Dragon Riders: Legacy(Book 2) Completed

Chapter 26:Leave Taking:Ermine: a week later

   It was a week after Ermine received his second letter from the Riders telling him to go Sermersooq where a Rider would be waiting to there to take him and Snowdrift to the Dragon Rider base.
   He would be leaving tonight when his whole family was asleep; his grandmother would help him escape and explain to his family why he left. He had complete faith that his grandmother would make his family understand why he left.
   Over the past week he had gathered provisions and all the supplies he needed every single night, careful not to wake up his family. He had a full pack of provisions and all the supplies he needed by the end of the week to make it to Sermersooq. His grandmother would provide a way of faster transportation than walking to Sermersooq.
   His father had returned this morning from the annual chiefs of Northern Arctica meeting, so it would be much harder to sneak away without his father's Arctic Wolf, Tulok, smelling or hearing him sneak out and alerting his father. Resulting in him most likely being locked up in his family's igloo for the rest of his life.
   His only chance of escape was to hope Tulok was in a deep sleep when he left or that Tulok was in passive form.

   Later that night when his family was asleep, he put a few waded up blankets under his blanket and pulled the blanket up over his pillow.
   He slightly slipped into his parka, and put his boots and gloves on, and grabbed his pack, and quietly exited his room.
   He searched the main room for any sign of Tulok's white fur. He didn't see any sign of him at first, but he finally saw Tulok laying besides the entryway into his parents' room.
   He could tell Tulok was asleep by the gentle, dreamless vibes coming off Tulok's mind.
   He quietly tip toed across the igloo, cautious not to make the slightest noise in fear of waking up Tulok, and angering his father for aprrently trying to run away.
   When he got to the door, he exited, and to his surprise he found his grandmother waiting outside with her brother's, Atiqalaaq, sword and shield wrapped up in caribou hide, and along with a team of of sled dogs attached to a sled.
   "Grandmother, why do you have you brother's sword and shield?" He asked, completely puzzled by why she had her brother's sword and shield.
   "Remember what I said to you about needing these later when the time was right?"
   He was stumped at first, trying to remember when his grandmother said that. Then he remembered it was when he had to help go through his grandmother's things she received when her mother, his great grandmother, died two years ago.
   "Yes I do. Thank you for trusting me with these precious gifts. But why give them to me when Korren and Kya are more capable of taking care of them than me?" He asked her, not knowing why his grandmother didn't give these gifts to his older cousins, who were older and better trained and were more likely not to lose them or damage them; well Kya wasn't, Korren maybe.
"Well your great grandmother planned on giving them to your cousins before they left for the Riders, but she died. However, she did manage to somewhat write a note, but she never finished it and it made no sense to anyone to what she was trying to say, so the sword and shield were never passed on to Korren and Kya." His grandmother explained.
He nodded, understanding that it was now his responsibility to take care of these priceless and rare gifts.
   "Thank you, grandmother," he thanked her.
   "You are welcome. Protect these with all your might. They mustn't fall into the wrong hands. The Riders will explain more about them to you. Now, go on, take the sled. The lead dog is Tarkik, and he will lead the team to Sermersooq and back here." His grandmother said, surprising him that Amaruq's Arctic Wolf, Tarkik, was the lead dog of the sled team.
   He walked over to the sled, giving Tarkik a quick rub on the head as he went by. He placed his pack on the sled, and got behind the handle bar, and positioned his feet on the foot boards, and was about to yell "mush" when his grandmother said, "Wait. Before you leave, I would like to meet your dragon. It has been such a long time since I've seen one of those magnificent, beautiful creatures."
   He obliged, wanting to give his grandmother one thing she wanted for all the help she had given him over the past two years.
   He could already tell Snowdrift was flying over to the village to meet him; she was almost here.
   "She's almost here," he told his grandmother, who looked happy; it was the first time he had actually seen her this happy. The last time was when she told the story about her brother being the savior of Sermersooq by killing two hundred Conquerors with only IceStorm.
   They waited in silence for a few minutes till he heard the soft thud of wingbeats.
    He looked up towards the sky and saw a silver form that glittered like diamonds and crystals in the eternal day night sun.
   The glittering dragon descended towards them, making the huskies and Tarkik restless and they started growling, bound to start barking at any moment and waking up the whole village.
   Then all of sudden the growling stopped, and he saw his grandmother soothing the team of dogs.
   Snowdrift landed, and his grandmother looked like she might start shedding tears of joy.
   "She's absolutely beautiful," His grandmother said, still soothing the dogs. "It's been such a long time since I've seen a dragon. I hope you bring an end to the Mad King's reign so that the dragons will be able to walk Erdas freely without the fear of being hunted down and killed by the Brodding Empire." She finished, her words cryptic on who the Mad King and The Brodding Empire were.
   "Who are the Mad King and The Brodding Empire?" He asked, hoping for an answer, but to his disappointment she said the exact opposite.
   "That's up to the Riders to tell you." His grandmother said.
   "May I touch her?" His grandmother asked.
   He looked at Snowdrift, and asked her mentally, "Snowdrift is it ok with you if my grandmother touched you?"
   "She may since she is of dragon blood and has helped you many times in the past." Snowdrift said in cryptic words; he was starting to think those two talked with each other before based on all those mysterious allusions they often talked about, like "dragon blooded"? What even was Snowdrift alluding to?
   "She said yes," he replied to his grandmother's question.
   His grandmother nodded, and walked up to Snowdrift, and let her smell her ungloved hand, and then started scratching her gently under the chin.
   Snowdrift reacted strangely when his grandmother scratched her gently under her chin. She hummed and purred softly, and her eyes were semi rolled back into her head and her tongue was hanging out the side of her mouth like she ate something tart.
   He could tell she liked whatever his grandmother was doing.
   After a few more minutes, his grandmother stopped scratching Snowdrift, and she placed the wrapped up sword and shield on the sled, and bid him farewell.
   He returned her farewell, and then shouted softly to her sled dog team, "Mush!"
   The dogs responded by taking off with fast speed and strength.
   The dogs maneuvered through the igloos, while Snowdrift followed from the sky.
   When the dog sled team broke free from the tangle of igloo, the dogs slowly picked up speed, going faster and faster till it felt like they were going a hundred miles per hour.
   Snowdrift kept up with ease, taking long, powerful streaks to keep up with the sled team.