Thank you to my older brother (who probably won't read this on here) for providing the cover. And thank you the viewer for taking time out of your lives (or lack thereof) to read this. Now onto the sequel to Return you've all been waiting for: Surda!


Through the clatter of dishes and hum of conversation in the pub, one could pick out a few conversations. Some were complaining about life in Therinsford, others about politics. The only conversations Arlen really cared about though were the ones that either concerned or would concern Lynde and Artsanna.

"Did you hear about that rogue Dragon Rider?" one man gruff sounding man said to another.

"Yeah," a smooth voiced man replied. "I heard it was some girl from up north."

"We are north."

"But she's from even farther north."

Another man, this one with an incredibly deep voice, cut in. "Did you hear the kind of company she keeps? A Shadeslayer! She also has a woman with a longbow and a red cape following her around."

"What about this Shadeslayer?" the gruff one asked. "Who's he?"

"Some man, not much else to say about him," Smooth Voice said. "He doesn't use magic or anything either. He's like us, but great with a sword. I hear he fought two Dragon Riders like that!"

"That's impossible," Gruff said. "No one can defeat one let alone two of Eragon's Riders with just a sword. You must be hearing things wrong."

"But I know I heard that!"

"You can keep saying that, but it won't matter to us," Deep Voice said. "Now what about them going around and helping us northern villages out? Hear about that one?"

"Yeah," an energetic sounding man said. He was probably much younger than the others. "They never show themselves except to take care of whatever problem they have."

"Did we ask you?" Gruff said. After a pause—and possibly a whimper, he wasn't sure—Gruff continued. "If that's true, I think they should get rid of those bandits outside of town. They've been robbing travelers for three straight weeks; ever since the spring started."

"I still say we should try to inform the army about this," Smooth Voice said.

"How much have you had?" Gruff replied. "We don't need the army here, snooping through things, doing whatever they like. We need someone to wipe out those bandits in a single stroke. If we don't, then we can't get travelers from the south, and then there's nobody to sell stuff to but Carvahall."

"And Cathalorn and Ceunon," Smooth Voice noted. From there the conversation descended into a spat about the names of villages and such, which Arlen was uninterested in.

Arlen had the target. The bandits to the south needed cleaning up. All he needed to do was tell Lynde.

He stood up and started to leave the tavern. Behind him he heard someone scoff, probably because his drink had been barely touched. As he left, he heard a woman say, "Anybody want a free drink?"

On his way out of the maze of a village, he stopped by a bulletin board where they hung wanted posters. A couple of women from the village were also inspecting them, and they were rather upset with one of them. One of them was much taller than the other, and the shorter had very dark hair. "Look at this," the taller one said. "They did a horrible job with this one."

The shorter one inspected it. "Arlen Shadeslayer." She looked to her tall friend. "What about it?"

"He looks far too generic," the tall one said. "I have three cousins who look almost exactly like this picture."

The short one gestured to Arlen casually. "Yeah, even that fellow looks like him."

The tall one shook her head and laughed. In her laugh was a snort, which Arlen didn't particularly care for. "Don't push your luck. He looks nothing like him. Come on, I think we need to be back soon."

As the pair left, Arlen looked over the posters. Lynde and Rose were spot on, as was the one for Artsanna. The one for him portrayed him with a slightly harder jaw, and a smaller nose. While it was better than the last one he saw, which had him with a scar over his left eye, it was a poor picture of him. Fortunately, Herbst was not present among them, which was good for the old man.

As he was thinking about Herbst, the old man showed up. He had a bundle of supplies under his arm and his staff in his hand. Since joining them, Rose had tried to convince Herbst to trim or even shave his long scraggily beard, but to no avail. "So, my boy, how are the posters today?" he asked in his half crazed tone of voice.

"Don't call me that," Arlen asked.

"Oh fine," Herbst replied. He looked around, prompting Arlen to do the same. The street, which was crowded a second ago, was empty. This sort of thing tended to happen in a village during the planting season. "So how are the posters?" he asked again.

"Lynde and Rose are the same as ever, they added more detail to Artsanna's that I don't think anyone's going to notice, and I don't have a scar anymore," he said quietly.

"Too bad, it gave you character," Herbst said entirely serious. "None for me?"

"None."

"Well, have you at least got something for them?"

"Yep, more bandits."

"Good. Let's go."

They exited the village easily enough since there was almost no guard this time of year, and headed for camp. It was there that Lynde, Rose, and Artsanna waited for them. Really they weren't waiting, but making a new saddle for Artsanna.

Artsanna was struggling against the two women the whole time. "You were fine with the measuring last time," Rose said. "What's changed?"

Artsanna sneered at Rose. It wasn't like this last time.

"Maybe it's a phase," Lynde suggested. "You told me Dragons are ready to mate about the same time as they start breathing fire, so…"

Are you suggesting I'm…?

"We're back," Arlen said, hoping to relieve some of the tension among them.

Lynde smiled at the sight of them. "Arlen! Dad!" She ran over to hug her father.

Rose walked over to Arlen with entirely different intentions. "Have we got a target?"

"Yep." He told her about the bandits to the south, and she was impressed. "So, is that worth our trouble?" Arlen asked.

"Yes it is," Rose said, going back to Artsanna. "We'll do that as soon as we make a new saddle for Artsanna."

Try it again and I will slash your arms off, Artsanna said.

Rose crossed her arms. "Just because I can heal that doesn't mean I will allow you to do so," she said formidably.

Oh really?

Lynde stepped between them. "Stop it, both of you," she pleaded. "Artsanna, what's gotten into you lately?"

The silver-scaled Dragon snorted derisively. You should know, Lynde; we're bonded. Lynde sighed and Artsanna seemed shocked. You do not know?

Arlen shook his head. Artsanna had been like this for over a week, and while Lynde had tried to figure out what was going on, Arlen knew that the only way to deal with this was to ignore it. "Artsanna, if you're quite done, I think you need a new saddle before Lynde rides you again," Arlen said. "The old one doesn't fit, and unless you want to fly alone…"

Artsanna did her own version of a sigh. Fine, but get these measurements done quickly.

"As quickly as I can," Rose said, irritated.

While Rose set about her task, Lynde came up beside Arlen. "That was impressive," she noted. "How do you do that?"

"I can't expect you to understand, being an only child, but there was a time when there was an anxious younger brother that his older siblings treated similarly."

Lynde seemed confused. "I didn't think Gratian got old enough to…"

Arlen shook his head. "I'm not talking about Gratian but myself."

"Oh." Lynde blushed with embarrassment. "I'm sorry for bringing him up then."

"Lynde, sometimes talking just makes it worse," he suggested.

"Right. Sorry." After that there was silence except for Artsanna struggling against Rose.