Part two. Saphira's going to be out of character right now, but I'm much too lazy to change it.

An old silver-haired wrinkle-faced guy stepped out from behind the tree. He held the bright red sword against my throat, and he carried a pack on his back. Ooh, that rhymed!

"Who are you?" he growled. "Are you on Galbatorix's side?"

"Say who?" I asked, confused.

"Stop lying," he snarled. "If you won't tell me, I'll have to resort to force."

"And this isn't force?" I said, staring pointedly at Mr. Old Guy's nice little sword.

The old man chuckled humorlessly. "Oh, this is nothing."

Then I felt the old guy's consciousness probing at my mind, and my brain automatically set up defenses, walls that blocked him from entering. I felt surprise from him, and he renewed his attack. I began concentrating on one phrase, repeating it over and over in my mind, completely shielding myself. You are stupid. You are stupid. You are stupid.The old guy's expression was so angry, it was almost comical.

"Alright, alright," he muttered. "You'll talk soon enough."

Suddenly, something big and blue zoomed down and landed next to me, a cloud of dust rising up around it. It was a dragon, young, too, if its size was any indicator. Its scales were blue, like its eyes. Big white spikes rose up from its back, with a gap between them behind the long neck. A saddle was strapped into said gap. I winced as one of its feet landed on my outstretched wing, which was much smaller than the dragon's, but besides that, they looked the same except for the color. Its were blue, like its body, while mine were black. The dragon snorted a puff of smoke and moved its foot off the membrane, much to my relief.

Brom, the dragon said through my mind, surprise and disbelief in her voice. Are these wings?

"What?" asked Brom, glancing at where the dragon was looking. His mouth dropped open into a perfect "O" when he finally noticed my wing.

Who are you? the dragon asked me warily.

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to know?" I snapped at it. Having cold metal against my neck, as well as having my wing trampled on, was definitely not improving my mood. "First this old guy comes out of nowhere and goes all cliche on me, then you come out and step on my damn wing. What, is it a crime for relaxing in these parts?"

Put up the sword, Brom, the dragon said. I have a feeling she does not mean us harm.

Brom grumbled and slid the sword into its matching scabbard. His hand never once let go of it. "You're too trusting, Saphira."

Saphira ignored him. She stared at me as I sat up, rubbing my neck and folding my left wing safely against my back, ignoring the pain. I said angrily, "Now would someone explain to me where I am, what is going on here, and who are you? Mr. Crazy Sword-Happy Moron is not helping."

The dragon shook her massive head in disbelief. You don't know?

"Well, I'd have thought that much was pretty obvious," I commented dryly.

"I think we should just kill her now and be done with it," Brom said, glaring at me.

"Paranoid little jerk," I muttered, just loud enough to let him hear. The old man's nostrils flared, and his eyes blazed.

Stop arguing, you two, Saphira interrupted. Let's call Eragon here and decide then. Therinsford is no more than a day away on foot, so if things do not go well, we can always drop her off there.

"She might talk about you," Brom warned. "You are in charge right now because you need to learn how to make your decisions, and we'll do as you say. I just hope you won't regret it."

Eragon's coming,Saphira said, ignoring him.

"Well then, now that you two are done talking," I said, "I'll just be on my way."

I got up and tried to cross the stream, but Saphira blocked me with her tail. Wait.

I sighed impatiently. "Great, and how long am I supposed to stay here? This is boring, and besides, I'm hungry."

What is your name, and who are you?Saphira asked. She seemed to have this nasty habit of ignoring people.

"Isn't that the same same thing?" I grumbled. When no response came, I continued, "Fine, I don't know my name, and I don't know who I am, either. I just woke up somewhere back there and I can't remember anything else. Well, I can still speak English, but that doesn't count."

"Typical," Brom snorted. "It's always amnesia."

"What do you mean?" I asked him irritably. "Fine, go check it out then, see if you find anything."

I opened my mind, allowing Brom full access to all my memories, which had less than three hours of content. He sifted through them, ignoring my discomfort, and he kept on checking and rechecking some of them. Finally, after what felt like ages, he retreated, giving me my much-needed privacy.

"She's telling the truth," he said to Saphira. He seemed to be disappointed that he didn't have a reason to kill me.

We'll have to call you something,Saphira told me. I could tell she was still curious about me.

I shrugged. "Fine, I'll be Dusk."

Dusk, the dragoness mused. A peculiar female name.

Suddenly, I heard a crash from behind me, and turned. A boy that looked a bit older than me appeared. His dark hair was a mess, with leaves and twigs snarled in it. A buckskin quiver filled with arrows, a bow, and a pack hung on his back, and his light face was covered in sweat. He looked as if he'd been in a hurry.

He looked startled that I was there. "Saphira, what is it? Who's this?" he panted.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, isn't it nice to make your lovely acquaintance," I drawled. "Oh, but I still have no idea where the eff I am or what's going on in this stupid place, so please pardon me for not being pleased by your gracefularrival, whoever you are." I emphasized graceful, staring at the crushed ferns that he had left in his wake as I said it.

The boy looked puzzled. "What?"

"I guess your primitive little mind can't process what I just said, so I'll put it simply: Hurry up and tell where I am and what the hell is going on here."

He glanced to the dragon, and they must have communicated, because then he turned back to me and said, "Dusk, I'm Eragon."

"Well, isn't that just wonderful," I said. "Very creative name you've got there, by the way, just replacing the 'd' in 'dragon' with an 'e.' Not really, of course, I'm just being sarcastic, right? But I was being sarcastic when I said I was being sarcastic, which therefore means that I'm not being sarcastic at all. But then, that raises the question of whether or not I was telling the truth when I said that, because when you look at it one way, I was telling the truth, and when you look at it some other way, I was lying. I don't really see the point of saying all this crap, though, since you're both looking at me with that blank expression on your face, and the dragon is cocking her head like she thinks I'm crazy, which I very well may be, but that doesn't matter. What matters is, I'm hungry and annoyed, and if you don't answer my questions right now, I'm going to this Therinsford place you were talking about to get my answers, and you guys love me too much to let me do that. Savvy?" I was pretty proud at myself for managing to say all that junk so quickly, although I didn't know where the pirate accent at the end came from.

Very well, Saphira said. Eragon made an angry step towards me, but Saphira blocked him with a claw. Although I didn't hear most of what you said, I did catch the last part. Brom, as storyteller, do you mind answering her?

Brom scowled, but sat down on a large rock by the stream and answered, "Whatever you say, Saphira. This is the land of Alagaesia..."