Here's chapter two. As I should have told you in the first chapter, this story is based on fictional events that I created based after the end of the series. As no one other than Paolini himself knows the real ending, then I'll have to make it up as I go along. I only used the characters and places. All other events are my own. So now that I've delivered that tidbit, Enjoy! Please R&R.-

Chapter 2

Saphira stirred restlessly. Her dreams were troubled with visions of her past, filled with blood soaked fields, gore covered soldiers, and the eyes of soldiers as they burst into flames. She tried to push the images away but they kept returning some more violent and disturbing than others. The frightened cries of children, the weeping of mothers and wives, and the laughter of those cruel monsters at the sound of their victims suffering. 'Saphira?' Eragon's voice was a welcome relieve to Saphira's troubled sleep. 'Saphira, Are you alright, your scales are burning.' Saphira lifted her right wing to vent some heat away from Eragon and replied, 'I'm alright Eragon; It was just a nightmare. Memories of the past horrors that we witnessed was all it was.' Eragon sighed, he had long suspected that those atrocities would come back and haunt their sleep, it was always to be expected. 'Saphira, I knew that these things would haunt us, all we can hope for is that we will some how be able to cope with them in the future.' Saphira looked up at the Grey and black sky, occasional claps of thunder shattered the near total silence. It had been so casual to slaughter those men, so easy… In spite of all the killing it had never affected her so why had it started to now? She slowly stood up and surveyed the surroundings. She hadn't noticed it before but everything within a twenty foot radius had died. Trees were brown and drooping, animals lay dead in several places, and some seemed to have died mid actions, others peacefully in their sleep. 'Eragon, you shouldn't have done this. Haven't we killed enough already?' Eragon looked around at the destruction that he had caused and sighed, it was true that the sacrifice of so many lives was wrong but when it came to Saphira he didn't care what he did. All that mattered was making sure that she was happy and well.

Saphira let out a loud sigh as the rain began to fall again and asked Eragon in a resigned sort of way, 'Should we rest another day and wait for the rain to pass or do you want to get moving in the rain?' Eragon looked up into the sky and tried to judge if there was any chance that it might become too dangerous to fly through. Eragon decided that if it became too dangerous that they would put down immediately and wait out the storm but he couldn't deny that he was eager to see Roran and his young nephew again. He hadn't had much time to see or say anything to them the last time they had met, shortly after the birth of Roran's son whom he had named Garrow after their father. Katrina had flat out refused to allow Roran to accompany Eragon into battle and He really couldn't blame her. They had had an earsplitting argument that night that finally ended with Roran agreeing to remain behind with her and their baby. Saphira hadn't mentioned it but Eragon could tell that she was jealous of Katrina because of what she had. Katrina had a love and a family but where was Saphira in that field, alone, with only her rider and friends to provide her comfort for her worries and cares. But she felt empty and Eragon knew it, she wanted more than anything to be like other mothers and wives, safe with their husbands, only caring about how to raise their family. Everyone knew that it was extremely unlikely that that would she would ever be able to enjoy those simple pleasures of life. Eragon came to a decision, he and Saphira would fly on until the rain became too thick to fly through and then set down and wait it out. He climbed wearily into the saddle and viewed the surroundings one last time. In all honesty he was angry with himself because of what he had done to the surrounding forest and all its inhabitants. But he couldn't live without Saphira, if she were to die at this very moment, rather than holding on to life and continuing to live; he would willingly pass on into the unknown death so as to continue to live with her.

