A/N:Here is chapter 5! This chapter is my longest so far, about twice as long as the others. Oh, there's something important that I must say about this chapter:
When you see a whole sentence, including the quotation marks, italicised, that means two or more people are talking through their thoughts. If there is a full sentence italicised without quotation marks, then it is just an individuals private thoughts. Example(s):
"This is someone talking to someone else through their thoughts."
This is someone thinking to themselves.
This is the chapter that introduces this concept, and following chapters will follow the same rule.
Anyways, enjoy this chapter! And, once again, reviews are kindly asked for.
((This chapter has been updated as of 4/08/10))
Story:
Chapter 5: Rise and Fall.
We, the three of us that is, fell into a simple routine. Instead of going at a super fast pace throughout the day, we went at an easy walk. Occasionally we would stop for a short period of time, or speed of for a short length. Also, we were constantly playing with th-my dragon. Running in circles, playing tag, splashing each other in any stream or pond we pasted, or just hanging out with each other while resting.
For the first few days, Dylan and I took turns carrying my dragon, but soon enough it grew too big to actually carry. At that point we were skeptical that it would wonder off, but we found a fail-safe plan incase it tried that.
Dylan had been teaching me how to communicate with my mind, and I caught onto it pretty quickly. We were starting to talk to one another that way more often then physically talking. Also, we found out that my dragon responds very well when I talk to it telepathically. It doesn't quiet grasp words yet, but any pictures or feelings it knows full well what they mean. So, when it tries to wonder off, I use my mind to call it back.
As the days go by, the dragon began to easily hunt for itself, as was swiftly growing. Each day that passed, the connection between myself and the dragon seemed to grow stronger; I was beginning to understand its feelings as they formed, and we could distance ourselves a little more without losing contact.
By the end of the month the dragon had grown so much that our shoulders were almost on the same level. The little squeaks it once made were a thing of the past, and it now roared like a true dragon. The scales had hardened even more so, and were tougher then any armor I'd seen before, and its teeth were as sharp as daggers. It was truly a fierce animal that could stand up to any foe.
- - - - -
"It's so cool, watching it fly like that." I gasped. We were standing in a clearing, and the dragon had just taken to the sky. It was circling just about the tops of the trees, deep violet scales glistening in the sunlight. This wasn't its first flight, but every time I watched it, it amazed me just like the first time it took to the sky.
"Dragons are beautiful, amazing creatures." Dylan agreed. In one swift movement he sat on the ground next to me, legs crossed, and arms at his sides, resting on the ground.
"That they are." I nodded, my eyes never leaving my dragon. I stared in wonder as it circled the clearing once more.
"I was thinking, and, um…Kyra…" Dylan's voice floated through the air, and then something made me jump.
"Kyra."
My name wafted into my head, but it hadn't been Dylan saying it this time. A familiar feeling came with the word, the feeling I always got when talking to Dylan with my mind.
"Kyra!"
The voice repeated in my head, ringing loudly and clearly. It was a stern voice, but gentle all the same, with an air of superiority and knowledge wafting with it.
"Kyra, are you watching me?"
I gasped, and Dylan looked at me funny. It took me a few minutes to compose my self and respond. The voice repeated itself once more in those few minutes. "Of course I'm watching you; my eyes haven't left you since you left the ground." My voice rang out in a choppy manner, but only my dragon could here what I was saying.
"Yay! Am I doing alright?"
"Of course you are, of course."
"Silly Kyra."
"What?" The conversation ended there, as the dragon drifted higher into the sky, and out of my sight.
"Um, Kyra? Are you okay? You seem to be in a sort of trance or something." Dylan's voice snapped me back to reality, and I happily spun around to face him.
"I'm more then okay!" I was slightly giddy, bouncing on the balls of my bare feet.
"What the heck just happened? Did you just have some weird fantasy or something? If so, I'm not sure I wanna hear it." He laughed at his own joke, but his lips barely curved into a smile.
"It talked to me! My dragon talked to me! This is so exciting! Does this mean we can give it a name now?"
"It talked to you? What did it say? And, that's what I was going to talk to you about. We need to think up some good names, and give it some choices."
"It asked me if I was watching it fly, then asked me if it was doing alright. It was kind of weird, hearing it talk." I sat down across from Dylan, and we began talking about the dragon, exactly what it said, and possible name choices for it.
- - - - -
An hour later and we were still sitting across from each other, conversing. Only now, we were just killing time, waiting for the dragon to come back from its hunting trip, which should be any minute now.
"So, you think we will be able to reach wherever it is that we are going in two or three weeks, like planned?" I asked, truly curious, but also just trying to keep the conversation going.
"Well, judging by where we seem to be now, yes, if we go at a normal pace. We might get there sooner if we are lucky. I think your dragon-"
And, he was cut off by a defining roar that filled the air and rung our ears for what felt like eternity and that ended whatever Dylan was about to say. The next thing I knew, my dragon was circling the clearing again, and then diving down for a landing. The gust from it's wings whipped at our faces and shoved us slightly, causing us to cover our faces for a few moments.
