OOC For Erais

Ioksok was walking through the desert, it seemed much more populated now then only a few years ago. So he did not fly. He looked more a begger than a great dragon rider, his hair was long and matted, his beard was long, his clothes were raged and full of holes.
Ioksok walked up the crest of a small dune, and shifted his huge pack. He looked down at a small town and wondered what he might find their. A fight, a freind, or a job.
Withing minutes Ioksok was walking through the town he came to a small shack and walked inside, thinking no living thing would live there. He heard some one say "Can I help You?" and looked at a boy in the back of the shack, his hand on his sword.
"Actualy, yes would you mind if I stayed here with you?"
The boy shook where he stood and could bearly keep the large sword. "Go away." the boy said and advanced, on Ioksok.
The rider slowly backed out of the door, once out side he forgot all about the boy and wandered through the streets. In the center of the small run down town, Ioksok saw a board with papers hanging from it.
After inspecting the board, he snorted, "Only 8000 gold peices, come on Gably you can do better then that."
As the rider walked away he itched his beard, and his stomach growled. Ioksok entred the first in he saw, it was the happy farmer. taking a seat at a table in the back he was served a small meal of bread and cold meat, with a glass of water.
While he was eating he got an odd feeling like he was being watched, looking up from his meal he let his gaze wander the room, one person, small in the dark corner of the inn was watching him, Ioksok was not sure when the entred, and another a group of five was looking at him every once in a while. Shaking his head he went back to his food.
One of the men stood up and swagered over to Ioksok's table, "May I help you?" the rider asked the man.
He held up a picture of Ioksok, the same one he had seen out side in the square, "Yeah you seen this man." the bouny hunter asked.
"No"
The bounty hunter sneered "well you look just like em. Im sure they'l take you estead.'' he looked back then nodded to his fellows. They got up a started moving toward Ioksok.
The rider had a hidden dagger in his hand, and put it in the bounty hunters throat, then he drew his sword, and put his back agianst the wall.
One of the boutny hunter said in a regal voice, "Ioksok Friangle, drop your weapon and surrender or you will die.''
The rider just laughed.

To anyone who looked in the sky, it seemed as if a star was shooting through it at an incredible pace. The sun glinted brightly off of Arden's scales as he shot across the desert. He liked flying, and had to admit that sometimes he prefered flying alone instead of with Erais, he could go much faster that way. Erais was following behind him on horse back, the desert had become too populated in certain areas for her to travel with Arden.

The horse Erais was riding was getting tired quickly, she felt bad for the old creature and passed some of her energy to it so it wouldn't drop dead when they stopped. She urged the horse to go faster when she saw a run down town up ahead. Ah, shelter and water. She thought as the horse groaned under the strain it was receiving. Erais slowed the horse down as they entered the town limits. Wow, it looks like a ghost town. She remarked to Arden who stayed high in the sky.

Erais let the poor horse go, he wouldn't have lasted much longer under her authority. The horse gratefully walked away to a troph of water. With a slight smile she pulled her hood up, it wasn't the safest time for women to be seen in her state. Even though she could probably take anyone who threated her in this god foresaken town, she'd rather avoid confrontation. They might have something at the inn. Arden told her.

Carefully she made her way to the inn and gave a brief glance at a wanted poster. It was too faded to read the words, so she entered the inn quickly. What she saw was rather shocking, the men were holding another man at blade point. They looked like they wanted to rip each others throats out. Poor guy, she thought, not realizing who it was. "Hey!" she shouted very loudly and drew her sword. "Leave the poor man alone," her voice was laced in threat. The man did look grubby and a little bit travel worn, okay, he looked terrible, but so far Erais couldn't see anything to justify what was going on.

Ioksok heard the woman's voice, for a moment it rang in his ears like music, then fadded, just a ghost from the past he told himself. The rider griped his sword so tight his knuckels were turning white.

