A/N: Sorry in advance to anyone who actually knows the Dragon Language.
Ch 3
There was a distinct moment of perfect silence as Eragon slew the last, fleeing imperial soldier with a snap of the neck. For Arya, the moment stretched for minutes, as she took in the broken bodies of the men around her, and the shrouded stranger that stood over her own victims a short distance away.
She shifted her grip on the poorly-made imperial sword in her hand as she watched the stranger approach, Eragon coming to stand beside her as she came up.
The woman wiped the blood from her daggers, one made from yellowish bone and the other a brutal, serrated thing made of dark metal that had a strange red line of a what looked like glass along the spine of the blade, before sheathing them on her hips. She then drew an arrow from her quiver and began to wipe off the head with a scrap of red fabric, regarding the two of them.
The silence strung on for a moment, and the woman took it upon herself to speak.
"Well, you're welcome for the help there, travelers." She said in a surprisingly cheery voice. "Though you seem more than able to handle yourself in a fight. Say...you wouldn't happen to be heading to Surda, would you?"
Eragon started slightly in surprise at her question, and Arya immediately tried to get a good look at her face within the shadows of her hood with her superior Elven vision, but strangely could only make out a faint outline and a pair of gleaming green eyes that seemed annoyingly familiar.
"Why do you ask?" Eragon said, shifting slightly into a defensive stance.
"Well, you two seem to be good enough fighters considering you took down all these soldiers unarmed, and something in your pack set off that officer, which I'm willing to bet is armor. Combine that with the fact you seem to be travelling in the same direction as me, and I'm heading to Surda to join up with the Varden, it seemed like a reasonable guess." She said, placing her arrow back in its quiver and crossing her arms.
Arya blinked. She was surprised that the woman would so readily admit she was traveling to join the rebellion to a pair of total strangers, and that she had reached her (rather accurate) analysis of their plans after only a few moments of observing them.
She looked at Eragon and felt his familiar touch on the barriers of her mind. She lowered her defences slightly and 'heard' his voice in her head.
"What do you think? She did risk herself to help a pair of strangers. and seems a capable enough fighter. The Varden can always use more soldiers."
"She'll slow us down considerably, Eragon."
"It's that or leave her behind, and who knows if she'll be able to reach the Varden by herself."
"...very well."
Arya looked back to the woman, who in turn was regarding them strangely as she watched them stare silently at each other for a few seconds. "So...am I right?" She asked.
"Yes, we are heading south to meet up with the Varden like yourself. If you'd like, we could travel together." Eragon said, smiling at the woman.
She smiled back. "That would be lovely. It'll be nice to have travelling companions again. Though this is one more than I'm used to." She chuckled, then noticed their confused expressions and trailed off. "Nevermind, inside joke. Anyway, introductions are a tad overdue. Trissa Blackfire." She said, holding out a gloved hand.
Eragon took it and shook. "Garrow Bromson." He said, using the false name he'd developed while traveling the roads of the empire.
Trissa turned to Arya expectantly. "Felecia." She said simply, drawing up a meaningless name she'd heard somewhere.
Trissa nodded, then started off down the road without a further word. "Well, we've a ways to go still. Let's get started, shall we?"
Eragon looked at Arya with a cocked brow, then shrugged and followed after.
"I'll be along in a moment." Arya called out, rolling her eyes at Eragon's lack of foresight in regards to the wounds of the fallen soldiers, before going about her gristly work quickly.
…
It was latter in the evening, the sun just barely visible on the horizon when the trio stopped to make camp. They had gotten considerably farther than Eragon and Arya had thought they would, this woman able to keep up a steady, relatively rapid pace for most of the day that ate up the miles in short fashion. Though still not as much as the two would have been able to cover on their own, it was better than they had been expecting.
In short order they had set up a small campfire a ways off the road in a small clearing within a copse of trees. Trissa unslung her bow and wandered off into the surrounding woods, only to come back with a brace of rabbits in hand, that Eragon took and began to cook, much to Arya's hidden surprise.
Soon enough Trissa and Eragon were digging into the meat, Arya abstaining from the flesh and gaining a few odd looks from Trissa.
After the small meal, Trissa removed her pack and other gear, and the two Alagaesians finally got a chance to examine their new companion.
Her face was still hidden in the shadows of her hood, but now they saw that her hood was not in fact a part of her cloak, but her armor itself.
