Decisions, decisions

Kayla run until she reached a clearing just before the forest where the citizens of Arhan stood alongside traders, soldiers, magicians and some elves.

"Walk inside girl, quickly" one of the soldiers told her and almost pushed her through an invisible barrier, where the rest of the people stood. Kayla looked around her, feeling disoriented and scared. She pressed her hands on her dress, which had now turned grey, and bit her lip hard until she tasted blood.

In her mind she could still see clearly the creature that had attacked from the skies. If she could compare it to anything, that would be a dragon simply because of the similarity in size and shape. That creature had a dark colour, almost black but she could not remember any specific characteristics of its head or body just that it moved in a blur and that it had long, sharp talons.

"KAYLA!" she heard a voice and turned around to see her mother, looking alarmed and running to her direction. Before Kayla was able to speak her mother had her in her arms, exhaling loudly.

"Are you okay?" her mother asked when she let her from her arms only to look into her eyes. Kayla nodded, almost unsteadily. She felt the need to cry but she pressed her lips tightly together and ignored the feeling.

"What happened? Why are we here?" the girl asked her mother.

"Nobody is really sure about what happened but after this creature started attacking, the soldiers started telling us to come to this clearing. The magicians have set wards around us so that nothing can penetrate unless they will it" she replied but Kayla's eyes scanned the periphery looking for the creature that had attacked and the dragons. For some reason she doubted that the wards would hold if the flying beings came towards them.

"What about the eggs?" Kayla asked in a low voice but her mother shook her head.

"I do not know much. I think all of them have been retrieved but they say there was a problem with some" her mother whispered and Kayla wondered what had happened.

She kept stealing glances at the horizon, fearing that the creature would return but instead she only saw the occasional dragon far in the distance or heard a growl. Kayla saw her mother sighing anxiously again as she paced up and down.

"I haven't seen Tristan. He is not here" her mother said in a low voice, as if to herself. Kayla put a protective arm over her mother's shoulders.

"He wasn't with us when the attack happened. He is probably back home" she said trying to reassure her. Her mother swallowed and nodded but she still kept biting her lip.

Kayla could hear the buzz of voices in the background. Some of the people seemed scared, others angry and some were even excited. She tried to block herself from all this unnecessary voice and wished she had her book with her.

She didn't know for how long they had been waiting, but soon she saw a dragon flying to their direction and landing only a few meters away from the invisible barrier. The dwarven dragon rider slid from the dragon's back and went to whisper something to one of the soldiers. The soldier nodded and soon he brought over one of Arhan's leader, the same one who had given the speech in the beginning of the Brasungr ceremony. The magicians, she noticed, seemed to instantly relax and opened their eyes. One of them went to drink water from his leather pouch.

People waited, watching the Arhan leader. He cleared his throat.

"The dragon riders have tried to locate the threat but it seems that as soon as it attacked the square, it flew away. The dragon eggs have been safely put in a place near here, the location of which I am not going to disclose. No decision has been made about the continuation of the ceremonies tomorrow but it is advised that for now, you return to your homes and stay there until further notice"

The leader finished and suddenly looked tired, almost ready to faint. One of the soldiers held him by the shoulder. People slowly begun to disperse heading back to their houses but some remained asking about injured family members.

Kayla went to leave but her mother gripped her hand.

"What if Tristan is one of the injured?" she asked, and her eyes grew bigger as if she was a terrified doe.

"He will not be one of the injured. And if he is, the magicians will be taking care of him and you will not be needed there" Kayla said in a rather harsh tone, which she regretted soon after when she saw her mother bite her lip harder than before.

She swallowed and took the road back to their house in silence. When her mother reached their household and realised that Tristan was not there she waited near the kitchen, with a piece of string in her hands and flowers. Kayla stood next to her, unable to go to sleep. She could just see the beginning of light coming from the horizon and just then she saw the door of their house crack open.

….

Tristan's shoulders slumped in as he walked inside the house, feeling embarrassed. He had no idea how he looked like, but it must not have been good.

"Are you okay? Were you harmed during the attack?" his mother asked him, rushing to his side, her fingers tenderly tracing the outline of his brows.

If not for the word attack, Tristan would have ignored them completely. But the word took him by surprise and he gazed at his family. His mother had dark circles under her eyes once again, a sweaty brow and bitten fingernails. His sister's dress was dirty, her hair was plastered to her forehead and she had scratches on her knees and arms.