Then, the gust stopped, and the dragon was folding up its wings only a couple feet from us. Swiftly, I bounded up and over to the dragon and hugged its neck tightly. "Yay, your back." My 'voice' was full of enthusiasm, and in return the dragon lifted its head up higher, causing me to be lifted a few inches off the ground. We stayed like that for but a moment; its head lifted high in the air, me clinging to its neck, until it tired and placed me back onto the ground.
"Okay, I know you understand what I'm saying now, and for Dylan's sake I shall speak out loud. Can you speak to the both of us?" I rested my hand on it's shoulder, and leaned against its warm body.
"Maybe?"
"Wow!" Dylan exclaimed as he walked towards us, a genuine smile on his face. Obviously he had heard the dragon in his head as well. "So, shall we start? We have some name choices for you. You're gonna have to decide which one you like, and let us know, because it's going to be your name, alright?"
"Alright."
"Now, first name; Greth." I started.
"No."
"Scylla?" Dylan intervened.
"No."
"Azhi?" I offered. We'd continue like this; Dylan and I switching giving names.
"No."
"Hatori?" Yet, another 'No' was given. This continued on for another thirty or so names. Each time or so we would switch between offering a guy name, to offering a gal name since we didn't know what it's gender was yet. With each name we gave, our hopes were shot down. The dragon didn't even seem at all interested in any of the names we offered. This was starting to get hopeless. We were down to two names.
"Elliot?" Dylan drummed out dully. He was now sitting on the ground, head rested against the dragons chest, for the dragon was now lying on the ground, and I was sitting on its back.
"Man, were almost out now." I yawned, "Here, last one. I really like this one, and thought it was the best, so I saved it for last. Okay, what do you think of the name Nyte? Spelt N-Y-T-E instead of the other two ways of spelling the word 'night.' So, are you a Nyte?"
There was a long pause. "Yes."
"Yes?!" Dylan and I shouted in unison. "Finally, a name for you! Man, your hard to name. Picky, aren't you?"
"Well, if I'm going to be stuck with the same name for the rest of my life, I might as well be picky and choose one I like, yes?"
"Pfft. Lucky. We don't get to choose our own names. We have no say. It sucks." I whined softly, and Dylan nodded in reply.
"But you have such a pretty name, Kyra. It suits you well. Do you not like it?"
"I like it just fine, and thanks for the compliment. You have such a big vocabulary for only just learning how to talk. Is that normal?"
"How should I know what normal is for a dragon? I've never met any other dragon before. Besides, listening to you two talk so much helped me out a lot."
"Well, gee, I'm glad to be so helpful." Dylan exaggerated his enthusiasm.
"Anyway, we should get a move on. But, I am glad we finally found a name for you, Nyte. It suits you well; your scales are the color of the night sky, in a way."
"So!" I hopped off of Nyte, and landed softly on the ground. "Off we go into the wild yonder, to continue our perilous journey." All three of us busted into laughter over my silly words. I wasn't even sure why I said it; I was just so happy I couldn't resist saying something so weird.
- - - - -
A week passed and all seemed to going just fine. Our moods lifted greatly after naming my dragon, and finding out that it was a guy. Nyte had been talking a lot to me since that first day, about anything and everything. Every chance we got, he'd have me teach him new words, and what they meant. By the end of the week, his vocabulary was almost as big as mine was.
And even now, he was asking me more and more questions; except for now they weren't just about words, they were about anything and everything that had to do with me.
"Come on Nyte, you have total access to all my memories, yet you still have to ask me every little thing?" There was a dulled anger presence in my voice, but we both knew that I wasn't really angry.
"Where would the fun in that be? Besides, it's rude to invade a person's private memories." Nyte started laughing at that, even though I couldn't understand as to why he was laughing. "Anyway, I'm closing in on my prey, and I know you don't like the feelings you get when I catch it, so I'll talk to you later. Oh and right now would probably be a good time to practice."
"Sure sure, whatever. Bu'Bye." I yawned, and leaned back on the huge rock I was sitting beside. I glanced around, and let the cool breeze flow threw my hair. Dylan was off scouting at the moment, and Nyte was hunting, so I was left all to my lonesome self.
Hmm, might as well practice as Nyte said. I thought to myself, and then rummaged through my bag. A few mornings ago Dylan had given me a small wooden flute.
Dylan had handed it to me saying, "It's an old family air-loom, and works really well even though its ancient…probably because it was made with magic. Anyway, I can't play it at all, so I want you to have it. Take care of it, and practice whenever you get the chance to, 'kay?"
