Chapter 7- Chaos
Mirimel raced through the trees, Caidin hot on her heels right below her. Darting tree to tree, branch to branch, much like a squirrel, she almost felt like she was flying. Miri had always wanted to fly. When she was younger, she would look up at the sky and watch Elundir and Saphira flying together as they flew in perfect harmony. Gracefully gliding through the air, as elegant as swans, as fierce as, well, dragons.
"I'm catching up!" Caidin yelled from the ground. Miri shook her head and realized that while she had been daydreaming, her opponent had caught up with her.
"Not for long!" She cried, and attempted to leap onto a higher branch. Miri could have sworn that her fingertips brushed the branch, but suddenly she was falling through air, weightless. And then everything went black.
Mirimel.
A soft voice called to Miri out of the darkness that surrounded her.
"Yes?" She replied, her voice echoing around her. Miri looked around, trying to see who was calling her, but to no avail.
Mirimel, my child, come to me.
The voice was more discernible now, and Miri could tell it was a man's voice, deep and soft and silky. Even though Miri was usually cautious around strangers, this voice was faintly familiar, as if she had heard it in a dream.
"Where are you?" She asked, moving through the blackness, hands outstretched, trying to find her way.
I am right here, my dearest one.
This time it was clear where the voice was coming from. Miri spun around and saw a pinprick of light from a lantern. She ran towards it.
Come to me, Mirimel. Come to your father.
"I am coming!"
Come, Mirimel.
Mirimel...
"Mirimel!"
Miri awoke in Caidin's arms as he was screaming her name. His face bore an expression of unbridled, unrestrained worry and fear. When he saw that she had awoken, he hugged her before suddenly letting go and jumping away like she had the plague.
"What happened?" Miri asked, looking around. She was sitting on the forest floor, covered in leaves.
"You fell. I caught you." Caidin said matter of factly. "You were mumbling."
"How observant of you." Miri said sarcastically as she pulled herself up. "Look, um, can we forget this ever happened?"
"Why? Embarrassed that the squirrel queen lost her balance?" Caidin teased, using the nickname that he had given her years ago.
"I am not a squirrel!" Miri protested. "But yes, I am embarrassed. I don't usually fall."
"I won't tell anyone, but you will owe me." Caidin said seriously.
"Would you swear in the Ancient Language?"
"Why would I need to-" Caidin stopped as Miri shot him a glare that would dragon fire feel cold. "... fine."
And so after making their pact, the two children made their way towards home with little conflict.
But unbeknownst to them, quite the opposite was happening on the other side of the forest...
"YOU LOST THE CHILDREN?!" Arya yelled at Faylinn. "HOW COULD YOU LOSE TWO LOUD, MISCHIEVOUS, AND RATHER UNRULY CHILDREN?!"
"Your Majesty, please calm down." Faylinn said quietly, much to Hadoc's chagrin.
"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!" Arya yelled.
"QUEEN ARYA." Hadoc interrupted. "Faylinn did not have the responsibility of watching Caidin and Miri. We did. So we are to blame. Not Faylinn." Arya stared at Hadoc for several agonizing minutes, as if deciding whether he was right or not.
"Fair enough." She said finally. "But all three of us will be in trouble if Eragon finds out about this."
"Good point." Hadoc replied. "I'll take Faylinn towards the west along the path, why don't you go along the southeastern path through the forest?"
"Sounds like a fairly good plan. Let's go." Faylinn said quickly and then ran off in the general direction of west.
"You better go make sure that she doesn't run off the cliff." Arya said to Hadoc, who nodded and then strode after Faylinn, his hands in his pockets. Arya smiled slightly and then turned heel and trotted off towards the forest. She wandered down the path for a while, before climbing a tree for a better vantage point. After spending a good hour looking for the children from her view point in the tree, Arya began to climb down, very frustrated. "Where in Alagaesia are those two?!" She finally said to herself.
"Right here."
Arya looked down at the ground to see Caidin and Miri standing there below the tree looking up at her like they were watching a very interesting storyteller.
"When get down there, I am going to have some very choice words for you two." Arya growled and started to climb down.
"Run!" Miri yelled and the two took off, laughing and pushing each other, leaving behind a very angry Arya.
