Wyrda

Ch. 10

(Ellesmera)

Phoenix still laid awake. Eragon was now snoring lightly next to her. She changed positions, turning around so now that she had her ear to his chest. Phoenix listened to his heart beating steadily. She closed her eyes, continuing to breath deeply, trying to relax and go to sleep.

(Carvahall)

Brom and Arya thought it would be best if she and Phoenix left in the cover of darkness instead. While she packed, Phoenix heard Arya and her father talking in the main room. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she went to the door to listen.

"How did you know that she would be the next Dragon Rider?" Arya asked him seriously.

"An old friend, Angela. She can see into the future. Angela saw Phoenix ridding the back of a green dragon," he told her.

"I hope, for everyone's sake that she knows how to keep her mouth shut," Arya told him.

"Let me worry about that," Brom said. "Worry about trying to reach the Varden without being killed."

Phoenix went back to her bag and closed it. Arya and Phoenix will be packing lightly for this long trip. The dragon had persisted that he be taken along for the trip to Garrow's farm.

"I can't," Phoenix told him, petting him on the forehead.

The dragon saddened.He went over to his plate of food that Brom had brought moments before. Once she made sure that she was packed, Phoenix made the hour and a half walk to Garrow's farm.

It was late in the afternoon when she approached the farm. Roran, Garrow and Eragon were tending the fields when she greeted them.

"It looks like you'll have a good crop this season," Phoenix said, looking over the vegetables.

"We better," Roran grumbled, stopping his work and leaning on his spade. "After all this work we're putting into it this time around."

"May I talk to Eragon?" she asked Garrow directly. "I'm afraid I can't wait."

"Of course," Garrow said. "Don't be long. You still need to groom the horses, Eragon."

"Yes, Uncle,"

Eragon put down his hoe and past his uncle on the way to meeting Phoenix, wearing a big grin on his face. He led Phoenix inside the small farmhouse. Once they were out of Garrow's stern eye, Eragon wrapped his arms around her and kissed Phoenix on the lips softly.

When he moved away, he placed his hands on her cheeks and placed his forehead on top of hers and whispered, "I was worried that you wouldn't be able to come and see me today."

Phoenix sighed inwardly and looked directly into his passionate blue eyes. She grabbed his hands that were on her cheeks and slid them off, making her shiver when his hands brushed her neck. Phoenix held his hands, regardless how dirty from the days work. She lifted her head away from his.

"What's wrong?" Eragon asked, concerned.

"Eragon, I'm leaving Carvahall," she told him.

He stepped backward releasing himself from her gentle grip.

"After all of the planning yesterday afternoon? What has transpired that you would abandoned your dreams?" Eragon said angrily.

"I can't tell you," she told him. "My father made me not tell anyone."

"So you're leaving and you're not going to tell me where?" he asked.

"I want too. But I can't,"

"When will you be back?"

"I don't know. Not for a very long time," Phoenix told him.

Eragon turned his back on her and faced the fireplace that hadn't been lit yet.

"What happened to your hand?" he asked, still not wanting to look at her.

"I burned it last night," she lied. "It'll be fine."

"I thought that you weren't going to take after your father," Eragon said coldly. "The secrets were going to end with him."

"This has to stay a secret. At least for right now," she told him. "I don't like it either, Eragon."

"And you don't trust me to share your secret with, I see?"

"It's not that I don't trust you . . . "

"Than what is it?" he asked, finally turning to face her.

"I promised my father I wouldn't tell anyone. Including you," she told him flatly.

Eragon reached for a thin leather strip that he had tied around his wrist and yanked it off. The leather strip had several knots and ceramic beads decorated it. In pure anger, Eragon threw the bracelet into the ashes of the used fireplace. Phoenix took hers off and threw it into the ashes as well, matching his anger.

Tears began to swell in her eyes, making the room blurry.

"Good bye, Eragon," Phoenix said, her voice uneven and hushed.

She pushed passed, brushing against his shoulder, and ran out of the small farmhouse hurriedly.

(Ellesmera)

Phoenix had fallen asleep sometime during the night. She woke up, expecting Eragon to be next to her in the bed. But he wasn't. Instead, she was alone in the room. Phoenix got up out of the bed and checked the bath.

Nothing.

Phoenix washed her face clean with the warm water that was in front of the mirror. She dried her face off with a cotton towel that hung next to the bowl of warm water. Phoenix stepped through the doorway and headed back to the bed. She didn't need to meet the Queen until after the breakfast hour. She looked up and noticed Eragon standing by the bed with a smile on his face. On the bed was a tray of fruit. freshly baked bread and two mugs of hot peppermint tea.

"I was hoping that you would still be in bed by the time I came back," Eragon said.

She went over to him, pinched his tunic lightly between her thumb and knuckle of her index finger to pull him close, and kissed him gently on the lips.

"That can easily be remedied," she said, playfully.

Phoenix then settled herself back in the bed and took one of the mugs of tea. Eragon followed suite, placing the tray on their laps. The two happily ate and sipped their tea.

The memory of how she had left Eragon at Carvahall completely gone from her mind.

"Tell me again why you need to train with me?" Eragon asked Phoenix, as they walked to meet Queen Islanzandi.

"The training here will not only involve fighting with our swords, but with magic, as well." she told him. Phoenix blushed and added softly, "I'm not very good with my magic."

"You? Not good at magic?" he asked. "I find that hard to believe."

"Well, believe it," Phoenix told him. "Arya thinks I'm not too good with magic is because I didn't want anything to do with being a Rider and what it entailed." she shrugged as they turned a corner. "So, far, I'll I've been able to accomplish is heal small cuts, connect to Aiedail, you and Saphira, and start a campfire."

"Well, that's good to hear," Eragon said, grinning. "At least now I can finally beat you at something."

"I never did get the handle on my tracking skills either, come to think of it," Phoenix told him, giving him fuel to tease her the rest of the day.

The two Dragon Rider's met Aiedail and Saphira in the large hall. Queen Islanzandi, Orik, and Arya were waiting for them in the throne room. The Rider's greeted the Queen with the elvin greeting. Then they heard a loud thud coming from the entrance.

Eragon and Phoenix exchanged startled looks.

Another thud, this time closer.

And then they saw it. A full grown dragon stood before them. It's gold like talons glimmered in the morning sun. It's Rider, a male elf, slid off gracefully. He stepped forward, face to face with the other Riders.

"This is, Oromis," the Queen introduced the newcomers to the group. "And Glaedr, his dragon."

Phoenix and Eragon bowed and gave the elvin greeting. Aiedail and Saphira followed suite, followed by Arya and Orik.

"Master Oromis shall be training you," the Queen told Eragon and Phoenix.

Phoenix's outer appearance remained neutral and calm. Inside, anger flared. Why hadn't her father, or better yet, the Varden tell her and Eragon that there was another dragon and it's Rider still alive, apart from Galbatorix?

To be continued . . .