(A/N the image at the very top of the chapter is Irryl with her ice armour you will notice she looks slightly different, below that and above this text are images of what Percy's ice armour can look like, however, he controls the ice so he can make it look however he likes. One thing Percy always does with his armour is he has a helmet that covers his entire head including mouth, nostrils and eyes, he can breathe in the ice because of his water vapour powers.)
3rd person POV | Percy
Percy and Irryl were already prepared to go by the time the sun rose, this was mostly due to the fact that the only items they weren't carrying on their bodies was the frozen cooked meat which Percy wrapped in ice and carried it through the water with them. They both encased themselves in ice armour (just in case) though Irryl's armour was thinner as she would not be able to fly easily and focus on controlling the water at the same time. They decided to swim side by side but stayed close to each other in case there was a threat and Percy needed to grab onto Irryl and they needed to take off and fly.
Irryl and Percy came to the decision mutually to follow the coast of the beach in one direction however, they were quite far out from it and very deep within the water, they did not want to be found by mortals or innocent bystanders. They also had decided that they could be spotted far too easily while flying and that it negated any foreseeable benefit from it. Though Irryl possessed very little knowledge about 'Alagaesia' she knew that here there was no such thing as mist, and therefore nothing stopping anyone form spotting them, in addition to this she somehow knew that Alagaesia was much less advanced scientifically than Earth and was similar to Earth during the Medieval period. Percy wasn't sure about people's opinion of dragons in Alagaesia but he was somewhat certain that there wouldn't be a queue of people to hug them and welcome them into their homes.
After a couple hours of travelling, Percy started to notice a very large disturbance in the water (Irryl couldn't detect it yet because her water powers are weaker), Percy informed Irryl about it and they decided to head towards it and away from the coast. After a couple minutes of extremely quick swimming that was only possible when boosting yourselves with water powers, Irryl felt it as well. Percy could tell that it was an immense whirlpool but even what the water told him couldn't prepare him for the sight that lay before him. Immense didn't even begin to cover it, and it was extremely strong as well, even Irryl with her powers couldn't stand against it. They both concluded that Irryl would have to stay and wait for Percy to return while he checked it out, as Percy got close he simply parted to current around him so that he was in a small pocket of completely calm and still water. Percy moved forward to bring the pocket with him, Irryl and Percy maintained a mental connection the entire time so that they could both observe what was happening. Soon Percy could sense the shapes of a number of shipwrecks at the bottom of the gargantuan whirlpool, he moved closer and investigated them, however, at the conclusion of his search all he had found was skeletons, weapons, coins and valuable looking jewels. Percy pocketed some of the last, hey, you can't really blame him, he has no money and you never know when it could come in handy.
A short while after concluding his search, Percy and Irryl both felt a ship approaching the whirlpool, Percy quickly re-joined Irryl and together they slowly and cautiously approached the fast moving ship. As they got closer they detected another ship that was clearly pursuing the first ship, intrigued and a little worried they moved closer so that they could observe both ships. The second ship was full of soldiers who were working hard to catch up, the first ship, on the other hand, was filled with children and adults of all ages all of whom looked worried and scared. Percy soon saw why as the pursuing ship launched a volley of arrows at the fleeing ship and knew he could not stand idly by, he focused and a large wall of water rose up and intercepted the arrows in their flight easily catching and arresting their motion. The people on the fleeing ship looked slightly startled and shocked however they didn't question their luck and kept on rowing, Percy and Irryl were startled and a little worried to see that the ship was making almost directly towards the whirlpool. They both felt the power of that monster and knew that the desperate ship had very little chance for survival, after a quick mental conversation in which they both decided to help the first ship escape Irryl came up with a plan. With little time remaining they enacted their plan and swam in opposite directions, Irryl swam towards the first ship used both her physical strength and her powers to successfully boost the ship away and out of the whirlpools reach. Percy, on the other hand, swam towards the soldier's ship, he stayed a great distance away but one that he could comfortably use his powers, he pushed an insane amount of water into the side of the ship almost lifting it out of the water and flipping it, however, this was merely a side effect as now the ship had no chance to escape the whirlpool.
Percy took no satisfaction in watching the ship plummet to its death but knew it had to be done, Irryl sensed his mournful mood and mentally comforted him, not with words but her presence and the knowledge that there was no other way. Sighing heavily, Percy wasted no time in quickly returning to his draconic partner (A/N When I say things like this I do not mean romantically, I just mean it in the way that they are very close and could not bear to be separated) when they were reunited she shared her findings with him. Irryl had thickened the water vapour ever so slightly on the deck of the ship and could sense that many people were gathered and talking while looking back towards the whirlpool and the fate of the soldier's ship. Many were cheering and hugging one another while a few were warily scanning the water and talking quietly.
