Disclaimer: All rights to the Inheritance Cycle belong to Christopher Paolini and Knopf Books
The group had left Gil'ead a week prior. It had been a brief stop with the three travelers staying only a few nights to pick up supplies and for Brom to look for some kind of information. Roran would have aided Brom, but that would have left Saphira alone which was not something that appealed to him. And so, Roran had spent those few days outside the walls of Gil'ead. They were pleasant, though. In the beginning, after Saphira had hatched for Roran, he had been uncomfortable with the idea that he was now a Dragonrider and all of the unsaid burdens that came with it.
While he still didn't know what to think about the situation in general, Saphira had proven to be a gift. And, while Roran was, at times, exasperated by Saphira's vanity and pride he was glad she had hatched for him. This became especially true once she had learned to talk as Roran's dealings with Brom were a tad cold. Which was actually the topic of the conversation Roran and Saphira were having while Brom was out gathering firewood.
"I told you, I don't have any problem with Brom," Roran said.
"Oh, is that so?" Saphira said with disbelief. "Then why did you stay outside for four days while Brom did all the work? He's an old man you know." The last sentence was said with a bit of mirth.
"I told you I didn't want you to get lonely out here," Roran said as he went about setting up the camp for the night. "Besides, he still has the energy to kick my ass every night."
"And I told you that you didn't need to worry about me," Saphira said in annoyance. "However, I'm happy to know that you prefer my company."
"Of course I prefer your company. You're my dragon, Saphira."
"Yes, but you'd prefer my company even if I wasn't your dragon. And that's the point of the conversation," Saphira said.
Roran went silent at that. In fact, Saphira couldn't even hear Roran working anymore. Interested, the dragon turned her head to look at him. She saw that he had stopped in the middle of setting up Brom's tent. Roran had stopped using a tent for some time as Saphira's wings provided plenty of cover and she was warm enough to keep him comfortable. But now he just remained in a crouching position looking contemplative. Eventually, he broke the silence.
"I have a lot of respect for Brom, he's definitely a great man. It's just that whenever I talk to the man it reminds me of how much responsibility I left my family with and how much is actually going to be expected of me."
"Like I've told you already, I believe that your family will be fine. From what you've told me about Garrow he sounds like quite a capable person and so does your cousin."
Roran let out a short chuckle, though at what Saphira wasn't entirely sure. "Eragon can definitely take care of himself, when he doesn't have his head in the clouds that is."
"And what is wrong with having your head in the clouds? I do it whenever I fly," Saphira joked.
"Well it looks much better when you do it," Roran said with a smile.
"And don't you forget it," Saphira interrupted.
"Still, sometimes I think that Eragon would be handling this better. He was always something of a dreamer and he got along quite well with Brom," Roran said with some lament.
"I think you're handling this just fine," Saphira told her Rider, "I've only ever known life on the road but I can imagine that it would be quite hard to give up your entire way of life."
"Thank you," Roran said.
"But you still need to accept that you're a Rider now," Saphira said. Roran was non-plussed that she felt that she had to remind him. The conversation died down soon after and Roran returned to setting up Brom's tent and making sure the camp as a whole was prepared. Eventually the two heard the sound of footsteps. The two perked up simultaneously and looked for the source of the noise. In the gloom of the approaching twilight they could see that it was Brom returning from gathering the firewood.
"Ah," Brom said with a smile, a rare occurrence, "I see you've gotten the camp ready. And you did a good job too." Brom took a moment to set the firewood next to the fire pit and said, "Since you finished everything else why don't you go ahead and get the fire set up. Wouldn't want you to get lazy after all." The truly annoying thing was that Brom had that same smile on the entire time.
With a grumble, Roran did as told. While he never said anything to Brom he was far from silent. "Lazy bastard!" he said to Saphira.
"Yes he is. But this is also teaching you to make a fire," Saphira reasoned. Roran couldn't deny the logic in Saphira's statement, but he didn't really want to admit it.
However, Brom had made sure that Roran could make a fire from scratch. It was one of the skills that Brom hammered into Roran's head the hardest during their travels. As such it wasn't too terribly long before a raging flame burst to life in the fire pit, casting its light and heat upon the surrounding area. Once Roran got the fire going he wanted to relax for a moment. But he knew that now he had a swordsmanship lesson coming up. Catching the incoming stick that Brom had already prepared Roran set himself into a ready position.
The first blow was easy to block as was the second and the third. Before the fourth, Roran saw an opening in Brom's guard and so struck. Brom was taken by surprise this time, though he retained the awareness to block and counter Roran's blow. Roran, of course, parried the counter attack and sent Brom's sword hand out wide. Roran was sure of the opening he had created in Brom's defenses and struck.
However, Brom had anticipated this. He brought his left hand around to catch Roran's wrist before he could get halfway through his swing. Once he had Roran firmly withing his grasp, Brom brought his stick around and caught Roran with a sharp blow to his sword arm. He then released Roran's arm and said, "You're getting a lot better." He then set himself in a ready stance.
The next few hours proceeding in a similar fashion. Roran had very rarely been able to land a blow on Brom during their spars and all but one had merely been a graze. Tonight would prove to be no different. Eventually, Brom called the lesson to a halt, which Roran was silently grateful for. He had no desire to walk around with anymore welts than he already had.
However, Roran didn't enjoy the next part of his training. Whereas the swordsmanship lessons punished his body these lessons were now punishing to his mind. It hadn't been Brom's original plan to include these lessons at all, but then a comment innocently slipped from Roran's mouth while they were just outside Gil'ead. He could still remember the conversation they were having.
