Chapter 2
Discovery
Eragon crouched down in the bushes, watching the nearest buck with a sapphire eye. He dared not brush the locks of light brown hair out of his face, for fear that he might startle the herd. In fact, he hardly dared breathe.
The buck was looking in the opposite direction, within an arrow's reach. Very slowly, he nocked an arrow and raised the bow, aiming for the buck's angular head.
I'd like to see Rika find a better kill than this. And into his mind burst a picture of his younger sister, her burnt orange hair tied up in violently spiked tail, her violet eyes glittering mischievously as they always did. And Eragon tightened his grip on the arrow- if he shot this buck, he would finally be able to feed his sister and his family fresh meat, that that they hadn't had for months now.
The buck leaned down and nibbled on a chunk of grass. Now was the time, he pulled back the string, ready to release-
BOOM.
To us, the sound may have been like that of a nuclear explosion. But to Eragon, it was something of the unknown. The sound nevertheless startled him into yelling, leaping up and releasing his held arrow, which soared far from it's target.
The deer, however, was oblivious. It's head snapped in the direction of the noise, as did the herd.
Then, even before the reverberating sound of the explosions had disappeared, a huge gust of wind tore through the area, roaring in his ears and almost lifting Eragon off the ground. The deer, startled, took off, bounding into the snow covered forests of the Spine.
Then, as suddenly as it had come, the noise and the wind were gone, and the clearing was silent.
It took a moment for Eragon to get rid of his shock, but as soon as he did, he leapt up, punched the nearest birch and swore.
Damn the startling of deer, damn it! He thought, hyperventilating with rage.
He'd been up in the Spine for two days now, tracking this one herd. He would have to return home now, or his family would worry about him and get themselves killed trying to find him.
What were they going to do know? Rika had also gone up into the Spine two days ago, but they had split up. Was there any chance she'd caught anything? If not, they were doomed to live on beans and wheat, and they'd have to kill some of their livestock.
He thought of his uncle Garrow, and how he'd be disappointed in Eragon. He thought of Rika again, and then of his cousin, Roran, and his eldest sister, Mimiru.
The though of buying food came to mind, but was quickly silenced. The family didn't have all that much money, due to the fact that Garrow had 4 kids to feed, and that he'd been saving up lots of what he earned for each of their futures, whatever they happened to be. Mimi danced and cooked in the village of Carvahall and made money from that, but she mostly gave it away to charities and the like.
He sighed, then looked up.
His gaze quickly fell in the direction of the blast, and, to his surprise, a light blue light was sparkling there.
Curiosity overcame him as he sprinted over to the area. It looked like it had been blasted away- all the trees, bushes and snow had disappeared leaving only a ring of black charcoal around the source of the strange light- a large sapphire stone that seemed to be quivering a bit.
Eragon blinked, rubbed his eyes, then blinked again. The ting looked like a big slab of blue agate, it was round and rough on one side, then flat and smooth on the other. It was decorated with every lavish shade of blue he thought existed.
Very slowly, Eragon crept over and picked it up.
Despite it's size, it wasn't heavy at all. In fact, it was nearly as light as a feather.
Eragon looked it over, realizing that the stone had stopped quivering. It was gorgeous. No other word for it. Probably something even the finest ladies in Uru'bean would give anything to buy.
Then Eragon grinned. Strapping it to his knapsack, he thought, Maybe we will have something to eat.
Forgetting his curiosity in the phenomenon that had just occurred, Eragon set off running towards the edge of the clearing.
He had just reached safety of the trees when his foot rammed into something hard, and he fell into the mud on his face.
Eragon swore again, then cast an angry glare at the new object of his rage.
It wasn't a stone, stick or log. It was a yellowish white egg the height and width of his forearm.
Awed, Eragon crept toward it. It looked like an oversized chicken's egg, but the shell was covered in little bumps that could only be seen from close-up. That and the fact of how unusual it's colouring was.
Then, despite his aching nose, Eragon grinned. What luck- two treasures like this were worth at least 600 crowns or so each!
With renewed excitement and the blue stone still attached to his back, Eragon stood up, cradled the egg in both arms and set off down the mountain, back toward Carvahall.
Back home.
Rikaru leaned back into the tree behind her, basking in the warm rays of the bonfire in front of her. She sighed and brushed a strand or her burnt orange hair out of her purple eye and winced. Her hair was now so thick with ash and sap and the like, it was stiff.
She couldn't wait to go home.
She had a good stock. In the last two days, she'd caught and killed two ducks, 3 rabbits and a grouse. Garrow would be pleased when she brought so much home.
