Chapter Two

Through the mountains

They slowly trotted on for hours, not once stopping for longer than the few minutes needed for Fleta to relieve herself, eating she did on horseback for that was not hard and the horse itself occasionally got to drink from small puddles along the increasingly less-visible dirt-paved road they followed.
"Skeifa, do you think we are going the right way ?" Fleta asked, keeping her eyes on the now invisible road as she looked to the right and saw the distant peaks from the Spine. "I do not want to get lost" she whispered "Not near those mountains, father made me promise not to go there, I find it scary there .. " her voice trailed off as she relived the memory, it was after her cousin left to join the King's army and she just reached her 5th summer. Fleta didn't mind it, she was a woman after all, woman had no business in the Spine for they only left the village walls to search for herbs and other medical plants, the men did all the hunting and occasional fishing, but prey was scarce this year and many of the crops they planted were spoiled, leaving them with little food reserves for the upcoming winter.

This year was made even harsher when the traders were late, Yazuac and its neighbouring village Daret were mostly dependant on the traders that came every year, they passed through Daret first, then Yazuac and ended in Carvahall and would then go back to the coastline, buying and selling their goods before going back to Daret. They did that every year and came around the same time but this year they were exceptionally late, resulting in hunger for most of the inhabitants of the village as they waited for them to come. When they did came it was a short visit, they traded, some stories were exchanged and they left on their way to Carvahall, leaving the villagers wondering what had happened on their way to them before going back to their business, finding food mostly.

Fleta sighed as she patted her mare again, "Where is it we can go ?" she asked as she once again scanned the horizon before focusing on the Spine "We could cross it, swiftly, and visit the cities near the coast .. maybe some travellers and go with them ?" she focused her gaze back on the scary mountains to her right as she shuddered. "How do we cross them ?" she pondered as her horse slowed down before stopping completely as it caught its breath. "Say, Skeifa, would you know the way there ?" Skeifa remained silent as she lowered her head to nibble on some blades of grass.
"You wouldn't" Fleta then whispered, "You are a horse after all, horses aren't that smart."
And she looked at the Spine again, contemplating whether to go there or not, she knew the sea was behind it but also knew the stories the traders told almost every year about people disappearing, dying or getting lost in the forests covering the Spine.

"We could make it," she whispered to herself "If we go fast enough and .. we could make it !" she said, louder this time. "Father is not here, nor is mother or uncle, I can do this and I will !" she said voice still rising "And I can finally see the sea with my own eyes, smell it and –" her voice faded away as she lost herself in fantasies about the sea and what was on the other side of it.

She was only awoken from her daydream when Skeifa started walking in the opposite direction from the Spine at which Fleta harshly pulled the reins in an attempt to re-steer the horse in the right direction. "Skeifa, we need to go to there !" she ordered the horse as she kicked its sides in an attempt to get her to trot again. "Swiftly now, we need to get there as soon as possible if we want to avoid staying the night there, it's an evil place Father says" she told her, "And the traders agreed too, they had stories about it you know, monsters and creatures lurking in the dark there .. killing unsuspecting travellers without a sound." She whispered, looking around as if to see if they were not after her before whispering "They say that even the King himself is afraid to venture there in fear of what lives inside." Before sitting upright again as she steered Skeifa towards the Spine, trying desperately to forget all tales about the mountain range and wished they were but tales made for little children to stay at their parent's side.

It took hours for Fleta to reach the very beginning of the mountains, few trees were scattered around as the forest animals inhabiting them scattered upon hearing the drumming sound of hooves against forest floor as Skeifa trotted around the trees, keeping both eyes focused on movements while her rider whipped her head around at every sound, her eyes wide with fear but still determined to cross the mountains in hope of seeing the elusive sea. Her rider's fear didn't bother the horse, her previous master bathed in fear as if it was water to a fish. Many times he woke her in the middle of the night to gallop away from his fears, Urgals he called them, monsters chasing his prize from a battle he once fought alongside rebels he called 'The Varden' and took something from the 'Urgals' and after trying to sell his prize only to be hunted down by the King's servants. He talked to her many times, more even than when he was younger, and she always got him out trouble by running to the best of her abilities yet it was not enough for he had abandoned her and another took over his duty, with her included.