"What do you ever mean? What happened? Are you okay?" he asked them and even though he still couldn't shake the turmoil of feelings inside him, he looked at them, worried.

"We are okay but there was an attack in the square just a few hours ago as soon as the calling of names stopped" his mother said and sat near the fireplace, looking exhausted.

An expression of pure horror crossed his face.

"The eggs? Are they all right?" he asked quickly, without pausing to take a breath of air.

"They said that there was a problem with some but they didn't give any further details. They have retrieved them in a secret location so we do not know if the celebrations will continue today" his mother continued. "But there is nothing that we can do now. There have been a few injuries but the magicians are tending to the wounded" his mother said and yawned, her eyelids closing despite her immense struggle to keep them open.

"I think you should go to bed, mom. We will talk tomorrow but as you said already there is nothing more that we can do" Kayla said and pushed her mother gently towards her room. She nodded, yawned once more and left them near the fireplace, where only ashes stood inside.

"What happened Kayla?" Tristan said, once he was certain their mother was asleep.

The girl gazed at him looking solemn, her blue eyes almost purple as the first rays of the rising sun entered the room.

"It came from above Tristan. I am not sure exactly what it was but please do not repeat what I am about to tell you to our mother. I do not want her to worry…"

Tristan nodded.

"It was like a shadow, almost like a dragon but a lot scarier and deadly than one. It almost killed me as it dived from the air and I could feel the darkness inside it…" his sister continued and almost shivered.

For a moment, he thought about putting a hand on his sister's shoulder as he had never seen her as frightened as this. He inwardly cursed himself because he felt he had abandoned his family at a time of need, just because an egg had not hatched for him. How selfish he had been!

"An Urgal dragon rider saved me. . . He was an Urgal, a monster in the stories and yet he put his life before mine" Kayla continued, looking bewildered.

"That's what dragon riders are supposed to do, Kayla. Protect land and water, life and freedom" he explained and once again his heart tightened in pain and disappointment. His sister watched him closely as he began to open up to her.

"An egg didn't hatch for me, once again. I thought this was my year, I could feel it in my heart but none of the eggs responded, nothing. Obviously I am not worthy enough. Galbatorix, the great and evil Galbatorix, had an egg hatch for him and I did not" he said, the words tasting bitter in his mouth.

"You have years ahead of you Tristan, do not give up hope…" his sister said but he stopped her mid-sentence and stood up, his hands curling into fists.

"Kayla you cannot attempt to understand what I am going through. In all my life I have had a purpose, something I wanted to do, something I felt I was meant to do. 3 years I have been presented with eggs of all shapes, sizes and colours and yet none have hatched for me. I have been training for years, my aim is perfect and my sword-fighting and wrestling abilities almost match Grion's. And yet nothing …" he said, once again the words tasting like a fruit gone bad.

"Tristan you know as well as I, that dragon riders are hard to pick. And if Eragon has not sent the appropriate egg towards you, even if you are meant to be a dragon rider, you might never be. Besides, as you said yourself you have been at the ceremony 3 years now and you can participate until you grow old"

He laughed, an awkward laugh.

"We both know that this is not true. I cannot become a dragon rider above the age of 40, maybe even 30 because my human body will have begun to decline by then. Dragons would never pick an old, withered human unless they had a death wish"

Tristan sighed and walked towards the window where he could now clearly see the sun rising, warming his face and body from the chill of the night before. His sister was still sitting beside the fireplace, deep in thought.

"I think you should see the eggs again" she commented, pushing her hair back from her brow. Tristan laughed, another awkward laugh.

"It doesn't work this way, you know. If an egg didn't hatch for me before why should it now? And besides with everything that's happened I highly doubt they will let us get even a few feet away from them. We don't even know where the eggs are!" he said and sensing a mixture of feelings rise in his chest, he started pacing up and down in the small room.

"You can search, I will help you! You have nothing to lose and this is something you have wanted for your entire life! Shouldn't you at least fight for it?" his sister said, her eyes alight with some emotion he could not fathom.

He thought about putting himself in front of the eggs again, hope rising in his chest at the prospect and then crushing into tiny little pieces if none of the eggs hatched. What did he have to lose really? His dignity? It was already crushed.

At the thought of spending his life as a smith, Tristan scowled. He walked to where his sister now stood and he looked at her blue-purple eyes, his image reflecting as if they were mirrors.

"Let's go find these dragon eggs"