Disclaimer: I (still) don't own the Inheritance Cycle!

Chapter 2: The king's arrival

The next day Eragon awoke when he got pulled out of his bed. When he opened his eyes, he saw his uncle standing over him. "Finally," Garrow said. "It's one hour after dawn!" Eragon muttered something inaudible and stood up. "Happy birthday Eragon!" his uncle congratulated and hugged him. Eragon just smiled. "When you're ready, come down into the shop for your presents," he said with a smirk. Eragon nodded and his uncle went outside to give him some privacy. The boy went to the corner where a bowl with water waited for him and cleaned his face. He straightened out his hair and looked at his appearance in a small mirror nearby. He decided he looked good enough and went out of his room and down the staircase into the shop. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he found himself hugged. "Happy birthday Eragon! Now you need just one more year to catch up to me," Roran joked. Eragon freed himself out of his cousin's hug and playfully punched him on the shoulder. "Well, maybe you have to calculate again, it won't happen that you suddenly stop aging," Eragon replied with a smile. "Oh come on…" he answered. "Boys stop it. Eragon, here, this is my present to you." Garrow handed over a small box. "Open it!" he demanded. Eragon slowly lifted off the top and was nearly blinded. Inside was a fist-sized blue sapphire. "Since you're now fifteen and I think you will leave the shop soon to earn some money yourself and maybe even marry, I thought I would give you a memorabilia," his uncle answered his questioning look. "Protect it well. Such a piece is very, very rare and there will be not a few who will try to relieve it from you," Garrow warned."I'll do my best uncle" he promised. "After that is done, won't you open my present?" Roran asked with a grin. "Of course!" Roran gave Eragon a slightly bigger box. In a flurry of ropes he untied the present and opened the cover. Its content surprised him. Inside the box was a long, dark blue coat out of the finest materials. There were small ornaments out of golden and white color. The inside looked very soft while the outside seemed to be made out of waterproof material. "If you'll ever have to sleep without a bed, it will warm you. And since I know blue is your favorite color…" He was interrupted by Eragon who suddenly hugged him. "Honestly I don't know how to thank you. But where did you get this?" Eragon asked Roran after releasing him. "I saw it yesterday on the market and after we were home, I sneaked away with some money and bought it." "So that's why I couldn't find you yesterday." Garrow noticed. Roran nodded with a sad expression on his face. "Oh don't worry Roran, I won't punish you for getting a present for your cousin" Garrow laughed. Roran responded with a smile. "After that is settled, I suggest Eragon brings his new belongings into his chamber and we get ready for the king's arrival."

After Eragon put away his presents and checked his appearance again; they were ready to go to the northern gates to greet the king with the other citizens. He went outside, where Roran and his uncle already waited for him. "Are you ready now?" Garrow asked with impatience in his voice. Eragon nodded and Garrow pulled out a key out of one of his many pockets. Carefully he locked up the entrance and slid the key back to its original place inside his pocket. "Let's go," he gestured. It was an hour before the predicted arrival of Galbatorix but Garrow insisted on going earlier. He didn't tell Eragon and Roran the reasons; he simply said "Wait and you will see." When they arrived at the main street and turned towards the gate, they saw a gigantic crowd already standing there. "Oh, that's why…" Roran noticed. Garrow simply nodded. "I would say, we position ourselves inside the crowd and wait," Eragon's uncle added. Since they didn't come up with a better plan, they went towards the crowd and waited patiently.

The tension was getting on every ones nerves. Impatiently the crowd waited for a sign, for anything that would break the silence that was hovering above the entrance. Then suddenly a voice rang out. "He's coming!" Everyone turned their heads towards the gate. Eragon released the breath he didn't even knew he was holding. Just then there was a group of horses entering the city. There, at the front, was the king riding a beautiful black stallion. He was followed by a dozen noblemen. The crowd started cheering. They parted to create a passage for the thirteen riders. The king let his horse step forward, down the main street to the palace. The others quickly followed him. As they arrived at the palace, stablemen brought away the horses. Galbatorix went up the staircase and in front of the gate leading into the palace, he turned around. The crowd went silent and bowed deeply. Then Galbatorix raised his voice at which Eragon shuddered. "Thank you for coming and salute your king, citizens of Dras-Leona" he started the speech. Apart from his voice, it was completely silent. "You may ask yourself, why I came, after I didn't left my castle for 40 years." He eyed the audience from right to left and ended by staring into Eragon's eyes. The boy shivered at the intense look in his eyes. "To answer your question, there is a prophecy. It says the next dragon rider will be chosen. It says, this rider will bring the freedom we seek and he or she will destroy our enemies like flies." Nobody said a word. Everyone was shocked at the information. The chance, to be a dragon rider like in the legends was unbelievable. "Now, everyone who would like to be a rider, come into the castle." At this the crowd didn't knew what to do. Somebody started cheering and suddenly they were celebrating the king and his kindness. Galbatorix turned around and disappeared inside the castle. After a minute, the crowd started to dissolve. Half of the men, women and children were walking back to their houses, but the other half pushed towards the entrance of the palace to test their luck.

Garrow noticed the spark in Eragon's eye and said "Go Eragon, I know I can't stop you." Eragon simply nodded and then quickly went towards the gate. His uncle turned to Roran. "You too want to attend this nonsense?" he growled. Roran shook his head. "I'd rather help you inside the shop" he said. They turned around, as the gate in front of the palace opened for the people who wanted to be a rider. At their arrival, Garrow pulled out his key and unlocked the entrance. "Since I don't think there will be any customers today, you can do what you want," he told his son. Roran thanked him and went out to go through the city, but not before he equipped himself with a sword. He was a miserable swordsman but often the look at his weapon shooed thieves.

