Redemption

Samara's outpost

Aifos' Pov
It was easy to slip by unnoticed in Samara's outpost, as long as every member wore the right uniform; thankfully, Navarrian dragons weren't as meddlesome as Alagaesyan ones, and mostly minded their own business, without caring about Ronny's and thus mine actual origins.
A murmur was stirred around the newcomers when I bested Xaden in combat, but the veterans were quick to smother it, "You're dead fools if you see Basgiath in Samara."
Someone asked if it meant the rebels' children should be loved and looked after in this outpost, and I saw shadows menacingly expanding from their corners.
One day, Xaden dumped on my mattress a book guide to Navarrian grammar, "Can't keep being deaf and mute."
"It worked so far."
"Read it and be quiet."
So, I started studying it, with Chex's help; Ronny scoffed, and stuck to the Ancient Language, -Navarrian's too rough of a language. Besides, it would do to you no good forgetting your roots. From now on, you shall speak with us in the Ancient Language, and in the regards of the others you may develop any language you want.-
-You're as grumpy as the Tree of Moira.-
-You give out names to trees?- Chimed in a genuinely confused Chex.
They were in the nearby grounds, so sometimes I slipped past sentinels and under their wings, where often I'd sleep off the night.
Xaden was a reserved, quiet roomate as much as he was a fiery warrior: he'd sharpen and polish his double swords, or write letters. Sometimes, I'd gaze at the desk and wonder what Elsie was doing; she might be on the back of her white dragon off to fight away some Ra'Zac, or leading the way to new dragons and their chosen.
Or flying over the endless Ocean looking for Nidwhal.
I looked out from the window next to Xaden's bed, and saw the mountains where a drift was frozen in the act of waiting as much as we were.
In Alagaesia, dragon riders seldom stuck around with nothing to do: there were either old enemies to hunt down, celebrations to participate, ambassadors to meet, and new riders who needed to be guided to Vaeta (such was the island chosen by Eragon and the others to raise the young couples of the New Order).
Whereas in here, a kingdom at war, the days dragged long.
So, the bored riders tried to find some action in a pit down below where they had to fistfight whoever was currently owning the pass of weekends.
Right now, a certain Jarreck had it, and Xaden wanted it.
I was studying the conjugation of verbs (the structure was similar to current Alagaesyan, with the lack of duals but the keeping of neutrals) when the door creaked open.
"You were eager to end it, I see."
"Where's Xaden?"
I was met with Violet, the lightning wielder; her flight attire was wrinkled, and the crown of her silver-tipped hair still wind-blown.
"Chamber pit. Down."
"Oh, okay. Thank you."
I nodded to her once, then went back to my book.
I was trying to translate a sentence made-up by Ronny (because Violet's enormous dragon was back again, Chex was currently too eager to show off new moves in order to listen to me rambling on about grammar rules) when Violet was back again.
"Hello."
"Hi." Then, she preened in the book, "_What are you doing?_"
"_Studying Navarrian._"
She nodded once, and got into the private bathroom.
In the meantime, Xaden walked in with a tray of food, and regarded me with amusement, "You still here?"
"You're the one who said I've got to study."
"Mhh."
I hid a grin behind the book, "She's in the bathroom."
"I know, but we're currently in a barely-kisses shitty situation."
"That's too bad."
He narrowed his eyes at me and I quickly busied myself with the translation of the sentence.
-You really couldn't come up with anything easier, huh?-
I could feel his snort in my mind.
-It's a simple sentence, kid-
-Got my doubts-
-Focus, will you?-
After a while, Violet got out from the bath, her hair still damp and her face rosy-cheeked. She sat on the only bed in the room (obviously claimed by Xaden) and started brushing her hair, while Xaden sharpened his blades on his desk.
When they started talking, I put down the pen and listened to their conversation. I caught Xaden's dragon's name, but little else; from the different intonations, I could guess they were asking each other questions, and in turn gave the respective answers.
Then, Xaden rustled around the bottom drawer and handed Violet a silver dagger around which energy hummed and pulsed as if charged with a spell. My mind instictively focused on it, and in turn Ronny's sharpened around the edges of our bond.
As Xaden explained to Violet something about that dagger, Ronny said the energy field around it was straight-up the same of the wards around Navarre and its outposts.