"This man is a criminal, under the law of the king we are taking him in." One of the hunters told the cloaked figure with the sword. Then glancing back at Ioksok, he laughed and pulled a knife. "It did say dead or alive." he told his men.

Ioksok snarled like a cornered animal, and lashed out at one of the bounty hunters, he caught the man just above the wast gutting him like a fish. At the taste of blood his sword, turned dark red, the enchantment hiding its color, and the fact he was a rider, was gone.

Erais tutted with a smirk. "So, whatever he did must've been good. Old Galby doesn't offer that much money unless someone really ticked him off. If this man did, then he is most definately a friend of mine, and I don't let my friends die." The last part she said in a dark tone. She drew her sword slowly and watched pleased as the men laughed. Be careful Erais, don't use magic. It will be a sure way of getting Galbatorix's attention, we don't need that. Arden told her in warning, Erais brushed him off.

She watched as the man gutted one of the bounty hunters. She walked over to the untrained men who were itching to kill and easily had a few of them down in mere minutes. One of the very drunk men swung his sword at her and missed by a long shot. She shoved her blade into his stomach, the sound sickening as he fell to the floor. Quickly she grabbed who seemed to be the leader, or what might be looked at as one, and pulled her sword up to his neck. "Tell me foe, what did he do to tick Galby off?" she asked him darkly.

Few of the bounty hunters were left standing between Ioksok and the cloaked woman only the leader and one of his cronies, who was laying on the floor moaning, were still alive. The leader breathed heavly and sneered, "That man is a deserter, and a tresonuse dog. He deserves to die, he killed five of the kings own riders on the way out of the city."

When Ioksok heard that he smilled, and nodded his head while the man talked, "And what else did I do?'' He asked the bounty hunter.

The man gulped, and started agian "He made an attempt on the kings life, and killed a whole battalion of men, when he and his deamon beast burned down an outpost."

The rider laughed "and all I have on my head is Eight thousand peices of gold. Can you bleive the nerve of the king. Im at least wort twenty."

Erais smirked, she wasn't sure who this guy was yet, but she liked him so far. "Well let me tell you, he's not the only one out there with a beast." Her tone was empty of sympathy for this bounty hunter. "Well I have to say I'm impressed, not many people actually live to say that they even got close to Galbatorix, not twenty, I think it should be fifty." She said and dug her sword deeper into the mans throat, but not so he would die, least not yet.

Erais, Arden cautioned her, but she brushed him off again. "Now, I'll let you live, but only if you rely this message to your dear," she sneered at the idea of Galbatorix ever being dear, "king that his end is near." She cut his throat, but not so it would kill him. He looked scared to death as he ran from the inn. The innkeeper looked frightened as well.

Erais grabbed a fairly clean cloth and cleaned her sword. She took her hood off, it was rather pointless now. It took longer then she expected, but her sword was clean again and she sheathed it. "Now sir," she was laughing slightly, "tell me your name so I can know who has ruffled Galbatorix's feathers."

Ioksok laughed as he watched the woman make the bounty hunter qiver. Then she scared him out the door. The rider silenced the moaning man, after he told him to shut up, and the man did not comply.

When the hood fell back, Ioksok felt his eyes widen, and he could not speak for a moment. "Why don't you remeber me?" he asked her with a laugh.

"It's me Ioksok." the rider said finaly sheathing his sword.

Erais looked at him quizically and squinted her eyes slightly as she tried placing him. It had been way too long for her to recognize him, but under all the scruff and dirt, it was definately Ioksok. "Wow," it was all she could saw, but she laughed. "Honestly, what have you been doing?" she asked him. "You look terrible." She said while looking him up and down.

"Of course I remember you, though you need to shave and have a bath." She told him with a raised eyebrow, his appearance wasn't too flattering. "How's Fang?" she asked him, memories from her past started to flood her mind. It had been too long, almost long enough for her to completely forget. You know him? Arden asked amazed, through the images Erais sent him, the man looked like he lived on the streets. Yes, a very dear friend from my past, well the past from a very long time ago. She told him.

