Eragon (semi-lit)

[dragonsword]

Will watched theman then looked to the horse and gently trooed its muzzle. The half elf then went to the animal's side and reached up, hauling himself into the saddle. He shifted then smiled, this he was used to, though normally he rose Shadow more then horses. He then paused and looked around. "Where is Shadow?" He asked.

[akiraa]

Elbereth sat Astarae on Akira and climbed on herself before saying "None of my animal friends have seen much of your wolf, Will, if I remember correctly you had him waiting somewhere else, not as close to the group." Akira grumbled a bit at having to have a different rider than Will for a little while, but it couldn't be helped and she would allow it. Elbereth then said "Shall we move on now? We can worry about these things later." Akira nodded and said "The faster we find a newer, safer, location the faster we can find out what is wrong with my Will and get him better. Let's go." Elbereth also looked at Midnight real quick and said "Go back with the others and follow as closely as possible without getting seen." Midnight nodded before quickly trotting back into the trees with the others.

[Dragonhatchling]

Draith waisted no time when Elbereth said to go. She'd been waiting for that for a while. "Anyone have anywhere specific they wish to go?" She thought she'd ask and same them the trouble later if anyone got an urge to go somewhere else.

 

Zailik had the horse follow Draith, noticing Jayes was bringing up behind him. Probably better survalence for Will. Either way, the soldier didn't mind. He tried his best to make the ride as comfortable as possible for the rider.

 

Jayes did stay behind. He was trying to stay behind Akira too, just to bring up the rear completely so Elbereth's horse wouldn't be as tempted to run- not that he actually expected it to. Something about elf-horses always seemed to not run when they're respected rider wasn't with them. He didn't get it, but he figured he would take the precaution.

[akiraa]

Akira had quickly spread her wings as soon as Draith said they would go, and took into the air with a few steady flaps, careful so as to make sure that Astarae wouldn't slide off or fall. Once in the air she flew closer to the trees and the group then she usually would, wanting to keep an eye on Will and them. Elbereth just held on and enjoyed the flight for now. It was an honor to ride a dragon, and though she had her own, she wouldn't be able to ride her for awhile. She did call down though and said "Wherever is safe is good. I have no preferences." Akira just nodded slightly in agreement.

[fuzzzzj]

Astraea was glad that the group had decided to move somewhere else. She never really liked being out in the open like this. The dragon was then lifted onto Akira. It felt a bit odd at first but she then got used to being on the other dragon. When Akira took off a blast of air hit the hatchling's face and it almost knocked her off. However, Astraea managed to hold on and as soon as Akira was flying steadily a sense of awe came over the being. Gliding was fun, but this, this was the most thrilling experience she had yet! Astraea made a mental note that she would have to teach herself to fly soon. It shouldn't be too different from gliding. Right?

 

Edited June 26, 2013 by fuzzzzj

[akiraa]

(They're on Akira, not Midnight)

[dragonsword]

Will kept staring at the man he was riding with. Out of all these people he knew him somehow... But from where? And why was he getting a forboding feeling while looking at him? The half-elf shook his head and decided not to dwell on it for now, instead he turned his eyes to the sky where Akira was, his eyes wideening slightly for of course he didn't remember ever seeing her flyinf before.

[Dragonhatchling]

Draith rode her horse onward, heading it toward a small town that wasn't known by many. If Henry turned out to be here, she'd take care of him herself for all the trouble he'd caused so far. Running him out of a town would be a nice change from the running away from them. She highly doubted he would be here though. There was a slightly larger, more well known, town a few distances away.

 

Zailik followed Draith silently. He could feel Will starring at him and hoped he wasn't causing the Rider too much stress. He doubted talking to him would make it better. Whatever was clouding his mind didn't seem to really be clouding his section of memory about Zailik. The soldier wasn't sure if that was supposed to be good or not. Probably good, but he wasn't completely sold. Will could stab him right then and there if he wanted, and what would Zailik do? He'd likely be dead before he could defend himself. Even if he could- Elbereth and Akira would definitely kill him.

 

Jayes still stayed behind. He was putting his uses to keeping an eye on Elbereth's animals- as well as giving them something to keep an eye on if they chose to- and surveying behind them in case something should show up. Once or twice he thought he might've saw something, but played that off to the weather and his overreactive mind.

