Chapter 4: Surprise Visit
Eragon awoke with a start, his breathing coming in ragged gulps as he tried to clear his head of the strange dream. After a moment of just breathing, Eragon noticed the sun streaming into his eyes, which explained why it was so hard to see. Forcing himself to sit up, Eragon shook his head quickly, rubbing his eyes, trying to gain some form of composure. He tried to remember what happened last night. How the money appeared, where it came from, the noise the stone made… The stone! Eragon immediately searched the table where he left it finding the place empty. Remembering what had happened the stone had fallen. So he searched the ground, finding that clear of any remnants of the stone's breakage.
Chirp! Eragon looked down between his legs, finding a blue lizard staring back at him. But it had wings… And it was almost the size of his calf… It chirped again and Eragon backed away from it, slipping off his bed in the process. He landed heavily on the wooden floor, having hit the back of his head in the process. Eragon rubbed the back of his head with his right hand, but it felt, strange. Like there was a lump on his head.
Eragon rubbed his fingers into the pain, feeling for any blood, but when he looked at his palm there was something much worse. Covering almost his entire palm was a circular scar, deep blue in colouring. This is not happening, this can't be happening. The creature chirped again, but this time, Eragon just sat still, the events of last night shooting into the front of his mind like a speeding arrow. The stone, the lizard, the dream; everything! Eragon was frozen in fear, there was nothing he could do.
Chirp! The sapphire blue lizard jumped off the bed, using its wings to glide to the ground, causing Eragon to cower in the corner. If it was capable of marking him in such a way, just from a single touch, Eragon wanted nothing to do with it. The winged-lizard moved closer to Eragon, its body swayed under from movement. Eragon stood in the corner, scrambling to get away from it. The creature lowered its head, it tail twinged from side-to-side. Eragon lifted one foot off the ground, holding it between himself and the creature. Hearing a scuttle to his right, Eragon glanced towards the noise, only to see the winged-lizard jump over a pile of rocks and hay pouncing towards the noise. There was a slight squeal as the lizard landed, but Eragon paid it no mind. He knew it was distracted from him, so, Eragon left his room quickly and locked the door, putting on his gloves to hide the scar. When his uncle went out to start the day's work, Eragon would dispose of the thing and pretend it never happened in the first place.
"Did anything happen last night Eragon?" Garrow asked, startling Eragon as his uncle tended to breakfast over the stove. "I heard you say something, almost made me think you weren't alone in there."
Eragon tensed, his hands were cramped in the leather gloves. He had used them over winter to keep his hands warm, but they also shrunk during the season, as they always did every winter. "I- I just had a bad dream." Hoping the lie would be enough to make Garrow drop the issue.
"I know what this is about." Garrow turned around from the stove, and sat down at the table across from Eragon. "And I went through it too when it happened to me."
Eragon gained a confused look. This happened to his uncle? No way!
"When my older brother left the house I too was worried about him," Garrow said in a sombre tone. "Stayed up the entire week not knowing if it was a dream or if he was going to be back the next day…"
Eragon let out a sigh of relief.
"Your time will come too, then I'll have to sell the farm and move into town. But you still have two years ahead of you now." Garrow stood back up and continued cooking the food. "Either way, I have to go into Carvahall today, Winter has left us short-stocked and there isn't any food for tomorrow unless I go."
Eragon was overjoyed to hear that they were going into Carvahall again. Now he knew he had to speak to old Brom. The old man had been right...at least about the stone actually being an egg. Maybe he could finally get some straight answers from the man. "Perfect, I'll just-"
"No, you're staying here." Garrow immediately replied without waiting. "I need you to keep clearing the snow."
"But-"
"No buts Eragon. Your chores are more important than going into town and wasting your, and the rest of the people's time." Garrow scooped out some contents of the pot, placing it in a bowl, handing it, and a spoon to Eragon across the table. "Besides, you went in yesterday, what else could you possibly need to do?"
Eragon stopped for a moment, now that he thought of it, he almost did have to go into town, since Brom seemed to know what the stone, or more likely now, egg was. So he must know what the creature actually is. "I just hate being stuck here with no-one else around. If Roran was here I wouldn't object, but-"
"I know Eragon. But this is all a part of growing up. You need to learn the daily going-ons around here so you can one-day do the same in several years and raise a family of your own." Garrow scooped out some food for himself and sat down across from Eragon as he had done before. "You'll be out of here sooner than you think. It's only a matter of time."
The two ate their meal wordlessly, and immediately after finishing Garrow went into his room, and returned moments later with his empty pack and coin-pouch, laying them both on the table, examining them both for any signs of breakage.