At Erais mentioning of a bath and shave, Ioksok laughed "Yeah I guess its been a while sense i've had ether. Fang is good, left him some where out there," he waved towards the desert. "We have been mostly running from the law and hunters, and quiet a bit of killing and burning." He shrugged.

Looking out a window, the bounty hunter apparently told people what happned at the inn. "We should leave." he said looking around he found a back door. How nice. And lead Erias out the door, through the town and out into the desert.

"So what have you been up to?"

She still couldn't get over the fact that she was seeing Ioksok again after very many years. "Well I can see why you are, though I would think you'd be doing a better job then this." She said while following him. Erais felt slightly cheated that she wasn't able to rest in the run down town, but this was better then having to kill more men. When Ioksok asked her how she'd been, she grew solomn. "Its been a hard life, too hard. Since the last time I've seen you, I've lost much." She told him while looking up in the sky where Ardens scales reflected with the sun.

"Who's that?" he asked following Erias's gaze to the sky. Soon another dot was flying through the sky, coming from the east. The sand was warm under Ioksok bare feet, and his sunburned skin was peeling. "I have got to find a better place to exile myself to." he muttred.

The dot that was Fang grew larger as he moved closer to the couple. His red scales shining in the sun. Ioksok remebered the first time he had seen those scales, and the first time he had riden into battle on the beast. What glory, he thought awaited them.

"What?" Erais asked him and looked back up at the sky. "Oh, that's Arden." She told him. Arden, come down here, Erais told him and he quickly dove towards the ground. The sand whipped up around them and they had to quickly cover there faces. "This is my dragon, um, well not the one you remember." Erais said nervously, she saw Fang coming towards them and smiled. Hello Fang, its been a while. She greeted him.

As Fang flew closer, he circled once and landed behind Ioksok. Fang was larger then he used to be, but he had lost an eye, in the fight to escape the prison both he and Ioksok had been in. A fresh scare running down his face, was pink and scaleless.

It's nice to see you agian. Fang said to Erais. "When did, you get him?'' Ioksok asked, Fang asked What happened to Erador?

Erais was speechless for a moment as she saw Fang. He was huge, and had one less eye then the last time she had seen him. "Whoa, what trouble did you two actually get into?" she asked while looking at the pink scare on Fang's face. "A while ago, long enough to figure out how much of an annoyance he can be." She teased Arden and he growled playfully. Erais looked over at Fang sadly. She, well... Erais trailed off as pain ripped through her chest as Erador's death surfaced in her mind. She died by my fault. There was a war, we were seperated, she blocked the Shade's blow and suffered for it. I was too cocky and arrogant. Erais told Fang as a tear slipped down her face. It was a hard blow, but Arden and other friends have helped me. Erais spoke sadly.

OOC my last post for the day cya tomarrow

Ioksok felt the pain, as Fang let out a roar of sarrow. "It wasn't your fault, you would never do any thing that would have put Erador in danger."

Fang clawed the ground and let out a long moan, I never got to say good bye he told Ioksok, "I know brother.'' his rider said as he moved closer to the great beast.

Ioksok asked fang if he was ready to fly, the dragon numbly answered yes. vaulting onto the red's back, he motioned Erais to follow his lead. Then with a great leap, Fang lifted him slef into the air, and pounded his wings.

Erais plumeted into deep sorrow as she saw Fang's reaction. "It was my fault though," she muttered numbly. Arden looked at the other two, it seemed that Erais had known these two for a very long time. He let her climb on before lifting into the air behind Fang. Arden could feel her fall into depression and felt a slight anger towards these two, they were the reason she had resurfaced memories she had put behind her. I'm sorry Fang, she told him remorsefully.

No, don't be sorry she is in a better place then we are. At least until this war is over, not that I think we'll live that long. the red dragon said.

