Chapter 1
Another Rider
Disclaimer: I don't own Eragon or any character except for the extra Rider.
As Eragon, Saphira and Orik journey from Ellessmera to aid the Varden, they make camp in the Hadarac desert. But are they really alone?
"More sand, how delightful." Saphira growled, Eragon could sense her displeasure. "It's just for one night we'll be in the Beors by midday tomorrow." Eragon assured her, laying out his bedroll. "Is this place always this hot?" Orik said fanning himself with one of his dwarf-sized mitts. "I told you to dress lightly." Eragon said, "Let me see your water skin". The dwarf handed over his nearly empty cantine.
Using magic Eragon summoned water from beneath the sand as he did when traveling with Murtagh fill his & Orik's containers. Once full he used the water to Scry Nasuada to check if the Varden had been attacked yet, thankfully they weren't.
"Eragon" Saphira called "Come hear, you need to see this." "What is it?" He asked. Saphia brushed aside a small dune with her tail reviling an aged pile of bones, most of which were from large game not native to the desert.
"What is this doing here?" He asked through their mental link. "That's not important, look at the markings" It only took him a second to realize it. "This is a Dragon's kill!" He said with surprise. "Yes. But it wasn't killed by an ancient, it's fresh, and I haven't hunted since we left Oromis and Glaedr."
What Saphira just said made him uneasy "You don't think it was-" "I Doubt Galbatorix would leave his throne to pursue us now Eragon." Saphira cutoff "But someone's watching us." Eragon reached out with his mind, due to the lifeless land that surrounded them it didn't take long to locate them.
They're two of them hidden from sight in the horizon, and in opposite directions. He and Saphira tried to enter their minds, but these two proved to be mentally unreachable. They were obviously very intelligent and powerful to use mental sight to spy on they're camp. The most disturbing thing however was that they could talk to each other, the same way he and Saphira could. They tried once more to speak with them, this time their observers vanished completely.
"We should tell Orik" Saphira said. "Aye."
When they told Orik the dwarf seamed quite startled"I felt it too!" He said. "It felt like you were talking to me Irontooth," he said to Saphira "except there were two of them whispering to themselves." "In what directions were they?" Eragon asked. The Dwarf pointed to both of the places in the distance where the spies were. "They must have been spying on all of us." Saphira said. "I think we should make camp somewhere else." Orik said.
It took only a few minutes to clear up camp and depart to another, more rocky part of the desert.
By this time the sun had long gone down and the Hadarac became cold. Exhausted they set up camp, Orik unraveld his bedroll and fell asleep. Eragon did the same after summoning water for Saphira to drink, when she had finished he decided to scry Roran. Roran was asleep with Katrina beside him, unshaven and had multiple burses and scrapes all over his face. One of his shoulders had a large scar, he had obviously been bitten by something but what? Wherever he was he wasn't alone. Half of Carvahal was with him Including, Horst, Elaine who was pregnant now, and they're sons.
"Where's the rest of the village?" He wondered as he let the image fade away. "And where are they?"
"You should get some sleep, Eragon" Saphira said. "We should leave this place in a few hours. I don't like the thought of strangers being able to spy on us like that."
She said as she fell asleep. Eragon did as he was asked and his last thought that night was about the two strangers and who they where.
"ERAGON!" Saphira shouted through their link "Wake up!" "What's wrong?" He asked, awake but still tired. "Those strangers are back, and they're closing in on us." They must have been waiting to ambush us." He thought, drawing Zar roc from its sheath. Orik was already up, Axe in his grip. "Nomads, ageltlam" He said "I doubt they want to talk"
A group of sixty or more men on horseback where coming toward them armed, with bows or spears . Saphira let out a viscous roar, but the nomads didn't seem to care. "I can't find the strangers" Eragon said trying to sense where they're persuers where. They where there but he couldn't see nore entirelly sense them. The nomads had come into firing range and unleashed a volley of arrows.
"Brisnigr!" Eragon shouted. An Intesne blue flame exploded from his hand turning the missiles to ash, and fritening the men's horses into a frantic causing their masters to fall to the ground. In the confusion some of the men were trampled by they're own horses or they're comrades. Enraged, many of them charged again, this time with swords shouting curses in their unknown language. "Brisingr!" Eragon shouted again, throwing flames at there enimes.
Another bolt of gray energy colided with his and the fire spell exploded into a mixture of blue and grey flame.
The nomads stoped in there tracks as if one of their own called off the attack. "Eragon!" Saphira shouted pointing her snout to the sky and barring her fangs in anger. Eragon looked up, and what he saw made him drop Zar'roc. Flying down twards them was another dragon and rider.
That's all for now!