The trio had come to the edge of a forest near Gil'ead and said city had come into sight. Originally Roran had been under the impression that they were just there to gather supplies. Of course, Saphira had been unable to come near the city for obvious reasons. As such, Roran had planned on spending as much time outside as possible so she wouldn't be truly alone. Then Brom had uttered the words that had led to Roran's downfall.
Brom had said that he had wanted to gather some information as well while they were there. He had wanted to search some archives for…something. In fact, only the first day had been spent gathering the supplies. The other three had involved this search. Brom had never said and so Roran still had no idea what he had been searching for. But Brom had originally wanted Roran's help, which is what led to this situation. Brom had asked Roran to aid him in his search. This, of course, would have been impossible as Roran had explained to him, very reluctantly, that neither he nor Eragon could read. Brom had definitely been disappointed, but was understanding. Of course, he had not had time then to teach Roran literacy. He had been very intent on finding whatever it was he had been looking for.
Once the group had left Gil'ead, however, Roran's nightly lessons had been expanded to include a reading lesson. And so, now Roran sat at the campfire learning the intricacies of the written language. Roran had almost immediately accepted that such a skill would be necessary for the road ahead but it was quite mentally taxing. Thus, after a few hours of learning literacy Roran sought something to create a break. Then he remembered something that had had his curiosity for some time now. "If Galbatorix destroyed the Dragon Riders how is it that Saphira's egg still existed?"
As Roran had hoped that question made Brom pause. Saphira had been laying behind Roran, lounging by the fire. Now Roran could sense that her attention had been roused. "Yes, how did I end up as Roran's dragon?" she asked. Roran smiled at that. Leave it to Saphira to insist on hearing a story about herself. With the onset of dusk and a good fire going the trio had a wonderful atmosphere for this sort of thing.
"Very well," Brom said. "After Galbatorix slew the last of the Riders he began to smash the dragon eggs, which is the most well known part of the story. However, known only to a few was the fact that he kept three eggs to rebuild the Dragon Riders under his rule. This is something that couldn't simply be allowed to happen. Then his rule would be complete. So, about seventeen years ago, the Varden, the group we're traveling to meet, came up with a plan.
"A friend of mine, named Jeod, and I infiltrated Uru'baen many years ago in order to retrieve these eggs. They were a closely guarded secret and it took me years of posing as a traveling bard to find out where the eggs were being hidden."
"Who did you find this out from?" asked Roran.
"Hmm?" asked Brom
"Who betrayed Galbatorix for the Varden?" Roran clarified.
"Ah. That was the wife of Morzan," Brom said. He could see that Roran recognized the name. It was one that Brom had mentioned many times in their journey. "She told me of a secret treasure room inside of the building. Inside this room were the three eggs. And so, with some form of lead, we infiltrated Galbatorix's stronghold. As I had been told, the eggs, along with many other rare and valuable items, were in a secret chamber inside the tower. Once Jeod and I reached the chamber, however, things became difficult," at this point Brom paused. Whether it was to gather his thoughts or because of some personal difficulty with this part of the story Roran didn't know and neither did Saphira. But they were both so absorbed in the story that they didn't think of asking. They simply waited patiently for Brom to ready himself, listening to the crackling of the fire in the mean time.
Once Brom had finished with his thinking he continued his tale. "To this day I have no idea how we were found out or whether we were simply victims of terrible timing. Either way, shortly after we opened the chamber we were interrupted by Morzan." Roran needed no explanation of who Morzan was. The last of the Forsworn had been a topic of conversation during their trek. He heard Saphira let out an angry growl behind him and Roran found himself silently agreeing.
They had also been told of Brom's slaying of Morzan's dragon, Iryna. Considering that, Roran was certain the story was about to take a murderous turn. "Because of that," Brom continued, "We only had time to grab one of the eggs, Saphira's." That, of course, made Saphira puff up in pride. "Once we were well outside of the tower I told Jeod to escape with the egg while I dealt with Morzan. I was determined that two things would happen that day. The first was that no matter what Jeod was going to make it away from Galbatorix's forces with the egg. The second thing was that either Morzan or I was going to die that day. As you can see it turned out to be Morzan. In the mean time, Jeod managed to get the egg back to the Varden safely. From then on the egg was ferried between the Varden and the elves. But it is apparent that something has happened to the bearer."
Afterward Roran found himself sitting there and absorbing everything he had just heard. It was actually quite a bit to take in. It meant that Galbatorix had two more eggs in his possession. That also meant there were potentially two more Dragon Riders that Galbatorix could have control over. The thought unnerved Roran. It unnerved him a lot. If Galbatorix managed to find even one person that an egg would hatch for then everything would become much more perilous. However, before he could go much farther down that train of thought Roran was distracted by Saphira's curiosity. "I noticed that you never mentioned the name of Morzan's wife."
"Hmm?" asked the old story teller.
"You never said who Morzan's wife was," the blue dragon clarified.
"You're right I didn't," was all Brom said.
Now that it had been brought up Roran found that he couldn't simply let this go unanswered. "So what was her name?" he asked.
Brom opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. A moment later he tried again. "That…isn't something that I find easy to talk about and there is quite a story surrounding it. So now is not the time to start the story. However, it is important knowledge which should not be forgotten or lost. As such I promise you that I will tell it to you after we reach the Varden."
The bonded pair could see that the old man wasn't going to budge on this so there was no point in arguing about it. Besides, despite the mystery sparking his curiosity Roran found that he was content with Brom's promise. He could also sense that Saphira was content with it as well.
"Well it's late, so we should probably be getting to sleep," Brom said. Roran looked about at the blackness surrounding them and found he agreed with Brom. Without another word Brom went to his tent and Roran nestled up againt Saphira's side and the three companions drifted off to sleep.