Okay, to let you know (because I forgot to put it in and I am too lazy to fix it) Murtagh and Thorn are still alive, but they were banished to Sharktooth Isle for their betrayal against the Varden. Technically, they are gone, but they still live unlike Galbatorix. Yes, I do plan to bring Murtagh back into this in the near future and you will find out why at the end of this chapter. Enjoy.
Chapter 22: A Dream Come True
"What should we do now?" Saphira asked, letting her eyes wander into the forest ahead of them. Stave was out there somewhere, and she did not want to be surprised by his next arrival. Eragon held his blade in front of him, and cautiously stepped forward into the forest. He still felt weak from the task of resurrecting his love, and Saphira was even weaker from being brought back. Changing into dragon form was out of the question for now.
"We have no choice," Eragon said. "We have to cut through the hills and head East towards Teirm. It is closer than Daret and less hazardous." It was nighttime and the moon was new, creating only complete darkness,
"This seems too familiar," Eragon muttered. "Saphira. I think that this is how my dream started." His words forced her to clutch Draken's egg tighter to her chest.
"Can we not stay here until morning?" she asked worriedly. Eragon turned to face her.
"Love," he said. "We cannot stay here. If we are to be attacked, we stand a better chance of using the forest as cover. I do not wish to stay here and await death, do you?"
"But in your dream we did die!" Saphira exclaimed. "I am only thinking of a logical way out."
"I know," Eragon said, lowering his head. "We have no choice. Suddenly, Saphira lifted up her head and sniffed.
"Smoke," she said. "It is not far." Eragon sniffed the air as well. Transforming back and forth from dragon form had increased their senses slightly to where they can smell and track the scent.
"He's burning the hillside!" Eragon cursed. "Come on, we have to keep moving!" Eragon reached out and grabbed Saphira's hand, causing her to drop her weapon.
"Your dream!" Saphira argued. "Remember how it started. What were we doing?" Eragon looked down and quickly released his hand from hers.
"Stay close to me!" he yelled, quickly running into the forest. Saphira wrapped her other hand across Draken's purple shell and clung to him while she ran beside her mate. Eragon scanned his eyes through the forest, searching for anything that was familiar in his dream, but the dark night made it very difficult.
"Eragon!" Saphira suddenly shouted. He turned around to meet the horrific glow of a massive line of fire.
"We have to move faster!" Eragon shouted. He could hear the roars and crackles of the flames as they drew near. "Do not look behind you!" Pure instinct told him to grab on to Saphira's hand and drag her behind him, but he fought against it. Instead, he reached out and merely touched her wrist to guide her.
"I am scared," Saphira said, still running beside him. Eragon ducked out of the way of the branches that were attached to the monstrous trees and quickly picked up his pace to get in front of Saphira. He looked behind him to see that the flames were drawing nearer, igniting all that stood in its way. To make matters worse, they had to run uphill to go over the mountain and into Treim.
"We cannot stop!" Eragon encouraged her. "Keep running!" Suddenly, he felt an awkward heat on his right side of his body.
"NO!" Saphira screamed. The fire managed to wrap around the hillside and converge on their right flank, burning only meters from the couple. The forest was ablaze, sending bright orange sparks into the night sky.
"We have to go another way!" Eragon yelled over the flames. "Follow me!" Eragon grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him, as they took off southward down deeper into the Spine towards Woodark Lake. He knew that the dream started with him holding her hand, but he had to keep her safe and this was the only way. The fire was following close behind them as they raced against it to survive. The flames gave enough light for the two to see ahead of them, but the heat that they omitted forced the dry pine needles on the forest floor to ignite as well. In moments, the line of fire turned into a vast ocean of flames, spouting sparks and embers in all direction to increase its ferocity. While the two ran, the floor underneath them began to catch, torching trees and twigs that were only inches from their feet.
"Eragon!" Saphira cried, still clutching her child in one of her arms. "This is it. This is the prophecy!" Eragon grit his teeth and continued to run.
"I will not lose you!" Eragon screamed. "Keep moving! We will make it out!" They ran faster with Elvin speed through the burning forest until they reached a rocky cliff just ahead of them.
"We will run beside it until we can find a way across," Eragon commented. Suddenly, flames began to leap up from the crevice and dance exotically in front of them. "Hurry!" Eragon screamed, pulling Saphira behind him. He heard her scream and let go of his arm.
"Draken!" she cried. Eragon turned to look and see the outline of their son's egg fly through the night sky.
"Letta!" he yelled, forcing all of his energy on the egg of his son. He watched as his child's egg dangled helplessly above the flames that were down in the cliff below. From there Eragon was forced to draw some of his energy from Saphira as he brought the egg back from certain peril. Saphira caught it and turned to Eragon with tears in her eyes.
"You saved our son," she cried. "I almost killed him."
"You tripped," Eragon said. "I am just glad that we have avoided one segment of my vision." Suddenly, they heard a loud crack behind them.
"The tree," Eragon cursed. He turned to see a large redwood tree teetering helplessly with flames dancing on its limbs as if they were celebrating its death. It cracked again and snapped, barreling down on Eragon and Saphira.
"Thrysta!" Eragon yelled, once again pushing his energy to the limit. Saphira lent him whatever energy she had to offer as the tree fell backwards and crashed into the soil a safe distance away from them.
"That is two thus far," Eragon pointed out. "We may be safe."
"I pray so," Saphira said. The flames were still close and the ash and soot was settling on their skin to give them a grayish black looking flesh tone.