The pair flew sout east, both dragons were struggling by the time they reached the edge of the desert. As Fang touched down, and the sand settled, Ioksok slide off of his dragon. The rider stared out at the setting sun. He sighed and started a small cook fire, and cut a scrawny desert rabbit from Fang's saddle and started cooking.

The flying was much harder, it seemed as if the blazing sun was against them. Arden was able to keep up pace though, and did a sloppy landing as Fang landed. His sides heaved from the exertion. Erais carefully dismounted from his back and leaned against him with a sigh. The sun burst into an array of reds and oranges as the sun was starting to set, it looked as if the sky was on fire. She looked at the scrawny rabbit and quickly went to one of the small packs tied to Arden's back. She pulled out some of the dried fruit and brought it over to the small fire. She set it down on a clean rock and sat down. "So where were you headed?" she asked Ioksok, still amazed at seeing him after these long years.

Erais's question flashed through his mind, Where are we going? he asked Fang, who just snorted. Ioksok rolled his eyes and said ''I realy don't know, I was planing on heading to a city, or heading out into the spine, but in not sure where to go."

Ioksok put the rabbit on a spit and started turning it slowly over the fire. "How bout you?" he asked.

"Arden and I planned on stirring up some trouble, Galbatorix won't be comfortable in his seat for a while." Erais said while eyeing the soup curiously. Arden was stretching his wings, to help them from not cramping or tightening. "Have you been to the Varden lately?" she asked him, just making some conversation.

"No," Ioksok said "but a littel bird told me somthing big is about to happen mabye another battle, or an assasination." the rider raised his eyebrow, "Have you heard anything?"

Ioksok cut into the grease meat of the rabbit, to check if it was done. It was. Slicing of a leg he handed it to Erais, and took the other for himself.

Erais thought about it for a while, she had heard rumors, but she hadn't thought it was anything serious. "Yes, I've heard about something, but I've only heard it once or twice, so I just thought it was some silly rumor like most things these days." She spoke while taking a small bite from the leg. "Thanks," she said with a small smile. It was good being with her old friend again, even if the conditions in which they were living were much worse.

The pair sat in silence eating for a time, Ioksok was talking to Fang trying to figure out where to go. After a heated discusion they decide on a small town on the out skirts of Teirm, right between the coast and the Spine.

Ioksok told Erais their destination and asked if she would like to join them. While she thought about it, Ioksok took out his sword and started cleaning the sticky blood that had dried to the blade.

Do you want to Arden? Erais asked him, hoping he wouldn't mind. It had been a long time since she had travelled with Ioksok. Of course, I'd like to get to know these two who seem to be from your locked up past. Arden told her. He was truly curious, he didn't know much about her past, and maybe these two could help him figure out more about his rider. Good, she said happily. "Yes, it would be fun!" Erais told Ioksok with a smile. "We'll head out tomorrow morning if that's okay with you," she suggested.

Ioksok nodded his head as Erais spoke, "Yeah thats fine, I could use the rest." The rider said. Tring to make conversation Ioksok asked "So when did you two meet?"

After finishing his leg Ioksok tossed the bone out into the coming darkness, and sat down by the fire waiting for an answer, he put his cleaned sword away.

"Hm...good question," Erais said absently as she thought back to when she stole Arden's egg from Galbatorix. "Well it was a long time ago, a few years at the most," she couldn't exactly remember when. "It was a suicide mission gone wrong I guess you could say. A friend of mine helped me retrieve his egg, though we didn't know it at the time. A few days after running from the Empire, he hatched and we've been through a lot together." Erais tossed her leg bone into the dark as well. She yawned slightly and leaned against Arden as he fell asleep. "Most dragons grow out of hatchling habits, but for one thing, Arden just sleeps...and sleeps, he'd nap while flying if it was possible." She said with a laugh.

