They weren't far into the mountains when Ragin spotted the first wild dragon. It was a ruby red colour, lazing on the stony outcrop of the mountain. It watched the dragon riders fly by without even batting an eye, and in Ragin's mind it almost scoffed, though it did seem to pay a fair amount of attention to Akaysha, likely recognising her as rather new to the area. The gender of the dragon was impossible to distinguish but from its size he guessed the dragon was around fifty years old.

That sighting wasn't the only one however, and before long Ragin found himself spotting dragons wherever he looked. They weren't exactly covering the area, but small groups of them were seen everywhere. A few of the more curious creatures flew up beside the riders, taking a closer look at the new dragon in their ranks. Akaysha watched them a little warily, as many of them were a fair bit larger than her.

One especially curious green dragon touched her mind, causing her to growl in surprise and quickly shield herself from the intrusion. The dragons snorted, before turning and away and winging back toward the mountain that he occupied. Ragin gently pattered her neck in an attempted comfort, but it didn't stop the slight unease she felt while surrounded by so many of her kind.

In front of them many of the wild dragons had flown up to greet Firnen with trills and rumbles that sounded almost speech like. Akaysha knew that most of their communication was mental as they welcomed one of the oldest dragons alive into their home. They spoke to the others as well, exchanging stories and memories like old friends.

Eventually Akaysha found herself growing curious and gently stretched her mind out to the surrounding dragons, wanting to know them through a little more than what the others had shown her. She was eagerly accepted, as many a conscious pulled her in with an openness she hadn't felt before. Images, feelings, smells all flashed by her so fast that she wasn't able to keep up with it all. Very few words, if any at all, were spoken between the dragons, and it didn't take her long to find herself confused and muddled by the overload of information, and she found herself pulling back into the solace of her own mind.

'Do not be afraid little one,' a voice brushed all the other minds away like a breeze, allowing her to breathe easily once again, 'They are merely excited and curious. Young dragons are a seldom sight, and not many are born with starlight scales like yours.'

'Thank you... ebrithil,' Akaysha replied, looking around to see if she could find who was speaking, her gaze meeting with an especially large white dragoness flying a ways ahead.

'What is your name?'

'Akaysha.'

'You may call me Fruessa,' there was a faint sound of amusement behind her words, 'We have long since heard about you and felt your presence. I will enjoy getting to know you more in the future. For now, farewell, daughter of the night.'

With that the white dragon retracted from her mind, leaving Akaysha feeling slightly empty, and glided down to the valley floor. After another hour of flying, the dragon riders landed at a small and well used camping spot, scraped clean by dragon scales and talons. They built another fire at the campsite, and were joined by nearly a dozen wild dragons, lazing around and talking to their compatriots.

"You look a little overwhelmed Ragin," Freya smirked slightly at the thief as he studied each of the wild dragons with scrutiny.

"I didn't realise there were this many dragons in these mountains," he responded truthfully.

The girl nodded her head, "There are around two thousand wild dragons that occupy these mountains, and three hundred and... fifty... I think... bonded dragons. The oldest dragons are Saphira, whom I'm sure you know, and a wild dragon named Sharrag, who hatched during the war between Galbatorix, in hiding of course."

Ragin frowned, "Sharrag... wasn't he the one responsible for the Shrrg? The intelligent ones that is."

"That's what the stories say, though we are still unsure at how he achieved it."

During the war of Galbatorix there was a legend about Sharrag, a wild green dragon, who had hatched under a pack of Shrrg in the Beor Mountains. Shrrg were massive wolves, each about the size of horses. Sharrag had been raised by a pack, and had eventually become their Alpha. Afterwards he taught them how to use their minds as weapons, and had even given them a form of intelligence that was still present in most of the Shrrg up to that day. Ragin had seen multiple Shrrg in his life, as they were quite close friends with the dragon riders and had been a part of the ruination of the Black Hand. In fact, they often helped guard the dragon eggs as they were ferried around the kingdom.

"How far are we away from New Doru Araeba?" Ragin asked, changing the subject.

"A couple of hours flight," she responded.

"Only a couple of hours? Then why do we stop now? We could get there tonight if we tried," the thief frowned.

"It almost seems like you want to get there," Freya chuckled.

"Trust me, I don't, but it's a little strange to me that we just don't head straight there."

"The reason for that, young rider, is there are a number of things I want to go through with you before we arrive," Arya said, causing the two of them to look around to her.

"Like what?" Ragin frowned.

"I do not know what Eragon has planned for you," she continued, "But I do know we cannot have you running off as soon as we land. You did only promise to stay with us until we reached the dragon rider city after all."

Akaysha snorted and said to Ragin, knowing that had been his plan from the beginning, 'Well, it seems she knows you a little too well.'

'Dammit. I had hoped to get away with the little hiccup on their part. I guess we will have to stay a while after all.'

'You seem surprisingly calm about that.'

'There are other things I can do to help make sure we escape eventually.'

