Eragon – Oops! – Chapter Six
Author Note: As usual, thank you thank you for all of the reviews and I hope you enjoy it!
Payton hobbled through Oromis' hut the next day, her knee still bothering her. Payton had never endured more than a sprain in all of her life, so needless to say this was the most pain she had ever been in. Oromis had dismissed her from the normal amount of training that was required of her but had still 'suggested' that she practice her archery. Oromis had prepared a type of dye so that she could create her own target. She painted it on a tree as accurately as she could and hoisted herself into a small tree nearby. She climbed so that she was above her target and positioned herself so that she would be hidden by the branches. If I'm going to be in real battles I won't always be directly in front of my target, I might be sniping from a distance, or even on a horse. She poked her arrow out of the leaves aiming for the target. She released the arrow only to have the end of the arrow get caught in the leaves. She sighed glad that she had decided to practice this before entering into a real battle. She moved over to another branch that forked into three and placed her legs in between the branches. She knocked another arrow and aimed at the target again. This time the arrow made it through the branches and landed at the edge of the target. Well, it's an improvement.
She had a feeling that she would be in the tree for quite some time and she had plenty of arrows as well. She spent an entire day making arrows, not only because she had never made one before in her life, but also because she had planned on breaking and losing quite a few in the process of actually learning how to handle a bow. She made it a game with herself to practice aiming at the outermost circle until it was a circle of arrows and then continued onto the next circle. She only got to the third innermost circle when she saw Eragon arrive with Saphira. It was fairly obvious to Payton that he was entirely oblivious to her position in the tree. He really does need to learn to pay attention to his surroundings. Payton fired an arrow as Eragon stepped over to examine the target. The arrow whisked by his face and he looked into the tree.
"That isn't safe!" He walked over to the tree and looked up into it.
"Of course it is. I'm a pro now."
"Pro?" He didn't quite get it.
"Emm, like an expert. Professional." She often forgot that some of the words she used weren't used here. "Oromis is waiting for you inside." She hinted to him, firing another arrow.
"Thanks," Eragon and Saphira went over to his hut. Payton continued her target practice until only the bull's eye was left. She shot the final arrow making it perfectly in the center. She clambered down the tree as Oromis and Eragon left the hut. Saphira had gone off with Glaedr long ago, and Oromis and Eragon were working with magic. She saw Oromis held several templates in his hands, the ones he had been working on the night before. Rather than retrieving her arrows, Payton sat on a low branch listening to Oromis explain Fairth's to Eragon. Eragon attempted his first one, but it was not entirely successful.
Payton lowered herself down from the tree and went over to retrieve her arrows, as she reached the target she saw Arya and Orik arrive. She could only overhear bits and pieces of their conversation. She retrieved her arrows and walked back over to see that Arya was holding Eragon's second attempt, which was a beautiful portrait of her. Before Payton could examine the fine details of the Fairth Arya had thrown it down onto the ground, shattering it into a million pieces. Payton had begun to feel a growing pang inside of her. She felt bad, not only for herself, but also for Eragon because she could empathize with how he felt.
"Master Oromis, may I please go work on my gift for the Argaeti Blodhren?" Payton wanted to get away from there as fast as possible. Oromis dismissed her with a nod and she was off. Payton did not understand Arya's response to the Fairth but then again there were a lot of things in this world that she didn't understand. She made her way to her small haven and shifted through the bushes to find her project. She saw the scales shimmering in the brush. She grabbed all of the scales and counted to find that all four were indeed there, but looked again to find that her stone was broken. She picked up each of the pieces and frantically tried to piece them back together to ensure that they were all still there. She couldn't tell if they were all there or not, but she assumed that either way she'd have to think of a new gift to present to the elves. Her head jerked to the left as she heard rustling in the bushes. The culprit. She glared at the bushes as if it hid some kind of dark secret. Payton stood up quietly as she snuck over to the bush that had been the cause of the noise. Without thinking twice she dove onto the bush capturing the animal inside. Please don't bite me. She closed her eyes, but instead of feeling any sort of bite she felt a sudden pain that started at her hand and began surging through her entire body. Once the pain stopped she opened her eyes to find that a baby dragon was the 'culprit' and that the stone she had found was not a stone at all, but an egg. She looked at her right hand, where all of the pain had originated.
I'm in so much trouble… She thought as she turned her hand over to see the gedway ignasia shining on her palm.
Author Note: And there it is. Please review