-One powers the other. Navarrian magic is rougher than Alagaesyan. Thus it's easily tracked down. I can feel it, deep in my bones.-
When I picked up Xaden saying the verb "smuggle", I couldn't help but butt in, "What did you smuggle?"
Hazel and onyx eyes swung to me, and both the Riders tensed.
"Really, you understood that?"
I waved my book, "One of the last verbs I've studied. Now, what did you steal?"
However hesitantly, they got me aware of the rebels' children smuggling out these weapons and gifting them to drifts, "But if you dare breathe about it, I'll slit your throat in your sleep."
To show them my honesty, I followed the Elfic tradition and rotated my wrist inward and bowed my head, "The Ancient Language allows you to speak nothing but the truth. This I say: your secret is safe with me, and shall you require my help, don't hesitate to ask for it."
Xaden roamed on my whole face, as if a twitch of my lips, or a quiver of my eyebrows, could tell him the actual truth. So, I kept my features open and relaxed, until he said, "We shall see."
I had to wait over a couple of weeks, try at night to teach a proud Xaden how to properly train his intimnistic ability without getting flung over the parapet, and last but not least fight back an enemy assault (Ronny and I were quick to entangle our minds, select the leader and break through his gryphon's mind; as she couldn't breathe both because of the shock and our mental grip, her beak drew a jagged line on Xaden's arm while we commanded her to die, then Xaden met my eyes long enough he had me wondering if his mind was now sharp enough to feel the movements of ours) before my roommate later on passed me two sacks full of daggers that would be given to a drift of gryphons.
"For how long have you been doing this?"
"Since my first year at Basgiath."
I whispered a spell, and it turned invisible.
Xaden winced and immediately palmed the sack; then, he huffed a laugh and gestured for me to take it, "You're improving, even if your accent's still way off."
He was overall friendlier that day, mostly because of Violet's rush to Samara after she'd known of his wound, and possibly because of her being pliant to the heat of their bodies. It hadn't been that difficult to guess when lightning struck in the middle of a clear sky twice. Because it was close to the outpost, Ronny startled and immediately reached me, -Aifos!-
Chex laughed, -Sgaeyl says lightning flashes like this everytime they mate.-
The image was so brief it was almost ashamed of itself: Ronny, or Chex, or both, clamping their teeth in my shoulders as I arched off my back and yelled something in the Ancient Language that had fire exploding, or rivers changing courses, or trees sprouting in the Hadarac desert, back in my homeland.
I coughed, rubbed my stinging cheeks and closed off my mind.
A couple of hours later, I trudged along them two, the sack hovering above our heads with a muttered "Reisa".  Xaden's eyes flickered to my shining palm, but didn't say anything and simply shouldered me away.
The first dragon we spotted in the flight field was Violet's, his scales even blacker than the night, and his height so absurd it blocked out the moonlight.
Chex slid out from Tairn's front-talons and twisted his neck to show me his saddle, -Tairn put it on me-
I caressed his leg, and thought that it was a privilege to watch how his scales shifted between colours, depending on the sky and the light; in a clear day, they were of yellow gold; at night, they shifted silver, as they were doing right now; in enclosed, dark spaces, there was a dark copper hue in them.
I didn't believe I'd ever grow used to it enough not to admire him every time.
Chex grinned at me, and nuzzled my cheek, his sword-tail whipping around.
Xaden was the first to mount after assuring himself the sacks were still there, then got airborne.
I strapped myself in, and Chex jumped in the air, quickly following the other two. I pulled back the hair on my eyes, and settled on the saddle.
His sleek body was made for speed, but his narrow back was more comfortable to ride on than Ronny's bulky one.
-I heard it, kid-
An annoyed Chex let out a growl and slammed his shields around both of ours minds. I laughed and threw my head back.
We flew through the wards and into Navarre's adjoining kingdom and skimmed over the treetops until we landed at the edge of a dark lake. A glow of lights told us of a village nearby, and my mind picked up the soft rustle of forest life at nighttime.
Tairn abruptly positioned himself so he'd be giving his back to the lake, and Sgaeyl walked closer to Chex.
Xaden was the only one to dismount and to stand in front of the dragons.
-How many gryphons are usually there in these meetings?-
-Sgaeyl says a whole drift.-
-And that would mean...?-
-Seven of them.-
The drift reached us pretty quickly, the gryphons darting their eagle heads back and forth. In the night, their beaks looked sharper, and their claws more menacing. Chex bared his teeth and mimicked Tairn's lowered head. The drift halted twenty feet away from us, and three fliers dismounted.
