Dear Readers,

The beginning of this story is under reconstruction. When you read a chapter that has nothing at all to do with what you have just read, please keep in mind that is the previous version of the story and I am redoing it as quickly as I can. I apologize for the inconveniance. I am not trying to confuse you! Later on, after chapter 28, things mostly fit together with the revised chapters of the story.

This is Chapter 25, revised.

Thank you and enjoy!

DragonRider2000

The next few days for the little group were thankfully uneventful. They were coming closer to Feinster and had seen one or two signs of bordering farms. They kept their fires very small, just enough to warm their hands and cook their food. The nights were still very chilly, but their bedrolls were warm. Kabarak advised Sasha not to try to use magic again for a little while, to recuperate and regain her strength. Sasha argued that she felt fine, but the dragon only laughed.

You may feel fine, Sasha, but on the inside you are exhausted. You are not used to such a sudden tax on your energy. Be happy that you know you can use it and let it rest for a while.

The green dragon had been growing steadily, now as big as a large dog. Raya told him that, and he sniffed at her, imploring her not to compare him with such a mongrel. But it was true. They all had no idea how fast a dragon usually grew, but they had a feeling that he was growing faster than normal. They were glad of it, but they still wondered at it.

Every morning before they would head out, Raya and Sasha would take up the sparring sticks which they'd brought along, and practiced as much sword fighting as they could. The combined efforts of Eragon Shadeslayer, Roran Stronghammer and Taya had stuck with the two, and they were sure that they were excelling. Kabarak took it upon himself to be their critic, and he was a good one. He wouldn't let them slack because he knew how important their training was to Taya, who had in the beginning no idea what sort of dangers they were following her into. Needless to say, besides being slightly sore from riding day in and day out, they were sore from sword practice as well. They did not usually practice with their swords, for fear of hurting the other and also of someone hearing the echo of the clash of steel. They would still practice with them by themselves, to get used to the weight and familiarize themselves with the blades.

"Maybe when you're better at magic, you can dull the blades like Taya and Eragon did." Raya commented one time to Sasha, who had been thinking the same thing.

When they thought they had time, such as when they stopped for a break during the heat of the day, Sasha would instruct Raya with her bow and arrows. Raya was already good at it, but Sasha wanted her to be as good as she was, which was very good.

Five days after Sasha's magical incident, they arrived at Feinster. Raya left Sasha with the horses, and they agreed to meet on the other side of the town. Sasha had to travel a certain ways away from the town with Kabarak so no one would accidentally catch sight of him, and Raya went into the town to buy provisions and see if she could find anything out about the Varden and the Empire.

She was stopped by the guards at the gate, and she was relieved when they looked to be men of the town, or soldiers of the town, and not dressed in imperial garb like the guards had been in Dras'leona. The two men eyed her skeptically.

"What are you doing, young lady, traveling all by yourself?" One of them asked, not unkindly. "I do not recognize you. You're not from these parts."

"No, I'm not." Raya conceded, trying to quell her fear. "And I actually have travelled this far with my cousin who left me only a little while ago and will not venture close to town. I have come to replenish our provisions."

The two men looked suspicious. "Why didn't your cousin come with you?"

Raya made a face. "We doubted you would have granted us entry. My cousin is a rather sickly person. I am immune, but we do not know if it is otherwise contagious or not. We were sent away by our family to find a healer we'd heard rumors about in Surda."

The men blanched, and stepped aside for her to pass. "By all means, make your way through, but please do not stay too long. We do not want an unknown sickness here. Safe travels, young lady. Just remember, these are not good times to be travelling abroad." The first man said, and Raya nodded.

"Thank you, sirs. Good health to you!" She put Shacour into a small trot, and went down the main street of the town, which was quite large and well-fortified by a wooden wall encircling the whole town, which had three gates. Raya saw two guard towers, but she thought there could be more. Some of the roofs of the houses were high, and it seemed to be a well-cared for place. Along the street people stopped or paused to stare at her, the newcomer who was obviously a traveller in dangerous times. A couple whispered to one another as Raya dismounted Shacour in front of the store and tied him to the hitching rail. Her hood was up, but her face was clearly visible to those who looked.

