Curiosity killed the cat

"Eragon, do you smell smoke?" Asked Murtagh, filling his lungs with the bracing scents of the mountains, it was tainted with the faint smell, heady and vaguely acidic: smoke. They had been traveling for quite some time, covering miles at a break neck pace. Those frenzied nights leaving Gil'ead, Being chased by the soldiers into the Hadarac desert, and even when they thought that they finally had some safety the encounter with slavers had shook them. When they reached shelter in the Beors they thought they had escaped all traces of human activity. Any sign of intelligent life no matter how small set them on edge.

Exchanging a glance Murtagh and Eragon they urged on their horses towards the faint scent. Taking care not make excess noise. Their steeds trotted delicately through the high underbrush and raised roots their heads brushing the curtains of lichen hanging down from the trees. They came upon a small clearing with a camp inside. The camp was small, made for one or two people. What struck them both was the size of everything. All the tools were out of proportion with the human figure. The shelter was over large in both height and length the spine of the shelter was a dense ash tree with thick leaves and a long ridgepole set the frame of the shelter then it was ribbed with shorter sticks along each edge. This supported the file of debris that was piled on top. Both Eragon and Murtagh recognized it as a common debris shelter used by hunters who packed light.

They found the source of smell. In the pit of a stone hearth were a few smouldering embers sent up strands of smoke that were carried off by the breeze.

"Who do think was here?" asked Eragon

"I don't know. Hunters, the Varden…" Murtagh trailed off, his brows furrowed at the possibilities. Part of him wanted to stay with Eragon but he knew that he had to leave. It wasn't an option to go to the Varden.

"We have to find out who's been camping here, they might have information about a faster way to get to the Varden. Or they might enemies, either way we need to find out," Eragon said while he snooped through the rest of the camp. He inspected the hut, noting the unique build. Unlike most shelters he had seen this one had two ribbed layers instead of one. The inner layer used both live decaying deciduous leaves; the second layer was thinner and made of the water repelling nettles of pine. It seemed that this shelter was made for longer usage; Eragon knew from experience that a well made shelter could last quite a while. Years ago; he and Roran had gone hunting one fall, Eragon had discovered a small herd of roe deer. The excursion took longer than expected and they were forced to make camp for fear being caught out in the frigid autumn night. It was then that Eragon learned how to make a proper shelter, using only what he could find in the surrounding area. About two years later he stumbled upon the same place that He and Roran had camped at long ago. The frame work had deteriorated some and the coverage had almost completely rotted away. To his surprise he found the covered lean-to still stood. A badge had made it's sett inside the hut and Eragon thought to leave her in peace.

On hands and knees he crawled into the shelter to take a better look. It was tall enough that he didn't have to squirm on his belly.

"Eragon what are you doing?" Murtagh said exasperatedly, sometimes Eragon could be such a child, poking his nose where it didn't belong. "Get out of there, you don't you might be home," he added.

"Don't you know curiosity killed the cat?" replied Eragon

"Exactly"

"Well, satisfaction brought it back… Look at these," He grunted as he crawled back out; holding two objects.

The first of the objects was substantially smaller then the second. It appeared to be a figurine of a woman. Her arms were raised so that each hand cupped some invisible thing. The figure had no discernible features but had generous curves. In the swollen stomach of the figure was a carved insignia. The other was an arrow fletched with brown and white falcon feathers; the arrow was as long and thick as a javelin.

Eragon showed the two strange objects to Murtagh; examining the doll closely. "Who do think owns these?" He asked tracing the lines of the carving.

"I wonder…" Murtagh trailed off, picking up the arrow carefully and scrutinizing it. Looking the shaft up and down and checking the fletching.

A soft rustling came from the other side of the camp. It was the horses that noticed it first; their ears pricked forward, they snorted nervously and shuffled their hooves. A shadowy figure emerged half hidden by the branches. They could only see part of the creature, but what they could see shocked them.

