"Ready?"
"Remember, jump and keep your arms close to your body, when I say, open them and try to stay with me"
"Everyone prepared? Jump!"
The wind instantly smashed agianst Eragon as he freefell, it was a strange, but wonderful experiance. He had freefell before, but it was when he was under attack and he never meant to fall. But this time he was jumping off solid ground, about ten thousand feet high, on purpose. His students had never done this before and neither had he, but they had faith in their teacher and Eragon had faith in himself. To him there was no longer any sense of falling or speed. It was mostly like floating in the air and hearing the wind deep in his ears. They were soon plummeting down alongside an enormous, sheer cliff, their heads facing down, their feet pointing straight towards the sky. A waterfall thundered next to them, drizzling to ground level in a large cloud of mist. Eragon looked to his students, four in total, their facial expressions were of a mixture between pure excitment and fear. He laughed at the thrill and then reached out with his mind to his students.
*Get ready to open your arms.* He said to them, in reply they sent him an acknowledgable emotion.
The ground was quickly speeding to them, or at least it looked that way. *Open!* He shouted mentally.
They unhesitantly snapped their arms and legs out. There were flaps of a strong, silk-like fabric attatched from both their wrists and down to their ankles, and along the inside of their legs as well. The fabric filled with air and they began gliding over the ground, still a good distance high. Eragon instructed his students to tilt so that they were paralell with the ground.
They quickly passed over a large jungle, whizzing past a flock of brids that squaked at their intrusion. The jungle suddenly ended and now they glided over a great plain filled with wonderous beasts unlike those from Alageasia. Herds of giant animals roared as other creatures trespassed onto their terrictory.
Eragon looked to the distance where a glorious city scape formed along the horizon. But just outside the metropolis was a large number of enemy soldiers, running towards the city walls. Eragon sent several different commands to his students as they got closer to the soldiers.
When he was nearly three yards away he reached across his torso and pulled Brisingr from its sheath, this change to his glide suit spun his body in a circle. As he spun he tilted his body vertically and landed, his feet sending dirt into the air. He completed his revolution, bringing brisingr through an enemy's neck, then he pushed by the falling soldier and continued running.
His students continued in the air and landed twenty feet ahead of him. Eragon drew upon the massive pool of energy that was Aren.
"Jierda!" A small group of soldiers went flying into the air and crashed upon the ground with enough force to kill them. The lead Rider continued towards his students as they cut down massive numbers of enemy soldiers.
An explosion rocked the ground and a tendril of fire rushed over Eragon, followed by a shower of pebbles and dust. Several bodies pelted the ground. His students were strong in magic and stronger with sword and bow. Their experiance was unparalell with normal members of their race. Eragon was proud to have them as pupils.
Suddenly a feriousous roar erupted from the sky, and in rythm, was followed by a chorus of other roars. The sound of thunder filled the air as Saphira crashed to the ground, crushing ten soldiers under each foot, stabbing through their bodies with her large, white talons. She scooped four soldiers in her jaws and threw them, screaming, half a mile away.
Four other dragons landed behind her and finished off the rest of the soldiers with torrents of multicolored flames and snaps of teeth. *Saphira. We were training.* Eragon said.
The blue dragoness stood straight and blew smoke from her mouth. *What a coicidence. We were training too.* She looked to her dragon students to emphisive her point. At her words the dead soldiers' bodies disappeared as the hidden Eldunarí released the flow of magic that created the illusions.
Eragon laughed and approached his dragon, with ease he leapt up to her saddle. Then he looked back to his students. "Return back home and prepare for dinner, then I'll tell a story of the past."
His students nodded and mounted their dragons. With the sound of thunder they were in the air. Eragon looked back to the city behind him, remembering when he first saw it:
"Land ho!" Shouted an elf from the front of the Talita. Eragon looked up from his seat along the southern railing.
*See, I told you* Said Saphira, flying above the ship, circling them like a buzzard.
Eragon smiled, remembering that, only a few days earlier, she had reported land close by, much to the doubt of the crew who said there wasn'lt supposed to be land that close. However, they didn't argue with the dragoness, for who would argue with a dragon.
*I never doubted you.* He replied, and felt a teasing emotion flow from Saphira to him.
Blödhgarm soon approached as Eragon stood and said. "Shadeslayer, we are preparing the long boats. We only ask that you be the first to set foot on the island."
Eragon nodded. "Of course." He then followed the male elf to the starboard rail where the long boats were being loaded by elves. "I will fly with Saphira." He looked to the island and pointed to a large foothill. "Meet me there.
Blödhgarm nodded and entered the last availiable long boat. As it was being lowered the elf looked back to the rider and said. "Be careful, we know not what lurks here."
Eragon only nodded. Saphira landed on the deck lightly, distrupting the balance of the ship slightly because of her wieght. She hadn't eaten fully for weeks and was determined to hunt. Eragon had tried to get her to head to the island and find a deer when they were still a while away. She disagreed saying; "I wont eat a good meal while you are hear eating breat and preserved meat." He had replied with; "But that is what I usually eat anyways." But she didn't want to heat it.
He slid into the saddle and Saphira instantly took off, shacking the boat even more due to her take off force. She climbed into the air for a hundred or so feet, then twisted in the air and dived for the distant island.
Eragon looked down as wind blew into his face. The long boats had reached a sandbar, but were still no where near the shore. Their flight released any tension that had been built up while on the ship for weeks. He felt free agian.
Saphira preformed spectacular menuvours in the air, twisting, spinning, and rolling. Eragon was so caught up in the moment, he didn't realize that Saphira had circled the entire mountain peak far inland. She roared mightly, showing her display of power and claiming this island for her and her partner-of-heart-and-mind.
