‘I think he’s waking up,’ said a voice somewhere in Sharrag’s head. At least he thought it was in his head. Nothing seemed real in this realm of blackness that he had been living in. It was strange almost. Occasionally he could swear he saw faces or maybe an occasional flicker of scales. Sometimes he felt like he was moving, flying through the sky, and at other times he was deep within a cave. It confused him.

A small groan escaped his maw as a light began to fill the darkness that had been his home. Slowly it split through the darkness followed by the colour green. Sounds and smells also began to assault him. They were familiar scents at least. The smell of fur and smoke and fire.

The one eye eventually found its way open and the dragon winced at the sudden impact of the light. He twitched his tail slightly and scanned his surroundings. He was in a forest. Just a plain old forest with no extremely tall trees and very little undergrowth. Maybe because a fire had been through it recently and quite a number of things were burnt.

‘Sharrag?’ said a voice piecing his mind with the sudden sound.

He groaned again as his damaged consciousness winced at the feeling. The mind that had been in his instantly withdrew from him, feeling the sudden pain he had felt. Sharrag shut his eye again, focusing on taking away the pain before opening his eye again.

“His mind is badly damaged,” said a voice, one that he couldn’t pinpoint, “What he did, it was amazing. Something that has never been done before, but even a dragon’s mind can’t go through something like that without damage. I’m surprised he isn’t dead.”

A small growl also sounded. It didn’t sound extremely happy.

“Trust me Talismen, we are doing everything we can,” he said, “But I haven’t seen this before. No elf has. It’ll take him time to heal, if he ever does.”

Sharrag moved his head slightly and tried to stretch his mind out towards the two beings that were communicating. He growled as he found he couldn’t. It was like trying to stretch an extremely saw muscle or walking after a marathon. His mind couldn’t handle the pressure of expanding to another’s.

Something moved into his vision. A shaggy head and wet fur. Talismen. He smiled slightly. He could remember the name of something. As soon as that name came to him others came as well. Tay’el, Craves, Siserl. He groaned again as he forced himself to slow down. He knew the other creature was right about his mind repairing. What ever happened he was sure did serious damage. He stopped himself as he tried to remember.

The wolf in front of him gazed at him with a tilted head. General concern was shining in his eyes. Sharrag smiled wearily at him. A few more memories rushed through his mind. Of his pack and a home in the mountains. He shook his head slightly, controlling the rush and slowly got to his feet, shaking himself out.

He was surprised to find that while his mind hurt, his physical body felt fine. He gazed over his wings and forelegs. Something told him he should be injured. His gaze fell on a scar that ran through the membrane of his right wing. Another memory came to him. Green fire in the forest and a sharp pain as something ran past him with a sword.

“Steady their big guy,” said the voice that had been talking before.

A two-legged creature walked into his field of his view. Another memory came to him. An elf. Levial. A friend. He nodded towards the elf slightly, closing his eyes again and taking a deep breath as he tried to focus himself. It seemed as though a piece of him was trapped inside, fixing up the mess that was his mind. It was making him a little light headed.

“Sorry about your wing,” continued the elf, “I rarely heal wings and while I’ve healed broken wings before a torn wing was quite different. The scar I can’t get rid of, so you may be a bit lop sided while flying, for a while at least.”

Sharrag nodded again. He tried to find the words to reply but found he couldn’t form them with his mouth. He snorted, realising that to talk to him his mind would need to be fixed, at least partially fixed anyway.

“Are you feeling alright?” asked Levial.

Sharrag thought about the question for a second before shaking his head. He could hardly remember anything. The memories were slowly coming but when they did they hurt, and his mind was still in pieces. He was struggling to think straight. Deciding against trying to walk he slowly settled down again.

Levial sat by the dragon’s head. Talismen sat next to him. Sharrag closed his eyes again and dug into his mind, trying to help with fixing it, or at least find something to help. He found a little more information. A creature name Sythrel. A war. A blue dragon called Saphira. A red one called Thorn. Mountains. A human called Angela. All bits and pieces. It frustrated him a little.

Eventually he found another name. One that seemed to be in a different language. It was berried deep in his mind like it needed to be protected. With a frown he whispered to himself, and shuddered, growling slightly as severe pain suddenly jolted through him. It went away after a moment or two and he felt his body relaxed, not even knowing he had tensed. His mind did seem to be fixed a little better though. He was able to remember a bit more of who he was and what he was doing.

Eventually he fell to sleep again, more darkness greeting him. This time as he slept he wasn’t plagued with dreams or new memories but he rested, as did his mind. It was like this for days. The green dragon woke up for a few hours; his mind repairing and memories coming to him. Levial and Aradon helped him heal as well. They touched his mind lightly every so often but it was still enough to hurt him. What frustrated him the most was his inability to stretch his mind out to others, and shield it as well. Both things seemed impossible for him at this moment.