Edited June 26, 2013 by Dragonhatchling

[akiraa]

Akira made sure to keep up with Draith and the group perfectly, not to fast, not to slow. Not to hard. Elbereth was both keeping an eye out for trouble, and enjoying the ride, gently petting Astarae while she was at it. Both Akira and Elbereth noticed Will staring at them, but neither said a thing. Akira was trying to concentrate on flying steady enough to both keep up and not make it hard for Astarae to stat steady on her back. Elbereth was more just sure she wouldn't be heard if she tried to speak, and out of a lack of things to say.

[dragonsword]

Will looked up at them then he looked back down to Zaliak. He narrowed his eyes and watched him for a while until suddenly it clicked who he was and he gasped. The memory of Zaliak and the shade chasing him, be it real or not. He sat there then gave a his of anger and suddenly lurched forward, grabbing the soldier and tumbled from the horse with him. "How dare you" he growled. How dare you try to harm us"

[Dragonhatchling]

((yay!! I'm probably the only one rather happy about that though... especially with Zailik in that....))

 

Zailik fell, caught almost completely off-guard by Will. Curse life. Curse his thinking. If he hadn't thought about it, he was willing to bet it wouldn't happen. Well, at least he was alive at the moment.

He rolled with Will's momentum, unable to shake him off, but at least he could somewhat stand. He fell again though when his horse headbutted him. Why? Why did his horse have to be in on it. He knew that beast secretly hated him. This was proof.

"Will... Will, let go. C'mon. I didn't hurt you... or whoever us is. Akira? I didn't hurt her either." He tried to reason with the Rider while pulling at him, trying to get him off. They rolled again, mostly because he had to dodge the horse trying to stamp his head, and Zailik's chest rammed into a rock. A sharp rock. It felt like it broke something, though the pain of that was slightly masked by the dangerous stubborn horse and the half-elf on him. He tried to reason again. And again.

 

 

Draith had stopped her horse a little ahead of the chaos behind her. She had noticed, though she expected Zailik to be able to handle it. Apparently she was wrong. She saw why. The horse was helping Will. "Here we go again..." The shade muttered, jumping off her horse and drawing her knife out. She threw it down near the horse, causing it to look hatefully at her. "Leave him be. Remember what I told you the last time? Attacking him will get you killed. Attacking him with Will will get you eaten. By dragon, or by something else. Eaten either way." That sounded stupid coming from a shade, but the words were spoken true. She was fully capable of finding something to eat the blasted horse.

"Now Will..." Now probably wasn't a sight Akira, or Elbereth for that matter, wanted to see. Draith had her sword out now, half keeping the crazed horse at bay and half debating whether or not to just debilitate the Rider until later. But some of his words caught her attention. Hurt them? That brought a familiar smile to the shade's face. His memory went that far. Good. She could use that.

"Do you want that to happen again? Here? Even though Akira's bigger, that doesn't mean we can't take you both back still. Actually..." Draith paused, seeming to think slightly for a moment. "It would make it much easier. She's not small enough to be lost... and you're... well, not any different to be honest," The blatantly of the tone was mixed with some twisted form of amusement. "both of which make my job easier." The shade had let the crazed horse 'free' before she started this small fact-giving. It hadn't come anywhere near the shade now. Probably because it knew what was going to happen. Or what could. "Zailik," Her tone was more serious now as she eyed the soldier, who stared, unmoved by the small speech, back at her. He was a little to used to this. "Stop playing around and get him off. Tie him up if you have to." She ordered as Jayes stepped in to interrupt their small plan. She'd been waiting for that.

 

"You can't be serious!?" Jayes hadn't been around when Draith and Zailik had done this. He didn't even know what was going on at the moment, yet he felt compelled to step in. It almost seemed comical; here he was, sitting on his horse, watching a shade taunt a Rider with a full grown dragon ready to kill her. Zailik wasn't doing anything but almost succeeding in getting Will off him a few times while bleeding from somewhere. Jayes was sitting on a horse. Watching. Just watching.

What else was he supposed to do? Charge full-on into the chaos and get killed in the process? Draith was right; Layel wasn't there anymore. Any hope he had for seeing his best friend again was gone. Shattered. Into tiny, minuscule, little pieces right now. Instantly. She'd never act like Draith. Ever. Not even when joking around.

"What!? So this was the whole plan all along? You'd act like you're helping... fight off some soldiers of the Empire and then kill us all in our sleep?" He was almost mad. Almost. More confused than anything, but you could almost see the steam coming from him. "Oooh wait... you wouldn't kill Will... or Akira... because- and correct me if I'm wrong- you need them. Don't you? You need them for whatever it is Galbatorix has planned so you created some sob-doublecross-story and played us into helping you..." He was pretty sure he'd gone on a rant now, but lost track. He probably looked really stupid. Oh well.

