SO THIS CHAPTER IS KINDA LONG AND MAY PROVE TO BE A LITTLE TEDIOUS TO SOME READERS THOUGH I MIGHT BE WRONG (HOPEFULLY). I HOPE THIS CHAPTER PROVIDES THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS RAISED BY Tzapporah AND Buestorm28. A BIG THANKS TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO FOLLOWED AND FAVOURITED. YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME.
DISCLAIMER : I DON'T H.P. OR THE INHERITANCE CYCLE.
The Horntail seethed in anger and mistrust as the Fireball inspected Harry's palm. It held no evidence of dragon mark, any indication of Gedwey Ignasia. The Fireball was silent, quietly pondering over its implications.
The Horntail swiveled her head like she was looking for something. Apart from Harry and themselves there was no one else.
Everything had gone wrong. They had hoped Harry was the new rider they would usher in to Alagaesia. But there was no dragon. No Gedwey Ignasia.
"We've made a terrible mistake." the Swedish short snout spoke, its breathing haggard and its eyes drooped.
The Welsh Green was faring no better. It was evident that the magical journey between the two realms had taken a terrible toll on the dragons.
"The boy is no dragon rider." spat the Horntail. "If he had been one, his dragon would have been transported here by the magic too. He has no Ignasia."
"We can see that, Roslarb."
Meanwhile Harry had regained consciousness; he was too feeble to do anything other than partially open his eyes and listen to what was going on. The dragon's voices echoed inside his mind, cacophony filling his consciousness.
"It is not the boy's fault that this happened. We brought him here. We are responsible for this"
"Yet an explanation is in order, I believe." panted the Swedish short snout. Harry cautiously turned his head to look at the dragons, the memory of the past events coming back to him.
He saw the jet black dragon and Fireball bristling at one another, fangs bared.
"He knew this would happen, Gwenwah. He came to us. He planned this all along!" screeched the female dragon.
Gwenwah roared. "We decided this. We planned to abduct the boy and his dragon if it had existed. Together. The boy is blameless. Yes, we were deceived greatly into thinking he had bonded with a dragon. But since when in all our lives have we ever met anyone who knew the ancient language? Someone who could speak to our minds directly without using the trickery and illusions the wizard avails of. We were wrong but do you realize this is the only hope we have to be of service to the great power."
She snarled in return, "He knows nothing. Neither does he understands the -"
"We can still turn this in our favour. We can-"
There was a huge thud. The Short snout had collapsed, its breath ragged and drawn out. It was a sad sight. The mighty silvery blue dragon was foaming at its mouth and feebly thrashing its tail now, clearly at death's door.
Harry was now fully awake and acutely aware of his predicament. He was lying in the dirt with four angry dragons that apparently blamed him for the situation and now he just saw one of them collapse to the ground. This did not bode well.
The Chinese Fireball and the Horntail closed in on the prone suffering dragon but they could offer no help.
"Is he ok?" he asked
"No." The scarlet dragon replied. "He is dead."
Harry looked and as the two dragons stepped away, he saw the Swedish short snout lying deathly still on the ground, along with the Welsh Green that (to his shock) had died unnoticed by him. Both of them lay silent and unmoving, magnificent creatures succumbed to the ravages of magic.
"They are beyond our help now." Gwenwah said his eyes closed.
Despite the unpropitious predicament, Harry felt a pang of guilt and compassion for him. He was clearly the leader among them. The realization that they did not mean harm despite the frightening ordeal he went through had finally dawned on Harry. He felt more courageous. He reached out to the dragons with his mind, trying to converse with them with his thoughts.
"I am sorry for your loss"
"It's alright Harry potter, this much was anticipated; we all understood the risk it entailed,"
"My name is Gwenwah, this is Roslarb," motioning to the Horntail who looked back at him with what could be best described as a stony expression. "The deceased here are Aldaroh and Firnan."
"How do you know my name?"
"We inhabited the same world. We are not dumb creatures ignorant of the world and its affairs around us."
Harry asked, shakily getting up to his feet "Where am I now? Where have you brought me?"
Roslarb replied, "You're not in England anymore. You are not even in your world anymore; you are in Alagaesia now. And no, you have never heard of it before, we know that."
Roslarb threw him a contemptuous look.
"Of course you haven't a clue about its existence. No wizard alive or dead had any idea of the existence of Alagaesia or its whereabouts but it was there all the time. Sundered from your world by the barriers of magic, no wizard ever has crossed into this realm before you."
Gwenwah explained, "The dragon stock in your lands comes from Alagaesia, I Gwenwah, Roslarb and our deceased brethren Firnan and Aldaroh. Our ancestors came to your world thousands and thousands of years ago when war between elves and dragons befell our land. Thousands perished, the ground was soaked with the blood of the enemy and ours. The casualties were tremendous. We were at a breaking point when the dragon council decided to transport some dragons from here to your world so that our descendents may survive for posterity. We were immensely powerful back then. We opened up a link between our world and yours and those who felt that they had no choice left other than to fall victim to Elfish swords left Alagaesia."
He took a deep breath and shuddered. He continued, "The journey to here has weakened us terribly Harry Potter. I fear we have very little time left."
"The Great War with the elves ended eventually and the remaining dragons and elves and later dwarves and humans made a pact, that together elf or man or dwarf with a dragon shall unite and create the dragon riders, sworn protectors of Alagaesia and her Ruler."
"But much water has flown under the bridge Harry Potter. Those who left Alagaesia for your world learnt to live in it, but at a cost. Our powers were reduced our strength dwindled and our magical capabilities eroded over the time. We were still powerful even in your domain nevertheless we no longer were the mighty dragons that once ruled the skies and lands of our ancestral home."
