Dunei - A Murtagh Love Story - Eldest Fan Fiction

Chapter 25

Thorn! Come back!

Lorena pulled on the reins, stopping the stallion, and watched Thorn continue toward the approaching dragon.

Thorn! It's not Saphira, come back!

Don't be thick, of course it's her!

Saphira is blue! It must be Shruikan!

"Lorena," Hafford called as he pulled up beside her, "Is that what I think it is?"

"There are three living dragons in Alagaësia. Thorn, Saphira, and Shruikan. Saphira is blue, and that beast is far too large to be her," Lorena replied slowly, watching Thorn turn and head their way, "Galbatorix has found us."

"We may make it, we need to ride!" Hafford shouted and kicked his horse into a gallop. Lorena heard the other men holler and take off after him, but she stayed and waited for Thorn.

Shouldn't we follow? he questioned as he dived from the clouds. Lorena watched as he plummeted towards her.

We'll never make it to the Surda in time. We have only minutes, she replied as Thorn landed beside her. She wrestled with the reigns as her stallion fretted in fear.

We're just going to sit here and allow them to capture us? he watched the black mass as it became bigger, I remember my chambers... I don't want to be locked up again.

You want to keep running?

Thorn continued to watch the form for a few moments, then turned to her. His ruby eye briefly closed in a deliberate blink.

Lorena dug her heels into her stallions' side and they were off. She felt the batter of air as Thorn launched himself beside her, then soared high above. Up ahead she saw the men had slowed, and had been watching them. But as she came near they urged their horses forward, and their group rode as hard as they could. Lorena could hear the stallion wheezing, and she realised that the poor creature had almost no rest over the past few days. She pushed herself into his mind and tried to motivate him. If the horse had not been breed for trips like this, she was sure he would not have lasted this far.

Behind them Lorena heard the familiar thudding of dragon wings. She glanced behind her, and saw the black form still a fair distance away, but the thudding was growing louder. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat, How large could that monster be?

Thorn however was not worried as she was. Above her Thorn roared, defiant and fierce, and the sound caused the same emotions to boil up inside her. Then another roar cracked the air.

Lorena resisted the urge to clamp her hands over her ears as the air around them seemed to shake. Instead she held onto the reins and to keep the stallion steady, she glanced at the men around her and was shocked to see that they were all still in control of their steeds.

They continued to ride full out, trying to ignore the thudding growing increasingly louder around them, almost deafening. Then the world was thrown into shadow. Lorena looked up and saw what she could only describe as a black, scaled mass. The size was incomparable, perhaps this beast was a thousand times larger than Thorn, she was not sure. But she did know that she and the men had no chance of surviving this encounter.

A few of the horses around her bucked and fell, others bolted in random directions, and those of the group who managed to control their mounts pulled them to a stop. Lorena glanced at Hafford-who stared at the dragon expressionlessly-as the sun once again appeared around them.