Nadja weaved in and out of the vendors' stalls, her heart pounding. She glanced back, the guard was no where to be seen. She slipped the gold coin into her pocket. Nadja willed her body to relax, and began to explore the stalls.
Nadja smelled the bread stand before she saw it. She waited by the stall until the man running it turned away. Her hand shot out and grabbed a roll, then ran. She weaved in and out of the stalls as the man'svl voice called after her.
"I saw that you slut!"
She bit into the bread and reminded herself never to regret any choice she made. Soon Nadja came to the biggest crowd. No wonder it's so busy she thought, today is the day people get to touch the dragon eggs.
OOO
Nadja had just finished the roll when a pair of hands pushed her in line to touch the dragon eggs. It took all her will power not to bolt from the crowd, but if she did
she would have looked increasingly suspicious.
"Next!" Nadja heard one of the dragon egg patrons' call, the line shifted forward. Slowly the line became smaller. The people came and went, until Nadja came up to touch the eggs. It took all the strength in her body not to run.
There were three dragon eggs. The first egg was a violent shade of orange. It was so bright it seemed to glow. Nadja was tempted to look away. She extended her arm and let her finger tips brush the egg. Nothing happened. Nadja sighed with relief.
She moved on to the next egg. The dragon egg was yellow, but not like Aidel the morning star. It was a warmer color, like the little yellow flowers Nadja had been fond of when she was little. She reached out and touched the dragon egg. The egg didn't move. Nadja caught herself feeling slightly disapointed. But what was she expecting, she was only a street rat.
The last dragon egg glinted in the light, grasping Nadja's attention. The last egg was beautiful. It was a pastel purple with brief highlights of red and pink. The egg was roughly a foot and a 1/2 long. The dragon egg looks like a sunrise, Nadja thought.
Nadja touched the egg. She could felt a sort of humming energy around this egg that she hadn't felt on the other eggs. The dragon eggs' patrons seemed to move closer. Nadja could feel them watching her, waiting. Every instinct Nadja had told her to run. Her finger tips were resting on the egg's surface. The crowd held it's breath.
The dragon egg trembled, a large crack opened along the eggs side. Nadja dropped her arm.
Suddenly an elf stood beside Nadja. The elf grasped her wrist and brought her arm up into the air, and cried, "Hail Shurtugal!"
The crowd bowed. Nadja's pulse raced. Her face was burning. The crowd straightened up, and then the whispering began, "A street rat, a dragon rider?" and "Why would a dragon hatch for a street rat?" Nadja wanrted to run and hide.
OOO
She sat cross legged in a tent. The dragon egg was in front of her. More cracks had appeared in it's surface since Nadja had touched it an hour ago. Finally 4 elves entered the tent, carrying a large trunk. She figured that was where they kept he other dragon eggs. 2 of the elves stayed in the tent while the 2 others left to guard the outside of the tent.
A loud crack from the egg brought Nadja's attention back to the hatching dragon. A pale purple dragon pushed itself out of the fragmented egg. For the briefest moment Nadja thought it was cute.
She held out her hand towards the purple sunrise dragon and it nuzzled her palm. She gasped as her entire arm was engulfed in a cold tingly sensation. This must be what snow feels like, Nadja thought. It never snowed in Surda, let alone Aberon. The tingling ended.
Nadja slowly turned her hand over. In the middle of her left palm was the silvery mark of a dragon rider. A voice broke through her shock. A young women, no elf, stood in the entrance to the tent.
-Looks can be deceiving young one.-
Nadja jumped to ber feet, fists clenched.
"Calm yourself, Shurtugal," the elf said, "Tis only my dragon Herne." She gestered her hand towards a silver dragon outside the tent. The dragon Herne peered in the tent at the dragon hatchling chasing a stray bug aboit the room. The elf spoke again,
"Where is your family?"
Nadja turned to face the elf, "I have no family," she declared.
"That is a shame," the elf responded, "I am Phoena, ebrithil-Phoena to you."
"I am Nadja."
"Nadja is a very pretty name."
"Thank you ebrithil-Phoena."
Phoena smiled. "I will be back soon to get you for the feast."
The word feast echoed in Nadja's mind. For once she was going to have enough to eat.
OOO
She sat at the feast table, the sound of voices surrounding her. Her thoughts trailed off to the the last time she had spoken with her sister.
OOO
Nadja had met her sister Katja outside of the Inn she worked at. It must have been a busy that evening because Katja looked exhausted. She leaned forward towards Nadja and spoke,
"Listen Nadja, you are growing to be a big girl now and can take care of yourself and-"
"Please get to the point Katja!" Nadja had interrupted.
"I am leaving for Teirm with Ingo tomorrow morning." Katja had said, coldness evident in her voice.
It had taken a few minutes for the words register in Nadja's mind.
"You can't leave me!" Nadja had screamed, outraged.
"I can and I will." Katja muttered. Turning on her heels she spun around and entered the Inn's bar. Nadja had stood there, dumbfounded. Her sister, her only family was leaving her for a boy who had only been courting her for a few days.
OOO
Nadja brought herself back to the present. All that had been 6 years ago. Phoena came to where Nadja was seated.
"Come Nadja. We will be leaving tomorrow and you will need your rest." Phoena whispered.
Nadja stood and followed Phoena from the room.
OOO
The next morning Nadja left her sleeping quarters to explore the palace, dragon hatchling in tow.
Nadja had been wandering about for nearly an hour when she paused in front of a door. Inside she heard many people talking, Phoena among them. The dragon hatchling took that moment to scramble up Nadja's clothes, and perch on her shoulder. The dragon made a triumphant chirping noise. Nadja shushed it. They both leaned closer to the door.
Nadja only heard scraps of the conversation. She heard; "Eragon-elda," "stirrings in the northwest," "trouble along the southern coast," "problems at Helgrind," "haven't heard from Angela," and "no signs of Murtagh,". Nadja was struggling to process what she had heard when foot steps approached from the other side. Nadja ran. She on only stopped when she knew they couldn't see her. Her dragon made little growling noises at her sudden burst of speed.
Nadja smiled, then laughed. How absurd was all this? She was a street rat, not a dragon rider. The dragon on her shoulder looked at her, confused. Nadja looked back at the dragon,
"You really need a name," she declared, then left to go back to her room.
OOO
A hour later there was brisk knocking on Nadja's door.
"It's open!" Nadja yelled.
Phoena opened the door. "We leave in a hour, pack your things." She said, then left.
Nadja turned to the dragon perched on her windowsill.
"Hear that? We're leaving!" She cried. Nadja hummed to herself as she picked up the few clothes the elves had given her.
OOO
The crowds of people parted for the assorted company of elves, dragons, horses, and humans. Nadja noticed a human dragon rider she'd never seen before. Interesting, Nadja thought.
The minute the exited the city Nadja could feel the difference. Though it was hot, Nadja felt as though she could breath easier. She strained her eyes trying to look down the path ahead of them.
-We have a long way ahead of us, purple.- Nadja thought to her dragon.
The dragon didn't respond.
OOO
A/N: Few! That was a long chapter! The rest of the chapters probably won't be that long. I need my readers opinions on this one: next week the chapters point of veiw can be in either; Aidan's, Murtagh's, or Eragon's. PM me or leave a reveiw with your vote! If you want to chat about the story PM me! I'd love to hear what you think of my story! Please leave reveiws after you read, they encourage me to keep writing and make my day!