Nico Di Angelo Dragon Rider (Amongst other things)

Race to the Rammr

Eragon wakes with a start. the strange dream had unnerved him even more than those about the strange girl.he was convinced now that these dreams had been real. Eragon look around to find Draco, or whatever his real name was, packing up the camp. Brom wakes up next to Eragon and watches Draco snuff out the fire. He turns towards them. "We need to get going." Brom grimaces. "And just where exactly is it you think were going?" "Trunjeim." Draco responds flatly. Brom growls. "How do you know about Tronjeim?" Draco chuckles. "becuase i know things." "Look." Eragon interjects. "Thanks for your help last night and everything but were not done tracking the razac. i need to kill them to avenge my uncle." Draco sighs. "Maybe you didnt notice but the Razac almost murked you both last night." Eragon raises an eybrow. "Murked?" Draco continues without responding. "Besides we have bigger problems." The string of vague insinuations and half riddles that proceeded from Dracos mouth was so opaque as to be nearly meaningless. But three things became clear.

1. The Razac and the shade Durza would have recognized his sword, and they would be laying low untill they reevaluated their plans.
2. The elf arya, who was the girl Eragon had dreamed about, had been rescued by an accomplice of his, who would transport her to the Rammr river.
3. She was rapidly dying from a rare and dangerous poison and needed to be taken to the varden to be saved.

Almost as if anticipating that they would not believe him. Draco said all this in the ancient language. Eragon and Brom consider eachother briefly. Normally statements in the ancient language would have proved truthfulness, but he had been so intentionally evasive that it was impossible to know what he was telling the truth about. Despite his annoyance Eragon found something impressive about a person who was so careful and skilled about protecting his secrets. "How do you know all this?" Brom asks. Draco smirks. "Because i know things." Ultimately they decided to go with him if for no other reason than because he had a plan, and they no longer did.

"Ill need to ride Saphira so you can ride caddock." Draco ignores me and whistles loudly. A majestic black stallion galloped into th clearing. the sight of the horse made me uneasy. the other horse refused to go near it. and evene saphira had a flash of nervousness. i felt through our bond a strange emotion. the shadow of an ancient instinct that told her there was something wrong with this horse. Draco reaches up and rubs the horses snout. "This is thestral." He says. "He was a gift from my father. 

Dracos horse thestral is extremely odd, while he seemes upon direct examination to be the finest horse eragon had ever seen, if he caught a glimpse just out of the corner of his eye, he could swear it was jsut skin and bones. Saphira often complained of the smell of rotting flesh. yet the horse had incredible physical abilities. when caddock and snowfire were at a gallop, thestral kept up at a leisurely trot. and if Draco pushed thestral to a gallop, he would leave them behind as if they were standing still, even at their fastest pace. He often did this to travel ahead and scout a campsite. but despite its incredible stamina Eragon never saw the horse eat or drink. but due to this haste they reached the hadarac desert within a week. Draco taught them a spell t raise water out of the ground. all was going well untill they met the slavers.

about 50 men surrounded them and order them off their horses. Eragon calls out to saphira with his mind. Brom Reaches for his sword. But Draco reaches out his hand and snaps his finger. a rush of magic flows through the group. The slavers eyes glaze over. "You will leave the desert immediately. you will abandon the slave trade for honest labor. you will not remember ever meeting us. the slavers eyes clear. they stand perfectly still for a moment, then without saying a word they mount their horses and ride off. Brom turns to him and snarls. "Ive never seen magic like that." But Draco has already urged his horse forward.

when we finally reach the rammr we find a girl, about my age. she extraordinarily beautiful despite being covered in injuries. Draco examines her injuries. "Styx" the curse rings with power and hangs in the air longer than it should. Eragon wonders if its from the ancient language."Youll have to heal her." Draco says turning to eragon. Eragon startles. "Why me?" Draco scowls. "Because brom isnt strong enough and im ... not good at healing." He examines eragons aprehensive face. then forces a smile that seemed like it was probably intended to be reassuring but made him look like a serial killer. "Dont worry, i can give you the energy and teach you the words. But you need to cast the spell. Eragon locks eyes with Brom, who nods. Okay.  eragon lowers his mental barriers and prepares to merge his mind with Draco, but before he does Draco interupts. "Eragon." They make eye contact. "Best not to concern yourself with the secrets of scary people." Suddenly the temperature drops. "especially when they dont want them to be shared." Eragon gulps. nervously. the warning was perfectly clear.

Dracos mind was not right. even the small part he shared with Eragon seemed more vast and complicated than any intelligence he had ever encountered. his thoughts seemed to be shadowy and unclear. like trying to see shapes in the darkness. Eragon wonders if this is some strange techniquge to guard his mind. there was something else too. some hint of something distinct but inseperable. it reminded eragon of how he felt toward Saphira. he had a brief impulse to examine the anomaly, but had to remind himself that this was a human being, not an animal that would never notice if he examined his mind. Not to mention he had a strange suspicion that Draco could kill him or worse if he wanted, or worse. Eragon felt Brom merge his mind with theirs. silently watching incase Draco tried to trick him into swearing an oth in the ancient language. Draco began funneling a steady tream of energy into Eragon. He didnt seem to tire at all. once Eragon had exhustged all the healing he knew. Draco began giving him knew spells. Increasingly complex and difficult to the point where Eragon could do no more sense he didnt even understand what they were supposed to do." but they managed to heal almost all of her physical injuries.

"well your friend, whoever he was, brought her to the widest part of the river." well have to find somewhere we can cross. Draco shrugs walks to the river. he holds out his hand and a white wooden staff with a crocodile head carved at the top. He stands at the river for a moment, as if in silent meditation. Then suddenlyhe brings the staff down into the river and the water ju,ps out of the bed. it forms a large arc over their heads and flows back into itself without spilling a drop. Brom looks astonished. "How-the energy that should take-its not possible." Draco smirks "Funny how often impossible things happen around people who know things you dont." with that he mounts his horse and begins riding through the arc of water. Brom lifts Arya across snowfires back and follows him. But Eragon Holds back and links his mind to Saphiras. "What do you think about Draco." "I think he is by far the most dangerous creature we have yet to encounter." Eragon senses hesitance to share her next thought. "What. he asks." She sends him an impression of a smell.   "what is it." Eragon asks. "It is the smell of magic." It is being used to mask something from my senses. I smelled it on Arya and on Dracos Horse, and in the air above us." Eragon shrugs. "I think we can trust Draco if he wanted to kil us we would be dead by now." Saphira agrees and they proceed through the river."

once they get to the other side Draco waves his staff and the Water falls back into its normal path. Draco turns to them. "This is where i leave you. for now at least." Youll have to proceed to the varden on your own." Brom Eragon and Saphira all look at himwith surprise. "why are you not coming?" "Because my, hmm hm, sources, tell me that theres a company of kull currently pursuing us. im going to head them off and see if i cant find out why." "You cant possibly take on a company of kull by yourself." brom says incredulously apparently glossing over who exactly were his sources. Draco raises an eyebrow and undersgtanding Dawns on Broms face. "IS what i would say to someone who hadnt just parted a fucking river without any apparent fatigue because clearly you have a few tricks up your sleeve which make you much more dangerous than the average magician." Draco smirks. "Ill see you around." And with that he urges his horse forward, and rides off.