Hey all! Sorry for the not updating in a while, but a mixture of finals, writers block, finals, preoccupancy, and finals. Thanks once again for all the reviews, and a special thanks to callernumber16onz100 because you made me smile when you actually hit your head on the keyboard. :D Hope you like this chapter all!

Disclaimer: I still do not own Eragon, Eldest, Inheritance series, a dragon, or a car. Deal with it.


Pushing through the trees, the trio managed to wind their way back to the familiar cobbled road that led into the city. Unlike before, the city was now noisy and bustling; city-going elves frantically running about worriedly, about what Nika supposed was the commotion with Eragon and Saphira.

Nika swiftly dodged out of the way as a figure came running up, dark hair flying madly behind her. In only moments, Eragon was surrounded by a large crowd, and the angel stepped out of the way, allowing him to almost be engulfed. Finally the din subsided as the Queen rushed out to great the new found rider and dragon.

"Oh, we had been so worried!" She pulled him into a very uncharacteristic embrace. The crowd around him parted and Nika had to stifle a laugh from the sidelines. Ruffled hair on end and clothes all in disarray, the once proud Dragon Rider stood in a state of shock after being bombarded by practically a whole city of elves.

"And thank you Angel Nika. Without you…" Queen Islanzandi addressed to the stagnant winged woman on the outside of the circle.

Still holding one of her blue daggers, she eyed the crowd. "Just… just Nika please. And…" she threw the knife at one of the male elves in the crowd, and he was instantly knocked over by an invisible force, his sleeve pinned down to the ground. "That was these two's captor. Do what you will with him; I have nothing left to do with this matter."

Instantly, two guards rushed up and grabbed both of Mivion's arms, the blue dagger disappearing as soon as he was lifted up. All three adventurers watched as he was forced back and disappeared out of sight. Turning back once more, Nika was surprised to discover all of the elves watching her in either admiration or fear. She sighed as she knew what was going to be said next.

"And in honor of the rescue of Rider Eragon and Dragon Saphira, a feast will be held tonight!" the Queen declared to the crowd. The rider's face lit up as he heard the word feast, and was preparing to follow the departing crowd but was held back by a strong yet gentle arm. Turning to look in the face of the angel he opened his mouth to protest. She quickly leaned closer to him and sternly whispered in his ear, "Eragon we do not have time for this. We may already be late as is what with your capture, but we have to leave with as little delay as possible."

Without escaping from her grasp, he turned a little to the side so he somewhat faced her. "But we just got here! What is the hurt in a little feast? And aren't you exhausted from that flight, because I know Saphira was." He tried to convince her into staying as long as possible, because he didn't know if he had the strength to leave the city again in such a hurry.

"Never mind about me, I have gone through much more than this. But Eragon, we need to leave tonight. You have seen what has begun to happen, and it is much worse in the mainland. Ellesmera is almost cut off from the outside world, so if this is happening here, just imaging what the other humans are doing, or even the dwarves!" Nika's face suddenly became soft as she also added, "I know it is hard to leave the city you love. But if you want this city to still be around after this war, we must leave now."

A sigh of defeat overcame Eragon, and Nika let go of his arm as she had wave of pity overcome her as she saw the sadness in his face. "Um, do you mind if I say… if I can say goodbye… again?" He looked at the ground as he asked the question, trying to keep down a blush that he knew was coming. Why does this have to be so emotional for me? It isn't like I haven't left Ellesmera before, not knowing if I would ever come back. Something is just telling me that this is different…

One of Nika's seldom smiles dawned on her face and she nodded. "While you do that, I will go pack your things so we can save time. Are you going with Eragon, Saphira?" The dragon bobbed her head up and down and took off after the depressed looking man.

Left alone in the deserted street, Nika slowly made her way towards Eragon and Saphira's temporary home. Subconsciously playing with the ends of her wings, she let her thoughts drift to back to her home, and what everyone was doing back there. She missed Amean and Dourle, even her overprotective father. Just as she began to feel guilty for leaving them once again, she arrived at the tree house.

Nika looked past the blindfold and up at the large tree, trying to put away her homesickness, even though she denied ever having such a feeling. Instead of taking the time to open the door as any normal person would, she spread her wide, dazzling white wings and bent down before shooting into the air and landing on the edge of the teardrop shaped opening. She treaded lightly around the room while viewing the different objects that lay strewn across the floor.

