I don't own Eragon... man this is getting annoying...

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Wow Chapter 14!

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Warning: I took A LOT from the book so I'm sorry if it gets somewhat boring! (At least its long)

Chapter 14

Teirm

Shani awoke to someone shaking her and someone screaming. It took her a moment to realize it was her screaming.

She stopped screaming and opened her eyes. Eragon was leaning over her a look of worry on his face.

"It's alright you just had a bad dream" he said soothingly.

She noticed that her cheeks were all wet from crying and she was shaking.

"Breath deep" said Eragon. She did as she was told and felt a little bit better. She suddenly heard a voice in her mind screaming.

What is it? What's wrong? Is someone trying to hurt you?!? I'll tear them apart!

No it's ok Gem I just had a bad dream. She thought half trying to sooth herself.

That must have been a very bad dream.

Yes it was.

Do you want to talk about it?

Maybe later.

Ok. he said a slight sound of hurt in his voice.

"Are you ok?" Eragon said once she calmed down. "Yeah, It was just a bad dream. It felt so real as if it was a vision". "Well it's over now" said Eragon somehow Shani wasn't so sure.

Shani looked around, everything was as it was meant to be. It was almost daylight, the fire was smoldering the horses were picketed and Brom was... "Where's Brom?" said Shani slightly worried.

"He was there a second ago" replied Eragon. He looked slightly worried too they looked around getting even more worried.

"I'm right here" yelled the old man coming from the trees on the edge of the Spine They both breathed a sigh of relief.

"What were you doing?" asked Eragon. "Just taking in the sights and checking up on Gem and Saphira. I came back when Gem told me that you had a bad dream".

Shani suddenly embarrassed that she had a nightmare. "Only younglings have bad dreams... but it felt so real" she thought.

Brom must have seen her embarrassment. "Don't worry everyone gets bad dreams. I still do and you know how old I am" he said with a grin.

To change the subject Brom turned it towards Teirm. "Today's the big day! Were going to Teirm. I can't wait to see the look on Joed's face when he sees me!" he said rather giddily.

Shani and Eragon looked at each other. They have never seen Brom so excited it scared them a little. "you two should go see your dragons you won't see them for the whole day most likely" his giddiness gone . Shani eagerly got up and ran towards the Spine with Eragon in tow. Brom watched them go and started to pack up camp.

Shani went to Gem and hugged him.

Well little one I'm not going to be there for you in the city so don't make any rash moves. Said Gem.

Yes mother Gem! Shani said with as mockingly as possible.

Don't give me that tone! Said Gem playing along. They both started laughing.

Saphira and Eragon looked at them laughing. Eragon smiled. "I love her laugh" he thought.

Eragon?

Yes?

You like her don't you?

Me?

Yes you!

No...

You can't lie to me Eragon, after all I am part of you.

Fine I do, but how did you find out?

It's hard not to when your linked, and plus me and Gem thought you two would soften up to each other.

Wait you AND Gem?

Yes he suspects that she feels the same feelings for you too.

He felt a bit light headed at the last comment

She does?

I said too much already. Now it's time for you to go. One thing though, if something goes wrong I'm pinning you to my back and never letting you off.

I love you too.

Then I shall pin you all the tighter.

And with that she broke the link.

Shani was already ready to go. They started waking back side by side. Once they were out of sight of the dragons Eragon felt a little bold and took Shani's hand she looked at him and she stared into his eyes, his eyes met hers. After a second she tore her eyes away looked down blushing. They were still holding hands.

"It's time to go" Said Brom once they were in sight. The camp was already packed and they just had to finish saddling up the horses.

Once they were close enough to see the city more vividly all Shani and Eragon could do was say "ahhh" and "wow".

Proud ships were docked in the oceans edge to the city, and the ocean! It was shimmering in the sunlight. The city was very proud and big. It was contained behind a white wall that was a hundred feet tall and thirty feet thick.

Near the top of the walls were slits where archers could shoot their bows and not be in danger. There was soldiers patrolling the walls. They looked into the city above the wall rose a citadel built of giant stones. In the highest tower was a lighthouse its golden light shining even though it was day out.

As they approached the entrance two guards blocked their way with pikes. You could see that they were bored as they hung on to their pikes carelessly.

"Let me do the talking" whispered Brom. "What are your names? And what is you business here?" asked the smaller guard.

"Me name's Neal" said Brom his voice thick with a accent. "And their's?" asked the same guard. "I was gettin to dat! This one here is me old buddy's child Evan whos helpin me travel and that one over thare is mes sis's kid Mary". "And your purpose here?" asked the guard looking annoyed.

"Sorry about my uncle he's been about 'out of it' lately if you get my meaning. But to answer you question were here visiting a friend" said Shani interrupting Brom before he could say anything. She was sick of seeing Brom make a fool of himself. "Good enough move on". Said the other guard.

