First off thank you to all who are reading this story and reviewing, also thank you to all who have added this story as a favorite and added me as a favorite as well. Writing like this means mental communication.

RECAP:

I decided to walk around the small village since no one seemed to mind my presence. I saw the same golden haired boy who had been watching the handsome man earlier and the stealthy way he was trying to get away from the village caught my interest so I followed him.

CHAPTER THREE

I felt Kuldr's presence grow as I continue to follow the golden haired boy. I smiled as I figured that either this boy was the female dragon's rider or he was about to get the surprise of his young life. I was leaning more towards the first one but if he wasn't well, I would have to shut him up. As I continued to follow the boy farther away from the small town and watched from the forest as he started walking a well-worn dirt path. I could see a large barn with a medium sized house next to it in the distance however the large blue dragon Kuldr told me about flew downward and caught the boy in her large feet taking him up in the air.

I wanted to holler at the stupidity of that dragon, honestly other people would be able to see her if they looked up. "What is she thinking?!" I mentally asked Kuldr. "There is a scent of several Ra'zac's coming from the barn up ahead. My guess is that that boy lives there and she's trying to get him away from the creatures that could kill him." I was surprised at his immediate defense of the female dragon but shoved that away as I heard someone running up the path coming from the small town. I instinctively jumped up high into a heavily leafed tree my left hand touching the tree limb to balance myself while my right hand was grasping the hilt of one of my swords.

"Go after them, don't let them see you, protect them if need be. It seems that the female is a few days younger then you." I said to Kuldr, immediately feeling his presence going away from me. I readied myself to jump off the limb and ambush whoever or whatever was running up the path. However I never jumped it was the handsome man from earlier, the one the blonde kid had been watching. I took my hand away from my sword and watched him as he ran towards the barn. I felt Kuldr's presence coming back towards me then and I mentally hissed, "What are you doing?!" Kuldr replied, "The boy made her turn him back around, he is now at the barn. He sent her away in anger I'll stay above her and out of her sight."

I jumped through the forest staying above the ground passing the man however I ran out of forest and so I stopped just inside the edge of the forest. The man ran past my hiding place and right into the barn where I could hear another heart beat coming from. I stayed hiding and listened to them talk, I learned that the handsome man was named Brom, and the blonde was named Eragon. I was un-surprised to learn that Eragon was the dragon rider, however I was surprised to find out that Brom knew about dragons and dragon riders. My interest in him caused me to follow Brom, Eragon and his dragon as they traveled throughout the forest. After eight days of following them I decided that Kuldr and I should make an appearance and join their small group. Kuldr and I circled around them and got ahead of them and were waiting for them in a large clearing.

Kuldr tensed and I knew that the other dragon must have spotted us, which meant that she let her rider know, who in turn probably let Brom know. I kept my hood up, partly not wanting to scare them away and partly because I didn't trust them. "Remember to be nice to the people not just the dragon." Kuldr said, causing me to glare at him and raise an eyebrow, daring him to say anything else. "Well you usually don't do so well with people." Kuldr said with the dragon equivalent of a shrug. I rolled my eyes but couldn't fault his logic, I did have a hard time interacting pleasantly with people. I had a very good reason however I had been betrayed by a human almost two hundred years ago and had almost died.

I shook my head to get rid of the painful memories and focused on the forest where I knew Brom and Eragon would be coming out. Kuldr kept his focus on the sky watching for the female dragon. I heard the horses getting closer and took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly trying to relax my tense muscles. Sure enough the two horses and their riders burst out of the forest and for a second I thought they were going to try to kill us. Then I felt and smelt the disgusting scent of Ra'zac's coming behind them fast. "Kuldr take the sky, use our fire if the Ra'zac's get to close to them." I said as I, without thinking, tossed off my black robe and took out my magic coated twin swords. Readying myself as the two horses and their riders ran past me, Kuldr already high in the sky circling around.

I didn't want to use magic unless I had too I liked being able to fight on my own power. I didn't move forward, instead I let them come towards me. There was seven of them, all of them made up of forest insects, the sight of them brought back a flash of memories but I shoved those thoughts aside. I couldn't think of my past right now I had to focus. The first one saw me in the clearing and as I figured it would it charged towards me. Intent on killing me so it could reach its prey, I grinned, setting my feet and crouching slightly my ears pricked upwards and were swiveling around to catch every noise. My blood began to pump as I readied myself for the fight that was coming. The six other Ra'zac's burst through the clearing as the first one exploded, the dark magic that had been holding it together purified.

Immediately the other six locked onto me, seeing me as a threat they all charged towards me. I could feel my grin growing, stretching my face and I let them come, when they got into range of my blades I begin to twist and twirl. Blocking their weapons and keeping their focus on me so none of them went after Brom and Eragon. Sadly they were dispersed within the next three minutes and after twirling my blades to make sure there was nothing left on them I put them away. Kuldr assured me that there was no more in the forest so I turned and walked back to where my robe had been blown by the wind after I tossed it off. I grabbed it and placed it around my shoulders before pulling the hood up over my head hiding my ears once again from view. "Well that didn't go exactly as planned, did they run away or have they stopped somewhere close?" I asked Kuldr.

