I do not own the Inheritance Cycle.
Edited 1/30/22 -
Please let me know your thoughts throughout the story, I'd love to hear for you :)
Enjoy,
Encountering
After that conversation Thorn, Rose, and Selena pressed on in silence. The track they had been following was broader and flagged with stone, and though this allowed them to travel faster, the going was quite slow. That night fell over them like black satin; there was not a star in the sky, nor did the moon shine to chase the darkness away. They went slowly, leading the horses, fearing they might lose each other in the dark and worried that a horse might stumble on the uneven path. It was so dark they almost had to feel their way. Eventually as Rose's eyes gradually adjusted and she could make out dim shapes and the outline of road before her feet.
"It may be that we're out of our luck," said Selena. "I think it's going to rain."
Rose kept her face down, trying to make out the tiny shapes before her feet. "Wouldn't it wise if we made camp, if it's going to rain?"
"Do you think we'll get any sleep if we're dripping wet?" Rose could hear the ambiguity in Selena's voice as she spoke. "I think it is for the best that we continue forward for now."
They continued on for, perhaps, another hour before the rain started: a heavy, driving deluge that soaked them almost instantly and then froze them through their clothes with a cruel wind. Before long, any hope that clouds would clear that night to reveal light vanished, and their skin felt like ice. Rose felt so tired that she was dizzy, and all her senses were dulled by the punishing cold. Thorn flew behind them, close to the ground, claiming the winds above to be far too strong for him to fly any higher.
They reached a hill sometime after midnight, and spent most of the remaining night toiling up it, until at last they reach the crest of a mighty ridge. There the rain ceased altogether but it became colder and the wind blew bitterly again, chilling them to the bone. On its other side the land fell away in wide valley, and very far off they could the faint outline of a mass of serrated stone and the black shapes of trees, as the sky began to lighten.
A blast of wind nearly knocked them over as they began to cross over the top. They went off the road a little and found a copse, dripping and black, and rested there; but it was so cold and they all so wet that none of them could sleep except in short fitful dozes. The horses stood shivering together, their tails jammed between their legs. Thorn stood not far from them dripping with wetness, but seeming to be otherwise completely unaffected by the cold. Selena sat, rubbing her feet until a little life came back into them, and then she and Rose moved to the other side of Thorn, which lessened the punishing effects of the wind as it whirled about the copse loosing showers of water onto them from burdened branches and newly formed leaves.
As the sun rose, driving away the clouds, Rose's limbs gradually warmed from its heat and the trembling finally ceased. Everything seemed very different now, and she sat staring tiredly at the bases of trees before her; the raw, rough texture of their arboreal armor imprinting itself into her mind. She leaned back, resting against Thorn and closed her eyes tiredly, as she felt an immense weariness sweep over her. She huddled closer to Thorn, seeking out his never ending heat to fend off the cold of her skin. Looking next to her, Rose could see Selena rubbing her hands together, in a small hunt for warmth. Another chilling breeze blew, though now they protected from the worst of its cold because of Thorn, and the wind whistled a hallow scream.
Rose turned away.
She was not quite sure what it was she was thinking at that moment. A part of her, a very large part, was angry at the woman, and yet, it seemed as if her mind were fight with itself; a piece of her understood the woman's reasons. She hadn't forgiven Selena, knowing her reasons or not, it made no difference, because the simple fact was; the woman Rose knew as Ailis had lied to her countless of times by keeping the truth from her, if it was indeed the truth, befriended her under a lie, and as Selena she had abandoned her daughter to ensure that her son would grow up in safely away from the influence of the King, and took word without evidence that her daughter was died. Had she even bothered to search for her daughter even once? The woman had spoken once of a form of contacting another, some time ago, what could the reason be that this was not done for her? If she had perhaps she would have seen Morzan's ploy for what it was.
She felt divided whenever she thought of Morzan, and very thankful that he was not alive as well. Rose did not care for Morzan, as a proper daughter should, how anyone could care for such a man was beyond her, yet the thought of her mother mongering with a man that was not her husband bothered her. It was a drivel thought, but it bothered her nonetheless.
If she were wise Rose would forgive Selena and continue on with her life but it was it was a hard act: to forgive. She felt graceless in not doing so, though she also felt that she could not. She was unsure how to. Not now, at least, when the histories she was raised on believing were being called into question. The best lies hold a small withered seed of truth, Rose thought, thinking back to a quote she read once. Closing her eyes, she leaned back onto Thorn and allowed herself to relax completely. Histories continuously blurs the line between actuality and deceptions, until it seems that there is none, and you're completely unsure what is real and what is not. And you realize that there no truth, only shells filled with tales.