Then her thoughts wandered to Eragon, and she smiled. Stubborn git. She thought, as she remembered how he'd set off in another direction of the Spine, telling her that he didn't care if so many people had seen a herd of deer come up this side of the mountain, his intuition told him to go the other way.
Well, no matter. If he came home empty-handed, there was still enough food to get through winter. If he came back with the same success as her, even better.
Rika sighed once more, closing her eyes and humming to herself.
SMASH.
Rika opened her eyes and leaped up, grabbing her bow, but before she was even fully up, a huge blast of wind rocketed into her, pushing her back into the ground, and she screamed, screamed as loud as she could.
Then it was over, and the trees were silent.
Rika stayed on the ground, shivering in fear for a moment. Then, she gulped and looked around.
The smell of ash was so strong, it burned her eyes, but she determinedly kept them open. The whole area, save just before her, had been completely incinerated. Steam was rising from the fresh charcoal on the ground, surrounding a large, scarlet boulder.
Rika blinked again, then strode over to the new arrival.
It looked like a ruby, a gem that had been freshly cut so that it was smooth and shining. Rika gasped as she leaned down and picked it up.
It easily used up all the space in her combined arms, but it wasn't at all heavy. It glimmered as if being glared upon by the sun, yet all there was in the sky were dark, gray clouds.
She rubbed the stone with her sleeve, looking at her grubby reflection in the surface. Then, she grinned.
It was beautiful! A perfect gift for Katrina, whom loved these kind of treasures.
Still grinning, Rika skipped over to the smoldering ashes that had just been her fire, but she didn't really care- she was way too happy.
She ripped open her very large pack and gently lay the stone at the bottom. Then, she stood up, untied all her kill from the large branches of the birch tree, wrapped them in the brown paper Garrow had sent her off with and shoved as much as she could in her pack, tying the rest to the sides.
She slid on the pack just as her eyes fell on the egg.
This one was purple- violet as her own eyes. It looked like an oversized crystal ball, it was shaped as so. The egg was as big as her face.
The smile slid off her face as she remembered her first day on this trip, how she's slipped on the egg while going uphill and almost broke her back. But soon enough, she smiled again.
She was just reaching out for the egg when the herd of deer went ricocheting through the clearing.
Rika, out of both surprise and instinct, leapt up, grabbed her bow and scanned the herd. She quickly found her prey- a young buck at the back of the group. Her aim was true as she shot it through the ribs, and it toppled over.
Rika raced over and tore out the arrow, her grin broadening even more. Venison! Excellent!
She, with a bit of difficulty, hoisted the dead animal over her shoulder and started striding toward the forest. She paused when she came to the egg, then shrugged and picked it up, tossing it into her pack.
Life just keeps getting better. Thought the girl as she disappeared into the woods and started the trek out of the Spine.
In a twirl of her golden skirt, Mimiru made the final turn toward the bakery and stepped into it's warm front, swishing a hand through her hair to rid it of the new snowflakes. She looked around at the glazed wooden interior, not noticing that the only other one in the room, the boy at the till, was staring at her with a foolish grin plastered upon his face.
"Ah, Lady Mimi, what a surprise!"
Mimi turned around and looked at the dark, handsome young man. Her heart sank a bit, but she flashed a brilliant white smile.
"Tayoko! I didn't expect you to be here!"
"Neither did I, but father's been slacking on the job. Look, Mimi, I've been meaning to ask you-"
"Look, Tayoko, I'm quite busy, I'm supposed to be over at Sora's right now, but Garrow wants me to do this first." Mimi said desperately, knowing exactly what was coming next. By the openly disappointed look on the boy's face, she knew her assumption was correct. "I'll have three loaves of honey oat, two of whole-grain, and could you spare me a pasty?"
The dark look on Tayoko's face vanished. "Of course, lady!"
And so, Mimi spent the next five minutes waiting at the till while Tayoko ran in and out of the back room, bringing her desired things. Finally, he came back with her pasty.
"So how much do I owe you?" She asked, taking the sweet from him.
"Let's make it on the house today, shall we?"
"You're too kind, thank-"
She was interrupted when the man seized her face and forced his lips onto hers.
Mimi's brown eyes widened as his tounge slid practically all the way down her throat. Within a couple of seconds, he withdrew.
"Why don't we take this to the back?" He asked, placing his mouth to her palm, nipping at the skin under the glove in such a way it made her want to puke.
Without hesitation and as hard as she could, she slapped Tayoko's cheek. He reeled back in shock as she grabbed her things and threw two coppers at him.