Before she walked into the store though, she looked at the board of announcements on the outside wall, and saw Eragon and his cousin's wanted posters there, right in the middle. To her surprise Taya did not have one, but she guessed that Galbatorix had his reasons for not having a reward out for her.

She walked into the store, and was greeted warmly by the storekeeper.

"What can I get for you, little lady?" The man behind the counter asked, and Raya handed him a list, and looked around the store. The man eyed her, and asked quietly,

"This is quite a list, young lady. You do not travel alone, nor do you travel a short way."

"No, I do not, sir. Is there a problem?" Raya asked, holding her ground. He was a big man, and she really didn't want him to be suspicious of her. But to her relief he laughed.

"No, no problem. You will have to go across the street to the butcher's for the meat, though. Everything else I can provide you with. It will take a little while."

"Thank you, sir. I will go over now and return."

Raya turned and left, leaving Shacour at his post. The big horse watched her with sorrowful eyes, and she laughed softly. She did not notice the cloaked figure in the shadows by the store, and she did not realize that she was being watched.

The butcher was a thin man, and very talkative. He chattered away at her as he readied her order, and Raya stood to the side of the window, watching Shacour. The butcher was quick about his work, and Raya paid him and said farewell. Once outside she paused, looking around carefully. Her senses had suddenly heightened, and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

Trying to act as if nothing was the matter she walked back to her horse and put the well wrapped packages into one side of her saddlebags. Then she looked sharply to the side, catching sight of a young man watching her from a couple buildings down. He was standing by a group of men who were having a very animated discussion, and someone raised their voice enough for Raya to catch 'Varden' and 'King'. Her ears pricked at that, so she hurried into the store to get her supplies.

"There's a group of men a little ways down the street," Raya said to the storekeeper, whose face went suddenly ashen, "who are talking quite animatedly. There's a young man with them as well, though he is not a part of the conversation. Do you know who they are?"

The storekeeper sighed heavily. "I know at least two of them. Hang you, Siranus." He growled, looking out the window. "Not again." He turned slightly to Raya. "The man with the longer black hair and the grey cloak, he is Siranus Liastrin. The young man you spoke of is his son, Sacar. They live here in Feinster. Siranus does not hide that he believes that the king and his empire are evil. He has not ever said that he is of the Varden but he might as well be, if he is not. He always manages to get himself into trouble. We just had a small group of men, military men, ride into town for supplies, and Siranus seems to have engaged them. I do not think they think like he does. It would be best if you were on your way, young lady. I hope it does not come to a fight, but I would hate to have you in the midst of it."

Raya frowned, and looked out the window. Besides Siranus Liastrin, there was a blond man beside him, two shorter men across from them, and a dark haired man clothed all in black to the side.

"Thank you, sir; I do think I will be on my way. Thank you very much." She paid him and took up her large bag of supplies, and he stepped outside behind her. The young man, Sacar, turned to look at her again, and she did her best to ignore him, but kept an eye and an ear on the conversation. One of the shorter men had his hand on his sword, and Raya's heart began to pound.

"Sacar, what are you doing?" The storekeeper said sharply, and Raya looked up quickly from tying the supplies to her saddle and found herself face to face with Sacar Liastrin. His expression was impassive as he looked at her, and then he began untying Shacour's reigns.

"Hey!" Raya cried, and he shushed her hurriedly, looking at the group.

"Not so loud! You need to leave. And fast. I doubt anyone can stop a fight from happening, and you shouldn't be around for it."

Raya bristled. "Why is everyone so concerned about my safety when I'm not even a part of anything?"

"Because it's usually the ones not a part of anything who get hurt." He retorted back, putting Shacour's reigns in her hand.

"Why do you care about me?" She blurted out, but she really wanted to know. The young man paused as he was turning, and shrugged.