Eragon's eyes stung with sudden tears as he thought of the Idea of losing her, it was an unbearable truth that one day no matter how far in the future; her light and life was destined to fade from this world. He looked down at Saphira's back at let his tears fall as he thought about all of the things in life that she wanted but would never get. Family, love; all the things that he and thousands more had in abundance but she had none, alone and forgotten. A shining tear slid from his face and fell to his hand. It was a tear that fell for Saphira, for the pain that he felt for her but little did he know that that one tear held more power any the riders had ever cast. It fell upon his hand and a burning pain shot through his hand. His skin writhed and crawled and felt as though dragon fire had been set upon it. As suddenly as the pain started it Stopped and Eragon looked down upon his hand but what he saw nearly made his heart stop. A shinning silver scale glittered like a diamond in the clouded half darkness of the afternoon sky. 'This is impossible, that can't be happening!' He thought furiously to himself as he prodded the scale to check that it was genuinely real. He felt the touch of another mind and heard a voice inside his head; one that he had heard before, 'Eragon, know this, love is far more powerful than the most destructive of magics. In time you'll see this as my old eyes now do. In life I would have discouraged such a path but now I see that you would be far happier following this path.' Eragon was visibly shaking as he asked, 'Brom? Is that you?' No voice came in response but He was sure that it had been that of Brom. He looked back down at his hand and saw that that scale had turned back to flesh and Eragon decided that he would talk to Arya about this when he next saw her.

* * *

The Rain pounded down harder with each passing minute and even though Saphira flew at a slow pace, each rain drop felt like a stone thrown from a sling. Eragon thought longingly of the tree houses of Ellesméra. He even thought about being in the middle of circle of fire created by Saphira, it would be dangerous but at least he'd be warm and dry. Saphira touched Eragon's mind in a half hearted way, she wanted to talk to him about the dream she had shared with him last night but she was unsure about how he would take it. It was after all a rather large intrusion on his most private of sanctuaries. 'Yes, Saphira? What is it?' Saphira hesitated, wondering how best to approach what she wanted to talk about. It still seemed to her that what she did was intrusive and wrong but she was eager to hear his side of it. 'I wanted to ask you something about your dream last night Eragon.' Saphira said it in such a bold way that it sounded almost accusatory but it was better to get it out quick than to try to endlessly avoid the subject. Eragon was silent for a few minutes which left Saphira to believe that she had indeed done something wrong but then he answered. 'Saphira I let you view my dream, you needn't feel worried about it. I felt you trying to enter my mind even while I slept and I didn't much feel like pushing you out.' Saphira was silent. The fact that he had allowed her into his mind even when she could have been some mage was incredible. It was possible that at that point he didn't have the strength to resist an intruder and if that were the case the her going to sleep might have endangered both of them. Saphira sighed, it was good to know that he trusted her but what had he meant by letting her view his dream. 'Eragon, what was your dream about?' Eragon didn't answer immediately, he was thinking about how best to answer her. The truth of he matter was that the dream had represented a deep desire that Eragon only ever considered in dreams but which he refused to accept in reality. To tell her exactly what it meant when he himself felt ashamed of what it held was something that he couldn't handle. He decided to tell her only part of the truth, that way he could satisfy her curiosity and hide its true meaning. 'Saphira, I dreamed about you having everything that you always wanted, a family, love. I thought that you might like to see that I am thinking about that too. I worry about you and your happiness.' Eragon felt Saphira's gratitude and was relieved when she didn't press the matter further. It was true that deep down he admitted to desires that were impossible, thats what dreams were for after all, but when it came to the reality of the dream, thats all it was.

