Two Nights Later

Arya, said Saphira suddenly. She kept her thoughts limited so that Dusk couldn't hear them. I am curious about Dusk. She speaks about things that nobody has heard of before, yet does not know of the things that every child in Alagaesia knows from birth. I wonder whether she is from here at all.

They were in the air, flying steadily towards Teirm. For the last few days, they had slept by day and flown by night to avoid detection. It was near morning, and they were just a few leagues away from the city.

Yes, Arya agreed. She is curious indeed. But she can remember naught, if what you say about Brom finding nothing was true.

She is fourteen, yet did not even know how to fly when we found her, Saphira mused. She wears elven clothes, and she does not look like any Alagaesian or Surdan I know of. She herself has certain facial features of an elf, such as those eyes of hers, and her hair is much more lustrous than any human, elf, or dwarf. And there is another strange thing about her: she can guard her mind better than I.

We will just have to watch her for any clues about her past, replied Arya. She gazed at Dusk, who was darting through the air ahead of them as a minnow would in water. Arya didn't want to admit it, but she was actually jealous of the girl's carefree manner. Dusk had seen death, she had even killed, and yet she still acted like a child.

"Teirm ahead!" Dusk called out, jolting the dragon and the elf from their separate thoughts. "Land!"

We landed in the forest near Teirm. We had stolen two black cloaks with hoods the night before from some random travelers. The plan was simple: Saphira would hide outside the city while me and Arya would waltz in, chat with the Jeod guy while wearing the cloaks, and bye-bye Teirm, hello Varden. Saphira was worried for Eragon, but we had all agreed that if he had any sense(which he probably didn't), he would come here and talk to Jeod, since merchants like him were bound to know things others didn't. Then Jeod could just pass on the message and we would all meet at the Beor Mountains, which were, according to Arya, Empiretabooland.

After we waved good-bye to Saphira, me and Arya put on the cloaks and headed towards the gates of Teirm. See, apparently most humans have a grudge against wings and pointy ears, so we had to wear the stupid things to hide them. And the weather on the coast was way too hot for winter, so I was sweating like crazy under my cloak.

The city was one of the weirdest things I'd ever seen, not that that's saying much. But seriously, whoever designed the place had a strange since of fashion. There was this humongous citadel in the northeast corner. The buildings by the fortress were really tall, but not as big as the castle, and as they went out, they got lower and lower. All the roofs were perfectly flat. The city walls were pretty tall, a white wall a hundred feet tall and thirty feet thick. Two portcullises, one facing the western sea, the other open to the southern road, were raised. We were going through the one in the south.

At the entrance, there were quite a few guards. They blocked our way with long pikes.

"Whaz ya name?" asked one of the guards.

Let me do the talking, came Arya's voice in my mind.

"I am Sarah," said Arya. "This is my cousin, Elaine." I felt like telling her that Elaine was a terrible name for me, but that would bust our disguise right there, so I kept my mouth shut with some difficulty.

"Whaz yer business 'ere?" the guard said in a thoroughly bored tone.

"We are here to visit a friend," said Arya. Her tone of voice said something that her words didn't: Get out of my way right now or I will make you pay. The soldier seemed to notice the danger he was in, because he nodded vigorously and let us through without any further inquiries.

"So, where's Jeod?" I asked her.

She waved a hand in the general direction of the taller buildings. "He owns a large shipping company, and lives in the richer part of the city."

After a while of walking through the streets with the grey stone houses standing grimly on either side, the house quality began gradually to improve, and the people began wearing more expensive clothing. Then we stopped in front of a shop that looked completely out of place, one with a cheery little sign hanging in front. A short woman with curly blond hair was sitting in front of the door. She glanced up when we walked towards her. I was about to ask Arya whether she had gotten it wrong, because I was pretty sure Jeod was a man and not an herbalist, when Arya spoke.

"Angela."

The woman's face lit up into a smile. "Are you Arya?" she whispered.

Arya nodded curtly, and Angela's smile widened. "Come in, come in," she said, setting her chair in front of the shop and beckoning them in.

The shop was dark and smelled both fresh and musty at the same time. Candles lit the whole place. Crystal orbs, cards, herbs, teacups, and other random stuff were set up on shelves on the walls. A large black cat lay on the counter at the end.

I didn't know why, but I reached out to the cat with mind, and, to my surprise, I got a reply in English.

Hello, the cat said, stretching. He yawned, then turned to me and said, You know Arya?

You're not a cat, are you? I said.

The cat blinked at me. I am a werecat. You may call me Solembum.

