I do not own The Inheritance Cycle.
At last I finished something! This is a short story- a different one.
(I should mention that I rewrote the first chapter, I kept some of it, to allow it to flow better into the story which it does. If you have a spare moment take the time to read it.)
Enjoy,


Night Tales

"Once, long ago, there lived a man whom borne no name. For when he came into this world his mother lay her hand upon his brow and let out a terrible sound, a terrible curse. And how she cursed him! And when the curse was complete and the newly born babe's fate was set firmly into the Stones of Destiny, they both began to weep. For what kind of mother was she to unlove her child so?
"And now it happened as the boy grew, and the world began to seemed so big and so small, and sky seemed to be but a blotch of blue and the rivers below strands of silk, that his mother was lifted to emptiness of after where time is an egg and there is only above and below, or before and behind, or deep or through or wide, that the boy began to fill with sorrow. And he did not believe that mother unloved him so. Now, time passed and the boy grew still and the land where his mother tamed the wild plants untamed, and the boy became hungry. But the boy could not eat for he did not know what plants he could cultivate and what plants would taint his body. And so as his belly seemed to carve itself out and his body became frail like that of an old man's, the boy set out down the hill where he lived and walked for a very long time.
"Well, eventually the boy happened across a village, and as he walked into the village many people stared at him for they had never before seen human that they did not know, and the fact was that he looked very mad indeed. But one man, who had once had a sister who went missing into the wood years ago, recognized the boy as one of his kin and took him into his care and fed him. For a time the boy weak and did not know that there was a thing different about this place."

Brom pulled out a pipe from his pack and began to carve a tiny pattern on its side.

"But it happened one day as the boy began to regain his strength, and his uncle asked him for his name as before the boy was too weak to speak but the boy could not say for he did not know, and so the uncle decided to give the boy a name himself and as soon as the name he choose left his lips it became forgotten. And so as the boy grew into a man, he began to wonder as to why it was that he did not have a name and the thought consumed him like a fire and he began to burn with unlove for he could not eat nor could he sleep for his thoughts that enraged him so.
"So it happened that the people of the village thought as he did and they too wondered as to why it was that the boy could not be given a name and they began to eschew him. But not every person behaved so. It was at this time that the boy –now man- knew that his mother unloved him for he bore no name when a beautiful young maiden began to seek for his affection but he did not notice for he was so engulfed in his woe.
"And more time passed and the maiden became saddened for the man did not love her and the man's bitterness grew for he could not have a name. One day, as the maiden had heard many tales of an enchantress who lived high in the mountains and deep in the wood, she bundled herself in furs and trekked up the mountains and traveled through the wood and she did not stop for two days and one night. Then at last, the maiden came to the home of the enchantress and found that the enchantress was there outside the home waiting for her for the enchantress knew of the maiden's mission. 'I cannot give you what you seek,' said the enchantress to the maiden. 'You have wasted both my time and your own. Now go away!' and the enchantress tried to send the maiden away.
"But the maiden had traveled so very far and she hungry and she was tired and she did not want to go away, and so she turned to the enchantress and stared into the enchantress' eyes and said 'I have two coins of gold and a bundle fur from a newly born lamb and you cannot turn me away.' And the enchantress looked at her very angrily for she could not do as the maiden wished to but the enchantress ruminated for a moment and at last she said, 'I cannot not concoct the devotion you seek, and I cannot give your beloved a name for he is cursed. But there is one thing I can do.' And the enchantress walked away into her home and when she came back she gave the maiden a filled vial, and the enchantress took the two coins of gold and the bundle of fur from a newly born lamb. 'If you give this to the man without a name he will forget his anger and perhaps than he will love you," said the enchantress. 'Beware however, young maiden, that he may never love you as you wish he will and a terrible pain will befall him.' But the maiden did not believe the enchantress' warning and she thanked the enchantress before she left to give the man the vial.
"When at last the maiden returned to her village she found the man, and with a lie that if he were to drink he would be able to be named, the maiden gave the vial to him. And the man took it eagerly and drank the contents but he was not able to give himself a name. Instead the man opened his mouth to speak he felt a terrible pain, as if his whole being had been thrown into a furnace, and he let out a terrible scream and the man was no more."

Brom paused and looked up from his carving, his knife-hand frozen in midstroke. For a moment he stared into a pair of eager eyes before he returned to his carving and story.

"Well, it happened that the man was thrown into a state of unbeing and no longer desired a name for he had not the mind to think, nor the voice to speak. But the man did not want the pain or the change of being an unbeing and the enchantment split, with a terrible noise like the sound of the whole world cracking, and one half of his being remained with him and the other half left him forever. And ever since half-unbeing has been content for he desired a name no more, and the maiden has been unhappy."

There was a very long silence, apart from Brom's carving.

Is that it? asked Saphira.

"Yes," said Brom, nodding. "That is it."

Saphira nudged him with her snout when he said nothing more, and he turned to her with a laugh.

"What more do you want me to say?" he said, putting aside his knife. "That they lived happily for the rest of their days?"

It is a sad ending, said the dragon. Perhaps it needs a happier ending.

Brom looked at her long body and shrugged. "Perhaps the man's mother shouldn't have cursed him in the beginning."

Perhaps. Her bluish green scales shone silver in the fading light.

"I should go, Saphira," said he standing up, "before I get into trouble again. Sleep well."

The dragon blew a smoldering dark gray cloud at him. Good night, little one.

Brom stuffed his knife and pipe into a rucksack, and threw it over his shoulder. With quick, quiet steps he walked out of the Dragon Hold, and then he turned back to looked at his dragon and ran back inside. "Good night," he said, rubbing the scales on her massive snout and then he left.