I was hot, and I was thirsty. But mostly, I was hungry. Returning to the Hadarac Desert was not something I'd been looking forward to, but it was necessary in order to reach my destination. Arriving in my current state, under the current conditions, it might be my final destination. How ironic that would be. To escape from the king and be murdered by the elves, my allies.
It had taken me nearly a week to reach this point in my journey, but I hadn't needed to cross the Ramr River again, because Urû'baen was already on the side where I needed to be. It was all just a matter of trekking northward and finding some trees. Then I'd know I was at Du Waldenvarden, and from there I'd rely on Vanilor for directions.
I'd looked at my dragon egg once, and I hoped it wouldn't hatch until we reached the elves. I could barely get enough food for the horse and I, and he'd be too little to hunt for himself when he hatched. Murtagh had given me little provisions, both because of the limited time in which he had to gather things together and the fact that for the most part the food was pretty well guarded. The nurse, whose name had been Mira, had gotten me a few canteens of water for the horse and I. What little meat there had been had already been devoured, and now I was on my last loaf of bread. Things weren't looking so good.
It surprised me, then, when I stumbled across some trees. Apparently, I'd traveled farther than I'd thought.
Welcome to Du Waldenvarden, Arianna.
Vanilor's thoughts drowned out everything else. I felt all of his relief and happiness at finally getting back. It was more potent than what I'd felt when I rescued him. Of course, he probably thought I wouldn't make it this far, and didn't want to get all of his hopes up.
I made a little camp, and tied the horse, whom I had named Moi, the word in the ancient language for 'change', to one of the smaller tree branches. I didn't want her to run away, but I didn't want her to be unable to flee if it was necessary either. This way, if she pulled, the branch would stop her, but if she started to bolt, the branch would break.
We weren't even there for five minutes when the peace was disturbed. Two elves, one with light hair, the other with dark hair, descended gracefully, as elves tend to do, from the trees above us. I hadn't bothered to check the area for other beings; I'd been too tired and was in a hurry to eat. They were both male, and they advanced upon me quickly. Vanilor was beside me, but they didn't notice, and even if they had, they wouldn't have thought anything of it. I'm sure only the riders knew of the Elundarí's existence.
"Eka fricai!" I am a friend!
They hesitated, and I took this as a good sign. Keeping my hands in their sight, I slowly opened my mouth to continue speaking.
"Please, I must speak with Islanzadí. It's a matter of life and death," I said in the ancient language.
My knowledge of the ancient language prompted them to lower the weapons completely and regard me in a new manner. Finally, the one with light hair spoke.
"We will take you to her, but you will be blindfolded until we arrive, and then the queen shall decide what to do with you."
"My things?" I gestured, panicky, toward Vanilor and the egg. The egg was wrapped, Vanilor sat on his cover.
"You may carry them on the horse."
So it was that I was blindfolded, stuck up on Moi, and led off. I didn't get any food or sleep, and we traveled quickly. When we got to a spot that was more open, they called horses for themselves, and one of them grabbed the reins and urged Moi along.
It still took a long time to reach Ellesméra. I assumed we had arrived because we stopped, and a few seconds later I was helped down out of the saddle. Then I was led somewhere, and it felt like I was going down an aisle. We stopped, and the elf who had spoken to me talked with a woman. After a moment, my blindfold was taken off, and I took in the awe inspiring sight of Islanzadí. For some reason, she reminded me of Arya. How odd.
"What business do you have here, human?" she asked in my own tongue.
I had no doubt that Eragon and Saphira were here, for I could see Arya from where I was standing.
"Arianna!" she cried out in surprise.
"Arya," I replied, inclining my head a bit.
The queen looked surprised. "You know each other?"
"She is Eragon's sister, mother."
That would explain the resemblance. Ha ha, another barrier for my dear brother to try and work around.
Arya turned from her mother to look at me.
"I thought you were dead. We found your sword among the belongings strewn beside the abyss."
I explained, slowly at first, everything that had happened until I'd arrived here. I left out the painful stuff, and the fact that I had Vanilor with me. I also kept the fact that Thorn had hatched for Murtagh from them as well. It was not important right now for them to know. They'd find out soon enough. Besides, it would only hurt Eragon to know the truth.
In the silence that followed, a loud, piercing squeak filled the air. Everyone looked around, and I looked down at the egg. It squeaked again. Now everyone was looking at it.
"Is that a...?" Arya couldn't finish her sentence. Everyone knew what it was.
"How...?" The queen began. "How did you get the egg out?"
I didn't answer. At that moment, the doors were thrown open, and Eragon and Saphira came barreling down towards us.
"Arianna, you're alive!" my brother cried out.
Saphira snorted, then stopped dead in her tracks. One last squeak filled the air, and then it fell silent. Eragon gaped at me.
"Is that a..." How cute. He sounded just like Arya.
"Yes, Eragon, it's a dragon egg."
Saphira moved closer and inspected it.
How soon will it hatch?
I don't know. Ask Eragon.
I was watching the egg intently.
A few more minutes, Saphira said.
It didn't take long. It began to squeak and shudder, rocking back and forth on the ground. A crack appeared, then another and another. They all met up on the top, and the top piece lifted up, and a small, dark head popped up, followed by its body. I'd seen this spectacle before, when Murtagh's dragon had hatched. It seemed more significant this time. It waddled a little ways away to get the casing off of itself.
Everyone in the room seemed to be holding their breath. It's green scales sparkled, and it's little head bobbed back and forth. He turned his head to look at me with a bright green eye, and then came to see me. I reached out, and he nuzzled my hand. I was shocked when a blast of icy energy surged into my hand and raced up my arm, and I fell backwards with a cry. Eragon caught a hold of me, and looked at me with concern. My whole body was in pain, before warmth seeped slowly back into my limbs. I was freezing, and I looked at my hand curiously as the gedwëy ignasia formed on my palm. I could feel his consciousness, and I sensed he was curious. He was also hungry.
"Can we get him some food?" I asked, looking around at everyone in front of me.
"Of course," Islanzadí said, regainging her composure. "Right this way."
I plucked up my little dragon and followed her lead. Looked like I'd been accepted after all.
Sorry to sort of blow through their traveling through the forest thing. In the book, it takes Eragon and everyone he was with three or four days to get there. I didn't want to waste time writing about it, so I sped up the time a bit.