Once they were out of ear shot Brom turned to Shani. "I said I was the one who is doing the talking!" "You were making a idiot out of yourself and they might have thought you were too crazy to come into the city!" retorted Shani speaking fast. Eragon couldn't help but laugh.

They both glared at him.

Brom sighed. "Lets go to a tavern and find out where Joed lives" They moved on. As they were moving they couldn't help but realize that the city has seen better times. There were abandoned houses and everyone had at least one weapon on them.

They found themselves at the "Green Chestnut" a few minutes later. They picketed the horses outside and went in. It was a dark dirty room and it felt unsafe. It was crowded with people drinking and quite a few drunks.

They made their way up to th bartender who was polishing a glass even though it was broken. "What do you want?" said the bartender. "Were looking for a man called Joed. Do you know where he lives?" asked Brom politely pushing a two coins onto the bar.

"Do you think I remember where every miserable person lives I Teirm?" He said loudly making everyone in the room turn to them. Shani was fingering Har'ek at her waist. He waited a second and then added "but my mind might work better for a bit more coin" he said quitely.

Brom sighed and put three more coins on the bar. Before the bartender could say anything or take the coins a man with two fingers missing shouted out and said...

"Gareth what are you doing? Everyone knows where Joed lives! What are you charging them for?" Brom quickly swiped the coins away into his pocket. The bartender gave a mean glare at the man then grumbled and went back to polishing the broken glass.

Brom went over to the table where the man was sitting Shani and Eragon followed. "The names Neal and this is Evan and Mary. Thanks, you saved us a bit of coin back there".

"No problem but you shouldn't blame Gareth. Business isn't exactly blooming. Oh yea and the names Martin by the way". They shook hands and sat down. Eragon and Shani sat in the corner where they could see the door just in case.

Martin rose a eyebrow but didn't say anything. "Jeod lives on the west side of town next to Angela the herbalist. Do you have business with him?" "Of the sort" said Brom. "Well he won't be interested in buying anything he just lost another ship a few days ago". Brom face turned grim and confused.

"What happened it wasn't urgals was it?" Shani piped in. "No the urgals have disappeared around here about a year ago people think they went southeast" said Martin.

He took a sip of his bear and went on " Most of our business is through sea trade and ships have been disappearing" they looked at him with interest urging him to go on.

"They go out of port and never come back. I would have thought it would be regular piracy but only certain ships have been disappearing. Jeod's is one of them. Its gotten so bad that no captain will except their goods, they have been forced to send caravans by land making the price soar which makes it hard to live around here".

"Thanks for the help but we need to find Jeod" said Brom sadly. "Anytime, see you around" said Martin. They said their goodbyes and walked out the door.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

They finally reached they west side of the city. Shani felt out of place in this fancy neighborhood. People with expensive clothes and elegant horses passed them. The people there seemed to notice that they were out of place too because they sent them odd looks. But Brom didn't seem to notice because he rode on Snowfire as if owned the place.

The herbalist shop was easy to find enough being the only house with exotic plants in the windows and a curly haired women out in front of it with a frog in her hand.

"She probably knows which house Jeod lives in" said Eragon. "Go and ask" replied Brom. They all dismounted their horses and went over to her. She didn't seem to notice because she was writing some parchment.

"Ummm, excuse me?" said Eragon. The looked up and said to him "your excused". He looked at her confused. "Do you know which house Jeod the merchant lives in?" asked Shani. "Yes" she scribbled more then ever. "Could you tell us?" asked Eragon this time.

"Yes I could" They waited a minute and then Shani thought a minute and got the drift of this little game. "Will you tell us where he lives?... and why do you have a frog in your hand?" asked Shani. "Good you figured it out" she said with a small smile. "Huh?" asked Eragon a even more confused expression on his face. Eragon looked at Brom who was smiling.

"First of all Jeod's house is on the right, and second you asked could If I could tell you not would I tell you so you didn't direct the question to me making me not need to answer what you wanted. As for the frog he's actually a toad, I'm trying to prove that toads don't exist that there are only frogs".

"Then why do you have one in you hand right now? And besides what use is it to prove that toads don't exist?" asked Eragon still confused."No no no, you don't understand. If I prove toads don't exist then ths frog was never a toad. As for why, if there are no toads they can't do anything like make teeth fall out or cause warts or poison or kill people and evil witches can't use them for their spells!"

"I see" said Brom "We would love to stay and chat but we have to see Jeod now. So goodbye!".

They all said goodbye to each other and then they headed next door.

Once they were out of ear shot Eragon said "She's crazy!". "Well I liked her" said Shani. "Don't criticize Eragon. She might actually be on to something. Who knows maybe all toads are frogs" Said Brom.

