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Here comes the 31st chapter of the story! The end is coming soon, but not Today !
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Time had flown by. Weeks went and the situation started to slowly evolve for the better. The most enjoyable surprise had come from the weather. The long-dreaded winter was bound to be much shorter than what they had predicted and less harsh. After only a few weeks, they could feel the temperatures already getting higher.
It was still a very cold winter, one that could have been qualified by plenty of Carvahal as the coldest they had ever lived through, but for the people here, it was a welcome change after the past months.
They were obviously surprised by this nice turn of events but not many were able to explain it.
This was a direct consequence of the death of the Night King, but one Eragon hadn't expected. Nature had been freed, and the seasons were taking their rightful place again. Winter was here, but Eragon could feel the changes, slowly taking place. The death of the Night King had liberated Nature from its chains, and the course of the seasons seemed liberated. Each day, it seemed more life sprung under his feet and he could taste its raw joy. He could almost feel gratitude wherever he went. Nature was overjoyed. Brom and Arya's ominous words, pronounced all these years ago, made more sense.
The biggest shock came when he visited the forest the past week on a night stroll. For a moment, he felt in a completely different country. He wasn't witnessing a winter landscape. This was the most beautiful floral composition he had ever seen, in a very peaceful and serene painting.
Most of the forest was covered in patches of flowers of all the colours, sizes and shapes possible. Some of these were from seeds he had only seen in Alagaësia. Some he had only seen on the small island of Dragonstone. Others he had never seen and might never again. He had walked around, stopping randomly to simply have some quiet time.
At some point, he sat on a stone, his hands gently touching one of the flowers. The tip of his fingers was stroking the blue and red petals of this unique flower. He had never seen anything like it. There was something familiar and mesmerising about the disposition. And it dawned on him that he was watching two spines of dragons intertwined. Most specifically, Saphira's and Thorn's spines shapes. On a whim and inspired by what he was witnessing, he whispered the Word, giving a name to the flower : skulblaka fëon , the dragon flower. Saphira snorted loudly but didn't comment further.
He remained there for a few more hours, in this place where the snow highlighted the beauty and didn't hide it under a thick blanket and where silence sang the beauty of Nature. For the first time since his departure from Alagaësia, he felt a remote feeling of peacefulness. And yet, after a few hours of silence, he stood for where he was sitting to go back to the loud castle.
The next morning, the flowers were gone, hidden by a new fresh blanket of snow.
But Daenerys was still looking at King's Landing with a hungry look and Eragon was torn in the course of his actions. He wanted nothing more than to settle and find an isolated place to raise dragons but he also couldn't let her on her own, not with two dragons belonging to Saphira's pack and a Gedwey Ignasia glowing on her hand. But he knew that protecting Daenerys' dragons would guarantee her a relatively easy success against Cersei Lannister. He couldn't imagine them losing, having witnessed first-hand their defences and armies, even those supposed to remain secret. He knew the plots devised by Cersei Lannister and her council, and the lack of magical wards.
He felt in between roles, stretched to either teach guide, build or fight. But he knew that teaching would mean war, once more, a war he had little interest in. With Bran's memory, he was able to grasp how silly and wrong it was now. With an elfish perception, it seemed even more wrong and useless, another waste of human lives.
He had seen Cersei's twisted mind and her cruelty. But was this the role of a rider? Eragon was sick of fighting, and they were looking for another war while the wounds from the previous wars hadn't been fully healed. But he knew this would always be the case. They had fought in Teirm mere weeks after Galbatorix's death. These days had been bitter to experience.
But like always, the answer became obvious for Eragon.
However, the rest of his companions wouldn't follow him on this part of the journey. Eragon suspected that the death of Rhaegal and five of their friends had affected them more deeply than they let appear. He had noticed their mood being more reserved. Eragon had already seen this in the past, after Islanzadí's death in Urû'baen.
So when given the choice to fight for human matters or to settle with nature to build the foundations of the Cast, their choice had been easy. They knew the risks awaiting Eragon South and thus had no reserve to let him go alone. The defeat of the Night King had brought many changes in Westeros, with most of them being completely unexpected, especially in the North and it was definitely more appealing than warfare.
Years-long winters would probably disappear and become nothing but an old memory. They had all felt the rebirth of Nature. And this would offer a lot of possibilities North of the Wall. Because what had once been a large and cold plain of desolation had suddenly become a mysterious region, barely populated, isolated from the rest of Westeros.
At this point, he had no more information. He didn't know if anything would come out of this exploration. But Eragon, the elves and the Eldunaris were taking their chances and wanted to know more about this place.
