Chapter 5

A girl stepped out from behind a tree, looking at him worriedly.

"I thought you would have figured out by now what was wrong. Obviously I credited you with more intelligence than you possess."

Murtagh could only stare.

The girl was- or at least looked- human, with long brownish-black hair, bright blue eyes and a sharp, bladelike nose. Her face was long and thin. She looked about seventeen at the most, but her eyes had the sad, knowing look of someone much older. She also looked vaguely familiar to Murtagh, though he could not have said whom she reminded him of.

She was dressed in a green tunic and darker leggings, with leather boots and belt, all of which looked well made and expensive, though extremely travel worn. There was an elegant bow slung over the girl's arm, a quiver of arrows strapped to her back, and several long, finely crafted hunting knives hung from her belt.

As Murtagh took all this in, the girl continued to talk, sounding concerned.

"You need more fat in your diet. Your body can't live off lean meat alone. If you don't eat more fatty meats, you will slowly starve to death on a full stomach. You idiot, Murtagh! How have you not heard of rabbit starvation?"

Murtagh finally found his voice.

"Who are you?" He croaked.

"My name is Falcon."

"That's not what I asked."

"It more or less is. But I am not going to tell you whoI am or why I'm here or anything else you might have been implying with that question. That's my business."

"How do you know my name?"

The girl looked at him oddly, as though deciding what to tell him.

"Doesn't everyone in Alagaësia know of Murtagh Kingkiller Morzansson and his red dragon, Thorn?"

"We're not in Alagaësia anymore."

"True. But I come from there, as do you."

Murtagh wondered at this strange girl- Falcon. Her voice was quiet and her manner reserved, although underneath he thought he saw sadness and uncertainty, overlaying a determination as inexorable as time itself. The one thing that was missing was hatred. Everyone he'd spoken to after he'd begun his work for Galbatorix had had the same fearful hatred of him in their eyes. But Falcon did not.

"Well then, Falcon, if you are to be believed, you have just saved my life," Murtagh said slowly.

The girl flared up at once. "And why shouldn't I be believed, pray tell? You have all the symptoms of rabbit starvation, and you know you haven't eaten any fatty meats in gods know how long! Don't you dare patronise me!"

"Alright, alright, calm down, I meant no offense."

Falcon snorted.

"Do you want my help or not, dragon rider?"

"Why do I need your help?"

"Because you clearly don't know a thing about medicine or the natural world or engineering or herbal remedies, very little of gramarye or wilderness survival… get the point?"

"And you do, do you?"

"Do you want my help or not?" The anger had left Falcon's voice now, and she sounded weary.

"Well, if you are as knowledgeable as you say, then why not? I will warn you though, if you ever do a thing to harm Thorn, I'll slit your throat where you stand."

"I would expect no less from a rider. Now, I know where you are camped, so just let me collect some things and I'll join you. It'll be nice to see a dragon again, not to mention have a hunting partner."

Falcon slipped away before Murtagh had a chance to ask any of the questions on the tip of his tongue.

What in seven hells did she mean, nice to see a dragon again?

Later that evening, Murtagh was sitting with his back against Thorn's leg, sharing his memories of the day.

He was a little more than halfway through his account of the strange Falcon when the girl herself slipped quietly in the door. Murtagh was surprised to see that she carried at least three large and heavy looking bags with supreme ease. He wondered what was in them.

She put them down in a corner in the very back of the cave, and started to roll out her blankets without saying a word.

Why did you say she could join us, Murtagh?

She's smart. Smarter than either of us. I thought she could help us carve out a life here. And she did know what was wrong with me, didn't she?

Murtagh couldn't help thinking again about what Falcon had said- that it would be nice to see a dragon again. He tried to keep it from Thorn, but couldn't.

She's seen a dragon before? Murtagh. Ask her about it. Now.

"You're talking about me, aren't you?"

Falcon's vaguely accusatory voice broke into Thorn and Murtagh's thoughts from across the room.

"Yes, we were," Murtagh said, deciding there was no point in lying to this peculiar girl, "Thorn wants me to ask what you meant when you said it would be nice to see a dragon again. Have you seen them before?"

The girl cocked her head and said, "ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies."

"How," said Murtagh, getting annoyed, "do you expect us to trust you and work with you if you won't even tell us the simplest of things?"

Falcon pinched the bridge of her nose and answered, "I mean you no harm, I can promise you that. I am offering you help because you need it, and because I am sick of roaming the mountains on my own. I'm lonely, and most, when they find out who I am, shun me. Because of who you are, I know that I can trust you not to. You are a good person, Murtagh, and you also, Thorn. I will never hurt you. You have been hurt enough."

Murtagh was, for a moment, speechless. Then he asked, "Why do they shun you?"

"Once more, that's my business. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to sleep. Thank you again for allowing me to join you."

Author's note:

Updates are going to be random, I'm afraid. I prefer to get something finished perfectly before I send it out rather than uploading an imperfect copy, even if it is earlier.

On top of that, I have a lot of work to do and my will to write comes and goes as it damn well pleases.

I do apologise for all of this. If you still stick with the story, it'll probably be worth it, but I won't make any definite promises just in case I get hit by a bus, or suddenly become as close to illiterate as some of the authors you might already have read on here through massive cranial trauma or a brain-meltingly large amount of alcohol. Not that I drink. Maybe someone will hide it in my breakfast cereal.

I will definitely update as often as I can, though.

And thank you to all of you who've left me such positive reviews already. I can't tell you how much they made me smile.

Any theories on anything about Falcon? I'm really keen to know how much you readers (if I actually have any) can figure out. There're some hints if you look carefully.

Thank you again.

Bye.