Eragon suddenly remembered the dragon that they had encountered the night before, he had thought about telling Saphira but now it just seemed unimportant. This dragon had saved Eragon and Saphira while displaying abilities that he had thought impossible. Saphira craned her neck to look at Eragon as she felt the wonder emanating from him. 'What are you thinking about, Little One?' Eragon didn't respond immediately as he considered if it was a good idea to tell her about that dragon of the night before. Certainly he should but the fact still remained that he alone had seen it. Could it have all have been a dream brought on by lack of sleep and the gust of wind merely coincidence? Deciding to tell her for her opinion he said, 'I'm fine Saphira, I was just thinking about that dragon I saw last night.' Saphira looked out across the horizon as Eragon began explaining the encounter, intently holding on to every word, trying to make sense of what he told her. It was an impossible event, in more ways than one but that was what added to its wonder because it had happened and both She and Eragon knew it. What bothered her was the message that the Dragon had had for Eragon, it seemed to her that it was telling him something of importance but it hadn't told him exactly what they needed to know. How was Eragon to know the correct path to walk when there were so many different paths to choose. Another thing that bothered her was the humbling feeling she felt when she thought about this dragons description. It was a feeling that made her want to fall to her gut with her head under her wings, an overwhelming feeling of servility that she did not like it. Eragon felt her discomfort but there was nothing he could do to relieve her of the feeling. Several minutes passed and neither of them said anything more about the Dragon or the events of the previous day. Eragon did wonder about what had become of Shruikan but that thought generally led him to one of two topics, Nasuada and Murtagh. He wondered what had happened to Murtagh, his half brother. Granted that ever since Murtagh had been enslaved by Galbatorix, Eragon had refused to think about Murtagh as a brother at all, but now that Galbatorix's hold over Murtagh must surely have vanished, Eragon wondered what had happened to him. It wasn't just Murtagh that he was worried about but the young dragon, Thorn. They had fled when with Eragon's and Saphira's help they had managed to put up a barrier against the usage of ones true name. They had used Glaedr's Eldunari to channel the power needed to make the barrier but it had been worth it. Murtagh had immediately flown away towards the coast with the intent of flying as far as he could out across the ocean. He had hoped to find lands unknown but Eragon was beginning to lose the hope that he had succeeded, what he had meant to do was nearly impossible.

Saphira began to descend, angling towards a line of trees about a mile away. Eragon noticed the change in her flight and asked, 'Tired, Saphira?' Saphira kept her mind focused on the decent as she answered, 'No Eragon, I can't fly into Du Weldenvarden.' Eragon looked at the tree line and realized that it was indeed the southern edge of Du Weldenvarden. Saphira and Eragon both were awed at the amount of force that gust of wind must have had to have pushed them all the way to Du Weldenvarden from Uru'baen. After a few minutes Saphira landed with a light thud into the rain soaked ground on the outskirts of the forest. The forest looked just as dark and mysterious as it had when Eragon had first laid eyes on it but deep within those trees was his cousin, his nephew, and so many friends that he missed greatly. From where they were as Eragon had gathered from the air, the closest elven city was Osilon, which neither he or Saphira had ever been to. Saphira walked slowly towards the forests edge, eager to be under the shelter of the trees. 'Eragon? What do you think happened to Shruikan?' Eragon didn't answer, have had the subject raised so many times in his sleep he knew that avoiding the subject was next to impossible especially when they entered Ellesméra. It was an unfortunate truth that Islanzadi would want a full account of what transpired in the throne room. 'Well,' Eragon mused to himself, 'at least she'll be more graceful about my exhaustion than Roran.' Eragon thought back through each blow of the battle, how he himself guarded his mind as well mentally shielding his body from the shocks of Saphira's battle with Shruikan. As he reached the killing blow against Galbatorix his heart sped up as if in the anticipation of reviewing the event that ended the war against the mad tyrant. He soon came to realize that what he was feeling was fear, not anticipation. As he thought about those bloody event he came to realize one painful fact. They had had too easy a time in defeating the tyrant, it had only lasted ten minutes, if that.

