Dragons!!!

“Do you think we’ve passed this tree before?” Keyblade asked.
“I think we did. I remember this weird leaf,” Mithos said.
“But there’s another tree right over there with the same leaves. And another. And another…” Bookworm pointed to various trees. Then she added, “I think we’re lost.” This had been obvious for a long time now, but no one really wanted to admit it. It felt like they had been wandering through the woods for days, which was probably true. All the trees looked the same and there was no way to know if they were going in the right direction or not.
Suddenly, Keyblade thought of a brilliant idea. “We should try flying over the forest! Then we’ll be able to see the city from above!” She shifted into drake form again.
“Great idea!” Mithos and Bookworm shifted too. They all flew over the forest, looking for a large city beneath them. To their frustration, they could not see it anywhere. They circled over the forest for what felt like hours, but saw no signs of a city ever existing. Mithos’s flight skills improved with all this practice, but other than that, their long flight accomplished nothing.
“I’m bored,” Bookworm complained. “Let’s try flying south.”
“We could if we knew what direction south is,” Mithos said grumpily.
“Oh, that’s easy!” Bookworm took out her wand and held it flat on the palm of her hand. “Point me!” The wand spun around and then came to a stop. “It points north,” she explained.
“Bookworm! Could you have done that spell all along?” Keyblade demanded.
This thought had not occurred to Bookworm. “Oh yeah… I guess so… Oops…” Before her friends could yell at her, they were interrupted. In fact, they were almost knocked out of the sky. A large blue dragon flew out of the trees and nearly crashed into them. Everyone screamed, but no one plummeted down to the ground.
“Hi everyone!” an elf-like boy waved at them with a red sword.
“Eragon? What happened to you?” Keyblade stared at him. He didn’t look like a human anymore. His ears were even pointy.
“There was a big party with lots of magic. And a dragon touched me and chose me as the Dragon Rider to save the world. I got pointy ears and more powers. And best of all, my wounds healed! Even my back! Hey, look Mithos! My hand’s better!” He held up his fully-healed hand.
“Great! …What was wrong with your back?” Mithos asked.
“It got badly injured when I killed Durza the shade. I probably would have died if Angela hadn’t helped me. And even with her help, I was partly crippled these past few months,” Eragon explained.
“Oh… So you weren’t at your full strength when I fought you?” Mithos asked, terribly disappointed.
“No,” Eragon shook his head.
Are you going to introduce me to your half-dragon friends or not? Saphira asked him irritably. She had given him plenty of time to chat, but interrupted when he had clearly forgotten her.
“Oh yeah… This is Mithos. He beat me when we sparred. And that’s Keyblade. She turned into a half-dragon and scared all the elves. And that’s Bookworm… I don’t think she likes me very much…” Eragon said uncertainly. Saphira looked curiously at Bookworm.
“Skulblaka, eka celöbra ono un malabra né haina. Atra nosu waíse fricai,” Bookworm said, smiling at Saphira.
“What?” Keyblade and Mithos said in unison.
“I said ‘Dragon, I honor you and mean you no harm. Let us be friends.’ in the Ancient Language,” Bookworm explained proudly.
“When did you learn the Ancient Language?” Keyblade asked.
“I found a dictionary in Oromis’s house, so I read it while he was talking about something that sounded boring. I learned some of the Ancient Language, so I might be able to use magic sometime,” Bookworm explained.
“That reminds me… Where were you all? I haven’t seen you in days!” Eragon said.
“We went in the woods to escape from the mob and we kinda got lost,” Keyblade explained. “Where are you going?”
“We’re going to a battle in Surda,” Eragon said. “Lady Nasuada needs our help. Arya already left, so we’re going to meet her there. And we’re bringing Orik, too. He’s just taking a rest down there.” He pointed to the trees below.
“Can we come too?” Mithos asked, eager to go to a battle. He wanted to prove that he could fight without being turned into a short pile of goo.
“Umm… You can’t fly all the way to Surda with small wings like those. Saphira, how many passengers can you carry?” Eragon asked his dragon.
I can carry three. Any more will slow me down too much. Saphira replied.
