Chapter 1:

Brom was sitting on a small toadstool in Carvahall. Fires were light, but the town was silent in sleep. Brom sat up, looking around to see Eragon next to him. Brom was startled and he fell out of the chair.

"What are you doing here?" Brom asked, staring at Eragon.

"There is people at my door at the farm. I needed a little help from you to find out who it is, Brom." Eragon's word went slowly out of his mouth, as if he didn't know if Brom would say yes.

"Fine, I'll go see who it is, but I better be back by sun rise to eat breakfast." Brom got up off the floor, using his hands to dust himself off and he grabbed a horse from the stalls. "Eragon, grab one too. You'll need it if they are the king's soldiers at your door."

Eragon walked across the floor, hoping not to be noticed by the king's soldiers that guarded Carvahall at night. He silently walked across the floor, walking in the stall. A brown horse sat there, unsure of it's surrondings. Eragon grabbed hold of the horse, pulled it out of the stall, grabbed a saddle, and jumped on the horse. He walked out next to Brom.

"Got one," he said, looking at Brom.

Brom nodded and he started trotting down te streets of Carvahall. They soon exited the little town and were racing back to Eragon's farm just down the road. Brom was usually in the lead, but Eragon was this time. Brom needed to know who these men were intil he attacked or talked to the "men" at Eragon's farm.

Soon, they were there. Eragon jumped off of the horse, followed by Brom. "They are over there." Eragon pointed to these men in black hoods, with bows over their shoulders. They were knocking on the door, yelling if anyone was home.

"How did this happen? When did you notice them?" Brom was looking at the men as he spoke, not at Eragon. The men were banging harder and harder on the door, threatening to bust in if Eragon wasn't going to open the door.

Eragon started to tell Brom what happened. "I was asleep when I started hearing these knocks at my door. They asked if anyone was going to answer the door, but I didin't know these guys. They could kill me. So, I went out the back door and went to find you. That was about at least ten minutes ago. It takes me not long to get to Carvahall to find you, Brom."

Brom listened, shaking his head "yes" at important parts that Eragon was talking about. It was odd, seeing these men at Eragon's farm. "We should ask th-" Brom started, but was interuppted by a noise behind him. "What was that?" Brom asked.

"I don't know," said Eragon.

"We should find out," Brom retorted.

Eragon and Brom turned around to see Murtagh sitting in the bushes behind them.

"What do you want?" Eragon asked, looking at Murtagh. Murtagh just laughed at Eragon, that made Eragon slightly confused.

"Came here to join the party. Look, those are not angry men, but they are what we can call king's soldiers. They want to see you, but it would be better to leave them be. Call Saphira, maybe she can help."

Eragon blinked, but he shrugged and called to Saphira. "Murtagh wants you, Saphira. There are king's soldiers at my door that want me. Can you come?"

"Sure, I'll be there in a minute."

"She's coming, Murtagh," Eragon replied, hoarsly as he spoke.

"Good, that's all I need to know. I know that Saphira is fast, she gets to places fast, you know that. Wait a minute. Am I talking loudly?" he asked, looking at Brom and then Eragon.

"As loud as a wolf." Brom stared at the soldiers as he spoke, his voice was dim, telling Murtagh that he was sure. "Why?" Brom asked, staring back at him.

"They are looking at me, pointing. Is that me or are th- THEY ARE COMING!" Murtagh shouted, pulling out his bow and he aimed at one.

"No," Eragon snapped. "Murtagh, hop on my horse, we will do this the easy way and get out of this. ALIVE!" Eragon turned away, when Brom grabbed his shoulder before he went.

"Eragon, we need to kill the horses. They didn't walk here, they used horses. Grab your bow and we'll shoot them." Brom pulled a bow over his shoulder, and he was going to spit out some instructions. "Eragon, help me shoot the horses. Murtagh, you- MURTAGH!" Brom's cries split the air in two, as he saw Murtagh killing some men with his sword.

Blood hissed all over the ground, the stars sprinkling over them as Murtagh killed some of the men. He didn't know that one soldier was walking up behind him, with his sword pulled over his shoulder, ready to kill Murtagh for good. Brom pulled out his bow, but was too late. The soldier jabbed his sword in Murtagh's side. Murtagh screamed, his cries echoing the night. Blood lay on the floor, and Eragon stared. The soldiers turned back to Brom and Eragon, and started marching to them.

"What do we do now?" Eragon asked. "Use OUR horses and run for our lives?" Brom stared at Eragon, looking back at Murtagh.

"We get him first," Brom pulled out his bow. "We don't kill the soldier's horses,we kill the soldiers!" Brom shot one, causing the soldiers to not march to them, but start running. Dirt flew behind them, Eragon thinking fast, and Brom shooting the men that were nearby. Eragon knew he needed to help Brom, so he grabbed his bow and started to shoot the king's soldiers.