In one corner there lay the rider's bright red sword along with the worn saddle that usually adorned the bright blue dragon. Other miscellaneous things were lying about, but one specific object caught the angel's eye. Next to Eragon's bed was a photo, framed with a simple brass frame and covered in glass. Crouching down next to it, Nika gingerly picked it up and looked around the room before carefully lifting up her blindfold to see the details of the photo.

Garrow, Roran, and Eragon. She knew their names. All the angles did. They were the ones who… gently nudged Serena in the right direction when she had her son. They knew his destiny, and wanted to raise him right so that his power would not corrupt… like most humans would. The picture showed a smaller form of the present rider, him being about five or six, Roran around ten. Eragon was looking up to his older cousin with a great smile on his face as Roran smiled at the camera in a friendly fashion.

What a shame he had to loose Garrow… he was so close to him, he was like a father… Hearing a creak at the bottom of the stairs, Nika quickly put down the photo and pulled down her blindfold once more. With a snap of her fingers, all the supplies were packed into the bags on Saphira's saddle and placed next to the door.

The door slowly opened and in stepped a disheartened Eragon. Looking around with sad eyes, he asked, "Everything ready? Saphira is waiting outside."

"Yes, I will take everything down if you like. It will be quicker." Nika offered.

He looked around the empty room slowly and nodded. "Yea… yes, I will meet you down there in a minute." Eragon watched as Nika picked up all of the materials, which must have weighed as much as a hundred pounds with no effort and walk towards the edge of the small room. She promptly jumped off and a small jungle of trinkets could be heard as she landed on the ground.

Taking a last walk around the room, he inhaled the comforting smell of the wood, hoping once again that he would be able to see this place again. A sigh of regret, and he closed the door and strode out of the room, making his way down the spiral stairs to the ground where Nika and Saphira stood waiting and ready.

Silently, Eragon climbed onto Saphira who had the saddle already on, and strapped himself in. He turned to Nika next to him, who had just finished struggling to put on gloves overtop the bandage that wound around her hand. Furrowing his brow, he did not question the new occurrences of the bandages. With one last look, both Nika and Saphira leaped into the air, and off into the star filled night.


Bright rays of dawn hit Eragon's face and woke him from his half-sleep. To his side, he saw Nika gliding lazily, in a trance like state as she stared at the ground beneath her. Saphira too seemed to be in no mood to talk, concentrating on keeping from falling out of the sky.

So Nika…

Good morning Eragon. Sleep well?

Eragon felt guilty that he was able to sleep while the others had to stay awake for the night. Hmm. So where exactly are we headed too?

I was thinking we should head to the dwarf cities first, Farthen Dur begin the first stop. Humans have at least a little more patience than the dwarves, so we should see what they are doing first. They always react at the slightest thing, and I am hoping that they have not started to build an army yet. A small hope, but there still is one.

Whoa, an army? Are you joking!

Did you not take me seriously when I told you about this?

At that, Eragon fell quiet and was left to his own thoughts until Saphira barged in.

Little one, do you sense that something is disturbing Lady Nika? She is acting different than normal.

Yes, but it is most likely out of exhaustion. You must know how she feels right now.

That may be so, but I still do not believe it is the only reason. Have you ever been homesick Eragon?

Me? Well, sometimes yes. Oh… he looked over to the angel who was determinedly focused on the country side and felt bad for her. She didn't have to go through this he knew, but she had wanted to.

For the rest of the morning, none of the travelers talked and viewed the beautiful mountains and forests that surrounded them. As they flew on, Eragon's stomach suddenly protested at the lack of food. He held on to his stomach, trying to tell it that it could wait a few more hours without food. Ten more minutes passed by, and now the large growls could even be heard over the flap of both Saphira's and Nika's wings.

We shall make a small camp here. Not too long though, just enough to rest and get food. Nika informed the other two through her mental connection. Turning to face Eragon, she pointed over to a spot not too far away, and he nodded in response. Saphira headed into a shallow dive, and pulled up quickly as the ground came with in feet of sudden impact. She let her long claws skim the dirt, sending up a cloud after her. Coming to a complete stop, Eragon smoothly hopped off onto the ground.

All three landed with no problem, and they quickly procured the needed materials for a fire. Eragon roamed for about five or so minutes until he discovered several bushes full of plump, ripe berries. He also caught a rabbit for himself, and then decided it would be kind to bring back Nika some food also as a token of gratitude, per say, so he caught another rabbit for her.