It was after another hour that the forest grew thicker and blocked out most of the sun making it shadowy and rendering vision for more than a few feet away , worn animal paths the only indication of life as horse and girl slowly manoeuvred through the Spine. They both had their muscles tense and Fleta even awkwardly held the stranger's dagger in one hand, reins in the other as her eyes darted from place to place, drawn there by the sounds of twigs or leaves moving. "I feel scared" Fleta whispered as she whipped her head around to look at what appeared to be a rabbit, "It is-" she looked to the right as a twig snapped, "- very scary here."

The horse continued its slow-paced thread through the forest until a pull on the reins made her stop, "Look" Fleta whispered, even softer than usual, as she pointed to a faint glow in the distance as dark shadows seemed to move around it, occasionally blocking the warm glow of light.
"The monsters !" Fleta exclaimed in a hushed voice, "They are here," she whispered in shock as gave a desperate pull on the reins, something Skeifa didn't approve of. The horse trashed around and stepped on twigs and dry leaves when all went silent, neither girl or horse moved as their eyes were trained on the glow between the trees when they heard hushed whispers and suddenly someone grabbed Skeifa's reins causing Fleta to startle and kick the horse in an attempt to get away.
"Whoho girlie, easy there," a male voice said as the person holding the reins became visible as he petted the horse's neck "What'r ye doin' in a forest like this on yer own ?" he asked before speaking again without giving her time to answer "Nevermind girlie, yer gonna join us by the fire 'right aren't ya ? " he said as he grabbed the reins tighter and led horse and girl over to where the glow came from.

They ended up in a small clearing where some carts stood as well as several horses and a big fire blazing in the middle, men and women alike were sitting around it on logs or small stools.
"Look what I found roamin' 'round ?" the man exclaimed, pointing at Fleta, "A little lass, all 'lone in the forest here" the man chuckled to himself as he lifted Fleta from the horse and gently grabbed the dagger. "No need ta get violent now girlie, we're good folk 'round here" he grinned as he pocketed the dagger and pushed her towards the fire while Fleta took it all in with wide eyes as she scanned the faces of the men and women sitting as well as the horses before she whispered in shock "You are the traders, are you not ?" at which one man exclaimed "Damn right we are !" as he got up to introduce himself, "Grimhald Berntson my lady, at your service, now if I may be so bold would you be the mother of my fifth-" "-Sixth" a voice cut in at which the man scowled "Fine, sixth child ?"
Fleta stared at the man dumbfounded with her jaw hanging open slightly and eyes wide, "Sir excuse me, what ?" she managed to say at which a women laughed. "Now now dear, he's foolin' around so ignore him, he has an uncanny tendency to get women pregnant and getting children out of wedlock, five already" "And counting" the man chimed in proudly as he grinned. "But .. but .. but you're the traders .. you always say it's dangerous here .. " Fleta whispered as she stared at the ground as the man that lifted her off her horse spoke up.

"We dun' want any others gettin' our profit here girlie, if we went all 'round the mountains we'd waste time so we go straight through here, aint so scary as we make it seem" he said with a smirk as he handed Skeifa to a boy standing next to the other horses as he went to remove her saddle.
"You lied ?" Fleta accused, barely able to hold the disbelief from her voice as she stared at the individual faces. "A lie ta keep our job girlie, we eat too" the man shrugged "Behsides, we know tha forest and nuffin' evah happened to us here, now sit girlie, we leave tahmorrow mornin' " and the man let himself fall to the ground as he grabbed a bowl with a watery sustenance in it, most likely soup. Fleta hesitantly sat down as her thoughts wandered to the jewel still in her saddlebags, if the Traders were to search them they'd find it for sure and she'd be in trouble. She fidgeted with her skirt as she sat down and reluctantly accepted the bowl of soup one of the women gave her.
"My name is Darnê," she introduced herself as she smiled sweetly at Fleta "Grimhald is my brother." She was the one that corrected him when he said he asked if Fleta wanted to bear his fifth child.
"He's a good fellow, yet he woos every woman in every village we pass" the woman chuckled as she said it before continuing "it isn't his fault, we have 17 half brothers and sisters but Grimhald and I share the same mother" Fleta's eyes were wide as she heard this "S-Seventeen ?" she asked, disbelief evident in her voice as the woman nodded in confirmation. "Seventeen, Grimhald is trying to break our father's record" and then Darnê leaned towards her and whispered "I told you about me, now tell me why you are here." At which Fleta flinched as she looked around, searching for a way to avoid this question before whispering "Ehh .. I .. " only to be saved by Grimhald's voice "Sister, don't bother the woman that'll bear my sixth child, let her eat in peace" Darnê sighed dramatically as she went back to her place and continued eating her own soup, leaving Fleta to her own thoughts.

