Very quick summary of what has happened so far: Danny stole Firnen's egg from Galbatorix without even knowing what it was, figured out a little of how Alagaesia works, traveled north to Du Weldenvarden after hitting some snags in Gil'ead, and was greeted by the elves with both enthusiasm and mistrust because he can destroy magic.
Chapter 13
Saphira reacted immediately to Danny's unexpected and unwelcome presence and attacked without hesitation. Danny was grateful that she was far enough away that "immediately" meant that he had two whole seconds to turn intangible, instead of mere milliseconds. Safe from being fried to a crisp, he turned to put his ecto-enhanced speed to good use and get the hell out of… wherever he'd stumbled upon.
Danny didn't get far when there was another earth-shattering roar from behind him, far louder and deeper than Saphira's. He tripped over his own feet and almost fell through the ground when a deafening shout of STOP! was broadcast into his mind.
Danny slapped his hands over his ears reflexively, cringing. But so long as he was intangible, he was safe, even though he was curled up on the ground. It took him a few moments to realize that he wasn't being attacked anymore – no claws, no fangs, no fire – and a few more moments to build up the courage to look back the way he'd fled from.
Saphira had, amazingly, backed off, though she was still snarling viciously at him. The massive golden dragon was watching him with keen eyes, its mouth twisted as if to growl, but no sound emerged. One of its front legs, Danny noted with surprise, was completely missing, replaced with a white stump near the shoulder. One small figure, dwarfed by the size of the dragons, lingered by the golden dragon's side, while a second figure hurried its way gracefully towards Danny, skirting the edge of the cliffs.
In no time at all, the second figure had reached his location. It was a male elf with silvery hair and shrewd eyes. But there was also something about him that just seemed… sad, somehow, to Danny.
Staring down at Danny, the elf said, "Greetings, young one. You must be Danny."
Danny nodded slowly, not daring to remove his intangibility yet. The elf was polite, but he certainly didn't seem pleased by Danny's presence.
The elf noticed Danny's mistrust and touched his lips in a gesture that seemed common for the elves. "I apologize for the misconduct of my student. You are safe here, so long as you do not wish us harm."
Danny shook his head, slowly and reluctantly releasing his hold on intangibility. The elf held out his hand for Danny to grasp and smoothly pulled him to his feet.
"Tell me, what brings you all the way out here?" the elf asked once Danny was upright.
"Sorry," Danny said, looking down, abashed. He should have just stayed in his quarters until his guide had returned. "I got lost. I was looking for Arya. I want to talk with her."
The elf looked at him thoughtfully. "She will be here often in the future, but she is not here now. I am Oromis, Dragon Rider and partner to Glaedr." He gestured to the massive golden dragon watching from beyond the cliff bisecting the area. "I am Eragon's mentor, and soon, I will be Arya's too."
"Ah… nice to meet you," Danny tentatively replied. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to barge in."
"So it seems," Oromis replied, the barest hint of a smile ghosting his lips.
Without warning, both Glaedr and Saphira took off from the other side of the cliffs, their wings generating spikes of air pressure that hurt Danny's ears. Danny tensed, ready to flee, but the two dragons wheeled away, headed for parts unknown. The other figure – probably Eragon – had gone with them.
"The dragons truly are unnerved by your presence," Oromis explained, his brow furrowed slightly. "I have never before seen anything that can unsettle them so. Truly, you are a mystery."
Danny shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not trying to do anything…"
"Dragons are mysterious creatures themselves. Riders have worked alongside them for thousands of years, and yet, there is still more to learn about them. Perhaps, given their unique constitution, they can sense that you do not belong here, and that your presence is a corrupting influence on magic." Though the words were harsh, Oromis said them kindly.
This man had been told about Danny's origins. He felt miffed – he didn't want that information spread around – but given how important dragons seemed to be to these people, he could understand why. Oromis was undoubtedly an influential figure.
The elf fell silent, waiting for Danny to make the next move. After a few moments, Danny screwed up his courage to ask, "Do you know where Arya is, and how to get to her?"
Oromis was silent for long enough that Danny thought he would need to leave and try to find her on his own, when he responded, "She is spending some time bonding with Fírnen in peace. It would not be wise to trouble her."