The main part of the armor was hardened black leather; boots, pants, gauntlets, and a top with the attached hood. Overtop of this was what made the armor rather unique.
On the shoulders, chest, back and hips, the leather was covered in overlapping, rough scales from some unknown beast secured with metal, adding notable protection to her vital areas while also leaving her limbs able to move freely.
In addition to the bow, which was made of bleached bone of some kind, Trissa also removed a sheathed, slightly curved sword from her back alongside her pack and quiver.
In the back of her mind, something began to nag at her, but she ignored it
The strange woman checked over her equipment, inspecting her arrows for damage and taking inventory of what supplies she had left. She then gathered her things and moved to sit against a tree a short distance from the fire, the darkness of the evening seeming to close in around her.
Eragon eventually spoke. "So, Trissa, where do you come from? I've never seen weapons and armor quite like yours before."
Extremely blunt, but hopefully his lack of finess will cause her to drop her guard somewhat. Arya thought.
Trissa chuckled from the depths of her hood. "No, you probably wouldn't have. I don't know you quite well enough to give you my life's story, but I will say that I am a newcomer to this land. My homeland is very, very far away; I highly doubt that you've ever heard of it."
"We are very well traveled." Arya said, leaving the try us unsaid.
"Very well then, I hail from the Imperial province of Morrowind, though for the last...several years I've called the province of Skyrim home. And no, this isn't your empire I speak of. Those names ring any bells?"
Both Eragon and Arya remained silent, mulling over these strange names. Trissa huffed, satisfied by their silence, before shuffling over to her bedroll and laying down. "I'm going to get some sleep. It's been a long day and I get the feeling the foreseeable future is going to involve a lot of running."
Arya, against some of the more 'logical' parts of her brain, found she couldn't help but try and answer a question she'd been pondering all afternoon.
"Trissa, from what kind of beast did you get those scales you use as armor? I've never seen their like before." She asked.
The woman turned her head back to the fire, and for a moment the flickering flames illuminated her amused expression. Then the nagging thought that had been plaguing Arya all day finally clicked into place.
She'd seen this woman before, she realized.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." She said quietly, before turning her head back from Arya and signaling that she was done speaking.
Arya and Eragon sat in silence for a few moments before Arya quietly made her way over to Eragon, sitting beside him and tapping the side of her head to indicate she wanted to talk mentally.
In a moment the human's familiar presence pressed against her mind. So what do you think of her? She asked.
She is...strange. And these lands she speaks of...I've never heard of anything like them. You?
Arya gave a mental headshake. No. She paused. I've seen her before today.
What?! When?
At the wayfarer's house back in Eastcroft, she was sitting in a corner of the bar, and I saw her watching us before we went upstairs.
Eragon shifted, directing his attention again to the apparently sleeping woman across the fire. How did she catch up to us then? We left in the middle of the night and have been going far faster that any human could keep up to. He looked back at her, slight fear visible in his eyes. Was she following us? Do you think she knows who we are, or at least who I am?
I have no idea, but I think we need to examine her memories before we can consider traveling any further with her.
Eragon hesitated for a split second, then nodded. Agreed. Should we both do it?
No, I have more practice at subtle mind-infiltration. I'll do it, keep watch over us both.
Eragon nodded, and Arya closed her eyes, extending her mind out beyond herself, probing out until she found the supernova of life that was Trissa.
Tentatively, she probed at the woman's mind, and was surprised to find no walls to protect it. She thought based on Trissa's personality and obvious training and skill that she would at least have some basic barriers to prevent intrusion into her mind.
Nevertheless, she slowly pushed in further, and began to catch flashes of memory and emotion.
Then, with a mental roar, something smashed into her tendril of thought, sending lances of pain through her.
Wo volaan het, ko fin junaar do fin Dovakiin?! I am Mirmulnir, eldest of our kind, and I will rip you apart! The presence thought, and Arya realized with a start that this was another mind, residing within Trissa's. And she could sense that it was not alone, as more of these anomalies closed in on her position. She beat a hasty retreat, and the strange mind halted at the boundaries of Trissa's roaring angrily after her retreating thoughts.
Arya jerked as she returned fully to her body, Eragon looking at her worriedly. She waved off his concern and rubbed her head, stiffening as she heard Trissa shift, before relaxing as she settled back into sleep, apparently none the wiser as to her attempted incursion.
