Lydia
A Prequel to Eragon
By Phoebe Evans
1
Salene's wild black hair was plastered to her face with tears and the wind. She looked down to her homeland rushing past. She knew that this would be the last time that she would ever see these lands in her lifetime. She glanced back at the peacefully sleeping baby in her pouch. She laid a hand on her dragon's back. Do you think I'm making the right decision? She asked her desperately,
You are doing what is best for the young one. His destiny is important. This way he'll be safe. At least for more time than if he'd been with you or your husband. The image of her husband flashed into Salene's head, the father of her son. She looked at the tousled chestnut tufts of her son's hair. He was barely a week old, yet having had more maturity in his eyes as a young adult. He looked troubled in his sleep, as if all the knowledge of the world was being tossed around in his tiny little brain. Lydia dipped her great, wise body closer to the thick pine forest. We are close to Carvahall. I would recommend sleeping with your relatives, it is nearly sundown and these woods are nearly impossible to fly in.
Salene nodded and cast an invisibility charm over them and they sailed to a halt on a wide clearing in the forest. She wiped her sodden face and stepped down. She took the rucksack off her back and cradled her gorgeous boy in her arms, possibly for the last time. She pressed him to her chest and whispered to him, "Be strong my boy. Eragon." As she strode into town with her hood covering her anguished face, she stared into the eyes of the baby that with all probability she would never see again in this lifetime. She was just hoping that she was doing the right thing. She looked at the door to the small farm shack, kissed his head and knocked on the door. A sleepy Garrow opened the door and mumbled grouchily, "Who r'you and what you want?" Salene tossed back her hood revealing her troubled face. "Garrow, brother, the time has come. It's not safe for me to keep him."
"Ah, I understand. Come in; it must be freezing out." He was right, it was snowing, and Salene hadn't noticed a single bit.