"Well go ahead then! Kill me. I'm not going down without a fight though... so you best be ready for that." Jayes spat. He was angry, confused, betrayed and he lost what else he felt at the moment. He didn't believe his eyes and ears. He had to be dreaming. That was the only explanation for this.

 

(( uh-oh... the small textwalls are back... well... no those would be the extra small ones...))

Edited June 26, 2013 by Dragonhatchling

[akiraa]

Akira growled as she noticed the fight, and was already circling over head, looking for the perfect time and place to dive bomb the shade. Elbereth narrowed her eyes and quickly stood up in Akira's saddle, her bow drawn, an arrow notched and trained on Draith, her balance and aim really playing into just how well she was doing. Even with Akira circling the arrow was never off of Draith. She then said "ENOUGH! Draith, if you make one MOVE to hurt Will or anyone, this arrow is going straight through your goddamn head. EXPLAIN NOW! You are up against a wizard, two riders, and a full grown dragon. Not even YOU, Shade, can stand up to that, I am sure. Plus, add on a wolf, jaguar, horse, and hummingbird who will attack on ONE command from me." She used slight magic to give her voice more power and volume, making her sound larger than life.

[BoomSALMON]

"Wait what?" Stoy asked who had been dozing when no one was looking. He readied his pike as Topeznite glared at them. They were looking to attack some woman and the Elbereth the elf from earlier had a bow drawn. Will and another guy were fighting and horse was fighting too? This was madness!

[fuzzzzj]

Astraea had a funny feeling that something like this would happen. She never trusted this being called a shade in the first place. The hatchling wondered why that being was being so confident as well. Draith was stupid, gutsy, or had a plan. She certainly wasn't stupid and she probably wasn't letting pride get the better of her. Something had to be up her sleeve. Whatever the reason, the fact that this was happening angered Astraea, and she could feel Elbereth's emotions as well. She growled a bit at the shade almost involuntarily.

 

The baby dragon was actually getting used to riding on Akira but if the adult dragon moved too quickly she would most likely fall off, not that was a big deal. The hatchling could glide through the air.

 

[Dragonhatchling]

((*sprays anti-textwall spray all over* *hopes it will work* What does life sound like?))

 

Draith almost laughed. Well, she was laughing, but not because she found this particularly funny. She was used to being underestimated. "Now I never said anything about hurting anyone..." Her twisted calmness was back with slight innocence mixed in. It was true, she didn't ever mention hurting anyone- Will did. "I only mentioned bring you, Akira, and your buddy Will back to where you both should have ended up the first time this was tried." She was talking to Akira now, almost completely ignoring Elbereth. She seemed like she was ignoring the elf- she wasn't. She heard every word. Like always.

The shade seemed overly calm for the situation- amused even- considering there was a full grown dragon, an elf, two riders and a wizard in the mix. Draith was definitely sure she could win over the two smaller dragons, and the one rider with ease, also adding in the wizard not already on her side. Will wouldn't be much of a hassle in his current state. Elbereth and Akira? If she worked at it, she could whittle down the odds.

"Elf, you've underestimated me sadly. Your animals won't be hard to deal with, nor will a few of what you mentioned." The shade stated coldly, not worried at all. She'd fought with the King himself a few different times- this was nothing compared to the hardships caused there.

 

At some point in time through all this, Zailik had managed to get Will to stop moving for a moment to speak. This was going to get him killed. "Elbereth... I don't think she means it...." He coughed, blood spraying the grass slightly. That was unnerving. He was about to say the rest of his thought when he realized that it would get him killed. Right then. Right there. Now he wasn't so sure if Draith meant it or not. He doubted he could go along with it. Not at these odds. But his wound was healing slowly, probably from Draith silently aiding him, and he gladdened at that. But did they really want to die right now?

"At the very least..." The soldier struggled with Will to get a better position to talk. "we can talk about it- instead of trying to kill each other." The fall might have had something to do with his sudden negotiation tactics. It sounded very stupid. He didn't want to die. He knew Draith didn't plan on dying. Elbereth did mention explaining. But what was there to explain? He didn't really even know if the shade was all for this. He supposed they could start from the beginning, but that would take forever to explain properly.

[fuzzzzj]

((Life? What's that? Is it a game?))

Once Draith finished talking Astraea knew she had something planned. Sadly the shade was right, normal animals could easily be dispatched and Astraea knew that she wasn't a threat. The only real threats here were Elbereth, Akira, and maybe Will. But how could the a tiny dragon help? Not physically, but perhaps she could attack with her mind if necessary. But talking sure sounded better right now. So, the hatchling told Elbereth what her suspicion was and that a little negotiating may be helpful.

