Disclaimer: I do not own Zelda: Twilight Princess or the Inheritance Cycle.
Eragon was heading down a dirt path, following it through a peaceful green meadow that reminded him of the area around Leona Lake. In the distant a magnificent white castle towered above the surrounding area to touch the azure sky above. He had never seen this castle before, or the field and the dusty road that wound through it, but it all seemed vaguely familiar.
Eragon suddenly stopped. A woman was walking toward him, her arms extended in a gesture of welcome. She was radiant, even surpassing Arya with her beauty. The woman had pale skin with blueish skin and wore fine black garments, complete with a headdress, fit for a queen. Despite the royal air about her, the woman's smile was impish and her yellowish eyes had a mischievous gleam.
The Dragon Rider grinned back at the woman. Though her face was unfamiliar, it felt as though he wore meeting a very old and dear friend after a long time apart. He began to walk again, this time to greet the mysterious stranger.
Before he could reach her, the sky suddenly grew dark. The woman's care-free smile disappeared, her eyes wide and expression fearful as she stared at something behind Eragon. He reached for his sword, intent on whirling around and striking down whatever was scaring her. As he touched the hilt, his attention focused on a new threat.
A dark cloud had began to gather around the white castle. It continued to grow, smothering the building of sunlight until it was no longer visible. Suddenly the cloud surged away from the shrouded castle and rushed toward Eragon and the young woman.
The young woman did not see the cloud that was swiftly approaching. She was still transfixed on what stood behind Eragon. The Dragon Rider shouted a warning, telling the young woman to run away.
The dark cloud finally reached the woman and she was engulfed in blackness. Eragon screamed in horror, trying to run to her aid before it was too late. At that moment the cloud hit him and he began to feel a horrible fiery agony all over as he began to lose consciousness.
He spun around, his legs feeling almost too heavy to move, determined to catch a glimpse of what had frightened the woman.
Eragon caught the slightest glimpse of an inhuman face; distorted and mask-like in appearance, before he could no longer see. Then the cloud obscured his vision entirely, its ravaging pain tearing mercilessly at his unprotected body. He heard the echo of cruel laughter for a moment more than nothing....
"No!" Eragon's eyes shot open as he bolted up from his resting position. Looking around wildly, he found himself in unfamiliar, but cozy, surroundings. He was in a small hut, lying on a comfortable cot. A fire was crackling merrily in the far corner.
He looked around for a couple of seconds, wondering why he was in this strange room. Then he remembered the storm and the terrible accident that had happened because of it.
Eragon concluded that he must have been struck by lighting, the force of which knocked him unconsciousness and sent him flying off Saphira. Then someone, or something, had been kind enough to happen upon him and carried him back to their house for medical treatment.
But where exactly was here? This home looked nothing like any of the dwarfish houses he'd seen, that meant the storm hadn't dropped him anywhere near the Beor Mountains. He was also positive that this home didn't belong to any of the Varden, either.
Saphira? he asked cautiously, reaching out with his mind to search for his dragon. He recalled the roar of pain from the previous night and feared for the worst. His mind touched several strange minds, though all were untrained and didn't detect intrusion. Finally, he found who he was looking for.
Saphira's mind was calm and silent, and he picked nothing up from her but a brief glimpse of a forest from overhead. Eragon smiled. The blue dragon was sleeping soundly, dreaming of flying or perhaps hunting a deer.
Saphira? he quietly called again. The dragon slumbered on, too caught up in her dreams to hear her Rider's voice.
Eragon pulled away, knowing he had at least one answer. Wherever they were, Saphira trusted these people enough to leave her precious Rider in their hands without her constantly watching over him and was calm enough to sleep. That meant if Saphira could trust them, he could too.
The door to the hut suddenly opened and Eragon reflexively tensed, preparing for a fight if need be. A heavily pregnant woman with short blond hair entered the house, taking great care to close the door behind her. The woman glanced over in Eragon's direction and a brief look of surprise crossed her face at seeing her patient was awake.
"Glad to see you're finally up," she said. She gave Eragon a warm smile, looking down at him with kind blue eyes. Eragon returned the smile and relaxed. "My husband expected for you to be unconscious for several days. But you came around pretty quick considering the circumstances."
Eragon blinked. "Circumstances?"
"Yes. Rusl, my husband, said you fell from the sky and landed right in Ordon Spring. He claims that if you landed anywhere other than the spring, you'd wouldn't be here right now."
Eragon glanced over at his injured arm. It was heavily bandaged with strips of clean cloth and reeked of numerous herbs and charred flesh. For the first time since he had regained consciousness he noticed a faint throb of pain coming from the arm, but it paled in comparison to the cursed scar that Durza had left him.
"Not to be rude or anything, but where exactly am I?" he asked as he shifted his blue gaze from his bandaged arm to the pregnant woman.
The woman chucked. "Sorry, I sort of forget the basic introductions." She extended a hand and shook Eragon's uninjured one. "I'm Uli, and you're in Ordon Village."
"Ordon Village?"
Uli nodded and walked over to the fire and removed a pot that was boiling over the flames from it. As she poured some of the pot's contents into a bowl she said, "Yes, Ordon Village. You know, the small village stuck right in the middle of Faron Woods?" Uli received a blank stare in response. "I guess Hylian nobles such as yourself don't know about tiny, insignificant settlements like Ordon Village."
