Prologue
EPOV
A crack sounded in the woods off to my left. Stay here, I told Saphira. I padded into the brush, as quietly as snowfall at midnight. I broke through the tree line at the edge of the stream by which we had set down for the night. Looking all around, there was nothing out of the ordinary. I turned to head back, when suddenly a blur in across the bank caught my eye. I jumped to a stone in the middle of the brook. A wet patch of moss made me lose my balance, and I tumbled backward. My head struck a stone, and the world went black.