.
When she opened her eyes next, the sun was dripping towards the earth, the sky now free of its burdening clouds. She blinked and looked around, Starshine stood nearby grazing on a patch of tough looking grass, but Arvid and Selena were nowhere within sight. Rose stood and stretched, trying to loosen her cramped body. Her neck ached her painfully, and she rubbed it, this relieved the pain a very little.
Rose looked at Thorn, who was resting his head on top the ground, his tail was thumping the ground and was covered in mud. She was so use the sound now that she hardly even heard it. Where has Selena gone off to? she asked him. Or did she not say?
She did say, answered Thorn, not stopping his assault against the ground. Rose leaned against him, and rested her forehead against his scales, shuffling a yawn. She went to a town. She had said she would back before long and for you to remain here.
Straightening herself, Rose wandered over to the bags. She did not give a reason as to why she left? she prodded when Thorn said no more.
She did not.
Rose look a deep breath and sat onto the ground, pulling the bags closer to her. She pulled out a biscuit and nibbled on it as she hesitantly searched through the bags until she found a large leather bound book. Still eating the biscuit, she stood, hugging the book to her chest, and returned to Thorn. There she sat in the sunshine, happy to do nothing and move nowhere. After a moment, she took a deep breath and opened the book, flipping through the pages until she found the place where Tornac had left off and began to read, fingering the scrap of paper he had used as a book marker. It was not long before she completely lost herself in the words, but unknowing of what it was exactly that she was reading. She realized though, after a time, that it was a chronicle of a warrior by a name she could not pronounce.
When Selena returned, Rose was sitting there reading that book, trying to understand why it was that Tornac had been reading it. It wasn't until Selena stood in front of her that she looked up. The woman was looking down at her, her hands clasped behind his back. "You're spending your time well, I see," she said.
Rose bit her lip and swallowed down her sudden irritation, willing herself not to act on it. "As you have." Closing the book, she set it aside.
The woman's lips thinned and she knelt down. "I think it would be best if we continued on our way," Selena said with a sigh. "I had gone into a village and bought some fresh bread. It will be nice to have fresh food, don't you agree?"
"It will." Rose nodded.
"Those biscuits have gotten quite hard, I think it would be best if we tossed them," Selena continued musingly as she stood up. "But, I do dislike wasting food, so perhaps we should not." She looked away and scowled at the trees, her face suddenly distant as if she were deep in thought.
Rose stood also, the book held tightly in her hand. "What is it that's upsetting you?" she asked, seeing the knitting in Selena's eyebrows. At the moment Rose did not genuinely care to know, but it seemed to her a polite thing to do, a wise thing to say if they were going to cross any sort of distance that day.
Selena looked at her for a short moment as if she were searching for something in Rose's face, but then she shook her head, her shoulders dropping. "Nothing, I suppose," she said. "Let's go then, shall we?"
Rose paused and nodded, and then stood to saddle Starshine. She didn't feel able to speak to Selena though the gust of irrational fury had passed. Now she just felt despondent. She didn't know why exactly she felt such anger whenever Selena was around or whenever she thought of her, but she did and it was overwhelming.
Together they packed up camp and mounted the horses, beginning the slow jobs of picking their way back to the road, once there they rode quietly, each mussing over their own thoughts. They now began to see more people traveling along the road, it was crowded and they had to mind the people around them, so they would not lose each other. The more congested the thoroughfare became the more overwrought Selena became, scoffing at the smallest delay; a herder with a herd of misguided sheep, or a flooded path.
Selena was turning over the in her mind the best route to Dras-Leona, as she was certain that that was where her son was headed to. She turned from the South Road into a smaller, less bustling path as soon as possible, and already they were diverted from their most direct course, but she could see no other way. She now debated with herself the opposing virtues of discretion and speed. The straightest way was also the most perilous, but the tarry had dangers also. She had to decide which road was best to take. She was deeply disturbed by the thought Eragon wandering about the Empire with or without Brom, for she knew that he was with him, she had seen as much when she scried them. It made her nervous also, the thought of seeing Brom again, it was very likely that he had yet to forgive her for sending him away and refusing to go with him. Though she had years of tracking various people, she was apprehensive that she would not reach them until after they had arrived in Dras-Leona. The thought of Brom taking Eragon there sent a trill of anger through her. Whatever reason he had to go to Dras-Leona best be decent, putting himself and Eragon into danger in such a way. There was something else that troubled her also; why had Brom taken Eragon from his uncle, her brother, to parade half-way across the country? She didn't need to know until she met with them, some days ahead, she was certain of this, but then again she wasn't sure she wanted to know. She could feel in her heart that the knowledge would only pain her.
