New Legacy

Ch.13

“Good job disposing of those traitors, lads.” Brom praised happily, as if the brutal and sudden execution was a joy for him to see. Well, knowing those two, it probably was.

“W-what was that about?!” Eragon demanded in shock while Roran calmly climbed down from me when I finally gave up and collapsed onto my chest and stomach. I laid my neck out on the cold stone floor while he pet me along my neck and rubbed my scalp, Saphira doing the same, but not getting attention from her horrified Rider.

“They were traitors. I spent my time in Teirm well, confirming Shimmer’s prophetic information and relaying important intel to the Varden that the source of leaked information was, in fact, from the leaders of the Du Vrangr Gata. It was too late to save Jeod’s and other merchant’s support for us from Teirm, but I sent ahead that should they try to restrain us upon arrival, that their implicit betrayal be proven and their lives forfeit.” Brom declared for all present and I crooned in pleasure at things going right thanks to my input.

“Wait, isn’t that wrong? Isn’t the correct syntax Du Gata Vrangr if you want it to say The Wandering Path instead of The Path Wanders?” Murtagh questioned with irritation and I snorted in amusement that because he was used to cutthroat politics, the thing in the situation that irritated him was incorrect grammar.

“I don’t know. Both of them sound ominous and Du Vrangr Gata has a better ring to it than Du Gata Vrangr.” Roran commented calmly, having known the Twins were traitors from me ahead of time and was prepared to resist their mental probing. Also, he wasn’t wrong. I may be a bit of a linguist, but I disliked the Ancient Language. It had too many opposing rules to be natural.

“How long until the others arrive?” One of the wargs who executed the traitorous unicorns questioned with a direct look at Orik. Ah, politics. How I loathe them.

“Due to the size of the group and the incoming yak invasion, I split the party so that those flight-capable could get here with all haste. The other group includes Arya Svit-kona and they traveled roundabout south by Dalgon-way. I have hopes that since Dalgon is so far south of the invasion’s goal that they’ll find little to no resistance. At best, they’ll reach us the day after tomorrow.” Orik reported and I could only hope he was right.

“Wise decision. Now come, we must report everything to Ajihad and King Hrothgar immediately in the face of this invasion.” They looked at us and then Brom. “They cannot be brought forth yet. We’ll have trusted wargs guide them to a place to rest while you fully inform us Brom, Orik.”

“The battle should not be for a few days at most, with the warning it may be a week since the Yaks need to dig new tunnels to get to our location.” Brom commented as we moved on. “We should use this time to prepare for them.”

“Waste your voice not on us when you need to repeat all of this for their leaders, Brom. We’ll gladly take whatever space to collapse and recover in the meantime.” Saphira voiced and then gestured with her snout at Murtagh. “However, remember that Murtagh has dire news as well.”

“Right, I’m afraid I must bring this young pegasus into the meeting. He has important information to provide us.” Brom then patted his son’s shoulder. “Eragon, rest now. I’m afraid you’ll be cast headlong into the politics and violence I wouldn’t wish on anyone, let alone my son.” Brom’s words caused a bit of a hushed uproar from the nearby peanut gallery, but he didn’t pause in following the two executioners along with Murtagh and Orik.

Meanwhile, a griffin approached us and after gaping at Saphira and I in awe, he led us another direction to...why~! So many stairs~!

🥚

I swear upon my mother’s grave, I hate stairs! I get they don’t have elevators, let alone one big enough for Saphira or I, but please, dear gods. Somebody invent them already! “Roran! Invent elevators and escalators immediately!” My plea made Roran snort and he waved off the curious griffin’s look.

Saphira snorted smoke and rolled her eyes with a gesture of her snout at something. “I think the wargs are on it. There is a crude cage with a counterweight over there on chains and pulleys.”

I looked where she was gesturing to see a small metal cage set in the wall going down, then up as if in testing. There were wargs taking note, listening to one of them make vague as hell descriptions of what should do what. The chihuahua-like warg was describing counterweights like ‘big block that stop fall’ or ‘cage need less weight to move’ or ‘door need magic open’.

Why is he speaking in broken common unlike other wargs who are either speaking fluent common or what I suspect is wargish? My musing was interrupted by the hyperactive 4-foot tall short-hair puppy perking up and sniffing rapidly before he snapped his attention to me. “Mum~!” He rushed towards us, whimpering, whining and yelping pathetically-.

