A/N: Hey all! Chapter 3 is here! (Yes, I know it came out rather quick again. But, it will be a few days, maybe a week, before chapter 4 is up. I've decided that I will finish typing another chapter before placing another one on here. That way it's more organized, keeps me motivated, and doesn't get uploaded too quickly.)
This chapter is a bit longer then the last two, and deffinately a bit more interesting. The chapters will also keep getting longer after this one. ^_^
Oh, and, this chapter get's a little gruesome, but it's all part of the main story. I promise that nothing too bad will happen for a while after this chapter. ((This chapter was kind of a spurr-of-the-moment kind of thing, but I cleaned it up and worked with it more since I first wrote it.))

Story:

Chapter 3: A cry for help!

The next few days were filled with horror. I had to keep the stone under my bed so Anne wouldn't find it, but that was just the beginning. Jason and I had to clean the house from top to bottom. Not only that, we weren't allowed to go to town for any reason, and we had to make a garden for Anne all by ourselves.

After that we were forced to take care of all the crops and the few animals that we had. Every time Mia came to visit we had to tell her to go home, because we weren't allowed to play with her. On top of all of that, we only got dinner, no breakfast or lunch.

A week and a half after our punishments began; Anne finally decided that we had learned our lesson and things went back to normal, for the most part. She still pressured me to get rid of the stone, and we still weren't allowed to go to the city.

The next morning; a week and five days since we visited my mom's grave, I decided to try something out. Finding a scrap of paper and an ink pen, I wrote down everything that was carved onto my mom's grave. I was thinking that this would help me figure out what the words meant, but it only made me realize even more that they weren't from our language.

Giving up, I tossed the paper and pen onto my floor. The day had been going by awfully slow, even though it was still early morning. Slowly creeping from my room, I checked to see if anyone else was awake yet. There was no sign of anyone.

With a sigh, I returned to my room, but was startled to find Jason lying on my bed. "How'd you get in here? I didn't hear you at all!"

"Man you must still be tired, I know I am." Jason opened one eye to look at me. Sitting up and leaning against the wall, he made enough room for me to sit, "Here, sit down. I still want to sleep, but I was tired of being alone."

"Silly…" Sighing, I crossed the room and sat next to my brother. He leaned his head on mine and slowly drifted off to sleep. A faint smile crossed my face as I leaned onto him and drifted off to sleep myself.

A branched snapped back into place after it had been disturbed by a rush or air. The elven boy ran as fast as his two legs would go, not caring for bush, branch, or anything else that got in his way. His heart started to pound from how hard he was pushing his body.

Suddenly stopping, he almost toppled over from the force of energy. The wind whipped around him, then died when he completely stopped moving. Even his breathing stopped as he stood motionless, a look of horror on his face.

Quickly and without missing a beat, he whirled around, and started running at full force again, trying to run even faster then he was before. Quicker then he imagined was possible, he reached his destination.

Slowing to a brisk walk, he approached the pool in the middle of the clearing. The moon shinned overhead, leaving a ghostly feeling in the surrounding area. Stopping by the edge of the water, he examined the ground around its edge. His advanced vision was able to pick up the signs that someone, besides himself had been there within the last twenty four hours.

Kicking off his light shoes, and throwing his cloak onto the ground, he dived head first into the freezing water. Droplets of water splashed up and landed on the ground.

Moments later he emerged from the water empty handed. Slamming a fist on the ground and muttering, 'Dammit,' he pulled himself out of the water. Instead of retrieving his cloak or shoes, he laid on his back next to the water, hand dangling into it.

The moon sunk behind the horizon, the sun came out of hiding, and then left, the moon replacing it many times over before the boy got up again. It was early morning now, days since he had laid down to think things over.

Swiftly he pulled his shoes and cloak back on and decided to follow the creek at a slow pace, but began to run as he went farther and farther into the woods. Breaking into another clearing, he stopped by a grave, whispered, 'Pömnuria Fricai.,' then continued running.

All of a sudden an ear splitting scream filled with horror broke the silence.

I jumped out of bed, causing Jason to fall over. "The scream wasn't part of my dream! That was…That sounded like someone I know! I think it came from near the town!"

"What are you talking about?" Jason muttered as he pushed himself off the bed. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and put one hand on my shoulder. Another scream filled the air, but Jason didn't seem to hear it. "Are you okay?" His voice was full of sleep.

"Didn't you hear that? Someone's screaming, someone's in danger! We need to get to town now!" I moved around my room, opened my dresser and started to put on fresh clothes. I ended up wearing a loose pair of black pants, and a light blue tunic like shirt, and my old tattered, faded green cloak.