A week passed. Sharrag woke up from one of his rests and the first thing he noticed was a severe hunger. His stomach growled and he snorted. The full moon swung overhead casting a rather bright glow over the sleeping forms of his pack and the two elves. He stretched and yawned, his wings feeling saw and stiff from lack of use. The urge to fly also came to him; it was one of the things he suddenly remembered. His favourite thing to do.

He looked back at the others, wondering what they would do if they woke and saw him gone. With his tail he scratched a small picture of what he hoped looked like a dragon in flight in the ground. Once he was happy with it he opened his wings and powered into the sky as quickly as he could, suddenly eager to feel the wind against his wings. He flew high into the sky. The clouds were suddenly passed him and he steadied out, looking downwards. The clearing where he had been was now a tiny speck amongst the wide expanse of forest.

Smiling he looked forward and closed his eyes. His mind was still repairing but the memory of flying was not something that could be kept from him. Eventually he opened his eyes and gazed down, looking through the forest for any prey. He spotted the occasional rabbit or bird, but nothing enough to satisfy the hunger he had. With a snort he circled back towards the campsite, making up his mind to go hunting from the ground. Maybe he could find something a little better down there.

He tucked in his wings and shot towards the forest below. He smiled as he fell, the only thing keeping him in control of the fall was his tail. It flickered almost independently in the air; keeping him down the path he was falling. Just before he hit the forest he opened his wings and let out a roar of delight as he came to a sudden stand still just above the green trees. The roar was quickly followed by a grunt of pain as he felt the muscles in his wing stretch dangerously close to breaking.

‘That’s going to hurt later,’ he thought to himself.

He angled himself back to the campsite and came to a landing with a small thud. The others had just begun to wake as he landed. The three newer members of the ‘adult’ wolves jumped in surprise at the dragon’s sudden landing, not being used to it themselves. The other wolves just got up calmly and the elves had already woken before he landed.

“Have a good flight?” asked Levial.

Sharrag smiled at the elf and nodded his head, still not able to communicate through his mind.

“Good to see at least your body still remembers how to do things,” he looked over at Talismen, “We should head back to the Beor Mountains soon. The longer we stay here the more likely it is someone will find us. Now that Sharrag can fly it’ll be a lot easier.”

Talismen nodded and relayed his own thoughts to the elf. Sharrag sighed and looked to the sky again, wishing he could communicate to the others.

Talismen glanced at his Alpha and sighed himself. Sharrag seemed different now, not only because of his broken mind but the way he was acting. The Sharrag he knew wouldn’t go flying without at least warning the other wolves. He shook his head at the thought; maybe it was just because he hadn’t flown in a while. Maybe it was just because of his broken mind, he didn’t know.

He looked to the other Shrrg and decided to get them ready for the trip back to their cave. He hoped Tay’el was all right.  They had been gone for nearly two weeks now and he didn’t doubt that the old wolf was beginning to worry. Shaking himself he glanced at the other Shrrg and nodded at them. They were now ready to go.

* * *

“What!” came the hash tone of the king.

Sythrel flinched at the word, keeping his eyes to the floor and his head bowed, “He broke through… sir. He somehow managed to cancel the effects that a true name would usually have on someone or something.”

Sythrel’s head snapped back as Galbatorix’s hand came across his face, “Useless! That’s what you are. I gave you a simple task. Capture the wild dragon. Did you do it? No! I have just received word that the Varden have conquered Dras Leona. They will be ready to march on the Uru’baen soon. Without that dragon it will make our victory a little bit harder.”

The king stepped back, taking a deep breath. He turned his back on Sythrel and began to walk back to his throne. The wall that was Shruikan’s wing rustled behind the throne revealing the dragon’s monstrous head. Sythrel shivered slightly as he felt its gaze on him.

“Murtagh, kill this shade. I may as well get another one that is better,” sighed Galbatorix.

Sythrel flinched as he heard the sound of a sword being drawn behind him. Desperate to save his life he looked up at the king.

“Wait!” he shouted.

Galbatorix put up his hand to stop Murtagh, “What?”

“I… I know a way to get the dragon, just give me a couple of days,” said Sythrel, his mind whirling.

The king sat back on his throne, glancing over the shade, “Go on.”

Sythrel let a smile spread across his face as his idea turned into a full bloom plan, “You see sir… he has enemies.”

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Hey guys! New Chapter! Hope you enjoyed. This chapter is a bit of a fill in chapter, but nescesery. Vote if you enjoyed and comment on what you think this enemy is that the shade talked about ;) The book is getting close to an end, maybe a maximum of thirty chapters. New chapter out soon. See Ya!

Pennator^^