And now seemed like the perfect chance to play. Once I found it, I pulled it out and held it up to the sky to examine it. The whole thing was made out of a dark smooth wood, which looked dark enough to have been painted, even though it wasn't. Small holes ran down one side of it, and on the other side was a carving of a dragon breathing fire.
Gingerly, I held the flue to my mouth and placed my fingers on the proper holes. Never once had I actually ever played a flute before, but musical instruments had always piqued my interest, so I began to play, with no regard for what I was actually doing. I just let my fingers flow with the music, doing this and that, and trying my best to make it actually sound nice.
After a few minutes of playing, a couple of birds started whistling to the tune. Just letting the music flow through my body helped to ease me; calming my whole body and spirit, and making it feel as though all my worries and troubles had disappeared.
A couple minutes passed and I stopped to evaluate my playing and catch a breath. But, something seemed wrong. Not only did the birds stop whistling, they squawked and flew away in a frenzy.
"My, my, that was quiet nice to listen to. You did very well for your first time playing." A rough voice came from off to the side, a few feet away, and just out of my current field of vision.
Startled by the strange voice, I jumped up and spun around, my arms held protectively in front of my body. Just a couple feet away stood a tall, shaggy brown haired man. He seemed to be only a couple inches taller then me, and only a few years older then me as well. His face was calm, but serious all the same, "Ha-ha. I know you're surprised, but you can at least say something. I mean, I came all the way just to see you."
"What do you want?" I growled through gritted teeth. This man obviously knew who I was, and even though he seemed to be friendly he had a dark atmosphere surrounding him. He also came out of nowhere, and without me even sensing it. "Nyte? Dylan? Can you guys here me? I need a little help over here. Like, NOW." The voice in my head was frantic, and I was hoping one, or both, would here me.
"Now, now, that's no way to act to a messenger. Just here me out, alright? Will you listen?" The man held up his hands to show that they were empty. Scanning him quickly, I noticed something strange…but I wasn't sure what it was.
I didn't trust myself to speak anymore, so I just nodded my head. "The king has sent me on a mission to bring you to meet him in Urû'baen. He wishes for you to come peacefully if possible."
"Kyra, what's going on? Is something wrong?" Dylan's voice suddenly jabbed into my head.
"So, would you come with me to Urû'baen?" The man continued on, not knowing I was listening to two people at the moment.
"There's some strange man here. He says that the king sent him to bring me back to Urû'baen with him." I paused to think of an answer for the man.
"Shit. I'll be there in five minutes, try to keep him occupied until then. And, don't say ANYTHING about Nyte, got it?"
"Right. Just hurry up." I relaxed my stance slightly, to let the man think I was warming up to him or something. "Why does the king want to see me of all people? I should be rather insignificant to him."
"Ah, but don't you know? You're no normal human. Technically, you're an elf…well, part elf. The king has heard much about you from his soldiers in Kuasta. He sees great promise in making you one of his allies…especially after learning about your lineage."
"What the heck? Did everyone but me know that I was part elf? Seriously, I only learned about a month or so ago. I don't even know my lineage, except for who my mother was, and a tiny bit about my father. How is it that the king, and even you, whom I've never met before, knows about me?"
"Ah, an interesting question. If you were to come with me to the king, you will learn much about yourself that you don't know. And, I promise, it will take but a mere day to get there, and you will even have the privilege of riding on a dragon." A smirk appeared on his face as he tried to bribe me.
"Wait." I took in a deep breath, "You have a dragon? What color…?" My voice trailed off as my hands, with the flute still in them, started to shake.
"I do not at this time, but the king has gotten into the habit of letting me ride his dragon this last month or so, since he never leaves Urû'baen anymore. The dragon is black."
The shaking of my hands turned into a tremble, and my breathing quickened. "Bastard." I muttered, knowing that he could here it. "You killed her. You're the bastard that killed my best friend." I closed my eyes, probably not a smart move, to keep myself from boiling over too much.
"A bastard I may be, but who are you talking about? I have killed so many that at this point it's hard to remember the death of a random individual." His voice seemed to be closer now.
"Damn it." I took in a sharp breath. "A month and a half ago, while you were in Kuasta, you and that dragon killed my best friend. She didn't even do anything wrong. You bastard." I kept telling myself to blame him, but I knew it was partially my fault.
"Ah, I see. That was a-"
"Get away from her!" Dylans voice boomed, causing my eyes to flicker open. I now realized that the man was only a couple of inches away.
"If you refuse to come with me, girl, I will force you to come." The man's voice was suddenly hostile, and in the blink of an eye he reached forward and grabbed my right arm.
Then, multiple things happened at once. I flinched away from the man, but his grasp was too strong. He pulled me closer to his body, and Dylan lunged towards him. All of a sudden, I was on the ground, not even knowing what had happened. Dylan and the stranger were on the ground a few feet away from me, and there was a puddle of blood next to them. I began to worry, for I couldn't tell whose blood it was, but I could also feel a sharp pain in my right arm.