“I’ve got an idea,” Bookworm said. “Eragon and Orik ride on Saphira. Keyblade and Mithos take turns riding on her. Whoever’s not riding shifts into drake form and flies. I think I can fly the whole time.”
Really? How will you do that? Saphira asked.
Bookworm grinned and shifted into full-drake form. She now appeared as a giant purple dragon. Eragon almost fell off Saphira in his surprise. (Bookworm was sorry he didn’t. The fall would have seriously injured him.)
Very well, your plan should work. But we should not delay any longer. Let’s get Orik and go. Saphira said.
“Yeah! We need to go find Arya! ...I mean, we need to go save the Varden!” Eragon said, his face getting red again.
Bookworm rolled her eyes. How did an idiot like that get to be a Dragon Rider with fate of the world in his hands? Bookworm felt very sorry for all this world’s inhabitants.
They picked up Orik and explained that some part-dragon people would be joining them. He did not trust the drakes, but he didn’t complain. A few days later, they arrived in Surda. Their arrival caused a lot of commotion in the Varden camp. Everyone saw Bookworm and thought another one of the dragon eggs had hatched. They were very disappointed when the big purple dragon turned into a normal(ish) human.
“Can you turn back into a big dragon during the battle?” someone asked hopefully.
“No, that took way too much energy. It will be a while before I can shift into full-drake form again,” Bookworm explained tiredly. The people were very disappointed.
“Do not get disheartened!” Nasuada said as she came to greet her guests. “We have Eragon Shadeslayer and Saphira Brightscales here to help in the upcoming battle. And their friends can surely help too, in some way.”
“I’m not Eragon’s friend,” Bookworm said immediately.
“You can rest now, if you want,” Nasuada said politely.
“Okay, I’m tired,” Bookworm said. She was about to rest for a while when she noticed someone approaching the camp. “Shade!” she said, without thinking. Instantly, the Varden soldiers grabbed their weapons. Many people looked expectantly at Eragon, since he was the Shadeslayer.
“Umm… I think we’d better go see her first. It wouldn’t be good if she turned all the soldiers into goo,” Keyblade said, running toward Shade.
Bookworm started to follow her, then hesitated. “Do you think she’d turn Eragon into goo?”
“No, probably not,” Keyblade said.
Disappointed, Bookworm ran after her. “Hi Shade! Watch out for all the Varden people trying to kill you! If possible, could you not turn them into goo? Maybe turn Eragon into goo instead?”
“It’s a shade! Kill it!” the soldiers screamed.
“Oooh! Let me kill it! I’m the Shadeslayer! Hey Arya! Are you watching! I’m gonna kill a shade!” Eragon yelled.
Shade glared at him. “Do I look like a shade to you?”
Eragon stopped trying to get Arya’s attention. He stared at Shade. “Hmm… No maroon eyes… No blood red hair… I guess you’re not a shade… Does this mean I don’t get to kill you?”
“Not unless you want to be turned into goo,” Shade grinned evilly.
“Try to kill her! Try to kill her!” Bookworm yelled.
“You be quiet. Stop encouraging him,” Shade said.
“Shade, where were you?” Keyblade asked.
“Uru’baen. I decided to visit Galbatorix and learn some evil magic,” Shade said.
“So you are a shade!” Eragon shouted triumphantly.
“No, I’m not. Shades are possessed by evil spirits. Now please be quiet and let me finish,” Shade said, glaring at him again. “Anyway, I was stayed in Uru’baen for a while, but then Galbatorix started treating me like his minion. The fool thought he could get away with it! I stole his last dragon egg, poked Shruikan, and brought the egg to his enemies, the Varden.” Shade held up a shiny purple dragon egg.
“Oooh! Lemme see!” Bookworm snatched the dragon egg from Shade. “Hey! What’s going on?” The egg started to glow. So did her drake sphere. There was a bright flash of light and both were gone. The egg had hatched! A purple dragon hatchling sat among the broken shell pieces. Bookworm reached out to touch it and felt a terrible pain on the palm of her hand. A silvery mark appeared where she had touched the dragon.
“That’s the gedwey ignasia,” Shade said. “Bookworm, you’re a Dragon Rider!”