Chapter 6

AN: Phew that last one took a few tries until I was happy with it. Yes, you can curse me for saving garrow but do not worry our drake will later learn you cannot fight fate. Garrow will still face his just not in the near future. This one will still follow the book's events just slightly askew and will be the chapter (maybe) he joins the company officially.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Inheritance Cycle or the original characters

I just stared at the man. And with a snort trailing smoke, reached out with a talon to write in the dirt 'permission to speak to you?'

He glanced down at what I was scratching out and grunted.

"Why are you asking to talk? Is it something from where you're from that folks need permission to speak? Dragons are strange."

I snorted and chuckled, shaking my head as I brushed the words away to write again. 'I cannot talk out loud. Dragons speak through their minds, so I ask can I talk to you in that manner.' I saw him stiffen upon reading that and grumbled to himself. Letting him think it over I turned back to the former farm. And panicked when I no longer saw the demons until Fiori stated she sensed them return to the village and left.

I relaxed then, trying to ignore the giant fire blazing below and let silence fill the camp.

It was quiet for several minutes until Garrow had stopped his pacing to face me again.

"Alright, Alright. I need answers and if that is the only way to get them then so be it."

I dipped my head in his direction then slowly reached out to him. The moment my mind touched his, his body stiffened once more, his fists clasped to his sides with white knuckles.

"Thank you wise one, I do apologize for all trouble that had befallen you. I am Wrathion, and I was asked to lend my protection to my charges. My employers however must remain unspoken, however they plan on seeing an end to the Egg breaker.. Or perish trying." When I spoke the old man gasped, his body going slack and his eyes were lit up with awe.

"And.. Who are your charges? Who drew you to our humble village?"

So I told him what I could. When he learned what the two who destroyed his home were and who they served, he scowled and kicked a rock off the cliff. That the stone was really a dragon's egg, and that She, that I emphasized, hatched for his nephew and bonded with him. I went on saying He had raised her in the nearby forest to be a polite and respectful dragoness and mentioned as I saw the scowl forming on his face, That never once did I see Eragon slack off on his chores, only work harder. At that did his features soften but he still grumbled.

"I knew something had gotten into the boy. In the past it normally took him a whole day to do as he was told but lately he went about his chores like he was possessed and never did he complain like he once did."

I gave a draconic chuckle, grinning at him as I commented.

"What better way to make someone grow up than to have someone suddenly depend on them for survival?"

That got a smile from him and nodded his agreement.

"Aye, my father did that to me. Called me into the barn one day and shoved me towards a foal that wasn't even dry from leaving his mother yet telling me it was all on me whether he'd live or not." He sighed and sat himself on a log I had placed to hide firelight if I ever needed to make another firepit.

"What do you plan to do with me now? Are you going to keep me here? I need to inspect what those.. Creatures did and to see if anything can be saved."

When I closed my eyes, lowered my head down and away from him he sighed again, weariness laced his next question.

"I see, How long? I am uncertain how often your kind needs to eat but these old bones need food daily."

With a coughing like growl as a laugh and a shake of my head, I told him I can go five days before I needed to hunt, but I would do so for him, besides which any food he once had is now ruined which made him groan upon realizing I was right. So off I went. Was easy finding prey, evidently deer and other game had fled the territory Saphira hunted, hoping to evade her. Welp more for me and the pack, I dragged the buck back and was pleased to see Garrow still seated.

Truly a man of his word. Being a good host, I assisted in skinning the deer, the wolves helped by getting rid of the entails and the rest a human couldn't eat like the head, by devouring it themselves. Then I dug a firepit and filled it with dry debris. With a light huff, I lit it alight with my flame and placed a broad flat riverstone on top for him to cook the pieces of meat he claimed. I suppose he didn't expect me to know the ways of man, being a dragon and all if that raised eyebrow was any indication. So I decided to test my cover story a bit.

"I am not from these lands, If I was then the king would have already had me. I spent days flying here from across the sea from the west. The humans there pride themselves in surviving on their own. All it took was to listen and watch."

He aah'd and flipped the meat onto its other side.

"Leave anyone behind?"

I laid down with my head resting on my forepaws, staring at the flames flickering against the stone's sides.

"No.. I was left to fend for myself, my.. Dam passed into the void from a terminal illness."

For some time only the crackle of the fire and the sizzling of the meat filled the clifftop, then he spoke up.

"I'm sorry to hear it, I think she raised a good.. Er.."

"Drake" I helpfully gave.

"Drake, right. Well mannered and civil. She Would be proud."

I heard Fiori snort in amusement and I gave him a toothless smile. I knew He was trying to comfort me, a stranger but I was grateful.

