Talismen growled in surprise. The two legs moved much faster then he expected and in less then a second were behind the group of charging wolves, their slim swords drawn from their sheaths. Talismen spun around and sent his mind to the other Shrrg to do the same.

Once of the two legs put up its hand and yelled something in the strange language. A sudden calm was sent over the wolves, and they relaxed. The two-legs relaxed as well, and one of them put the sword back in its sheath. The Shrrg didn’t follow suit, for Talismen could still feel something strange with them. The language they had spoken in, it was almost manipulative.

He sat on his haunches and reached his mind out to the two-legs, determined to know exactly who and what they are. To his surprise he was met with extremely strong barriers, nearly as strong as Sharrag’s. He tilted his head and did the wolf equivalent of a frown.

The two-leg’s mind that he had touched looked around in confusion for the thing that had touched its mind. Annoyed that he couldn’t get the two-legs attention he pawed the ground and growled, stretching his mind out to the two-leg again. It looked at him with a confused expression. Suddenly another mind touched his, causing him to growl again and withdraw his mind back into himself and put up mind barriers. The two-leg turned to his companion and said something to him in the same strange language. Its companion seemed to be just as confused as it was.

It reached out its mind and touched Talismen’s as well, causing the Shrrg to growl again, putting his ears back and snarling. The two two-legs looked at each other. The one that had spoken before tried to speak to him again, this time in a different language. Talismen quickly recognised it as the language of the dwarves, although he didn’t understand what was saying. Instead he tilted his head to the side to show he didn’t understand.

“How about now?” the two-leg suddenly said in the language he was familiar with, “Nod if you can understand me.”

Talismen eagerly nodded, and wagged his tail slightly glad that they could find a language they both could speak in. The two-legs glanced at each other again. Talismen tried to reach into their mind again, and was stopped by that extremely strong mind barrier.

“Sorry Shrrg, but we can not allow you into our minds,” said the two-leg, “If we are to talk you will allow us into yours.”

Talismen growled along with a few of the other Shrrg. He knew they wouldn’t except a deal like that. The two-legs seemed to come to the same conclusion. They began talking again in the ancient language. One seemed greatly apposed to what ever the other one was saying but eventually he grudging nodded. The two-leg turned back to Talismen.

“I will allow you into my mind, but be ware not to wonder to far, for not many creatures come out of an elf’s mind unscathed,” it said.

‘So that’s what they are, elves,’ thought Talismen.

Sharrag had told them about elves. He had said that they seemed friendly enough, and had helped him when he had crash-landed in the forest of Du Weldenvarden. However they were only two of the many thousands of elves that inhabited the great forest. The green dragon didn’t totally trust them, and that meant neither did his pack.

Talismen nodded, agreeing with the elf. He reached out with his mind and entered its mind. He titled his mind in surprise. The mind was very complicated, not quite as complicated as Sharrag’s mind was but it was still extremely difficult to maneuverer through. There also seemed to be a strange music sounding through its mind, drawing Talismen to it. With a shake of his head he refocused and said the first thing that came to his mind.

‘Who are you?’ he asked.

He sensed surprise in the elf as he spoke. The most probable fact of this was the elf had never had an animal speak to him before.

“I… I am Levial,” said the elf.

‘Who’s the other two-leg?’ asked Talismen.

“That’s my brother Aradon,” he said.

He studied the other elf for a second before turning back to Levial, ‘Why are you here?’

Levial thought for a second, “We are tracking a dragon. We met him about five or six months ago. A dwarf told us that they had seen a group of Galbatorix’s men walking through the wilderness with a huge green dragon. We decided to come and investigate, and see if the rumours were true. Another dragon on the tyrants side would cause a gigantic shift in the war, especially now that it is nearly at an end.”

Talismen’s eyes widened in surprise at the information. There was only one dragon that could be.

‘Was this dragon’s name Sharrag?’ he asked.

Levial nodded, “You seem to know him. He did tell us about being the Alpha of a group of Shrrg in the Beor Mountains.”

