"I, uh, I, uhm." Ronan stuttered out as Rulf or the now known Eragon was watching the very confused boy with amusement.
"You're surprise I'm Eragon Shadeslayer?" he offered.
Ronan nodded franticly.
Eragon smiled, "I had hoped the egg would hatch for you and," he gestured towards the white dragon, "it appeared I was right. Welcome to the Riders, Ronan Avorson."
The white dragon slowly crawled forward and shyly looked at Saphira, Saphira let smoke billow out of her noise in happiness.
A male Eragon! I'm no longer alone! She roared happily in their mental link causing Eragon to wince at the loud noise.
"Woah woah hold up. Hold up!" Ronan raised his hands in a 'time out'. He pointed at Eragon and then Saphira, "y-you guys are Eragon Shadeslayer and Saphira?"
Eragon nodded, "isn't it obvious?"
"B-But I thought you guys were in Surda with the Varden!"
Eragon's features turned dark, "no… we are no longer allied with them. As the soldier had said before we left."
"But why?"
"I'll tell you later. Right now we have to go."
"Go? Go where?"
Eragon sighed, "Ronan it is not safe for you or your dragon. Do you want your village to be razed to the ground? To have your family killed? That happened to me because I thought I could stay hidden, but I was still found. Ronan you've been given a great responsibility, you are now a Rider. I have to train you, you wouldn't even stand a chance against a common foot soldier if your dragon does not help you."
Ronan looked at the ground, "I don't want my loved ones to die because of me… but where will we go? What will happen to me? How can I leave on such short notice? My father will worry and think I ran away."
Ronan we should go. His dragon said.
"B-But."
Ronan we have too.
Ronan sighed, "fine… can I at least leave a message so they won't worry?" he asked as even though he knew that he had to go, he still wanted to explain to his family, even if he couldn't say anything.
Eragon pondered on it before slowly nodded, "you may but you can't tell him about you becoming a rider. Also does he have a name?" he asked gesturing to the young male dragon.
"No he doesn't. I've been meaning to get to it but I don't know any dragon names, I want it to be special. I wanted to ask you but you were already suspicious of me." Ronan admitted.
Do not worry young one. Saphira spoke. It took Eragon awhile to find my name. He kept thinking I was a male.
"Hey!" Eragon said.
Saphira rumbled in laughter, come young one, I will show you where we are to go. She flapped her wings before flying away with the white dragon following her.
Eragon clasped a hand on Ronan's shoulder, "come lets write the note and we can leave."
Ronan nodded gloomily, when they reached the house Ronan ran inside and saw with relief his father and brother were not home, they were probably out.
He ran to his room and grabbed everything he could and threw it into his hunting bag along with some sacks. He took one last look at his now bare room before leaving it. He got out a piece of parchment and wrote the letter to his father and brother telling them he was leaving to find his fortune somewhere else, he said they would see him again one day. He apologized for leaving in this manner but it will all be explained one day. He left the kitchen and went into the yard where Eragon was waiting for him, he took one last glance at his home before following Eragon into the darkness of the Spine.
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
Ronan whopped as he flew through the clouds, he was riding on Saphira with Eragon as his dragon was not big enough to hold him and there was only one saddle.
"So Ronan you must have a lot of questions." Eragon began.
"Can you teach me to be a magician?" Ronan asked immediately.
Eragon smiled, "I was wondering if you would ask this, yes I will. As a rider you will become a great magician due to your connection with your dragon. I was taught by my master and I will be your master, you are my student now Ronan."
"Yes sir!"
"You may call me Eragon-ebrithil, Ronan-finiarel."
"What are those words?" Ronan asked curiously.
They are of the Ancient Language Ronan. Saphira said in both the Rider's minds, to use magic you must use the words of this language. A magician is only as strong as the amount of words he knows.
"Saphira is correct Ronan. And to answer your question ebrithil means master or mentor, you can also say elda which means a term of respect. Finiarel is the suffix for a man who has great potential. Which you do." Eragon explained.
The two dragons flew on and on, Eragon explaining about the Ancient Language and its rules.
"Eragon-ebrithil?" Ronan spoke after Eragon had finished talking, "where are we going?"
"A dry place, a place which Galbatorix does not control."
Ronan's eyes widened in realization, "we're going to the desert?"
"Aye… better bring some water Ronan."
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
After Ronan found out where he was going he started to ask questions on the ancient language. "What does mountain mean?"
"Fell."
"What about water?"
"Adurna"
"What about stars?"
"Evarìnya."
"What was the spell you used earlier?"
"Jierda. It means 'to break'.
"Oh… you owe me a hammer you know that?"
"I think I can find you a hammer. Anything else?"
Ronan glanced around the sky for inspiration, he saw the clouds and thought of his dragons scales. "What does cloud mean?"
"Koü."
"Oh cool. Hey if you have a nickname does Saphira have one?"
Eragon chuckled at Ronan's curiosity, "aye she has been called been Bjartskular many times, it means bright scales."
"Ebrithil?"
"Yes my student?"
"Why'd you leave the Varden?" Ronan asked curiously.
A silence crept in. The only sound was the flapping of the two dragon's wings and the steady breathing of the great animals. "We found out that if we had succeeded in killing Galbatorix the leaders of the Varden would have turned on us and banished us from Alagaësia forever." Eragon said quietly but Ronan still heard.
Ronan narrowed his eyes at the Varden's treachery, "do know I hold no ill will to them." Ronan's gaze snapped back to his new master. Eragon continued, "yes I do despise the leaders but I don't hold any ill will to the soldiers. They do not know of that little bit of information, I will not kill them unless necessary. Though I will never join their ranks I will not go out of my way to destroy them unless I have too."
"What about your friends?"