"Thank you.. Old timer." Both my mentor and I laughed at the glare he directed at me and the stick he threw at me before he dug into his rather bland dinner. I let him eat in peace then I offered him a raised wing which he politely declined to sit on the ground with his back propped up against the log in front of the fire then we both drifted to sleep.

The next morning I was awoken by the feeling of something nudging my head. Blinking my eyes, I raised my head to give a wide yawn then looked for what was nudging me. Upon finding it, I couldn't help but grin. Garrow had used one of his boots to wake me up and the reason was as clear as the strained grimace on his face. At some point during the night, two of the wolves had draped themselves across him. I understand his unease. No matter how calm they've been, they were still wild animals and remained dangerous. Deciding to show mercy on him I spoke to them asking them to rïsa or rise. Once they heeded my words and clambered off him, he rose to stretch with me following suit. I told him I want him to watch what happens next, and that whatever is to come, to remain quiet and he reluctantly agreed. A moment later, like a gleaming blue arrow, Saphira touched down next to the smoldering ruins. I heard Garrow breath in sharply and muttered breathlessly.

"Absolutely Stunning.."

I couldn't agree more, she seemed to redefine grace in every way she moved and I huffed as my mentor chuckled at that train of thought.

We both silently watched as the looked around then found the pool of blood of my crime scene tempering and followed the trail to the forest where Eragon threw up and Saphira gave a very angry roar that made me gulp nervously.

"I don't remember being injured.. Not even that badly.." I heard Garrow mutter. I sighed and ducked back and reluctantly told him what happened, that I learned the ra'zac were coming and thinking quickly, had grabbed a random soldier I had found wandering, broke his mind, and had him take his place, telling the pack to attack, drag, then scatter. I told him if I had simply taken him they'd stay and possibly found Eragon or taken their anger out on the whole village, my idea gave them 'Garrow' but took any other reason to remain. He didn't like the idea of another's life being used for his, but he understood. Peeking back out, we watched both rider and dragon dejectedly leave the farm with their heads lowered. I winced at the way Eragon was walking and I had to hold Garrow back from rushing when his nephew collapsed. A moment later Brom arrived and Garrow relented. Saw Saphira stand over her rider and bared her teeth at the disguised formal rider. Garrow mumbled something like "atta girl" She stepped back and Brom picked up the unconscious boy and made his way back to the village, Saphira however..

I could see the snarl growing on her muzzle but it didn't register until teach chimed in that it was wolves that was on the dragonesses's mind, one particularly large one. Fear took hold of me then, which made the illusion activate about the time the dragoness snapped her head in our direction, thankfully Garrow was hidden by my bulk when he jumped back in surprise. Frantically I told the pack to scatter! Return to the den and within seconds, Garrow and I was only ones here.

"We need to run.. Like right now, I might have made a small error in judgment.."

"What error!?" he asked as I turned and grabbed the back of his tunic and bolted when I saw her leap into the air.

"A pissed off dragoness wanting to kill the wolf that 'killed' you!" I screamed, hearing a roar and the crashing of trees falling behind me. I had no Idea where I was running and because of that, I lost my footing when I tried to turn. I let go of Garrow sending him into a bush when I yelped and went rolling. I had just managed to get back onto my feet when I saw a goddess of fury herself bearing down on me. I was dead, I knew it or I did until the old man got in front of me and yelled stop. Time seemed to slow as I watch her anger shifted to shock and with an ease I know I could never copy, doubled back on herself and up into a spin to bleed off her speed. A second later she alighted on the ground in front of us as light as a feather. She stared at Garrow, back in the direction she came, then back at him, at me then back to the burnt farm. It became too much for her and both he and I became witnesses of a dragoness fainting, her fall shaking the ground and almost made him lose his balance. Fiori, who I left back at camp in my panic started to howl with laughter.

"OH! Oh by the stars! Y-your expression when She! T-Then how y-you!"

Her speech reverted to images, some of my facial expressions, of what I saw of the blue dragoness, and of the.. Graphic views that she saw in Sapfira's own mind mixed together with amusement, fear, and rage. As her laughter renewed and I got an image of a large red dragoness rolling in a clearing, pounding the ground with clenched paws and her tail. I just snorted and did my best to ignore her. Dropping my disguise I looked at Garrow then at the limp form of the dragoness in front of us.

"Should we wait for her to wake up? I think we broke her." And my teacher too I thought to myself.

He nodded and found a rock he could sit on to wait. "Might be best. And I will not be the one to explain it, this Is your mess."

"But I saved your life!" I whined at him.

"Aye, and just now I returned the favor, We're even dragon" He laughed at my distressed expression, and my mentor renewed hers for a third time.

"I'm dead.." I told myself.