Well as I said, this chapter will be pretty boring, but it is sorely needed. Not much happens but the differences between the riders of the two lands are explained…in part. Important information is contained in this chapter.
Skiadem felt a tendril of thought from the dragon worm its way into his mind as he ran his newly marked palm down its back. Its mind pressed a single word against him. Hungry.
He looked up at the others and smiled. "It's hungry."
Fereno chuckled. Dax, go get the hatchling some meat. Something small, like a rabbit, please.
Anything for you, rider. Shall I get you some fruit as well? Or maybe a salad from the gardeners? What about Dan? Is he hungry too?
Fereno smiled at Dax's antics. Just go, you whiner. You're the hatchling's mentor now.
It's like having kids almost…great. He jumped off the ground and flew out into the plains.
Swinging his attention back to the new rider, Fereno motioned the elf to follow him. Fereno led him to a rocky area near the edge of the forest and they took a seat opposite each other. "Well, since I'm going to be your teacher, I'd like to have a few things answered. First you must name it. Is it a male or a female?'
"Female," he replied quickly.
Fereno grinned. "Good for you. Now, let us think of a name." Fereno began to spout off random names and Skiadem turned his attention inward, searching for the one that would fit his new partner best. After refusing every single idea of his master, he spoke up.
"Her name is Ilethia."
The voice of Dax came to them. A good name for a gold dragon.
Skiadem grunted. "I'm glad you approve."
Daxxon came gliding towards them and landed in a gust of wind, laying the body of two small rabbits before the hatchling. Eat up young one.
The gold dragon attacked the rabbits voraciously, tearing apart the meat from the bone with great efficiency. Once she had devoured them both, she gave a soft squeak and curled up on Skiadem's lap.
Fereno rubbed his hands together. "Well, it seems your dragon is satisfied, so let's move on to dragon lore. First off is their colors. A dragon's color is one of the most defining aspects of their personality. There are many different colors, but I won't give you all of them. For now I want you to memorize the ones I'm going to tell you. For starters there's gold, like Ilethia. Gold represents wisdom and compassion. A good match for you, for sure. Next you have green, like Daxxon."
The dragon bowed his head. Green represents bravery and grace. A green dragon is quick to fight, but will only engage if he feels that he can win. We aren't mindless fighters either, we gauge the enemies' weaknesses and attack accordingly. Besides gold and green, there is also silver, white, red, black, and blue, to name the most common ones. Silver dragons are very truthful and insightful. White is for strength and usually dragons of this color are very protective and make great mates. Red dragons are above all adventurous. They love to travel and are very fast. Black dragons are known for their overwhelming size, though their size belies their gentleness unless they are threatened. Lastly are the beautiful blue dragons. They represent intelligence and compassion. That about covers the basic traits of each color. The dragon flopped down on his paws and lay down on the rocks. If you ever want to know more about any specific color, ask either myself or Master Vorand.
Fereno chuckled. "You got all that?" Skiadem nodded. "Good. Now we shall move on to the riders. You saw the mark on your palm right? Well that is called the Gedwey Ignasia. Below it you'll see another symbol, on your wrist. This is something unique to our lands. It identifies the rider's characteristics. So far, I've only heard of four different symbols. Yours is called the Sukro. The Sukro means that the rider is a creative person first and foremost, finding obscure ways out of the most difficult situations and very adept with his fingers. Then there is the Tenna. It shows that the rider is strong in magic and can devise the most incredible new spells. Next is the Veskri. It represents wisdom and knowledge. Then last there is the Kurré." He slid his sleeve up slightly to reveal a silvery mark on his wrist. "This one shows that the rider is determined and adventurous. Which, of course, I am.
"Okay, on to the least favorite part of any student's lesson. Rules." Skiadem groaned. "Don't worry, there aren't many. Mainly, you must refer to either Dax or Myself as Master in this tongue or Ilkena in Runic. But there is one more, you must not try anything on your own until I have given you permission to do so? Am I understood?" The elf boy nodded and Fereno smiled. "Good, then let's go on to some basics on taking care of your dragon."
Fereno spent hours listing off different ways to care for a growing dragonet, from feeding it to bathing it. "You have to always keep your mind connected with it until it begins to fly. It helps build trust and a strong bond. She should start to actually talk to you within a few days. Just keep talking to her and she will eventually respond. When she begins to fly, she will also learn to hunt and you must allow her to do this. She will learn the basics of dragon behavior from Dax when she begins to talk, so don't worry about that." He continued to teach, moving from dragon care to rider history. "Now, I'm not an expert in this subject but I know that it has been over fifty years since a dragon rider besides Master Kírinare has walked this land as one of us. His name was…Gralid, I believe…no, that was his dragon…Darem! That's it. Darem's dragon was black and was called Gralid. Before him was…" He went on, struggling with each name more than the last. He finally finished as the sun was nearing the horizon.
Noticing the fading light, he said, "Well, that's it for today. We need to head back and see if Dan's finished with Master Kírinare."
They returned to the elder elf's dwelling place and found that Dan was indeed finished with his lesson. Fereno dismissed Skiadem and told him to stand over with Dan. The rider strode over to Kírinare and waved the elder elf over to speak to him privately. Lowering his voice to a whisper Fereno spoke. "Master, Dax discovered something disturbing while he was hunting. He saw another dragon rider flying out across the southern tip of the forest, heading for Gunto. I fear for their safety…"
Kírinare furrowed his brow. "I shall send word to them through Vorand. They will welcome the assistance of a dragon. After you rest, I will be sending you as well, if the battle is not won by then."
Fereno nodded solemnly and returned to his dragon, joining the other two already on his back. Once the elf climbed to his seat, Dax took off, winging his way over the forest toward their house. When they arrived, Dan and Skiadem departed into separate rooms while Dax curled around his rider on the small dais upon which they slept. Fereno sighed and lay back against his dragon's foreleg. Are you ready for what may come tomorrow?