"I just need to talk with her for a little bit. I won't be long. It would be nice to see how Fírnen is doing, too." It had taken longer than Danny wanted to admit for him to be able to pronounce the dragon's name correctly.
Oromis considered this before finally answering, "I will direct you to her, but before you go, I will need for you to swear an oath to keep Glaedr's and my presence a secret."
"Why?" Danny asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.
Oromis looked at him with surprise. "Of course," he murmured. "You have not been in our world for long, and I imagine you know next to nothing of our history. You may not even know the true value of the service you have provided, bringing Fírnen's egg to us."
"I know that it was important…?"
"Much more than you could imagine," Oromis admitted. "I do not have the time to spend enlightening you on our history, however, and I hear you have a master of your own. I will inform him that he should spend some time teaching you of our history, so you have a better understanding of our world and what you have done."
Danny just barely bit back a groan. He already had a full academic plate as it was. He was going to be climbing the trees with just his fingernails out of sheer restlessness with all the time he was going to be spending in that library.
"In the meantime," Oromis continued, "please take my word that it is imperative for Glaedr and I to remain hidden."
"Yeah, I can do that; I don't mind. I definitely know how important it is to keep certain secrets hidden," Danny replied. There were a lot more people here who were aware of his half-ghost status than he was comfortable with, but it was different than being back home. Like he didn't have the proper context for their world, they didn't have any context for his world, either. Keeping his half-ghost status secret there was a matter of life and… well, deader death. Here, it was simply an oddity to be lumped in with his otherworldly origins.
He opened his mouth to make the promise, but Oromis held up a hand and cut him off. "It will need to be in the ancient language, otherwise it will have no power," Oromis explained. "I know you do not know our language, so I will guide you on the words to say."
Danny shrugged and acquiesced, unsure why a change in language was so important, but he didn't mind.
Oromis coached him on the words to say and their pronunciation. The language was beautiful and flowing, and Danny was able to fit his mouth around the words individually. But when he tried to string the words together into the full oath, they came out of his mouth choked and brittle. He blinked in astonishment as a new line of script appeared in front of him. But it was unlike any other line of script he had ever seen – it looked anemic and crumbling, like it was barely holding itself together, and it didn't have even the faintest glow. Then it moved, settling weakly around his throat just above his voice box. Without thinking, Danny cleared his throat. He wasn't trying to do anything, not even directing his ecto-energy, but he felt the strand crumble and disappear anyway.
"I… don't think this is going to work…" Danny admitted, perturbed, and described what had happened to Oromis. A furrow appeared in the elf's brow, and he asked Danny to try again. The results were no different with Danny's second attempt. Finally, Oromis held up a hand and said a short phrase, and an equally short strand of script appeared and attempted to latch on to Danny's throat. This strand was fully formed and glowing healthily, and it wrapped itself around Danny's throat like a band. Danny flinched, trying to get used to the feel of the band, but it itched and he couldn't help but let his energy flare just a bit in response to the intrusion. He wasn't surprised when this band crumbled and vanished, too.
Oromis frowned deeply, the most expressive that Danny had seen an elf yet. "Well, this is a problem I have never encountered. I would have never believed it possible for a being to be unable to take an oath in the ancient language," he mused.
"Sorry," Danny said, cringing. He could tell this was important, even if he didn't understand why.
"It is not something you are doing on purpose," Oromis stated, and Danny nodded in confirmation. "Then it is no fault of your own making, and it is easy to see that you are making a good faith effort to accede to our wishes. But, since you are unable to take a proper vow, or have a spell cast upon you… I would ask that you would not leave Ellesméra, or at least Du Weldenvarden, until Glaedr and I have left the forest ourselves."
"As long as you won't make me wait, like, years, sure," Danny agreed. "I need you guys' help to try to find a way home, anyway. As I understand it so far, you elves are my only option for that, so I'll be sticking around awhile. And even if I did leave the forest… well, this isn't my world. I have no ties here. Where would I go? Who would I tell?"