Thankfully, my training with the Ancient Language back in Alagaesia had allowed me to master up the Navarrian language pretty quickly and well enough to follow most of the conversations.
"Riorson," called the woman in the middle.
"Syrena."
-She fought with us in Resson. I remember her.-
-Huh. Good to know.-
At Xaden's nod, I undid the spells, and the sacks fell in front of his feet with a click clack of many daggers. He remained still. The message was clear: if they wanted their weapons, they had to get closer to us.
Syrena sighed and motioned the other two forward.
"Good to see you made it through the unfortunate assault in Samara."
"You want to explain what the fuck was that about? Because one of your gryphons nearly took me out. If we didn't have a mender in the Eastern Wing, I'd be down an arm because I hesitated, thinking it might be one of you. I thought we were on the same side, but I won't hesitate if it happens again."
"I can't control every drift, Riorson. And I'm not going to blame other drifts in other chains of command who have to follow orders. We need more weapons than what you can supply. There are enough daggers in that outpost to arm a hundred fliers-"
"Those are powering our wards."
So Ronny was right. The daggers and the wards were connected; and, from what I was gathering, these weapons were essential in also bringing down venins.
The girl on the left spoke up, "Our wards? Since when do you sympathise as Navarrian? And at least you have wards, Xaden."
We all looked at her; her features were similar to Syrena's, but more refined, gifting her of a royal beauty that would be sung by every bard in town.
-Besides,- said Chex, -Xaden's name was easy on her tongue. They know each other.-
-It could be.-
Meanwhile, Violet joined in the progressively tense conversation until Tairn swivelled his head to glare at Syrena's sister. It was funny watching Syrena's face blanching, "You know better than to stare at a dragon, Cat!"
"Wasn't staring at the dragon." Then, she looked at Xaden, "She's striking, I'll give you that."
They kept talking back and forth, their voices raising in pitch until I struggled to follow and instead looked up to the stars. They twinkled from up there, and Eragon my Ebrithil, (my master), had said the sky was empty.
"Out of the question," Xaden snapped at one point, the words a bit slower this time.
"You're willing to let our entire kindgom fall prey to these monsters because you're what? Smitten? Please. I know you better than that," scoffed Cat.
Chex swung his head back and met my eyes, -Oohhh, drama!-
-If it's truly what we think it is, it threatens to crack this already fragile alliance.- But a small smile quivered on my lips, -Besides, we can't giggle right now.-
-I am a dragon, I giggle whenever I want to.-
At this, I couldn't hold back a snort, and the others all looked at me. Chex snapped at the flier on the left, and I cleared my throat, "Sorry."
"Finally a smaller dragon," joked Syrena, "Although I'm pretty sure he can burn us to the ground with the same easiness of the others."
Chex narrowed his eyes at her, -Narrowly avoided it, flier.-
She lowered her head until he straightened himself up and brought his wings close enough to brush my calves.
Xaden broke the silence gesturing at the sacks, "There are twenty-three daggers. Take them or leave them. Either way, Garrick will see your next shipment is delivered at the appointed location."
"You may have a year until they're on your border," said Syrena, "We're all that stands between them and you. You know that, right? Or are you still hiding your heads in the don't-tell-us-too-much-in-case-we'reinterrogated sand like you were last year?"
"We know," answered Xaden, "We'll be ready."
"I'll do what I can to lessen the attacks on the outposts, but until you can openly say you're supplying us, it's like asking our forces to believe in specters. They don't trust you like I do."
"How you stop them is your business. I meant what I said. Come for our wards, and l'll watch you die."
Sgaeyl huffed a blast of steam, and the male flier startled then quickly grasped the sacks and walked back to the rest of the drift.
"Thank you," said Syrena, before glancing to Violet, "Tell your dragon he's still the scariest fucking thing I've ever seen, Sorreingail."
"I would, but it would just inflate his ego," said Violet, "Stay alive, Syrena. I'm starting to like you."
She flashed a smirk, then called her sister by her full name as us three launched back to the sky.
I looked to the horizon, -For how long has this been going on?-
-The secret alliance with the gryphons for a couple of years, I guess.-
-Yeah, no, I meant the wyverns.-
-Oh! Centuries.-
-Great- I muttered.