A Storm is Coming - The Rage

The wind blew lightly, splashing the cool mountain water over Sam's bare feet as she sat on the edge of Woadark Lake. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her legs. Resting her chin on her knees, she closed her eyes. Images of the previous two weeks swarmed before her eyes.

After Percy had told her about Blaze and the vampires, she had quickly figured out where they likely were. A quick scrying of Salah confirmed her thoughts and Sam and G'reth had raced to Teirm to stop a potential war. Blaze was just about to attack the city and stopped. The madness that had taken over her mind had ceased and together, Salah, Blaze and Sam had convinced the vampires to stop and return to their city. There was some bloodshed from extremist vampires who watched their dreams of conquest quickly washed away by rational thought. The world was in shambles already. How could war between two races make things better? The vampires took the baby related to Blaze with them to raise. Blaze quickly released Salah from her oath, disgusted with how the magic had seized her mind. G'reth and Sam had been just in time to save Teirm. Sam shuddered to think what might have happened if they had been too late.

What was this world coming to? War constantly loomed over the lands. Greed corrupted the so called un-corruptible. Families torn between beliefs. The young forced to fight for causes before their time. She felt a yearning for days past.

G'reth joined her conscious. Sam let her memories take her away. To her earliest days at the guild. The first time in years she had ever felt safe. A place where she realized she truly belonged and joined the Dragon Riders. The grueling lessons in magic, flight, archery, swordsmanship, speech, languages, geography ... too many to count. The connection between dragon and rider developed more than ever. Making new friends, life long bonds.

Sam absentmindedly felt her ring finger, remembering the gold band she had worn there. Fallenfaith ... and Draco. G'reth growled softly and nudged his rider's shoulder comfortingly. Sam could feel his sadness and rubbed his snout. So many friends and comrades come and gone. Sasoix, Aqua, even Bazoo. And now Darkest. Sam sighed and hugged her legs tighter. She quickly wiped a tear from her cheek and opened her eyes, staring out over the water of Woadark Lake to the mountain peaks of the Spine.

She wanted to run. As far as she could. To find out how far she could go before she had to stop.

Her thoughts were disturbed by a voice behind her. "Sam?" The elf quickly wiped the rest of the tears from her cheeks and stood up, using G'reth's snout for support. Jared stood 30 feet away from the bonded pair. He looked at Sam with concern. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said automatically. The man stared at her for a moment and then turned away from her.

"What shall we do now?" Jared asked. He looked up at her again, confusion in his brown eyes. Sam could tell he wanted to come near her, feel the intimacy they had felt in Uru'baen. She couldn't allow it. Everyone around her got hurt.

And Darkest... it was too soon. The elf pursed her lips, wishing she could understand why Darkest had left her a piece of Wydra and told her to go to Uru'baen. Jared watched the elf slip away into her thoughts once more. He shrugged, pushing away her indifference towards him and went back to the fire.

The elf stared into the air with her blue eyes. Darkest, what did you want me to find? What did you want me to do in Uru'baen?


Why did you leave me so soon?

((Playing around with Shelby's backstory, no Terlu for the time being.))

Ana landed in the clearing, two riders on her back. She would've arrived sooner, but the dragon was still young and unused to flying, especially while carrying two passengers. Shelby chose to stay with Ana, casting wary glances at the silver-haired elf that Percy named as the leader of the Riders. Percy walked over to Sam as Jared asked his question.

"Yeh, what 'e said. Are we going to join the others?"

Jezzin sat, unsure of what to think. He had killed Midnight, Darkest's werecat, companion and friend, as well as his mentor after Darkest...fallen. The half elf laughed bitterly at the wordplay. And now...the power was his. He grimaced, his body tensing in the burnt ruins of the sacked village. It would come for him again, soon. He tried to stand and found he lacked the energy to do so. He slid back down the wall next to the grinning, charred corpse that had led him here. He sat, moping for the longest time, until he felt his blood begin to burn. He closed his eyes, no longer fighting the magic that took him.

When he opened his eyes, there was the flame. It spanned in all directions, the roar overwhelming. It was held back by a familiar ring of black flame. He stared at it, silently raging. While it kept the flames from consuming him, he felt an urge to run in and embrace the flames, a desire so strong, he took a step towards the barrier unconsciously.

"I wouldn't." A hand rested on his shoulder. Jezzin shrugged it off angrily.

