Disclaimer: See the first chapter

Chapter 6

It was another three weeks and Storm was now quite big. Eve found she had to reach up to lay her hand on his back now. Storm thought it was great, though, and lorded his size over her. She found herself more often then not lounging in the hollow at the base of the gray dragon's neck, explaining the definitions of words so that the dragon learned to understand what she was saying.

One day Eve went by herself on hunt, hoping to get something bigger than a rabbit, which was fair impossible with a large dragon following her. She had just found a small herd of deer and was aiming for the large buck when something came crashing through the under growth, frightening the deer into fool flight. Rather than waste an arrow trying to hit a fleeing deer, Eve whipped around and aimed her bow at the intruder.

A large grizzly bear stood on its hind legs, snarling at her. With yelp, she loosed the arrow, which lodged itself in the bear's chest, but nothing more. With a squeak of fright, Eve turned and fled. The bear followed with an angry roar.

Reaching out with her mind, she touched her mind to Storm's. (Help! Storm!)

She felt her friends alarm and fear. (I come for you!)

Eve spotted a good sized tree. With extra burst of speed she made to the tree and was just out of the bear's reach when slammed into the poor tree. The tree swayed dangerously, and Eve knew that if the bear kept at it, the tree would fall over. Sure enough, the bear continued to shove its weight against the tree.

The sound of rushing wings eased Eve's worry as not only Storm, but Gabbosh as well came soaring into the meadow. Gabbosh landed first and swiped at the bear, sending it sprawling on the ground.

(Get on Storm's back, I do not want to kill this bear if I do not have to,) Gabbosh demanded.

Without needing to be told again, Eve was out of the tree and at Storm's side, clambering on to his back between his neck spikes. Storm barely waited for her to be seated before he was laboriously hauling the both of them up into the sky. As soon as the cleared the tree tops, Gabbosh joined them.

Eve sighed and relaxed. She took a moment to marvel that they were flying before gripping Storm's neck spike fearfully as he dipped a little.

(That was very stupid!) the gray dragon growled, and Eve was taken aback. She'd never heard any of the dragons mad before.

(I'm sorry,) Eve panted. (I didn't know there was a bear in the area.)

Storm grumbled, and she felt his anger in her mind. (No, you shouldn't have gone alone without telling me where you were going. If you need to hunt alone for bigger prey, tell me and I shall fly over head, far enough to not scare prey, but to be there if you need me.)

Eve blushed. (I thought you would be hurt if I told you I wanted to hunt alone.)

Storm snorted. (No, I understand the need, but I am very angry you left me.)

Eve ducked her head, feeling properly ashamed. (I didn't think, I'm sorry.)

(You will talk to me about things from now on, correct?) Storm growled.

(Yes, of course as long as you can stand my usually inane talking,) Eve jokes, trying to lighten the mood.

(Good, then enjoy the rest of the ride.) Storm sounded overly relieved, so Eve did as suggested and held on for dear life, but enjoyed it. It was awkward and she felt like she could slip off at any point. She made the decision then that riding a dragon without a saddle was unsafe.

They arrived at the cave without any further incident, but once there, Eve had to withstand a scolding from Valandera that wasn't nearly as fierce a Storm's, but more softened with extreme worry. Finally, after that was all done and said, Valandera turned to business.

(As you can tell, Storm is ready to bear your weight, so we will be doing something different,) Valandera said. (Storm and Verenov will accompany you every day while you go and hunt deer. You will need the leather to make a saddle, so that when you ride Storm, you are secure and your legs are safe from Storm's scales.)

So for the next two weeks, Verenov and Storm took Eve out to hunt deer after her magic lessons with Valandera. She now knew how to use magic to light a fire, cool water, call an animals to her, and make plants grow. Soon she'd be able to heal wounds, the only problem being that Valandera didn't want her practicing on her self quite yet.

In those two weeks, Eve felled four deer, hoping it was enough to get started on a saddle. The hardest part was making it. Valandera knew the design, but Eve didn't have the proper tools to punch the holes or to sew the pieces together. Also in this time, Storm took her on short flights. Not enough to damage her legs, but just enough to fly over the grassy plains below the cliff to see Flame and back.

She'd been with the dragons for three and half months when she completed the saddle and learned a good set of working ancient words. She knew that soon, Valandera would want her to take the eggs and go back to the Empire, but she didn't really feel ready yet.

Eve was sitting in the cave with Valandera sewing the left over leather together to make a sturdy pack to hold the eggs safely. She had saved four rabbit skins which she planned to line the bag with, when she felt brave enough to ask the question she had been wondering about for a while now.

"Valandera, why didn't you die with your Rider?" Eve asked quickly.

The white dragon sighed gustily. (I had wondered when you would ask, and the truth is that I abandoned my Rider.)

Eve gasped. Valandera was brave and wise, she couldn't believe the white would abandon her Rider... At least not without good reason. (Why?) Eve asked.

Valandera smiled. (He was one of the last to join Galbatorix, but not willingly. Galbatorix tortured my Rider for weeks, till fnally he was able to break into his mind and find his true name. My Rider was forced into submission, but before his mind was turned, he told me to flee and make sure that dragons survived, that they didn't die out. When Galbatorix killed him a year later, it recoiled into me so fiercely it blinded me.)

Eve stared, horrified. "What if he does the same to me?"

Valandera sighed. (He could, so the trick is to not get caught.)

Eve felt relieved at the news. "So then I shall avoid the egg breaker till I am stronger. Thank you for telling me."

Valandera shrugged. (Now you tell me how long you plan to procrastinate and come up with little things that you have to do before you leave?)

Eve blushed and thought it over quickly. "Well, I need to get another deer and dry the meat so that I have enough to last me when we can't hunt. I need to finish this pack, and I need to master that healing spell."

Valandera nodded. (Good. Then you better get started, it would be best you be gone from here before winter.)

So Eve hunted a caught the deer that she needed for meat. She also pondered over which eggs she should take. She had decided she wouldn't take the red one, figuring that since there was already one in Galbatorix's hands, she wouldn't want to cause confusion. She wouldn't have taken the black if it hadn't hatched into Storm because of its black color and having heard that Galbatorix's dragon was black. She liked the bronze, so it was coming, but it was a tough choice between the other three.

Eve had the deer meat drying, and was sitting next to the fire using her extra time to make new boots. Her last boots were worn through and too cramped for her toes anymore. Storm had taken to flying her all over with the excuse of testing the saddle. She could feel his eagerness to be gone and it sped her in her preparations to leave.

And so, by the end of the day marking four months with the dragons, she was ready.

AN: Okay folks I'm going on a trip and I'm planning on taking my laptop but unless I get some reviews I just might decide updates can wait till I get back. So it's up to you if I update some time in the week.

maddie short but sweet. Hope you like this chapter as well

Khori I'm glad you've been enjoying the fic, and thank you for always having something nice to say. And great job editing the last chapter. I didn't even notice that I typed pound instead of pond.

Crogi-Girl Thanks for reveiwing sis. And no even if you ask nicely I won't let you read ahead. This is what I get for showing my little sister the fanfiction. Don't you make fun of Storm's name I think it's cute!