(A/N) Thank you, Evatross! And buy the amazon book at your own risk . . . I dumbly posted it hastily, and I haven't gotten around to correcting the errors found within . . . It is still readable, and I believe most of the grammatical/spelling mistakes are only at the beginning . . . but still be warned. I mean it's only a dollar but I would be ashamed if that's the first original work you've read by me . . . Also I shall take a peaky weaky at your work since you asked. Anyway, I'm playing around with a new concept: A Japanese detective trying to find out the reason behind a string of murders during the Eastern World Health Conference of 2016 (MADE UP BY ME OBVIOUSLY) and I REALLY need to work on my twilight fanfic . . . anyway, thanks for the reviewwwww. To everyone else, ERAGON is coming, but I want to establish everyone else first. Eragon WILL come after this chapter. But I feel like many of you will enjoy what you're about to read A LOT… hopefully.)

-ELDEST CHAPTER III-

"How many can you smell?"

Solembum lifted his feline nose to the air. He sniffed gingerly, the ripe stench of deer filling his black and wet nostrils as bright green springrass waved between him and his hunting companion, a witch-girl of fourteen summers named Elva.

"Ten." Solembum answered as he turned his head and regarded the girl. She was an Impori, west-humans who refused to join the Langfeld Empire ages past. They were made up of witches, warlocks, and barbarians, dressing in a queer fashion, wearing armor crafted of thick ash wood while painting their skin in fearsome designs. Elva herself was painted- Underneath each of her gray-blue eyes, dark streaks of purple descended down all the way to the corner of her small mouth, while ebony snakes curled around her thin arms, mouths open at her slim wrists. She wore a loose black tunic that revealed her left shoulder, while a small skirt circled around her hips. Underneath that, her legs were garbed in similarly colored leather trousers, while her feet stood comfortably in well-fashioned deer-hide boots.

"Angela said we won't need more than three." Elva whispered, drawing the bow she carried over her shoulder, and then taking three arrows from her quiver. Solembum pressed his paws against the earth, the rush of the hunt beginning to course through his body.

It has been too long.

"Let's hunt." Solembum said with a flash of his teeth, pounding ahead. Elva silently ran alongside him, jumping away from tree trunks and climbing over them when they could not be avoided. She truly was a being of the forest, and Solembum marveled at how well she leapt from tree to tree, and then to the ground, only to find herself in the trees again. Her movements silent, she was one of the best hunters of the Impori.

Aside from him, of course.

Solembum's nose twitched as he grew closer to their prey. They ran across a coursing stream that cut through the woods, while the sun shone through a fragmented shield of trees. Weeds and bushes waved in the wind, while birds chirped talkatively as Solembum and Elva moved like determined ghosts. Finally, Solembum saw the small herd. He stopped just one step away from entering the clearing the deer had chosen to feed in, a tiny circular place littered with pink flowers. Above him, Solembum heard Elva as she crawled onto a low-leaning branch.

"What's the plan?" She questioned from above. Solembum thought for a moment while his mouth watered.

He could take them all, but he knew Elva wanted to hunt as well. He could smell it off of her, the scent ebbing into his nose like waves onto a salty shore.

"We only need three. I'll take one initially, and then you shoot that straggler at the edge of the belt of trees."

Elva paused for a moment, and then flipped over from the branch, dangling upside down near Solembum's face.

"How do you know it's a straggler?" She asked.

"It's the one closest to the other side of the wood. It'll be a hard shot, but it will be slower than the rest."

"That's two. What about the third?" She said with a smirk.

"We both have magic, we'll figure something out." Solembum answered. Elva flipped back onto the tree branch, and Solembum heard a soft tst as she notched her arrow, and an even softer creak as she slowly pulled it backwards.

Solembum darted from their hiding place, and the deer instantly reacted. As he closed his jaws around a hopping leg, he heard the sound of an arrow fly by him. He raised his eyes as he brought his prey down to the grassy ground, and saw that Elva had made two precise shots that killed the crippled deer instantly. He himself moved his mouth to the neck of his own prize, mercifully snapping its neck and ending its pain. Xoshan Elves may eat meat, but they did not torture animals, or kill for sport.

"We need a third." Elva said as she walked up behind Solembum.

"I think you can take care of that. Use your power."

Solembum felt Elva tense.

"I shouldn't . . ."

"Go ahead. You want to use it. No one will know. Except me, of course." Solembum assured, and Elva nodded, stepping forward. Her arms stretched out before her body, while her fingers separated and straightened.

"How far is it?" Solembum inquired.

Sweat beaded down the side of Elva's face, her brows furrowed in concentration.

