Rider for the Varden - Open to All -

[Miluiel Vaedmeir]

Ice cold air blew over and around the pair as they flew ever closer to their destination. Sorius' smug silence that floated from his mind to her's alerted Miluiel to the pride he felt for flying so far. They had made their way from Du Weldenvarden all the way to Surda in just a day and a half. Though their success she knew came from the years of training with the now late Oromis. His knowledge and training had hardened them both into weapons of war since that was what the world was currently in need of. Strong riders. But she couldn't let him be to proud, it wasn't flattering to his character so she in turn repremended him silently. With a snort of smoke Sorius dampened his mood slightly.

"I still dissapprove of being around so many strangers. I don't trust them." he told her through their mental connection, though his dissapproval was very evident in his message.

"It must be done Sorius for the good of Alagaësia. The Varden and Argetlem need our help." she thought back, slightly annoyed to be having this conversation with him again. At her response, he snorted once more, flames shooting from his nose as well this time.

"Well, I don't care what the cause or who the person. If a single one of them hurts you, I will destroy them all. Argetlam or otherwise. I'll tear them apart, burn the peices, then burn the ashes."

"Do what you must." She had learned long ago that there was no use in arguing with Sorius. He didn't care a bit what others thought of his sour attitude. And from what she heard, most dragons didn't. So there was no point in trying to keep him from being what he was. A big, cranky, dragon.

After this, silence enveloped their minds. There was more comfort in that than in meaningless dialouge for the two of them. Then slowly, the city of Aberon appeared below them. Wasting no time, Sorius dived for the ground and Milueil gripped the spikes on his neck infront of her as her dark hair whipped behind her. Once they were barely fifty feet from the ground, Sorius pulled out of the dive so he was perpendicular to the ground, flapping his wings out. Below them the buildings shook from the force of the air. He streched his back legs, letting his weight go on them now that they were on the ground. Then he let the rest of him come to the ground hard on his front legs which not only shook the ground, but made a loud crashing noise. Knowing this would alert people, Miluiel put up strong wards to protect them until the people knew they meant no harm.

She stood on Sorius' back and scanned the area. People had started to come out of their houses, standing in shock at the sight of them. Sorius was extremely large, from what she had heard larger then Safiria or Thorn. He was older though by many years. But she ignored these people and continued to look for someone that would be able to help them. Someone with power. She needed to find the Varden. So an audience with the King was neccissary. Someone had to have connections.

[Arkantos]

Arkantos shaded his eyes in an admirable affectation of a human's inability to see into the sun. Naturally, being a Shade, he didn't really need to, but it eased the troops to see their Commander still acting normally after official word had been spread that he'd been captured and tortured with magic by the Empire for several months before escaping and bringing back an apprentice half-elf with him.

"Hm. A Dragon Rider approaches. Interesting. Let's see what this one wants, shall we? Gentlemen, hold your fire until I give the signal!" Arkantos called out to the troops stationed on the walls and throughout the fortress as he folded his arms over his chest and waited for the dragon to land, silently preparing an arsenal of powerful and deadly spells to unleash on the both of them should they be....unfriendly.....

He frowned as the dragon dived and made a landing in the middle of the city.

"Oh, gods, of course they'd land in the plaza. Lieutenant! Ready a battalion of twenty men and head for that dragon as soon as you can! I want a full perimeter set up within ten minutes, do you understand?" he ordered calmly, as he opened a magical gateway, a unique spell of his own invention, to the place in particular, the air whirling and the edges of the gateway glimmering with seductively silver dullness. Of course, that pretty color didn't stop the very grass from being sliced to within a molecule of a perfectly straight line by the gate's edge. Walking through it, he summoned a bastard sword of darkness and a tower sheild of silver light, both radiating their respective elements wildly as he approached the Dragon Rider, his armor, of course, had been painted black and red from its original olive green, and his cloak, magically enchanted, did not stir with the slightest of breezes. Indeed, it stayed unnaturally still. Another sign of his dark turnings.

"I am the Shade Rash'agal, also known as Arkantos Halimar, a Captain of the Varden. State you and your dragon's names, as well as your business here, or I will be forced to slay you right here and now." the Shade challenged the Rider in a way that he hadn't since one of his first missions. Back then, he'd been defeated handily. This time, a Rider would be the one to fall....assuming he got to fight them....

[Miluiel Vaedmeir]

Miluiel breathed in slowly through her nose and exhaled through her mouth as she unsheathed her ton-fa. Sorius' back trembled beneath her feet as he growled. They both could sense magic being used somewhere in the city. Strong magic. Whoever was using it wasn't the average spell caster. They were experienced, and if they were with the Empire, she and Sorius were in for a fight. It was then that they realized how stupid they had been just landing in the middle of the city. For all they knew, with what little information they got in the forest, Surda could have fallen to the Empire years ago.

The magical feeling grew stronger so Miluiel looked further out and Sorius simply moved his eye direction to see a shade approaching who was obviously ready for a fight. Simply at the sight, she gripped her weapons tighter and both locked their minds tighter; their own connection suddenly growing. Oromis and Glaedr had taught them about Shades. They were vile creatures to fight against. Hopefully they were on the same side.

As he announced his name and standing, the two relaxed slightly. He was a Varden sided shade. This could be helpful. He obviously had a good amount of power considering the number of troops he had surrounded them with. Curving her hand to her chest, she bowed slightly, not removing her gaze from him, in the formal greeting she was so used to giving.

"I am Miluiel Vaedmeir of Du Weldenvarden and this is Sorius." she said gesturing to her partner. "We have come her in search of the Varden. We wish to join them in their campaign against the Empire to bring peace to Alagaësia once more."