"You aren't from around here. You're a traveller, and I don't like it when girls get hurt. So get going!"

Raya was beside herself. Who did this kid think he was? She would…. She would go. He was right. What had she to do with this? There was no point in getting up in arms with him about her safety. Sasha, Taya and Kabarak would have told her the same thing.

"Alright. Thank you, Sacar."

He jolted, and turned back to her, and he was surprised.

"What's your name?" He asked, and without thinking she said quietly,

"Raya."

The man all in black who was a part of the other conversation suddenly stiffened and whirled around, but Sacar was in his line of sight and so he couldn't see her. Her eyes widened as she saw the man stalk forward, and suddenly Siranus jumped out and caught the man by his shoulder. Sacar turned around just then, having seen Raya's expression.

"Don't you dare touch my son." Siranus said seriously, and the man backhanded him, flinging him to the ground.

"Father!" Sacar yelled as the two shorter men grabbed Siranus and hauled him ungraciously to his feet. The man in black stalked up to Siranus and stared him straight in the face.

"I wasn't going for your son. And you would not dare touch me if you knew who I was."

Siranus looked past him to Sacar and he caught sight of Raya, and then he laughed, surprising everyone. "Oh, I know who you are. You're of the empire. You're all alike."

The man laughed as well, but it was a dark laugh and caused Raya to shiver. "Oh yes," he said, "I'm of the empire, but no one is like me. And you may dare, but you will suffer the consequences." His hand came up, and all at the same time Raya, the storekeeper, Sacar and the blond man from the conversation all shouted,

"NO!" And Sacar ran full tilt at the man in black, pulling out a knife and jamming it into the man's side… only the blade turned on some invisible force and sliced Sacar's arm. The young man fell to the ground in a cloud of dust as the man skidded forward from the impact but kept his feet, and in anger he pulled his sword halfway from its sheath, but then let it slide back in as he pulled himself together. The storekeeper had disappeared, and Raya had turned Shacour in front of her and was peeking out from in front of his shoulders. Every fiber in her body screamed at her to do something, but she didn't know what… but Sacar had tried to help her, so she should try to help him!

"Whoa!" She yelled at Shacour, and the big grey horse stopped in his tracks, and she raced towards the group, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She whirled, drawing one of her knives, and saw that it was the storekeeper.

"Where do you think you're going?" He growled. "You need to listen to us and get out of here!"

"This is my fight now, too." She said defiantly, jerking her arm out of his grasp, and she turned in time to see the man in black reach down and pick up Sacar by his shirt. Siranus struggled, and suddenly the blond man ran his sword through one of the two men holding Siranus. The wounded man gave a hideous yell, and suddenly everything was in confusion as out of nowhere a group of soldiers appeared, along with a few of the town's people. In the confusion, Raya dashed up to Sacar and drove her knife down on the hand holding him as hard as she could, and it slowed against some force, but penetrated and stabbed into flesh. The man jumped back with a growl, dropping Sacar. Raya barely managed to stop his fall, catching him as he fell backwards. Blood covered his arm and was staining his clothes, and Raya gently laid him on the ground and then stood in front of him.

"If you want to harm him, you'll have to go through me first." She snarled, on the inside hoping she sounded confident. Something caught her eye beneath his chin, and she watched as a green gem clasped around his neck slowly shifted to a deep ruby, and then the two colors split, half green, half red. She gaped at the beautiful gem, some memory telling her that it was very, very important…

The man stared at her in astonishment, frozen where he stood.

"You…?" His voice was filled with confusion, puzzling Raya, but she held firm. Suddenly his hand shot out, trying to grab her, but she jumped back and an arrow landed right beside his foot, causing him to freeze again. He stared at Raya intensely, and she stared back in defiance.

Siranus, wounded, rushed to his son's side, and then looked up at their defender. With a whisper to Sacar he stood, holding his sword in a defensive position and he stepped up beside Raya.

"Go, girl. Get away from here. And don't you try anything, rider, because she broke your wards once. I can do it again."