Dax rested his head down beside his rider's and looked him over with one large emerald orb. Let tomorrow take care of itself, I've got a feeling we won't be fighting the rider I saw today for a while. Sleep, my friend. We need to be rested. They relinquished their minds to the dark hold of slumber.
As they awoke the next morning, Fereno felt a small pressure upon his mind. From that pressure emanated the voice of his teacher, Kírinare. Fereno! Come quick! Vorand is in trouble! I can't do anything…he's hurt. Please, help me Fereno.
The pressure faded and without stopping to wake the other tow, Fereno scrambled to his dragon's back and the green beast launched into the air, straining his body to its limits. Quicker than ever before, they landed before the small hut belonging to his teacher. The elf was sitting on the ground by the tree with his arms wrapped around his leg. Tears dripped from his eyes as he looked up at them. "He told me that he was on his way back, then suddenly….pain…crashing…VORAND!!!"
Fereno urged Dax to get back into the air, pointing in the direction of the elven city of Gunto. We must hurry, I fear that Master Vorand may be short for this world.
Dax pushed himself beyond his limits, the muscles within his wings screaming in agony but still he pressed on. Approaching a large cleared out area Fereno extended the reach of his mind and brushed against the ancient mind of the silver dragon. Down there! Hurry! Dax dove sharply and flared his wings just above the ground, allowing Fereno to leap off and land in a somersault as the dragon lowered himself the final distance to the ground. Hostility sat heavy in the air around the forest and Fereno carefully took a step forward, scanning the tree line for anything. Movement caught his attention from behind his dragon and he backflipped over Dax, snatching the second sword from its resting place. The sword slid smoothly from its scabbard as he continued his fluid maneuver, landing gracefully as a blue blade whistled through the air towards his head. Fereno wrenched his own shadowy green blade from its housing on his back to clash with the strike. Sparks flew as the blades came together, only to separate moments later. Fereno studied his opponent carefully as the male elf stepped into a ready pose with a sneer across his features.
"Come back to finish the helpless dragon, have you? Well he's not so helpless anymore!" The elf snarled in rage and threw himself at Fereno in another attack, whirling his brilliant blue blade around above his head to bring it slashing down once again at Fereno's head. This time, Fereno sidestepped slightly and spun the white blade up to deflect the attack, bringing his green sword up to smash the pommel into the elf's face. The blow sent him sprawling onto his back and Fereno crossed his two blades at the elf's throat. The sneer remained. "Fine, go ahead and kill me. But I don't envy what my dragon will do to you."
Fereno lifted his blades. "Dragon? You're a rider?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"I can not kill another rider. I have come on request of my Master, Kírinare, to help his dragon. I mean him no harm." Fereno sheathed his green sword and replaced the white blade upon the saddle. "Do you know where he is?"
The elf nodded warily. "I do. Follow me." He dashed into the forest with Fereno running right behind him. They came upon a mangled portion of the underbrush and Fereno's sharp eyesight picked out the glimmer of the silver dragon's scales just ahead of them. Picking his pace up, he passed the elf leading him and slid to a complete stop inside the grove, his mouth dropping open in shock as to what he encountered. An elf maid with midnight black hair was crouched beside the humongous silver dragon with another male elf next to her, holding a hand to her shoulder. He recognized the maid immediately, having spent four years training with her. "Kirea?! What are you doing here?"
She looked up from Vorand and smiled softly at the sight of her old friend. "FERE!" She ran over and embraced the surprised rider. "Oh it's so nice to see you! I have so much to tell you! Oh but first you have to meet Eragon and Saphira!" With the mention of the names, the elf that had confronted Fereno earlier stepped from the other side of Vorand with a blonde elf maid beside him.
Fereno bowed to the elves. "Greetings Eragon and Saphira. I am Fereno, Rider of the green dragon Daxxon. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Eragon repeated the bow. "Well met Fereno. I am Eragon Shadeslayer, Rider of the blue dragon Saphira Brightscales." Saphira giggled at the confused expression that appeared on Fereno's face when Eragon stated that Saphira was his dragon. "We'll explain later." Eragon turned to the elf behind Kirea. "Remare, is he all fixed up?"
Fereno's jaw dropped again. "REMARE?! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" the exasperated Rider roared.
Kirea put a hand on his arm. "We'll explain later, but Vorand needs to go back to Master Kírinare. The old elf is still probably worried out of his mind." Vorand nodded his thanks, never being one to talk much, and leapt through the gap in the trees obviously created by the silver dragon's fall.
As Vorand flew out of sight, Kirea began to walk back to the clearing. The others quickly caught up to her when she began to speak. "Well, now that we got that taken care of we can explain something to you. While Remare and I were traveling, we happened upon Alagaesia and Eragon here. To make a long story short, we talked to an old friend of Vorand's and he shared with that there is more to being a rider than just sharing thoughts. You can actually change into the other species!" They stepped into the clearing a few moments later and Remare strode out to the center, keeping a fair bit of distance between himself and Dax.
"Watch." Remare's frame began to grow, his tunic disappearing as scales took its place and his hair stiffening into horns atop his head. Fingers stretched into talons while His face lengthened into a snout. Spikes curved dangerously down his spine and as the transformation completed, the sun began to glint off of his astonishingly bright white scales.
Fereno was speechless and he felt that Dax was as well. He could not keep himself from indulging in a curse as he looked on. "What the fuck…?"
Well now it is officially a fanfic. There, you happy? Chapter five could be a while, more to revise and details needed to change, considering that I needed to kill off a character to get Eragon in. lol, poor girl…oh well she's dead now. I should probably get some sleep, so that's all I got.
Laters!