She didn't move from Sorius' back and instead prepared to take off incase the shade showed and ill-intentions. Sorius was more concerned with the soldiers who drew ever closer, blowing puffs of smoke in their direction every now and then to scare them. That, coupled with the growling that hadn't stopped since they felt the Shade should have had the troops terrifyed at that point. Miluiel only hoped no one would get hurt so soon.

[Arkantos]

Rash'agal, seeing this Rider and dragon posed no obvious threat to his host, allowed the fragmented personality of Arkantos to resume control of his body while the spirit half of the Shade resumed his ever-curious experiments into the subtleties and quandries of the ancient language.

Arkantos himself reluctantly dispelled the magical weapons and raised an eyebrow quizzically the strangeness of this elf and dragon. They'd heard no mention of any other surviving Dragon Riders within Du Weldenvarden, and Arkantos specifically thought that any Riders for the elves would have come from Varden-held eggs. Nevertheless, he returned the elf's greeting in kind, even adding in the traditional greeting in the ancient language for effect.

His men had arrived, daunted by the sight of the dragon, but not unusually fearful. They had seen Arkantos in battle, and they knew of his strength and courage when fighting against an opponent stronger than he. It was because they knew exactly how effective he was against strong spellcasters, especially those such as Shades and Riders, that they had absolute trust in him, and did their duty silently and without hesitation, almost ignoring the dragon as they cleared the area of civilians in rapid time.

"Well met, Miluiel Vaedmeir Shur'tugal and Sorius Bjartskular. On behalf of the Varden, I, Arkantos Halimar, hereby welcome you to our cause. Though, I must confess, I am very curious to see an Elven Rider and her Dragon arriving so late in the war; your strength was needed many times over in battles past. But I digress, and the past is the past. Tell me, though. How long have you two been bonded for Sorius here," he welcomed the two of them formally as he nodded at the large dragon, "to grow to such an impressive size? None of our own dragons have yet to approach a size as this, and the only dragon who could have is deceased, to our sorrow. I assume you knew of the Elves' gambit, Oromis and his dragon, Glaedr?" Arkantos said calmly as he approached the Elf and her dragon without fear. It had been a while since he had truly felt fear; the power he could command with the Shade's strength was such that Arkantos was completely untouchable save by a Rider skilled enough to have trained in both magic and combat for many more years than he. Such Riders, however, were very rare, and even the strongest Varden Riders, including Eragon himself, were wary of their newly enhanced ally. He had yet to actually bring himself to true combat since his dark ascension, having only to fight the simplest of beings, and no one of any true power as of yet.

He motioned for the Rider to lead her dragon inwards, towards the fortress castle that housed the Varden's High Command, as he gave a silent signal for his soldiers to maintain the cleared streets as they moved into the center of the capital city.

"Rider, if you will be so kind as to follow me on foot, I shall take you to the Varden's leadership, where you may be formally accepted by the Council of Elders. Sorius, if he would be so kind as to consent, may follow us above from the air. I find it simpler to walk, as using magic to get everywhere is taxing and only truly useful in emergencies. Not to mention that I must avoid creating fear and hatred of magic-users among the populace; that sort of thing will only hurt our cause in the long run." Arkantos was almost rambling as he decided to address the Rider and Dragon in a sensible, pleasant, almost friendly tone. Of course, it never lost the respect for the station that Miluiel held as a Rider; now something Arkantos, an unholy Shade, could never truly hope to attain.

[Miluiel Vaedmeir]

As the shade spoke, Miluiel stood perfectly still. Despite the fact that he was on the side of the Varden, he was still a shade. It would take her awhile to fully trust him, knowing how dangerous he could be. So far, he was giving a good display, putting down his weapons and speaking in a pleasant tone. But he still had magic and any good actor could speak nicely.

"I don't care what side he is on." Sorius thought to her as he turned his attention away from the soldiers and to the shade, "Glaedr always said to never trust a shade, no matter what. You do what you have to. I'll stay distrustful." Miluiel nodded to her dragon, unaware if it seemed out of place to Arkantos or not.

"You're curiosity is unsurprising." she said calmly, still not moving from her standing position on the saddle, "We have been bonded for thirty five years. I found the egg by chance hidden in a hole under a tree. Since then we have been hidden from even my own people except for Oromis and Glaedr." As she spoke she watched him approach, her weapons were lowered but not sheathed. It was good for him to see her treading lightly in his company. Trust was not something to be easily given in these times.

At his motion, Sorius began to walk in the direction he was going; the ground shaking slightly with every step because of his weight. He growled in disapproval at the shade's request and even Miluiel hesitated. Separation from each other made them weaker. But Sorius could see the inner struggle, Miluiel was having. "I will fly directly above you. But I won't like it." he said in an attempt to fix the small dilemma.

With another small nod. she jumped off of his back, landing on the ground soundlessly. The second she landed, Sorius took off, but he flew as low as possible without causing a windstorm in the city. Miluiel walked next to Arkantos, keeping fair distance to be able to react if he attacked, but not so much that she would seem rude or unfriendly. Her long, dark hair whipped about her pale features from the breeze caused by her dragon as she walked with the light footedness that every being of her race had. People stared out their windows with mixed faces of awe and terror. It had been a long time since elves had walked so blatantly in the presence of humans.

As they walked towards their destination, Sorius sent her a quick little message that he wished passed on to the shade at her side. First, she sheathed her blades, which was one his is messages. She considered not relaying the next part, but Sorius would have none of it. So with a small smile she turned to him and said, "My companion wishes you to know that if anything happens to me while he is in the air that you will be the first to die." She shook her head a little, a light, bell like laugh escaped her lips. "Please excuse his rudeness. He is like that towards everyone except me."