Chapter 14

Eragon sat a good throw away around his own little fire. Arya, Blodgharm and Elva sat around the other, much larger fire and watched him.

Arya had been doing it for quite a while longer. She watched as Eragon had slowly collected the wood and made a fire with his own hands. Without magic. Whether it was to distract himself or just to remind himself what was real, Arya did not know, but it seemed like an inviting idea. However she did not wish to insult Blodgharm who had spent quite a while searching for as many large and dead no-damp pieces of wood as he could before lighting it with the now well-known word 'brisingr'. Why did everything have something to do with Eragon?

Eragon was cutting into a de-barked stick. His hands were shaking and he obviously was not concentrating properly since every few minutes loud curses were to be heard from the corner of the camp. He was not making any attempts to heal his fingers, just wrapping them up in cloth and continuing to whittle-or try to.

What could she do?

Leave him be, he needs time, her mind told her, but her heart was disagreeing. Logic against feeling, the most dangerous dance…

"You do realise he is going to end up doing something really, really reckless and irresponsible don't you?" Elva murmured into her.

Arya stared daggers into her, but she just raised her brows. "You were going to tell him yourself weren't you?" distrustful, cautious…since when had she ever cared for Eragon? Elva seemed to have read her thoughts for she said "I don't but…" she looked at Eragon "I know what it is like to be the person sitting in the corner…the outcast" She was about to reply that Eragon was not an outcast when she realised, that was exactly what he was.

He had been neglected, the odd one out and under a lot of pressure the entire time, and she had done nothing but made it worse.

Logic got the better of feeling; Eragon needed time to dwell on the situation.

~O~

It is time, little one, are you sure you want to do this? Saphira's voice hauled Eragon from his dreams- Night mares, again.

Eragon had taken all his belongings apart from the scroll and the book and was very happy that he therefore had spare clothes and something warm to put on in the first hours of the morning.

Saphira! It's snowing! Eragon called to her excitedly. His feelings were taken over by a childish glee. He danced about; catching snowflakes on his tongue, until he caught sight of the two bodies huddled in blankets around a smouldering black patch. All last night's memories and feelings came rushing back.

Saphira growled, Eragon turned and found Saphira standing beside Saphira slowly reaching out to her with her hand, but the dragon was not going to let that happen. Eragon started, falling face first into the 10 centimetre snow.

"You didn't expect to get away that easily did you." Arya pointed out.

Eragon shook his head, "You're not going to stop me though" he said determined.

"no…I…" she looked from Saphira to Eragon "I'm coming with you" Then she looked at the ground. "I think"

…

Eragon was not sure what to feel neither did his body. His hands were sweating, his heart was fluttering, his eyes were wide open, and his eyebrows were furrowed in a half sad half angry position that caused him a great headache and confusion.

"Err…no…alright…no wait…you better…perhaps you should stay…or…" He trailed off hearing the breathing behind him grow steadily less even, they were waking up! Without thinking, Eragon grabbed Arya's hand, dragged her over the field in a speed even HE did not know he was capable of running and practically flew onto Saphira, who launched into the air without waiting to check if everyone was safely seated.

It was too late, Blodgharm had awakened.

"NO!" he screamed "DON'T LEAVE! WE NEED TO STICK TOGETHER, ERAGON! SAPHIRA…WH…ARYA!"

~O~

Elva watched the blue beauty fly away and grinned to herself. She turned to Blodgharm, who was barely visible in the snowy flurry, despites the colour of his fur.

"That's be me off too" She announced.

Blodgharm looked at her. "I'm not sure I know what you mean," he replied.

Elva's grin widened. "I have fulfilled my duties!"

She ran off, abandoning the poor, furred elf, grabbing her blanket on the way into the woods, wow, it was cold! She darted between the trees, searching for the place that matched the image in her head. Finally she spotted it, a large tree that did not fit with the pine trees around her AT ALL. Its branches were old and bent and barely visible through the thousands and thousands of light green little leaves. The Neúrt-Estra 'never changing tree of spring'.

Elva slowly slid down into a sitting position at the trunk of the tree. Then it came. At first there was just a dim light in the distance, but Elva knew immediately what it was. After all, it was purple.

She closed her eyes until it was right before her.

Are you ready? It was a pleasant voice. Elva opened her eyes and nodded, still smiling. Are you sure Elva?

Elva did not have time to answer. Her body began to tingle. Her fingertips, fingers, palms, wrists…slowly the tingling spread until the pleasant, if not unusual tingling became uncomfortable and worrisome. The tingling grew stronger, and stronger until Elva screamed, then her hands flowed away, blowing away in the wind like dust.

Next to the glowing violet spirit, a second appeared. It was also a spirit. A mixture of amethyst and purple, a glowing, seemingly throbbing spirit, perhaps in time with a child's heart beat? It was the colour of Elva's eyes.

Yeah, so it was not so long after all, but I thought this was a nice place to stop. Elva is finally FREE! She is a little floaty and weird and bright, but she is FREE! So, yes… still waiting for inspiration for Elva's other story, I have started a few times, but never got any where :{ Anyway, YAY, did a little better now with reviews (imagine one of those smileys, you know the ones whose smiles take up most of the face) yeah so here:

Emi.B: heh, heh

Unique fant.: no, she wanted to keep him away from any danger so that he does not die before making any sort of impact on galby or murty…okay, it's better thought out than it looks…(hopefully)

JAm123: actually, that was not the time…but yeah, I suppose that chapter also fits the description I gave you…oops

R.S: Eragon would never let her do that…(I need my notebook and a pen!)

Owltalon: you'll most probably find out next chapter…I mean with Nasuada, I'm not so sure myself what he's going to do with Arya…oh well, I'll think of something.

So, thank you for the reviews! Keep them coming! Enjoy the next chapter! And have a good life!