Walking back to the now crackling hot fire that the angel had created, Eragon stopped and prepared the rabbits a few feet away. Nika looked at him incredulously as she thought that he planned on eating both of the rabbits and the stash of berries by himself.

"I caught one for you. Do you eat meat? If not you can have my berries! Sorry…" he weakly offered some of his portion to her.

Nika laughed. Once again, the laugh caught Eragon by surprise for he didn't see what was that funny. "No, no! I don't need to eat, after that feast back in Coseara, I'll be good for about another two months. But I am sure Saphira would enjoy a little extra snack. Can't eat too much or I will fall out of the air!"

She carried on laughing and then fell silent like the rest of the group as they continued on with their meal. Eragon felt awkward as he and Saphira sat eating what they could while Nika just watched or tapped her foot on the ground impatiently. Although, the monotony did not stay long for as soon as the last bit of food was in Eragon's mouth, the angel extinguished the fire with a wave of her hand and straightened out her gloves, which she had left on since they landed.

Flying in the air once more, the rider could not help but feel impatience as they had been flying for who-knows-how-many hours. His inner child fought with him as he desperately wanted to ask the one question. Are we there yet?

The morning droned on and on and very unhurriedly crept into the afternoon. The sun began to set, distorting the shapes on the far-off ground below them. We are not going to fly through the night again. Are we? Eragon grumbled to himself and crossed his arms impatiently while his legs that had fallen asleep a good while ago began to feel numb. Not that you can feel numb. Oh, you get the point.

Eragon, Saphira, watch out!

Wha-

A tumult of arrows streaked the sky, barely visible with the lighting of the sun. One had just whistled by Eragon's ear when he bent down over Saphira's neck to see who or what was attacking them.

It's the dwarves Eragon! They have made an army!

There was no way that they could stop the arrows, seeing as the dwarves had taken to shooting in hiding among the trees. Quickly, Eragon strapped on of his arms to the saddle so that Saphira would be able to do some advanced dodging techniques without the fear of loosing him in the process.

Dimly below them, they could hear the gruff battle cries and shouts of "Shoot them out of the sky! Knock all three of them out, kill them if you have to!" from the attacking dwarves and archers.

Nika was beside him doing some dodging herself, but mainly caught the arrows that flew at her and sent them back down to the ground. All three battled the arrows for minutes before they began to loose hope at ever evading the predicament.

The angel flew over to Saphira and landed on her right next to Eragon, holding on to one of the long white spikes along her spine. Her grip turned her knuckles white and her silver hair flew in all directions around her face. Instead of using the mental connection as they had before, she shouted out loud "Both of you, close your eyes when I say now." She caught another arrow that was aimed at her throat with one hand and threw it back full speed at her attacker.

"NOW" Eragon squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could and put his free hand up to his eyes while Saphira reluctantly closed here scaly lids too. Brightness suddenly surrounded them, almost blinding them through they protected eyes.

Silence. Unnatural silence, excluding any wind, birds, or sound of life. Both rider and dragon were tempted to open their eyes, but after the last time Eragon came in touch with their magic, it did not turn out good. Trying to move his hand away from his eyes to get a better grip on Saphira, he found that he could not move. Not only could he not move, but he couldn't breathe. His mind began panicking, racing around with that thought that he would surely die if he did not get air. He struggled with all his might, lungs burning with the lack of oxygen. It felt for him as is a huge boulder was crushing him, pressing him into a space he did not fit and only began to press harder and harder.

Then, sudden darkness. All the sound came back in a deafening roar and Eragon ripped his eyes open to see them surrounded in a white orb that soon flickered and died. He heard a gasp behind him, and saw Nika let her free hand fall to her side where it had previously been in the air.

Her other hand however, loosened its grip too, and she plummeted towards the ground. Eragon reached out to grab her but just missed her outstretched hand by inches, his other hand that was still attached to the saddle restricting him from going any further.

"No Nika! Saphira, Go after her!" I can't let her die, I can't let her die!

Saphira, who had been floating in a dream lit trance, regained her thoughts at the rough shouting of her rider. She pumped her wings, gaining speed, then closed her wings completely as she made a nose dive towards the trees. Unfortunately, she went a little too fast, and they had did not slow down enough to land, let alone rescue Nika.