Standing easily at nine feet, and most likely more, the being resembled an oversized human though oddly proportioned. The limbs were overlong, the shoulders wider and the torso rather short. But Eragon eyes were focused on the knife poised in its hand.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of movement. Murtagh discreetly stringing a bow. The giants eyes flicked over to Murtagh and his, shifting its position so that if it decided to attack would pierce the flesh joining Murtagh's neck to his shoulder.

It seemed as though they stood there for eons. The muscles in Eragons neck were tensed and straining; he felt a bead of sweat roll down his brow, over his temple and splash down on to the collar of his shirt. Eragon eased his hunting knife out of its sheath, trying to make as little motion as possible; shifting his position next to Murtagh, the giant noticed this too.

Its eyes widened in fear; though it was twice the size of either of them, with two against one they weren't in its favour.

Its face set, the giant edged forward cautiously. Moving towards him, poised in the attack position. Eragon's mind flew to Saphira, stretching over the distance to join with hers. He called to her with his mind, sending her an image of his location. Sensing his urgency; Saphira strengthened the tie that bound them.

"Eragon? What's wrong? Your mind is clouded, I cannot reach you properly" concern sounded strongly in mind, she reached out to touch more with him but found that the tendrils of his mind slipped away.

"Saphira! You need to come right away, I can't talk."

"Of course." Eragon saw fly off in their direction from behind his eyes. He looked back on the scene before him, the giant stood still and unmovable as ice. Murtagh stood in his fighting stance, his breathing ragged. Slowly Murtagh put his bow down, moving slowly and deliberately so that the creature saw what he was doing. To his amazement the giant did the same put its knife down gently on the forest floor. When straightened up it looked both Eragon and Murtagh in the eyes; first one then the other. Its eyes shone softly in the filtered light of the canopy, the loss of the fear glaze of its eyes revealed a human intelligence. Some of the tenseness evaporated from its body though it still remained apprehensive. This by extension calmed the two down.

Murtagh had realised that they must have stumbled into his camp and it was reacting like any other person would do. He was surprised that they hadn't been attacked for trespassing; like he would've done. He picked the first weapon that came to mind when he first saw it, at first thinking it was bear up on its hind legs, in retrospect a bow wouldn't be the most effective tool to use at such close range it'd be nearly useless.

For a moment they stood cross from each other. Murtagh felt something close to awe, the way you would felt when the Hadarac desert spread out before you, or the mountains stretching into the sky, looking over the side of a river boat to see great sturgeon swimming below, dragon soaring through clouds. Some sort of mix between awe and fear and wonder. He looked closely at the creature and felt it doing the same. He was struck by the thought that it was analysing him just as closely. For the first time he looked closely at its face; its eyes like were large and unusually light, the like glacial ice, the mouth small and full, the brows and jaw seemed to be more pronounced . The features had certain sharpness to them, a different quality to them that he couldn't quite discern. He also discovered something that would explain the passiveness almost fearful nature of the attack. The giant was female, judging by the lineless face she was young.

The giantess's face softened as she seemed to realize that they meant no more harm to her then she did to them. She approached them slowly keeping her hands in front of her palms splayed. To show that she meant no harm and also to protect herself if they decided to attack. She tried to recall all she knew about humans, which wasn't much, out of all the creatures' humans were the most mysterious to her. She knew they didn't speak the same language and she could speak a few words of it. The males and females were total opposites of each other; the males could be very aggressive, now one new anything about the females because no one had ever seen one. She knew that like with any creature she had to be very cautious. Calling up her limited knowledge of English she tried for the first time to break the silence.

"Who… are you?" The giantess spoke slowly trying to compensate for the thick accent. The words sounded odd to her ears, flowing in a fashion that didn't suit her speech patterns. She saw shock on the human's faces and wondered if she had said what she thought she had said. They smaller, fairer human with eyes like molten syrup turned to stare at her full in the face, he had been looking up into the sky trying peer over the mountains and through layers of cloud.

"What?"