A soldier fell to the floor as Eragon's bow struck him in the stomach, yelping in pain as blood leaked from his stomach to the floor. He took his last, faint breath intil he died. Some of the soldiers wanted to retreat, but they kept running to Brom and Eragon, refusing to give up. Brom fired, hitting another soldier in the head, and he gasped as blood leaked from his head, soaking his eyes so he was blinded. He would die soon, and the pain made it worse. Brom fired again, hitting him through the throat and out the other end. Soldiers gasped at this, but the main one was still alive, directing them to press their attack on Brom and Eragon.

"We are so dead," Eragon muttered, crossly to himself. "We have already killed much, we must get the horses now. They approach quickly, and we must reload after we fire. Let's go Brom!" Brom refused and he fired again, knowing it would be better to have Eragon being brave, not saving himself.

"Help me, Eragon. They will die easier if you pull out your bow and start shooting men like I am!" Brom fired at a soldier, who sailed to the floor, gasping in pain and anger. Brom reloaded. Eragon realized he would much rather be helping Brom, not getting him killed. Eragon pulled out his bow and fired at the soldiers.

POV: Brom

I watched Eragon closly as he fired at the soldiers. I could tell he didn't want to help me that much, but I could tell he didn't want me dead. I reloaded again and fired at the leader, the only one with a sheild. He also had a sword in his hand. Everytime I fired at him, he used his sheild to dodge the move. I needed to pull back on my bow a little harder, so I pulled back strongly. I fired at him, and broke the sheild. It worked! Now he had nothing to protect himself with.

I fired at the main one, and got him in the head, just in front of the brain. He couldn't take his last breath, he died at almost an instant. The other soldiers saw that their leader was dead, so they had the choice to flee. They did so, leaving the dead soldiers and Murtagh on the floor. I put my bow away, running out of the bushes to help him.

"Eragon, help me!" I roared. Eragon rushed to me in a hurry, coming to see if his half-brother was okay. I held my hand to his throat, realizing that his pulse was still pumping with his heart. He survived! A miracle!

Eragon stepped up to me, looking at me slightly. "Is he okay?" Eragon asked, turning his view off of me and onto Murtagh instead. I waited to see if he was serious about the question. He realized I never answered and he stared at me. "Well? People usually don't respond if it isn't good luck. Is he dead or alive?" He must have been serious, so I answered.

"He's fine. He is alive. Get him on Saphira while we ride our horses back to Carvahall. Saphira will take him to the mountains, using the Varden to take care of him. We'll go there now, I realized we don't need to give back the horses. Tell this to Saphira, now." I insisted. Eragon nodded.

Eragon stepped away from me, turning the other way as if he wanted some privacy talking with Saphira. A few seconds later, he stepped back to me, crouching over Mortagh's body to see the wound. Minutes later, Saphira came, seeing Mortagh's body on the floor.

"She said yes," Eragon said when she arrived to them. "She wasn't hear in time to help us when he first asked her to, she met up with urgals down the valley. She is taking Mortagh to the Varden to heal. She said if he doesn't wake up on the ride there, he probably won't wake up intil we get there. Put him on Saphira's back, Brom." I nodded, picking up Mortagh and placing him on Saphira's body. She soon flew off, the trees startled by the wind, causing them to shiver in the breeze.

"Let's go," I told Eragon as Saphira flew off. "We need to get there as soon as possible. The sooner we get there, the better. He won't worry about us if he wakes up before he get's here." I grabbed my black horse, hopping on. Eragon followed my action.

"Lead the way," Eragon said, pulling his horse behing mine. "Let's ride."

"Good idea," I reported, racing off with Eragon hot in my horses's tail.

I didn't get back for breakfast, as I wanted to, but I needed to help Eragon take care of his problems. The night turned to morning as we were stepping through the water in the valley. It rushed up my horse's leg, making it shiver with pleasure. As I ran through the valley, Eragon was muttering things. I wondered what he was talking about, but I ignored it. We hade a while to go from here. . .

NORMAL POV

Saphira was racing through the air, the wind in her feathers. She did not have far to go to make it to the Varden. Murtagh was still not awake, his breathing harsh and blood leaking from him. It did not make her feel any better, but Saphira realized that the smell of fire and the movements of teeny tiny people were covering one part of the mountain. She couldn't talk to these Varden people. She could only talk to Eragon, he was the only one that understood.

Some people saw her coming, pleased to think that Eragon was there to help them. But Eragon was not there, they would not be pleased to see Murtagh's scarlet blood face in the place where they wanted to see Eragon. Saphira landed, people looked for Eragon, seeing Murtagh's face there.