"Not . . . far." She grimaced. Energy welled around the girl, and Solembum was taken aback by how powerful she was, despite being so young. She would made a good witch, as long as mages did not capture her. Solembum himself had nothing against mages, although he disliked how they used controlled magic- which is spells wrought about with memorized incantations and hand movements. The difference between mages and witches was that witches used no spoken spells, rather they used their own emotions, raw thought, infused with magic principle. It was dangerous, and an unskilled being touched by magic could bring about great harm if they did not know what they were doing. Even a skilled witch could suffer a back-fire, which would tear their body apart as the spell they summoned spiraled out of control. However, it was that proximity to death that gave witches their power, and allowed them to perform skills that would take a mage decades to learn.

An explosion of orange smoke appeared before them, while Elva fell to her knees. Solembum opened his mouth in alarm, but the young girl looked at him through a veil of long black hair.

"I did it." She rasped. Solembum peered into the smoke, and within it saw a freshly killed deer, neck twisted upon itself as it laid down on the green ground.

"You teleported it back here . . . and killed it in the process. Impressive."

"Very Impressive. But I wonder why did you have to kill it in such a fashion? And in addition to that, why kill it at all? You already have two. I mean, I did say three . . . but that deer looks like a family man type of deer. Who is going to explain his death to his deerwife and children? These creatures are ill-suited to the task of bearing grim news. They're overly dramatic creatures. You can tell by how they move."

Elva groaned as she rose to her feet.

"Angela." She said, turning and bowing. Solembum turned as well, and then turned, black fur receding, revealing light brown skin that covered his athletic body. Straight black hair reached the middle of his back, and his elf-ears curved like horns away from his face.

And he was naked.

"You didn't have to do that just now . . ." Angela said, covering her eyes.

"I wanted to bow to you properly," Solembum answered, and he did indeed bow, and smelled slightly awakened hormones from the two women who stood with him.

"Elva, what did I tell you about using magic?" Angela turned her attention on the girl, blue eyes fixed like fires burning within a beautifully sculpted face framed by two golden waterfalls that cascaded down and pooled underneath a slender neck.

"I- I know. I wanted to try on my own . . . I'm sorry." Elva looked down at her feet, shamed.

"Sorry? That was brilliant! Not only did you, well, um, not die, but you succeeded in getting the desired result you wanted. Magic is a fickle thing, and it is no small feat to make it bend to your will."

Elva's small mouth curled into a smile.

"So you aren't mad?"

Angela's smile didn't falter in the slightest.

"No, I am extremely mad. You are not to go out on any hunting party until I believe you have learned your lesson. Also, you will be in my line of sight. Always. Now go get the men and have them bring these deer back to camp."

"Yes, Matraie Angela." Elva said stiffly, and then sulked back into the woods to retrieve Impori huntesmen.

"What she did was dangerous." Angela said once Elva was out of earshot.

"I saw no harm in it." Solembum responded with a smile. Angela's lip quivered.

"Here's the thing: You're an elf. She isn't. She doesn't have the control that elves naturally possess. Something terribly wrong could have happened. She could have died. Or worse."

Solembum frowned. He didn't understand what she was getting worked up about.

"But nothing happened. I thought being a witch was all about taking risks."

Angela's blue eyes set upon Solembum like daggers.

"Educated risks. When I saved you from those Imperials, I only did so because I knew I would win. There was a chance that I would fail, as there always is, but I knew that it was likely that I wouldn't. Witches that do things just for risk usually end up dead- Or as Shades."

Solembum shivered.

"For Elva's safety, I do not want you around her. You're reckless, arrogant, and an all-around bad influence. She needs to learn restraint, something you lack."

Solembum had seen the girl as a sort of younger sister, and enjoyed talking to her within the camp. He felt anger rise up from within him. But Angela kept her gaze locked on his, and he said nothing.

"I have received word from the south. It seems your princess is alive, and I have half a mind to join her."

Arya!

"But your people fled from the Langfelds. Why would you help them crown one?"

Angela began walking away from him, the forest seemingly curling around her, swallowing her whole.

"Because there is something dark coming. More evil than the Forsworn or Galbatorix. The sooner this foolish war is over, the faster the world can recover and be prepared for the true evil that will threaten us all."

Wind rustled past, causing Solembum's hair to dash before his eyes. When he lifted a hand to clear his view, Angela vanished.

Solembum was alone. He curled his hands into fists as he turned back into a panther.

Arya is alive. I'm glad the little snob got away safely.

Solembum lazily made his way to camp, knife-like shoulder-blades swaying above his lowered head as he walked.