CHAPTER 1

Saphira curled her wings around Eragon. A tempest raged over the ship, Talita making the weather so cold that even Beor's tops would envy it. Fortunately for Eragon, the fire ringing in Saphira's belly kept him warm.

Eragon stirred beneath Saphira's wings.

Saphira looked at Eragon's head peeping out of her wings and extending a tendril of her thought to Eragon said, Stay warm little one. The elves will take care of the ship. They know more of sailing than you. Sleep well little one.

Eragon relaxed and slid inside, still cautious of the storm outside. Soon Eragon flung into a sweet dream.

Fire burned in the field dividing the two armies that held their arms. It seemed to be a meaningless fight. The other one would be crushed within seconds. It was not more than a thousand. On the other hand the bigger one was more than a hundred thousand. The losing one was dressed in blood red while big one was dressed in blue.

The armies were shuffling their weapons when suddenly a Rider of a silver dragon came through the sky. He was with the red army. The red army charged with such inhuman strength and speed over the blue army that thousands fled from the scene. As he realised who the blue ones were, fear erupted in Eragon's heart. The symbol of the blue army was same of that of Nausada's army.

Before he could react from the blue army flew four Riders.

Eragon was sweating badly. An elf stood before them with the usual impassive expression of their kind. Eagon gave a quick glance at Saphira who was still in a deep slumber and quietly rose, still dizzy because of the dream. The Elf bowed to him and said, "Shadeslayer, we have found land. Blodhgarm wishes you outside to see if it is suitable for us to stay."

Saphira cocked her eyes at the name of land. Have we found the land?

Eragon looked at the elves crowded outside their room. Yes, I guess….

Saphira roared loudly and rushed towards the door. The elves quickly shuffled away. Eragon too was quick to follow her. Eragon saw Saphira at the deck of the ship and with a burst of speed reached her. He touched her snout and closed his eyes mending his consciousness with hers. Saphira looked at him with her one large sapphire eye.

Eragon, I am so happy. We have at last found land and it's not far away from Alagaesia. It took only a twelve day sail even with those storms troubling us.

I didn't know you were so fond of land, said Eragon with a small smile.

Saphira blinked her eyes at Eragon and then turned away from Eragon and took a glance at the land. I also loved sea and swimming in it. But the ten days of storm could make anybody seasick. You too are very glad that we found land. Come on! Climb on my back. We must see the land right away.

Eragon was going to climb on Saphira's back when the elves came out. Blodhgarm led the way and reached out to Eragon. "Shadeslayer," he purred "You must not go these lands alone. They can be dangerous. Let us also be with you."

Eragon was offended by their over-dutifulness and said, "Saphira will not be able to fly all of us."

Blodhgarm peacefully cleared all of Eragon's doubts and said, "For that very reason, it is advisable that we walk on the land instead of flying."

Eragon was frustrated but he knew that the elf was right.

Within minutes the elves, Eragon and Saphira had started scanning the ands. The lands were very diverse in nature and were friendly. As they had moved through the land, the elves were first to notice that the size of the land was similar to Alagaesia. The land was guarded by mountains as large as the Beors in all the directions except the west one which was fortunate for them. It was a beautiful landmass and worth training the dragons.

Eragon didn't want it to be stony like that of the dwarves. Nor he wanted to sing the buildings out of trees. What he wanted was a mix of both? He had got a little idea from Vroengard. Soon they were on their way on building a city so magnificent that it would overshadow the previous one. They worked till night and made a temporary shelter in a cave they had found.

In the night thought about the dream he had in the morning and was worried about Alagaesia. He decided to scry Nausada. He set up a bowl and poured water in it through his waterskin. But before he could utter the spell Saphira appeared in his mind. Eragon looked at her expecting a reason.

Saphira quietly yawned and in a sleepy tone said, Nausada would be asleep now. Scry her in the morning. Don't let dark thoughts govern till then. Have a good sleep little one. You have worked a lot today.

Eragon closed his eyes and immediately fell in a deep slumber.

Next morning appeared as a shade of yellow and orange. The sun was bright but still it was not hot. It was…..very pleasant. Saphira was already up when Eragon woke. The elves were out working on the city. Eragon quickly took out the bowl he prepared in the night and said, "Droumr kopa". He also recited the spell to have a two way communication.

The water in the bowl went dark. Then the figure of a lady appeared. It was Nausada. She beamed at Eragon excitedly and said, "Eragon, I was waiting for you to scry. I want…."

"Fine! Fine! Fine! Before you go on. I want to tell you that we have found a place to train the dragons. Fortunately it's pretty close to Alagaesia."

"Does that mean you will come back?"

"Nausada! You remember the prophecy?"

" It's okay. Don't feel sad. Because what I'm going to tell you won't let you be sad. Just after a day you left, two dragons hatched, one each for a dwarf and an Urgal. They were sent to the elves for training and are being trained there. All was still then. It was only yesterday when two more eggs hatched. This time they were for an elf and a human. The dragon eggs are hatching much faster than expected."

"It's for sure a great news. I'll be sending four more eggs within two days."

"What about the hatched dragons? When will they come to you?"

"Let them be trained by the elves for a year. I have to leave now but before I do that, I want to ask that…Is everything well there?"

Nausada looked at her feet and then said, "Aside from some minor things all is well."

Note: I know a very boring chapter. I just wanted to build a foundation for the novel. Action will be there in the next chapter.