Raya's expression filled with horror as she stared at Murtagh, for so it was. No wonder he was surprised and wanted her so badly, she looked like Taya…

Murtagh lifted his gloved hand and it came to bear at Siranus's heart. "She's not going anywhere, except with me."

Raya jumped back suddenly, thinking that she would trip over Sacar, but he wasn't there. Murtagh jumped after her, but was blocked by Siranus, who got his sword between them.

"Weston! Grab her!" Murtagh yelled, and Raya screamed in fear and rage as big hands caught her, and she bit down hard suddenly and then whirled, the man still holding one of her arms. She struggled, and then spat in his face, but the man let go even before she got him, and she caught a glimpse of blood and an expression full of wonder and surprise. She turned and raced back to Shacour, hardly pausing when she realized she would be sharing a horse. The storekeeper was holding Sacar Liastrin up on the big horse and was waving frantically at her.

"Get him away from here, Raya." He said hurriedly, boosting her up behind Sacar and handing her the reigns. "Take him with you. You're good kids."

"What about Siranus!?" She hissed, and he shook his head.

"He will follow to the Varden. Now go!" He yelled and slapped Shacour on the rump. The horse, already frightened by the fighting, because it was a fight now between the townspeople and the imperial soldiers, and Raya's slam of her heels against his side, bolted forward, knocking a soldier that had gotten in the way down with his shoulder.

"No… father…" Raya barely heard Sacar's moan, but she couldn't pay him any attention as she held on to the racing horse and kept Sacar stationary before her.

"NO!" She heard a yell, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Murtagh, and then she heard another yell,

"GO! GO!" That was Siranus. And they went. Shacour weaved through the people on the street towards the other side of town, and Raya winced when she heard a scream of pain from behind them. Then, running full tilt they passed the guards at the gate, who jumped back to avoid the charging horse. Then Raya turned the horse in the opposite direction of where Sasha and Kabarak would be, and only then did she look back… and her heart nearly stopped. Flying down from the sky was a crimson dragon.

She knew that she could not hide easily from Murtagh, not on the open ground with a wounded boy and a grey horse. Was she yet doomed to be captured? Any visible hiding place would draw his attention… what about invisible? Feinster was close to the ocean, she could see it ahead of her. Maybe, with luck, she would find a ravine or a cave. But Shacour could not go on at a dead run forever, and he was too good a horse to lose.

Behind her, there was a terrible roar, and suddenly she turned the horse again towards a rise in the ground, but she was not ready for the decline when they went over it. They were weaving through foothill terrain then, and suddenly there were rocks everywhere. Raya's hopes skyrocketed and she slowed Shacour so she wouldn't miss a hiding place.

There… a rocky outcropping in the side of shelf of rock. It was all she had to try.

Shacour slid to a halt before the outcropping, breathing hard and trembling all over, sweat covering his body. Raya vaulted off and dragged Sacar down off the horse, and she was hit by his dead weight and lost her footing.

She bit her tongue to stifle an outcry as something nicked her leg as she fell, Sacar on top of her. After a second, gasping, she hauled him up and as quickly as she could she dragged him into the outcropping, suddenly surprised to find a small, twisty cave. It was really an impression in the rock wall, but it would be safe. She set Sacar down and clicked to Shacour, and the horse hesitantly followed her in. There was barely enough room, but they fit, and only if someone stood before the opening would they be seen. Raya repositioned a few medium sized rocks for extra comfort, and then stood, holding Shacour's head. She knew it wouldn't be long before Murtagh passed by on Thorn… She shivered, thinking of her sister. Nearly choked to death by that man…

And then she almost cried. Murtagh could use magic. He would find them anyways, sensing their energy among the desolate rocky ravines. Then, from somewhere up above, there was a screech, and she dared to look between a couple of the rocks. There was Thorn, flying low over the ravines, but the screech she heard must have come from the large birds diving at the rider and dragon. She had never seen the like before, but Thorn apparently had and was trying to avoid them. A few of them fell from the sky, limp and dead as Murtagh killed them with magic, but then the birds increased the intensity of their attack and the dragon veered off, and even then the birds were in hot pursuit. Raya breathed a sigh of relief and loosely tied Shacour's reigns around a rock, and she turned to Sacar, who was slumped against the wall, his chin on his chest and his dark hair covering his face.

