Well I've finally finished chapter 8, it would have been done sooner but I've been on a two week Dragon age binge. It m asay have affected my writing a bit so please tell me your opinion.
Chapter 8
Eragon laughed in an exhilarated way as Saphira launched herself through the canopy of trees. The speed with which she moved told Eragon that she was just as happy to be in the air with him just as much as he was. He locked his knees to her neck, grabbing one of the spikes on her back as she corkscrewed her way through the air. When she leveled out she turned her head to look at him, one eye glinting as she asked, "Are you okay?"
He laughed as he shifted his position slightly so he could reach the underside of her neck. He scratched her neck in a reassuring way, while her eyes closed pleasantly. He smiled as he said, "I'm fine, that was nothing. If you want to throw me off you'll have to do better than that."
She opened her eyes to glare at him, her mouth half opening in an indignant snarl. Her eyes glossed over as Eragon applied more force to the area he was scratching. He felt her pulse quicken through his legs as he continued to scratch. It was as though he knew exactly what to do to please her.
She sighed. The feeling was so pleasurable that she was beginning to lose the focus of remaining airborne. Eragon noticed this as well when the flapping of her wings became saerratic. He smiled wider and continued his actions. Saphira was in a daze of pleasure, never had she felt like this, the feeling stemming from his ministration and flowing to every nerve in her body. She began to lose height as her wings flapped randomly. Feeling that he probably should stop he asked, "Do you want me to stop?"
She was in such a state of bliss that she almost didn't register what he had said, it wasn't until her leg skimmed a tree branch that she realized what was happening. Mentally shaking herself she steadied and flapped hard to rise once more into the air.
Looking back at Eragon she dipped her head in acknowledgement. Eragon stopped scratching her neck, keenly aware as he did so of the cramp he had developed in his fingers. Saphira immediately missed the pleasurable feeling but knew that it was unwise to continue like that, it was likely to make her crash. Eragon repositioned himself on her back and sighed as he observed the horizon. The line where the sky touched the earth was not nearly interesting enough to take his mind of what he was feeling. The pleasure that he had just given to Saphira echoed in him as well. He was visibly shaking with the feelings that were running through him. His own feelings of happiness and contentment from what he had been doing blended and mixed with Saphira's pleasure and happiness, forming in his mind a feeling of such complexity and wonder that Eragon was at a lose for words. He couldn't find it in himself to stop the trembling of his body. He became aware that he was feeling the tremors of Saphira's body as well. Her heart pounded against her ribs, the air in her lungs screaming to be released in a groan of ecstasy at the remnants of pleasure that coursed through her very blood. Her mind was on fire, teeming with the every second of the event. Eragon knew that she was doing everything within her power to stay in the air. He leaned closer to her and whispered to her mind, "Let go..."
Eragon immediately gripped as hard as he could as the barrier in Saphira's mind against her own feelings broke. The pupils of her eyes grew wide as she reared back in the air and let out a roar the likes of which he had never heard before. Before he could place what it was she had shot into the air. Riding against the currents, spinning and twirling violently through the air. Eragon was holding on for dear life as he knew that had released Saphira's inner most feelings. The only way that she could release the feelings was exertion. After many episodes of impossible triples corkscrews and blinding loops that nearly unseated him, Saphira calmed. The fire in her body and mind reduced to smoldering cinders. Her heart still beat hard and her body trembled slightly but otherwise she was back to normal. Trembling, Eragon repositioned himself on her back, keenly aware as he did so, of the horrible cramps in both of his legs. Eragon knew that this event had been one that had long been delayed from happening and though he felt sure that there were to be more events such as these in the future, this first one had served to pull he and Saphira closer together. Saphira looked at her rider, her breathing deep and heavy. He had done so much for her in the last few moments that she had no way of voicing it. Deciding in the end to let it go for now she asked in her cool female voice, "Do you want to return to Ellesmera to rest?"
Eragon knew that he had used much of his recovered energy in holding on during her frenzied flight. He nodded in agreement but added, "Yes but I do not wish to return to Ellesmera, is there somewhere else we can go to rest?"
Saphira dipped her head in agreement. Though he had not said it she knew that he didn't want to go back because of the imprisonment he had suffered.
She sighed and said, "I had a feeling that you wouldn't want to go back to Ellesmera so I looked for a new area to rest while I was hunting, the old dragon nesting grounds." Eragon was surprised that she would suggest such a place, mainly because of the evils that been committed there in the past. In the end Eragon trusted to Saphira's feelings on the matter and agreed. He was eager to spend his time with Saphira alone. It had been so long since they had had a moment to themselves without some one interrupting. Saphira angled herself to Ellesmera, if they were going to leave Ellesmera they were going to need supplies.
Saphira landed with a soft thud on the ground just outside Roran's house less ten minutes later. She hadn't been in any particular hurry to return to the elven capital. Eragon had expected to see Roran up at this hour as well as Katrina but what he hadn't expected to see was a distinctly disgruntled Katrina and a bawling Garrow. She gave Saphira a scathing look as she rocked the restless child in her arms, doing everything she could to get the child to fall asleep. Eragon looked at her questioningly and Katrina answered in a low hiss, 'You both scared him this morning when you took off for your flight, what were you thinking? Roaring like that while Garrow was sleeping.'