After seeing Garrow's coin-pouch, Eragon immediately remembered the gold Brom had given him. After entering his room, Eragon found the winged-lizard asleep on the end of his bed, laying in the sun with its wings spread-out on either side of it. Soundlessly reaching onto his dresser, Eragon picked up the coins and immediately placed them in his pockets, hoping not to wake the thing and left the room. Closing the door behind him Eragon tried to devise an excuse that would explain where he got the money, however, was going to be harder than his original thought.
Deciding it would be easier to slip his uncle one coin at a time, Eragon placed one gold crown on the table in-front of him, immediately garnering the attention of Garrow. "Where did you get that?" The single gold coin danced with the pattern of the flames, the morning light still quite dim outside.
"I found it on the road yesterday." He lied, for the second time that morning.
Garrow stared hard into Eragon's eyes, seemingly unsure on if it was the truth. "Was Roran with you?"
"No, I found it on the way back."
"How is it so clean if you found it on the road?"
"It wasn't when I found it, on first sight I thought it was bronze, it was that muddy… But I washed it, and couldn't believe my luck!"
Garrow picked up the coin and stared between him and Eragon. "I guess we are lucky. With this alone we could feed ourselves for a week!" Eragon let out a silent breath, reminding himself to not warrant any extra attention from Garrow as it was two lies in one morning he'd gotten away with. His uncle immediately put the coin in the small pouch, shouldered his pack, then went for the door. "I should be back before sundown, if not, then start the fire. You'll need the warmth." Waving behind himself, Garrow stepped out the door and let it swing shut on its own accord. Leaving Eragon alone in the house with the winged-lizard.
Eragon moved to the front-door, waited until his uncle was out of sight, then waited at least ten minutes more, just to make sure he was gone for the day. Eragon opened the door, then propped it open with the shovel he was going to use for most of the day. He glanced over the snow-covered landscape. Most of it was already clear of the white, there was almost nothing more for him to do! Eragon cursed under his breath, but thought less of it, since that left him the rest of the day to do nothing.
Leaving the front-door open, Eragon turned back to his room, and checked to see where the winged-lizard was. He saw it still asleep in the sun on his bed. It looks so peaceful. He thought to himself. No, it attacked me, and I can't let it stay, Eragon's focus determined. But maybe I'll leave it until I'm finished work.
Turned away from his room, Eragon stepped outside, picking up the shovel along the way, and started clearing the snow on the far-side of the barn.
Three hours passed, and Eragon had finished his duty. It was still morning, if not only just, so, he had the rest of the day to do as he wished. The first plan, though, was to remove the lizard in his room.
Entering the house, and wedging the door open as he had done before, Eragon entered his room, and found the blue creature sitting on his bed-post. The creature immediately jumped off the post, and glided to the floor, almost excited to see Eragon again. Thankful that he was wearing shoes, Eragon put his foot out, stopping the lizard's advances towards him. It looked up at him with bright, blue eyes, as if hoping for attention. For something so dangerous, it certainly knows how to act innocent, he mumbled. Eragon tucked his foot underneath him, and moved to a low-crouch. At least I'm wearing gloves so it can't cut me again. Eragon was still unsure how long the blue mark on his hand would last, hopefully no longer than a week.
Reaching out with one hand, Eragon grabbed the lizard around its midsection, clamping over its wings and keeping his other hand out of reach from the lizard's long neck and mouth.
The creature made a squealing noise as Eragon picked it up, but he paid it no mind. Intent on removing of the thing now, and never thinking about it again. Moving outside, the screeching continued, making Eragon's ears burn after a while. But, eventually, Eragon had made it behind the house, where Garrow made all of the families kills, and tied the leather collar around the lizard's neck. The collar itself was less than four foot long, and tied to a steak in the ground. After it had made contact with the ground, the lizard stopped making noise, letting Eragon's ears take a rest again.
Eragon was yet to have to make a kill in this fashion. He hated this kind of slaughter. At least when he caught a deer it had as much chance to escape as he did killing it. Reaching for the axe that was used for both the slaughter and wood-chopping, Eragon tested its weight and righted himself with the target. He took a deep breath, and saw the lizard was staring at him. The blue of its eyes told more of a story than anything Eragon had ever heard. It was unnatural, and full of life. No, can't get distracted. Putting the axe-head between him and the lizard, Eragon closed his eyes, lifting the axe above his head, he took a deep breath. He began the down-swing with little force, he knew that it wouldn't take much to kill the lizard, it had only hatched- No!
Eragon stopped, and whipped the axe away flinging it just under a dozen feet. It had hatched. It was an egg! Brom was right! But how-
"Eragon!" He heard a shout from in-front of the house. "Eragon! Where are you?" Eragon turned away from the lizard, unsure what to think now, moving to the front of the house, he saw exactly who he needed to right now. "Ah! There you are! I saw Garrow in town and thought that-"
"It happened!" Eragon was almost panic stricken. He was shocked at first to see something come out of the stone, but only then had he realised that what Brom had told him was right.
