My most sincere apologies about the delay in updates: a lot has happened since I've posted last. I got married the month before, which, married life is a lot busier than I had anticipated, a few months later bought a house, and now have two puppies- who are a handful, but darling!- and work. Life is CRAZY! But believe me, I've been trying to overcome writer's block for a long time, and hopefully this chapter is okay. I'm kinda rusty. ^^ But thank you all for the reviews and kind words, and I'm hopefully over my writer's block for good now, so I hope I can keep the updates coming!

Alegasion Idol

Chapter Ten:

Upon reaching the hut, Eragon, Brom and Morzan noticed, with a rather sharp sense of dread that the hut and all of the surroundings were ablaze.

"Emilee!" Brom gasped, looking around, eyes wide with fear. This was far worse than he had thought. His heart pumped painfully in his chest as his eyes scanned the now barren wasteland.

Morzan's eyes wandered around, looking for some sign of hope that the others were okay, and upon noticing a spot of green not too far away, he put his hand on Brom's shoulder and pointed to the woodsy area not far off of the hut site. "I think they may have fled in that direction, let's go check it out."

Brom nodded and looked around to locate Eragon. Once he had, he pushed him to the front of the party so he and Morzan could keep an eye on him and the three rushed to the clearing where, sure enough, Kira, Emilee and Murtagh were camped, each pale and alert, Kierra sitting on a rock close by Emilee, who was sitting against a log, grimacing in pain, and Murtagh was standing at the head of the clearing, poised and ready to strike, his hand clutching the hilt of his sword.

Saphira and Thorn stood nearby, a snarl visible on their scaly faces, and they each took a protective step closer to the camp, in case something were to happen. Again.

"What the he** happened here?" Brom yelled, going straight to check on Emilee, peering at her anxiously, putting a hand to her head to check on her temperature.

Murtagh frowned and sat on the log Emilee was leaning against. He sighed. "It happened so quick, if Kierra didn't notice something so soon we probably wouldn't have made it out of the hut in time."

Morzan looked over to Kierra, whose eyebrows were furrowed, and smiled slightly. "What happened, darlin?" he gently asked, sitting on a boulder near the front of the clearing and chewing on a blade of grass- Selena had made him give up tobacco.

Kierra sighed. "It was terrible, very unexpected…."

Two Hours Ago:

Kierra paced around the tent, looking out every ten seconds, on edge. Tonight was Eragon's performance, and there was bound to be another attack, of that she was almost certain.

"Kierra, would you please sit down?" Emilee asked, watching her anxious friend pass back and forth. "You're going to make me antsy, and I can't walk out my jitters like you can!"

Kierra sighed and sat down for a moment. "I'm sorry, Emmers. That was a really crappy thing to happen to you," she said as she started fiddling her thumbs. "I just wish I knew who was up to all of this."

"Don't we all?" Murtagh sighed, glancing out the window, heart pounding in his own chest. His nerves were so on edge that the wailing of the teapot made him jump a bit. "Unfortunately this is exactly what they want; they want us to be so unsettled that we don't trust ourselves, or each other."

Emilee frowned, squirming in her chair. "That's a really dirty trick, isn't it, trying to tear friendships apart? After all, in life all we truly have is our family and our friends. But if they're trying to place mistrust between us, that's-"

"It's not going to work!" Kierra exclaimed, standing up, fists raised in the air, a determined sparkle in her eyes. "I would never allow such a thing to happen!"

Emilee nodded in agreement. "Nor would I!" she said, also punching her arm into the air. "I would suffer this injury fifty times over than to betray you or Murtagh," she said, and then blushing, she quickly added, "And Brom, Morzan and Eragon, of course."

Kierra smiled coyly, noticing the blush sneak up on both Emilee's and Murtagh's cheeks, although Murtagh busied himself with the tea so as to hide this fact. But nothing of this sort slips past Kierra's all seeing eyes, and she discreetly moved towards the door.

"I'm going to get some fresh air on the porch," she said, and seeing Emilee about to protest, quickly added, "I'll stay out of sight of anybody, and this way I can keep a better lookout just in case anybody tries a sneak attack. I'll be fine." And she hurried out the door and closed it tight behind her…or so Murtagh and Emilee thought.

Emilee raised her eyebrow, looking at her leg. "Sure," she mumbled, eyes narrowing. "I-"

"Here," Murtagh said, handing her some tea. "Hopefully it will help your leg feel better."

Emilee looked up at Murtagh and blushed lightly, looking away. "Thank you," she said, smiling. "I love tea."

"Why do you do that?" Murtagh asked, sitting down in a chair opposite of her, sipping on his tea. He wasn't normally a curious person; in fact, by nature he was almost stone quiet. But she brought out something in him, and it was different than anything he was used to. She seemed to ooze curiosity, and he was under the impression that she was rubbing off on him. Besides, it was bugging him, and when he did have something pressing on his mind he always spoke it. Whether for better or worse.

"Do what?" she asked, looking at him, confusion swirling in her eyes. As soon as her eyes met with his her stomach gave an uncomfortable squirm, and she looked back down at her tea.

"That," he replied calmly, yet inside he was confused and frustrated. He always liked it best when people looked at him when he spoke; that way he could see just what they were thinking, and make out their thoughts. But she kept looking away and it frustrated him; he couldn't get a good read on her. Usually he was pretty good at weaseling out the ladies who just thought he was good looking, or that thought he was a good conversationalist, or the ladies who just plain out wanted to make out with him for hours on end. But she kept looking away, and he could never tell just which one of those, if any, this girl was. "You look away every time I say something, or hand you something. You can tell me, you know; I won't laugh at you or take offense to anything you have to say. I'm really good at listening."

Emilee mulled this over for a moment, her stomach doing summersaults, and then tying in knots. She had thought she was being more discreet than this, but apparently not if he noticed. She was never really good at talking to people, especially boys.

The only person she found it really easy to talk to was Kierra, and that's because they were kindred spirits and shared a special, sisterly bond. But this was entirely different. Murtagh was, after all, a boy.

Emilee looked over to him and smiled slightly at his furrowed brows. "I guess I just… I don't know! I've never been good with conversing with people. Never in my life have I been able to carry on one conversation that hasn't been awkward." She laughed nervously, scratching her head. "The reason, I suppose, that I keep looking away is that I like-"

Before they could finish, Kierra burst into the house, looking terrified. "We need to get out of this hut, fast!" she said, going over and picking up Murtagh's sword off of the table. "You grab her, I'll grab this, we need to go."

Murtagh nodded, and hastily picked Emilee up and the three made their way from the house speedily, just as a cloaked, masked figure threw what looked like a bottle of whisky at the hut.

But whisky it was not, for as soon as the bottle made contact with the hut it exploded, sending fiery debris all over the property line, lighting trees, bushes, fences and other odds and ends ablaze with huge, twelve foot flames.

Kierra, Emilee and Murtagh prepared to get caught in the blast as they had not made it that far from the hut. They were ready to be rained upon by embers and licks of flame, but were more than surprised when none of that came.

Emilee opened her eyes and smiled really big. "A dragon!" she exclaimed.

Kierra and Murtagh turned, and Murtagh smiled in appreciation.

*Thank you, Thorn.*

Thorn gave a nod with his scaly head. *Your welcome.*

Hope everybody liked. Have a great day!