New Legacy

Ch.9

We weren’t getting off at Kuasta, but Brom looked rather wistful at the city he was born in the whole time we were docked there. It was much like Teirm only much larger, sprawling, colorful. It looked like something out of an anime to be perfectly Honest.

The following week to Aroughs was similarly uneventful to the trip between Teirm and Kuasta. I’d be worried about the time if I wasn’t certain that trying to reach the Varden in the Beor Mountains on boarback would’ve taken much longer even if we rode like the demons of hell were at our heels.

It was when we reached Aroughs, however, is when things got...annoying. “What do you mean we’re not setting sail?” Brom demanded from Captain Rigline, the captain of the Silver Sail.

“Exactly what I mean. The Imperial customs house has decided to check us for illegal contraband, so we’re moored for a few days instead of just the one needed to unload and load-up. You can feel free to disembark, but we’re not waiting for you if you don’t come back before we leave.” Rigline, a wrinkled and rude old chestnut earth pony who cared only about money and his ship, dismissed the unicorn and trudged back into his cabin.

“Well, it’s not the tropics, but it is swampy.” I muttered with a look over the sprawling city. It had high walls, but they were much thinner than the ones in Teirm or Kuasta due to the marshy ground the city was constructed on. It almost seemed like one of those bayou towns in the southern USA, but scaled up to the size of a small city. Raised wooden walkways stretched everywhere in place of roads and no building outside the walls was made of stone.

Said buildings inside the walls were like the stone construction of Teirm. Good gosh, how are they not sinking into the swamp? Did they pull a Venice and drive tons of lumber piles into the ground just so the city center could have stone buildings? Aside from the canals, this place was a clear example of class division in it’s two-tier construction. I thought that description in canon meant it had second-story balconies and walkways or something.

“I’m going into town then! I can’t stand to be stuck on board this tub one moment longer.” Murtagh declared and eagerly led our group down the gangplank, the rest of us having followed for likely much the same sentiment.

“We’ll still be bunking aboard the ship. We paid for those hammocks.” Roran sternly declared and we all nodded in agreement. Roran was oddly enough the most mindful of our collective purses. It would seem that Garrow had instilled quite the frugal mindset into his son.

“I would rather Sister and I go beyond the city limits.” Saphira looked meaningfully at me and I perked up at the realization this meant we had an excuse to stretch our wings! Yes! I’ve been stuck on that ship for weeks now and I’m dying to fly!

“Lead the way!” I chirped and waved goodbye to the others. Roran sent feelings of wanting to join us, but Eragon put a hand on his taller cousin’s shoulder and withheld him. Um, Saphira? Are you taking me someplace to be alone? Well, as alone as either of us can get considering our Riders. “Sister?”

“Wait until we have privacy. Mental-speak or not, I want to spend time with my precious little sister.” Saphira said and I felt warmth in my heart. I remember those early days, stuck hunting in secret and hiding in Eragon’s little hideaway treehouse. I wouldn’t mind some quality time with my big sis.

We walked through the wooden streets of Aroughs until we reached the edge of the city. We then pulled off our footwear and stowed them in our cleavage when nobody was looking before jumping into the ankle-deep muck. Thank goodness we had the foresight to roll up our pant legs. Curse Alageasian culture and not adopting the wonders of shorts yet.

Once we were a good distance from the city, Saphira rounded on me and...I rubbed my cheek, the strike of her palm on my face was more painful than I ever could’ve imagined. “You knew! You knew Eragon would receive those omens, that he would be emotionally distraught, yet you forgot?! You didn’t think to tell him or me about it?!” Saphira demanded, her voice snarling and her expression filled with betrayal.

“I…I knew all of this from years ago and things are changing fast from me just being here.” I told her as I looked away. “I don’t know how much of what I know will even come to pass now. Arya was supposed to be still getting tortured by Durza right now, Brom was supposed to be killed by the Ra’Zac around this time and We wouldn’t have even considered heading for the Varden until Eragon had rescued Arya. I also got absorbed into teaching. I was a teacher in my past life, Saphira. It was so...”

