Disclaimer: I don't Eragon, Eldest, or any of the characters. I don't own any of the Eragon paraphernalia or the like. I don't really want to own any of it, either.

Dear Reader:

I present you with my version of how the Eragon prologue should have gone. Though it is short I am rather more fond of my version, not because I think I'm a decent writer but more because I consider hIS prologue rather weird, purple prosey, and annoyingly inept at characterizing anything.

Cheers,

The Demon of the Ink

Prologue:

Arya shuddered as the chill night air touched the back of her neck, with a shake of her head she shifted her dark black hair over the open skin. She halted her horse and allowed her two escorts to do the same, then surveyed the area before her. Her eyes squinted in attempts to break the darkness.

"Is something wrong?" One of her companions asked.

Arya frowned but shook her head. "Nothing, just some cold wind." With a shake of the reigns her horse began to trot forward.

In the bushes, the shade Durza could not help but smile. Excellent He thought. Even the great elf cannot detect me… He signaled to the urgals in the surrounding shrubs. In the lightest whisper he could muster he breathed, "I want the egg, bring it to me unharmed or it will be your heads. Kill the elves if you must."

The elves continued on the path, the female turned her head and looked behind her.

What was that? Arya thought she had heard a voice in the bushes. Using magic she created an orb of light and sent it to where she thought the source was. Instantly a gruesome face became visible.

"Urgal!" She screamed to her cohorts. In a flash the two were on the ground, ready to fight.

There cover blown the monsters immediately attacked.

"Arya, get out of here! Protect the egg!" One of her companions screamed. He summoned up a gout of fire to burn the nearest urgal to cinders. "Run!"

Arya nodded, and kicked her horse into a hard trot. She could feel the cold touches of shock trying to immobilize her. She had known to expect an attack, but not one this large.

For a moment it seemed Arya had escaped, but then a nightmare appeared.

"Going somewhere?" The first thing she saw was the blood-red hair, but then she was drawn into the wicked eyes. The shade was white as death, but the dead did not command enough magical energy to turn an army to dust.

Arya halted her horse and leapt to the ground. It was just in time, the shade loosed a bolt of magical energy that reduced the whinnying animal to ashes.

Arya looked at her steed's remains and felt bile rise in her throat. Slaying an innocent animal was so undeniably cruel, so pointless.

Durza turned his eyes on the fair elf's face. "O dear, now that is a pity." He said with a sneer. "If I had known it would die I would have made it more painful."

In a fit of rage Arya unleashed her own attack. Durza laughed as the energy struck his breast, within seconds the power dissipated.

"Durza." Arya breathed. "What do you want?"

The shade smiled. "First that pathetic display of magic, and now this stupidity? My my, maybe you elves can't die, but you certainly can become senile."

Ignoring this barb Arya continued. "You will not get the egg."

Durza grinned again. "Really?" With a snap of his fingers an elf appeared. He was bound and bloodied, Arya gasped as she recognized that face she had adored so long. Durza looked at her with another grin an got to his knees, running a finger down his captive's face.

"So even if I do this," With these words he dug his nail into the skin of the elf, causing him to gasp in pain. "or this," The wound ignited and the skin began to blister. "you won't give me that little egg?"

Arya felt sick as she watched her love suffer. The fire had begun to spread along his face, the flames licking his perfect features. Durza watched with a sadistic smile.

"Give me the egg, and I will let him go." The shade offered.

Arya closed her eyes. "No." She sighed.

"Your choice." The wicked magician shrugged. "I was feeling hungry for some meat anyway."

The fire began to spread over the elf's entire body; Arya could hear the sickening cracks and pops of his skin as it melted underneath the magical fire.

"You know pain supposedly makes the meat hard." Durza said conversationally. "But I like my meals rough."

With another snap of his fingers the gag that had been stuffed in the prisoner's mouth vanished. Immediately the night was pierced by the soldier's scream. Arya felt hot tears flow down her face as she watched her friend blacken with the fire's caress. Finally the elf died and the darkness was quiet once more.

"Took long enough." Durza said with that same indifference. "I guess I'll save him for later. Elf meat is good for the bones."

The corpse vanished and Durza looked again at Arya, she was too horrified to even contemplate escape.

"I guess you care more about some unborn dragon then your dear friend." The shade muttered. "No matter. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, that you would save your fried rather then let him die so painfully, but I suppose more fire is always a good thing."

With these words the woods around the pair burst alight with crackling flame. The forest creatures cried as their homes were reduced to cinders, as their young were killed by the magician's spell. Durza laughed.

"No running little elf. No escaping."

These words snapped Arya back to reality. The visions of her incinerated compainion were still etched into her mind, but she would at least prevent the demon before her from obtaining what he so desired.

"I can't run." Arya said darkly. "But I don't have to."

The shade frowned, "Not even you are stupid enough to attempt that…"

For the first time that night Arya smiled. "Really?" And with the spell completed she thrust the egg into the sky where white light consumed it, taking it to a location unknown to even Arya herself.