That night they stayed in another circling of trees, again not far from the road and this time with a pooling of water in the center of the dingle. They kept shifts, but they heard nothing sinister. The following evening they made camp under a huge oak near the track, again keeping watch. They lit no fire, for Selena would, again, do nothing to rouse attention to them, and Rose slept uneasily, feeling unprotected.
As they traveled, Selena passed the time teaching her more the Ancient Language, talking now of its uses and the deeper parts of its properties, using words in the divine tongue as example. She spoke of how the use of the ending of one word could change the meaning of a sentence, how a few words can produce a spell may succeed something almost unrelated to words use so long as the caster understands the connection. It seemed to Rose to be a dangerous mind game, played with words and thoughts elemented simply off ones knowledge or imagination; but she felt this to a dismal notion of the language and kept her thoughts to herself. Selena told her of the Dragon Riders' origins, and the desperate battles of between the elves and dragons. She explained some the duties the Riders would perform, their duty burdened lives, and her very limited knowledge about dragons; herbs they could eat, and plants that were like a poison to them, and how to clean their scales- things Rose wished she had shared with ages ago. Rose was taught how to reach out with her mind to touch another's; Starshine's mind for instance or a scurrying mouse down a field, it was an anomalous experience, and something she did not enjoy. Much of what Selena taught Rose, Morzan must have thought her, Rose realized and this unsettled her. She paid very little attention to what Selena was saying after that.
Most evenings Selena had Rose draw out her bow and she would shoot at a crudely carved target in the tree. Rose learned in these days how to empty her mind completely, and to shoot without hesitation. After the shock of Selena's confession, and all the events that preceded it- everything that had happened since she had left the capital- she was grateful for this peace and began to yearn for her viol yet she never withdrew from its case.
On their third day on the path, which bordered the road toward Dras-Leona a few miles to the west, Selena spent a small part of that day taking them in circles, stopping every few times at the same abandoned campsite, a makeshift hearth lay at its center still warm with dying embers. Selena appeared querulous, so Rose said nothing of it. They rode through that night, rejoining the main road earlier that evening, and Rose sat miserably on the verge of a very uncomfortable sleep, speaking quickly to Thorn who was flying over the lake. They stopped only when the horses could continue no longer, and they rose midmorning.
Rose was beginning to tire of Selena's reckless search, certain now that it might kill them or the horses. Not for the first time since they left the coastal region, she yearned for a bath; her skin felt sticky and filthy, and she remembered with regret the sweet-smelling oils at Haven Cove. But above all she wished for a warmed bed, instead of a bed of pine-needles and dirt under a worn bedroll.
The next morning she saddled Starshine discontentedly, but Selena made no move to do likewise. The woman was sitting on the ground, brushing through her hair. "We will travel no further for now," she said, as she began to weave her hair back into a patterned braid. "I think it's best if we rest for the day."
Rose simply stared her in disbelief, thinking that the woman was truly mad, and then turned to her horse and began to unsaddle him. It seemed illogical to stop after rushing through the land, especially this close to Dras-Leona; Rose could clearly see its towers rising into the sky. Thorn was resting, far off as they had made camp too close to the road for him to join them, for her to talk to him, and so Rose got out her viol and sat with it on her lap. She played no particular melody, but ran her fingers idly over its strings, letting the gentle notes soothe her. It wasn't long though, until she could play no longer and took instead to Tornac's book from in her bags (they had gone through his bags days before and sold what was not needed), letting the words wash over her.
She was still reading when Selena went off to set rabbit traps about the area, as the sun neared the center of the sky, and when Selena returned and sat across from her. The woman chatted idly with Rose, who answered back tersely, annoyed at being interrupted, for a time and then moved on restlessly to her bow to hunt for some meat.