Ioksok laughed with her and streched out, his back popped, and he took a deep breath. Mind keeping first watch? the rider asked his dragon, who nodded his red head.

Ioksok smilled saddly to himslef. Fang had never been the same after he lost his eye, and now that his lady was gone, he was afraid he would not try to through himself into every fight they found.

It's surprising how cold the desert can get when the sun isn't blaring down on it. It was almost like the artic, freezingly cold. As it grew darker Erais subconsciously moved so she was laying down next to Arden's hot belly. Sensing the cool spot by his belly, he lay his wing over Erais so she was protected from the cold air. Sealing off much of the area around Erais with his wing, it quickly became warm and pleasent as Erais drifted into a full deep sleep. I'll take the second watch, she said to Ioksok before she fell into a deep sleep completely.

There was no need to wake them Ioksok thought, Fang and I have done this a million times. When midnight came around, Fang nuged his rider with a wing.

Ioksok sat up with a yawn and leaned back up agianst his dragon, still feeding the the small flame with twigs, he roled himself in his blanket and got ready for his watch.

Univentful the night slipped by quickly, soon the horizan had turned a firey orange and red. The tempature had already started rising.

Erais could feel beads of sweet gather on her face as the sun intensified the heat through Arden's wing. After feeling very uncomfortable, she woke up. It was very stuffy, and very hot under Arden's wing. She quickly rolled out and stood in the dry air. It was much cooler out here, even though she could feel the temperature rising. "Morning," she said with a smile to Ioksok. Arden, she spoke quietly, trying to rouse him. It wasn't until she was screaming at him through her mind did he finally rouse. What? he asked sleepily. Time to get up, she snapped impatiently.

Ioksok smilled back he had already started packing up his gear. now that every thing was taken care of, Ioksok, jumped onto Fang's back. The great red dragon pushed off with his powerful legs. Then flaped his wings the huge membrains caught the wind and the red floated into the sky.

Erais quickly climbed onto Ardens back as he took off after Fang. They both alway loved the feeling of the wind rushing past them. How long have you known Erais? Arden asked both Fang and Ioksok, hoping to get a small glimpse into her locked up past. It must have been a while, for she never ever is so happy for so long like this with anyone. Well, there's one person, but even then, she's a hard person to get to open up. Arden rambled on slightly.

Ioksok and Fang both heard the question, trying to think back to the first time they had met. Ioksok was escaping from Sudra, and he had stopped in the desert, where he had met Erais. That was at least ten years ago.

About ten years. Fang said to the other dragon as they flew, the white sand streatched under them for about ten or twenty more miles and the cloudless blue sky over head went on forever.

Arden was certainly surprised with the answer. Ten years was a very long time, even for a dragon. Wow, ten years. Arden thought to himself as they flew over what seemed like endless sand. It was definately a beautiful day, at least for the desert. The sun was very hot, but the fact that they were being hit by wind kept them cool. Arden decided he loved the desert best, whereas Erais prefered the mountains.

Erais watched the sand disappear behind them, only to be replaced with new sand, only to disappear just as it had. The process seemed to go on forever as mile after mile was put behind them, but she knew that mile after mile still lay ahead. Though being in Ioksok's and Fangs company again, well, it was nice. It felt like the old days when she was a new rider and didn't have so many worries and painful memories.

Ater about an hours flight the sand began turning into rocky ground, with scruby trees and bushes. Ioksok took a deep breath of the clean air, then kicked Fang on his left side, the dragon banked to the right, and headed south east.

In about an hour or two we should hit a small lake, we will take a break and let the dragons eat. Ioksok sent to Erais, because he could not yell over the wind.

Erais had her eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of the wind, putting her concentration into it as it swept by. Arden was enjoying the flight, even though it was pushing his speeds. He liked a good challenge though, Fang was much bigger then him, but he was keeping up pretty well. Okay, then we can see from there if the Empire has any camps set up. Erais communicated back.