Once they got to a big door with a iron knocker. They knocked. No one came. They knocked again. No one came. Brom knocked harder now. "Maybe this is the wrong house" said Eragon.

Just then the cracked open revealing a pale women and light blond hair, her eyes were puffy as if she had been crying, but her voice was steady. "What do you want?" she said unkindly. "Does Joed live here?" asked Brom.

"Yes he is my husband, is he expecting you?" "No, but we need to talk to him" said Brom. "He's busy" she answered harshly "We have traveled far. It is important that we see him". "He is busy" she said again even more unkindly. Brom's face was unreadable. " We'll can you just give him a message for me?" She thought a moment and said "fine". "Tell him that a friend from Gil'ead is waiting outside".

She closed the door. "That wasn't very polite" said Shani. "Keep your opinions to yourself" said Brom. After a minute the door burst open to reveal a tall man with white expansive clothes that were rumpled and a sad expression on his face . He also had a scar that reached from his temple to his forehead.

His face turned to shock. "Brom...?" he barely could speak. Brom put his finger to his lips "Hello Jeod, its great to see you again. But don't use that name it would be most unfortunate if anyone knew I was here".

"I thought you were dead!" he whispered. "All things will be explained, but we must have a place that is safe to talk" said Brom. Jeod seemed to gain back his voice and said "We can't talk here but wait a moment and I'll take you somewhere we can" He disappeared for a moment and came back with a rapier at Jeod's side, he was fancy jacket and hat too. He seemed to regain himself's controll.

Jeod took them through Teirm to the citadel. "Risthart, the lord of Teirm makes all business owners rent a room in his castle as headquarters for the business. Pointless but we do it to make him happy. It's a good place to talk because the walls are thick no one will hear us".

They went inside and Jeod headed towards a room and they all followed. When they got in they saw a cozy room with a fireplace a few comfy chairs and the walls were covered in books.

Jeod started a fire and they sat in the chairs. "Old man you have some explaining to do" said Jeod to Brom. Brom grinned. "Who are you calling an old man? Last time I saw you there was no gray in your hair now it looks like it's in the final stages of decomposition!". "Enough of this, get on with the story" said Jeod.

Both Eragon and Shani waited for what Brom was going to say as they both wanted to know about his past.

Brom looked at them and then started his "story"... "Do you remember what we were doing in Gil'ead?" "Yes of course that kind of thing is hard to forget" "When we were...separated, I couldn't find you. In the midst of the turmoil I stumbled into a small room full of boxes. Out of curiosity I searched them, fortune smiled on me that hour, for I found what we were searching for". Shock ran over Jeod's face.

"Once it was in my hands I couldn't wait for you, at any second I might have been discovered and all lost. Disguising myself the best I could I fled the city and ran to the..." Brom looked at Shani and Eragon "Our friends. They stored it in vault for safekeeping and made me promise to care for whomever received it. Until that day my skills wold be needed, I had to disappear. No one could know I was alive -not even you- even though it grieved me to cause you unnecessary pain it had to be done. So I went north and hid in Carvahall"

Eragon clenched his jaw and Shani frowned. Shani decided to use mind speech to talk to Eragon .

They are keeping this information from us and I don't like it. Said Shani.

It's not fair! Brom doesn't tell us anything, were not little children who don't know anything! Yelled Eragon in his mind with frustration, slightly too loud, making Shani wince.

"Then our... friends knew you were alive all along?" asked Jeod. "Yes" said Brom. Jeod sighed and looked at Shani and Eragon and said "I assume you are fulfilling your duty?" Brom looked at his confused face and said "No it's not that simple, it was stolen a while ago I presume but I haven't received words from our friends- I expect that they were waylaid. So I decided to find out what I could. Eragon was traveling in the same direction, We have been together for awhile now"

"What about Shani?" asked Jeod "Shani is from the village of Yazuac. Her whole town was killed by Urgals, having nowhere to go we took her with us. And Eragon, his uncle was murdered by the Ra'zac and they burned his home almost catching him in the process". He stopped for a minute to let this sink in. "He deserves revenge so we are going after the Ra'zac" he finished.

"Why did you come here then if you are chasing the Ra'zac?" asked Jeod. Brom tossed him the Ra'zac's Seithr oil flask. "There's Seithr oil in there the dangerous kind, the Ra'zac were carrying it we happened to find it. We need to see Teirms shipping records so we can trace the Empire's purchases on Seithr oil. That should tell us where the Ra'zac's lair is".

Joed thought for a moment he took a deep breath before talking "You see those?" he pointed to all the books on the walls "those are the shipping records of my company, ONE company. You have gotten yourself into a project that could take months! There is another greater problem. The records you seek are held in this castle and only Brand, the administrator or trade sees them on a regular basis .Traders such as myself are not aloud to handle them. They fear that we will falsify the results, thus cheating the empire out of it's precious taxes".