“Aw c’mere little one~! Mummy has work you...know?” I froze at the realization that the clearly insane warg’s behavior triggered my ‘mama mode’ like when I got home to Peppy in my previous life. My shock was overridden when he pounced against my chest and nuzzled into me. A mixture of overwhelming joy and pain filled me and I wanted to cry.

“Who are you?” Roran demanded angrily after he yanked the warg off of me and stood between us, his mind full of rage and worry over how the puppy hurt me emotionally.

“Peppy!” He cheered and I keened in a pathetic and sorrowful noise that made everyone wince. “No cry mum! Peppy here! Peppy was alone long time. Food run out, water gone, got so hungry-thirsty. Peppy close eyes and wake here. Place full of new friends Peppy’s size.”

“No. Please no. Nobody came to find out where I went? Nobody took you in? No...no…” I didn’t realize I was so alone before. Before I was reborn here, did I really have anyone? Because of my introverted ways before my new life woke up whatever social butterfly Milly was the cocoon for, Peppy starved to death. My baby. My baby~! I’m sorry~!

“Peppy make things! Peppy have things in head not there before. Now mum is back. Peppy happy!” The chihuahua warg tried to hug me again, but Roran pushed him away and he began yapping and snarling at my Rider for getting between us.

“Even if what you say is true, you’re hurting her! Go away, come back later!” Roran demanded, but Peppy wasn’t listening. It was at this point a couple of other wargs pounced on him, strapped a tight muzzle on his snout and dragged him away with him kicking and squealing.

“We are so sorry! He’s eccentric and unhinged, but he’s a surprisingly capable savant at engineering. We’ll keep him away from you in the future.” An armored guard warg stated and I shook my head.

“No! I want to see him later, but for now the pain in my heart is too great.” I then methodically shut down my thoughts, trying to remain calm in the face of the agonizing despair rooted in my heart while I listlessly followed Saphira as our guide continued to lead us across the main chamber of Tronjheim to the main spiral staircase to the Dragonhold.

Not even the sight of the erroneously named Star Sapphire could cheer me up. It’s a ruby damn it! They’re both corundum, but sapphires are blue and rubies are red! It’s a Ruby Rose! “Sister.” Sapphire crooned and nuzzled me under my chin. “Please. The pain I am sensing from you is incredible. Please be at ease.”

“How would you feel knowing you left your hatchling to die of starvation?” I snarled, but didn’t move away upon realizing we’d reached the Dragonhold. The wargs make much larger staircases than dwarves. I idly remember that the incorrectly named giant 60-foot wide gem had to be moved aside for Saphira to enter and leave Tronjheim in canon.

“I would be crushed with guilt and sorrow, but if what I witnessed below is true, then whatever force reincarnated you here has done the same with that warg. He is here now too.” Saphira reasoned with me and I shuddered in a mixture of gratitude and hatred towards whatever ripped me from my previous life, only to lament that I couldn’t. I have too much now to be ungrateful.

“What then should I take from this? That I died in my sleep?! Why did I die in my sleep?! Was I sick with plague?!” I demanded from my sister, having let her know so much about me in the early days after I ‘woke’ back up weeks after I hatched. “Because it is one thing to wake up to a new life and quite another to realize I died and this is genuine reincarnation at work! What if someone else dies in my apartment?!”

“Then I would take comfort in it. That is beyond your power, so you should not worry about it.” Saphira huffed and booped my snoot with her snoot. “Now lie down, shut up and sleep. I will batter you if I must.” Saphira threatened and I sullenly obeyed, snuggling up against her and letting her lay her neck over mine. It was cold up here, like back in Carvahall…

🥚

I blearily awoke to the insistent and gentle mental nudging from my Rider. I felt his hands wipe a damp cloth over my eyes and the powerful crust that was keeping them shut washed away. I must be genuinely exhausted with plenty of eye strain if so much rheum built up. My laziness was defeated by the scent of fresh-cooked pork and I lunged at the meat blindly with desperate hunger. Thankfully nobody was between me and savory sinful meat.