Galbatorix sat in a comfortable seat and watched the people approaching him in fear and spoke with a quiet voice and a bow "Your majesty allow…?" He just nodded at every person. But when a noble came back from the eggs, which were located on pedestals near Galbatorix, and cursed "Stupid dragons. Can't even find notice their right owner," Galbatorix muttered a word and the man collapsed on the ground. Then he stood up, pulled his sword and stabbed the man through his heart. After that he called for some guards and ordered them "He dared to insult his king and the dragons. He wasn't worthy to live. Show the crowd the corpse and tell them what I just said. The dragons will choose those who are worthy not the opposite way!" The guards hurried to fulfill his order. He took his seat once more and waited impatiently. He knew one of the eggs should hatch today, he just didn't know who it will be for. So he had to be patient and had to wait. Outside he heard gasps and screams. He grinned. After that nobody would ever insult the dragons like the man did.

Eragon was at the end of the queue that had formed itself after they entered the inner courtyard. He watched as the people went inside the heavy guarded door and as they came out disappointed. Suddenly two of the guards entered as well. One minute later, they came back out with the corpse of a well known person. It was the son of the leader of the city. The crowd gasped in shock and some of the women started screaming. One of the guards then said "he insulted our mighty king and the beautiful dragons. He wasn't worthy to live after that and the king punished him." Eragon saw the guards drag away the corpse. He saw a handful of people left the castle as well. They obviously didn't want to end like the man. Eragon didn't care. He had seen enough corpses and people being killed, mostly beggars and thieves though. But once there was a skirmish between a few guards because of their different wages.

The boy waited and waited. The sun has nearly disappeared behind the horizon as he finally was allowed inside. He nervously stepped up the step and went through the guards guarding the entrance. He found himself inside a large room. At the end of the room, Galbatorix was waiting impatiently next to the three eggs. Fear suddenly filled him. Slowly Eragon made his way to the jet to be born dragons. When he reached his king, he ignored him and only had eyes for the leftmost egg. It was beautiful. It looked like a giant sapphire, sparkling in the torch light. There was a white web around the egg, making it look like a heart, which could start beating any moment. Galbatorix cleared his throat. Eragon turned around to face his king who seemed to be angry. His cheeks reddened. "Forgive me my king," he said with shame in his voice and bowed deeply, his forehead almost touching the ground. "It's just; I have never seen anything that beautiful." "Now touch them, before I change my mind" Galbatorix hissed. Eragon nodded and walked towards the eggs. Carefully he laid his hand on the green egg, but nothing happened. He did the same with the red one. But when he laid his fingers on the blue one, a shriek suddenly filled the room. Galbatorix sat upright. Something was about to happen. There was another shriek and the egg started to shake. The king couldn't believe his luck. Forty years he tried to hatch one of the eggs, but he never succeeded. Now, following a prophecy, he finally was getting his servant as he wanted to. Maybe he would listen to prophecies more often. Eragon just stood there watching the egg vibrate and shake. Cracks started to appear on the surface. More and more appeared, until suddenly a piece broke out and a leg appeared. The being inside tried to break the casing with all his force and used his already free leg to break apart more of the egg.

In the meantime, Galbatorix got up and called one guard. Whispering sentences in the ancient language, he made the guard to get some food and to not disturb them. He also made sure no one would know of the new dragon rider. With a grin, he sent out another guard, to eliminate the new rider's family. He couldn't need any distraction.

Eragon didn't know of the king's doings, he was too focused on processing what had occurred. He would be a dragon rider, fighting for freedom. He didn't know how he would do it, since he has only seen fourteen summers, but he was confident in his talent. In front of him, the hatchling managed to free himself with a last squeak. The dragon then eyed his surroundings and his eyes darted to Eragon, as he slowly approached his dragon with his right hand. He stopped as he saw the dragon slowly fixing his eyes on the small finger and his tail swung left and right. Suddenly the dragon jumped in an attack towards the finger, but Eragon quickly pulled it away and the hatchling fell to the ground squeaking. The dragon slowed the fall by fluttering with his wings but he couldn't stop the impact. Eragon reacted quickly and wanted to lift the dragon up. But as is hand touched the hatchling, he was filled with a tremendous pain filling his entire body. He fell and crumbled on the ground, unable to hear and see. After a while, he got back the control over his limbs and found his dragon curled up next to his stomach. His view fell on the hand he had touched the dragon. On the palm was a beautiful silver shining oval.

He heard Galbatorix approaching. The king said "here you have some food, dragon." He put a bowl filled with dried meat next to the dragon. After that, he sat down in his seat and mentioned Eragon to do the same. Eragon watched the dragon almost tearing apart the bowl in his hunger. "Since you're now a rider, you have much to learn. I will teach you. But before we start the training, I want to know a few things about you. Who are you, what do you like, what do you don't like, and so on," while he begun to search his pupil's mind. "My name is Eragon," he answered. Galbatorix nodded, his thoughts were somewhere else. Eragon was thinking about the answers he could give to the king's other questions, not knowing that he was giving the answers already to him. He just wanted to answer when Galbatorix muttered a few words in a strange language. Eragon suddenly shivered, but he didn't know why. Then the king ordered "Repeat after me!" He spoke in a foreign language Eragon couldn't understand but he willingly spoke the words he was ordered to. Eragon thought it would never end and was surprised as Galbatorix stopped speaking for a moment. Then he said "From now on, you will be known as Andurosh, my dragon rider." Eragon bowed deeply and said "Yes, my king!"

A/N: 1. well, was kind of predictable, wasn't it ;)

2. and don't worry, galbi won't be the good one and the varden the bad ones ;)#

3. and i finally revealed the city they live(d) in ;) horray

anyway, please give me feedback. I kinda wait for questions :P

Else I don't have much to say... well, I hope you enjoyed my writing style and/or the content.