"Hi, Solembum," I said, stepping forward and stroking him. He purred.

"Who's your companion, Arya?" Angela asked. She sounded surprised.

"This is Dusk," said Arya. "Dusk, shed your cloak and let her see."

Solembum sat up as I took off the cloak and stretched my wings, careful not to knock anything over. Angela gaped at me.

"Wha?" she finally said. I put my cloak back on. Angela shook her head. "Arya, Jeod is in the house to the right. I'm sure he'd love to see you. I'd like to speak to Dusk in private."

Arya walked out silently, leaving me alone with Solembum and Angela.

"Now," said Angela. "I'm going to offer you something that I've only ever offered two other people. I'm willing to read your fortune. Your real one, mind, not the one I do for all the rich fool ladies out there."

"Why?" I asked.

"You have wings," she said. "And Solembum likes you. That's rare, almost as rare as a winged human. I'm only going to offer once, take it or leave it."

"Take it," I said hastily.

"Are you sure?" Angela asked, raising her eyebrow. "One of the people was driven insane by their future."

"Yeah, yeah, hurry up," I said.

Angela smiled grimly, then offered me a chair in front of the counter. I sat down, and watched as Angela went through a door in the back and came out later carrying a pouch. She sat down opposite me and tipped the contents of the bag onto the counter. They were bones, inscribed with runes.

"You're a grave robber?" I asked her. Somehow, I wasn't too surprised.

"No," she snapped. "These are the knucklebones of a dragon, very magical." Then she tossed the bones into the air and said, "Manin! Wyrda! Hugin!" The bones landed all jumbled together. I didn't get how anybody could read them. However, after a few minutes of staring at them and muttering under her breath, she shook her head again. "You have a very interesting future."

She pointed at one bone, one with a circle with a line crossing it. "Infinity. I don't know whether this means you'll live forever or for a very long time, but your lifespan will definitely be over the normal."

"Wonderful," I muttered, and she glared at me.

"Now, this one here," she said, pointing at a ship with a stone blocking it. "You will leave Alagaesia but return later on."

"No surprise there," I commented. Angela ignored me.

"You will notice that the ship rests on the moon, a magical symbol. That states how you will leave: by magical means. And that one over there, the dagger, means that you will kill an important person."

"Delightful," I said dryly.

"And the crown," said Angela, pointing at another bone. "You will change the world."

"This is the worst," Angela told me. "The wandering path. You will have to make many hard choices. Yes, you have a very interesting life indeed."

I stared at the bones. "Ouch, I'm not going to be a very happy person then."

Then Solembum said, just to add to my wonderfully joyous little future there, When your mind and body fail you, go to the God of the Grey Folk, and it will show you a way to win. To return to your homeland, the mad king must be defeated. When you wish to come back, you must defeat the mad king a second time, or look for another one.

"Ever heard of the phrase, 'Tis the season to be jolly?' Guess you haven't, then," I said. My mind was racing with the things Angela and Solembum had told me, but I simply stored it away to study later. Everything would make sense when it happened. Until then, I would just be kept wondering. "Well, thanks for that interesting experience," I said, standing up. "I'll be off then."

Solembum leapt onto my shoulder and stayed there as I left the shop and turned right to Jeod's house. An annoying butler opened the door and led me to a room filled with books. Arya and Jeod were sitting at a table in the center, and they both looked up as me and Solembum walked in. The butle bowed and closed the door behind me.

"Ah, and this must be Dusk then, and I see the werecat is with you," said Jeod. His eyes were haunted, and there was a scar on his face. His grey hair and expensive clothes were all rumpled, as if he had been sleeping in his clothes. His expression reminded me of Angela's when she had finished telling my fortune.

"You people like stating the obvious too much," I said. "Last time Durza told me that I was awake."

Jeod's mouth lifted into a small smile. "Sit down, sit down," he said, offering me a chair. I sat in it.

"Hey," I said, "You wouldn't happen to know who the God of the Grey Folk is, would you?"

"The God of the Grey Folk," Jeod mused. "I'm sorry, I've never heard of him."

Did you say him or it? I asked Solembum.

It, he replied.

"It's an it," I told Jeod.

"I never knew that the Grey Folk worshiped anyone," he replied.

"Great," I said. "So, Arya, when do we leave?"

"Now," said Arya, standing up abruptly. "We have much ground to cover if we are to get to the Varden before the Empire sends soldiers after us, because somebody has surely seen Saphira when we flied."

Jeod sighed. "It was nice to finally meet you after this long, Arya. Good luck. If Brom and Eragon come, I will tell them where you have gone."