"I can deal with it when the time comes but we need a few days rest before we can think about proceeding". Said Brom. "It seems its my turn to help you. My house is your house, of course. Do you have different names while you are here?" Asked Jeod.

"Yes, my names Neal, Eragon is Evan and Shani is Mary" answered Brom. Brom turned to them "Eragon, Shani can you go check on Snowfire? I don't think I tied the knot tight enough". Eragon and Shani's faces soured. They obeyed but they slammed the door on the way out.

Once they made sure the horses were tied tight they sat down and leaned against the building.

"Its not fair! Brom never tells us anything" said Eragon with anger. "He might have a reason but I still don't like being kept in the dark" said Shani darkly. "I wish I could hear what they were saying". Shani thought a minute then grinned. "Remember that spell that Brom taught us about how to enhance our hearing?". Eragon caught on to it and grinned too. "You are a genius!" Said Eragon. They looked around checking if anyone was there to see, seeing no one they chanted under their breaths "Thverr stunr un atra eka horna".

They only heard faint whispers. They looked at each other disappointed. They leaned back on the stone. They heard a voice as clear as if the person who was saying was right next to them.

"- After Gil'ead, I didn't have much taste for sitting in musty rooms and reading scrolls." They recognized voice of Jeod. " I decided to help Ajihad as best I could, but I'm no warrior. My father was a merchant as well- you may remember that. He helped me get started. However the bulk of my business is nothing more then a front to get things to Surda"

"Things have gone badly from what I heard" said Brom. ""Yes none on the shipments have gotten through lately, and the Tronjheim are low on supplies. Somehow the Empire- at least I think its them- has discovered those of us who have been helping to support Tronhjeim. But I'm still not convinced that it's the Empire. No one sees any soldiers. I don't understand. Perhaps Galbatorix hired mercenaries to harass us."

"I heard you lost another ship a few days ago" inquired Brom. Jeod sighed a deep sadness in his eyes "yes, it was the last one I owned. Every man on it was loyal and brave... I doubt I will ever see them again. The only option I have is to send caravans to Surda or Gil'ead- which I know won't get there, no matter how many guards I hire- or I could pay another ship to carry the goods. But no one will take them now."

"How many merchants have been helping you?" asked Brom. "Oh a good number up and down the sea board. All of them are in the same situation I am in right now. I know what you are thinking. I've pondered it myself, I can not bear the thought of a traitor with so much knowledge and power in our mist. You should go to Tronhjeim. They need you guidance Brom."

"And take Eragon and Shani there?" Snorted Bro. "They would tear them apart. It's the worst place both of them could be right now. Maybe in a few months or better yet a year. Can you imagine how the dwarfs would react? Everyone would want to influence them, especially Islanzadi. Shani, Eragon, Saphira and Emerald won't be safe there until I at least get them through tuatha du orothrim."

Shani and Eragon looked at each other excitedly. "Where is Tronjheim and why did he tell Jeod about our dragons? He shouldn't have done that without asking us first!" Asked/thought Shani.

Eragon looked just as confused us her.

"We must tell Ajihad about our suspicions about the traitor. Do you have a messenger that is trustworthy?" asked Brom. "It would depend on where he would have to go, but it will be risky." "What isn't these days?" said Brom. "I'll send him to Gil'ead it will be faster, But how will Ajihad know its from you?" asked Jeod. "Give him my ring and tell him if he loses it I will personally cut his liver out. It was given to me by the queen" said Brom.

"We should probably go, Shani and Eragon are most likely getting specious." said Brom. "Yes we better go." there was a sound of chairs scraping the floor and foot steps. Shani and Eragon pulled back the spell and Eragon was said what they both were thinking.

What's going on? Jeod and other traders are in trouble for helping people the Empire doesn't like. Brom found something very important and ran to Carvahall to hide. He mentioned a queen, there aren't any queens that I know of. And Brom also talked about dwarfs , and Brom said to me once that they disappeared when the riders fell! What's going on Shani?

I don't really know. I wish I did though! I want to go see some dwarfs! I wonder how short they really are! Her brain was buzzing with questions that probably wouldn't be answered for a while or not at all.

At this time Brom and Jeod came out of the building. "Was the knot tied tight enough?" asked Brom who knew the answer. "Yes it was tied tight enough." said Shani in a very ladylike manner that sounded too nice as if mocking him. Eragon tried not to laugh. Brom ignored it. They untied the horses and mounted up. And they left.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Yay a long chappie! Well I'm wicked sorry that I took a lot from the book but don't worry soon enough I will be free from the book "hint hint" at least for a bit. I'm sorry it took so long but you know school... lots of homework.

I'm going to be nice and lower the rate by one review so I want 4 reviews before the next chappie come out!