Saphira skidded across the ground, scratching her smooth under belly while Eragon's face was being cuts from branches flying at them in every direction. They eventually slowed down and the blue dragon laid motionless for a few moments, as well as the rider who was slumped over her long neck. The dirt and broken branches had settled around them before Eragon even tried to make a move in unstrapping himself.

As he undid the last knot, he rolled off her neck and onto the ground, breaking into a coughing fit as harsh cold air refilled his lungs and stung his eyes. He picked himself up, leaning on a tree for a moment before feeling at amount of damage that he had received on their little landing experience.

"Nika…" He ignored the small smarting of the cuts on his face and frantically pushed past the brushes and twigs. "Nika! Where are you?" Suddenly, he tripped and landed flat on his face. Crawling around and cursing at whatever had tripped him. His eye caught a white feather laying among the dead leaves, and he immediately looked up.

Above him was a white strip of cloth clinging to a sharp branch. Gently pulling it down, a grim knowledge hit him as he saw the familiar rip in the front of the cloth. Nika's blindfold

He searched high and low, scouting the air and the ground while tightly holding onto the white blindfold. Finally, he came upon another white feather, then another. Eragon followed the trail until a white bandage and a hand came into view. Luckily, Nika was facing the ground, hiding her face without the protective blindfold. He was just about to put her old blindfold back on her when he realized that it was practically ripped in two.

Sighing, Eragon took off his shirt and ripped of a long strip about the size of Nika's old one, though it was ragged and still dirty – but it was better than nothing. He gingerly turned her over and inspected any for any serious damage. Nothing too bad, maybe a broken rib, but nothing lethal. Thank the deity that watches over me…

Eragon picked up the fallen angel, her warm and smooth skin pressing against his. She weighed light, lighter than any human child Eragon had ever known. He stumbled backwards as he over estimated her weight, but soon gained balance. Adjusting her so that he would not get a face full of feathers, he trudged back off to where Saphira still lay. He began to blush slightly as her long silver braid tickled his face and her head rested next to his. Her skin was so smooth and delicate and…

You have found her. Is she injured?

He snapped his head up as he realized he had already arrived at his earlier landing point.

She may be, I have not had the time to check properly. Eragon bent over, letting Nika safely sit up on a tree. He felt the heat rise in his face more as one of her hands brushed against his face, but he tried to hide it. Too bad Saphira could detect his emotions, but she snickered to herself, and did not comment on it.

I am just so glad you are alive. "We should check to make sure she is okay." Eragon voiced aloud. Saphira bowed her neck in agreement, though the rider still did not move.

It isn't like you have not done this before. Remember when you found Arya?

Well Arya is…different. With shaking hands, Eragon picked up the angel once again and laid her on the ground, wings tucked behind her. On second thought, I might want to check for breaks in her wings first…

He gently rolled her over. As he extended the first wing, his suspicions were proven to be correct. Even though Eragon was not a professional in the area of wing anatomy, he could tell from the way it was set off at an odd angle that she had definitely broken it. Will my magic be enough to heal this? I have to try…

Eragon, you should just splint it. You are already exhausted as it is, and using that much magic might just kill you. Do you remember what Brom said?

Okay, alright, don't get your scales in a bunch. He stood up and paced around the area looking for several straight tree limbs. Once they were procured, he was forced to make a sloppy makeshift brace. Seeing no clean gauze around, he figured his already ripped shirt would suffice for the moment. Viewing his handy work at the first time he ever made a splint, he could help but feel proud of himself.

Checking the other wing for breaks and fining none (to his relief), he very carefully turned her over. After debating in his mind where he should check next for breaks, he decided to first take off Nika's old bandages that were now dirty, ripped, and hanging off in places. He rolled up one of her pant legs revealing the white gauze firmly wrapped around her calf.

The first layer came off. Eragon started unwrapping the second bandage and his eyes became wide in shock.

Nika, how…who did this to you?


Heh, sorry another cliffy. Well… at least you want to keep reading this. And I learned a good author doesn't have to ask for reviews, but I will thank you for them. So… thank you for the reviews ahead of time and another apology for sounding desperate with the last note in chapter 10… at least school is over. WOO PARTY! Oh, and I might not update for some time too because of vacation, colorguard and band camp(colorguard camp).(don't you DARE turn that into a statement from American Pie. Don't you dare…) But I will definitely update faster on both stories, so don't worry… you'll get your share of both Nika and Nïme…