She winced as she saw the blood on his arm and side, and she knelt beside him, checking his pulse and gently shifting his position so his head was up and back and she had clear room to work on his arm. Since his shirt was done for anyways she tore off a long, clean piece and got her water canteen and proceeded to wipe away the blood. Taya had not been able to teach her much of anything about cleaning wounds, but Raya had a few tricks up her sleeve. She'd learned a few things while in slavery.

Sacar moaned once when she lifted his arm to wrap it in a makeshift bandage and sling, and she chuckled slightly. She'd completely torn apart his shirt, only because she'd found that the storekeeper, whoever he was, had strapped a bag for Sacar onto her saddle. Apparently some quick getaway had already been planned, and the man had taken action when he saw that Raya was the quickest and the safest way of escape for Sacar. She hoped that he was right. So before she had wrapped Sacar's arm she had carefully changed his shirt and torn apart the dirty, bloodied one and used the scraps for the bandage and sling. All of their actual bandages and ointments were on Gypsie, with Sasha, so Raya had to improvise.

When she was finished tending to him, Raya stood and peeked out from their hiding spot, then ventured out and carefully climbed up the outcropping to see if she could see anything. Looking towards Feinster, she saw a column of smoke, and she winced. She looked around in the sky for any sign of Thorn, but there was nothing. She hesitated, wondering if it would be wise to try to contact Kabarak just in case Murtagh was still around. She decided to wait until dark to contact them, even though they would be going crazy with worry. But if Kabarak contacted her, she would feel a lot better.

Her best bet was to spend the night in their shelter and meet up with Sasha and Kabarak in the morning, when Murtagh and his imperial soldiers were on their way to wherever they were going. She didn't want to risk running into them in the light with no protection, and she didn't want to get lost at night, especially with Sacar. So, she needed wood for a fire to keep them warm. Raya went back down the outcropping and worked her way around the area, and to her surprise and relief there were lots of pieces of wood mixed with the dirt and rocks. By the time the sun was beginning to set, she'd explored as far as she dared and had a good sized pile of wood by the entrance of the little cave.

After getting a small fire going, with some trouble, she went and took out some of the supplies she'd bought, and then counted out how much money she had left. Sacar would need a horse. She frowned, wondering how she was going to manage that, especially if she went into Feinster. Maybe Sacar would have an idea, when he woke up… She looked over at him, wondering just how hard he'd been hit to keep him out so long. Raya shrugged, and put the money away and was about to prepare some food when she noticed the sunset.

Drawn by the brilliant orange of the sky, she left the hiding place and found a rock to sit on, and she watched the sun set, thinking of Taya and wondering about the road ahead, especially now that Sacar had been tossed into the picture. Aside from the fact he seemed caring and gentleman like to her, she had no idea who he'd turn out to be. She would just have to see.

It was getting hard to see when she went back in the little cave to tend the fire, and at first she was too deep in thought to look at Sacar. She began preparing some food, and then she nearly jumped out of her skin as Sacar groaned and shifted slightly. She froze, watching him, and after a minute his eyes slowly opened and he looked around groggily.

His eyes widened when they found her, and he stiffened, and tried to sit up but winced when he moved his arm. He looked up at her, asking a thousand questions with his eyes. She smiled hesitantly.

"I'm Raya, the girl you tried to help in Feinster. We are in a cave by the ocean, in the ravines, in order to escape Murtagh and his dragon. You're with me because the storekeeper put you on my horse and there was no point in arguing with him. I patched you up as best I could, but all of the good supplies for that are with my cousin. Your arm isn't too bad, thank goodness. It was a clean cut, and not too terribly deep. You lost a lot of blood though, and were tossed around quite a bit." She fell silent, not wanting to overwhelm him. He stared at her, his dark eyes wide, and then he asked softly,

"My father?"

