Instead of Arya, I prefer her mom (Chapter 44)

Saphira perched on a sheer cliff, overlooking the ocean. Ruffling her wings anxiously, she considered her present situation. Eragon was missing.

According to Brom, her rider asked for a day’s break from his training and studies. Brom agreed, and Eragon went out early yesterday morning, wanting to see Teirm’s sights and relax. However, when evening came, he was nowhere to be found.

At first, Brom suspected he was staying out late, enjoying himself in a tavern or watching a performance. Time passed, but Eragon didn’t return. Growing worried, Brom started a search, asking their host for help. Being a fairly well-known merchant, Jeod had connections throughout the city.

Yet, after a day of looking, Eragon wasn’t found. It was at this point Brom contacted Saphira, asking if she’d seen him. She hadn’t.

Spurred by sudden anxiety, the young dragon wanted nothing more than to reach out and scan Teirm from top to bottom, but Brom dissuaded her. If this was their enemies’ doing, Saphira exposing herself might be exactly what they wanted. Grumbling discontentedly, she accepted Brom’s reasoning.

After establishing a modus operandi, Saphira severed the connection, stewing in her own thoughts. Once again, she found herself helpless and useless. Every time Eragon encountered trouble, she could do nothing but watch from the sidelines.

Inevitably, Cedric’s… plan came to mind. If she were able to take a human form, she could enter their cities, walking unnoticed among them. No longer would she remain in the rear, waiting for others to solve their problems for them.

Saphira had entertained the idea, but relegated it to the back of her mind. She hadn’t taken Cedric’s advice to consult the werecat. Yet, she wasn’t willing to entirely blame herself for being lax or unconcerned. It was all his fault! After saying so many ridiculous things, angering and embarrassing her, was she meant to take him seriously?

The dragoness struggled to regain control of her emotions, recalling their last conversation. Cedric’s ‘suggestion’ was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. A human wanting to transform into a dragon? And even worse, he actually, actually said they should…!

‘How presumptuous!’

Saphira shook her head, feeling her anger flare. That two-legs thought far too highly of himself. He was fortunate she hadn’t punished his arrogance by eating him on the spot.

More vexingly, he proposed the idea so casually!

After contacting him earlier, she detected no embarrassment, nor any indication their last conversation was even on his mind. It was infuriating! However, she did notice something else. His excuse about not being able to help was just that—purely an excuse. He could if he wanted to, he just found it annoying.

What was he doing? Was he keeping secrets from her? Saphira knew he was. Unfortunately, there was no way to find out, nor force him to reveal his mischief-…

‘Saphira!’

Suddenly, while she mentally raked Cedric over the coals, the dragon felt a familiar consciousness. Shocked, relieved and delighted, she turned her head toward the distance. With her superior vision, she could see a small figure, like an ant on the horizon.

‘Eragon! Where were you? Are you alright? What happened-…?’

She fired off a barrage of questions before her rider responded, managing to bat away her discordant thoughts.

‘I’m fine. Nothing happened. I just, well… I snuck out.’

Already in the air, Saphira’s mind ground to a halt. All her assumptions about Eragon’s situation, that he’d been kidnapped and somehow escaped, or that he’d been injured and unconscious until now, that Brom’s friend was somehow a traitor were thrown out the window.

‘What? I was worried about you! Why didn’t you say anything?’

Eragon conveyed a sheepish, apologetic feeling.

‘I don’t know, I just needed some time to think. I’ve been stuck in Teirm for so long, and I feel like I’m not accomplishing anything.’

Saphira was still wondering how to respond to that when he continued.

‘And that… elf from my dreams. Two nights ago, she was almost, almost…’

Suddenly, rage bled through to Saphira’s mind. She was somewhat taken off guard, having never felt Eragon display such anger before. Perhaps she was too quick in judging her rider’s behavior as childish. Something had to have happened for him to react in such a way.

‘Why don’t you find a quiet place to wait for me, little one? Once I arrive, you can tell me everything bothering you.’

Eragon pushed his thankfulness at her, glad that Saphira was giving him a chance to explain.

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In the subterranean space beneath Teirm’s streets, Cedric came face-to-face with the elusive mage. He wasn’t far from the atrium before sensing the fellow’s presence, weak and flickering. Evidently, he had taken some damage from the spell.

Cedric wasn’t too surprised. With the disproportionate energy consumption and tremendously devastating effects, even he took some damage.  It would be entirely unreasonable for his target to escape unscathed.

Advancing steadily down the dark tunnel, he spotted a figure slouching against a wall. It looked to be in terrible shape, hunched over and coughing painfully. Hearing Cedric’s footsteps, the mage raised his cowl, exposing a shadowed face and two gleaming eyes.

“Know you limits, child. I admit, the power of your spell exceeded expectations, but alone, you can’t hope to-…”

He was still in the middle of his speech when a lightning-bolt appeared out of thin air, crackling, buzzing and flashing toward him at insane speeds.

The man raised his arms in a hurry, his mouth moving to utter something, but he wasn’t fast enough. The writing electricity curled around him like a python made from pure energy, picking him up and flinging him into the air.

A strange, translucent membrane pulsed around him, resisting the attack, but only for a moment. With the mage’s wards drained, his body immediately stiffened, every muscle contracting to the limit. He hit the floor, jerking and spasming as static crackled in the air.

Suddenly, a boot came down on his neck, the mud-encrusted heel digging into his throat.

“Ugh-…!”

Cedric leaned over, his features cast darkly under a curtain of coppery hair.

“Did I say you could talk?”

The mage twitched under his shoe, still coming down from the electrocution. His wards had dulled the first impact, preventing lethal damage. However, he wouldn’t be fighting back any time soon.