"Why is he here?" asked one, looking at Saphira. She understood that the people of the Varden would not be pleased. . . at all. Saphira dropped Murtagh's body at the Varden's feet. They gasped at what they saw. Saphira pushed him forward, then she took to the skies, not wanting to deal with anything with Murtagh. She never trusted him, but she didn't know if she would or not ever trust him.

A yound girl named Abala walked up to Murtagh. She was about his age, not so young. About fiveteen. She placed her hand on his throat, feeling the pump of red blood flowing through his veins. He would wake soon, about in a few hours. She needed to take him in a nice cave. . .But where was a nice cave? The people of the Varden left Murtagh on the floor, but not Abala. She kinda thought he was. . . .cute? Special? Dead? She didn't know.

She grabbed his body, pulling it away from the village, gripping his feet tightly. She brought him to a cave under a waterfall, it was damp, but warm. Nice to heal in, she supposed. She gripped a bucket, sticking it under the waterfall, filling it quickly. One of the reason's why it was a good spot, always got water. She had some food, so she set some cooked deer meat on a high rock and went to find some cloth to heal the wounds. She had an idea. She tore off some cloth from her dress and soaked it in the water.

She ripped off his shirt, seeing the scar that his father gave him. She thought it made him look brave, rather like a warrior in battle. She didn't know his past, but maybe when he woke up she could ask him some questions. She realized he was armed, so she took away his sword and his bow so he wouldn't try to kill her.

She placed her cloth on the deep cut that the soldier gave him. She saw him twitch, so she kept on placing the cloth on him. "Hungry?" she asked, putting the food in his face. It was fresh, soit smelled good. He twitched, as if it was a yes. "Well, you'll need to wake up first." She grabbed the water and she poured it in his face. He shot awake.

"What? Eragon? Brom? Where are y- Who are you?" Murtagh asked, looking at Abala. He tried to reach his bow, but he didn't feel it there. He looked down to see he had no shirt on as well. "Woah!" he screamed, grabbing his shirt and pulling it over his body to sheild it. "Why did you do that?" he asked, looking at Abala.

"Sorry to rudly treat you, but I am Abala. Eragon's dragon-" she started, but Murtagh cut her off.

"Saphira." He corrected her.

"Saphira, brought you here. You would have no attention is it wasn't for me. All of us left you there, but me. I saved you, you should be more than grateful." She stared at him. He snarled under his breath.

"Why would they take me to the Varden? Why wouldn't they take care of me? Why here?" he screamed, confused. "I thought. . .I thought they. . .cared." His eyes streamed with salty tears, but he wiped them away. He could 't be a. . .a. . .BABY! He needed to stay strong.

"Maybe they didn't have the time." She reassured him. He didn't feel convinced.

" . . ." His voice was watery, and she noticed this. She grabbed her cloth to soak the tears into it, but when he felt the tickle rub his face, he bolted to her hand, looking at her cold-hearted in the eye. "Don't even thing about it, Abala." His voice was deep, scowling with disgust. He pulled his shirt on, looking at her.

"You arn't going anywhere," she boasted, grabbing the meat. "You must be hungry. Eat. If you want to find your friends you might want to fuel. I am going to change the bloodly water out so you can have a drink. I need you to rest. . .?" she asked, looking at him for a name.

"Murtagh." He grabbed the meat, eating it. It was down in seconds. Abala grabbed the empty bucket and filled it with cold water. She handed it to him. He took it, gulping it down. When he finished, he looked down to see that his shirt was full of blood. "I might want to take a bath," he said, looking at his body. "With my pants on."

She nodded grabbing a large tub, the size of a bath tub, it was a tub, basicly. She couldn't really pull it over but she pointed to it. He nodded, taking his shirt off. He stepped in the tub, filling it with water from the waterfall and bathing himself in it. When he was done, he cleaned his shirt as well. He pulled it on, seeing that Abala was staring a him the whole time.

"Uh, some privacy, please?" he asked, as he had some more water before he would start walking. She nodded, but when he headed for the entrance of the cave, he saw Eragon and Brom walk in.

"Murtagh!" screamed Eragon. He hugged his half brother then he drew away. "We were very worried about you, Murtagh. We are very sorry we sent you here, but we needed to get you to shelter fast," Eragon explained to him. He nodded.

Suddenly, Abala jumped up. "I want to come! I want to go with you!" she screamed, jumping up and down. Murtagh stared. Eragon and Brom glanced at each other, worried at what the answer might be.

"I guess," Brom sputtered slightly. She thanked him with her wits. Brom sighed. "Let's head out now, I guess. It would be better."

Eragon looked at him, rather confused. "Where do we need to go? We don't have a mission on our heels, Brom."

"Yes we do. I found it out on the way, that we have a mission. A deadly one, we need to stay alive. In a misty gorge, some urgals, big ones, are killing people. We need to kill them in the encampment. Now, come on, Miss." Brom grabbed his horse. The Mission began. . .Now.