With another flurry of movement the lightning fast fight had ended. Dylan was kneeling next to me, and the stranger was backing off. "I did not come to fight this time. But, beware; the next time I come, I will take you with me, Kyra daughter of Aiedail." He shouted madly then spun and ran into the forest.
"What. The. Heck?" I muttered, rubbing my hand on my forehead, and pushing myself into a seated position. The wooden flute was still in my left hand, completely unscathed and covering my gedwëy ignasia.
Suddenly I remembered the blood. "You're not hurt, are you?!"
Dylan shook his head. "I caught him by surprise; the blood you see is his." A faint smile touched his lips for a mere moment, but was quickly covered by a disgusted look. "I can't believe that bastard tried to take you to Galbatorix. And he doesn't even know about Nyte!"
"Well, he learned about the purple egg, but he thinks it's with the Varden still. Hmm, I guess you are a really important person either way. But now that they know you are being guided and protected by an elf, they will change their strategies. They'll do anything to keep you away from the rest of the elves. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap."
"Yeesh, watch your language." My joking was half-hearted, for I was angry too. "Who was he anyway? I know that he's the one that killed Mia…But what is his name?"
"Murtagh, son of Morzan, and slave to none other then Galbatorix himself, and even then, it is by force that he says in service to him. There have only been rumors and whispers of him, and those only started a couple days before I found you. The rumor goes that Galbatorix had enslaved him using his true name, and that he even lets him ride his dragon, even though there's a chance that one of the kings two dragon egg's will hatch for him soon."
"Murtagh? Wait, the son of Morzan? THE Morzan?" As I questioned Dylan, a weird feeling came over me. Nyte! I had completely forgotten to contact him. "Hey, Nyte! Can you hear me, or are you still eating?"
"Yes, that Morzan. I know that it's hard to believe that one of the forsworn had a child, especially since there was no talk or record of it. Only Galbatorix new of his existence until others found out a short time ago."
"Huh, sounds like an interesting chat you're having." Nyte added in, finally speaking to me again.
"Wait, have you just been listening this whole time? Since when?!" I tried to keep my cool, and adverted my attention back to my conversation with Dylan. "Wait, earlier you said that Murtagh didn't know that we had Nyte's egg, and thought that it was still with the Varden. But after Mia was attacked, she said that they, the dragon and Murtagh, were looking for it. But how could they have known we had it at that point?"
"Ha-ha, there's no reason for you to be angry with me. I was listening to your surroundings since you started playing the flute. Which, if I may, was quite beautifully played."
"Hmm," Dylan mulled over his answer for a moment. "That's a good question. And, the only explanation I can think of at the moment is thus: The 'black' dragon Murtagh was riding is the kings' dragon, known as Shruikan. Shruikan is an old and powerful dragon. He may have sensed the presence of the dragon egg when they were by Kuasta looking for you the first time. It was probably by chance that they happened to cross Mia, who might have still smelled like the egg. Well, that's my guess."
"That sounds reasonable enough. Our kind has a unique smell that humans can't sense, and lingers around those we've been near." Nyte interjected before I could reply to either of them.
"Hey! If you were listening from the beginning, why didn't you respond when I called for help, or come?"
"Well, I was eating when you first called, then Dylan warned me to stay away, and I trust him, sorta, so I listened."
"You could have at least said something to me! Besides, everything's fine now, and it's getting dark, so you can come now." I took a couple deep breaths, and then turned back to Dylan. "Well, I guess it makes sense."
"There's a clearing a little ways ahead of you guys, so I'll meet you there." Nyte added, and then sent me images of a small clearing with a few fallen trees around there, and then a path that led from there to where we were.
"Nyte will be waiting for us just up ahead, so lets go." My thoughts were muddled, and I didn't feel like talking anymore; I felt as though my mouth would betray me if I tried to speak.
I pushed myself into an upright position, but immediately collapsed on the ground again. My right arm was throbbing with a tremendous amount of pain. I looked down to see a trail of blood seeping down my arm. Suddenly my muddled thoughts became crystal clear as I realized that Murtagh had managed to hurt me. "Dang it."
Dylan followed my gaze and gasped when he saw the blood. "Shit!" He carefully pulled out my right arm so he could examine the wound. There were three deep scratches about two inches long, and a quarter inch deep running parallel to the ground across my upper arm. They were all less then a quarter inch apart from one another. "Dammit! These have magic in them. They may take a long time to heal."
"I have some cloth that we can use as a bandage in my bag, if you could get it for me." Before I had even finished speaking Dylan had moved me into a sitting position, and had retrieved my bag. He shuffled through it until he found the rolled up cloth. With swift yet careful movements he bandaged my whole upper arm, which managed to stop the bleeding. "Thanks……Lets go."