"It's less than you deserve." She spat before throwing open the shop door and racing out into the snowy night.
Once she was out there, she let a furious cascade of tears race down her cheeks. She stomped back out of Carvahall and went the whole ten miles to her family's wooden cottage without stopping. She threw open the front door to find her brother, Roran, and one of her best friends, Katrina, in a passionate liplock over the table.
It felt like she'd just been pierced in the heart with a flaming hot knife as new tears sprung into her eyes. The two jumped when the door slammed behind Mimi. Roran grinned when he saw her.
"Ah, Mimi, glad to see you, I- Mimi, are you okay?"
Mimi shook her head furiously and threw her bag onto the table. "Tell Papa that I'm going to Sora's." She said shakily, then threw open the door once more and raced out toward her friends.
She didn't know why the sight of Roran and Katrina kissing had made her so upset. The two were crazy about each other, they'd been dating for months, and she was ecstatic to have one of her closest friends as a sister-in-law.
No, that was a lie, Mimi knew why she was so sad. It was the fact that she could never find love like Roran and Katrina had. Sure, she was fairly stunning, and she was hit on by almost all the men in Carvahall, (some even old enough to be her father) but none of them loved her for who she was. They wanted her for looks, for her body, for sex.
She spat in the snow. It was her virginity, and hell, no way was she going to give it up for sickos like that. She had everything, Mimiru did- looks, uniqueness (aka the shoulder-length silky head of pink hair dotted with gold on her head), and she could get men whenever she turned… but just her luck, the thing she most wanted she couldn't have- a man who truly loved her and would go to the ends of the earth- and stay there- with her.
It seemed hopeless, she thought as she strode through the drifts up to her best friend's cabin.
Outside, to her relief, Sora's brother, Albriech, and her father, Horst, were hanging things out to air. Sora's mother, Elain, was sitting in a rocking chair on the porch, a couple of large sticks clacking and twirling in her hands as she crocheted.
Albriech was the first to see her, and he waved, jumped off the porch and ran to her. "Hey Mims, you're late, Sora's getting wor- Mimi, what wrong?"
Mimi tried to speak, but nothing came out. Instead, she threw her arms around Albreich's neck and started sobbing into his shoulder.
Before she knew it, she'd been led into the kitchen of Sora's house, and the whole family was there- Sora on one side, her arm around her friend's shoulder, Elain on the other side, handing her a handkerchief, Horst and Albriech sitting across the table from them and Baldor, Sora's middle brother, bustling behind them, making tea as she, between sobs and hiccoughs, told the family what had happened at the bakery.
After she'd finished, Horst stood, muttering something angrily under his breathe. Albriech cursed Tayoko in about three different ways, and Baldor poured them all a cup of tea, handing the first to Mimi. She nodded, draining her cup very quickly, ignoring her tounge's protest.
"I swear, the next chance I get to see Tayoko, I'll pummel him." Growled Elain in a very un-Elainish manner. Sora also drained her cup, then turned her worried brown eyes to Mimi.
"Mother, Father, if you don't mind, Mimi and I will head out."
Elain sighed and nodded as Sora ran back up the stairs to get her pack for the sleepover at Mimi's house. Horst turned around and put his larger hand over both of Mimi's.
"If he bothers you again, come straight her, alright?" He said, but not unkindly. Mimi nodded and Horst smiled at her before going up the stairs also.
Two minutes later, Sora came back downstairs, and with a quick goodbye t Elain and the brothers, the two had headed outside once more.
"Are you okay?" Sora asked. Mimi shrugged.
"It's just that I'm so sick of everyone hitting on me like that. All I want is a guy that really loves me, and yet all I can get are lechers!"
She furiously kicked a stone out of her way.
"But why am I blabbing to you? You've got Yamato."
Sora blushed. "Mimi!" and she laughed. Pretty soon, Sora joined her.
BANG.
The two girls shrieked and leapt back, grabbing hold of each other as a huge bale of wind ripped past them.
But it stopped before they could stop screaming. Mimi opened one eye and gasped.
"Sora, look!"
Right in their path, a big, golden jewel was planted at their feet. It glittered immensely, casting yellow beams of light on everything. It gave off the look of leather, kind of like cow hide. It quivered in the cold night air.
Without thinking, Mimi bent over and picked it up.
"Mimi, what're you doing?" Sora hissed. "It could be dangerous, leave it be!"
The stone had stopped quivering at Mimi's touch. She gently stroked it, as if it were a crying infant.