After about half an hour Irryl spotted one of the men drop a glass bottle into the ocean, Irryl alerted Percy of this development but he already knew, even though he did not possess her extreme eyesight he sensed it as it entered the water and his curiosity peaked, he retrieved the bottle with ease. When Percy saw the bottle he was amused, to say the least, he quickly shared the sight with Irryl who found the sight just as hilarious. It was a message in a bottle, Percy formed a small air bubble around the bottle to keep the message from getting wet when he removed it. He read it and relayed the message to Irryl at the same time:
To whatever being, creature or god saved us we thank you dearly and know that we owe you our lives if you receive this message and are capable of thought we wish to meet you and offer our thanks.
-Roran Stronghammer, leader of the people of Carvahall, the Dragon Wing
Both rider and dragon considered the message and concluded that it would stand to reason that Carvahall was a place and that the ship's name wat the Dragon Wing. As to whether they were going to meet or not, Irryl was unsure and reasoned that they could be dangerous, Percy pointed out that he had been in far more dangerous situations and if this turned bad he could easily escape to the ocean or use the water. Eventually, they decided to meet the villagers and see what they had to say, however, they both agreed that if they were going to do this, then they would do it together and cautiously. They decided that replying to the message would be best in order to warn the Dragon Wing that they had received the message. Percy dampened the ink ever so slightly and controlled it to rearrange the message.
Hello, my name is Percy, my dear friend Irryl and I were the ones that saved you from the whirlpool and the ship pursuing you. We would love to meet you and will approach you on your port side in half an hour. Please do not attack or harm my friend or me, we can appear quite scary at first.
Percy would have perhaps written more, however, he could only use the ink on the page and there was not enough to extend it further, he resealed the bottle and using his powers pushed it towards the Dragon Wing. When it was close enough he pushed it to the top of the water and slowly made a wave rise up and carry it just slightly over the side of the ship until the bottle landed at the feet of the same man who had dropped it. He stared at it for half a moment before tentatively reaching down and grabbing it, he opened the bottle and retrieved the message staring at it for a moment. Irryl watched the man carefully and Percy who could not see as well through the water and air watched through her eyes as well. It was a little anticlimactic when Roran (at that is who Percy assumed he was) called out to an old woman who walked over to him and examined the note. Irryl laughed at Percy's disappointment at the anticlimactic response, Percy defended himself "Hey you didn't expect him to not be able to read either!" he said trying to justify his response.
Irryl just let him feel her amusement as she thought back with a touch of pride "Of course I did. Many people were illiterate during medieval times, usually only something the nobility, scribes and such could read"
Percy just rolled his eyes and replied "Well they obviously have someone who can read and write because they sent us a message so we should probably get ready to meet them" Percy checked all his items were still on him and that the large frozen sphere of ice still had the cooked meat within it (Yeah that is still there) though he was not sure how good it would taste now.
He made sure to melt his ice armour (you know because it didn't exactly look friendly) but they agreed that Irryl should keep hers on just in case, Percy also kept a lot of water vapour around him in case he had to make a shield quickly. With these preparations in place, he noticed that there was a large crowd by the port railing and estimated that about half an hour had passed. He sat on Irryl's back and modified the ice armour on her back to form a saddle, and they nervously approached the ship. When they were about 10 meters away Irryl slowly swam upwards, from their position Percy and Irryl could see many people gasp as they saw a bright sparkly mass slowly grow in size as it moved upwards towards the Dragon Wing.
Finally, Percy breached the surface and saw the surprise on many of their faces, of all the things they had expected they probably didn't expect a 17-year-old (A/N He is 16 and 9 months' years old during Blood of Olympus and adding 1 month in Alagaesia he is 16 and 10 months, however, I am making him 17 because he is young enough as it is), I grinned a little nervously at them.
1st person POV | Roran
(Betcha didn't expect that, well maybe you did, I dunno some of you are very smart blue cookies.)
I was little nervous about this meeting, to be honest, all we knew was that some powerful force had interceded on our behalf, we knew this for a fact. The wall of water stopping the arrows, the speed and push the released us from the Boar's Eye not to mention the massive force that had basically thrown the Empire's sloop into the middle of the Boar's Eye. None of us had anything that could match that, we knew that we were basically at the creature, person or even god's mercy, so far they seemed to be helping us but we really weren't sure of their intentions.
Eventually, we decided to try and send a message to them, if they received it then perhaps they would be willing to help us out some more, or at the very least reveal their intentions towards us. If they didn't receive the message, then we were really no worse off than before.