Hastily I stuffed the flute in my bag, retrieved it from Dylan, and slung the bag onto my shoulders as I was already heading down the unmarked path. Every little movement sent sharp pains into my right arm, but I ignored it as best as I could. It was hard to tell if Dylan was following because he was so quiet, but frankly at this point I didn't care; I just wanted to be alone.
- - - - -
"Ah, the lake is just up ahead, we are only a few days away now." Dylan stammered, walking a few feet ahead of me. These were the first words I had heard from him since he explained about Murtagh and Shruikan two nights ago. Neither of us had been in the mood to talk until now and even now we didn't really feel like it.
"The lake? What lake? You never mentioned anything about a lake before." I shook my head in irritation.
"A lake? This is so cool! I haven't seen anything except clearings, trees and creeks yet, so I can't wait!" Nyte excitedly said, while squeezing between trees as he followed behind us.
"Ah, but haven't you ever heard of Leona Lake before? That is the lake we are now at!" Dylan moved a few branches aside and motioned for Nyte and I to walk forward.
The first thing I noticed was that the sun was much brighter when there were absolutely no trees in the way. It took a second for my eyes to adjust, but once they did, the sight was beautiful.
A huge field stretched in front of us, various wild flowers covering the ground, and a river fifty feet or so ahead of us. Across the river and a ways away was an untraveled road that seemed to lead to a commonly traveled road, but that road was out of sight. Looking to the right, I let my gaze follow the flow of the river which emptied into a huge lake, which stretched beyond sight. The surface of the lake was clear as glass, and just as smooth, everywhere but the opening where the river met with it causing a swirling commotion within the water.
"WOW!" I exclaimed, the beauty of it all automatically lifting my spirits. Tumbling forward, I fell face first into the flowers and started rolling around, though it pained me to do so. I shrugged my backpack off so I could roll easier, and avoid crushing my right arm too much, then started laughing like a little kid.
"Ha-ha-ha!" Dylan started laughing with me, or was he laughing at me? "You're such a little kid inside, aren't you?"
"She's perfectly fine that way." Nyte bellowed, then lunged into the air; barely spreading his wings, making one flap, and then diving into the river.
The water droplets from his splash reached us and went even farther then that. "Ha-ha-ha!" Dylan and I laughed again. A few moments later I rolled onto my stomach and smelled a few of the flowers. Their aroma was magnificent; I had never seen or smelt flowers like them before.
Nyte clawed his way out of the river and shook his whole body like a cat. This caused more water to spray across us, but we only got a little wet. "That was refreshing! But anyway, would you mind explaining things to us now? Seriously, you haven't told us where we are going, or why."
"Oh alright, I'll explain things now." Dylan pouted slightly, moving to sit next to me as I continued to lie on the ground. Nyte curled up beside us. "I can't explain everything yet, but you must have gathered by now that I am an agent of the Varden, yes?"
"Well, sure, since it's the only thing that makes sense. You've talked about them a few times, and have obviously shown your hatred for the empire. Besides, the first time we had a real conversation you told me that you were working for the Varden." I lazily replied.
"Then you know what the Varden is, good. Anyway, I was sent on a couple missions. The first had to do with Nyte's egg, which ended when he hatched, sorta. Now, the second mission is a rescue mission."
"One of our elite men was captured and locked up in Dras-Leona. That is where we are headed. Our mission is to enter Dras-Leona undetected and safely rescue the prisoner, and hopefully without drawing too much attention to ourselves. Now, to do that, Nyte won't be able to come into the city with us. In fact, from this point on, you won't be able to travel with us, Nyte."
"WHAT?!" Nyte roared while jumping up. The intensity of his roar caused me to flinch back.
"I'm really sorry Nyte, but we can't just bring you into the city when we are trying to keep you a secret, and by nightfall Kyra and I will be in view of humans. We can't risk you being seen by anyone, so you will have to fly high above us in the clouds. When there aren't any clouds, just make sure your high enough so no one will recognize you as a dragon."
I sniffled a little. "That's no fair! I don't want to be separated from Nyte!" I jumped up and hugged Nyte's neck. After a couple more sniffles I asked a simple question, "How long will we be apart?"
"If we don't sleep and keep traveling we should be to Dras-Leona within two days, maybe less. Then, once there we will have to spend two to four days there, depending on how quickly we can locate and free our comrade. So a total of four to six days, maybe a little less, maybe a little more."
"Four to six days? This is no fair! What happens if someone finds Nyte when we aren't with him?" Just the thought of it started to make me panic.
"It's okay, just calm down." Dylan sighed, "Nyte's a good, strong, smart dragon and can take care of himself for a few days. Don't you have any faith in him?"
"Of course I have faith in him…but I don't want anything bad to happen to him." I sadly pouted.
"Thanks Kyra," Nyte said; the first words since his outburst, "For caring for me so much. You're so sweet. But, Dylan is right. We have to do it this way, and I will be okay by myself. Our connection is fairly strong at this point, so we should be able to at least keep in contact."