Jason grabbed my shoulder with a firm hand, "Kyra, what's gotten into you? No one's screaming, and we can't go to the city! You know that as well as I."

Twisting around, I looked at his deep brown eyes. The expression on my face must have shocked him for he immediately let go of my shoulder. "I can hear things that you can't, remember? Someone IS in trouble; I can feel it in my bones. Also, I have a feeling it's someone we know, and that they are in danger because of me. If you don't want to come along, at least don't tell Anne."

I pulled my bag out from under my bed, stuffing my bow and arrows inside of it. I slid the dagger into my pants pocket, and carefully retrieved the stone from under my bed. As I was doing this, I realized that my room had gotten brighter. Turning, I saw my old blanket lying on the floor, and Jason opening the window.

"What? We need a way to get out without Anne noticing, right?" Jason grinned at me, and shoved the window open all the way.

Quickly placing the stone in my bag, I gave a smile to Jason and mouthed the words 'Thank you' to him. Still smiling, I slipped out the window and landed softly on the ground. I held out my hand to Jason as he came through the window. We were lucky that Jason had decided to get dressed before he came into my room.

The sun was directly overhead, showing that it was high noon. Leaning on the tips of my feet, I looked around, sharpened my hearing, and sniffed the air. A charcoal, thick taste was in the air, and I could barely catch the scent of smoke. Smoke means fire, fire means burns. Crap.

Without waiting for Jason, I started running as fast as I could. After listening to Jason yell at me to slow down, I finally did, but I was still running faster then him. Soon enough I was able to see the smoke, and the fire that it was coming from. I stopped a few hundred feet away, staring with awe, and anger, at the scene in front of me.

Smoke billowed into the air, as a blaze of fire engulfed a tree and a field of grass. A small frail body of a girl lay in the middle of the fire, being burnt. A deafening roar filled the air. Reluctantly, I looked away from the body, tears building in my eyes, to see where the roar came from.

High in the sky, circling round and round was the outline of a black bird. Well, at least that's what it looked like at first glance, and without heightened senses, that's what it would have continued to look like. But slowly, I was able to make out more details, like the fact that it was a lot bigger then just a bird. Also, there was the vague outline of a person riding on it.

A revelation came over me. A dragon. I was staring at a dragon! A dragon, which just destroyed my life. An overwhelming hatred for that dragon welled inside of me as I glared up at it. By the time Jason reached me, the dragon had circled higher into the sky to the point where it looked like a speck.

"Oh no." Jason chocked on his words as he saw the body. Looking away from the sky, I ran to the body, not caring about the flames that scorched the ground, and now even the edges of my cloak.

I knelt next to the body, and slid my hands under her, heaving her into my arms. Once she was securely in my arms, I stood, whirled around, and ran out of the flames. When I got back to Jason, I laid the girl back on the ground, but held her head in my lap.

"How…How is she?" Jason stuttered, while stomping out one of the edges of my cloak which had caught on fire.

"She's still alive." I was barely able to make out the words. "Mia…I'm so sorry." A tear slid down my face as I looked at my best friend.

Burns ran the course of both her arms, hands, feet and part of her face. Blood dripped from a wound on the side of her head, and soaked her legs and stomach, as well as her left arm. Her shirt and pants were badly torn and burnt as well, with the ends of her hair being singed.

I leaned my head on her chest, and listened to her slow, faint heartbeat. Her intake of air was getting worse and worse as well. Another tear was streaming down the side of my face as I looked away from Mia and towards Jason. "Jason, I need you to run to the city and find someone that can help…" My voice was weak, and full of dread.

Jason tried to object, but ultimately agreed when he realized that I was actually crying. He ran at full speed towards Kuasta.

Another minute passed, and Mia managed to open her eyes. "K-Kyra? N-no! It's too da-da-dangerious for you! He w-w-will come b-back f-or you. Run…Run while you c-can." Her voice was weak and strained, she stuttered many times, but fear could still be detected in it.

"Mia, calm down, I'm okay. You need to stop talking and save your energy." I tried to hide the fear and sadness in my own voice, and it worked well enough so that Mia didn't panic too badly, though she still did.

"N-no! D-d-d-dragon! It w-wants the stone! R-run!" Mia started to hyperventilate. Her eyes started to turn white, and the blood pulsed violently out of her wound. Her light face began to turn even more pail, and her eyelids droop. My arms wrapped around her, pulling her into my lap and holding her close to me.

"Hush, it will be alright, just calm down. It's going to be okay, you'll see." I hid my face in her hair as the tears began to flow down my face again.

