Chapter 2

Sleep was always the one place James was at peace, the only time he was truly calm. It was in this calm state that he stayed for nigh on 18 hours.

When he woke James found himself in a comfy bed with his new friend, the baby dragon that somehow shared its emotions with him and vice versa. The dragon was from head to tail smaller than the length of one arm. It lay curled up leaning against his arm, and James felt a love and protectiveness for it that he'd never felt before. As much as he loved his mother, he always hated that she made no efforts to escape his father. Thinking of them brought back the memories of what happened, of what he did. James didn't panic this time however. No, he kept his emotions in check, it was the first time he showed his fear when not confronted with his father's sickly behaviour. He guessed it was the confusion and the realisation of what happened that caused it. For he never really showed his true emotions. Thats just the way he was, he knew it was due to his upbringing and he knew he was different to most people.

He would have stayed enthralled in his thoughts if not a movement alerted him to someones prescence. Looking around James notice the large blue dragon rising to stand before him. It's stare caused him to look away from it's eyes, those large blue, and clearly intelligent eyes. It is good to see you awake, hatchling. Stated an obviously female voice that held an air of confidence.

Confusion struck James then as he searched around for the owner of the voice. "where are you?", he queried.

I am standing right in front of you, did you think I was merely a flying horse used for travelling. I am Saphira Bjartskular, the only female dragon to walk this land and your teacher and master. A touch of annoyance creeping into her mental voice for being thought less of than what she is. A puff of smoke escaping her nose being the only physical signs of her mood change.

James, realising his mistake apologised profusely and added "Saphira, before I passed out the man Eragon said I was on Mount Argnor. Where is that?".

Mount Argnor is the new home of the dragon riders. It is situated about 6 days flight east of Alagaësia.

James felt utterly lost. He'd never heard of this 'Alagaësia' before and he new not where this country was situated, yet he never had much love for his geography classes. "Am I somewhere in Europe?, or perhaps Asia?"

I know not of this Europe place, the same can be said for Asia. Perhaps they are further East, maybe they're south of the Beor Mountains or west of the sea, or maybe perhaps they are north of Du Weldenvarden. All I know is that you were sent here for a reason. That egg should not have fallen from the shelves, it is strong magic for the egg to fall, let alone be the specific egg to be the right egg to hatch for you. Eragon is coming now and will take you to get food, and he will talk in detail of your stay here.

And with that she curled around and hid her head from view, making her point obvious. She was not to be disturbed. Shifting his attention from the dragon James studied the room. The room was clearly a medical bay of some kind of that he was sure. But it was ginormous, the largest room he'd ever been in. Until now he hadn't noticed the size but Saphira paled in comparison to this room. The ceiling reached about 50 metres into the sky and could fit about 2 Saphiras standing side by side. Scratching the small dragon under the chin James tried to gather every detail he could about his newfound partner.

The dragon, like the egg was predominantly a light shade of green and throughout the dragons body was a blue that flashed and rippled. Yet, at closer inspection small specks of orange flecked the dragon aswell, that unless one was extrememly close to the dragon it would not be noticeable.

"A beautiful dragon you have there", jumping slightly from being startled James turned around to face the man Eragon who wore a smirk at seeing James jump.

Eragon's POV:

"Apologies James, I didn't mean to startle you". Eragon said in a friendly tone.

"Do you know how I got here Eragon? I've never heard of Alagaësia before and your dragon Saphira has never heard of well known places either." James asked.

"No, I know not of these lands, are you from them?"

"No I live in Australia" stated the boy.

The name was just as foreign and odd as the last two. Eragon was curious of these lands and would be sure to ask Arya if she knew of them. "Your land is as unknown to me as the origin of the world. What I do know is that you're meant to be here, that much is evident of the event leading to the dragon hatching for you. I believe you were sent to be trained to become one of the dragon riders. Saphira and I, along with the elves that accompanied me will train you and teach you how to care for your dragon, fight, how to fly your dragon and much more. It seems that you near nothing of anything I'm going to teach you, unless you are proficient with a sword?"

The boy shook his head and said somewhat embarrased, "no, I've never even touched one."

Eragon expected this answer and so was not surprised. He nodded and said "that's ok. It just means you'll take longer to teach than most as I need to teach you things most small children know more about at your age, such as our history. From this day forth you will call me and all those who teach you Ebrithil, that means master in the Ancient Language, which I will teach you to become fluent in.

The boy seemed to show no emotion from that statement which surprised Eragon. He expected a groan, or at least a worried look upon his face. He just appeared impassive. "Follow me, I'll show you around, tomorrow I'll begin your lessons."