There was some great thudding noise above their heads. Saphira skirted a mountain, flying just above the tree tops to scan for Murtagh and Eragon; she spotted the horses, looking for the glint of metal off their saddles and the human tools. The clearing was just big enough for her to squeeze in. Expertly, she furled her wings and angled the tips just so, landing in the centre of the camp between the humans and giantess. Saphira swept her tail out of the way neatly tucking it under her foot. She looked back at Eragon and Murtagh-who had to press themselves against the ferns to avoid her crushing them- and grinned wolfishly, her fangs glinting in the half light.

"What is it?"

"Look for yourself" he thought, gesturing at the giantess.

Her eyes flew open, as if trying to see every part of the gigantic creature at once. She felt herself go stiff, only moving her eyes to watch the light shimmer and shift on the iridescent scales, hypnotizing. The lethal spikes along her spike like crystalline daggers. The dragon swung her head around to eye the giant with one of her great orbs. There was a bright and harsh intelligence in depths of that eye. The iris was the colour of the hidden lagoons deep within the mountain chasms.

She dropped to the ground, kneeling with her head bent, nearly brushing the forest floor, she had crossed her forearms over chest. There was a moment of confused quite, no one was sure how to continue; to Eragon it was as if she had passed out from fear in an odd position. He felt guilty for calling Saphira now. Terrifying a strange creature probably wasn't the best thing to do- creature; she was hardly a creature, a legend more like, a forgotten legend; like Saphira; it seemed that all the myths of old were rising again.

Saphira bent closer to the giant, drawing in her scent, aside from her own essence and that of the forest that clung to her there was the distinct odour of fear, both fresh and stale. She felt tiny vibrations of the girl's shivering. Deftly; Saphira let a tendril of her conscience prod at the girl's. It had a different feel to it than that of a human, it was older then the humans, primeval. One might describe it as an ancient mere; with depths unknown it had the hush of a forest just before dawn or twilight. Like an elf's there was music the beat strong and continuous. Saphira preferred Eragon's mind, which brought images of an endless plain, mountain a mere smudge in the distance, with him she could almost feel the sun heating her scales and wind tug at her wings. This time it was just an image, a pale echo.

The giant felt something inside her. A tugging somewhere in here mind; being stretched and blended like a streak of paint. Coming from the back of her mind she heard a voice that was not her own. It reminded the girl giant of the shriek of the fanghur echoing through a valley.

"Who are you?" the giant flew back out of her bow crawling backwards in a frantic attempt to get to safety away from the voice sounding in her mind. She looked around wildly staring wide eyed at the creature in towering over her, her trembling increased turning bones to jelly.

"Gah!" She yelped, babbling in her native tongue. Eragon and Murtagh looked on from behind Saphira with a mixture of concern and amusement Murtagh more amusement then concern. Eragon tapped Saphira on one of the tail spines; she didn't both moving only deepening the connection of their minds.

"Could you please not terrify her anymore? I think she's had enough for one day."

"Fine."

Saphira sat back on her haunches, which seemed a much more passive position, removing her snout from her personal space. Again she made contact, more gently this time. The giantess still looked at her in shock but remained still.

"Calm, we mean you no harm. I'm sorry to have startled you. I am Saphira, who are you?"

It took a moment for the giantess to articulate her thoughts. Trying to Calming down enough to answer the dragon.

"I am Enya." She thought, she seem timid and week even to her own mind. Saphira then in turn spoke to Eragon who spoke to Murtagh. Murtagh still refused to let anyone breach the walls of his mind.

"Eragon, you can relax. I believe Enya was only startled by our presence. Tell Murtagh to put that stick-thrower away and come sit."

"Enya, that's her name? I can't believe that were in midst of giant. A legend! Though, I thought they would be larger."

"Legend? And what Am I? Your common rock lizard?" She snorted a fine stream of smoke pouring out her nostrils.

Eragon Carefully stepped over her tail, avoiding tripping over her spikes. Murtagh went around the other way skirting her shelter. Sitting down by the dead fire they sat across from each other for a long moment. Enya examined each of their faces noting their similarities and differences, taking in their strange faces, their features weren't completely alien. They had all the pieces in the same general places. But the aberrant position and proportion made her take a second glace to keep searching for differences. Likewise they found themselves staring unashamedly at her. Enya cocked her head and uttered something in her own tongue. Blushing; her she tried again in English, hoping that she didn't mangle the words too badly.