"We are not out of the forest yet," Eragon explained. "We must keep moving! Hand me our child." Saphira nodded her head and handed the purple egg to its father. Eragon gently tucked it underneath his armpit and gave Saphira his sword. Before she could ask, Eragon took off again down the hill towards the lake.
"We will reach the lake and take the river around the Spine," Eragon explained while running. "It is the safest way."
"The Toark River leads straight into Treim," Saphira pointed out. "Wise idea, my love."
"I see the water!" Eragon exclaimed. "Do you know how to swim?"
"Dragons are born with that knowledge," Saphira retorted. Eragon shook his head.
"I mean can you in human form?" he asked, looking behind him briefly to make sure she was keeping up.
"I know not," she replied. "It cannot be that difficult." Suddenly, Eragon stopped running and skid to a stop. In front of them was a fifty-foot cliff with the lake down below it.
"Consider this a trial by fire," Eragon said. "We have to jump!"
"That is certainly a long way down," Saphira pointed out. "I would be more comfortable doing this with wings on my back."
"We are both too weak to transform," Eragon said. "We have to go!" Before even letting her protest, Eragon grabbed her hand and leapt off of the cliff, still clutching Draken's egg between his armpit. The fall seemed to last for an eternity as they neared the dark lake below them. Eragon turned to see that Saphira had a slight smile on her face, even though her blonde hair was flapping madly into the air behind her. Eragon looked down and noticed that the water was coming closer.
"Here it comes!" he muttered. He let go of Saphira and placed his other hand on Draken's egg to give it more comfort when he dove into the water.
SPLASH! Water shot up from the lake as the two dove in. Eragon emerged first and Saphira came up shortly after him, sputtering and coughing while she flung her arms in the water.
"Cold!" she exclaimed between coughs. Eragon grabbed her with his free hand and held on the Draken with the other. The water was very chilly, but he did not seem to notice it.
"We need to get to the shore," Eragon said, kicking his feet to propel him and his lover to the other side. She let go of Eragon and swam herself. After a few brief moments, both arrived safely on the shore. The looked up to see that the flames had stopped at the edge of the cliff.
"We make our own destiny," Saphira exclaimed breathlessly. She shivered and Eragon placed Draken's egg down to embrace her and keep her warm.
"I suppose we do," he said, lifting her chin up to place his lips to hers. "I love you, Saphira."
"I always will," she replied with a small grin. "Now, should we continue to Treim or stay here for the night?" Eragon looked around and saw that they were in a very safe area beside the lake to where one would've had to jump off of the cliffs to reach them, but the splash would alert them and provide enough warning that someone was approaching.
"We stay here," Eragon said, running his hand through her wet blonde hair. The soot and ash on them was gone and they were clean and beautiful yet again. "I will make a fire to provide us with warmth for the night. What can we use to keep Draken warm?"
"You will need your strength for that one," Saphira replied. "To keep him warm, you have to change into a dragon and…sit on him."
"What?" Eragon asked. Saphira giggled slightly and pressed her lips to his again.
"I told you that you had to earn my forgiveness from that last remark you made about our…first time," she mocked with a smile across her face. Eragon groaned.
"Very well then," he said. "I had a feeling that you were going to bring it up again."
"What do mates do for each other?" she shot back slyly. Eragon chuckled and pulled her in close to him for a kind embrace.
"Is there anything else I can do?"
"Well," she said mischieviously. "Just make one more promise to me."
"What would that be darling?"
"That you will take care of our child if anything was to happen to me," she said wide eyed. Eragon winced.
"I will not live if you do," he said. "If I promise that then I would break my other one."
"Please," she asked, starry eyed (A/N: passionately). "I do not want our children to suffer without their mother and father."
"If you are to perish," Eragon explained. "I will find someone who is trustworthy enough to watch over them before I fulfill my last promise to you."
"Eragon," Saphira said. "With Stave after us, we need to truly consider this issue. What if you were not able to bring me back when Stave stabbed me?"
"I would have died of sorrow and Draken would have been taken," Eragon replied bluntly. "I realize that Murtagh and Thorn are exiled for their betrayal, but he is my brother which means that he receives the right to look after my young. I only wish that Nasuada forgave him like many others did."
"You know how hard it is to forgive after being hurt so badly," Saphira pointed out. "Murtagh was trusted the most by her, and he unwillingly stabbed her in her back. Perhaps with this new threat, we may be able to converse with her and lift the law that binds him."
"I know," Eragon sighed. "If he cannot, then Roran would have to…?"
"I will not have him raise our dragons!" Saphira exclaimed. "He knows nothing of them!"
"Saphira," Eragon replied. "I am referring to human children, that is if we ever have one."
"In time love," Saphira said. "I want to, but I do not know if I can stand nine months in human form."
"I know what you mean, dear," Eragon said. Saphira rested her head on his shoulder and yawned.
"Why must we have to go through so many adventures?" Saphira whined. "Why can we never have the peaceful life like we did before we left?"
"I know not," Eragon gently replied, rubbing the back of his hand against her cold cheek. "Let us rest. We have to travel a long distance tomorrow."
"Of course," she replied. Eragon stood up. "What are you doing?" Eragon smirked and muttered he magic word to transform him into his dragon form. Without saying a word, Eragon padded through the sand and picked up Draken's egg with his forearms. He then moved over to Saphira and sat the egg down beside her.
Okay, he said. Now what do I do?
Fluffy ending there! Yes for the Murtagh fans out there I did not kill him off. I planned to but he is needed (or at least Thorn for some odd reason) to continue this story. Hope that everyone is satisfied with it. A lot more to go!
PEACE!