‘That’s us,’ said the wolf, before sliding his great sword back into its sheath. He told the other Shrrg to do the same. Aradon also followed suit.

Talismen continued talking, ‘Yes, Sharrag was our Alpha but he was captured when some sought of two-legged creature broke his mind, and also held him with a spell. We tried to rescue him but when we were captured he was forced to either give up or loose us. He chose giving up.’

Levial’s eyes narrowed at the information. He turned to his brother and quickly relayed the information in their magical language. Aradon cursed profusely in the ancient language and pointed out in the distance. Levial calmed him down and looked back to the wolves.

“Do you know where they went?” asked Levial, turning back to Talismen.

‘We’re tracking them,’ replied the Shrrg, ‘A dragon’s scent is easy to distinguish among all the other scents in this forest.’

“One last question,” said Levial, “Do you know what the creature was that took him?”

Talismen shook his head, ‘It was unnatural and had a scent the told of danger, not like an Urzhad’s scent or a dragon’s, but different.’

“Can you show me?”

Talismen nodded his head and sent the elf an image of the creature he had seen. Levial’s eyes widened once again, but this time in fear. He said a word in the ancient language that sounded strange in this forest. Aradon’s eyes narrowed and he spoke to Levial with haste. Levial didn’t reply for some time, before suddenly saying something else. Aradon immediately countered him and the two started arguing once again.

Talismen looked back at the other Shrrg with confusion in his eyes, wondering what was so frightening about the creature he had showed them. The other wolves were just as confused as he was.

“Gah!” yelled Aradon suddenly and turned his back, walking a few metres away.

Levial let out a small smile, “We have agreed to help you, but understand that there is an extremely high chance we will die.”

Talismen nodded, he knew that already. He quickly relayed everything he knew about the situation, including the numbers of the remaining soldiers and the power of the shade. Levial seemed especially interested in the bow that the creature had used to shoot Sharrag from the sky.

Aradon joined in and helped lay out the plan. He surprisingly knew a lot about battle strategy, nearly as much as the Alpha did. Together, and with a bit of input from the other Shrrg, they organised the rescue mission.

Aradon smiled and laughed as they separated, “Then let us go and die together.”

* * *

Sharrag was high above the travelling caravan. The human lands had been strange so far. Every human that he had seen from his view and been following down stone paths that seemed to cut their way through the forest. Most of them also had some sought of weapon on them, or a bunch of them travelled together. At one point he thought he spotted a bunch of humans hiding in amongst the forest near one of the paths, seeming to be waiting for a caravan much like the one the shade was using. He didn’t see what happened but didn’t like to think about what did.

He turned his gaze back towards the sun, which was now sinking into the horizon. It was good to see a sunset again. It was the one peaceful thing about his world at the moment.

In the distance was a human city, as far as he could tell. It stood out like a mountain against a valley. He couldn’t see it in much detail, but he didn’t really want to be a in a human city right now. From what he had seen in Thorn’s mind he had no doubt he would probably be staying in a human city for most of his immortal life.

‘Maybe I can ask Galbatorix if I can have a home in mountains and come when he calls,’ he mused at the idea, and then snorted, ‘ ‘When he calls’. It makes me seem like some human pet.’

He growled as he felt the all to familiar mind of the shade reach up to him.

‘Sharrag, we a stopping for the night,’ it said, ‘You can join us if you wish, or just find your own resting place.’

Sharrag was surprised that the shade gave him a choice. He thought about it for a second, then decided to land near them and sleep for the night, but not to close. He quickly scouted out the shades mind and landed in a clearing about a hundred metres away from the camp.

With a grumbling sigh he curled up and closed his eyes, ready for sleep. As his eyes closed a howl sounded from the forest. His head perked up at the howl. Another one joined from a completely different direction. The howls were all too familiar. Sharrag’s heart fell.

‘Talismen… what are you doing?’

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Hey guys! New chapter, don't you love me and my cliff hangers ;) As always vote and comment if you enjoyed and don't forget to tell me what you think of this new chapter. The next chapter will be out a soon as I can manage, until then See Ya!

Pennator^^