I crushed it’s bones in my jaws and tore a chunk out before finally opening my tired eyes to see a boar carcass much larger than any bullboar I’d seen before. How did they get this up here? “I see they enjoy Nagra.” A chuckling warg commented and I swallowed my first revitalizing mouthful of protein to look to my left and find Saphira similarly going at her own roasted giant boar. “I’m glad I cooked these up now, even if it’s enough food for a feast.”

“Sorry. We’re big and growing girls and we’ve been stuck eating cured meats and hardtack for weeks now.” I apologized to the cook who wore a dirty kitchen smock and had several other similarly dressed wargs behind him.

“Which is why the Dragonhold has such a big staircase even though your kind can be reasonably sized if still too tall. We didn’t season them since we didn’t know your preferences though.” The cook said with an apologetic tone to which I shook my head.

“No, unseasoned is fine, especially when you’re as hungry as we are right now.” I was about to take another bite when familiar yapping reached my hearing. “Oh dear...please let him come, Roran. I need to face him sooner rather than later.”

“I still don’t like it, but I understand a bit.” Roran moved to the side where he and Eragon had a small table and chairs to rest and eat their salads. Unlike genuine omnivores and carnivores, herbivores like ponies still preferred plant-based foods even though they can and do eat meat too. That said, they couldn’t stand unseasoned meat at all.

“Mum!” I winced when Peppy rushed me from the stairs with a couple of other wargs following the frantic fool. He pounced on my side and snuggled against me. “Mm~! Mum different, but still warm and smell nice.” Peppy observed and I sighed out of my nose before using my wing to hug him against me.

“I’ve changed, little one, like you have.” I calmly said before going back to my massive meal. The sun was high, but considering how long I’d stayed awake before, I had no clue what day or time it was. “So, what all has happened or do you even know?” I questioned everyone around while Peppy was happy enough to just snuggle against me under my wing.

“It’s been a whole day. The yaks are mustering, probing the tunnels to try and infiltrate, but the wargs have already collapsed all of the tunnels that come from the west. They’ve tried their big beefy hands and horns at ramming the gates down, but the mountain itself would sooner collapse than the gate would give.” Roran informed me and I hummed in worry.

“Just please don’t tell me Murtagh has been wrongfully imprisoned.” I implored him while viscerally devouring my meal. That’s the great thing about telepathy, you can talk and eat or drink at the same time.

“Murtagh has been detained, but not imprisoned. He’s being kept in a warded room for his own protection since his father’s legacy has more than a few small-minded people up in arms over him being in Tronjheim, even with Brom’s clout and him being my half-brother.” Eragon sighed and ran a hand down his snout. “It’s only been a full day and already I tire of politics. I’m not even directly involved in anything right now since Brom is our acting representative.”

“I still say that you should at least sit in on the meetings. You’re going to need experience, Eragon.” Saphira chided her Rider and Eragon sighed with a nod.

“As loathe as I am to agree with that, sister is right. You’ll be mired in politics from here on out, at least until Sombra is deposed and the lands are safe.” I added my own cents to the notion. Especially considering that as the dragon in the relationship, I won’t have as much involvement with the political side of things, so Roran needs to up his interpersonal game further. He’s the soft voice, I’m the big stick. Together we can be Teddy Roosevelt!

“Trust me, Shimmer, I know how much you hate politics, but unfortunately it’s just part of life now. You two keep eating and resting, we need you both ready when the invasion breaches the valley.” Roran stood after finishing his salad and I purred into my meal.

🥚

“-So I’ve been promoted to being your minder.” Orik finished his explanation of his end of things while he used a soapy brush and bucket to get the dirt out of our scales starting with Saphira. I meanwhile laid in the fresh hay Orik and a team of workers had brought up to the Dragonhold.

“So, more politics. You know us the most so you’re stuck with us.” I commented while I lamented the absence of Peppy. His minders took him when he was napping and told me they needed him stable so they can keep working on his clever ideas.

“Just about.” Orik shrugged before finishing with cleaning my sis. “S,o what’s this I hear about you greatly disliking Isidar Mithrim’s name?” Orik asked curiously and I felt myself puff up before Saphira shook and sprayed water everywhere.

“Hmph! It’s a Ruby, not a Sapphire! They may both be corundum, but sapphires are blue like my sister and rubies are red like the rose your ‘star’ is carved to look like. The gem itself is glorious, a true wonder, but the name is terrible!” I declared firmly and Orik hummed when he started using a brush to clean the bottom of my front left claw. He~ it tickles a little.