It was after they finished the soup that an older woman stood up, all the other women immediately followed her example as they too stood up from their sitting positions. "Girl, join us if you wish, we will search for herbs and such." The woman's voice held no place for rejection as she said it, she clearly expected Fleta to follow her, and so she did as she hastily placed her empty bowl where the other's had placed them. Two women were handed a torch by the men as the others, Fleta included, were given empty pouches to put the herbs in and after a long walk they suddenly stopped.
The women all walked off in pairs of two, clearly used to this while Fleta just watched. "You, girl, go with her" the older woman said, gesturing with her head to a woman with a sharp face and a permanent frown. "She'll teach you, now go." The woman said as she walked of on her own.
The woman with the sharp face carried a torch, making it easy for Fleta to follow her as they moved pas trees that looked scary in the scarce light the torch emitted, Fleta made sure to keep close to the stoic woman that didn't once look her way.

The woman suddenly stopped and planted the torch in the ground as she dropped to her knees, already busy searching for edible plants or medical herbs and one annoyed look at Fleta made her do the same. Fleta knew little of plants, only what her mother taught her and that was not much so she grabbed plants she knew and some that looked familiar, she reached out for a bigger plant only to receive a harsh tap on her hand by the other woman. "Don't." she said, voice equally sharp as her face as she pointed to the plant "Nightshade, toxic." The woman then went on with her own job, her collection of plants bigger than Fleta's as Fleta just stared at the plant she nearly touched before shuffling backwards and looking for others. She did however whisper "Thank you, ma'am" before continuing, for the woman did stop her from touching it. It wasn't after the woman's own pouch was full that she made move to help Fleta, pointing out toxic or potentially lethal plants with short words, sometimes only one, as she pointed out herbs and plants apart from weeds and grass. The woman did often let out annoyed sounds, a sigh when Fleta picked a wrong one, or a short grunt of acknowledgment when she picked a good one.

Even with the woman's help it took Fleta far longer than it took her, and they returned to the camp last because of it, but the older woman nodded in approval when she noticed their return as she made move to grab both pouches and patted the sharp-faced woman on the shoulder, seemingly praising her for putting up with Fleta.

She silently sat down near the fire when someone dropped a blanket on her lap. "You earned your sleep now, so sleep." As Fleta curled up under the blanket she feared what had happened to her, breaking the promise to her father like that, trusting the traders so easily. She looked towards the sky of leaves above her she yawned, closed her eyes and slept, whishing desperately that the Traders were right and that no monsters roamed the Spine at night.


Disclaimer: If I owned Eragon Oromis would live, Angela would be more important and the Twins would never exist, so no, I don't own Eragon or the Inheritance Cycle.

A new chapter, through the Spine we go and Traders we meet. I hope my reasoning for the Trader's path trough the Spine is decent enough and that Fleta still hasn't become a Sue.
Once again I introduced new characters that we all do know but never had any more information about, The Traders, so I hope I didn't make them too weird or anything ..

Reviewers: (3 already !)

Thank you so much ! I already sent you a pm replying to your wonderful review so not much to say that you don't already know.
Hope this chapter is as good as you thought the previous one was :)

Omega The Omniscient:
Everywhere I write, you review, I can always count on you :D
Told my brother about the compliment, he finds it amusing you review all of my work :)
If you want to know about the books have a look at the Eragon wiki, just Google it (Google is man's best friend) and read.
Glad you liked it, this one has been in my head for even longer than Purple Glory (Sorry Jacob ..) so it was but a matter of time I actually wrote it ;)
No Frenchmen, but plenty of crazy people as always !

Magnanimous:
Believe me, I hate Sue's, so I'll try my hardest to keep Fleta from being one.
She didn't feed it today, but the boy that took Skeifa probably did (I hope)
Eggs shouldn't hatch in less than 20 seconds, it took Eragon some time I believe ..
I hate the 'Girl ends up with main character for no reason' stories as much as I hate Sue's + I write characters majorly OOC, so I'll avoid them for as long as I can.
I know about the sentences, I tried to keep them shorter now, is it any better ?

Anyway, thank you all for reviewing and reading, please leave another review, they make my day !