Chapter 3: Rumors in the Stars

It was more than a month later, after the storm had finally stopped, and Arya was standing on the Crags of Tel'naeír with Fírnen.

Only three werecats had offered to help track the halfling and their searches had been little more fruitful. They had managed to find Katherine's home, a carefully hidden hut at the far side of a small clearing, but there the trail dead ended.

Since then rumors had reached her, rumors and rumors of rumors that only made the situation worse. Two shadowy forms had been seen raiding a food-storage in one of the human cities, livestock had gone missing from both dwarves and humans, and urgals had reported strange noises in the depths of the Spine.

Now though Arya stood gazing out over the forest with her dragon. Her mind wandered in a thousand directions, she knew it was time to call Eragon for help but she was reluctant to. She'd been avoiding his messages for weeks now and had yet to inform him that they now had a rouge Rider on the loose.

"You're overly worried, you shouldn't avoid the inevitable. Zilla hasn't even done anything yet"

Arya twisted around at the voice, startled to see Angela and two werecats standing at the edge of the stream. "Zilla?" Arya murmured, noticing that one of the werecats was Solembum and the other was an ancient creature that looked more silver than anything.

Fírnen twisted his head to regard them then resumed his watch of the forest.

Angela smiled at him before turning her attention back to Arya "Sorry, you call her Katherine correct? She goes by far too many names these days."

"Oh" Arya turned back to watch the forest below and the herbalist soon joined her with the werecats. "Should we wait until she does something then? She's too dangerous to leave loose, especially with a young dragon"

"Well of course but that doesn't mean you can find her" Angela smirked and then waved at the silver werecat "Silverage here might be able to help you though."

The ancient werecat regarded Arya with tired eyes before opening her mind to the elf. I am old beyond age, I have seen dragons rise and fall, yet never have I seen such terrible things written in the stars. This halfling as you call her has all the power of both her races and yet is neither. Her voice was slow and slipped at times, making her words hard to understand.

Arya shifted her gaze to where the first stars were peeking out between the clouds leftover from the storm. "What is written there old one?"

She is only a danger if you make her one yet her path is marked by blood… Silverage shook her head, her eyes growing distant Perhaps I should have stopped them but this was meant to be. Eragon will be in danger very soon though unless you warn him, she wants the name…

I crouched on the roof of a house, my gaze trained on the people moving below searching for me.

Azura shifted beside me, letting out a soft hiss and I silenced her with my tail before she could draw their attention. Not yet, be patient.

She glared at me then ducked down again so her eyes wouldn't be seen if they looked our way.

Several minutes passed like that while the last of the sun's light faded behind me. Finally, on an unspoken signal, we leapt down at the men.

I changed to my cat form mid-leap and landed across the back of one while Azura caught another with her tail around his throat and her claws in his shoulders.

Again without words we rose into the air with our prey, carrying them out of sight before the others could react.

We flew with no real direction, sometimes grunting under the weight of the struggling men, until finally we left the city behind and could drop them into a ditch barricaded for just this purpose.

Azura circled overhead to keep watch while I landed on the edge of the barricade, out of reach if the men tried to attack.

While the men found their feet again I changed back to my human form and resettled my dress which had shifted slightly in my other form. Once I was content again I glanced down at the men "So can we do this simply or do I have to kill you?"

"You're a terror Dema, you'll have nothing from us" growled one of the men, he was older than the other and had a scraggily bread that looked to be gray in the darkness.

I flinched at the nickname, that one I hated the most, and turned my gaze to the other man "So you want to die needlessly? I haven't even asked my question yet."

Azura let out a roar, warning that the other men had spotted us, and swooped lower to attack if need be.

I barely spared a glance for her as I leapt down to stand in front of the men "Speak now or die, where is Walkron the human Rider?"

The older man raised his arm to attack and I knocked him across the head, whispering a word too low for them to hear. He dropped to the ground unconscious and the other one backed up against the barricade.

"Last chance, speak or I will kill you both" I growled as Azura let out another roar above.

"He-he's in Surda, I don't know where" the man stammered as I stepped closer, his eyes darting between me and his useless companion "Near the lake or the ocean, they like water or something"

I smiled and touched him on the forehead, murmuring forget in the ancient language.

He dropped to join his companion and I took to the sky again as arrows began to whistle through the air. Some bounced off my wards and others buried themselves in the barricade while I circled up to join Azura and we took off into the growing darkness.

Behind us the stars began to appear, spelling out warnings that few people could read and fewer noticed.