Chapter two
A young girl walked across the ginormous empty courtyard that was positioned at the centre of the Rider Academy, her footstep making resounding noise against the stone pavement as she took her steps, she was carrying a bag containing food and everything she would need for the trip to come to come. She was 170 cm tall (5 ft 7'), had fair skin and her long red hair flowed freely down her back. Her attire was fine leather boots and travelling wears, tied to her hip was an indigo sword with a marvellous gem of the same colour that sat in the middle of the pommel. She was followed by a saddled dragon of the same colour spectrum as her sword, albeit a bit darker. The dragon was humungous, he stood over three metres tall (10 feet) on his four legs, longer than three horse-drawn carts and owner to a wingspan of six metres.
"Ashyllen, what do think we're going to do today?" Her dragon asked, excited. He was wagging her tail back and forth happily like a dog.
"I don't know, Fricaya, but Master Eragon said we were going on 'a little excursion' as he calls it and that I should also bring travelling supplies," Ashyllen voiced back her answer. I know that whatever he's planning, it is not going to be little." The last time her master brought her somewhere to train, he brought her to a 'little' bandit camp armed with 'little to no weapons' and the bandits had 'little to no experience'. Turns out, Eragon dropped her down in a bandit meeting comprised of only the largest, richest, most wanted and definitely most dangerous bandit gangs. It didn't turned out well for her. Eragon had to snatch her up quickly before they could skewer her.
Then, from far away, they spotted a blue dot across the courtyard and recognised it as the blue dragoness herself, next to her legendary Rider whose name has been written down in countless stories and books. Despite already having being spotted, it still took Ashyllen and Fricaya several minutes to walk to the legendary duo due to the size of the courtyard. As Ashyllen approached them, she noticed her master reading a large map. So we are going somewhere.She thought.
"Ah, Ashyllen and Fricaya, glad you came," Eragon greeted once they came close enough to earshot, not even bothered to look up from his map "Saphira and I had a little discussion last night, and we have decided that it would be most beneficial to your training to have a two weeks trip to Alagaesia, as it would teach you many great things. Which will includes, the culture of the four races, their history and you'll get to see Alagaesia for the first time." When Eragon did look up from his map, however, he was looking at the concentrating face of his pupils.
"You're lying." Ashyllen said flatly.
"Excuse me?"
"I said you are lying. You made up an excuse for some other reasons to go back to Alagaesia, after 18 years."
"I definitely did not." Eragon exclaimed, pretending to look hurt.
"I know you better than you do, master, I know that you avoid eye contacts when lying, hence the reason you were standing at the map, and how you included too much details in your reasoning to make it sound more believable." Ashyllen explained everything with the professionalism of a detective.
Eragon simply smiled. "It seems I have taught you well, young one or at the least it seems you listened to one of my lessons. Then do you not want to visit Alagaesia?"
"I do, but at the least tell me the reason for why we are going to there."
"It was exactly as Eragon said it, plus a few private reason." Saphira butted into the conversation.
"Saphira! Why did you have to tell her that?" Eragon was eye-wide and mortified that Saphira might revealed more than what is necessary, especially if it's about Arya.
"Because it was the truth." Saphira stated simply.
"Nevertheless, we're going in an hour. Are you in or out?" Eragon asked, reverting back to his calm state and tone.
"In." Ashyllen and Fricaya answered with excitement shown in their voice. Ashyllen was daughter to an elf and human, and was born in Dras Edoc'sil so neither of them had seen Alagaesia, so of course they would be excited. They then spent half an hour going through the list of what they would need for their travel. They soon found out that they were missing some supplies but decided they would stop at the Trade Centre to buy more. Soon, they were on their dragons but before they took off, Eragon handed Ashyllen a small bag full of crowns, telling her to use it to buy more supplies at the Trade Centre.
15 MINUTES LATER…
Ashyllen looked around both sides of the street, searching for necessary supplies, with Fricaya walking behind her, trying to take as little space as possible for other people to walk. People were looking at her with most interest, it wasn't every day that you see a Rider walking in The Centre. It was then Ashyllen spotted an herbalist shop, next to a carpet store. The store didn't look like anything fancy, it was made of wood except for the roof which was made of brick tiles, it had only one window and its door had definitely seen better days.
She looked at her list, which she was holding in her left hand, and saw that she needed medicinal herbs. Ashyllen spotted an herbalist'. The moment she opened the battered door leading inside the shop, her nose was attacked by the smell of dry herbs. Inside the shop, she saw all kinds of strange objects, but her eyes caught on to something else. Sleeping on top of a red pillow, under a small chandelier that looks like it could fall down any minute, was a cat.
Thinking that it was better for the cat to not sleep under a potentially dangerous object, Ashyllen put her list into her pocket, gripped the edges of the pillow with both hands and gingerly move the cat to a nearly table. Ashyllen barely lifted the pillow off the ground when the cat jumped off the pillow and onto her chest, throwing her down the ground and sat on her.
"Who are you?" The cat growled, inclining his head.
"Did… you just talked?" Ashyllen said in disbelief.Ashyllen tries to pick the cat off her chest but then she felt her mind being probed by a strong force, the probing was quite intense, sending pain- though not unbearable- to her head, she quickly built up her mental defence just like how Eragon taught her but then a voice called out.
"Solembum! Stop!" It sounded like a woman's voice, Ashyllen craned her neck to get a good look at the source of the voice. A woman was standing in the doorway, one arm carrying a bag full of strange herbs. She couldn't be older than twenty-five, but her eyes reflected otherwise. Ashyllen assumed she was an herbalist and the owner of the shop.
"Sorry for what he did. My name is Angela." She put her bag on a stool and Solembum jumped back to the pillow that he was sleeping on. "Solembum doesn't like strangers, but he talked to you, didn't he?" There was much interest in her voice.
"Yes, I suppose he did. He's a werecat, isn't he, my master taught me about them and their role in the war back at the Academy." Ashyllen shook off Solembum and stood back up.
"You're a Rider?" Angela lifted her right eyebrow, "So who's your master?"
"The one and only Eragon Shadeslayer himself." Ashyllen answered with pride. Angela raised both her eyebrows.
"Eragon? That fool is your master? I thought it was someone with more wits, like Arya, Minus or even Murtagh would do." Angela sighed with disappointment, unlike the excitement that normal people would show when they learn that Ashyllen's master was Eragon, the hero whose epic tales are sung by the bards and told by the storytellers.
Ashyllen didn't know this woman but Angela clearly seemed to know her master pretty well. Maybe she fought with him in the war! Ashyllen considered the possibility for a bit until dismissing it altogether. But that's impossible, the war ended 18 years ago, which means she would be a little girl at the time. And the only one little girl who fought in the war was Elva. Ashyllen had seen Elva before, when she accompanied Eragon to the meeting between the Parliaments of The People, so Angela couldn't be her.
"Who are you?" Ashyllen asked her, wanting to know more about the herbalist.
"Me!? Well, I'm just a person who shows up at the right place when interesting things happens, that's all," Angela looked at a clock on the far wall that was hung upside down and stood up, brushing her hands together. "Well, it seems like we've been talking for a bit now. What do you need?" She said.
"Uhm… I need any herbs that can help heal wounds and stop an infection," Ashyllen pulled out her list from her pocket. "Oh, and some spice." But before she could close her mouth, Angela dropped three small bags onto Ashyllen's hand.
"You don't need to pay for it," Angela, walking to the back of her shop. "In fact, I want to show you something," She dug inside a chest and pulled out a bag no bigger than her fist. "Would you like to have your fortune told?"
