Prologue (or Afterlogue)
As that fateful arrow flew from an urgal longbow and pierced his His gedwëy ignasia burst into excrutiating pain, shining ruby light, and as he fell to the ground,
dragon's heart, he knew, somewhere in his mind, it would be fatal,
and it would be better to give up. But he would not let go of his
friend, his partner-of-heart-and-mind.
Use me, a voice said in his mind, Use my power.
His depleted energy was replaced by sheer fury, and the embodiment of a dragon's
rage replaced his sanity. He did not fight the anger, he let it consume him.
"Brisingr!" he shouted, and the nearest urgal was engulfed in a
torrent of flame so powerful it did not have time to scream.
"Jierda!" he exclaimed. The spell was so strong it broke every bone in
the next urgal's body, and tore flesh from bone, leaving a mangled
heap of bloody gore.
"STENR THRYSTA!" A huge jagged heap of rocks
leapt out of the earth and pummelled the two remaining urgals to death,
leaving the corpses covered with jagged scars.
"JARNUNVOSK!" He rushed to his dragon's side.
"Waise heill." he said in a futile attempt to heal the grievous ten-inch deep wound.
"Waise heill!" he repeated, but the wounds would not stay closed. Blood
rushed from the puncture.
"WAISE HEILL!" he screamed, to no avail.
Jarnunvosk's skin burst from the pour of blood before the spell even
finished. I can heal this! He thought. But what are the words? He would
have remembered the seven words that repair the muscle close the hole
in her heart and hold the blood in, but in his infuriated state, he
could not remember even simple healing spells. You shouldn't have
given in to me, the voice teased in his mind.
"NO! JARNUNVOSK!"
He screamed in desperation as he felt his partner-of-heart-and-mind,
Jarnunvosk, slowly pass into the void.
"NO!"
he swore to himself that he would avenge the death of his Dragon.
VENGEANCE!
Infantia
It was the day.
Every year, the elves carried the eggs into the little town of Inzilbeth, nestled against the spine, and Galbatorix pushed himself to the front as usual, trying to catch the first glimpse of the majestic egg carriers.
When they arrived, the elves set up a table by the broken fountain, and placed about half a dozen colourful dragon eggs on it.
Galbatorix bounced up and down, impatiently hoping it was their turn soon to look at the eggs. He had just to come of the age to be tested, and couldn't wait, but he was still young, so he went with his older brother, Frater.
"Calm down, Gab", said Frater, "you know nothing will happen, we're too ordinary."
"I know, but they're so pretty, such nice colours."
"Aye", Frater admitted, "they are."
Galbatorix watched as a 20 year old girl stepped up to the table. She gasped, and for a second Galbatorix thought an egg might have hatched, but she walked away disappointed into a side ally.
After what seemed like hours waiting in the small and dusty town square, they were finally at the front. Two elves stood guard, and Galbatorix marvelled at their perfect features.
He stepped up to the oak table and gasped, because other than the usual eggs, there were two new ones. One was sapphire blue, and the other was a dark crimson brown, with black veins. As Frater held all the eggs in order, Galbatorix patted the brown egg.
Suddenly a strange noise filled the air, but it wasn't unpleasant, and you could say it fitted in.
A dwarf in an apron who had pushed himself to the front of the crowd was astounded.
"Vor Guntera!" he shouted, "Look brothers, its hatching!"
"Aye", agreed one of the elves, who had stood silent the whole time, "that is it. He is a Chosen One."
Galbatorix was excited. It's hatching.... Chosen one... He turned to the fair haired elf.
"So I'm.. I mean, I am a… a …?" He was so excited he couldn't talk properly.
"Yes son, he egg has chosen you, and is going to hatch." He said, "You are now a Dragon Rider."
Galbatorix's eyes widened and he pointed to the egg and asked, "So that's mine?"
"Yes." said the elf who had introduced himself as Tolero. Galbatorix hugged the egg, and was surprised, because he could feel warmth, love, and care radiating from it.
Galbatorix, Frater, and Tolero walked down side alleys and back roads to reach their house, and managed to lose the crowd. They sat down on stools and placed the egg on the table. Frater got some cheese and bread while Tolero told Galbatorix about the Dragon Riders. They talked late into the night, and Galbatorix fell asleep on his chair.
The next day was similar, except for that Tolero probed Galbatorix's mind, and found he would have the power to control magic later on in his yet so young life.
Tolero tried to teach him magic, but it failed, and Galbatorix thought he would never master the skill.
During the next night, something in the back of Galbatorix's head had woken him up, and he walked dazed over to the egg. Something about it didn't seem right, and he called Tolero.
"Tolero, something is wrong with the egg."
Tolero walked in, took one glance at it, looked Galbatorix in the eyes and said,
"Galbatorix, your Dragon is hatching."
Suddenly the egg rocked back and forth on the old wooden table, and a crack appeared. The crack grew wider until the egg split in half, and fell apart.
The most beautiful creature Galbatorix had ever seen in his sixteen years of life poked its head out, and looked him in the eye. The little brown dragon had two bright green eyes and a series of sharp spines running down his back.
The hatchling stumbled towards him on its little legs, and squinted its eyes as Frater held a lamp to it to have a closer look.
It stopped before Galbatorix and nuzzled his palm.
An excrutiating pain shot through his body and he thought he had been struck by lightning. When he looked at his palm, he saw a shining silver spot parked right in the middle which looked like a .crystal.
"Whawhawhats thththisss…?" he stuttered.
"That is your gedwëy ignasia, and your bond to your dragon. I sorry, but I forgot to mention it before." Tolero explained with a gentle smile, "Now, I know this is exciting, but may you please hush for a moment, because I have to contact your tutor."
"Okkayy…" Galbatorix reached out for his dragon and patted its head. This time he felt the smooth, brown scales and marvelled at its beauty.
"What are you going to call it?" Galbatorix hadn't noticed Frater until then and was surprised.
"Oh… Well, I will call it Jarnunvosk after mum."
"Mother..." Frater murmured.
Tolero had watched this exchange quietly and said, "That is a good name, I couldn't think of a better one. Now, your tutor is going to pick you up in three days, so I suggest you pack your things, because you have a lot to learn. First, let us start with elven courtesies, and we'll slowly move down the track."