"That was your mistake, never embracing your gift, not using the power you had to it's full potential. It won't be mine. The world will burn, Master." He spat the title scornfully. An all too familiar laugh was the only reply. Jezzin turned to glare at his teacher, and his captor, until such time as he could rest the power from him or reach a mutually beneficial agreement. Ash grey skin, well honed muscle, and more white scars than Jezzin would care to count. So many...it was unnatural, it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and whispered 'Danger' in the most primal part of his mind. Wearing only loose slacks, an open leather vest, and a wide brimmed hat, Darkest had never looked better.

"Something you won't understand, that I understood and forgot, is that flame consumes all, even itself..." Darkest trailed off, and Jezzin spat at his feet. Darkest shrugged, and chains appeared along his body for a second, wreathed in black flame, ephemeral, but there nonetheless. He even had a length wrapped around his head, a startling contrast to his bone white hair. Like a crown, making a mockery of kings and the ties that bound. Darkest sighed, bowing his head.

"My time grows short. What would you know today?" Jezzin thought for a second before grinning wickedly.

"What was your plan, why did you bring all of us to Uru'Baen?" He said it knowing that it would hurt Darkest more than anything else. He knew he had failed, that all those lives taken and uprooted had been for nothing. He had so himself, during these trials.

His features obscured by the brim of his hat, Darkest's answer was barely a whisper.

"Sam and the others were to be betrayed by Knurla. They would be imprisoned, of course. Knurla would try to free the others, and we would make it so. You and I, we could have... we were to keep the way clear so they could reach Galabatorix untouched. They would have fought while we held the doors to his chamber as long as we could. I know Sam...I know the others...They could have..we would have..." He made a strange sound, half sorrow, half rage. "I had it all set. The pieces were there, everything was in place...so close...so very close..." The flames around the chains flared and his head jerked upright.

"Defend yourself. Or succumb to the fires curse. Defeat my champion and take what is yours, or suffer the agony of defeat." It wasn't Darkest's voice. Of that Jezzin was certain. He summoned daggers of flame, a simple spell, one of the first things Darkest had taught him. His mentor did the same. They collided together with a roar, Jezzins primal and fierce, Darkest's like a wave of flame. They danced, student and teacher, flames colliding and sliding, evenly matched, until both collapsed from exhaustion. Small cuts burned all over Jezzins body. He had barely kept Darkest back, but as from before, he had been able to follow and dodge more attacks. He coughed, laughing as darkness overwhelmed his vision and he was torn back to reality. Soon, he would win free of the Black Flame, and it would be his to wield as Darkest never had. He would not show compassion. He wouldn't differentiate between targets. Friend or foe, it didn't matter. A thief was a thief, whether they took lives, freedom, hope, or joy, everybody fed on someone, stole something from them. That was what Helgrind had taught him. And that's what he would teach the world.

There was always a price. Always.

Sam glanced over at Percy. What others? a part of her mind screamed, but she held that thought back from all but G'reth, who was linked to her so intimately that the emotional thought was easily felt by him. The dragon got to his feet, standing behind his rider. His long tail swished through the air protectively around her. She felt him lightly touch her shoulder with his snout.

The elf puzzled quickly over what to say. She was in no fit state to lead anyone right now, not even herself. Sam felt G'reth holding back his thoughts, respecting her decision. She pursed her lips as she often did when thinking.

"I need some time to myself. Time to figure out what to do next," Sam said quietly. She heard Jared turn around to look at her, but she did not meet his gaze. "I'm afraid I've been in Uru'baen so long that I do not know where all the other riders are." Many of them had fled after Salah had given herself over to Blaze. Sam felt a small glimmer of pride. Salah, the vampire rider she had trained, given orders and having them followed, just like any good leader... Salah and Eldor had flown off to find some of the other riders, but had had no luck so far according to Sam's scrying.

"And what about us?" a stubborn voice said. "What are we supposed to do?" Sam felt Jared's hurt from the tone of his voice and read the double meaning in his words.

"You'll have to go on without me," the rider said, looking up at the man at last. His eyes pierced her, looking wounded. "I need sometime to puzzle through the recent events," There is something else out there other than Glabatorix... she thought only to herself and G'reth. She looked out into the distance. It was about noon according to the sun. Still time to travel and unravel all of the mysteries of late.

"Okay, but where're we s'posed to go?" Percy asked. He'd never had to make that decision; he had simply followed Shelby, whose feet wandered with the fickle wind. Now that there was no one to follow, he found himself at a loss.