Raya winced. "I don't know. The storekeeper said that he'd follow to the Varden, so I can imagine you all had some sort of plan of escape."

Sacar closed his eyes and nodded. "We knew we'd have to leave sooner or later. I just never imagined…" His eyes opened again. "Did you say Murtagh and his dragon?"

She nodded. "The man you attacked was the Red Rider."

"And you did too. You came to my aid when he was about to kill me. Why? You didn't have to."

Raya looked out into the darkness, searching her motives. "Yes, I did. You tried to help me by telling me to go, and because of me havoc broke lose. I couldn't leave and let you be killed."

Sacar frowned. "You don't know me, though."

She looked back at him. "You didn't know me and yet you cared enough to tell me to get out of danger. That's enough for me. At that, neither of us knows one another."

"Thank you. For standing up for me, and patching me up. But I don't have to be a tag along. I can go back."

Raya shook her head. "No, you can't."

"Why not?" He demanded, and again she hesitated. Why not, indeed?

"Because your friend the storekeeper trusted me to get you out of there safely and take you with me wherever I was going, which is to the Varden. You going back to Feinster is not in the least bit safe. I doubt it would be worth it anyways. What if your father is not there? Or the storekeeper? Who is he, anyways?" Raya asked, hoping her explanation was rational. Apparently to him it made sense, because he sighed.

"I don't want to be a burden. And his name is Lebran Eirac. We call him Bran. He's an old friend of my father's, and was privy to our getaway plans and had some of our stuff in his store. He insisted, because my father can sometimes go off without being prepared, and that can result in a lot of bad situations. And none of that was your fault. It was bound to happen."

Raya shook her head, seeing Murtagh whirl when she'd accidentally told Sacar her name. "No, the way it started was because of me. Murtagh thought he recognized my name, but heard it as something else. He stalked towards me, but your father stopped him, thinking he was going after you. If I hadn't told you my name, even if it had started some other way later on, it would not have started and ended the way it did."

Sacar pushed himself slowly into a sitting position, looking at her seriously. "Do not blame yourself. Please."

"I'll try not to. Here." She passed him some bread and some of the food she had prepared. "Eat. It will help you regain your strength."

He took it with his good hand, and then looked down at his sling and then at his clean shirt, and his face paled and he looked back up at her.

"Did you…?"

Raya burst out laughing at his horrified expression, and she covered her mouth to hide her smile.

After a second of being horrified, Sacar laughed too, but mostly at Raya.

"I'll forgive you this time." He said, trying to sound stern, and she nodded, still laughing. "But…"

"Oh, don't worry about it!" Raya said, and flashed him a brilliant smile, taking a bite of her bread. "It's not the first time I've had to do such a thing." She continued airily, and the young man flushed red.

Raya stood and set her bowl down and went to get something from her saddlebags, and as she was standing there rummaging through the bags, she felt a mind brush against hers. She blocked it at first, and then recognized it and embraced it.

Raya! Are you alright? Kabarak asked, his voice in her mind barely above a whisper.

Raya sighed in relief. Yes, I'm fine! Are you?

Yes. We are hidden. What happened?

Murtagh was in Feinster with some soldiers, so I had to run for it. I am hiding as well. Something else happened… You'll see tomorrow. I decided it would be safer to stay under cover until the morning.

What is it, Raya? There's something else to this.

Raya looked back at Sacar. We have a new addition to our party, Kabarak. We are going to need another horse.

There was a pause, and then Kabarak answered slowly,

I guess we will see tomorrow. Be safe.

You as well. Goodnight. Tell Sasha the same.

Kabarak sent an affirmative emotion to her and then cut their connection. Raya found what she was looking for in her saddlebags and turned back to Sacar and the fire. Sacar smiled slightly at her, but he didn't say anything, and was silent while they finished eating.

Raya wondered how he would take the next day.

She smiled mischievously. She would see.