"Hylian nobles?" Eragon repeated.
Ordon Village? He couldn't recall any place with that name anywhere in Alagaesia. And what was a "Hylian?" Surely Eragon was still in Alagaesia? The storm couldn't have been so powerful that it had blown him and Saphira all the way out of their homeland...or could it have been?
Uli sighed. "You're not from Hyrule, are you?"
Eragon shook his head, deciding it was safe to not make up an alias if people in this strange land didn't even know who he was. "My name is Eragon," he replied. "I hail from Alagaesia."
"But you're still a Hylian," the woman protested, gesturing at his pointed ears. "The only people I know who have pointed ears like that are the Hylians that come from either Castle Town or Karkariko Village."
"I'm human, like you," Eragon explained. "I just...look a little different from the rest of you."
Uli nodded, though she did not look entirely convinced. "It would explain your dragon," she mused. "We certainly don't have any animals like that in Hyrule."
Eragon's ears pricked at the mention of the word "dragon." "My dragon?" he echoed anxiously. "Where is Saphira? Is she all right? Was she-"
"Your dragon is fine," she interrupted, sensing the bombard of questions that were about to ensue. "Her left wing was also hit by the lightning, but other than that she is in perfect health. Ilia and the other children have been kind enough to tend to her and are down by Ordon Spring right now. The spring has magical properties, you know. It is watched over by the Light Spirit, Ordona. I'm sure your dragon's wing heal in no time."
Magical properties? Light Spirit? The only magic that Eragon trusted right now was his own, and he certainly wasn't going to put Saphira's health in the hands of some nonexistent spirit. "Where is the spring?" he asked, making a move to get up.
"Oh, right outside of the village. Not like you'll be going anywhere today." Uli pressed Eragon back into the cot with a firm shove, handing him the wooden bowl and a spoon.
"But-"
"No complaints," Uli said in a firm tone that invited no argument. "You've been unconscious for nearly a day and your body needs to recuperate from that lightning strike. The entire village worked very hard to patch you up after that fall and I won't let you over-exert yourself and ruin all the work we managed to do."
Eragon sighed and nodded. He had met Uli for barely five minutes and already she came as a cross between Elain and Angela. He turned his attention to the soup, eyeing a chunk of....something that looked suspiciously like meat. "What exactly is in this soup?"
"Oh the usual. A bit of pumpkin, a dash of ginger, a fair helping of cheese."
"Cheese?"
"Yes." Uli fixed Eragon a wicked smile. "Ordon Village is quite famous for its goat-cheese."
00000000
A week had passed since Eragon had departed the Varden's camp at the Burning Plains for Orik's coronation and Arya was beginning to worry. According to the dwarfs, the Rider and dragon had still not arrived.
Their mysterious absence means nothing,Arya tried to tell herself. Eragon might have made an important detour or perhaps he and Saphira are taking their time and are searching the nearby mountains for any trace of surviving dragons. Yes, that's it! Saphira wanted to look for any living members of her kind and they are late because of this.
Despite her terrible attempts at trying to remain optimistic, Arya began to feel increasingly worried that Eragon and Saphira were late not of their own free will. Only something drastically important would cause Eragon to miss one of his best friend's coronation, and there were no whispers of anything major coming up, aside from the Dwarf King's ceremony.
To make matters worse, the dwarfs that lived in the southern vincity of the Beor Mountains, the area where Saphira was supposed to be in, had reported the worst storm in over fifty years had happened barely three days ago. What if Saphira had been caught in the storm and had been injured beyond capability of flight? What if she and Eragon were wandering in an isolated part of the wilderness, unable to contact either the Varden or the dwarves for help?
What if Saphira had perished in the storm and Eragon died along with her? Arya frowned, shaking the preposterous idea out of her head. It would take more than a simple thunderstorm to kill the infamous Eragon Shadeslayer. But, at least according to the dwarfs, that storm was the worst in over half a century....
The elf once again chastised her unrealistic worry. It had barely been a week, and there could be any number of possibilities of why Saphira had still not arrived at Tronjheim.
Besides, even if she wanted to, Arya couldn't confirm or disprove her fears. Eragon and Saphira were incapable of being scryed. She herself had examined the small charm that shielded the young Dragon Rider from being spied upon by any prying eyes, and found no suggestion that the spell that gave the silver hammer its protective properties was weakening.
Despite all her reasoning, Arya couldn't but feel a small prickle of unease. Sighing, the elf shoved the troublesome fears to the back of her head. Composed once again, Arya left the quiet sanctity of her tent to return to her chaotic life.
Meh, can't say I'm fully satisfied with this chapter. It was a bit of a filler; the action won't pick up until two chapters from now. The dream I sort of stuck in there. Eragon's whole vision he has right before major events (like the battle at the Burning Plains and leaving Alagaesia) seemed to fit in well with the hell he's about to receive. And I'm sure any TP fan can guess who that "mysterious woman" was.
Next chapter: Eragon recovers from the lightning strike, meets a couple of interesting locals and learns a bit of history on the Goddesses. Also, Murtagh and Thorn finally make it back at Uru'baen to report their failure to King Galbatorix....