What was left of the wildings could never hope to fill the entire place in the coming years or even decades. On the contrary, they were adamant to welcome them North of the Wall. They respected strength, and the elves, along with Eragon and Saphira had more than earned their respect with their prowess in the battle. Tormund's status as the unofficial leader of the Wildings would also help them.
After a few days of discussions, the elves had agreed to follow the wildlings North of the Wall, to study the environment and the state of this wide place after the passage of the Army of the dead. They already knew there wouldn't be a lot of wildlife but the space was just as big as two kingdoms with barely a tenth of the population of the least populated one. Dragons would be able to roam freely without a doubt. They had to find out more about the mountains present on the few maps they had, the forests or the state of nature after its millennial-long corruption but the potential appeared infinite.
In the meantime, Eragon would take the direction of the South, to protect Daenerys and her dragons, both from the enemies but also from herself he reflected.
Not many had heard of this plan. Eragon had talked to Jon and Tormund about it, and neither had had any issues with it. The whole situation was still extremely blurry and they still had a lot to find out, but for now, they had the verbal agreement from the two leaders. The North was completely depleted and the chances to have issues with humans would be close to non-existent for a long time.
The next months were spent mixed with the rest of Daenerys's armies between soldiers, on sea or earth, going South in the direction of King's Landing. The weather wasn't as cold as it used to be but it was far from being warm. The only warmth Eragon could find was by Saphira's side. But unfortunately, she wasn't always here, preferring to spend her time in the air, often joined by Drogon and Viserion who were still taking it slowly after their wounds sustained at the Wall and Winterfell. The absence of the elves also meant that Eragon had to monitor the several injuries sustained by the dragons and make sure they were all healing properly.
Never did he have to monitor such serious wounds. Saphira had been fortunate to escape the war rather unscathed, both in Alagaësia and in Westeros.
The dragons were also grieving Rhaegal's disappearance and Eragon saw more than once Daenerys mindlessly rubbing her right glove, which hid her Gedwey located just under with a sad look on her face. For once, Eragon couldn't pretend to understand what she was going through. The loss of a dragon was heartbreaking, and the grief Daenerys was going through would take time to heal and they all knew it would never fully disappear. But he was happy to notice that nevertheless, her link was getting stronger with each passing day and she seemed to embrace it fully, bonding without reserve with her two dragons. So far, she hadn't done any magic but they were less restricted with the Ancient Language. The oath she had taken offered some flexibility to Eragon.
The peaceful mood remained until the Eldunaris found a large gathering of ssssss located a few leagues away, close to the shores. It didn't take long to figure out the reason for their presence. The Eldunaris had just found the Lannister-Greyjoy fleet, led by Euron Greyjoy. Their presence here could only mean one thing. They were here to stop their progress. Eragon had seen the first steps of this plan at the Dragonpit in Euron's mind. He was now on the verge of witnessing the realization of said plan.
They all remembered the aura spread by the man, malevolent, sinister. Feeling such darkness was an omen of danger. His presence here with a full armada didn't bode well for Daenerys and her army. Along with Cersei Lannister, Euron had seen the dragons and Euron Greyjoy was anything but a fool. If he thought his ships could be a threat, it meant he strongly believed to have some serious options to stop them, including their dragons.
It was smart of Cersei to try to stop them on sea. Daenerys's army was mostly composed of people who, before leaving Essos, had never set foot on a boat let alone fought on it whereas Euron's army of sailors was seasoned and experienced to fight in such conditions.
Fortunately for them, there was one aspect they had overlooked: Eragon and Saphira. No one in Westeros truly knew the extent of their powers and they were quite happy to keep it like like this.
Truthfully, it was over before it had even started. Eragon had quickly sprung into action and jumped on Saphira's back. and within a few seconds, managed to have a good overview of the fleet. Immediately after, all the Eldunaris started their strike. Without losing a second, they all managed to immobilise the sailors and Euron. The whole sequence had barely taken ten seconds. With a few wingbeats, Saphira brought Eragon to the decks, where he found all the men frozen, controlled by the mental abilities of the Eldunaris. He was cautious, taking in the whole situation before taking a step forward. After the Night King, he didn't exclude the possibility to face an enemy they couldn't detect with their mind or with weapons able to pierce through anything.
However, during his observations, nothing came off as worrying.
The decks were extremely well armed, and the several ballistas he saw there could only mean one thing: Cersei was ready to kill the dragons, and she had the means to do it if the wards around the dragons were to disappear. So far, he knew they would be strong enough to resist almost anything thrown on them, but he would reinforce them, just in case.
While he went looking for Euron, he let Saphira destroy these weapons. They would be beyond repair in a few moments but he knew she would keep the boat in relatively decent shape.