"Arya, what happened?" He whispered quietly. "Could you not get past her barriers."
She shook her head. "No, she didn't have any mental defenses. But there was...something else inside her mind, another consciousness, that attacked me when I tried to enter her mind, and I sensed more coming before I fled."
Eragon just gaped. "What...you mean she has...other people living in her mind?"
"I don't think those were 'people'." Arya said.
"Well, what do you want to do?"
"We don't have any reason to trust nor distrust her claimed motives, and I don't want to risk trying to take her on out here. We are unarmed, while she is more than armed, and she may have powers we can't identify. Loath as I am to say it, we need to bring her back to the Varden. At least there, we'll be able to arm ourselves, and Saphira and the other elves will be able to help us take her on."
Eragon grunted. "I'd rather not take a potential foe right into the heart of our allies, but I agree. We'll just have to watch each other's backs and hope she is truthful about her intentions."
Arya glanced again at Trissa. "Indeed."
…
The next several days passed in a state of strained cordiality. Garrow and Felicia were polite in their interactions with her, but Trissa got the distinct feeling that they were cautious, or even a little afraid of her. It got a little annoying, but she figured once she got to the Varden they would go their separate ways, them absorbed into the faceless masses of the general soldiery, and her working alongside the leaders of the rebellion to bring a swift and decisive victory, and she'd likely never have to deal with them again.
One night, almost two weeks into their traveling, Trissa awoke for her watch to find her companions not around their campsite. Worried, she whispered out a quick Laas, and was relieved to see the auras of two humanoids not too far away, standing together and gazing up at the stars.
Thinking back to the tavern, she chuckled at what she saw as two young people going off to be alone with each other, and settled down to take her watch.
Then a strange thing happened. Into the firelight a small shape floated, quickly resolving itself into an incredibly detailed miniature ship made of folded grass, drifting on the evening breeze. Trissa had never before seen something like this, and so just sat in bemusement as the little ship floated up before her, hovering in front of her face.
She raised a hand and ran her finger over the hull of the ship, feeling the fibres of the grass, and the slight pulse of magic that held the ship aloft.
She smiled, and gently pushed the small ship upwards, watching as it lazily began to circle her in a gradually widening orbit,as if waiting for something.
Bo nau hin wudrun, mal gein. Kos pruzah. She said, allowing the power of the Thu'um to bleed into her words and giving the ship a push, sending it soaring into the sky.
She watching it quickly fade into the dark, and chuckled, feeling truly, simply happy for the first time since she'd arrived in this world.
…
Whelp. Trissa thought. There it is.
Almost a month and a half since they had met, the trio finally stood on a small rise in the southern reaches of the empire, overlooking the massive collection of tents and ramshackle buildings that made up the camp of the Varden army.
Bigger than anything I saw in the civil war, but about as big as any of the Legion forces I saw in the Second Great War. Trissa sighed quietly to herself. If that itself is any indication, this is going to be a tough war.
Garrow, however, was the exact opposite. He let out a joyous cry and punched a fist in the air. "We made it!" He exclaimed, laughing. "Murtagh, Thorn, hundreds of soldiers, Galbatorix's pet magicians, the Ra'zac, none of them could catch us. Ha! How's that for taunting the king?" He looked over at the two women, a broad grin on his face. "That'll tweak his beard when he hears about it." He gloated.
The boy's joy was contagious, and Trissa found herself smiling as she watched him head off towards the camp, turing to see the shadow of a smirk leave Felicia's normally serious face.
The two followed Garrow down the rise and neared the camp. Trissa saw a group of riders approaching, and subconsciously her hands drifted towards her blades.
She relaxed almost instantly, then froze. Her eyes widened, and her ears twitched as they struggled to listen to a noise that was not really there. Felicia turned, a questioning expression on her face. Trissa saw her mouth move, but heard nothing that she said.
For her mind was filled with the song of her soul, a song that she alone had heard in thousands of years, and that meant one thing only.
A dragon was near.
She heard a roar reverberate across the plain, and her gaze shot to the heavens, alighting instantly upon the blue form that dove from the clouds far above, wings tucked tight against its body as it dove towards them.
She'd seen dragons do that before, usually before they either smashed through a building or lit a whole street up like a torch.
Thirty years of experience fighting dragons sprung into action, and Trissa ripped Frostshard from her back, an arrow drawn and knocked in an instant, judging speed and direction as she raised the weapon, Dragonrend waiting on her lips for when the creature came into range. The dragon roared again, and blue tinged flame erupted from its throat, washing back across its body as it descended towards them.
