Disclaimer: I do not own the Inheritance Cycle
While things might not have been bad, they certainly weren't very good. The errant thought, or more like a string of short ideas, floated through her tired brain as she nearly tumbled off of her horse's back.
They had been riding through the cold dark like shades were chasing them for the better part of the night. The moon had long since vanished; the night was almost over. Tanyian had been keeping up her full gallop for the entire time and was exhausted. Mellary could hear it in her deep, rasping breaths as she tried to unlock her knotted muscle from their clamped position. The horses heaving sides were making her legs scream as they were forced to move. She could see Tanyian's exhaustion in the foam dripping from her mouth, in the way her head was hanging so low to the ground.
Mellary fell, barely catching herself on her arms before her head hit the ground. Her numb legs slammed into the dirt, sending shoots of pain into her brain. Mellary sat up slowly. The dragon dropped from her shoulders with a squeak. It had fallen asleep a while ago, after a few hungry's feathered across her mind. The creature looked at her lying on the ground and snickered.
Mellary rubbed her legs, kneading needles of feeling back in. She was a little dizzy, and felt slightly sick to her stomach. It could have been blood loss. She had been running through Dras-Leona with a bleeding shoulder wound that was just deep enough to be dangerous if left alone. She had only had time to fix it hap-hazardously. She had wrapped it with a bandage. She hadn't even touched a bandage in years, much less used one. But she had been too tired to even remember the words of healing. Mellary had been much better than the other little ones at remembering the Ancient Language back years ago, and exponentially better at using it. She suspected it was the mix of blood from two races that flowed through her veins that gave her such power.
And now she had a dragon. A dragon that was mewling like a cat as it brushed up against her booted calves. Another feeling of hunger drifted through her mind, more insistent this time. Mellary pulled herself to her feet, leaning heavily on Tanyian's side. Her legs were still unwilling to support her weight. Mellary opened one of her packs and produced a few strips of dried meat from a few weeks ago. She offered one of the strips to the dragon. It downed the meat like a hungry wolf.
Mellary picked it up gently and set its slim body down on Tanyian's back with the rest of the meat. The dragon settled down easily, devouring the rest of the meat until its thin little stomach poked out. Mellary pulled Tanyian's head up.
Come on girl. She said to the horse. The dragon cocked its head to the side and squawked at her. She reached back and stroked its head soothingly. Let's cool you down before you catch cold.
Mellary began walking. Tanyian followed her through the darkness. Mellary didn't really know where she was going. They had run in to a cloud bank that had obscured the stars. She had never really been in this region before, and didn't recognize any landmarks.
The long skirt of her servant disguise was tangling in her legs. Mellary didn't know how she had been able to run through the city with the skirt trailing on the ground. She pulled her knife out of her boot and sliced the skirt off at the knee. Not one to waste when she had so little, Mellary folded up the length of fabric and tucked it into one of the pockets on her bag.
They walked on until the grey light of dawn appeared on the horizon. Mellary tilted her head back to enjoy the warmth. She closed her eyes and tumbled over backwards, unconscious before she hit the ground. The stress of waiting anxiously all day, infiltrating the palace, fighting Galbatorix and Durza, bonding with the dragon, use of magic, sprinting through the city, riding half the night, and walking the rest of it had finally caught up to her. It was quite a list for anyone to accomplish.
Tanyian settled on the ground next to her owners sleeping body, also exhausted. The hose, her copper body still damp, closed her big eyes also.
The green dragon raised its head to greet the dawn. It cast an emerald gaze over the horizon, keeping watch as its Rider slept.
Mellary was soaring over the forest, happily caught between the sapphire sky and the emerald treetops below. The wind whipped through her hair, which streamed out behind her in a red banner. She laughed.
The bright sunlight dissolved into blackness. Mellary cracked one eyelid, which felt like lead, and stared into slit green eyes. She groaned and rolled over, depositing the squeaking dragon on the ground next to her. Her back was sore where she had been lying on a root all night. Or rather, all morning. The last thing she consciously remembered had been dawn, and now the sun was high in the center of the sky.
The dragon stalked around like a cat so it could stick its face into hers. The hungry tendril drifted across her mind again.
"When aren't you hungry?" Mellary grumbled as she stood. Somehow in the process of standing she had offended ever single stiff and sore muscle in her body.
She offered the dragon the rest of the strips of dried meat. It gobbled them up as she stretched. She actually felt mobile by the time she was done.
Mellary sat down next to the dragon and pulled it toward her. It squeaked in protest, but quieted instantly as she rubbed her fingers between the crests above its eyes. Mellary felt its rumbling in her bones. Contentment drifted across her mind.
"You're easily satisfied." She said to it. The dragon blinked happily at her.
Mellary ran her fingers over its sides, feeling the thin bones and new muscles. The bumps on its neck proved to be pointed, with a gap down by the shoulder blades. The ridges she had seen on its sides moved as she touched them, and the dragon unfolded a pair of translucent wings. The ridges she had seen were the bones that supported the wings, and had talons adorning the joints
The thing wasn't ridiculously thin. She could feel the ribs, but only barely. Its stomach seemed nice and full. Its tail was armored and whip quick as the dragon thrashed it back and forth, avoiding her hands.
The dragon scrambled up, using her clothes as a climbing material. Its sharp claws pricked her skin as the creature wrapped itself around her throat again.
"We better get going." Mellary said as she stood. You don't mind if I ride? It will be quicker that way. The dragon cocked its head to the side and chirped. Tanyian shook her long head from side to side. Mellary smiled and mounted up.
She had been riding for a couple of hours at least, and was well into the woods on the far side of the field when a horn call sounded from behind her.
Mellary spun as best she could, trying to get a glimpse behind her. The thick trees blocked her way, but she didn't really need to see to know. The only people who used horns were soldiers of the Empire. She even recognized the type of horn and the high brassy tone. It was the high call used by an elite regiment of hunters employed by the Empire. Groups had probably been sent out in all directions, and this one had found her resting spot. She remembered now that Tanyian had left a circle of cropped grass around the area. A stupid mistake.
That was really what it came down to. Mellary thought as she nudged Tanyian into a trot. It wasn't the big errors that usually caught up with people. It was the little things that could wreck even the most carefully laid plans.
Mellary turned her horse in a big loop and asked her to go faster. A little while later they arrived on the edge of the woods after having travel in a big arc, ending up a ways away from where they had previously entered. They arrived just in time to see the last of the hunting group vanish into the trees.
Mellary sighed as she laid out along Tanyian's neck.
"What are we going to do?" She said. "Do we hang back and let them pass us? Or do we let them chase us across the Empire?" She was thinking out loud. "If we let them pass us, there's always a chance we'll run into them moving around. And being chased obviously has disadvantages." She loosened her hair absentmindedly and ran her fingers through the tangled curls.
"We could go somewhere they wouldn't follow." She glanced behind them at the hoof prints in the soil. "North, where there's a lot of stone. Or south, to the desert. Or east, to the… forest." Mellary shook her head. "Not to the forest."
"What do you think?" She asked the dragon. "North or south?" The dragon chirped. Mellary turned her gaze to the horizon, to the mountains in the distance.
"Yeah, I think so too." She murmured absently. "North it is."