When Selena returned some time later, she forced Rose from her book getting her to assist striping the meat from the squirrels that were caught. By the time they had cut the meat and began to cook it, it was well past noon, and Rose saw a change in Selena. She kept looking towards a bowl restlessly, and once forced them to move camp before the meat was done, as she became more and more piqued. Finally Rose turned to her, and studied her face intently.
"We are not staying here to rest, are we?" she said, anger ebbing from her voice. "We are remaining here because somehow, through you mad rush, we ended up ahead of your son and so you wish to sit and wait for him."
Selena turned and looked at her for a moment, before nodding. "Understand, Rose," she said, "that I wanted to give him the choice to find us. If he does not wish to meet with me, than I will hunt him down and talk with him, but if does I will know he has forgiven me."
Rose looked at her in confusion, and bit her lip. "Your son?" she asked glancing quite suddenly at the ground. "I am in the understanding that your son does not know who are, any more than I did. That he does not know how to find you."
"I was not speaking of your brother," said Selena with a sharp shake of her head. "I was speaking of Brom, he is traveling with Eragon for reasons that are beyond me."
Slowly, Rose nodded, not wanting to know any more. Selena was allowed her secrets, Rose had taken a liking to her having them, and she did not wish to press. Rose turned away, resigning herself again to read the book.
Speaking to Rose seemed to have calm Selena, and finally the woman sat on a low, flat, rock lost in a trance, a bowl of still water resting her lap. Neither of them talked for a time, and then Selena gasped and set the bowl aside. She leaped to her feet and stared ahead, her face expressionless, and Rose knew she had saw them and was trying to feel them out.
Rose shaded her eyes and looked. The riders were not far away, but very little could be told about them. There were two of them, tall, dark figures, against the green of the hills and the blue of the sky and the veiling of the trees, sitting upon to two steeds. Rose reached out her mind for Thorn, knowing that he had moved closer to them some hours before, and briefly she told him of that was happening.
There is no way to know if it is them, he said, grumpy at being so far from her. It may be or it may not be. I cannot fly close enough to you to tell you else I may be seen, and you do not want that. I can't protect you here if it is someone else.
She watched the figures for a moment, still in contact with Thorn, and then stood and retrieved her sword as she was not wearing it. At that moment Rose forgot her resentment towards the woman, and as she approached her to stand near her. Selena loosened her sword and glanced at her for a very short moment.
As they neared, Rose saw them to be two men, one of the men stood up on the stirrups, as if to get a closer look, and then quite abruptly sat back down, and the other simply faced ahead. She sensed rather that saw their eyes on them, and she loosened her sword, remembering Tornac's lessons, though the men did not seem dangerous. She could not see a sword on either of them.
The men stopped a few paces away from them, both of them seemed to be well traveled; their boots scoffed and spotted with mud, their clothing dulled from the sun's touch and frayed at the hems. Rose could not see one of the men's face, as he was hooded in a black cloak, but Selena was staring up at him intently and then she stepped towards him before halting and turning very rigid. Something passed between, something that was too private to witness and Rose quickly looked away at other man.
To say he was a man was overstatement as he seemed to have come out of boyhood only recently. He had a thoughtful look to him, as if he deep in thought, and his face was eager. He sat on a cinnamon colored, walleyed horse who was snorting indignity and digging at the ground, though he did not notice as he was looking from the hooded man to Selena, his lips forming silent words. The boy looked very much like Selena both in the face and complexion, with both her wide brown eyes and wayward brown hair. Rose felt despite herself rather resentful. This boy was Eragon, it certainly could not be the other man who had a wiry greying beard sticking out of his hood, the child Selena had chosen to hide in Carvahall, and he looked very little like Morzan. It seemed to Rose as she had gotten all of her father's appearances where he had gotten none, but there was no denying the similarities in his face that they shared. She saw these only when she looked close enough, and when Eragon caught her studying him she remained her gaze without shame of being caught staring.
"I suppose," Selena spoke after a long silence, "that you would like some stew?"
The hooded man grunted, Rose's eyes widened at the brute sound, and slowly he got off his horse. He held himself with a hint of pride that did not go unnoticed by Rose. "That depends," said the man, his beard bobbing up and down under his hood, "on if your cooking has improved over the years."
Selena laughed. She threw her sword on the ground and hurried over to him, but did not embrace him as Rose thought she might, but instead stood before until he wrapped his arms around her. Then she threw her arms around him and the man rocked back on his heels as they embraced for a long moment, and again it seemed too private of a moment to witness.