 

 

[BoomSALMON]

Henry had gotten his group together for a silent horseride to re attack. "They should be distracted by movement." he said as they rode fast back to the location tying up the horses in the treeline arming themselves and seeing argument. "Well well well a disagreement. Maybe our arrows will solve this one." Henry said as his whole unit had bows, crossbows, and even spears trained on all the targets.

[akiraa]

(Dangit Fuzz you made me lose the game!! Anyways, it's an expression. I just thought it fit )

 

As soon as Henry's forces moved in, a Howl pierced the air. Elbereth quickly spun her arrow in the direction of Henry's forces, muttering a spell and lighting the tip on fire. With that the arrow went hurling towards them. She had heard Astarae, but couldn't even try negotiations right now, she quickly put away her bow, she then quickly spat out "Now's not the time or place for this, Shade. We can deal with this AFTER we dispatch this goddamn attack." She then jumped from Akira, using some trees to help break her fall with their branches and some acrobatics, landing on the ground safely. With that her sword was drawn.

 

Akira was about to blast the damn shade with some fire when she heard the howl and Elbereth. She quickly roared and flew farther into the air, still aware of Astarae on her back. She needed to get the hatchling to safety, THEN she can deal with all of this.

Edited June 27, 2013 by akiraa

[BoomSALMON]

"OPEN FIRE" Henry said as everyone shot below, and above, at any moving targets. Stoy took cover behind a tree but he worried his friends were not as lucky. After they fired, the drew melee weapons and charged down the hill. "I forgot to mention... there were some more empire soldiers in the town that wanted to help out!" he mused.

[Dragonhatchling]

((Seriously, what's life sound like? Otherwise I won't know how Elbereth can sound larger than it

 

and, blame a song for starting this up more... because... I've been waiting for something to actually do for a while Thank you DS!!

 

If I remember correctly, Will may remember that Draith had sent a few flames at him once... when he almost got away. They're special... considering many flames don't attack people.... ))

 

Draith knew Henry's forces were there. She'd tell him how later; right now she was going to let him know he wasn't going to die today. The arrow Elbereth had sent was stopped with a few choice words from the shade. She did laugh a little more this time, but mostly due to the elf's antics. Now was the time for this. When wasn't a good time for this?

The shade stayed rather calm. "Go ahead and try dear elf, but it won't be very easy." She stated as her tone might have revealed she knew about the so-called attack all along. The magic encompassing Elbereth's arrow held it in the air, slowly glowing a dim red around it before the arrow fell, without the fire, lifelessly to the ground. The fire from the arrow hung in the air in a tight, writhing ball before heading back toward Draith's direction. They changed to a darker black color on their way, this time hovering over Will. "Now I wouldn't Elbereth, or Akira for that matter..." She could see Zailik seemed slightly frightened by all this. Wonderful! Her hand gestured to the flame. "One more move toward them, and this flame will be reunited with your precious Rider once again." She added even colder than before.

The shade heard Henry, giving her even more leverage now with what she was silently doing behind the scenes. Wards were being placed on many of the soldier's Henry had brought. They were simple wards, but ones that often overlapped too depending on the situation. They were job specific as well. Many of the archers only received slight deflecting wards while some of the melee fighters got the total simple package. Magic deflecting- to an extent- and arrow and melee deflecting as well. None of this cost too much energy as they were the rather basic wards to cast, able to do so en masse by the shade reguardless, and not everyone had them. They were, naturally, invisible as well but were nothing compared to the wards that had been placed on her person or Zailik long before their journey started and carefully replenished as needed.

 

Zailik was silently wishing none of this was going on. He knew the fire wouldn't hurt him, and probably was the same kind Draith had used to attack Will before, but he didn't like the mallace in her voice- or the flame hovering half over him either. He heard Henry call and sighed mentally, partly wishing now that he had chosen to stay in the citidel.

Edited June 27, 2013 by Dragonhatchling

[fuzzzzj]

Astraea was a bit worried that Draith stopped the arrows that were clearly not intended for her then. Why should the shade care about soldiers? One reason, she's working with them. That means as long as she's with the group then they will always be hunted down. But what was the point? What did this shade want? It was also probably best to stay on Akira. It was a bit safer up there and it would be hard to get on top of an angry adult dragon, though she was worried for Elbereth.

 

All Astraea could was sit there and think of a way to defend herself other than physical means. What could shock someone so badly that it could cause some confusion? Something surprising, something scary, something painful.... She had a very vague idea of what she would could show the soldiers.

