Eternal bond

The Egels and the Rider

Athan carefully studied the tracks for signs of the animals movements. He had already been stalking them for a few days now and still it was difficult to discern where they had traveled to. His anxiety increased by the second, as all the clues pointed to them traveling towards the shadow lands. A shudder ran through his body,  he had heard the stories spoken by the other villagers. It was even said that the riders feared crossing the border; this scared him most of all, as the prowess of the riders was legendary. The only conclusion that could be made was that something foul lay beyond the border that could match the might of a dragon and was impervious to the spells of their riders.

Sometimes, he imagined himself as a rider swooping through the air on a dragon, with the wind blowing past his face. Such thoughts excited him, but It was folly to dwell on such things and he knew it. For no human had ever ridden a dragon much less been a rider.  All the riders throughout history had been elven; much speculation existed about why this was the case. Some said that the elves had used dark magic to bind the dragons. Whilst others said they were just more magically competent and more agile, personally he considered that egelcrap. It was probably something the elves promulgated themselves in order to make themselves look better.  In his opinion It was vastly unfair, as elves were gifted with everything, long lives, the ability to ride dragons...  OK that might not be everything but from his perspective those were the most important things. 

From the edge of the forest he could hear faint sounds. Athan strained his neck so he could hear them better, but it was too faint for him to identity the source of the sounds.  He sighed and wondered what the source could be, for this part of the forest was too far from civilization for this to be the roar of an chimney let alone anything else from his village. 

A roar split the forest,  and in an instant  he knew the source of the commotion, it was a Dragon. He shook his head, he should have known what it was. Regularly egels, spiny creatures that reminded him of winged serpents, caused disruptions to the local settlements that bordered the shadow lands and riders would come to drive them back before they could cause large scale damage. The sharp clicked sound that the egels' made could be heard much clearer than before. It surprised him though, as it sounded like there were nearly two dozen egels, which are far to many for a single dragon to fend of. Egels are very nimble creatures and on the times when he had seen a dragon pushing them back into the shadow lands, he had been surprised by how they could effortlessly dart between a dragons talons if they pleased. It always amazed him that the egels never sought to attack the dragons merely attempt to confuse them. For they were not so kind with the villagers flocks effortlessly snapping their necks with a twist of their talons. The truly savage part was that they made no attempt to even feed of the prey they killed merely leaving the carcass for the Shepherd to find.

The commotion came closer and closer even disturbing the birds from the trees around him. He wondered why he couldn't see the egels or the dragon yet, for the commotion was truly quite loud. His question was answered nearly as fast as it was pondered, as the dragon and its rider were  disturbingly close to the tops of the trees barely inches from touching the pine.  Hot bright flame bellowed out of the mouth of the dragon yet the egels easily danced around it. The rider was standing in the dragon's stirrups with his hands out stretched casting spells that appeared to either slow down time around the egels or make the space around the egels stretch, effectively giving the dragon more surface area to aim at. It was a true battle for their lives, as even though the egels did not attack, the proximity to the pair appeared to be disorientating to the dragon as it noticeably swayed like a drunkard. If either was to plummet from such a height through the dense trees it could prove fatal. 

The rider edged the dragon closer to the border in order to get away from what only could be described as the dis-orientation spell woven by the egels. Yet it did little good, as they were too nimble for the large dragon effortlessly outpacing it. The dragon gave a mighty sway, as if not knowing up from down causing the rider to partially fall from the stirrup. Only to be saved from a harrowing fall by his ankle, as the stirrup had spun itself around griping the rider as if to prevent the fall. Athan gasped as he watched the situation unfold, he was paralyzed with curiosity at the events unfolding above him. In a single motion the rider spun in the stirrup freeing himself from the knot and leaping back onto the dragon's back, as he did this he proceeded to unsheathe his sword and cut down an egel from the sky. 

The rider's sword cut down another two egels in one swift motion. The egels proceeded to get more agitated, flying faster and in more complex movements that only seemed to increase the disorientation of the dragon. But the rider seemed more confident now that he had slayed three egels and as such exhibited even more complex movements of his sword. It seemed as the rider became more proficient in the fight the dragon's confusion drew it closer and closer towards the border, such that currently they were only mere meters from it. This fact became evident to the rider, as he seemed to become more preoccupied with controlling the movement of the dragon rather than the egels.  

This seemed to give the egels the chance they needed as they surrounded the pair completely, such that Athan could barely see either in the haze of egels. The dragon let out another stream of golden fire that managed to hit about 5 egels, as even their nimbleness could not protect them when they were so close to a dragon. In spite of this, many egels still surrounded the pair clearly increasing the dragon's confusion and in that instant the dragon fell past the border and proceeded to hurtle towards the ground.