“Easy to fall back into your old patterns. That I can accept, but you’re my sister, my kin. We may not be clutchmates, but you have hurt me. Do not do this again. Come, we fly and hunt. Getting out of these weak little bodies will do us some good.” Saphira huffed and I sniffled with a nod she didn’t see, meekly moving to follow my sister.

🥚

Saphira was right. Getting to use our birth forms with the charms on our wrists/ankles so the city couldn’t see us and flying was beyond liberating. We spent the day flying and hunting down wild bullboars further north of the city where the marsh turned to grassland. “Hmm, goodness these boars taste so good! Almost as good as sex!” I purred before gnawing on a femur.

“I still do not understand your obsession with copulation, sister.” Saphira huffed while breathing smoke onto the fresh kill. We may not have firebreath yet, but our smoke was potent and although it was tasteless to us when breathing it, it flavored meat quite well!

“Once we’ve matured enough you will. I’m only getting the itch because of my last life and Roran’s intimacy with Katrina.” Which, again, has only reinforced my bisexuality. “If you’d like, I would be willing to educate you in the matter.”

“Is that what Eragon would call a...solicitation?” At Saphira’s question, I choked on the bone and hacked it back up.

“N-no!” My wings are stiff for some reason! Do dragons get wingboners like birds?!

“...I feel like you are being insincere. Am I desirable, then?” Saphira questioned curiously and I really, really didn’t like where this was going, but at the same time I did!

“That is a trap question! I am not answering!” I protested and got up to flee, only for my bigger, stronger, faster sister to quickly bowl me over and I keened in surprise as she pinned me on my back and the playful gleam in her eyes joined her draconic smirk. “G-get off of me!”

“I will not until you answer.” Saphira even moved her forelimbs to get comfortable and I growled.

“You’re an incredibly beautiful creature, okay? We both are. We’re dragons, Saphira. Of course you’re desirable.” I huffed in irritation at my adopted sibling’s insistence at dragging my feelings into the open like a freshly caught deer.

“Thank you. Then that makes it a bit less awkward.” Saphira got off of me and I rolled back to my claws only for her to nuzzle my snout and I instinctively returned the affection. “I love you, sister. I just thought my infatuation was one way.” W-wha-bwuh?!

“W-what?! Y-you have a crush on me?!” I squeaked and jerked away from my sister, who laughed and keened aloud with her tail whacking the ground.

“I wouldn’t call it that. It is a curious thing. I feel for you like Eragon does Roran, but I also feel for you like Eragon did Marble. When the time comes and I feel these urges you and Eragon keep mentioning, would you mind assisting me in understanding it?” Saphira asked me and I gulped, my earlier offer coming to bite me in the tail, but I wasn’t going to say no.

“Of course. We’re sisters. It’s the least I could do for you in lieu of you not having a mother or father to do that for you.” I awkwardly agreed and Saphira nuzzled me again.

“Thank you, now let’s get back to feasting. Living off of hardtack and preserved meats for weeks on end is no way for a growing dragon to eat.” Saphira turned to the boars we’d hunted and continued blowing smoke on them.

“Agreed.” I am starving~!

🥚

After our enormous binge of bullboar and spending the rest of the day flying, we reluctantly flew back to the city and returned to our anthro forms to meet up with the others at the ship for the evening. However, we hid quickly when we noticed two familiar hooded and cloaked figures on a roof looking across the docks at the Silver Sail. “Roran! The Ra’Zac are here!”

“What?!” I shared my sight with him and he cursed. “Damn, I’ll alert the others. If the Ra’Zac are here somehow, then they’ve already alerted the local garrison. Stay hidden.”

“Sister, surely we could kill them. They have their backs turned, dishonorable or not, I think retrieving our bows and shooting them in the back would be the best course of action.” Saphira and I had learned archery while stuck on the ship with nothing else to do, but no!

“That is foolishness! The Ra’Zac are stronger, faster, tougher than ponies. At least in the ways of combat.” I could not deny that when it comes to farming or moving earth or stone, earth ponies were much stronger, faster and tougher than the other species, but there was this odd equalizing factor when it came to things outside of their innate abilities and Talents that made everypony as good as everypony else like humans. The only reason pegasi make better soldiers is the tactical value given by their wings.