 

When Henry opened fire the dragon liedflat on top of Akira with her wings curled in. It didn't seem right that she couldn't do anything but if she attacked then Draith would probably pick up on it.

 

((I'm thinking about slowly working up to a dramatic flashback of something that happened to Astraea, or I should say around Astraea as an egg.))

[dragonsword]

Through most of this Will had only focused on the soldier under him... Or ex-soldier, but as the flames appeared and he felt their heal he had a flash back of a wall of similar flames and he flinched back, finally letting go of the man he was trying to beat up. He looked from the hovering flames to the shade and when the shade was "distracted" with the wards he did something extremely stupid. The rider narrowed his eyes, then surged to his feet, avoiding the ball of fire as best he could, and threw out a hand, sending out a gust of very strong wind at the shade, hoping to knock her over.

[akiraa]

Elbereth hissed and quickly jumped back into a tree with a "You...." Eyes blazing. She should have killed the Shade and soldier when she had a chance. Akira was just growling in the sky, thwacking down and arrows that came at her with a tail, or making sure they hit scales only, protecting Astarae. The Shade was going to pay for this, dearly. Especially if she hurt her Will. For now though she kept high in the sky, trying to see somewhere safe for Astarae so she can attack soon.

[Dragonhatchling]

Draith stumbled backward, falling shortly to the ground. She got back up with inhumane speed. This was going to be easy.

The shade laughed at Will's attempt to truly debilitate her while Zailik quickly apprehended the Rider, putting him in a careful headlock while twisting his outstretched arm backward, forcing that up closer to his shoulderblades. She swayed her sword back and forth playfully, eyeing the Rider with new malice. "Shouldn't have done that. Though you know this by now..." She stated equally playful, though something was wrong there. Her blade played along his cloths for a moment while Zailik held him tighter. The flame enacted upon that, hovering closer to wherever Draith left her sword.

 

The soldier had sprung to his feet as Will tried something. He quickly made a move on the distracted Will. He knew what was going on and knew that if he didn't help, he'd be dead as well. But by now he was so used to things like this that he only partly cared for the outcomes. It came with the job of being Draith's direct underling. Lots of hard work and no one anymore wanted to position. He probably had been the only one stupid and nieve enough to shoot for it that long while ago. But Zailik held on to Will tightly, not letting up one bit as Draith's blade rested near Will's now exposed neck. He'd changed position slightly to allow that, as directed mentally by his superior. This wasn't going to end pretty at all.

 

Jayes couldn't sit back and watch this, though he was tied up with five Empire soldiers who had rushed him. He hated that. One of them had been on fire a moment ago. No wait; that was himself. Or had been. One of his spells misfired and came back at him, though it scorched the other man's skin as he saw it flash by with the sword it owned. He kicked back at that, slicing a piece of cloth. What were they, abnormally fast?

No, that wasn't it. He was being overwhelmed was what it was. The five soldiers who had rushed him had brought backup. Their numbers soon nearly doubled. One of them was a magic-user like himself, which both was good and bad. He could get that one to die, but it would be better as a one on one duel. Not here that would happen. "Get! Off!!" The wizard yelled, deflecting another blow and consiquently knocking two soldiers down.

Someone had sliced open his left arm in the process of that. Another pressed a knife to his neck. "Keep going..." Jayes taunted, stabbing the man before being kicked down by someone behind him. Seven were left standing. They were all trying to kill him. He wasn't cut out for this. "Draith call 'em off!!" He yelled in hopes that she might have a shred of humanity left in the cold shell of Layel somewhere.

 

((just a sidenote: that fire does plan on attacking Will.... especially if anyone makes to free him from Zailik.... and poor Jayes... he really isn't cut out for being ganged up on...

 

*slinks off to bed* be back in 6 hours. Or more... depending... make it 8. We'll make it 8...))

Edited June 27, 2013 by Dragonhatchling

[fuzzzzj]

Astraea scanned the skyline for somewhere safe to go. There was just forest to the East, and the North, but in the South there was a lone mountain not too far away. There also seemed to be some sort of settlement in the west. She was about to tell Akira about the mountain when she noticed what Draith was doing.

 

To her it seemed strangely familiar... She had some sort of memory from a bipeadal being's perspective. In that memory the being was performing the same slow method on a human female that was bound. What was even stranger was that being was muttering instruction on how to do this! "Always remember to speak with a tone of authority. Remember, you're in charge." But what she couldn't remember what came after that.

 

Astraea quickly shook her head to try to forget that and she then told Akira about the mountain.