Wyrda: Father of Dragons (Eragon Book 5)

Chapter 7: Olympic Games

             Sixty thousand people in the crowd cheered their approval to the representatives of each race, as they marched inside the center of the new stadium of Belatona. The sky was clear and the weather was perfect for the competitions that would follow. Some of the athletes were already sweating from the heat of the morning sun and the anxiety of winning. The humans shouted and whistled as they sang songs and drunk beer from their mugs. Some of the men were drunk already, making a fool of themselves, laughing and telling bad jokes to everyone in earshot. A child looked at admiration at the athletes as his father lifted him on his shoulders for him to be able to see over the crowd. The women discussed with each other and commented the athletes, discussing who was the most good looking and laughing among themselves.

           The dwarves stamped their feet and drunk their beers from their mugs as they sung songs and danced with each other. They looked in amazement at the sheer size of the stadium and the number of people that was in it. They cheered for the dwarves athletes.

The Urgals all gave scary war cries and praised their God of War and the Godess of Victrory to help them in this important day to win over the other races. This attracted many worried glances from the crowd around them but they were quickly ignored as a beautiful song was heard.

There were few elves in the crowd. They cheered their athletes and laughed too as they discussed with each other how many victories they would have. A elf woman was singing a beautiful song and everyone stopped what they were doing to listen to the beautiful melody. When she was halfway through the song the crowd cheered her and sang with her.

               There were people selling food and drinks, and elves selling a special drink called Faelnirv. It was a very strong drink served only in the most special of occasions buy the elves as they informed the humans who did not know what it was. A man in the crowd was breathing fire from his mouth, a large crowd around him cheering him on, as they put money on a bucket he had on the floor. A few meters away, was a man swallowing swords. It was an extraordinary sight and many people were amazed and even looked with open mouths at him. When he was done, they clapped and gave him a beer.

            On the upper level of the stadium, was where the most important people of Alagaesia sat. On this platform, was the throne, where High Queen Nasuada would sit and watch the games. Near her, was a throne for Arya, and on the left side a large empty space, where her green dragon Firnen could sit. Arya looked at the proceedings with curiosity, talking with Firnen. Next to her, Orik, king of the dwarves, sat thoughtfully. King Orrin was sitting a few meters away, with a big smile on his face. Roran Stronghammer was there too, with his wife Katrina, holding little Garrow on his arms, as Ismira looked on with jealousy in her eyes.

Trumpets were heard and a lonely slim figure entered the stadium. She wore a Green dress over her black skin and her hair was well combed and tied. The crowd grew silent as they wanted to hear what their queen would say.

"People of the Empire! It is an honor to be here and be able to announce this event to you. Many years ago, the hero, Eragon Shadeslayer met with me and told me of his dream that one day the people of the land could compete against each other in peace and not in bloodshed. That they could live together and be happy together, in a great event. I came here today, and I saw what he saw, in his vision, so many years ago. The day he dreamt of is today! Today we write history! I hereby declare the start of the First Olympic Games in Alagaesia" she shouted with all her might and the crowd cheered and whistled.

               First started the sword fighting competition. There were many participants from all races. Clearly, the elves had the advantage because of their speed and strength, but the Kull warriors were also very strong. People started betting on who the winner of the matches would be. They bet larger and larger sums of money and clearly, Nasuada could see that many fortunes would be made and lost this day. Most matches did not take long to finish, but some, especially the ones between elves or humans lasted for more than half an hour. At the end, there were only four participants remaining. Vanir, the elf ambassador, another elf named Dathedr, a human named Lortas and a Kull named Velsus.