The Titan and the dragonriders

12. from senses

Time flew by and although he had to slow down with keno on his back, John was still quite able to leave the forest today. The trees were slowly clearing and the surroundings were rockier. Feyth had said that there were only a few miles to go before they reached the mountains and she was right. Sometime in the afternoon John finally stepped out between the trees and looked at a narrow path that lay in the middle of a rocky landscape and led straight into the middle of the mountain foothills.

He and the Dragon Girl stopped briefly at the edge of the forest and examined their further way. Keno had fallen asleep again some time after her departure, but the soldier had no intention of waking him, the boy needed sleep. "How high are these mountains?" asked John and let his gaze wander up to the snow-capped peaks, some of which even disappeared in the clouds. Feyth tilted her head and said after a moment of reflection: *Most of them are so high that not even a dragon can fly over them, and even the smaller ones are so high that you humans can't breathe. But our way should lead through a pass that is completely safe. It is often used by trade caravans * "That means we should definitely go through this pass for Keno's sake. It should be very hard for him to survive the nights in the mountains anyway, without any clothes at all". *Wait here a moment! the dragon girl replied and ran along the right side of the forest until John couldn't see her anymore.

He became restless because as a soldier he disliked not having one of his comrades in his field of vision without knowing where he was. *Nothing will happen to me, she said amused. The Titan grumbled discontentedly as he was reminded that she could just get access to his thoughts like that. So he waited patiently for Feyth to come back. It took him about ten minutes to see her tail between the dry grass and the fallen branches. *She's heavier than I thought he heard her growl in his head and ran curiously towards her. When he arrived at her, he saw what she meant. The dragon girl had dragged a big wooden box, almost as big as herself, which was locked with an old-fashioned lock.

" What exactly was it about?" John demanded to know while he took the heavy thing from her and carried it over on the way. By his standards, the box was light, but heavy enough to leave a proper dent in the ground when he put it down. *They're secret supplies of smugglers. I've seen them put all kinds of stuff in there a few times. There should also be some clothes for Keno * she said and sniffed at the box. "Smuggler, then. You really have some bad crooks in your country here," John said and tampered with the lock. *I told you we were on the brink of war, Feyth replied. The lock was actually quite simple, a bent metal brace sitting in a locking mechanism holding the lid on the box. But at the moment it was too fiddly for him. "Fuck it," the Titan growled, grabbed the entire lock and tore it from the box with a jerk, leaving a fist-sized hole in the wood. Then he lifted the lid and looked at the contents of the chest.

As predicted by Feyth, the top layer consisted of clothes, fabrics and cloths. Some were made of linen, others of wool and even satin. For Keno he chose a thick shirt and wool trousers, a linen undershirt and a pair of thick socks. He also took a warm blanket and a cap padded with fur. He put the rest of the stuff next to the box in the grass and kept on looking around. He found a pair of boots to fit the boy, leather gloves and several bottles of liquor, rum and other liqueurs. Everything he couldn't use he put on the pile next to the chest. He just took out a precious looking vase with fine ornaments as his gaze fell on a large, richly decorated box at the bottom of the chest.

The thing was as long as the outer box, but only a third as wide. Carefully he removed the remaining goods from the box and inspected them more closely. The decorations turned out to be carved runes and various flowers. Whoever had worked this wood had gone to a lot of trouble. Unfortunately, he couldn't decipher the runes, so he asked Feyth, who had been curiously watching the whole thing: "Can you read this writing here?She put her head deep into the big box and said excitedly: *That's the old language! * "The old language?" *I'm sorry I forgot you don't know magic in your country. It's the language that magic was bound to long, long ago to master. Only the elves and the dragon riders still use it today as a real language.* "Can you read it?" *Sorry I can' t.* She turned her eyes to the sleeping boy, but John shook his head before she could wake him up. "He needs to rest, his body has been through a lot since he was captured," he explained and carefully lifted out the long box. "If only elves and dragon riders still use this language, the content should surely come from them. The best thing is to take them with us, we can still ask Keno as soon as he wakes up." *You're the one who has to carry everything * she said teasingly and sat down again.

John ignored her remark and reached for a large piece of leather he had previously put aside. He spread it out flat on the way and began to put everything he had picked out in the middle one by one. Among them were Keno's clothes, boots and gloves, a bottle of brandy, a small piece of rope, wrapped dried meat, an iron pot with lid and some herbs wrapped in wax paper. Then he took the ends of the leather and tied them with the rest of the rope so that it became a simple bag. He grabbed it by the laced end and stood up again. *Is it not too difficult? Feyth asked gloatingly while John looked at the decorated wooden box in the other hand. "Believe me, I have carried much heavier loads," he replied and checked to see if Keno was still sitting right. Then, in quiet agreement with the Dragon Girl, he marched on towards the mountains, leaving the dense forest behind him.

The path was very rocky, with some large boulders lying there from time to time. John wondered how the bandits had even been able to travel this path with a big cart and a horse. After just a few miles across this steep terrain, Feyth became too tired to keep up with the Titan, so she swung into the air and circles above him. It gradually got darker and darker, and after a few hours in the west he could watch the setting sun casting its last rays over the land. As if he had planned it, Keno opened his eyes as the last ray of the sun disappeared behind the horizon and everything was bathed in the faint light of a waxing moon.

John noticed that the Dragon Rider had woken up and said, "I hope it wasn't too bumpy?"  "It was all right, thank you John. My mind also seems to be clearer now, at least I can feel the magic stream inside of me again," the boy replied and carefully palpated his injured leg. "That is good news. Then you can finally heal your broken leg," the soldier said encouragingly, but Keno sighed sadly. "Maybe so, but I still can't feel Shad, although the effect of the drug is gone." "I'm sorry about that." The Titan looked for a halfway bare spot a little off the path and put the box and the two bags there before calling Feyth, who landed next to them a few moments later. John squatted gently and loosened the blanket tied around his hip so that Keno could slowly slide down. The Dragon Rider limped to the nearest rock and sat down on it. Meanwhile, the soldier had completely thrown off the blanket and started to rasp the clothes out of the larger bag. *Feyth said to Keno as she made herself comfortable next to him on the cool stony floor. The boy nodded his thanks, closed his eyes and put his left hand on the broken leg. He mumbled a few words John couldn't understand and as the Titan turned around with his clothes, the Dragon Rider jumped up and down.

No more trace of a broken shin. Fascinated, he handed the boy the clothes and sat across from him on a large stone that cracked dangerously under his weight. So this is magic,' he thought and thoughtfully crossed his arms. Keno, after he had healed the other wounds and taken off all the bandages, changed his clothes and said: "Thank you for the clothes, it's quite cool up here". "John replied and waited patiently until the Dragon Rider had dressed and sat down before saying, "Feyth and I found this box here on the way.There are characters engraved in it and we believe that it could be the old language. Would you like to take a look?" He handed him the box and Keno gently grabbed it with both hands. The Dragon Rider looked at it insistently and got big eyes when his gaze fell onto the inscription.

"Where did you find it?" he wanted to know excitedly and Feyth answered him: *In a smuggler's box.* "What exactly is it Keno?" John asked. Keno swallowed hard and said, "Something that the Dragon Riders were robbed more than twenty years ago. It says here: In memory of my father, without whom I would never have come this far. May this sword always remind me of his deeds, for you are Undbitr." Feyth's eyes widened and she japed quietly. John, on the other hand, did not understand the excitement. "So a sword is trapped in it?" he asked with a shrug of his shoulders, but Keno shook his head.

"Not just any sword. That is Undbitr, the sword of Brom! It belongs to Master Eragon!