Curse of the Phoenix

Ch.20 -Fair Winds and Clear Skies

~Iara

As Grimm climbed into the sky, I realized something. I was afraid. I was not afraid of what was ahead, even though I had no idea what I would be facing, not in the city, and not in the sea. I barely remembered arriving here the first time. I was afraid, rather, of the height we were at. The ground seemed so far away. If I were to fall.....no, Grimm wouldn't let me. nor Saphira, nor probably even Thorn and Murtagh. I swallowed nervously and tightened my grip on the small straps that I was holding.

Iara, what's wrong?

Nothing.

I thought we already had the "nothing" discussion.

Why does your memory have to be so good?

It's very handy sometimes. He said somewhat sarcastically.

Ha.

Well what is it then?

I'm.....scared.

There's nothing to be scared of, I'll always be here.

It's not what we're going to.

Then...what?

It's....heights, I guess.

I think I know how I can make you feel better.

How?

Make you see what I do.

Why would that help? I don't understand.

It would be easier to show you.The words were taken from my mouth, as he did. I saw through his eyes, quite literally. All of the darker colors stood out, while the lighter ones were sort of subdued, but quite easily visible. Grimm turned his head over to Saphira, and it seemed I did to. She looked....different. She was still obviously blue, but...a dark blue. She stood out, while the mountains under her were sort of blending in. Then he did something with his eyes, and it was rather the mountains that stood out. I could see each individual blade of grass.

I watched as a grasshopper jumped from one bush to land on the ground. Then a small bird flew down and ate it. Grimm returned his attention to the sky. I sensed what he felt....he felt free. Free to do as he wished, as if whenever he was on the ground he was trapped.

How can you stand being on the ground if you love it so much up here?

You're down there. You can't fly as I can, at least physically.

We need to fly more often. It's.....amazing.

Are you scared anymore?

No, of course not!

Good.

We actually came to the end of the island. And the great, wide sea was opened up to us. It sparkled and heaved with the wind. The sun was reflected as a giant white and yellow dot upon the waves. It was very bright, and it smelled different. Salty. It was a nice smell, but one that i would eventually come to loath.

I took a quick glance behind us. The island was slowly disappearing, giving away to the sea. I glanced ahead. Eragon was in the lead, Murtagh behind him. They were both looking ahead. The sky was clear. At least I could be happy it wasn't raining. Saphira suddenly swooped upward. Thorn halted, and Grimm nearly crashed into him.

There's a rather strong wind current up here. It could speed our progress by a few hours. Eragon said. Thorn then rose, and Grimm followed. Immediately I felt us speed up. Because Grimm jolted forward suddenly and I nearly impaled myself. I felt the wind myself, as if someone had their hands on my back and was trying to push me off of Grimm.

I looked behind once more, just in time to see the very last peak, of the very last mountain, fade away into the sea. We were completely, and utterly, at sea. I looked down, and the waves were roiling. I thought I saw some fish even, maybe a shark. Then a large black shape came up. It opened it's mouth, and swallowed what I thought was a shark. But I had forgotten how high up we were. Rather, instead of a shark, it was a whale. The thing, whatever it was, kept coming. It got bigger, and bigger, and bigger.

I realized it's true shape as it breached. It was giant, and it had the faintest semblance to a whale. Before I saw the flippers. It opened it's mouth, and inside was row after row after row of long, jagged teeth. It had eyes, giant black spheres that looked like bubbles of ink. Once it breached, it kept coming even farther. Closer to Grimm. Closer to me.

I opened my mouth and screamed as loud as I could, as shriek that reached Eragon and Murtagh's ears, as well as that of their respective dragons. Grimm roared and flapped his wings as hard as he could, attempting to get away from that....thing. When we were out of reach, the thing emitted a loud sound, that seemed a mix of a bellow and a squeal. The sound made me clamp my hands over my ears, and I gritted my teeth. Grimm jerked downwards, before hissing in distress and climbing back up.

The thing fell back down, and it's bulk erected a spray of water from the ocean below. The only reason I wasn't still crying is that because I was gritting my teeth from the cold. And I think maybe I was too shaken to scream. The water reached half a hundred feet in the air, well below us, but still a great height.

It was gone, yet I continued to look at the sea, the scene repeating over and over in my head. Whatever it was, it scared me, more than I had ever been scared in my life. I didn't realize Eragon was talking to me, my ears filtered out the noise as I heard the sound the creature made, over and over again. Until Eragon helped.

It felt as if a wave of calm washed over me, made all my fears go away. The scene faded, and I was again aware of my surroundings. Then Eragon spoke, with mind not mouth, and he seemed like he was trying to calm me down.

Iara, are you okay? The word "okay" itself barely covered the depth of his concern, it was like describing a mountain as a mole hill.

As okay as I can be. Thank you, for....

It was nothing. But we're almost there anyway. Another hour, maybe.

Is it really that close?

No, not really. It wasn't even repeating, you fell asleep in the saddle. Well, half asleep. I opened my eyes to see if what he said was true. It was, the sun was nearing the horizon, the first fringes of pink touching the sea. There were barely any clouds, and those that were there appeared wispy, like a tuft of cotton. I inhaled, and then gagged. I smelled the salt, and everything smelled like it.

I looked ahead to the others. Eragon was upright in the saddle, but slightly leaning forward, as if he was tired. Murtagh was hunched over in the saddle.

He's sleeping.

Aren't you tired too?

Yeah.

Then sleep.

I can't, i've been watching you, making sure you don't fall off.

Oh. Are we there yet?

Do you see a city?

No......yes.

Yes?

He looked far forward. He might have even see what I had seen. I had seen a light. It looked like the light of a lantern, or a torch. Some sort of flame. Then another one came into view, still, unlike the other one, which seemed to be slightly bobbing. Then....faintly, a smudge came into view. More lights. Until you could sort of make out individual buildings. The bobbing light could even have been a guard.

Eragon? Are we....

We're here. He withdrew from our contact briefly. Murtagh suddenly sat up and looked around. He had been sleeping.

"Oh. We're here." He said.

"Iara, welcome to Teirm."