Saphira shifted sheepishly, genuinely looking abashed for what she had done. She had not meant to frighten the child. She apologized to Katrina and even offered to help relax the babe. Katrina, far from looking grateful, rose to her feet and stormed away rocking the child gently saying as she did so, 'This is my child not yours, he needs to know my voice for comfort not yours.' Eragon thought that she had been rather harsh to say this but knew that as Garrow's mother she had every right to do as she saw fit. Parenthood was a long and difficult road, one he felt he was unlikely ever to experience, its many rewards closed to him as much as Saphira. He knew that Saphira felt the same way he did in this matter for it was the one subject in this time of peace that weighed heavily one both of them. Roran was carefully cleaning old blood stains off of the war hammer that the dwarves had given him shortly before the final battle. He had been reluctant to use it over the smiting hammer he had previously been using but the superior strength and lighter build of the hammer had warranted its use over Roran's usual weapon. The grime on the metal of the blade was proving to be difficult to remove but he plowed on with the task resolutely none the less.
The silence that had sprung up in the absence of Katina and Garrow was awkward as well as uncomfortable. Saphira broke it by huffing heavily and laying down, staring at Roran's struggles to remove the grime from the war hammer. In the end Eragon muttered a spell that would loosen the caked on blood and dirt to allow it to come off easier and then proceeded to ask Roran for the supplies he needed. Roran gave a noncommittal grunt as he began to polish the newly cleaned weapon. Eragon didn't understand his cold demeanor, seeing as he had been glowing with excitement only the previous day. It was hard to imagine any one man who had what he had being so surely and yet here he was. Eragon's sat down next to his cousin and watched him silently polish the war hammer. Roran didn't even look up at Eragon but instead chose to silently continue with his work as though he weren't there. His behavior was strange but no stranger than the fact that his actions countered his intelligence. Eragon knew full well that Roran knew that this particular hammer didn't require polish. The metal was magically forged to prevent rust or damage of any kind, why then would this have escaped Roran's mind. Saphira had obviously noticed this as well, her dragonish face had a puzzled look as she asked, "Roran, why are trying to polish that?"
The question was simple and to the point. It seemed to bring Roran to the realization that what he was doing was entirely pointless. He soon stopped trying to polish the weapon and instead slipped it into the carved wood casing that the dwarves had presented it in. Of all the things that had happened in the past few days, the sudden changes in the people around them were the most strange of them all. Izlandsadi's sudden change to imprisonment rather than consul, something that Eragon couldn't find ever having happened more than a few times in the entire history of the elves. Even now he saw the changes reflected in the people he loved in his life. Roran had displayed a lack of intelligence that didn't fit his character at all, so why then had this happened.
Eragon rose to his feet and placed a concerned hand on his cousin's shoulder. He wanted to ask him what was wrong but before he could ask Roran began to speak,
"Eragon, we have to leave Du Weldenvarden, somethings not right here, I feel it all around me like a suffocating cloud pressing in from all sides."
Eragon was curios as to what he meant for a moment until he remembered the night of a few days previous. He had felt it then, another presence that had crept up on him and taken control of him, forcing his body to hurt Saphira. He felt sure that this spirit or whatever it was, was the cause of the sudden changes of everyone around him. If there really was something powerful enough to avoid being detected by the elves then it was definitely unwise to stay in the forest any longer. Roran sighed and rose to his feet, turning in the direction of his house as he did so.
"Eragon if you want your things then help me get them for you."
Eragon nodded and told Roran that he would be there soon. He wanted to talk to Saphira about his suspicions before they left for the old dragon nesting grounds. Saphira had been eyeing Roran as he left and it wasn't until Ergaon put a hand on her neck that she looked away. She saw the concern in his eyes as he opened his mouth to speak but she forestalled him. "Eragon, I feel your concern and know that I share it." Saphira's words spoke great comfort to him and though his worry was great he knew as he always had that she would be there for him. Just having her say that made his burden lighter. He knew that Saphira truly loved him and he her but through all they had been through they were closer now than ever before, sharing in the concern for family members. It was hard to believe that something could ever hurt those that they loved now that the war was over. Yet even as they stared into each other's eyes they could feel it. A presence like a cloud that hung over everything around them, tainting it and bending it to its will.
It must be this force that had made so many others change so much. One thing was for certain, they would need to leave Du Weldenvarden, even if this force existed outside the forests edge they stood a much greater chance in surviving away from the forest of the elves. If the elves obeyed this evil force they would become a force to be reckoned with. Saphira nudged her rider gentely, looking at him with a look of warmth that Eragon loved seeing. A dragoness's smile warmed his heart as she spoke to him, "
Eragon, my love, there are many uncertain thing in our life this is true. But one thing that is and will always be certain is my love for you."
Eragon had to blink back tears as he wrapped his arms around Saphira's neck as best he could and she wrapped her wings around him. Only she would be allowed to see him in this way. In each others minds they knew each others hearts without limit. Saphira wrapped him once more with her love, like a lover's embrace that she could not give. The very thought of her never being able to give to him that which thousands of others would willing do caused a dragon's tear to fall and join Eragon's own. Even amongst the sadness, the death, the war, and the pain they had found each other. Yet even though they were as one they still lay separated from each other by the forms that they held.
Eragon had made his decsion in the recesses of his mind that Saphira couldn't touch. He would be denied her no longer. He would complete the transformation to dragon even if it drove him to death's door. This he swore.
Well there you go. I feel as though I ended the chapter too soon but please tell me how it was. I feel slightly unsure of this chapter Something I haven't felt in a while.
Anyway chapter nine is already underway.