They didn't plan to kill all these men. This wasn't Eragon's purpose nor his place and it wouldn't serve them. But he would capture Euron, who could be used as leverage against Cersei. And from what he had seen, it would be an important backlash to the Lannister coalition.
Euron would have to be judged. But this wouldn't be Eragon's task. He knew this man deserved death without any doubt, but just like Sloan, he couldn't be the one to deliver the sentence. He just knew this would make things once again complicated. Yara Greyjoy was still with them, on Daenerys' ship and would probably be the one to deliver her judgement. Not that Eragon doubted Euron's fate. He had witnessed first-hand the harshness of the Ironborn woman.
« You knew the man with the fake golden hand wasn't completely in the wrong. Your role as a Rider is to find the balance between judging, advising and acting. Fairly easy to understand, but it takes a lifetime to reach it. You were Jaime's Lannister judge because only you could properly judge him. But this isn't the case with the false-sea-man-leader, He is one of those humans who crave power and won't stop at anything to reach it. His guilt is already rightfully proven. » explained Glaedr.
Without losing a second, he went under the deck of one of the boats, where he knew Euron was trapped. Eragon advanced quickly, wanting to leave the place as quickly as possible. He felt uneasy the closer he got to him, a sentiment which only grew by the smell of the surrounding cabins. He decided to open one of them to find the origin of this smell.
He quickly regretted his action, as he uncovered an empty torture room. The room was completely bare except for two thick and rusty metallic rings. The lack of prisoners and furniture didn't fool Eragon. He could smell and almost taste the pain probably more than one prisoner had suffered in this place. Dried blood was spilt all over the walls and ground, along with some other substances he'd rather not see outside of a human body. With some disgust, he recognised human skin stacked in a cornet.
Deciding he had seen enough, he left the cabin, gulping some fresh air as he entered the dark corridor. He hadn't been aware that he had stopped breathing at some point but he took a moment to organise his thoughts after this. He knew torture existed in war, he had seen the results of it first hand, forever etched on Arya, Nasuada or even Murtagh's skin. But this was beyond anything he had ever seen and he suddenly regretted his decision to spare Euron.
Thinking about him made him spring into action. Brisingr was in his right hand, projecting a faint blue light in the dark place. Eragon decided he had enough and definitely wanted to leave this boat as quickly as possible.
He found the man immediately after, in the neighbouring cabin, trapped by one Eldunari. He could feel the fury and the madness coming in waves from the man. He was dangerous, more dangerous than the common soldier. What he had seen and felt only made him warier but also more disgusted towards the man.
Without sparring him a second thought, he bound and silenced him with the Ancient Language, before knocking him out. For good measure, he tied his hands with some rope he found in the cabin. Finally, making sure there wasn't anything left that would require his attention, Eragon left the cabin and the hull of the ship. He was dragging the giant man with his left hand, quickly making his way towards Saphira who had finished her delicate attention as she aptly named it.
He wasn't fooled but her words brought a smile to his lips. Less than a quarter of an hour after they had arrived, Saphira and Eragon were leaving, leaving behind a leaderless armada along with the vast majority of the weapons fuming, beyond repair.
When he came back to Daenerys' ship, a small contingent was waiting for him. Daenerys and Tyrion were present, having probably felt the turmoil he had created. He had warned no one beforehand. He hadn't wanted to and knew it would have overcomplicated things. Now that he was back, he could see notice the look of surprise on their face, seeing him back only a few minutes later, without any apparent wound and with a prisoner attached to Saphira's back.
Their eyes widened, even more, when they identified his prisoner. Drogon and Viserion stirred but didn't move more, following Saphira's lead and noticing the lack of danger.
« Where did you find him? » asked Daenerys without missing a second.
« His fleet was posted a few miles away. We went there with Saphira » answered Eragon easily.
« And you thought it was a good idea to go there on your own, without any backup, to fight a whole fleet? » she kept going, her tone rising.
« Yes » answered Eragon curtly. « It was the easiest and quickest solution ».
Her body seemed to deflate, having probably not expected such a short and contradictory answer.
However, her eyes betrayed her fury. And Eragon could understand her. For a long time, she had been the one in charge, to one to initiate changes and warfare actions. With Eragon's arrival, she had lost her hegemony. She was suddenly a student, an advisor whose councel would be listened to but sometimes rejected. Most importantly, she had met someone who was stronger than her.
But he knew he couldn't have done better. The close proximity with the dragons and the danger brought by the artillery destroyed by Saphira proved his point. Dealing with a couple of hundred humans was an easy task for him and the Eldunaris. The wards surrounding him and Saphira were almost unbreakable. Dozens of ballasts would barely make a dent in them. But he didn't know how strong the current ones around Drogon, Viserion and Daenerys were.
