Chapter 1: Into the Woods
Annelida packed her bags excitedly. Her parents were finally going to let her go to the Agaetí Blödhren…alone! Finally, after over a century, she mused. She pushed a lock of silver hair over one ear, and ran a comb one last time through her hair. She hoped she looked perfect.
"Annelida! Come down! You don't want to be late!" Called Annelida's father from lower in the tree. Annelida ran down the large steps to the room where her family spent time together.
"Why must I go with you if Anne can go by herself?" Whined Anne's little brother Kyemarron, or Kye, who was only 94 years old. Anne's mother shook her head, and Kye sighed dramatically. Anne's father came into the room.
"Have fun on your trip," He said, ruffling Anne's hair as he had done when she was younger. Anne ran excitedly out of the house, but turned back and waved at her family. She sighed. Even though she was getting a chance to be independent, she would still miss her family on the road from Olison to Ellesmera.
Anne wandered through the woods in the general direction of Ellesmera, admiring the trees she passed. She soon realized the trees were different ones, ones she had never seen before. Uh oh…She thought, am I…Lost?
Anne began to go crazy as she searched around her for something, anything familiar. In her frenzied search, she came upon an abandoned cave. She looked up, and noticed the sun sinking into the distant hills of the Spine. She slowly walked into the cave, until it was too dark for even her sensitive eyes to see. Summoning a werelight, she looked longingly back at the mouth of the cave. She would have stayed closer to the entrance, but some strange urge encouraged her to move farther in. Still looking behind her, Anne walked right into something hard and cold. With her concentration broken, the werelight disappeared, and the cave was once again plunged into darkness.
Anne woke to a sword pointed at her face. She crossed her eyes and noticed it was blue. Weird, She thought, wait…isn't it supposed to be dark? Anne looked around for the mysterious light source. Her eyes fell upon the bearer of the sword pointed at her face. He was tall, with elven features, yet he was not entirely an elf. She didn't know who he was until a large blue dragon head appeared behind him, a werelight hovering next to the giant eye.
"You-You're Eragon!" She gasped. He nodded. Growing bolder, she asked, "Why are you here?" Eragon held up a glowing turquoise stone. Anne knew what it really was; a dragon's egg.
"Galbatorix is after this," He explained, "I'm hiding it from him until it hatches."
Anne reached out a shaking hand and lightly touched the egg. A long crack appeared, and Eragon placed the egg gently on the ground. The three watched with amazement as a glistening turquoise dragon fought its way out of its confinement.