The Heroes of Alegasia

Chapter 9

Annabeth's Point of view

After Brom and Eragon left Everyone crowded around me and Percy. Jason said, "it seems we are living a storybook at the moment,"

l said, "yes it seems those books weren't fiction after all.  But there were four books in the series, and according to the books Brom and Eragon were in Teirm in the first one,"

"So either we were sent back in time or the author of the book knew how the war will end before the events have actually happened," Leo said.

I scowled   and said, "Leo, no one has invented time travel yet! All those old movies were just fiction. let's not worry about why we are here, let's just concentrate on doing what we have to do while we are here."

Leo said, "why didn't you tell us about your dreams before Brom and Eragon got here?"

I answered, "I didn't want to wake you all up last night, and I didn't have time this morning. Brom and Eragon arrived before I got the chance."

"It sounds like you and Percy will be riders," Piper said.

I replied, "yes that was what I thought of too. it's just hard to believe, especially since   the king has the last two dragon eggs hidden somewhere in his castle."

Percy said, "this is just getting more and more confusing, ending up here for no obvious reason, a  book was written about this place when the events only seem to be happening now, and the fact that we could become riders when there are only two eggs left and they are hidden where we could never find them, we don't even know how to get back so we can finish the quest."

Percy's point of view

I said, "I am going for a walk this is just too confusing,"

After that I left the ship and started walking toward a forest that bordered the beach. I wasn't worried, if anything attacked me I had riptide. I could see that Annabeth had followed me, and she was telling me to stop and go back to the ship. She was saying that we didn't know these lands and I couldn't just go wandering into an unfamiliar forest. I knew she was right but I needed some time to think about recent events.

I noticed that Annabeth had given up trying to convince me to turn around, and had decided to just follow me. I didn't mind, I decided that I didn't have to be alone I would like to have some time alone with her. I suddenly got a strange feeling like something was telling me to go deeper into the forest.

For a minute I was worried, could the eildons have followed us here and possibly broken their oaths not to possess any of the crew? But I decided that even if they had followed us here, they couldn't have broken their oaths because if you swore upon the river Styx you couldn't break your oath or you would be in serious trouble, even if you were already dead.

I decided to do what the feeling said and walked further into the forest, besides we couldn't get lost I could sense the sea behind us so when we needed to head back we could just go toward it.  Eventually, I sensed a pond ahead of us in addition to the sea behind us, I walked a little further and I saw it, a small pond ahead of us. And then it hit me, I realized that this is exactly what Annabeth had described in her first dream. I could see two sort of oval shaped sparkling objects in the water. I walked over to the pond and was about to reach for the objects when Annabeth said, "Percy don't! We don't even know for sure what they are."

I replied, "but if they are dragon eggs don't you want to be a rider?"

Annabeth said, "yes but having a dragon would put us in even more danger than we already are, remember the king wants all the new riders to be under his control."

I replied, "yes but in a few days' time we will be traveling with one, we will be in just as much danger."

Before Annabeth could argue any further I reached into the pond and pulled out both of the objects. One was sea green  and the other was grey, but when the light hit it, it looked closer to silver and they both had white veins running through them. After I got them out of the dirty water the green one shook violently and I nearly dropped it. I passed the gray one to Annabeth who took it and held it like she would never let it go, hers also started to shake.

I looked at Annabeth and said," they are eggs!"

Annabeth said, "let's get them back to the ship just in case someone sees us."

After we got back to the ship everyone was staring at us again. " Are those dragon eggs!" Piper asked them.

"We think so," Annabeth said, "and it looks like they are hatching for us."

Cracks had started appearing on the eggs while we were walking back to the ship, they were gradually getting longer. Finally, while everyone watched a large chunk fell off the top of my green egg and moments later the same thing happened to Annabeth's grey one. The dragons that crawled out of their eggs were rather cute so it was hard to believe that in a few months' time they would be fearsome beasts capable of ripping a person apart with their teeth and claws.

I reached forward with my right hand  to touch  the little green dragon but when my hand touched the dragon's back I felt a shock go up my arm. it hurt more than any of the times Thalia or Jason had shocked me with their lightning powers but it wasn't quite as bad as the Styx. I was held in place and before long I passed out.  When I woke up again I saw that there was now a silver mark on my hand.

I felt something brush against my mind which made me nervous .what was that? I thought to myself.

Annabeth answered, "it's your dragon it is the only way they can communicate.  you can let it in."

I hadn't realized that I had spoken out loud, but I let the dragon enter my mind I felt curiosity coming from the dragon.   I also noticed that Annabeth now had a silvery mark on her left hand. I asked her, "do you remember anything about baby dragons?"

Annabeth replied, "no not much, I remember that Eragon took care of his in secret, and that he hid her in the forest. He built a shelter for her and would bring her food, although she could catch birds and other small animals herself,"

For the rest of that afternoon, We  told our dragons the names of all the seven and Coach Hedge and that they were all friends. We also made sure that we told the dragons not to do anything that would annoy coach hedge. We weren't sure if the dragons understood it all. Annabeth had said that the dragons in this land were supposed to be as intelligent as humans, but they were still babies so we weren't sure.

I said, "Shouldn't we give them names?'"

Annabeth replied, "Yes but we don't know if they are male or female and we don't know any dragon names, wait until Brom comes back tomorrow we can ask him about it."

I sensed that my dragon was hungry, so I  said, "I think this little guy is getting hungry."

Annabeth replied, "let's go get two of the enchanted plates and get some meat for them."

We did just that and got a rare steak to appear on them. we put one in front of each of the dragons. The dragons happily dug into the meat and had it gone in no time. When they finished their bellies were bulging and they moved a little slower.  After they had finished we sat down to have dinner ourselves.

Annabeth's point of view

While we  were eating I decided to experiment with this mind communication thing, I reached out with my mind toward Percy but there were walls around his mind that I couldn't get through. I thought for a moment and then remembered that if you concentrated on something without thinking of anything else, your mind would be protected from invasion. I frowned when I realized that Percy must be so focused on his burger that I was blocked from his mind.   After it was dark we all went below decks to our cabins, Percy and I took our dragons down with us since they would probably end up sleeping with us. before we went to bed though wee warned the dragons not to chew on or break anything that was in the cabin.

I fell asleep that night contemplating everything that had happed in the past few days, one minute we were making our way to Rome so I could follow the mark of Athena, and so the others could save Nico. Now we were in a place that until the other day I thought was fictional. I honestly didn't know what was in store for us here in Alegasia especially now that  Percy and I had dragons.