"You agree with me? Yay! So you're not mad at me?" Dylan let out a sigh of relief.
"I never said I wasn't mad at you. Also, if anything bad happens to Kyra, AT ALL, while I'm away from her, I will personally blame you, hunt you down, tare you limb from limb and burn your bloody remains, got it?"
Nyte's voice was so stern and serious that there was no way that he could have been joking. "Yikes! I promise I will take care of her for you, almighty powerful dragon." Dylan made a slight bow, and then stood up.
"Get going before I change my mind and kill you now."
"Yeesh Nyte, so vicious. When did you learn to be so violent?" I laughed, and clung to his neck even more so.
"What are you talking about? It's in my nature to be violent and vicious." Nyte laughed, and then licked the side of my face with just the tip of his tongue.
"Goodbye Nyte, I love you." I squeezed once more, then let go, and patted the side of his neck. He had grown more in the last two weeks. His shoulder was now coming close to being level with my head. "Take care."
"I love you too, my little flower." Nyte sighed, and took a few steps backwards before unfolding his wings and taking to the sky. I stood there, watching in awe as he rose higher and higher into the sky, and then turned to just a speck.
"Which way are we headed?" I asked, while grabbing my bag and slinging it onto my back. Dylan pointed towards the dirt road across the river, and before he had even lowered his hand I was off and running.
"Wait up!" Dylan yelled in surprise. He pushed himself to run as quickly as he could, be he couldn't quiet catch up to me. It surprised him that even though I was only a half elf I was just as fast, or maybe even a little faster then him. But, ever since Nyte hatched for me, I felt as though I had been slowing gaining strength and speed. Was that part of being a dragon rider?
I was only a couple feet away from the river, and had no intentions of stopping to cross it. No, instead I used the force of my speed to leap across the river. Once across I stopped and turned around to watch Dylan repeat me feat, but not as gracefully.
He must have decided to follow my example on a whim instead of thinking of it before hand because his foot hit the edge of the river bank. This made him fall on his face.
"Nice one, genius." I laughed as Dylan stood and whipped the dirt off his clothes. Then a thought floated into my head as I looked at Dylan's cloak. "Oh, right, I guess I should wear mine too, huh?"
"Hey, I was just following you!" Dylan swept his hands over his clothes again. "Huh? Oh, yes, that would probably be a good idea." He swiftly flipped his hood up. "Your ears are pointed, and will get even more so because you are a rider, but for now your hair covers them enough. But, it's safest if you keep your hood up."
"For me though, my ears are so pointed and hair so short that I will be keeping my hood up as much as possible. When I absolutely have to, I will use magic to morph my ears to look human."
I just nodded, and pulled my blood stained, faded green cloak from my bag and put it on. Upon flipping the hood up, I could smell the dried blood on it, and it started to make me nauseous. "Once we are in the city, I may have to get a new cloak."
"And a pair of shoes. I can't believe you've gone this whole time, in the Spine, with no shoes. Don't your feet hurt?"
"Huh? Me, wear shoes…are you insane? I hate shoes, and my feet are perfectly fine."
"If you say so." Dylan stretched and then took off running, obviously trying to prove that he was faster.
He didn't catch me by surprise, so I was able to spin around and run after him. In mere moments I was able to catch up to him. "How come you're so fast? No fair, you're only a halfling." Dylan pouted to me, speaking through mind for we were running to fast to speak aloud.
"I guess that I'm just a natural or something." I smirked, "What, does it bug Dyl that a mere halfling can run as fast, and maybe even faster then him?"
"Don't call me D-I-L-L! I hate that! Plus, you can probably only run this fast because of the added benefits of being a dragon rider. I can still run faster than this."
"Than prove it to me, Dyl." I taunted him, using the nickname that he obviously didn't like. With my words, I started to run faster, actually putting some energy into it.
"Grr." Dylan growled as he started to run faster as well. For a good couple of hours we raced each other on the beaten path, staying closely matched the whole while. For the most part I stayed just a few inches ahead of him, but then he would start to pass me, then I him, and so on and so forth.
True to his words, we were able to see humans traveling along the road by dusk, and by nightfall we had caught up to them. At first we continued running at full speed for the humans didn't really notice us, but eventually a few of them started to catch on to us. When this happened, we slowed down to a quick walk.
Off the side of the road, many people had stopped to camp for the night, and only a few travelers remained on the trail; those who had horses to ride. Those with horses and those setting up camp stared at us suspiciously as we kept up our brisk walk.
By around midnight, any and all people that had been around us had retired for the night, which gave us the chance to continue running again. So, we ran for the rest of the night, until dawn when other travelers joined the road. All day we traveled at a good speed and by noon the city was in easy view.
Ram-shackled buildings sat on crooked streets that surrounded the wall that led to the main part of the city. The wall was a dirty, pale yellow wall of daubed mud. It was a sad site, but something else in the distance caught my attention.