"Who are ... you?" Enya said, looking from one face to the other.

"I'm Eragon Garrowson," said the boy with maple eyes. The younger of the two it seemed.

"And I am Murtagh," The young man with pale skin said. His dark eyes flashed whenever spoke. There was more to him that was unfixed, that roiled and shifted as the dark waters of the sea. Unlike the other who was flighty but connected to something in his mind, the only thing that kept Murtagh attached was his will of mind.

"Eragon Garrowson, Murtagh, Saphira," She said, rolling each name in her mouth before spitting it out. Then she shifted her position so that she knelt close to them. She said some phrase in her language. Eragon caught both his and her name but else wise he had no idea what she said. Then still kneeling she bowed; crossing one arm of her chest. Enya took his fore arm in hand clapped her other hand over that one in some sort of hand shake, she touched her forehead to his for a moment and looked him in the eyes.

"Eragon, An kersa'jok trabinsil shoun ay dzieko ay pen Naira. An Enya ay pen shrtraden. Atra orya yawé quilza vell, Un pen malta ceolh hodari." She said in her low voice, speaking with reverence as if the words should be handled carefully. She spoke similarly to Murtagh, bowing and greeting him much the same. Murtagh held himself quite stiffly during this. Eragon assumed this reluctance was mostly apprehension of the strange greeting. He surprised Eragon by bowing in the same manner.

Then she set to work, moving fluently and silently building a fire. She set a tripod with a tightly woven green wood basket over the fire, pouring water from her water skin into basket and taking leaves from another pouch and sprinkling them on the water. She sat crossed legged leaning against a tree looking at each one of them in turn, her eyes lingered on Saphira. There was a silence bordering on uncomfortable. Eragon was bursting with questions for the giantess.

"Enya, how long have you lived in the mountains?" She frowned at him for moment. Then brightened as she struggled to answer his question.

"The mountains are my home…I live my life here." She seemed quite pleased with her mastery of the language smiling to herself and nodding.

"And your people, the giants, how long have they lived here?" He prodded, Murtagh felt as though he was driving to get at something without asking directly. Enya however was having more trouble, As far as she knew the Shrtraden had lived in the mountains for most of time. The giants lived in scattered pockets all over the continent, hidden for so long that they had faded into memories but immortalized as legends.

"Shrtraden? We live here for all time. Always…long time."

"Your people have always lived here. You must everything about the Boers. There's a place deep in the mountains, the Varden, do you know it?" Ah yes, that made sense; Eragon needs all the help he can get and who better then someone who has lived her entire life here.

"Varden" She rolled the word around in her mouth, brows furrowed in concentration. "Var…den" she muttered to herself in her own language. Scrawling in the dirt some sort of diagram. Grinned brightly and nodded vigorously. "Yeah, ruhnok knurl synowlas, Hollow Mountain. Is varden your home? You're lost?"

"No, not lost. But we need to get there as fast as possible. Otherwise Arya will die; they have the cure for her. Will you help us?"

She nodded slowly, thinking hard. She had to help; she wasn't quite why she had to help them. Besides it being the ethical thing to do, she felt drawn to them. The wondrous creature that was Saphira and the two strange humans. Still the pull towards the familiar was undeniable. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her. To finally know of the world beyond the mountains was filling her mind with intoxicating images.

"Yes, I will help you."

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Dein (end)

A/n: heloo, hope you all enjoyed that, I've got to say This was a hard chapter to write, mostly 'cuz translating the human language into giant. I am looking for a beta so just message me if your interested. also since i'm kind of coming up with my own culture i'm going to have little tidbits of info on giants in the a/n. Also i need more words for my giant language so just click the green button and jot down some nonsense ( not anything really stupid please). The translations just below.

Eragon I greet you in friendship as a child of the Mother. I am Enya of the great wolf clan. Let our friendship grow close and the truth stay strong.

dwarf's hollow mountain