Seeing him laying still, breathing unsteadily, pale from pain, Cedric scoffed.

“Get up.”

When the mage’s limbs jerked ineffectually, either as an attempt to obey or an involuntary spasm, Cedric decided to encourage him. Lifting his boot from the man’s neck, he brought it down on his ribs. Hard.

Spraying spittle and blood, the man’s eyes turned glassy. For a long moment, it seemed like he was about to die, unable to draw another breath, but then he started choking and coughing, vomiting a foamy, pinkish liquid onto his own chest.

His dilated pupils searched for Cedric’s face. Despite his own disheveled, pained expression, he managed to convey an intent of malice and sheer hatred. Throwing his head back, he shouted something in a raspy tone, loud as he could.

“W-what are you… *cough*… waiting for? Kill him!”

Cedric’s eyes widened.

He extended his mind in a hurry, wondering if the mage was bluffing. He hadn’t sensed anyone, but suddenly-…!

The wall behind him exploded outward, flinging stones, moss and mud into the air.

Cedric felt his scalp tingling, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. The air wooshed as something enormous closed in from behind, the loose, old bricks underneath groaning and shifting under tremendous weight.

Feeling a sense of intense danger, Cedric’s mind was a mess. There was just no time to voice a spell, or even to think of one. He reacted instinctively, sweeping his arm behind him and sending out a wave of telekinetic force, wanting to push his attacker away, creating some distance between them.

However, the same force that would’ve lifted a normal man off their feet, sending them flying, did absolutely nothing. It washed over the attacker like a wave over an ancient rock, standing defiantly on the shore

Before Cedric could do anything else, still only half turned around, something hit his lower back. He felt his body go cold as his wards sapped energy from him, dissipating the collision’s energy.

It was less like being struck with a weapon wielded by a human and more like being hit by a speeding car. He was sent flying, his legs going over his head. The residual force was enough to carry him past the mage, smashing into the ground hip-bone first.

Cedric felt a sharp pain lancing through his body. However, his situation was too grave to be laying on the floor. Clenching his teeth, he lifted his head, seeing the attacker for the first time.

His mouth opened in shock.

The man was tremendous. In fact, he was so big that he couldn’t even really fit in the tunnel. Looming there, he was hunched over, his back bent and his shoulders pressing against the ceiling. He couldn’t have been under seven feet tall.

However, it wasn’t merely height. He bulged with muscle to such an extent that he looked less like a human and more like a prized bull or a silver-back gorilla. His dark skin and thick, bearded appearance only made him more fearsome.

The coarse, black hairs covering his face like a rug made it impossible to see his expression in the tunnel’s dimness. The only part of him that stood out clearly were his eyes, gleaming violently under a pair of vicious, angry eyebrows.

For a moment, Cedric wondered if he was interbred with an urgal, but discarded that idea. He didn’t have the thick neck and heavy brow-ridge of one, needed to support their heafty horns. Suddenly feeling more curious that frightened, he felt a question on the tip of his tongue.

However, the gargantuan man wasn’t idle. Bending his back, he suddenly shot forward with size-defying speed, closing the gap between them in an instant. He brought one iron-booted heel down toward Cedric’s chest, but the young mage, having had a moment to collect his thoughts, was ready with a spell.

‘Lunaea!’

Suddenly, the rocks underfoot took on the properties of polished ice, becoming unbelievably smooth. The dampness of stagnant water only added to its hazardousness, causing the giant to slip and fall.

However, in a display of uncanny agility, he adjusted himself mid-air, flinging his arms and legs outward. Instead of his legs shooting forward and his torso backward, his tremendous bulk come to crash down on top of Cedric.

Eyes wide in shock, the boy scrambled to prepare another spell, but it was too late. The man’s enormous hand, a spiked, steel band enclosing his knuckles, went for Cedric’s throat.

He could feel his wards draining away, trying to stop that massive paw from crushing his larynx, but he just didn’t have any remaining strength.

Like a vice grip, he felt the hand closing around his throat. Cedric found himself looking at the gigantic man, meeting his dark eyes with his own.

However, ugly murderousness he expected wasn’t there. Face-to-face for the first time, the giant's expression was one of faint surprise. For a moment, he stared at Cedric, his dark eyes flickering. 

Cedric was momentarily confused, his fingers lingering against his ruby ring. He was about to dip into his stores, ready to go for a hail-Mary and bring the ceiling down on top of them. His earlier telekinetic attack had informed him that the big man was warded. A direct spell wouldn’t necessarily have that great of an effect.

However, before he could go through with his plan, unsure of what was happening but deciding it wasn’t worth wasting time on, the giant spoke.

“Finish him.”

He wasn’t speaking to his companion, his gaze communicating his intent to Cedric.

In the rear, the mage who had lugged himself off the ground, sneaking away while supporting his weight against the wall, suddenly halted. He looked around, his expression incredulous.

“What…? You misformed oaf, you actually dare betray the contract-…!”

Cedric didn’t know whether this was some kind of ploy or not, but he didn’t need to. He’d been planning to take that bastard down anyway, unwilling to let him escape.

His ring flashed, shining red as a minute amount of energy was consumed. With the mage’s wards depleted, there was no need for a big, flashy spell.

The man’s eyes suddenly widened, his mouth half-open with pain and shock. Blood surged up through his nose and mouth, spilling down and over his clothes. His fingers scratched uselessly at the wall, trying to keep himself upright but failing.

He dropped to the ground, his throat moving, choaked with blood while he flopped and jerked like a fish on dry land. Within a handful of seconds, he was already dead.

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