"Brazûl!" Eragon cursed as he went through his bag, they were currently a few miles near the city of Kuasta, near the ocean. They had been flying during the night and sleeping during the day so no one could see them, instead of going through the heart of the Empire they had stuck near the Spine and flew though its trees and mountains, but after a week of traveling they were in dire need of supplies.
"What is it little one?"
"We have no more food, nor any supplies I'll have to go to the city to get more," Eragon grumbled.
"Is that wise? No doubt there are wanted signs of you posted through out the Empire."
"Don't worry I will change my appearance," Eragon muttered a complex spell and his dark brown hair started to get lighter and lighter until it was a pale blonde, his dark brown eyes slowly turning into a bright blue. His ears that were now pointed due to the changes the dragons had done to him during the Blood-Oath festival slowly sunk until his ears were as round as they had been before he had become a rider, his face which had turned angular because of the dragons slowly morphed until it looked more humanish, his pale elf like skin turned to a much tanner color, he probably would pass as a farmer.
Eragon bid farewell to Saphira before shouldering his pack and started to head towards Kuasta. Jeod had once told him that Kuasta was an odd place, full of odd customs and superstitions, it was also where Brom, who he had seen as a father had been born and where his dragon had hatched for him. Oromis had once told him how Brom would always knock on a doorframe three times before either entering or leaving but had stopped after the other riders had made fun of him. Kuasta was also a large city, even bigger then Teirm and as large as Gilead.
Two guards where in front of the main gates, both had spears in their hands and swords at their belts.
"Halt state your business for coming to Kuasta!" One of the guards thundered out.
Eragon took a small breath before putting his voice in a heavy southern accent "me name is Saxon son o' Oron, and me business for comin' is to buy some supplies for me and me family as we heard north to avoid the Varden."
"Very well, but remember we have eyes and ears everywhere, if you so much as breath wrong we'll know. And do not worry of the Varden for the King shall deal with those rebels as a bear does a mouse."
Eragon nodded energetically "I agree, the king will protect us!" he said though he felt a little sick appraising Galbatorix.
Eragon entered the city, like he had been told the place was huge. The outer houses near the walls were small wooden huts with thatched roofs, then the buildings slowly got higher and of better build the farther they went. As he walked past towards the market he noticed that every house had a purple marking on the left pillar. He easily found the market place, with his hands in his pockets fiddling with the crowns he had received from the Varden and Murtagh he bought enough supplies to last him until he reached the northern parts of the Spine.
As he was walking through the various stalls to see if there was anything that caught his eye he noticed a small book stall deciding to see what there was he walked up to the stall. He scanned the various titles and quickly swung his head back when he saw two books written in the Ancient Language. As he reached for the two books he quickly opened one and saw that it was various stories or myths that have been passed down generation through generation, some even dating back to the time before the Dragon Riders, there were even some Elven poems. He opened the other book and saw that it was various words in the Ancient Language, there were no human words. They were mostly the names of the various animals and plants located throughout all of Alagaësia, along with very detailed paintings that only a elf could hope to draw along with information about the certain animal or plant.
'What great luck! Any one, from elves to magicians would die to have such history and information on Alagaësia, my misfortune is slowly leaving,' Eragon thought happily.
The owner of thestallcame up to Eragon,when he saw the books in his hand he raised an eyebrow "I don't know why'd you want them books, I don't even know what their about, the author used some crazy language."
Eragon pretended to look at the books with slight interest "perhaps but who knows what they speak of, how much are these?"
"Eh you want to buy those? Well I'd be a fool not to sell you those, I was thinking of throwing them out, seeing as no one would want to read them."
'Oh you'd be surprised,' Eragon thought.
Eragon managed to buy the books very cheap seeing as how the seller wanted them gone, as he was walking back towards the main gates he saw an herbalist shop, thinking of Angela he walked inside. Immediately the smell of dirt and plants entered his nose, the air was musty. The herbalist was mixing something with a pestle and mortar, when he saw the Rider come in he stopped his task and with a broad smile he said "Welcome! Is there anything you are looking for?"
Eragon smiled politely "I'm just browsing," he looked around at the various plants until one caught his eyes, it was pure white with various dark orange streaks running through it, several small black dots were scattered near the center.
The herbalist saw what he was looking at, "ah the Brisinger Mithrim, also known as the fire rose, you have a good eye my friend, it can live for quite a long time and can be planted anywhere, even a cave."
Eragon decided to buy it, he didn't know if the flower would survive the journey but he thought it was a beautiful flower and he knew how rare those flowers were, maybe he could make more from that one flower for wherever he was going.
"Thank you my friend, I hope your journey will be a safe one," the herbalist said as Eragon left the shop with the flower.
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It had been several days since going to Kuasta, Saphira had been flying none stop, she thought the journey into the city had taken to long and had insisted to fly for the entire next days despite Eragon's instance for her to not tire herself.
"Saphira!" Eragon yelled in alarm as the tips of the large pine trees were destroyed as Saphira flew through them, with a jerk of the head in surprise Saphira flapped her large wings and they gained altitude.
"Saphira… You need to sleep, we're safe no one knows where we are," Eragon said worriedly.
"Very well, but only for the night we need to reach the North soon, I don't want to be in the heart of the empire."