"What's that?" I quietly asked Dylan while I pointed to the object in question. Several miles east of the city a mountain of bare rock speared the sky with spires and columns. The sides were near-vertical and rose up out of the ground like a bone.
Dylan's eyes barely followed my finger, already knowing what it was that I was pointing at. His voice came in a subtle whisper, "That is Helgrind, which in our language means 'The gates of Death.' Sometimes our people call it 'The gates of Hell' instead. Either way, they are befitting names for such a malevolent thing."
And thus was the end of our conversation on Helgrind. But, as we continued towards Dras-Leona, the road became more and more flooded with people. The road was filled with people carting goods into the city, a few horsemen riding here and there, but mostly just random travelers, and we seemed to be just random travelers.
The flood of people caused us to slow down to a normal walk. Though, even with a slow preceding we were able to near the gates by late afternoon. Ten soldiers were stationed on either side of the gates, casually scanning the crowd of people. We stayed in the middle of the crowd, making it harder for us to be spotted and or stopped. We were among the only few that actually had their hoods up so it made us look more suspicious, but luckily we were able to pass through without incident.
"We need to make our way to the center of the city as quickly as possible." Dylan muttered to me as I got my first real look at the city.
The houses were very tall and thin to make up for the lack of space, and most of them were shoved together. Thus, there were very few ally-ways. Nearly all of the buildings were constructed of the same dark brown wood, and the air reeked like a sewer. Ragged children ran between a few of the houses, and deformed beggars crouched next to the entrance gates, pleading for money.
"This place is horrible." I didn't like the feel of this place. It was as though my feet were starting to meld into the ground, as if the ground was eating me alive.
"Yes. But it gets better once you move farther in." He grabbed my wrist and pulled me through the crowds of people until we reached wealthier parts of the city. The buildings here were a bit better shaped, and looked healthier. The people in this area were also better dressed and there weren't as many big mobs of people.
Dylan stopped in front of an Inn called the Golden Globe. The place was cheap, and would do for our short stay. "Do you have any money?" I wondered out loud.
"I have plenty enough for this place. Come on." He pulled me inside and a guy at the counter greeted us. Dylan paid for a room for one, while I stood quietly by his side.
"Ya know, I'm not sa'pose to let yungin's rent rooms. 'Specially two of em'. And why's ya got's ya hood's up like that. It makes ya look suspicious. And there be blood on this ones'. What be goin' on here?" The man asked. He had jet black, short hair, and he was missing a few teeth.
"I'm sorry sir." Dylan reached back to take off his hood and my eyes widened. He hadn't placed the spell on his ears yet, and I was rather worried about weather or not he could do it in such a short time.
All my worrying was for nothing because when Dylan pulled his hood back his ears looked like any normal persons ears. Relived, I lowered my hood and remained quiet. I was letting Dylan do all the talking for now.
"Ah, a red head. I haven't seen many of em' around lately. Tis a strange site. What are ya two yungin's doin' here any-ways? Ya's better have a good story or's ya not gonna have a room." He leaned over his counter to get a better look at us, seemingly forgetting about the blood.
Dylan was at a lose of words for a moment so I cut in, making my voice sound as sweet and innocent as I could, "Sir, we've been traveling together for some time now. You see, neither of us has any family left, so we decided to be our own family. These last few days have been really hard on us and we need a place to stay for a few days. We don't have enough money for two rooms, or even a big room, but we don't mind sharing."
When I was done, I lowered my head slightly and tried to act like an innocent little kid. Dylan stared at me wide eyes for a second then lowered his head to act innocent as well. "Please, sir. Only for a few days, we won't cause any trouble." I pleaded in an even softer and quieter tone.
The man leaned back and scratched the side of his head. "I guess I'd have ta be heartless to send's ya's away now. Fine, ya's can stay. Just don't go causin' trouble, and stay's out of the bar." He sighed in defeat and handed me a key to a room as Dylan gave him the money.
"Thank you sir." We both chimed as we headed off to find our room. The room was on the second floor, farthest door to the right. Inside consisted of one bed crammed against the wall and a rickety table next to it.
"That was a nice save Kyra." Dylan grinned as he rubbed his ears and whispered something that turned his ears back to normal.
"Thanks, but I only had to save us because you had a brain fart." I sat on the floor and leaned against the wall.
"That's not nice, ya know!" We both burst out into laughter for a moment.
"Aw," I whipped away a tear from my cheek, "So, what now? We still have a couple of hours left today. But, not much. I am tired from our run/walk journey."
"Hmm…" Dylan sat on the edge of the bed and pressed a hand to his forehead for a moment. "You barely contacted Nyte during our journey, huh?"
"Nyte said that we needed to concentrate on our running and that he needed to concentrate on his flying. So, no, we didn't really talk at all." I sighed, and reached out with my mind until I felt Nyte's presence again.