The truth was that Galbatorix had a virtually limitless supply of power for his magic and yet his body never healed, his swordplay was with the air of a man with other things on his mind. Another thought occurred to Eragon as he remembered all of the Eldunari that they hadn't bothered looking for. 'A fool, thats what I am to have left the way marked for a repeat of the last hundred years events.' Saphira stopped walking as she sensed her riders distress. 'What is the matter Eragon?' Eragon looked at her, realizing that he hadn't answered her question. 'I'm Sorry Saphira, I wasn't paying attention, what happened to Shruikan is anyones guess but why are you concerned? Its not like he can't take care of himself.' Saphira let out an irritated snort and turned her head to stare at Eragon before saying, 'You insult me. I asked just now about your wellbeing, not that of another Dragon. Please answer me; What's wrong?' Eragon grimaced in anger, she had obviously been more concerned about Shruikan than himself otherwise she would have asked about him first. Part of Eragon, that part closest to his anger wanted to scream at Saphira but that other part of him, that part closest to reason realized something was wrong. He had never felt this angry at Saphira, what he was feeling was beyond even the anger he had felt towards the Ra'zac after Garrow's death. It had fast grown into a incredible torrent of rage that made one even as strong as Saphira cower. 'What's wrong with me? I've no reason to be this angry at Saphira let alone anything else.' Saphira tried to contact his mind but found that he had gone beyond reason. Eragon prodded his conscience as the overwhelming anger grew in him and before the anger completely consumed him he felt another mind, another power controlling his emotions.

Eragon climbed down off of the saddle and before he had a chance to take control of his mind, it burst from him. He began screaming all manner of vile insults into her head, claiming that her love for him had all been an act and that she would have taken an Urgal as rider over Eragon in a minute. Saphira tried to close her mind to the demented ranting of her rider but some force kept her from do so as Eragon went on to calling her everything from useless to the most profane names he knew in Urgal, Common, Ancient, and Dwarven. Soon after the language ceased Eragon turned and stormed off into the thick of Du Weldenvarden. Saphira stood there in utter shock as the full impact of what he had done hit her. The tears of a dragoness who had been wounded deeper then any physical wound fell from her face as she threw herself down on the ground and wept for the first time in her life. Her voice lifted up into a roar of pain that no words could describe. Eragon meanwhile had gotten to a point in the forest where a clearing had formed. Alone in the half-light he breathed hard as if he had battled for hours. Before he had time to collect himself, and elf came out from behind the nearest tree. It was Arya. Eragon's heart lifted in spite of himself but before he could say hello she had dropped her composure and punched Eragon with all the strength an enraged elf could muster. Eragon felt a fist collide with his face so hard that he was lifted of his feet and thrown against a nearby tree. 'You bastard!! How dare you do such an evil thing to Saphira. A thousand curses of misfortune should follow you until one of them ends your miserable existence.'
Eragon was about to respond angrily before the spell was lifted of of him. In a split second after Arya had punched him he felt a pain of loss so severe that he felt as though he knew what it was like to die. He heard the echoing of her cries through both the forest and his soul, the cries of Saphira. His heart which seemed a moment before to be as cold as ice, felt her hurt as well as his. He couldn't believe what he had just done but the pain in his jaw from the punch was enough to prove to him that this was no nightmare. He turned from Arya and ran into the forest towards Saphira. He didn't care if she broke his body, he had to comfort her, his soul needed her forgiveness, he needed her to listen as he tried to tell her how sorry he was. 'Saphira! Please....'

The branches slapped at his face as if the entire forest conspired to keep him away from Saphira. Deep within him a strength unknown grew, a power that coursed through his body like fire. 'Saphira...Please...' The power that had manipulated him returned to his mind once again but the new found power that flowed through his body and mind and kept this power at bay. Saphira meanwhile had caught Eragon's scent, strong and familiar as it had always been. Although she felt an immense fury towards Eragon, her heart still felt a love for him, the love that passed understanding. She stood and face the scent with a snarl on her face. She would not let her heart be crushed again. She heard footsteps approaching, but these were louder than they should have been. They could best be described as the the sound of echoing thunder but they came closer with each passing second. The scent grew stronger and stronger until it became an overwhelming scent that to her felt like burning desire she had felt the night of the Dagshelgr. 'What is this? Why do I feel this way?' Saphira took a step towards the forest as her feelings grew stronger wiping away her pain and sorrow and replacing it with curiosity at this new sensation. Before she had moved more than three feet, the trees parted.

Taller than she, with eyes of steel, whose scales glowed in the half light stood...

'No... that's impossible...'

Let me know what you thought. Chapter 3 is up next.