Before Saphira could reply, the Ra’Zac turned to the side and jumped down from the roof onto the suspiciously barren walkways and approached the ship. I was about to fish my spear from my bosom when Elric emerged from the ship in his full suit of armor and descended the gangplank, causing the two cloaked figures to pause. “Hello there! I’m impressed, you got here in a rather timely fashion.”

“Stand aside and you will not die with the rest. Our quarry is with the traitors.” The taller Ra’Zac rasped, but further discourse was halted by someone grabbing me under the armpits and I yelped at my claws leaving the walkways. I looked up to see a stone-faced pegasus in full armor carrying me into the air and then to the side to see Saphira had also been abducted, my sister struggling valiantly even as the ground got further away. “We have your dragons, now come out!”

“You have nothing!” Saphira snarled and her body shined. I only had moments to follow suit when she erupted in size, causing her captor to yelp in pain from his grasp going from around a comely female to hugging the sharp scales of a proper dragoness. My own captor dropped me upon this realization, but it wasn’t enough to save him from being batted to the ground by my tail. “We will not be objects to be bargained over!”

“Heh, if you think they are dragons, be glad you haven’t seen the dragons back home.” Elric chuckled before he unsheathed the sword on his hip to reveal the blade dripped with a turquoise liquid that shined slightly. “Now, I believe this is the part where you run away?”

“Seize them!” The Ra’Zac ordered and a whole squadron of pegasi flew into the sky from all along the docks.

“Shimmer! Try to escape to the other side of the ship! We’ve lowered a longboat into the water on the starboard side! Brom’s quickly enchanted the boat like our charms and saddles!” Roran telepathically shouted at me and I dove to avoid several soldiers trying to nab me.

I breathed smoke down at the Ra’Zac as I flew overhead as well as all around me to generate as much of a smokescreen as I could. I couldn’t tell if Saphira was following my lead or not in my haste to follow Roran’s directions, so I hoped she was or had another avenue of escape as I dove into the chilly water and transformed into my anthro state. From below, I could only tell where the boat was because of my connection to Roran.

I swam up and gasped for air before multiple hands grabbed me from the water and pulled me onto the boat. Saphira was already here, reminding me that she took to water like a fish unlike my fumbling about. I coughed for air and shook myself before I realized the stallions were all frantically rowing as the pegasi flew over the ship and began to search in a fanning spiral pattern.

“W-what about Elric?!” I asked fearfully while looking at the low-flying soldiers who would surely catch us with their dutiful efforts and make such a noble sacrifice for naught.

“Mister Elric has made his choice. He was the one who volunteered. Besides.” Brom nodded at Elric’s portable resurrection shrine at the back of the boat. “He’ll be along shortly unless they manage to capture him alive.” Brom then shouted that Ancient Language gibberish which I won’t bother to properly learn unless I absolutely have to. The effect was rather pronounced, our speed picked up to almost twice as fast as before, nearly creating a pronounced wake.

“So we’re going to row all the way to Reavstone?” Saphira questioned as she checked over the group. It seemed that the only one not present was Elric and aside from the bullboars we had to abandon on the Silver Sail, we had all of our belongings on our persons.

“If Elric dies and respawns with us, yes. He’s Undead and near-tireless. He would keep rowing while the rest of us switch off.” Murtagh huffed from where he was rowing his oar next to Eragon, who nodded at his half-brother’s words.

“If not, this longboat can be rigged for sailing. We’d just need to pull out the poles and canvas we appropriated the moment Brom sensed something was wrong.” Eragon added with a cheeky grin. “It’s a good thing I’ve been practicing on molding wood with magic, isn’t it?”

“Careful, your ego will capsize the boat if you keep that up.” Roran joked and everyone chuckled at the jab at Eragon’s tendency to quickly become overconfident, besides the pegasus himself and Arya.

“I don’t know. His head already seems fat enough.” Katrina added on and Arya looked between us all in confusion.