"Let's take it to my place." She said, and Sora let out a cry of rage. "Sora, leave it be, let's go."
She'd taken two steps before she realized Sora wasn't following her. She turned to see her friend staring at the spot where her feet had just been with wide eyes.
"Okay, now you're freaking me out."
"Wha- what're you-"
"Mimi, how'd you do that!"
She pointed, and Mimi's gaze followed.
Sitting there in the snow, on the side of the road, were two eggs. One was blue spotted pink. The other was lime green. They were both about the size of the lid of a barrel.
Mimi gasped as Sora knelt down to them.
"These weren't here before! Okay, something really weird is going on here."
She paused, then reached out and snatched the eggs from the drift.
"Oh, look who's grabbing things now." Mimi said sarcastically, although she couldn't hide the fear in her quivering voice.
Sora stood back up and almost toppled over from the weight of both eggs. She held one out to Mimi- the lime green one.
"What?"
"Here, I can't carry both of these, and that rock of yours looks like it weighs an ounce."
"Are you crazy, Sora?"
"Oh, says the woman who picked up the rock that appeared out of thin air. At least these didn't come with an explosion."
Mimi looked from Sora to the eggs to Sora and the eggs and back before giving in and taking the lime green one. But she had this left to say;
"Yours is prettier."
Roran and Katrina stared at the door after Mimi, then looked at each other.
"I wonder what's wrong?" Katrina was clearly puzzled as to why one of her dearest friends in the whole wide world wouldn't tell her something like that. Roran bit his lip.
"Yeah…"
"Is Mimi back?" Garrow came running into the room, and he looked puzzled when there were only 2 in the dining room.
"Where is she?"
"She just ran out, but she was crying and she looked really upset-" Roran stood up out of his chair.
Garrow swore and grabbed his buckskin jacket. "Those bastards better not have upset my Mimiru again…"
He, too, raced out the door and down the path.
Roran sighed and put his forehead in his hand. Katrina came around the table and started rubbing his shoulders.
"Whoa, all these knots, you're sure stressed!" Katrina said, and Roran looked up at her.
"Nothing a little time from you can't fix."
She smiled and pressed her lips against his again.
After a couple of minutes, their bursting lungs got the better of them, and they separated to breathe. Roran stood up again and took Katrina's hand.
"Let's take a walk around the back, shall we?"
Katrina smiled, and he led her out to the back, past the livestock corral. They stood and stared up at the purple sky, from which all the fluffy snowflakes were falling.
"It's beautiful." Katrina whispered, pushing her body into Roran's. He smiled and leaned down to kiss her again.
They were broken apart only by the crying and bleating of several of the sheep. The two lovers turned to see what the commotion was about.
"Alright, break it up, break it up." Roran yelled, jumping over the fence and pushing a couple of ewes aside, Katrina falling in after him. "Come on guys, mo- bloody hell…"
"What is it?" Katrina asked, almost frightfully. "Roran?"
"Katrina- Katrina, look at this!" Roran said, picking up the object he had been referring to. Katrina saw it and gasped.
They were two large eggs. The one Roran was holding was snow-white with a small yellow spike set on the top and decorated with dark blue zigzags across the shell. The other one, still on the ground, was pale pink, and it looked like rose petals were painted on it's exterior.
Katrina picked up the rose one and examined it. "It's ice cold…" She said. Then, her green eyes widened.
"Roran, they'll freeze!"
"Here,- er-" Truth be told, he wasn't very concerned about whether what was inside it would die, more like where it came from, and why. "Um- don't you think-"
"Here Roran, bring them in the house!" Katrina yelled, dashing back and disappearing around the corner of the cottage.
Roran sighed and followed her.
He's provided each of them with a blanket. While Roran had just covered his and set it on the table, Katrina was furiously rubbing it, as though it were alive.
"C'mon- c'mon stupid thing-"
"Katrina, what do you think it's going to do, say hello?" Said Roran irritably.
Just as Katrina opened his mouth to respond, the door flew open, and in ran Mimi and Sora, covered in snow and breathing as though they'd just run a marathon.
"You won't believe-"
"Just appeared-"
"BOOM-"
"Huge wind-"
"Guys, calm down!" Katrina said helplessly as the door opened again and Eragon strode in. He leaned against the table and took a few steady breaths.
Two minutes later, Rikaru raced in, in the same state as the first three. Before Roran could even welcome the latter two home again, they all burst out the same thing-
"You won't believe what just happened!"
There ya have it, chappie two of Fight or Flight!
Review PLS!