Mia lifted her hand to my face and ran it gently across my skin. I moved one of my hands, catching her hand, and holding it there. "Kyra…Thank you…So much, for being my friend." She talked quietly and slowly, all panic gone from her voice. I listened, and waited. Her breathing got slower, and slower, her heartbeat got slower and slower. Within a couple more minutes, her heart gave out, and stopped completely.

As Mia stopped breathing, I stopped my own breathing for a minute, crying softly into her hair. I had held my friend through her last minutes, and still, I held her lifeless body.

My tears slowed to a halt, just like Mia's heart had, another feeling filling the gap. Anger and frustration towards the dragon and rider that had killed my friend engulfed my thoughts. But, what could I do about it? I knew nothing about this dragon and its rider. I'd probably end up dead if I ever confronted them.

The thoughts slipped away as I heard footsteps approaching me. I squeezed Mia closer to me, not caring that my cloak was getting all bloody. I looked up to see Jason and walking towards me. was a bigger built man, had a head full of hair, and a heart as big and strong as the sun. He had helped our family through many tough times, and was one of the few people in the city of Kuasta that didn't mind my presence.

Jason knew immediately, by the look on my face, what had happened. He kneeled beside me, and placed a hand on my shoulder. He stared at Mia's lifeless body, and I could tell that he wanted so badly to cry, but he didn't want to cry in front of .

knelt in front of me, and examined Mia's body. "She's…" He stopped himself and shook his head, understanding that we already knew. "Come on kids, we can't stay here. We need to get her home, and alert someone that can put out that fire before it spreads too far." He reached across, offering to carry Mia.

I shook my head no, not being able to find words at first. After a moment of thought, I was able to speak, "No, please, I will carry her."

hesitated for a second, then stood up and nodded. He had witnessed some of my strength in the past and knew I was capable of carrying Mia. Plus, I was her best friend so there was no saying no to me. Jason stood up and walked towards as I carefully stood up, and shifted Mia so it was easier for me to carry her. Even though Mia weighed about average weight for a human her body would have been a bit of a burden for most normal humans to carry, yet I was able to carry her easily. Her body was like a feather to me; light, delicate and beautiful.

When we started walking, I shot a quick glance at Jason, who put up my hood for me. He moved it so it covered most of my face, then continued to walk beside me. I had him put up my hood for two reasons. First off, it was so that when we got to Kuasta, the people there wouldn't recognize me right away. Secondly, I couldn't hold the tears back anymore, and I didn't want anyone to see me cry.

The rest of the walk was awfully quiet. Once we finally reached Kuasta, people started to crowd around us and make an uproar. was able to make quiet a few of them leave us alone, but we still had a group of them following us. At one point, we stopped for a minute so that could inform one of his friends about the fire. The man quickly hurried off, taking a few other people with him.

At that point, I realized that there were a few more of Galbatorix's guards in the city than normal. The king despised all elves, and because of the citizens in the city, I was suspected of being an elf. I had to be extra careful around the guards. A few of them were already tagging along with the group of people that were following us.

I slowed to a halt after a few more steps. We were now in front of Mia's house. Mia's parents held a special grudge against me, for one reason or another. They were one of the few people that had remembered my real mother. They once said that she was a nice girl, but her head was always in space; always talking about stuff like magic, dragons and elves. Ironically, they were amongst some of the most horrible magic haters.

Krissy, Mia's mother, burst out of her house when she noticed that I was standing outside holding her daughter. A look of terror crossed her face as she realized that her daughter had been wounded. She ran up to me and tore her daughter out of my arms.

Grief and sadness overwhelmed Krissy's face as she began to cry while she checked for a pulse. "She's…She's dead! What did you do to her?" Her voice, full of agony, got louder and louder as she spoke. The people behind us started to make an uproar again, shoving closer to us.

Ren, Mia's father, slammed open the door, attracting even more attention to our little group. The crowd pushed closer, forming now so that Jason and seemed to be part of the crowd, which made me the odd ball out. Ren glared at me, while helping his wife to hold their daughter.

The guards that had been following us approached me now, there were five of them. They stopped a couple steps behind me and watched as Krissy began yelling again. "Show your face. I already know who you are, but I want the whole world to see the face of my daughter's killer! Someone, please, arrest her! SHE KILLED MY DAUGHTER!"

Reluctantly, I flipped my hood off my head, the blood on my hands staining the edges. The tears had stopped flowing from my eyes once we had reached Mai's house, so my face was dry and solemn. Everyone gasped as they realized who I was, though some smart people already knew. The guards flanked every side of me, two holding their swords towards me, and the other three pointing spears at me.

shouted out of outrage, "Do not point your weapons at a child!" Well, this was true, in a way. I was still only fifteen, but within a couple of months I would be sixteen, but I was still considered a child. "She has done nothing wrong! She was not the one to kill the child, in fact, she risked her life trying to save the girl!"