"Well, then get him up to date. But, you shouldn't contact him or stay linked to him too much while we are here. There is word of magicians here, and if any of them felt the presence of your mind, which is more noticeable the farther you stretch your link, then we could be in a lot of trouble." Dylan rolled then flopped on the bed.
"Then, we shall sleep so we can rise early in the morning. Do you want the bed, or will you sleep on the floor?" There was a slight pause, and then Dylan jumped out of the bed, holding a squirming bug. "On second thought, maybe we should both sleep on the floor."
I laughed and then nodded, not willing to launch myself into a conversation with Dylan when I was ready to talk to Nyte. "Nyte! How have you been? Has your flight gone well?"
"Oh little flower, it is nice to hear from you again. My flight went well, and I have found a nice place not far from, but far enough, from the city to rest for as long as I want. If anyone dares to travel too close and discover me, I shall just eat them."
"Ewe! Don't eat them! They probably won't taste good." I started laughing at the though of Nyte trying to eat someone just to discover how horrible they taste.
"Your right. Silly little humans probably don't taste very well…But I think I'd be able to stomach it. Anyway, tell me everything that's happened."
As I started to explain everything that happened to Nyte, I took my cape off, placed my bag carefully in the corner, and laid down to use it as a pillow. I draped the cloak over me like a blanket. Dylan imitated me, but his sleeping spot was about a foot and a half away from mine.
As I finished explaining the day, we looped into a casual conversation, including Dylan into the conversation to make it more interesting. After a while all three of us became too tired to talk any longer, so we all said our good-nights.
"Goodnight Dyl." I muttered in my head to Dylan, so that Nyte could hear the nick-name as well.
"Ugh. Please don't call me that. I really don't like it." Dylan moaned.
"But why? Dyl is a really good nickname!" I countered.
"Yeah," Nyte butted in, "Dyl's so much funner to say."
"Fine, whatever. Goodnight".
"Night-night Dyl, sleep well." Nyte teased before severing his link with Dylan, but keeping his link with me. I severed my link with Dylan as well so Nyte and I could talk privately. "Kyra, you've only known him for a little over a month now, and you completely trust him, huh?"
The question was so randomly thrown out there that it took me a moment to respond. I lightly closed my eyes before answering, "Yes, of course. He's helped me out a whole lot, so why shouldn't I trust him by now?"
"I've only been in your life for about as long as him, but you have more reason to trust me. You know pretty much everything there is to know about me, especially considering there isn't a whole lot to me just yet."
I shook my head. "I don't get it. What are you saying?"
"What I'm saying is that you shouldn't so easily trust people! It could be dangerous. You two may be good friends by now, but you know virtually nothing about him. Not his past, his true motive for caring for you, his real reason for having my egg and then trying to keep it at the bottom of a lake, or even why you are where you are now. Sure you're on a rescue mission, but why?"
"Why did they send an elf, who it could risk their entire life's work if he were to be caught, on a mission to rescue some random person? Who are you trying to save? My point is that you can't completely trust him yet; you don't even know what he's capable of yet."
"Nyte, stop worrying so much. He has his reasons for not sharing too much information. Just as you are suspicious of him, he is probably still somewhat suspicious of us. Most likely, the information you want is not his to freely give out. Besides, I have reason enough to trust him. He's helped me through many things, explained so much to me, saved me from Murtagh, and has helped me to take care of you. Now please, just stop worrying and go to sleep."
"But…"
"Nyte, please. Just give it a rest. I need to sleep, and so do you. So, goodnight, Nyte." I rolled onto my side and quietly sighed.
"Goodnight, my little flower." Nyte whispered, and then severed our connection. It wasn't long after that before I drifted off to sleep, graciously accepting the relief it brought with it.
That night I dreamt for the first time in a long time; it wasn't a normal dream either, it was one of those dreams, even though it was eerily short.
- - - - -
The sun was setting, sinking farther and farther beneath the tree line, casting one last ray of light over the sky, making it look as though the world was being set on fire. The edge of the spine became darker, as a small line of mist and fog rolled out from it. Leaning against a nearby tree was one lone figure, dressed in all black, golden hair tinted orange from the twilight light. His dark brown eyes were saddened and a bloody gash ran along his left cheek bone. It a small, strained and pained voice he whispered, "Kyra…" There was a deep expression of pain on his face as he closed his eyes.
As Jason closed his eyes I opened mine, and sat up, sweat dripping across my face. It couldn't have been more then an hour since I had first fallen asleep. The image of Jason passed through my head again and again as I sat there, nearly breathless. I couldn't make head or tail of the dream; I only knew that something was wrong…horribly wrong.
After about half an hour I laid back down, and tried to go to sleep, pushing the ghostly image of Jason out of my head.
End of Chapter 5! (This chapter is kind of confusing, so if you have any questions, just ask.)
( Up next: Chapter 6: Mission Chaos.)