"The link with our home remained, tenuous though, the last vestige of our link to this land. With it we sensed a recent disaster of unimaginable scale in our homeland."
"A usurper, a Rider by the name of Galbatorix arose from the darkness and betrayed and overthrew his brethren and killed every last dragon and its rider, along with the King of Alagaesia. The loss of the riders and their dragons was the gravest tidings that had we had ever received."
Harry beat his brains out trying to get to grips with everything the dragons relayed to him.
"What's the ancient language?"
"It's a language that the first magical beings in Alagaesia spoke. It's the very language of magic itself. To know the words of a substance in the ancient language is the hold command of the very soul of that substance. We do not know how you are able to speak this language. Only the grey elves held complete command over it. For dragons it is natural as natural as water is to fish even though we don't have much control over its magical aspects."
"How do I fit into all this? In Alagaesia, in your wars and everything? Hours ago I didn't even know that this place even existed, how could I play any role in it?"
"Yes we are coming to tha,t little one. Not everything was lost in that accursed war with that black-hearted traitor. Though it is true he killed every remaining dragon and rider other than his twisted followers that resisted him. The catastrophe wasn't without some unexpected consequences… there was something that managed to escape his machinations and destruction. A group of powerful entities that survived, that watches the course of history over Alagaesia, awaiting the return of the riders. We call them the Elders. It was they who whispered to us in our dreams that it was time to return to the forgotten home. To bring you with us."
"Together with the four of us (and a little from you) we acquired enough power for all of us including your dragon, had it existed, to get us here. But you can see the result was rather too costly."
Roslarb had closed her eyes now, her head drooped and heavy, softly uttering guttural growls. She didn't look she had much life left in her.
"The time has come for me to depart Gwenwah. I am sorry things did not come to fruition as they were planned. And you boy, pay heed to Gwenwah's words." uttered Roslarb.
"I bid thee farewell Roslarb. May you find peace in the after-life."
Gwenwah was quiet for a moment then he returned to Harry.
"The elders showed us a new rider that had arisen out of the darkness. When we first met you we thought that it must be the greatest stroke of luck…to find a rider even in our enslavement… but it was not to be…"
He looked away, "If it not you, then it must be someone in Alagaesia...Not in our world as I presumed but here…" He sighed. "We made a costly and terrible decision Harry Potter as you can see the consequences…"
He looked around sadly at his dead companions.
"But I abide by it." he said fiercely, fixing Harry with a piercing stare. "Because the Elders knew there was a reason behind involving you in all of this. Something I believe you suspect as much yourself."
"Can you...just...can you take me back? To England. You can do that, can't you?" but Harry instinctively knew the answer to that, an answer he had been dreading since the moment the question occurred to him.
Gwenwah looked at him with his weary eyes. Harry could feel the dragon's guilt and pity for him
"I can't. I don't have the strength anymore. I am sorry."
As if on cue, he lurched forward and crumpled; Harry hastily stepped back from him.
"Promise me this. You will find the new rider and you will aid him."
Harry didn't know what to say, or feel. Apprehension had been replaced by bewilderment and confusion, now he felt resentment and hopelessness at being forced into the circumstances. But the dragon didn't seem to be waiting for his answer.
"Only elves can help you cross over to your world. But they live hid in the great forest of Du Weldervarden in the North West. He lifted his head in that direction to where it lay. "Neither you or I cannot hope to find them alone."
"The only way to find them is to reach out to the Rider…he will know where to seek them out for it is more than likely that the elves themselves will seek him out…"
Harry tried to follow the what the dying dragon said to him... a great forest …Elves ...Harry intuitively knew that confusing them for house elves will prove fatal… the new rider…
"And now I, Gwenwah, commit my final act in the service of the Elders…free your mind Harry potter..do not resist as I will show you the way."
A series of images flashed in his mind. Harry shut his eyes as he saw flashes of unfamiliar landscape and a great city flitted across his mind.
"Urubaen, the capitol of the Alagaesia…home of the great tyrant Galbatorix...go there Harry potter …find out about us and yourself, discover who you are and wait for the new rider to emerge."
Harry's knees buckled as he wilted, overpowered by the intensity of the images.
He turned around to face the last remaining dragon... a million questions at the tip of his tongue... but he was dead. Gwenwah was no more.
For a while Harry sat there motionless among the four dead dragons trying to piece all the parts into something that made any sense to him. The dragons mistook him for a rider, yes. Someone or something told them a new rider had come forth. And parseltongue wasn't just some reptilian language either but a powerful ancient magical language (he never had a clue, surprise). And now here he was without a way to get out of a land that he didn't know existed before.
'The elves.' he breathed deeply, he said the elves could take him back. For that he must find the rider. And for that he must travel south to Urubaen…the images in his mind already pointing him in the right direction. It could very well take months to locate him or her.
He despaired, picturing the hopelessness of his situation. He wondered what the hell must be going on at Hogwarts by now. He had no idea how much time had elapsed since he had been here. He wondered if Ron and Hermione were worried when he didn't show up at the great hall or if the school has been alerted to his absence or if, by now, Dumbledore even knew of his disappearance from Hogwarts.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: SO I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER. I KNOW IT MOSTLY SEEMED LIKE "EXPOSITION DISGUISED AS DIALOGUE" BUT I HONESTLY TRIED TO DO THE BEST I COULD. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO LEAVE ANY REVIEWS THEY LIGHT MY DAY UP :)