Oromis inclined his head in acknowledgement. "Galbatorix is highly skilled at extracting information from others, but so long as you stay here, you will be safe from his influence." He fell quiet for a moment, examining Danny with keen eyes. What it was the elf saw in him, Danny wasn't sure, but he murmured, "It must be a lonely existence, to be a stranger in such a strange land for you. I wish you all the best in your endeavor to return to your world. Go, now, to Arya. She is currently in Tialdarí Hall, and you can get there from here by…"
Danny's instincts were more accurate than the boy likely realized, Oromis mused as Danny bid him farewell and headed back towards the heart of Ellesméra. Arya would be a frequent visitor of the Crags of Tel'naeír in the future as she trained to be a Rider.
But she was not here now. As an elf, and as the queen's daughter, she had already received an extensive education in magic, history, and combat on par with any that the Riders of old would have received. She would still learn from Oromis and Glaedr, though, about the intricacies of dragons and being a Rider. Truly, Fírnen would likely need more instruction than she would.
She would spend some days with Fírnen, bonding in peace with her new life-partner. Since she needed less education than Eragon, they could afford to give her this reprieve without other duties weighing upon her. She would have enough responsibility to handle soon enough as a new Rider.
He has left, Oromis announced to his bonded, a little unnecessarily since Glaedr had been watching the entire exchange through his eyes. But he could still feel uneasiness from his dragon.
That boy is uncanny, Glaedr replied. Saphira was not exaggerating the foulness of his presence, nor the overwhelming instinct to destroy it. Oromis received a flash of sensation, of death-blight-cold-wronglife and an uncontrollable desire to cleanse it.
How unfortunate, since he has proven to be nothing but a boon for the dragons and for our side, and he seems to be a genuinely kind person.
Indeed. Now that I have properly experienced it, however, I will not be caught off-guard by it in the future. I will need to apologize to him; even forewarned by the effect he has, I still nearly attacked him, as Saphira did. Oromis felt a wave of disgruntlement. I am ashamed that I could hardly control myself any better than a dragon who is barely older than a hatchling.
His presence is a challenge, Oromis admitted. Ally or not, it bodes ill that he could not take an oath in the ancient language, or even bear to hold an enchantment upon his form for more than a few moments.
It worries me, that Fírnen spent so much time in his presence, especially while still in his egg, Glaedr confessed. At the very least, what it's done to his mind and instincts. He is bonded to Arya, but he seems at least as interested in Danny as he is to his own Rider. He does not seem to be repulsed by Danny's presence as Saphira and I are, either.
Oromis pursed his lips unhappily. We will just have to wait and see if any other changes arise, he said. In the meantime, perhaps we can ask him for more details about his journey to Ellesméra. It was a pity that Islanzadí hadn't asked for more details when Danny had presented the egg, but they had all been distracted by Danny's claims that he was from another world.
Glaedr agreed just as he and Saphira crested over the treetops, returning to the Crags of Tel'naeír to resume training.
Danny followed the directions Oromis had given him and found himself back in Ellesméra proper without issue. Before he could make it to Tialdarí Hall, Fadrau quietly appeared from a side trail, looking a little displeased.
"You did not follow my instructions," he stated bluntly, matching Danny's stride easily.
Danny shrugged, feeling a little bad for ditching his guide. He hadn't been forbidden from doing so, and Fadrau hadn't asked for him to wait for his return, but still. Plus, wandering around alone in a place that was so heavily laden with magic was a stupid idea in the first place.
"You misunderstand your position," Fadrau chided. "For your service to us, Queen Islanzadí allows you to stay here as an honored guest, but there are many who are already uneasy with your presence and the disturbances it has brought. They fear you will disrupt the ancient wards protecting the city, leaving us vulnerable to Galbatorix."
Danny winced, remembering his not-so-peaceful entrance into the forest, leading Fadrau to nearly shoot him. "I won't wander off again. Not without knowing where I'm going, at least." He was used to inadvertently causing rampant property damage thanks to his ghost fights back home, but he always felt guilty about it. Here, at least, he could avoid it.
Fadrau sighed. "I suppose that's the most we can ask for. You're not our prisoner, and we don't wish to treat you like one."
"I know I creep people out, even back home. It just… comes with the territory of being what I am, I guess," Danny said morosely. Just because he was used to it, though, didn't mean it didn't sting.
Fadrau side-eyed him but said nothing more as they continued their trek through Ellesméra and, finally, arrived at Tialdarí Hall.
A/N: Holy hell, we're finally back, and The Thief is officially off of hiatus! Took longer than I wanted, but hey, better late than never.