Chapter 6

Eragon was not aware of the transition from sleep to reality, but eventually, he was fully awake, laying in bed, eye's wide open and owl-like.

"They know something," came a harsh hiss. "They're not nearly as oblivious as they claim." Eragon jerked in surprise, recognizing the voices of the two strangers that wanted his stone outside the walls of the house. A horrible feeling of foreboding hit Eragon. Murderers! Egg-breakers! He didn't even question the voice in his head, even though some part of him knew it was not his own. Eragon shot up, feeling suddenly claustrophobic, as if the walls of the house would lean in and crush the occupants. The house he had been raised in since birth, a familiar warm comfort, was now dark and imposing. All his instincts screamed at him to bolt; he felt as tense as a cornered wolf. Those strangers, those creatures were planning something.

Clutching the stone, Eragon stumbled into the hallway outside his own room as quietly as possible, and turned to his uncle's, even though he desperately wanted to get out of the house himself, he couldn't leave his Uncle behind.

"Uncle," Eragon hissed through the darkness, ever present to him. He shook Garrow's shoulder, to which the man slowly awoke. "What is it, my boy?" he asked, voice muddled from sleep.

"Hush, the strangers are back. We have to get out." Eragon felt his Uncle stiffen.

"How dare those wretches come back here? Can they not leave us be?" his words were angry, though fear was evident as well.

"We have to get out!" Eragon repeated desperately, seeing the foolishness of staying in the house. He so badly wanted to shoot out the door to safety. Still, he couldn't leave Garrow…

"Eragon," Garrow said, "just give them the blasted stone! I know you were hoping to sell it, but that's not a choice now, go on, give it to them!"

"I can't! It's mine. It… needs me."

Garrow stared at his nephew dumbfounded, though Eragon was oblivious to his actions.

"We have to leave! Uncle - please! We can't stay here!" Eragon said, in hysterics now. The urge to simply leave his uncle and flee to safety was overpowering, he was having trouble stifling it; he found himself inching towards the door.

Suddenly, he straitened up, in absolute horror for what he found lingering in his nostrils and burning his throat was smoke.

"They're razing it! Father they're burning the house!"

Even if it hadn't been for the fire, Garrow would have left then, one way or the other, at his nephews addressing him as 'Father', and he realized how frantic Eragon was.

Grasping Garrow's arm, Eragon darted out of Garrow's bedroom door, stumbling on the floor in his haste. He all but flew down the stairs three at a time, Garrow half running, half dragging behind him, creating a number of thumps in quick succession as they did so.

The smoke was heavy now, burning Eragon's eyes and stinging his throat. He could have sworn he heard the strangers snickering outside of the house. Garrow and Eragon burst out of the back door of the flaming house, Eragon kept running, even when he knew not what was ahead, with the stone clutched to his chest, underneath his tunic. He came to an abrupt halt after a moment, and it was only then he realized Garrow's hand was not in his.

"Garrow?" Eragon called in panic. He was quickly answered with an "Eragon!" Time slowed as a sound came to his ears he had hoped never would: the intake of breath, the yelp of a loved one, of Garrow being impaled.

"Garrow!" Eragon cried, heart filled with dread. He knew those wretched strangers had done it, and were somewhere near by. Eragon attempted to go back, but was stopped when a screech curdled his blood.

"Where is it?" the voice sounded next to his right ear. Eragon knew he could't go back for his uncle.

"Garrow!" he repeated, and heard a hoarse, pained voice, something he would have never believed as belonging to his uncle, answer.

"Eragon, you have to leave me here, find safety!"

"Uncle I can't…" Eragon could feel the hot, salty liquid make tracks down his face as he made the hardest decision he'd ever made. He turned away.

"And Eragon?" the voice was merely above a whisper, but Eragon's sensitive ears caught it. "Know that I have always thought of you, and will always think of you as my own son."

The tears came down all the harder.

"And I have always thought of you as my father," Eragon said in a cracked voice, turning away for the final time and pelting away in an attempt to evade the creatures, off into what he knew not, but away from everything he knew.

I thought it was kind of weak plotting that the 'strangers',(come on, you know they're the Ra'zac), didn't just kill him too since they were essentially right there. I kind of doubt he could outrun them, but I'm planning to make him lose them in the Spine.