"They are waiting in another clearing about eighty feet away. She is up here beside me watching you…now she is flying towards them." Kuldr reported. "Thanks, you can follow her, just stay up in the air until I get there please." I said, not wanting anything to happen to Kuldr. I felt his presence move away and after a minute I followed in the same direction. I paused outside of the human's eye-sight and took another deep breath trying to steady myself. The slowly I walked out into Brom and Eragon's eye sight. I was met with two very curious and suspicious sets of human eyes. The two horses immediately nickered at me in greeting sensing my affinity for them and probably smelling the large grapes I had in my pack. I stopped ten feet away from Brom and Eragon, I could sense the female dragon looking me over. "I am going to call my dragon down if I sense any hostility from either of you I will kill you two." I said.

Kuldr said some choice words at me before muttering about my stupid blockheadedness and how I was never going to win any friends. I rolled my eyes at him before asking him to come down a good forty yards from where Brom and Eragon were standing. Kuldr landed and he and the other dragon seemed to eye-ball each other for a moment before starting a conversation. Deciding that they were okay I put my full attention on Brom and Eragon. I decided to just get everything over with I wasn't a very patient person. I pulled off the robe exposing my ears and tail and gave them a short run-down of my past.

"My name is Nia, my mother was a Shade, my dad was an Elf. A magic spell got messed up and I have the ears and tail of a wolf. Yes all of my senses are as heightened as my animal counterpart. No I cannot change into a wolf unless I use magic which I can do. Kuldr is my dragon he is a male and he is 35 days old. I know you are Brom and you are Eragon, other than your names I know nothing about you two. We have been following you three for the past eight days, and I plan on traveling with you two because Kuldr likes your dragon. I am 336 years old although I only look in my late twenties. Do not purposefully touch my ears of tail unless I give you permission. If you have any questions please ask them now." I said all at once.

Kuldr scolded me but I chose to ignore him and instead focused on Brom and Eragon who looked a little overwhelmed in the information I had just piled on them. "May I see your mark?" Brom asked. I nodded and pulled off my right glove holding it fingers up palm out so he could see the swirls burned into my palm. "When you said your mother 'was' a Shade and your dad 'was' an Elf does that mean their dead now?" Eragon asked bluntly his tone curious. I saw Brom give him a sharp look but I was happy that Eragon was forward about what he wanted. "Yes their both dead. I never met my dad however I killed my mother after she murdered my best friend." I said honestly. Eragon and Brom let me travel with them although they were a bit distant with me at first and I was with them. However as we traveled together I begin to grow more attached to them and was slowly beginning to realize that these two accepted me. Sure they were a bit distant with me at first but who wouldn't be?

As we continue to travel them on their horses and me by foot or Kuldr when he wasn't flying with the female dragon, whose name I learned was Saphira. I used small amounts of magic when it rained so we didn't get soaked and I felt myself being drawn towards Brom. I felt like there was something different about Brom, something I both needed and wanted. I had never been around a single person as long as I had been around Brom and Eragon so I thought maybe that was it. However Kuldr pointed out to me that I didn't feel that way about Eragon, I was a bit worried. I asked Kuldr what he thought it was and he said that I should talk to Brom about it when it was just the two of us. I decided to talk to Brom about my weird feelings when Eragon got a saddle for Saphira that way we would be alone.

The time came sooner than I thought it would, Brom decided to stop at a small village. I decided to stay with the horses I didn't want to be around a lot of people at the moment. Eragon and Brom went in to get whatever they had to get. While they were gone I begin to practice what I would say to Brom, when I realized what I was doing I stopped myself. "Stop it! You have no reason to be nervous about talking to Brom!" I muttered to myself out-loud. At that moment a small drift of dark magic came at me from the shops. "Brom, Eragon!" I shouted as I jumped up and started towards the village. I saw them running across the bridge towards me, twenty Urgals and chasing them. I used magic to create a bow and a dozen arrows of purity that would kill any and all creatures of darkness. However I never got to use it, Eragon produced fire magic and blew the Urgals away falling unconscious immediately afterwards.

I ran forward and scooped Eragon up in my arms, telling Kuldr to keep Saphira up in the sky and out of the range of the Urgals that were still coming. I jumped up onto the horse Eragon had been riding and Brom jumped up onto his. We galloped away Brom clutching whatever it was he had bought in the small village. I used my magic to make sure Eragon was all right, he was fine, just exhausted from the use of the magic he had used. I told that to both Brom and Kuldr, Kuldr relayed that to Saphira who was flying beside him. When we finally got away from the Urgals and Brom felt we were safe we stopped and I jumped off the horse, making sure not to jar Eragon. Brom laid Eragon's cover down and a pack was used as a pillow as I laid Eragon down on top of his cover.