Saphira slowly landed in a small clearing, they found a cave large enough for both him and Saphira, Eragon curled up by Saphira's flank as the fire in her belly kept him warm, her wings were folded over him protectively "Good night little one," Saphira said sleeply.
"Night Saphira," Eragon muttered sleepily, his eyes slowly closed, within seconds he was asleep.
(Eragon's dream)
Eragon dreamt of a clear sky, two large dragons flew over head, the Anora river rushed underneath them, Eragon noticed that something seemed to be held in the female dragon's claws. The two dragons landed near a small oak sapling.
The female dragon was a brilliant blue, much more darker than Saphira, whilst the male was a deep forest green.
"Ankara are you sure of this?" The green dragon rumbled out.
The blue dragon whacked her tail lightly at the green dragons head "of course I'm sure Cuzov, do you think I would willingly part with my yet-to-be hatchling?" Ankara loosened her hold on something in her claws, and to Eragons disbelief, there nestled protectively in Ankara's claws was a white dragon egg.
Cuzov rubbed his head against Anakara's lovingly "I know but there is a chance we will kill the Oath Breaker, must we hide our hatchling? What if it hatches and we're not there?" He demanded.
"Remember Cuzov, the Riders put a spell on our egg so that it will hatch for its Rider, it won't hatch." Ankara reminded the giant dragon. She then started to rip the ground underneath the oak sapling with her giant claws, a large hole was quickly made, she then tenderly put the egg in the hole before covering it in dirt, no one would know that a dragon egg was there.
The two dragons sadly left the clearing where their child remained under the dirt.
The scene changed in Eragon's dream. A great battle was happening,Dragons and Dragon Riders vs. the Forsworn. He saw Ankara covered in blood chasing after a purple dragon but quickly veered to the right as a large red dragon started to chase her. His heart seemed to turn cold when he saw who was on the dragon, Morzan, his father.
He saw with a broken heart as Morzan's dragon caught Ankara and quickly killed the blue dragon, a great scream of grief and anger erupted from the other side of the battle field, a great green flash streaked across the field before ramming into the red dragon.
Cuzov fought with everything he had, he was much bigger than the red dragon, he left a large deep gash across the red dragons flank making it roar in pain before fleeing, Cuzov went after him. Before he could reach the dragon, the purple and a silver dragon appeared on both his sides, he quickly folded his wings and headed to the ground, the two dragons quick on his tail.
Despite his best efforts, Cuzov was slowly losing energy, he left great wounds that would scar the Forsworn dragons for the end of time but soon he too met the same fate as his mate.
The scene changed. It was back in the clearing, the grass had grown over the spot where the egg was, the sapling slightly larger. And then time seemed to speed up. He saw the sapling growing bigger and bigger, more plants growing, and finally a house appeared, then more, and more. Until an entire village was where the egg was buried, Eragon realized with a jolt that he recognized that town, it was Ursür a village so small it wasn't even on the maps.
As he thought of this he remembered when he had dreamed of Arya in her cell which turned out to be true and here was Ursür… Which meant if this dream was real. Eragon's eyes widened… There was another dragon egg. One that Galbatorix knew nothing about, no one knew about it or where it was…. Except him.
He reached his hands out towards the egg as though he could grab it through the dream, a loud growl echoed through his ears jolting him awake. He jumped up with a hand on his dagger, ready for an attack. He saw a large bear running out of the cave whimpering.
"Hump, stupid bear," Saphira grumbled.
Eragon wasn't paying any attention to Saphira, he was thinking about his dream… Could it be like when he had scryed Arya but instead of seeing the present he instead saw the past? Or was it a trick by Galbatorix to capture him and enslave him to be his weapon? Eragon knew that even if it was a trick he had to go, if there was such a small possibility of another dragon egg it would help them so much. They wouldn't be the last of their kind, they'd be another dragon. Another free dragon, one of the last in the land.
"Saphira I need to tell you something," and Eragon showed Saphira the vision.
Saphira was silent, her eyes were wide and hopeful but she knew not to get her hopes up, "Little One do you think your vision is real? What if its a trap by the Mad King?"
"It has to be real Saphira, I doubt the king knows of Ursur seeing as its not on the map, he would have chosen a different place I probably would have recognized not some small town few know of… Saphira if its real then another of your kind lives! This could change everything! There will be three free dragons! Glaedr and Oromis can't fight due to being crippled but they still have their knowledge, if there were to be another dragon, especially if its male then your race can be saved!" Eragon's tone turned softer "if its a male he may be the mate you are looking for Saphira."
Saphira looked at her rider with slightly sad eyes, she wanted a mate, she was tired of being alone. The only free male dragon left was Glaedr and he made it quite obvious that it would not work out between the two, and she'd rather die than be Shurikan's mate, Thorn was an option but he and Murtagh were still enslaved to the king, and she'd never let the Egg Breaker get his filthy hands on any of her eggs if she laid them.
Eragon wrapped his arms around Saphira's head, he idly noted that she had gotten bigger since the Burning Plains "It'll work out Saphira, just trust me on this. What do we have to lose?"
"Fine, we'll look for the egg. Its near Therinsford so its on our way, come on Little One we should head out," Eragon smiled brightly before jumping onto Saphira's back, she leaped out of the cave and with a couple mighty strokes she headed north again.