"What happened Eragon?"
"It happened! What you said! It's an egg! You told me it was!"
"Calm down." Brom pressed his hand down on Eragon's head, trying to stop him from moving. "What happened." A sharp Chirp sounded from behind the house. Brom looked at Eragon, then grabbed onto the boy's hands, noticing the gloves too small for him, and under the edge of his right glove was a deep blue matching in colour to the egg. "It hatched for you, didn't it?" Eragon nodded quickly. "Where is she?"
Eragon turned away from Brom and went behind the house. There was a screeching noise and Eragon carried the lizard out from behind the house across its midsection again. Placing the blue creature on the ground, and thus silencing it, Eragon noticed that it sniffed at the grass, and started wandering off towards the crops. "What is it?"
"She," He began, "is a dragon. "And one of the very last of her species."
A dragon! Eragon thought to himself. But why would someone send a dragon to the Spine? Eragon repeated his question out-loud.
"That, I can't say, for reasons you will understand later. Now, tell me, this happened last night, yes?"
"Yes."
"What did she say to you when you first touched her?"
Eragon thought for a moment, He had no idea, he couldn't remember. The creature - dragon - surely couldn't speak...could it? "I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know, you must know!"
"I don't know! I can't remember! It happened so fast, I didn't know what was going on!"
Brom looked towards the dragon, watching it lay down between the divots of the earth, fitting snugly between them. "Did you at least catch her name?"
"It has a name?" Eragon glanced towards the dragon, which turned its neck around to look the other way, despite its body facing him.
Brom sighed heavily. "Eragon, listen to me, and listen well. What you have lying in your farm over there, is more important than every single person living within all of Palancar Valley." Brom poked Eragon in the chest to emphasize his point. The old man paused for a moment, and closed his eyes, Eragon felt the memory of last night spring to the front of his mind, and then disappear just as quickly. "Saphira is her name." The blue dragon whipped its head around at the sound of her name. "And you are going to become one of her race."
"What?" Of all the things he expected to hear, that was certainly one of the last.
"Listen to me Eragon, you are going to become a dragon because you didn't choose what you wanted when she asked you."
"What do you mean I didn't choose? There was no choice!" Eragon felt his mind race. What choice?
"That's why I keep telling you to listen Eragon! Listen to everything I say, and listen well. You're wondering why you have a blue mark on your palm, yes? Well, from that one mark, your very being will change to look almost exactly as she does."
Eragon pushed Brom away. It was too much, he didn't believe a word of it. He turned around to face the old man. "Where are you making this up?"
"Don't you believe me? Eragon, you must understand what this means. You are now the most important being within the entire land! Within a month, you will become a dragon, and then you and Saphira will be the most sought-after beings in all of Alagaësia!" He stepped closer to Eragon, lowering his voice. "Saphira is the last female dragon within the entire land Eragon. If she dies, so does the entire dragon race."
"But I don't want to become a dragon! I never wanted her to begin with!"
"We never get what we want Eragon. She chose you, and you should feel incredibly lucky to have even seen her. This isn't something to be taken lightly Eragon. Believe me or not, your life will never be the same. And if I were you, I would prepare to leave this place. Because within a week, Garrow is going to notice that your arms are turning blue."
"A week? I don't have a week! I can't leave him now! He just lost Roran, how am I going to leave within a week?"
"You don't have a choice Eragon. I will help you get out of here if you want, but if you don't there are some things that not even the elves can fix."
"You know of elves?"
"I know a great many things Eragon. It would be wise of you to listen to me, and accept what must be done. Or, you can stay here, remain ignorant to what will happen, then get driven away by everyone you loved or cared about because you're not human." Brom turned around and started walking away from the house. "I will return in five days to hear your choice Eragon. By then both your hands should be entirely scaled over and blue, your fingers would've started ebbing together into four separate claws. Your feet will have the same appearance as your hands, and your hair will start falling out. Thus is the road you walk Eragon. If you follow it, great things will come, if not, you'll be dragged along whether you like to or not. Saphira will remain concealable in your room for this week, and this week only, spend as much time as you can with her, she needs the attention."
"What if you're wrong?"
"Find out for yourself Eragon. Five days, and we'll see what you believe."
Eragon fell back into the dirt, stunned. What has happening to the world? As he stared into the distance, wathcing Brom walk up the road, he failed to notice the small dragon waddle up next to him. It gave a small, chirping noise, but Eragon's focus was elsewhere. Unbidden, the hatchling wiggled its head under his hand, as if asking for attention.
Without realizing it, the boy began to rub along her head.