The Titan and the dragonriders

94. Larva, the Evil spirit

It took just under half an hour for Eragon to get everything ready for the departure, but the Titans didn't fare much better as Steven dribbled around as usual. John had to speak a word of power before he finally interrupted his conversation with Dun'var and rushed past his father to the Juggernaut with a shamefully ducked head. Miller then shook his head with a sigh, but then stepped into the interior of the albatross with the others.

Only Julia stayed outside with Murtagh and when the old colonel threw a glimpse over her he had to smile amused. The sight of his big daughter sitting behind the much smaller dragon rider in the saddle on Dorn's back was just too funny.

A few moments later, he sat next to Alanna in the cockpit, this time Robert sitting in the pilot's seat and Emily miming the co-pilot with Feyth on his lap. Alex, too, had joined them and sat at the weapons console so as not to squat alone in the troop compartment, and Aidan hovered just above Holsted's right shoulder. John's gaze scurried over to the green dragon girl as she made her mark in his mind and he saw smiling as she looked excitedly out of the window.

In full anticipation of their departure.

*Is Uncle Robert also such a good aviator as Aunt Julia?* she wanted to know curiously what Miller let go quietly. 'Well, that's what matters. Some would say he was the better pilot, while others would say the opposite. He has a more pleasant flying style, at least that's my opinion. However, it is also less exciting. Best of all, you just wait it off.' he replied kindly, feeling the curiosity in his little protégé rising even more. *Hhm, but now I'm excited.* she replied and began to gurgle with pleasure when Emily tenderly stroked her over the flanks.

"All right, we'd be shadow killers. It's best to start first and we'll join your formation. So there are the least complications, I think," Robert explained shortly afterwards into the radio that was attached to the valve in front of him, and a few moments later received a response from Eragon. "I agree with Robert. We will now fly off and draw circles about two hundred feet away," the rider said. "Understood. We wait until all the dragons are in the air before we start," the pilot replied approvingly, pressing a button to disconnect the radio connection. At the same time, he operated the ignition for the engines, which started with a roaring roar. From the corner of his eye, John noticed the dragons around them instinctively shudging, especially the younger ones among them.

However, the roar was immediately repeated when Robert changed another switch, which puts the albatross in his so-called "stealth mode". This meant that higher speeds were no longer possible, but the engines hardly made any noise, which was particularly useful for night-time operations. "That should at least take some of the shock moment away from the whole thing," Holsted remarked, smiling, his hand in the direction of Eragon as he made the same gesture. "Definitely a good idea Robert. That at least reduces the stress for her," Miller agreed, nodding, while Emily quietly grumbled: "That could have been Julia doing from the beginning, too, instead of giving the children half a heart attack." "You know her as well as I do. You won't have a quiet start with her until hell freezes," Robert said with a laugh. "She hasalways been not exactly simpeachous about things like this, that's true," the colonel said with a smile, looking like Feyth and Alanna out of the cockpit, where the dragon riders and their two companions, in the form of Dun'var and Tinira, flew off.

There was something majestic about watching these winged giants prepare their mighty wings and then repellent themselves off the ground one by one, in order to gain height more or less quickly with powerful wing strokes. Their scales glistened like polished gemstones in the now radiant sun and through his dragon eyes their colors only became all the brighter and stronger. Especially Dorn, whose blood-red dandruff dress stood out especially for him. It took a few minutes for all the dragons to rise from the ground and eventually join Sapphira to capture the same formation as before. Now the thunder circled about two hundred feet above them, as the Grand Master had told them that a group was called dragons.