The guards ignored 's protest, and the guard that now stood in front of me spoke in a hard stern voice. "Are you Kyra? The daughter of the one called Aiedail. Were you the one to kill this child?"

I froze at his questions, trying to think a way out of the situation without lying. Jason was the one to speak out this time, "You don't have to answer them. Just don't say anything, you did nothing wrong."

The guard glared at Jason, and then waited for my answer. My heart and thoughts raced like crazy, while a few of the guards leaned forward, waiting for my answer. In slow, lifeless words, I spoke out, "Yes, I am Kyra, daughter of Aiedail. No, I did not kill Mia. She was my best friend, and I would have gladly taken her place if I could have."

I heard someone mutter something like, 'Yeah, we all would have been better off if you were the one dead, and Mia was still alive. She was such a sweet innocent girl; the only thing she ever did wrong was hang out with you.' I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed.

"Kyra, we were given orders from the king to arrest you, for crimes against the king, and crimes against all of Alagaësia. Please come with us quietly, or we will use force." All the guards took a step closer to me.

Great. I didn't even do anything wrong and they are going to arrest me. My head started pounding, mimicking my heart. Opening my eyes and looking around, I noticed one flaw in the way they were closing in on me.

A smile, that only touched my lips, never meeting my eyes, crossed my face, and I said, "Catch me if you can." This was going to be fun, hard, and very entertaining.

Turning to my right, I grabbed the end of one of the spears that was about five inches in front of me. Putting all of my weight and power into my arms, I flung myself into the air. The guard toppled forward at the force of my power. While in the air, I flipped myself so I was directly over the nearest guard, excluding the one that was trying to steady himself.

One of my feet landed on the head of the guard I was above, and I used the force to bounce me past him and onto the ground behind all of the guards, and to the side of the edge of the crowd. Bouncing up, I looked back at the guards, who were angrily gathering themselves, and trying to head after me.

Without loosing a second, I waved goodbye to Jason, and took off running as fast as I could away from the crowd of people. The guards took off after me, but their legs could not go as fast as mine. A thrill of energy coursed through my veins, and I bounded out of Kuasta.

While I was running, I saw the smoke from the fire dwindling as a few people poured buckets of water onto the fire. Temptation took over me, and instead of running back to my house, I took off towards the tree that was close to the spine. I skidded to a halt in front of the tree, noticing that the sun was beginning to set. It had been a long day, and a long walk to Kuasta, and an even longer run all the way here.

Not caring about the time, or the fact that I hadn't eaten all day, I hoisted myself into the tree, and climbed near the top, hiding myself in the branches. Slipping off one of the straps on my bag, I pulled it in front of me and took the stone out of it.

The bag slid back onto my back, and I cradled the stone in my arms, finding some comfort in holding it. Even though it was the stone that had caused Mia to be killed, and me to have to run from my own home, I couldn't help but to care about it. It was weird, I had no real reason to keep it, but I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it.

As the orangey glow of the sun began to dim, I closed my eyes, drifting in and out of sleep. Bits and pieces of dreams flowed into my head while I drifted. The elven boy popped into my head; he was running, and he was fairly close to breaking out of the spine, and near my house too.

Something startled me, and I jumped out of the tree, landing softly on the ground. I walked the few steps to the spine, and stood there, watching and waiting. At first there was nothing, and then light footsteps could be heard.

One second I was standing there, watching the forest closely, and the next I was rolling on the ground a few feet away from where I was just standing. Something or someone ran right into me. The force of the collision sent me tumbling to the ground, and the stone was slipping out of my arms, so I tightened them.

I rolled onto my back to find the boy from my dream staring at me, he was now sitting up. His eyes widened when he saw my blood stained hands holding the stone. He took a few deep breaths, shook his head, and then flipped his hood all the way off. He ran a hand through his hair, and smiled lightly.

"I'm sorry for knocking you over; I was in a bit of a hurry." His voice had a sweet ring to it, and it sounded almost heavenly. "But you see, that thing you're holding belongs to me, and I really need it. Can you please give it to me?"

My heart leaped. It was so weird, talking to someone I had only seen in my dreams. His voice and smile were charming, and his pointed ears thrilled me. But, I knew this was a quality of the elves, and I wasn't going to give him the stone. "N-no."

