Prologue


Margaret sighed peacefully as she looked out of the window at the first snow of this year. Things had been good so far. It had rained well and the farmers had a bumper crop, the price for vegetables and meat had dropped and the king had lowered the taxes.

It seemed he was happy, then of course, why wouldn't he be? Only 6 months ago the whole of Urubaen had witnessed that great monstrosity flying towards the king's palace in the night sky. Rumours were that it was a dragon with an elf for a rider. Margaret scoffed mentally, didn't they know that the last of the dragon riders had perished a century ago?

Many swore that they had seen the dragon and the elf, and gladly described them much to the awe of the children. In fact, it was currently the only topic that people were fond of discussing. The dragon and it's rider were said to extremely loyal to the king and were rarely seen. Most of the population of Urubaen only knew of them by the stories of a few.

Margaret was woken from her thoughts by a knock on her door. She turned to see Rose, a girl of 8, standing at the doorway. " The dinner is prepared Ms. Margaret, all of us are waiting for you. Billy is anxious to begin supper", said Rose. Margaret smiled, "I will be right there.", she replied. Rose nodded happily and walked downstairs.

Margaret was the Matron of an orphanage in Urubaen and had been working in it for the last 17 years, she herself had seen 42 winters now. They had a small orphanage with little facilities but they were happy. She had 7 other women who helped her run this orphanage and fortunately had only 14 children to take care of. They were like a big family. Margaret smiled at the thought as she climbed down the stairs to their dining table. All the children were eagerly waiting for her, they would have supper together and after that she would read to them a story of princes and princesses, it was their routine.

Just as she was about to sit down on her chair at the head of the table, a knock was heard on their door. Brenda, one of her assistants, hurried towards it. Some muttering was heard, and Brenda came back to the dining area and said, " Ms. Margaret, someone is here to meet you." Margaret frowned, she stood up and walked towards the main door with Brenda behind her. At the doorway stood a man with something wrapped in a white blanket in his arms.

Margaret, guessing correctly, asked, "Is it your child?"

The man shook his head " No, it isn't."

Margaret took in the man's appearance, he wore ankle-high leather shoes, a light green tunic with coarse brown pants with a belt on which hung a knife. So a hunter then.

"Where did you find him?" Margaret asked.

"About two months ago I was hunting in the Spine and found this little fellow crying his eyes out by a stream. I picked him up and called for anyone nearby but there was no one. So I took him along with me, I was planning on traveling to Urubaen so I thought to give this fellow to you.", the man answered and held out the swaddling baby to her.

Margaret took the baby in her arms and cooed at him. "Did you name him?," she asked.

"Aye, his name is Eragon.", the hunter replied.

"What does it mean?", Margaret frowned, she hadn't heard the name before.

The hunter shrugged " I don't know, you wouldn't believe it, but when I picked him up the trees whispered Eragon." Margaret decided that the man wasn't completely in his senses, after all she could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Thank You", she politely nodded at the man.

"Take good care of him, he's a funny one.", the hunter smiled and walked off.

"What do we call him?", questioned Brenda. "Eragon", whispered Margaret, looking down at his big brown eyes.