“Understandable, but I like to think that back when Dûrok Ornthrond caved Isidar Mithrim, we believed all corundum to be sapphires. At least until ponies arrived and brought with them the distinction that sapphires have more iron in them to turn them blue. By then, however, we didn’t have our own word for rubies, so the name just stuck.” Orik theorized and I crooned in appreciation for the historical context he answered with.

“Careful, small one. My sister is a historian and enjoys trivia. She may not be schooled in local histories much, but be careful that she doesn’t attach to you like a leech to suck out your knowledge.” Saphira playfully teased me and I leered at my beautiful shining sister.

“Considering how many questions she asked about culture and custom when she wasn’t bellyaching about the long jog told me that much.” Orik chuckled and I snorted smoke down at the bearded fluffy warg, but he barely coughed. “That said, I’ve also been instructed to answer any and all questions I’m allowed to, so feel free to ask away.”

“Oh dear, I’d best get my sister away from you, or she’ll spend all day at it.” Saphira used her tail loop around my neck and she pulled me to my claws.

We suddenly both froze. I felt warm. Warm in a sensual way! “Sister? Please remove your tail from my neck.” She obeyed my polite request and I swallowed my saliva. “Well. We now know tail and neck interactions are right-out when it comes to platonic contact.”

“Oh aye. We’ve seen Fanghur mating start with tail-to-snout and neck touching like that. Makes sense it’d set something off with you. I’ll make sure the water troughs are freshened up while you’re out. Don’t fly beyond the valley, though. The Fanghur beyond the wards are not kind.” Orik warned us and I took flight to escape the fact that happened in front of a friend.

“Sorry, sister. We’re both still new to intimacy and I’m a complete virgin…” Saphira! Phrasing! We haven’t even done anything like that!

“It’s okay, sis. Besides, I’m still willing to...teach you. At least in our anthro forms. Those I’m much more familiar with. When it comes to our birth forms, well, I’m as in the dark as you.” I admitted while looking down at the valley on the south side of Farthen Dur. It was filled with farms and quarries and other important resources for everyday life.

To think, the yaks will burn those fields and slaughter the citizens. It sucks donkey balls that even a portion of this space was set aside for military training. Yet there’s nothing more I can do to prevent it, I can only help mitigate the damage when it arrives.

“Aha! It is good to be in the open again!” Elric cheered upon exiting a stone gate on the southwest end of the valley. The only reason I could hear him was because the moment I saw the gates open, I focused my senses in that direction. Having telescopic senses was still a novelty to me, especially since I only had access to them in my birth form.

“Sister! The others have arrived!” I called out to her and flew towards the southwest end of the valley, giving a cheerful roar to announce our presence before we dove down and then pulled up to land gracefully. Thank goodness for practicing so much on the roads. “Elric, Katrina, Arya, Diane. It is good to see you all.” I lowered my head to nuzzle Katrina’s chest affectionately and she giggled before reciprocating by hugging my snout.

“It’s good to see you have arrived safely too. Where are Roran and the others?” Katrina asked with a pet of my brow, which while ‘belittling’ as Saphira put it, I enjoyed the tingly sensation of getting petted.

“They’re in Tronjheim sitting in on meetings to familiarize with how they are carried out.” Saphira told everyone while I was nuzzling Katrina’s boobs and she was blushing, but smiling with a knowing gleam in her eyes. “The yaks have not yet found a way to penetrate this valley or Tronjheim. We’re in a holding pattern until the enemy finds a way to try and lay siege.”

“I wish to be placed on the front lines of this battle!” Elric declared before I scooped Katrina up in my foreclaws and took off with her, causing her to squeal in surprise and grasp my chest since I’d hugged her to it.

“W-what are you doing, Shimmer?!” Katrina called over the wind as I flew to the Dragonhold.

“To be blunt. I’m tired of us beating around the bush. Also, Sister got me aroused by accidentally performing draconic mating gestures with me.” I looked down at my ‘captive’ who blushed as brightly as her coppery mane and tail. “Katrina, I love you both as a person I grew to know and from Roran’s influence on my feelings for you. I need attention.”

Elsewhere, Roran had to fight a sudden erection, but he was glad he had learned Elric’s magic storage trick, which also hid male genitals to his personal relief.