared. On the other, he couldn't transform and escape this place. And even if he did escape, where would he go to with the egg? He was a wanted man. And besides, the elves were probably his best bet of finding out how to get home. Reluctantly, he lowered his shields.

He hissed in pain as the elf dove into his mind.

Fadrau flinched as he delved into the creature's mind. He'd never encountered anything like it before. On the surface, it seemed human, but the deeper he went, the more he felt like he was diving into an endless black abyss.

Stranger still were the images passing before him. There was a foreign city of concrete and brick with towering buildings and horseless carriages. There were green and blue creatures that wreaked havoc. And the people wore strange clothes of all colors.

But between it all, he could feel the creature's genuine desire to not fight. He saw a memory of the creature stealing the egg from Galbatorix. And he felt the creature's guilt for accidentally killing parts of the forest.

This creature… whatever he was… was not an enemy. Violating his mind further would be inhumane. So, Fadrau withdrew from the creature's mind, intent on apologizing for his suspicion and attack.

When he came back to his body, he felt chilled, as though he'd stood in a cold arctic breeze. Then he noticed the creature. His entire body was tense, eyes screwed up against the world. He evidently did not like communicating mind-to-mind.

"I am sorry," Fadrau said, bowing. "I had to be certain of your intent."

The creature opened an eye, then blinked. "Um… it's okay," he said awkwardly. "…Are we good?"

It was an odd turn of phrase, but Fadrau understood the gist of what the creature was trying to say. "Yes. You will not come to any more harm by my hand."

The creature breathed out a gusty sigh of relief. "Okay, good. So, are you going to take me to your leader, or something?" he asked.

Fadrau nodded. "Yes. I will escort you straight to Ellesméra, bypassing Osilon." He whistled sharply.

The creature jumped. "What?"

"Patience."

Fadrau took the opportunity during the wait for the elf-horses to arrive to contact his partner, Rhárma, of the new developments. She expressed delight that the green dragon egg had been found but was concerned by the creature that had retrieved it. She would pass along the news to her superiors immediately before joining him in escorting the creature.

Meanwhile, the creature was fidgeting. It was fortunate that the creature seemed easygoing, if a bit impatient, readily willing to forgive his assault. Fadrau examined him more closely. He was wearing clothes common among humans but sported curiously crafted shoes. His hair was black and his eyes were blue, though Fadrau knew he'd seen those eyes flash an inhuman green when he'd cast his spell. He looked, for all intents and purposes, like a human, if one could ignore the faint smell of ozone around him.

"So…" the creature said. "What's your name?"

"I am Fadrau. And you?"

"I'm Danny. Uh, nice to meet you."

Fadrau touched his fingers to his lips. "Atra esterí ono thelduin, Danny."

"…I have no idea what you just said," Danny admitted.

Fadrau was surprised, but unlike earlier, he didn't let it show on his features. "No? Then how did you retrieve the dragon egg if not by sorcery?"

"Well, I've got… this stuff," Danny said, his hand suddenly glowing an unnatural shade of green. "It burns through… well, I guess it would be magic, wouldn't it?"

Fadrau eyed Danny warily. The power this being held was extremely dangerous. To be honest, he probably should be put down, but that would be a poor way to repay the one who'd brought the green dragon egg to them.

"The script I can see… it is magic, isn't it?" Danny asked.

"The script?"

"Yeah. Um, it's everywhere in this forest. I can't read it, but…"

"Would you write some of what you can see?" He'd never heard of anyone with the ability to see the ancient language in action, but then again, Danny was unlike any being he'd ever encountered before.

Danny began writing on the ground with a stick. He barely finished the first word when Fadrau exhaled sharply. "Yes, that is magic."

"Okay. Cool. It's nice to finally know what that stuff is."

Fadrau shook his head. This creature may be powerful, but he was completely ignorant of how the world worked. He wondered why it was that Danny had such power but didn't know how magic worked. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to invite him into the elves' sanctuary.

On a different, unrelated note, Danny had just proved Gilderien the Wise's theory about the ancient language literally manifesting when a spell was cast, bound as it was to magic. The discovery would certainly throw the more scholarly of the elves into a tizzy.

It was just then that the three elf-horses arrived.

Danny stared at the horses in awe. They were beautiful creatures with pure white coats. And he was going to ride one of them?

…They had no saddles, only a halter. He could barely ride with a saddle; how was he supposed to ride bareback?

"Uh, I can't really ride," he blurted.

"So long as you can get onto their backs, they will take care to make sure you will not fall off," Fadrau reassured. He beckoned for the horses to come closer. They stomped nervously and flared their nostrils, off-put by Danny's presence. He had that reaction from some perceptive animals.

Danny sighed. Really, if only he could transform and fly, he'd probably have reached his destination already, instead of having to ride a horse. He eyed the closest one to him with trepidation. How was he supposed to mount it?

In the end, Danny figured that the potential humiliation of him attempting to jump onto the horse's back was too much, so he floated upwards and gently came down on the horse. It shifted, agitated by his presence, but it didn't bolt, so Danny counted it as a win.

He caught Fadrau watching him with a curious eye. "Uh, who's the third horse for?" Danny asked to delay any questions the elf might have had about his ability to fly.

"My partner, Rhárma. She will be here shortly," Fadrau answered. "In fact, she should make it here right… about…"

"Now," a new elf finished. This one was a woman with raven-black hair braided down to her waist. She was quite beautiful, in an exotic sense. She hopped onto the final horse with an unfair amount of grace. "Let's go," she said.

Over the next few days, they trekked through the forest of Du Weldenvarden. After the first day, Danny was sorely wishing he could just transform and fly to the elf city of Ellesméra. He had sores in places he'd rather not mention and his butt was aching from sitting on the horse all day. He wasn't sure, but he thought that his elf guides might have been laughing at his ineptness.

He ate the rest of the food he'd bought in Gil'ead and was forced to rely upon his guides for sustenance. They were well-equipped with all manner of fresh fruits and vegetables and bread, but no meat. Danny thought it curious but didn't ask. Maybe they were all vegetarian or something.

Danny quizzed the two elves about how the magic of this world worked. He really was quite curious about why he had such an effect upon it. They took care to answer his questions, but didn't go out of their way to explain magic to him, either. After a while, he also peppered them with questions about the rest of the world, about the dwarves and the hooded figures he'd encountered in Gil'ead and Galbatorix and dragons. They probably thought he was either stupid or extremely sheltered. Danny didn't correct them; he didn't want to drop the alternate universe bomb on them quite yet.

They weren't accosted by anyone else for the next few days. Danny thought he might have seen the shadows of some other elves flitting in the trees but wasn't quite sure. He wished the elves weren't quite so reticent. They seemed to have a knack for speaking in riddles.

Four days after they'd started their journey, they were joined by five other elves. These ones were even quieter than Fadrau and Rhárma. All that Danny gleaned about them was that they were sent by someone called Islanzadí for both his and the forest's protection.

Finally, after about a week of travel, they made it to the outskirts of Ellesméra.

Hope you enjoyed! See you tomorrow!

-HM