“I do not understand the humor here. Eragon is a natural mage to have grasped it so well so quickly.” Arya commented and Eragon blushed with a shy smile.

🥚

Elric didn’t respawn.

Brom cursed up a storm in the late evening after the soldiers gave up and ceased to search for us. By this point, Elric should have died either at the hands of the enemy or by his own hand. It would seem they incapacitated him and have restrained him in a way to prevent suicide. My bet’s on Seithr Oil, since it almost instantly debilitates and the Ra’Zac carry antidote on them.

So, with our planned continuous rower captured, Brom and Eragon used magic, wood poles, rope and canvas to make a fairly impressive makeshift sail for the longboat. This came with the problem that only Brom knew how to sail from experience since we were all still novices at best from our time aboard the Silver Sail.

The hardest part was trying to sleep in a rocking boat that didn’t have the weight or size to negate a lot of the force of the waves. It was also surprisingly chilly. That didn’t bother me much though, since my ‘inner fire’ kept me warm at all times, so I snuggled between Roran and Katrina to keep them warm. That said, Brom stayed up in the night and he slept during the day so us novices could continue following the coast east.

We repeated this for days until thank gosh, a coastal city appeared! Since we had to follow the coast and not the stars, the trip here took an extra day according to Brom when we woke him up. “Elric? Elric are you there? Did your sorry Undead ass get caught? Do I need to port over?” Elric’s portal shrine suddenly spoke in our minds, the crystal flames flickering like fire with each word spoken.

“Whoever you are, madam, Elric has been captured by vile creatures of the shadows. We’re carrying his respawn shrine until the time he manages to die passes.” Brom calmly informed the shrine as we coasted towards the city that looked as if it were just another Imperial city, although it did feature much more in the way of decoration and artistic architecture.

“You’re the group he’s been telling our Goddess about, correct? Well, she seems to want you to have back-up at the least. Ugh, I hate interplanar travel.” The voice said before the crystal fire erupted and a modest reptilian woman in casual clothes emerged. She looked much like Saphira and I, but she had wings on her back. “I’ll travel with you until Elric is back, unless my Goddess orders me to leave for another mission. I am Kalameet.”

“I’d say well-met, but we’re about to arrive in Reavstone. Please withhold further introduction until we get situated.” Brom grumpily insisted while he used an oar as a rudder to guide us towards the city.

“Well, isn’t he a spot of sunshine?” Kalameet huffed and scanned us all with a sweep of her rather angular and regal head, which didn’t have the same roundedness as Saphira or I did. I always thought we looked sorta like Blue-Eyes-White-Dragons. “You don’t seem like much, but don’t mind my opinion. When you live amongst legends, things tend to get rather unimpressive really quickly.”

“Hmph, what are you to dismiss dragons so casually?” Saphira demanded while Brom muttered about his wishes being ignored.

“An Everlasting Dragon, I’m barely twenty years of age, but still an Everlasting. I’m named after an ancient dragon who was a royal guard of the first Dragon Lord.” Kalameet explained as she sat down. “I’ll save the rest for when we’re in the city.”

Everlasting?I pondered over the odd prefix, considering the dragons here already were ageless upon reaching maturity. Or at least those Bonded to a Rider were. I wasn’t a gamer and didn’t follow it’s trends, so I don’t know much about Dark Souls since they never released a serial book publication.

We reached Reavstone in due time, our new guest looking at the sky longingly as she muttered about how old the magic here was. When we reached the doc, a guard in blue armor jolted at sighting us and pointed at us. “Hold! Where did you come from?! No lookouts reported any boats coming from Aroughs-way!” The stallion demanded and Brom stood from the rudder.

“We have sailed here from Aroughs to bring the grim news that the Empire has chosen to disrupt trade with Surda. They assaulted our chartered ship at the docks with a full force of pegasi soldiers. I had to ward against being seen or heard in order for us to escape.” Brom calmly informed the soldier, who snarled and his horn shimmered in magic that seized the boat and brought us in.

“Damn it. Come ashore, I’ll get you to the registration office.”