Thanks to all my reviewers! This chapter is dedicated to Dragon Rider, my first reviewer!
All Talim saw was red. Wait a second! She realized it was the sun and opened her eyes. Blinking from the light, Talim sat up. Last night she had walked until she collapsed. Talim spotted a town about a mile in the distance and headed in that direction.
Glancing at the sky, Talim noticed that the sun was right above her, so it was sometime around noon. As she trudged towards the town, Talim suddenly realized the weight of her decision to run away. Her father would surely kill her! Or maybe Galbatorix thought that she had been kidnapped! He must be trying to find her... "No," Talim realized, "he doesn't care about me, he probably will focus on that new dragon rider he was talking about..." At this Talim's hopes were lifted and she continued off towards the town.
The town was full of people. All were pushing around trying to get close enough to something. Talim slinked through the crowd and caught sight of a man shouting to the crowd. The bottom half of the man's face was short and mashed, as if he had rested his chin on a grinding wheel. He was standing on top of a barrel. His voice was too low to be distinguished, so Talim slipped further into the tangle of people.
"...all of them, brutally slaughtered due to Urgals sent by our so-called great king!" he shouted. He paused for a second as the crowd moved closer and the man repeated his message, "Friends and fellow villagers. You might remember me, my name is Morn. These past years I've been up north in Carvahall with my family. When it was time to come home I passed through Yazuac. I was devastated to find it in ruins and all of its inhabitants, all of them, brutally slaughtered due to Urgals sent by our so-called great king!" A murmur of voices echoed through the town square and the man, Morn stepped down into the square, cueing the crowd to disperse.
Talim was so tired she didn't stop to think on this and shoved open the door to the closest Inn. After paying for a room, Talim plopped down onto the heavenly bed and let sleep whisk her away.
As time went on, Talim became acquainted to this town she came across. She learned that it was called Furnost, and just south of Urû'baen, but too small for the king to care about. As Talim began to learn about the horrible acts her father imposed upon these people, her hatred of her father deepened more and more. The dragon egg was on a shelf above her bed in her bedroom. Every day Talim would get up and pat the egg, grateful that it was no longer in her father's possession.
Talim worked when work was available, doing tasks from delivering letters to shoeing horses. Talim liked working for the leatherworker the best though; he was always so kind to her and treated her as an equal. In turn, the villagers became fond of this new mysterious girl who just showed up one day.
One day Talim woke up and felt horrible. She called a doctor and found that she had small pox along with a few other ailments. As Talim's fever grew worse, her hopes of getting better were dashed. Almost a week of pain and suffering passed and Talim started wishing for death. That night she couldn't sleep. Her sheets stuck to her sweaty body and the window provided little relief from the summer heat. Talim's breathing became labored, and she knew death was almost upon her.
A squeaking interrupted her death. It was so very annoying! Just after Talim thought the squeaker had finished, it started up again. Why couldn't she die in peace? Suddenly the walls started to shake; something was rocking and shaking them! She glanced up in her wearied state and saw the egg! Was it hatching? The egg tumbled to Talim's bed and a spidery crack blossomed from the top. Talim watched in awe as a little black dragon slipped out of the egg and started licking the membrane off itself. She blinked and shook her head weakly. The dragon was still there! It peered at Talim sympathetically and cautiously approached her. Talim suddenly knew that she only had seconds to live. She wished to have touched a dragon before she left this world. Summing up every last bit of strength she possessed, Talim raised a shaky (right) hand and rested it on the dragon's nose.
Icy energy surged excruciatingly into Talim's hand and shot through her body, burning in her veins like liquid fire. (A/n: I kept Mr. Paolini's "icy energy" and "liquid fire"... I really like how they contrast...) Talim writhed in pain and fell from the bed onto the wooden floor. She tried to move, but her body was frozen and burning at once. She wanted to yell for the pain to stop, but no sound escaped her lips. Talim lay there, waiting for death, wishing she never touched the dragon. After what seemed like forever, the pain stopped. Talim took a deep breath and noticed that it didn't hurt! She was no longer sick. The pounding headache was gone, no cough, no fever, she was cured! But wait, there was something that replaced the headache, a tendril of thought that was alien... o well, she would worry about that later. Talim realized that the dragon cured her! Not caring if she would have to experience pain again, Talim embraced the little black dragon, (to her astonishment it didn't hurt,) and cried for the first time in months... She was going to live!
The alien thought brushed her thoughts and interrupted the ecstatic bliss of life. The thought seemed non human... it was the dragon! Talim concentrated on the thought and realized that it was a feeling more than a thought... hunger! The dragon was hungry! Talim grabbed some meat from her food corner of her room and fed the dragon, piece by piece. Talim was suddenly overcome by the dragon's feeling of drowsiness and felt it herself. Talim sank down onto the hard floor, wrapped her arms around the dragon, her dragon, and felt sleep envelope the two of them.
REVIEW PLS!
Responses to reviewers:
animelover 4.0: Darn it! i had hoped that no one would notice that they both have the same name! lol. o well... about eragon meeting Talim, they meet in the 7th chapter... but it'll be out in about a month. thanks for reviewing!
Lil KaWaIi AzN PrInCeSs: Thanks! U r right, i had hoped no one would notice, and i'd b able to make it a supprise, but o well! they only mention her name ONCE in the whole book! u have a pretty good memory to remember it after a whole year! wow! im in awe of you.
blondevil: Thank you! i also think that originality counts the most, because there are so many stories out on but i still like the non-original ones, they are still good!
Dragon Rider: heres YOUR update, yes its dedicated to you! all my chapters will be dedicated to my first reviewer for that chapter.