As they continued around the mountain Eragon could see flocks of larger than average birds, some the size of full grown horses. He marvled at their bulk, and if he was right, they were giant eagles. They were sailing through the air with smooth strokes of their oversized wings. If the birds here were large, what size were the other animals. As the birds left the backdrop of the mountain and into open sky, eragon, whose eyes were following them, noticed something else. Large shadows in the distance, far across a grassy plane. The rising sunlight didn't provide any help to his observing gaze, but his instincts told him something else.
"Get to Blödhgarm now!" Eragon shouted, his voice going agianst the howl of the wind.
Saphira didn't argue. She turned back around and headed for the beach where the long boats were being pulled onto the coast. The blue dragoness dived for the beach and landed quickly, but softly amidst the smooth sand. Eragon leapt from the saddle and ran towards the swiftly appraoching form of the male elf.
"Is everthing alright?" He asked, inspecting them for injuries.
"No, but we did find something intresting. A city lies just beyond those foothills, its quite large also." He pointed in the direction of civilization.
The elf looked back to the other elves approaching them. "We'll check it out. If they're hostile we'll have to retreat, we are in no condition to fight. There is no telling the number of their forces." He turned to the elves and recited quick orders in their language.
They nodded and proceeded forward. Blödhgarm remained with Eragon and Saphira as they trudged down the beach, their boots sloshing in the wet sand. There was something to be said for the liquid-and-sand allure of the seashore. The sounds that surrounded them and the polished brilliance of the sunlight had a way of burgling into their souls and staying there long after they left and entered the foothills. Whether it was the micro details or the broad sweep of canvas, the seaside provided them with a multisensory nourishment that was like food for the soul. The foothills were forested and thick with vegetation, so much so that it was easy to lose sight of the person in front of you. As Eragon stepped under the canopy he was stunned by the darkness the jungle hid from the sun. The suddenly fading light created new shadows and dark patches around the group. Eyes glimmered from tree hollows. The wind wailed between distorted trunks, carrying the sickly smell of wood rot. Eragon felt discomforted since entering the forest, he moved faster, ignoring disfigured branches that clung to his clothes and damp leaves that grimed his skin.
The group pressed on in the undiscovered landscape, gnarled trees stood still like statues in a living museum where no leaf dared to fall. Roots, frozen in their slithering movements across the jungle floor, were covered in mushrooms that hid below the canopy, away from any sunlight. He could feel warm rays of light breach the canopy above and shower the ground with soft blankets of incandescence...
"We've reached the end of the jungle!" Shouted an elf and hour later.
Eragon, his feet and back sore, stepped into sunlight, squinting as the light stung his eyes. *Saphira, how far are we from the city?* He asked.
*Your nearly there. Never mind your no where near.* She joked.
Eragon laughed and looked to each of his students. Their features highlighted by the campfire.
Gervlan, the Urgal, was the oldest and first rider to arrive on the island. His dragon, Silkrith, was startling white and had two glistening horns protruding from the top of his head. Similar to his Urgal rider whose horns were nearly two inches long. They both were closely bonded and were impressive fighters.
Nithrem, the elf and second rider to arrive, his scintilating forest green female dragon, Ghana, sat behind him. Nithrem was nearly one hundred years old, but still held the appearence of a young man.
Sofala, a female human rider, and the third to arrive, had the honor of being chosen by a marron male dragon by the name of Jura. She had soft brown hair that brushed the tops of her shoulders slightly and caremel skin. She was born into a poor family in the capitol of Alageasia. And the youngest, and newest rider, was a fifteen year old boy, by the name of Axum, his dragon, a dark, almost black, purple color, was named Zanj. He had been on the island for two months after training with the elves for three months in Du Weldenvarden.
"So what happened next?" Asked Axum, who had yet to hear the story.
"Well, the city turned out to be abandonded and nearly destroyed. So we rebuilt it and modified it into our traning grounds where we practiced today." Eragon looked to the sky, eyeing the position of the moon. "Alright, you all need to get some rest. Tomarrow we take a trip to the northern most tip of the island where you'll meditate in the quiet forests and tell me what you've seen, heard, and felt."
His students nodded and stood from their log-seats and dispersed with their dragons to the dragon hold. Eragon looked to Saphira, she was larger than she was when they found the island, after all, she had had eight years to grow. However, she was no where near the size of Glaedr, maybe a little below half his size.
"You need some rest also, you've got a busy day tomarrow too." He stood and approached hi dragon.
*You too little one.* She curled up and Eragon rested agianst her soft under side, as was their way of sleeping. Sometimes Eragon would sleep in his room at the very top of the dragon hold, which was a very tall and wide tower that was in the center of the Riders' city, the tallest structure on the island, besides the mountain that loomed in the distance. The King of the Riders closed his eyes and slept.
A\N: Exteremely sorry for the long wait, but I've been sick the past two weeks and wasn't well enough to write. I am also writing two other stories as well and am trying to balance the times I update each one. This is the official start of this story, the past two chapters were mearly the prologue. Hope you have enjoyed this chapter and will continue to as we progress.
Reply to reviews:
Stapet- Thanks for pointing that out. Ive tried to make this one better than the last. Problem evaded. Keep to tips and support coming, it really helps make the chapters easier to write.
binayak95- Thanks for reviewing and for your support. I do like the Menoa tree's intervention, but i think i couldve done better. Hope you've enjoyed this chapter. And good luck on your story, haven't gotten a chance to read it yet, but I'll try to soon.