The Heroes of Alegasia

Chapter 11

I told you that I would get this done sooner or later. Here's the next chapter.

 The morning after Annabeth and I had become riders we had breakfast and then hurried to the deck to wait for Brom to return. With nothing better to do, we just waited on deck and then began discussing what might be in store for us. I knew that my dragon was sitting on my shoulder. I glanced toward my left and saw that Annabeth's dragon was also perched on her shoulder. I couldn't help but wonder how Brom and Eragon would react once they found out about our dragons, after all, there aren't supposed to be any dragon eggs left except for the ones the king has.I heard someone approaching the ship and saw that Brom had arrived. When Brom walked onto the ship and saw that Annabeth and I had dragon hatchlings perched on our shoulders, he dropped the armload of clothes that he had been carrying and walked over to me and Annabeth.

First Brom said, "show me your hands."

Annabeth and I lifted our hands so Brom could see the silver marks that had appeared on our hands after we had touched our dragons. Brom asked, "Percy when did this happen? where did you find the eggs?"

I explained that after Brom and Eragon had left the day before I had left the ship and wandered into the nearby forest. And that Annabeth had followed me in trying to convince me to turn back. I explained that When we had reached a small pond I had realized that Annabeth's dream was coming true. I said that I had taken the eggs out of the water and the green one had started shaking. I handed the other one to Annabeth and after she had touched it, it had started shaking as well. I explained that after this, we had returned to the ship where the eggs had finished hatching.

I asked Brom, "we don't know if our dragons are male or female and even if we did we don't know any dragon names. Could you help us figure out what to name our dragons?"

After I finished my question Brom said, "while I am here I will tell you more about dragons now that two of you are riders."

Brom seemed to be smiling when he said this as if he was pleased that they had become riders.

I said, "since this will probably take a while why don't we go below decks we can talk in the mess hall."

I led the way and Piper picked up the clothes that Brom had dropped. When she noticed the clothes that he had gotten for her Annabeth and hazel she said, "ugh I hate dresses."

Brom just smiled and said, "I am afraid that you won't have much choice while you are here. Clearly, where you come from doesn't have the same beliefs but that is what women are expected to wear here."

Once we reached the mess hall, Brom sat at the head of the table, while Leo sat to one side of the table while Percy and Annabeth sat on the other. Jason sat beside Leo and piper sat beside him. Hazel sat beside Annabeth while frank sat at the end of the table. After they were all seated Brom spoke. He said, "I can't tell you everything now, certain information was only given to riders as they progressed in their training. And there was some information that only the riders knew. When the elves bound themselves to the dragons their race went through several changes. They gained strength and speed greater than any human's they also became immortal. Later humans were added to the spell so they too could become riders.

When a human becomes a rider they are changed. Most of these changes happen gradually, however, there are two changes that happen automatically."

"What are they," Jason asked out of curiosity.

Brom Replied, "The rider's appearance gradually changes. Their ears become pointed and their facial features more angled. When they bond with a dragon the rider becomes immortal, and they gain the ability to use magic.

"what do you mean by immortal? You said that basically all of them were killed so obviously they can die,"

Brom nodded before replying, "Yes, they can die if they are defeated in battle or catch an incurable disease but as long as neither of those things happen, they can live for many long years."

I wasn't too thrilled about the immortality but I guess since Annabeth gets it as well I can live with it. When nobody else asked questions Brom asked all but me and Annabeth to leave before he continued. He explained, "Usually new riders aren't taught about magic until they are further into their training; however, I will start teaching you now since you will be traveling with me and Eragon, and I am already teaching him. If you overheard me teaching Eragon and decided to experiment you could kill yourself. When you cast a spell, it takes the same amount of energy as it does to complete the task the normal way. If you cast a spell that takes more energy than you have you will die. Also in order to cast a spell, you have to speak the word or words from the ancient language that best describes your intent. Some rules you should remember are if you want to use magic make sure you are close to the object or person that your spell will affect. using magic at a distance takes more energy, and don't try to resurrect the dead."

Brom said "Percy, will you leave the ship for a moment and get two pebbles from the beach. I gave him an odd look and asked, "What for?"

"it's part of your training," Brom replied.

I was kind of confused but I left and did what he had asked. not long after I returned with two pebbles. After I tried to hand them to Brom he said, "Keep one and hand the other to Annabeth,"

After I passed one to Annabeth said, "lift the rock of your palm, the words you will need are stenr rïsa which means stone rise in the ancient language."

after Brom told us what to do I concentrated hard and started to wonder if Brom was messing with us and what he had asked us to do was really impossible. Finally, when I was really starting to get frustrated I searched my mind and found a barrier in the back of my mind that I was sure I hadn't noticed before. I tried to break through it and eventually succeeded. After I broke through I felt new power rush out from behind it, I quickly said, "stenr rïsa."

The pebble rose a little off my hand and then dropped again when I lost my grip on the power that I guess I had only received from bonding with my dragon. I wasn't really surprised when I realized that Annabeth had been the first to succeed.