Well, that's an interesting color for dragonfire. No matter. She thought. Trissa drew, and just as she was about to release, a hand grabbed her arm and yanked, sending the arrow flying off to the side, away from anything and into the surrounding field.
She wheeled on the perpetrator, anger radiating from her as she glared daggers at Felecia. The woman tried to say something, still holding onto her arm, but Trissa didn't care. She shook the woman off violently and turned again in time to see the dragon land, its massive wings flaring as it landed with an earth-shaking Thump on its hind legs, before settling down onto its forelimbs.
Well, at least it's on the ground. Trissa thought, striding towards her prey, soul aching with hunger as it sensed prey so close. Damn, it's been awhile since I last had a Dragon soul. She thought, the need pulling her towards the grounded drake. Trissa's hand closed around the hilt of the sword on her back, and she began to draw the bade…
Wait, forelimbs?
Trissa snapped back from her hungry trance and actually looked at the dragon before her.
It was of decent size, around the size of a blood dragon, with brilliant deep blue scales on its back and plates of a lighter blue on the belly. Unlike most Tamrielic dragons, this creature was rather streamlined, with only a single line of spines running along its spine, from the base of the skull to the end of it's tail and smooth scales that glittered like gems in the sunlight.
Then there were the legs. Unlike literally every dragon she had ever seen before, this drake's wings didn't also function as front legs when land bound. This dragon had a pair of normal legs emerging from the shoulder joints, while its wings were set slightly further back and held up and tucked against its body.
That alone was shocking to Trissa, but it was the fact that Garrow had run up to the dragon and was currently huggin its chest that really flabbergasted her. And the fact that the dragon seemed to be purring in response to the contact, as opposed to enraged or, at best, very confused.
Trissa shook her head to try and clear her tumultuous thoughts that were bouncing around her head, and then noticed the ring of horsemen that surrounded her, and the fact that Felicia had put herself between her and the dragon, body language showing she was ready to leap into action in a moment, and her eyes hard as they searched Trissa's face.
The dunmer woman realized her hand was still around the hilt of her sword, and she slowly lowered it, seeing the soldiers and Felecia relax somewhat.
She turned her attention back to the boy and the dragon in time to see him climb its forelimb and settle into...was that a saddle?!...set between the drake's shoulders. She saw muscles tense as the drake prepared to take flight, and wanted to identify herself to this apparently allied dragon before it flew off with its passenger.
"Drem Yol Lok, Dovah!" She called out loudly, using the ancient greeting of two sons of Akatosh who didn't know each other.
The dragon's head snaked around, and it cocked its head at her in either confusion or curiosity before it shook its head, snorted, and took to the air.
Trissa was shocked, and also somewhat angry. The dragon had blatantly ignored her greeting, an insult that only the most arrogant of Tamrielian drakes would commit.
"Trissa, you need to come with me."
Felicia's commanding tone broke through the growing haze of confusion and frustration. She focused again on the woman, and saw that she had mounted a horse that had been brought for her by another soldier.
"The leader of the Varden wants to have words with you. Please come peacefully, I'd rather not cause a commotion." She said, before sending her steed into a walk towards the camp.
Trissa followed, the song growing quieter and her hunger receding as the dragon got farther and farther away. Tissa looked again at her traveling companion, and saw that she had now taken on and air and posture she'd only seen on a few people, namely Elisif the Fair and Jarl Balgruuf.
It was the look of a ruler.
Trissa realized that, perhaps her companions hadn't been as simple as she'd thought. And she got a sinking feeling she'd be seeing a lot of them in the future.
Oh by the Nine, what have I gotten myself into? She thought as she was led into the camp of her hopeful allies like a criminal.
A/N:Hm, I'm writing more of this story than I thought I would, and the story itself is attracting far more attention than I expected. Well, more for you all I suppose. Also, Happy new year.
Just for reference, I imagined Trissa's armor as a combination of Black-leather Thieves Guild armor with some supplementalprotection in the form of a less-spiky dragon scale chestpiece. And to clear something up, both of Trissa's daggers have a flame damage enchantment.
Well, thanks for reading, Follow and fave if you're new, review if you aren't, and until next time,
Fah Bormahu ahrk fin Dovahkiin, Fonaar!