Akaysha tilted her head at him, wondering what he meant. She could see not conceivable way to break through the vows that currently held them, and she doubted that the vows they would speak once they arrived at New Doru Araeba will be much easier to find a way out from. Maybe her magic might be able to do something about it. She hoped Ragin wasn't relying on that.

"So, what would you like me to do? Swear that I won't run away as soon as we land?" he said in response.

"There is a bit more to it then that. Once we land we will be met by a number of riders, and they will escort us into the main meeting hall, where Eragon and his top advisers will be. They will likely ask you a number of questions, which you will answer truthfully."

"I will answer what I feel obliged to answer. I'm not going to reveal my whole backstory for you," he grunted.

"We are not asking for your whole backstory. We are asking for the pieces of information which may be useful and important."

"I think your interpretations of those words and mine are very different," he responded.

"We will see," she said, "Now, you are to repeat these words after me," switching to the ancient language she spoke, "I will enter the great hall of New Doru Araeba without harming or attempting to flee from anyone. While inside the hall I will not harm anyone or flee and I will answer all questions truthfully and to the best of my ability, and then I will repeat any oaths Eragon wishes me to make. Only after I am given leave from the hall, will this oath be completed.' Akaysha, you will swear this oath as well."

Ragin narrowed his eyes, studying the words in his head, and looking for weaknesses. There were one or two, but they would only work in a normal situation if he was dealing with people that couldn't guard their minds. At least this oath didn't make him reveal his own thoughts. Those he could keep to himself.

Akaysha swore the oath first, taking a while simply because she wasn't quite as fluid in the ancient language as her rider was. He could feel her hesitance with every word she spoke, sometimes struggling past bits when the language didn't allow her to lie. Once she had finished she seemed a little glum, and Ragin knew she was bound by her word until they were given leave of the great hall. The only problem was, by that time, they would likely be under the weight of hundreds of other oaths that prevented them from doing anything.

Arya turned to him and raised an eyebrow, gesturing for him to go ahead. With a small sigh he began to say the words, binding himself once more to the dragon riders. However he didn't copy exactly what the elf had told him to. As he came to the point about answering the questions truthfully he instead said, 'I will answer all questions appropriately.'

"Ragin, that is not what I said," Arya narrowed her eyes.

"It is all I can give you. I have already sworn oaths not to willingly give away numerous amounts of information, and I cannot swear something that completely contradicts that oath," he said evenly, matching the elf's glare with his own.

"Very well," she grunted, not pleased but understanding of the predicament. Ragin was right, he could not swear something that completely contradicted any previous oaths, "We will head out early tomorrow morning."

Ragin didn't bother making a bed that night, and instead lay against Akaysha's warm underbelly, letting her breathing lull him into a light sleep. He knew for a fact that he wouldn't be able to completely rest until after tomorrow, for tomorrow would be the day when the rest of his life was decided. Unless, of course, he was able to figure out a way to break the oaths in which he would be trapped by.

* * *

The dragons took off as the sun rose, once again accompanied by a dozen or so wild dragons as they made the final stretch toward New Doru Araeba. Ragin was silent for the rest of the trip, not even bothering to talk to Akaysha. Thoughts were awhirl in his head, but with all the thinking he had done only one idea had come to mind. One possible way to help himself break through anything they made him say. It would be difficult to make work, but he was quite sure he could find a way.

The first building he saw was a large stone tower sitting atop the mountain side. It was a lookout, but bigger than any lookout tower her had ever seen. It was more than big enough for even Firnen to fit comfortably inside should he wish to. He reasoned Akaysha would likely have room to fly through it if she felt the need.

Atop the tower was another dragon. But this one was distinctly different from the wild ones circling around them. For one there was a saddle adorned on its back. It had turquoise blue scales and was only a slight bit bigger than Akaysha was, likely yet to still see its first year of life. As it got up a figure quickly swung onto its back as it launched into the air.

The dragon quickly joined the group, revealing an elf on its back. He was a rather young elf, with blistering blond hair and a leather tunic with a sword strapped to his waist. He bowed his head slightly to Arya before excitedly waving at Freya, who grinned and waved back. He was likely one of the new dragons riders, a trainee, from the five eggs that had hatched that year.

He seemed rather interested in Ragin, but the thief ignored him, looking at what had appeared over the hill. Akaysha let out a hiss of surprise and even her rider couldn't help but feel a grudging awe at what lay before. Behind the mountain range the city of the dragon riders was finally revealed. New Doru Araeba.

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Hey guys! New chapter! Sorry for a bit of a shorter one this time. It was kind of a filler, but kind of necessary at the same time. The next chapter should be a bit more interesting though ;) 

Also, I just want to say that I realised after I had published the previous chapter that I already had a name for 'Teelio'. So I've gone back and changed that. His name is now Theadan (as it was in the beginning part of the book).

Anyway, vote if you enjoyed, and comment what you thought. The next chapter will be out when I can get it. I'm starting Uni soon, so we will see how much time that takes up. Alrighty, see Ya!

Pennator^^