Chapter 2 – Leaving everything behind
It had been eight years since then and Eragon had learned how to harness his inner fire and phase on command, the only problem was that as he turned, his clothes ripped. Something he learned the first time he phased and had to sneak through he forest naked and climb up to his window to get some clothes. The memories of Fury served to teach him everything he needed, especially how to hunt. He had to be more careful of his emotions, especially anger because if he didn't he could phase and harm someone. Though the years he had managed to keep his other side secret, but he was suspicious about Brom, the town's storyteller, sometimes he found him looking curiously towards him and sometimes he thought that he knew. But the man hadn't said or done anything against him so he left him alone.
He had never liked farming, and ever since he was old enough in uncle Garrow's eyes, he had taken to hunting in the spine for his family. Everyone though that he was just great in the ways of a bow, but truly he used his inner wolf to hunt, because of this he always brought food back to the table. Right now he was in the process of hunting for his family, he had delved deeper in the forest hoping to catch bigger game. He was not scared, over the eight years he had grown bigger than Black Fury ever was, he was a massive, lean white wolf, he was the top of the food chain and his senses would alert him of any danger. He had walked up to the forest taken his clothes off and put them in a pack that was slung tight across his chest that didn't hamper his movement.
He stopped when he smelled a doe. He slowly approached the animal, crouching down and getting ready to let his instincts take over and take his prey. Suddenly there was a loud explosion and a bright light, he braced himself against the shockwave that threatened to throw him, and saw as his prey ran away. Inwardly sighing, he approached the center of the clearing made by the explosion, and saw a big blue stone in the middle, as he got closer he could hear a faint heartbeat coming from the stone, he sniffed it and through Fury's memories he saw that the smell belonged to a dragon, specifically to a female one. This was a dragon egg. He slowly picked it up with his fangs and put it inside his pack that was easily accessible to him since it was tied to his chest.
He started running back to Carvahall and his thoughts were running a mile per minute. How did the egg arrive there? Did someone send it to him? Why? What was he supposed to do now? He started thinking about possible courses of action and decided he should take the egg to Brom, he trusted the man and he knew a lot about dragons. He decided not to stop and ran continuously for two days towards Brom. As he approached the edge of the clearing, he stopped and turned back, taking his clothes from his pack, he donned them and adjusted the straps on the pack with the egg and slung it across his back.
It didn't take him long to reach Brom's house. He entered without bothering to knock and found Brom sitting on a chair reading a book. At seeing him, the man abruptly stood up and started yelling at him.
"Hey! What the hell is wrong with you, didn't they teach you that it's wrong to—" Eragon interrupted the man.
"Brom, I'm not in the mood to be yelled at, I have something to show you, and it's important." He got his sack, and took the egg out of it and showed it to Brom. The effect was immediate, his eyes widened in surprise, and for a few minutes he was too stunned to speak.
"How did you find this?" he asked
He proceeded to tell him about his hunt and how he had found the egg and decided to tell Brom.
"You made the right choice "he said "now, I know this may seem radical but we need to leave this town, if the person who had the egg before you has been captured as I suspect she has, then the king will start looking for it, and its better for the village if they don't find it here. Start looking for supplies in the kitchen, I have something to do."
"Wait!" he screamed, he couldn't leave his family "What about Garrow and Roran?"
"Don't worry, they'll be okay, and I'll leave a note so they know we are alright" said Brom as he made his way to another room.
Eragon resigned himself, he didn't know why but he trusted his judgment, he started looking for clothes, food he could hunt for it while they were travelling. He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of something cracking. He turned around and saw the egg, which he had put on the table, wobbling. He noticed that there was a big crack in the middle. He called Brom, and the old man ran towards him with a look of total happiness in his face. They resumed to look at the egg, they could hear small squeaks coming from inside, and then suddenly the egg blew up. Eragon covered himself from the shards, and when he opened his eyes he saw a small blue dragon. He was in a trance and he didn't notice he was slowly approaching the dragon. He extended his hand, and felt a pain he had only felt when he was turned for the first time. He passed out.
He woke up and immediately felt a pressure in his chest; he looked down and saw that the blue dragon was curled on his chest. He saw Brom happily looking at him from his chair.
"What happened?"
"The bond between dragon and rider was formed." he answered, "Get up, Galbatorix would have felt the hatching of the egg and he will try to find you"
"Where are we going?" he asked, getting up and holding the dragon in his arms.
"We are going to the Varden, but first we need to rescue someone" Brom had finished packing and was putting on his sack. He passed and empty one to Eragon and told him to put the sleeping dragon inside, he did and slung the sack across his back.
"Who are we rescuing?"
"She is a friend of mine and the one in charge of ferrying the egg, she is in Gil'ead." Brom finished, and with that they left Brom's house and silently managed to escape from Carvahall.