Disclaimer: I do not own Eragon.
Chapter Five
"Slave!" A voice yelled. Something hot splashed all over her. The girl jumped up, screaming, tears running down her cheeks. Her skin was red, and in some places, burned. Another slave was holding a pot, where steam was rising slowly. Her bed was soaked. "Stop crying. You slept in." Mr. Flanders yelled, pointing at the sun. If the girl had been educated, she would have known that she did not, in fact, slept in. Mr. Flanders, who also knew that she did not sleep in, was just doing it to be fed. The girl wiped the tears off her cheek and stared at Mr. Flanders. "Go fix some breakfast." The girl nodded and walked gingerly towards the kitchen, her burns were staring to hurt. "You, back to the garden." Mr. Flanders snapped. The old slave, nodded and starting hobbling his way towards the garden. But, the slave at his old age, could barely contain the garden, which was overfilled with weeds and thorns, dying in the sun.
After the girl had filled her master's stomach, she inched closer to him. He was in his study, looking over some papers. "Master..." She started but Master Flanders waved his hand.
"What makes you think I'd let you go galloping around to who knows where? No. You are to stay at home. Now, we've been having some threats coming from a village not too far from here. I have to go and meet with the town. The Rooms need cleaning. Hand me my cloak." He said, standing up. The girl handed him a long, gray cloak with a crest with a dragon on it. He bent down and smiled at the slave. The girl's eyebrows shot up. "Have fun." He said, patting her hard on the stomach. The girl stifled small scream of pain as he hit a large burn.
The girl entered the Night God's room first. Opals and diamonds were set in the floor. The God's was looking up bravely at something. As the girl began to wash the floor, she began talking to the statue. "Master Flanders made that old slave in the garden pour boiled water all over me. I deserved it though. Slept in." Though she didn't see it, the Night God frowned then resumed his normal pose, listening to her words. "I met some new people. And a dragon!" She said excitedly, looking up at the Night God. "I think I met them through you and your siblings. Thanks. There's a dragon, named Saphira. And these people named..." She started, talking with passion now.
"Slave! Get in here now!" Master Flanders yelled. She yelped and ran out the room. Master Flanders face was flushed and with him was a large group of men. "The weapons are in there." He said breathlessly, pointing to the armory. The men stumbled past them. Master Flanders grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her away from the men. He bent down and lifted something off his neck. It was a white silk ribbon, and a large golden medal hung from it. The gold had a large dragon on it, and a person who stood in front of it, holding up a dragon's egg etched in the gold. "Put this around your neck. Do not let anyone see it. Do not let anyone take it. If I die, keep it with your personal things. Where you keep the dragon meat and dust." Flanders whispered to her hurriedly. She slipped the thing on her neck and stuffed it down her ragged dress. No one could see it, the collar was always stuck up, which hid sort of her neck from view. Master Flanders stood up, dusting his robes off. He walked forward, towards the group of giddy men with real weapons.
"No, that's mine." Flanders said, taking a long sword. The hilt was made of gold and black. The man, who had it, looked annoyed but got another sword. "Slave, get yourself something and get the other one too." He added, as if an afterthought. The slave got an axe for herself, and a light sword for the other slave. "Come on." Flanders said hurriedly.
As the girl walked with the group of men, she saw exactly why they were getting new swords. Above, on a sand dune not far away, was ugly creatures. They too had axes and short swords. The girl hid herself behind Master Flanders and the gardener. She had never been in a war. A loud cry cut through the silence and the ugly creatures began to stumble down the sand dune. "Why are they here?" The girl heard one of the soldiers asked. "There is a rumor that some dragons are sheltered here." The other one answered. Suddenly, it snapped. The townspeople haven't seen the old dragon in years. So, they forgot it was there. Then it died. But the monsters still thought that the dragons were alive.