"Why not? It belongs to me, and I need it. You have no right to keep it. I will use force to get it back if I have to and a mere human such as you can't over power me." He glared at me slightly, and stood up. My heart pounded again, and I moved one arm away from the stone to push myself into a sitting position.

The boys eyes widened, and he sounded shocked when he spoke next. "Are you hurt? You're covered in a lot of blood! Some of it looks fresh."

I shook my head slightly, "The only place I'm hurt is in my heart. Because of this, stone, or whatever it is, my best friend was killed today! She was attacked by a man and a black dragon. I only arrived in time to pull her out of the flames and hold her through her last minutes. I even had to carry her dead body all the way to her house."

"What's more, is that when I got there, I was accused of killing her, and was about to be arrested…Though, I would have been arrested anyway, just because of who I am, and because of who my mother is." I shook my head again, and forced myself to stand. The boy was only a couple of inches taller then me, and I was fairly tall for my age.

The boy looked shocked. He took a step backwards and covered his face with his hands. He stayed like that, perfectly quiet for several minutes. "A black dragon? Then it is true. Just who are you anyway?" He moved his hand from his face, but didn't look at me.

"Why don't you tell me? You obviously knew my mother, one way or another. Besides, look at my eyes, they are the same as yours…Even though I've never seen a human with eyes like these." I looked at him with hopeful eyes, hoping and praying that he would know something.

"Same eyes?" He muttered and looked at me. His eyes scanned my body, from toe to head. He looked over every detail, even stopping to look closer at my ears. He saved looking at my eyes for last, and stayed looking at them for many minutes.

His voice came then, and it startled me. It was different now, lighter and softer then before, and it had a more friendly touch to it. "You are the daughter of Aiedail." He stated it like a fact, and not like a question. "You are Kyra. Wow, I never thought I'd meet you here…or ever."

He moved his hand to his chest, and bowed; a simple yet significant gesture. "My lady, it is nice to meet you. Your mother was a kind woman, though I never really got the chance to meet her. But, well…This is dangerous. I should not be here talking to you, I should have left long ago. I thought hiding it near you mothers' grave would be a safe enough place, but I guess not. I ask you this now, will you please return to me the stone you are holding? It is something more precious and valuable then you could imagine."

He knew about my mother! He knew my name. What else did he know of me? My questions would have to wait, for there were more pressing matters at hand. "On three conditions, and even then you will not fully have it in your care. First off, take me with you, where ever it is that you're going. I cannot return home, so please, I ask you this for my own safety. Secondly, in our travels, I wish to keep a hold of the stone. And, lastly, could you tell me your name, since you know mine?"

His face twitched in anger at my requests. "My name is Dylan, and that is all you need to know. I cannot take you with me, I'm sorry. You must return home, I'm sure the people you live with are worried about you."

I grimaced. Part of me knew he was going to say something to that effect. "Dylan? Well, Dylan, like I said, I cannot return home. If I do, I will be arrested and taken to Galbatorix himself for suspicion of being part elf. I don't even know if I really am part elf, or what."

"Of course your part elf, the only one in existence right now, and one of the only few ever to have been born. Your mother had fallen in love with an elf, and he had fallen for her. So, you were born. Hmm…He will get mad at me though, if I take you from your home here…But he would be more upset about you being taken to Galbatorix. So, fine, you can come if you can keep up with me. And, I guess that you can keep the stone with you, but be extra careful with it. Let's go."

Dylan flipped his hood up and started towards the spine. When he noticed I wasn't following, he stopped and stared at me. "What? You said you wanted to come. So let's go."

"You knew my father? And who were you talking about when you said, 'he'? Oh, never mind, I'll question you later. But, um, I need to say goodbye to my foster brother, and get a few things from home. That's my house over there," I pointed to the house, which wasn't that far away, "It'll only take me a couple of minutes."

Without stopping to let him say no, I turned on my heels and ran. When I reached the house, I went around the back and stopped underneath Jason's window. I put the stone back in my bag, and then climbed threw the window. Jason was lying on his bed, and was surprised to see me.

It took me all of five minutes to explain what was going on to Jason. At first, he didn't want me to go, but he agreed when he realized it would be better that way. He snuck me into my room, and helped me to pack some of my cloths. I said goodbye to my room, gave Jason a hug, and wished him farewell.

By the time I got back to Dylan, even though it had only been a couple of minutes, it was completely dark out. My heart was torn; full of grief and sadness, or hatred and anger, and of excitement.

"Okay, let us be on our way." I smiled at Dylan, and without another word, we both took off running, side by side, into the spine.

End of Chapter 3! (( Up next; Chapter 4: Truth to be Told. ))