« Wouldn't it have been better to have gone with more dragons and more elves, or Unsullied? You don't have to go alone, especially since you had powerful weapons at your disposition, » asked Tyrion, in a soothing voice
« I could. But it wouldn't have helped. Timing was the essence here. When Drogon fought the Lannister army, there was a single ballista which almost maimed Drogon. On Euron's ships, we found a few dozens of them, improved. Each would have been able to either kill your dragons or create important damage to your ships. »
« And Saphira was safer than my dragons? » asked Daenerys.
« Yes » came his short answer, which held no doubt.
He knew he could easily make a point, by letting someone try to stab him or Saphira. His wards would easily protect them from the hit, but he wasn't going to. Tyrion and the others might have an idea, but Eragon also knew their imagination would always come beneath the truth of how strong his protections were. At this point, the Red Keep could fall on him without hurting him too badly.
Additionally, Saphira would never let him and he wasn't willing to expose this kind of power. Already, they saw him as a hero, with inhuman strength and some unknown and extraordinary magic at his disposal. He wasn't going to admit he was virtually immune to physical hits anytime soon. This aura of wonderment had always been around Riders in Alagaësia and he could see the point with this strategy.
He hadn't shared with Daenerys about the wards placed around her dragons. They had probably saved Drogon and Viserion from many wounds during the battle against the Night King but it seemed Daenerys hadn't noticed it. The wights had left no damage on the dragons. Only the magical spears had been able to pierce his wards, like the Dauthdaerth, and there had been plenty during the battle. There had been more than a hundred White Walkers present during that night.
He already dreaded the moment Daenerys would start using magic. He felt more at ease with her now that she had spoken in the Ancient Language and followed the traditional vows, but long and difficult conversations awaited him, he knew this. There would be a lot of questioning, answers to provide and some to keep. And to think Oromis has taught for centuries gave shivers to Eragon.
"Don't worry, most students wouldn't give him a tenth of the worries you're facing with the dragon girl. Only you perhaps gave Oromis so many worries* shared Glaedr with some mirth. But Eragon noticed the use of the Ancient Language nevertheless.
Unaware of this internal turmoil, Daenerys was eying Euron Greyjoy darkly.
« So, is he going to be one of your prisoners once more? One of my enemies that you'll keep for yourself » enquired Daenerys, steel in her voice.
She looked calmer than when he had brought Jaime Lannister and more tempered. The relations between the two of them were considerably better. The fact he hadn't brought in the man who had killed her father probably helped but he knew he'd have to choose his words carefully nevertheless.
« I'm not a judge Daenerys, I never intended to be one. When I protected Jaime Lannister, it was because I knew you needed to hear the whole story. I don't have such issues with Euron Greyjoy. The whispers you've heard of him convey the truth. But I would prefer to offer him to Yara Greyjoy since I believe she is the Lord of the Ironborn now, » explained Eragon calmly, eying both women as he spoke.
Daenerys looked surprised for a moment before he saw her frown lessening while nodding her apparent approval. He also saw the flicker of surprise on Tyrion's face before quickly being replaced by a straight face though he noted of approval. She turned and asked something in Valyrian to one of the Unsullied guarding her.
Eragon didn't understand a lot of what was being said but he heard the words « Yara Greyjoy ». It didn't take much to figure Daenerys had requested her presence to judge Euron quickly.
She quickly confirmed it to the other people on the deck before they started to wait for the leader of the Iron Islands to get there.
They didn't have to wait long before Yara arrived. She was clad in her usual attire, clothes that had been worn off by all the time spent on the sea. He hadn't spent a lot of time in her company. Her face still wore the marks of her captivity. They were still bags under her eyes, signs of malnutrition and scars of all sizes littering her skin. Eragon silently wondered if she had been held in the same cabin he had seen not an hour ago. Nevertheless, no one could miss the rage that appeared in her eyes when she identified her uncle laying bound between Eragon and Saphira.
The outcome was a ruthless execution following the traditions of the Iron Islands. Euron was bound and burdened with heavy bags of rocks and then dropped to sink in the dark waters of the sea. They watched him silently disappear into the cold waters, where according to the sailors he would be judged by the Drowned God. Eragon could also feel the moment he died, his mind lost and never to be found again. Yara had remained silent, only stating the ominous words of the Greyjoys before pushing Euron overboard.
"What is dead may never die".
This is the end of the chapter! I hope you've enjoyed it! Please, don't hesitate to comment, review, fav, this gives me a lot of motivation to keep this story and update quickly !