"Come on, men!" Someone yelled. All of them began to run forward. The girl was left standing in the same spot. Men and monster crashed together, swinging their axes, swords and shooting their bows at each other. The girl yelped as a bow landed near her feet. She took off and hid in the trash behind someone's house. Many horrible minutes passed. Screams and the singing of swords and axes being twirled through the air, passed by. Soon, all stopped. Grunts from the monsters were the only thing heard. The girl held her mouth. She didn't trust herself to let go of her mouth. More antagonizing minutes passed. She could hear the monsters breaking into the houses and barns. They talked in a strange language.
Finally, the footfalls began to decrease. Soon, when she couldn't hear any of them any more, she stepped out of the trash. She pressed her hand against her mouth harder. Bodies littered the ground. Torn up, slashed, or stabbed. Trampled, cut, decapitated. She slowly walked through the village, looking for Master Flanders. She found him on the ground, not to far from her hiding place. He had a large gash across his chest and his breathing was ragged. He was one of the few who were still alive. She knelt down by her master, tears flowing freely. Flanders looked at her. "Run. Get out of here." He said breathlessly. "Go." He called out. He gave her one more look. It was full of pain and sorrow. Then he slumped over, dead. She uncovered her mouth and let everything out.
Suddenly, one monster, who was left behind, came from around the corner. His arm was dangling from his body. He stared at her. Rage filled her up. She screamed and lifted up the axe. It was for Master Flanders. She threw the axe as hard as she could. It hit him dead center in the chest. He cried out, clutching the axe in his chest. Then it fell over. The girl felt better after that. She recollected herself then ran for the clearing.
Everyone was eating when she arrived there. She walked slowly to her things and packed everything secretly into the pack. The smell of freshly cooked deer meat made her stomach growl. She pushed her hunger back and picked up the pack. Where would she go? She set the pack down. She had no where to go. It was miles and miles to the next village. She wouldn't survive. Tears stung her eyes. She closed her eyes and rocked herself. Then, she had another vision. Her mind's eye traveled for miles and miles. It showed her a large mountain with a large pool in the front of it. Then it traveled a distance away from it, and showed the same monsters that attacked her village. Except there was more of them. Then her mind's eyes showed her a large castle. An old man was sitting on a throne. He was laughing. Then, past many rooms, were some dragon eggs. A green one, a black one, and a red one. Then she returned to normal. She shook her head. What was with all these visions? Eragon was up and heading towards her with a bowl of soup.
"Here." He said softly, sitting down by her. She grabbed the bowl gratefully and ate the soup quickly. She looked up at Eragon, who smiled. Maybe he could be her new master. "Is something wrong?" He asked her. The girl nodded.
"My village was attacked. I have no where to go." She told him quietly. "Everyone is dead." She finally said.
Eragon looked shocked. "You can go with me." He said quickly. Then he looked at Saphria. "But how, I don't know."
"Horses are still in there barns. They can borrow them. Then, I can ride with you. If you choose." She said, trying to contain her excitement. Eragon slowly nodded. She fought her smile and grabbed her bowl and joined the rest of them. Eragon quickly explained the idea. Ayra and Murtagh nodded.
"Well, we are going to have to go hunting soon. We're running out of meat, and I don't think this meat is edible." Murtagh announced, holding up a jar. The girl froze. It was the dragon meat! Eragon and Ayra gave a disgusted look at the meat. Saphria wrinkled her nose. The meat was giving out a horrible stench.
"That's mine!" The girl cried out, snatching the meat out of Murtagh's hands. "You don't touch any of my stuff!" She yelled, stuffing it angrily into the pack. Murtagh and Eragon look astonished.
"Why do you want to keep that?" They both asked incredulously.
"You don't understand." She murmured. "Sorry, I lost my temper, Master Eragon." She quickly apologized. Eragon looked once again shocked.
"Master?" He choked. Eragon wanted to be anything but a master to the girl. He wanted the girl to be free. But he didn't think the girl could deal with freedom. She would probably think that it was something she did or something else. He inwardly groaned. What was he going to say to her. From what she said. She was a slave all her life. Her parents sold her when she was very young and Master Flanders bought her. And for almost seven years the girl has been serving him. Now, with Eragon, she was going to serve him. He would have to show her slowly that she was finally free and freedom was actually a good thing.
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