Eragon closed his eyes as he remembered the friends he had made and the adventures they had gone on, "I have a friend named Orik who has probably become the leader of his clan and may be trying to become the king of the dwarves, he was not present during the meeting and I doubt he would have agreed. I was adopted into his clan so I bore them no ill will."
Eragon opened his eyes and gazed at the sky as he thought of the woman he loved. "Arya is an elf and she was not present as well and I have always been in love with her, though I'm beginning to realize she may never return my feelings. I bare none of them ill will and I consider them friends. Are you mad at me Ronan?" Eragon asked.
"Huh?"
"I pretty much took you away from your entire life, you had to leave your home and your family behind at a moments notice, so are you angry at me for that?"
Ronan pondered on it before he sighed, "I'd be lying if I wasn't a little angry but… I always knew that there would be a time when I would have to leave. Course back then I thought I would go to a city like Teirm to learn more of blacksmithing before setting up my own shop," Ronan started to chuckle before it before he started to roar in laughter, "instead I became a Rider like the Riders of old. Now I'm here flying on my master's dragon and my master is teaching me magic and how to fight. Then we are going to fight in the war, ahaha not exactly something I imagined myself for a job."
Eragon laughed, "Aye I thought the same as you when Saphira first hatched for me. Don't worry Ronan you will see your family again, unlike me."
"What do you mean?"
"Another time Ronan."
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
Ronan sighed as he gazed idly at the ground. They were currently near the desert. They had been careful to avoid Gil'ead, which held bad memories for Eragon and Saphira and had traveled south-east in order to avoid any unwanted attention. They flew high, Eragon and Saphira were adamant on flying high, they didn't want anyone to know there was another rider, at least not yet.
Ronan could see on the horizon the great Hadarac Desert, he gasped at the seemingly endless dunes of sand. "Amazing isn't it?" Eragon asked as they looked at the great sea of sand.
"I've never seen anything like it..." Ronan whispered as he looked at the dunes.
"Beware for despite its beauty it is still a death trap for those unprepared." Eragon warned his new student. "In the middle of the desert lies the mountains from which the dragons of old had lived back during the war with the elves. We can go there, it is desolate and no one would be there. A perfect place for a new rider and dragon to train, far from the eyes of our enemies."
The two riders and dragons reached the desert, it was even more beautiful closer up than it was farther away, Ronan felt like he was a hawk high in the mountains able to see everything and anyone.
"Does anyone live in the desert?" he asked.
Eragon nodded, "Aye, there are some tribes of humans that roam the desert, each very wealthy. There are also a few Urgal tribes as well. And then there are slavers." Eragon's jaw tightened, "we ran into some when we had gone into the desert for the first time, we had been going to find the Varen and they snuck up on us. They didn't know I was a rider and ran like jackrabbits when Saphira appeared."
"So what exactly am I going to learn?" Ronan asked curiously wondering what the Riders could do.
"A great many of things Ronan, one of the main areas of your training will be learning of the Ancient Language and spells, as well as making sure you have enough energy by the end of your training to be able to fight the best of the king's magicians. You will also learn the arts of war, which will include strategy and planning. But most of all how to wield a blade." Eragon looked at Ronan's still unnamed dragon.
"Saphira will teach you how to fly in most weather conditions and different aerial moves. Along with other things even I do not know and are only shown to dragons."
"I like it here," the white dragon said deeply, "it's so warm here, I can see miles and miles away, I like it."
Saphira rumbled in laughter, "I thought the same as you when I first flew these dunes, Youngling."
A couple of mountain appeared on the horizon, they seemed barren of life and unlike the mountains near Ursür they were not covered with lush pine tree's and made of great blocks of stone and earth but seemed to made entirely of sandstone.
The four landed in a cave on the largest mountain, small skeletons of some ancient dragon's prey were still scattered among the cave. Large scratch marks from when a dragon took off or landed along with old dusty nests were all that remained that proved dragons once lived here. The cave was big enough for even the dragons to move around with ease, Ronan eagerly explored the rest of the cave.
When he returned he went over to Saphira who was basking in the sun. Saphira opened one eye as the young teen came over to her, "Yes young one?" she asked.
"Well uh Saphira-ebrithil." Ronan scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "I was wondering if you could tell me of any male dragon names since your uh, well."
"A dragon?" Saphira provided.
Ronan nodded.
"Hm very well."
Saphira started speaking of different male dragons who lived far before anyone in the cave had lived, she spoke of Valinor, Barovar, Esrtil, and countless others. But Ronan never liked any of them as well as his dragon.
"What about Ruvrix? He killed a sea monster?" Ronan asked the white dragon.
"No."
Ronan pondered on the words Eragon had told him before, he connected some of the words together until a name that fit his dragon appeared in his mind.
"Are you Bjartkoü?" he asked his dragon.
Yes. Bjartkoü hummed happily.
Ancient Language
Bjartkoü – Bright Clouds, which represents his white scales.
Things are starting to fall into place, Ronan is learning from Eragon safe in the desert. For those of you who are wondering if the desert is the place Eragon is planning to have as the official base of the Riders, you are wrong though they may visit the desert a few times after Ronan's training is completed. A lot of you are asking me what's happening with the Varden, I was wondering if you wanted me to do a chapter about them, though I have thought of better ways to reintroduce the Varden which I will probably do. So you guys know the Varden is still in Surda though they have conquered small towns but no cities. They don't have a Rider remember? But trust me, Eragon will meet up with some people he knows very soon. Also if anyone has any spells or things that could be added into Ronan's or Bjartkoü's training that'd be helpful, I think I've covered most of it but I doubt you'd want a long chapter on him just training, things will get interesting pretty soon.
Next chapter: Training