I dropped the message into the ocean, Gertrude had written the message, out of those of us who could read and write she was probably the one I trusted most. I stood there waiting for a couple minutes not really expecting anything, I had no doubt that something or someone had helped us, but whether they had seen the message let alone could read and understand it. Needless to say, I had my doubts, I was jolted out of my thoughts when I felt a couple of droplets of water splash onto legs and a clinking sound. When I looked down my mind immediately went blank, at my feet was the very same message in a bottle that I had just dropped, I little hesitantly I reached down and grabbed the bottle at my feet. A couple of other villagers who had agreed with the idea and supported it stared at the bottle in my hands. We had all gathered after the Boar's Eye to gather and discuss the events that had passed, there were quite a few snorts and the likes when it was suggested, however, no one had disagreed with the course of action.
By this point everyone was staring at the bottle in my hands, everyone had seen me drop it and they in the first minute everyone had been nervously awaiting some sort of sign. However, soon enough most people returned had returned to what they were doing. Now I had everyone's attention on me as I opened and pulled out the roll of parchment, I stared at the words and called Gertrude over. I frown in irritation at my lack of knowledge and ask "Is this the same message you wrote."
She frowned at the parchment for a moment before her eyes widened considerably and her hand trembled ever so slightly. "No, it most definitely is not."
I stare at her for a couple seconds and quietly ask "What does it say?" By this point the entire village and most if not all of the crew has gathered close by so they could listen in.
She cleared her throat and started speaking in a loud voice so that everyone could hear her "Hello my name is Percy," she paused at this and looked around for a moment before continuing, it was pretty obvious that we had not expected such a simple statement. She continued reading out loud "my dear friend Irryl and I was the ones that saved you from the whirlpool and the ship pursuing you. We would love to meet you and will approach you on your port side in half an hour. Please do not attack or harm my friend or me, we can appear quite scary at first."
Immediately I took charge of the situation, I got all the women and children secured below deck and informed Uthar (He's the captain) of the recent developments. I gathered a group of mixed people by the port side, this group included myself, Uthar, Birgit, Gertrude, Jeod, and Horst, I did not want to appear overly hostile towards this stranger and so I included Gertrude as well as Jeod (who did not have the most intimidating appearance) and did not bring many others. However, I made sure I had my hammer with me and that the others excluding Gertrude who declined had knives tucked away about their persons. I positioned everyone in our group with me except Horst who placed at the ballistae just in case something went wrong.
It was time, I scanned the surface of the ocean but saw nothing, I heard Gertrude gasp and looked towards her, she said softly "Look down." I looked and was startled to see a what appeared to be a large mass of crystals moving towards us, it kept growing larger and larger until, lengthwise, it was at least half the length of the ship, I was even more startled when a person appeared from the waves. The boy was handsome looking with messy jet black hair and deep sea green eyes, he looked to be 17 or 18 though I couldn't be certain, he was fit and strong looking, he looked straight at me and...he waved. I was a little caught off guard by such a casual action, however, next to me Jeod gasped and whispered loudly in my ear "He has the Gedwey Ignasia on his palm"
I spotted a small spiral symbol on his palm but I honestly had no idea what it meant. Neither of us took our eyes off of the strange figure as I replied: "What does that mean."
"It is the mark of the dragon riders, he is riding a dragon right now" Jeod hissed into my ear.
My eyes widened and I looked at the strange boy very closely, he grinned nervously at us. I called out to him "... I assume your Percy" I paused slightly and glanced every so slightly at what I had thought to be crystals "Didn't you mention you had a friend with you?"
At this the dragon rose its head out of the water and looked at us "Hello my name is Irryl and this is my rider Percy"
I stared for a while, did that dragon really just talk, Jeod nudged me with his elbow and I cleared my throat a little nervously and spoke in an even tone "Well then Percy, would you like to come aboard so that we may talk?"
Percy nodded his head and his dragon brought him closer to the ship, I threw a small rope over the side which he grabbed onto and used to climb up until he dropped on the deck of The Dragon Wing. He looked perfectly at ease but I noticed a tiny worried glance over at Horst who was still manning the ballistae, I waved Horst over and noticed that as he left the ballistae Percy relaxed ever so slightly. I doubted I would have noticed it hadn't been for the fact that I was watching him so closely, in fact, the only indication he gave was a single nod of thanks.
Now that he was out of the water and on the deck we could examine him closer, I made a note of the beautiful and deadly looking blade at his side and how at ease he looked with the blade. During my companions and I's assessment of him, he returned our appraisals and I noticed that he only paused slightly when he noticed my hammer, in addition to this I could see his cautious gaze seek out and locate the knives hidden about us. I cursed silently, we had hoped to put him at ease, and yet he could tell that we were armed to the teeth.
(A/N sorry for leaving it here but I thought this chapter was getting a bit too long. Btw do you prefer chapters this sort of length or would you rather I make them the size of the previous chapters? Next chapter will be up soon.)