HI! please enjoy my story it won't be completely unoriginal much, I've got a few twists and turns for you.

Reviews would be nice, thanx very much!

Chapter One.

16/2/07. Just edited this, (at 10:15 at night, every one else is watching 'A Touch of Frost...it's a British murder-mystery thing...) For the new readers, the part with Arya is new, where he gives her Islanzadi's message and the punctuation is better as well. I've just found out how to edit it, lol. Right, now I'm off to do the other chapters.

Enjoy!

Aftermath.

Eragon was sitting on a light bay horse looking up at the pile of bodies in the middle of a deserted village.

"Gods above", he whispered.

The man on the white horse next to him turned and asked gently, "do you want to wait for me outside Yazuac?"

But before Eragon could reply a black dagger flew past him and buried itself in Brom's ribs.

"No!" screamed Eragon but the dream changed .

"Who are you?" asked Eragon of the serious-faced youth with brown hair in front of him.

"Murtagh," came the answer and yet again the dream changed.

The ground was a scorched orange colour and evil-looking black crabby lichen traced the floor while green tongues of flame billowed foul smelling smoke into the sky, blotting out the sun and strewn across the lurid ground, were enough men and dwarves to populate an entire city. It was a vast battle field.

A man in black armour stared at Eragon out of cold fathomless brown eyes and his lips curled in a cruel smile, "Misery and Thorn, a fit match. Besides, Zar'oc should have gone to Morzan's eldest son not his youngest. It is mine by right of birth."

"By right of birth."

"It is mine by right of birth."

"NO", cried Eragon, he shot bolt upright, breathing heavily.

"Just a dream," he thought wearily, "though waking is not much better at the moment."

"Little one?," asked a voice inside his head slightly cautiously. "Are you all right?"

"I will be," he answered "but this is going to take quite a bit of getting used to. Angela was right. Betrayal has come from within my family and it has not even finished causing me pain yet."

"Oh little one, you should not dwell on it too much, it will only upset you more."

"I know ,Saphira, but speaking of pain, I think it is time that I healed you."

Eragon looked over at the snoring Roran on the other side of the tent "I think I'll leave him to sleep, he needs it."

"Good idea little one, but I think Nasuada will want to talk to him soon. Carvahall may be a useful asset."

"True, but I think I'll still leave him to sleep awhile, he does not like to be woken, especially in the early morning."

"Well out here, little one, it is hard to tell whether it is morning, noon or night and there most certainly is no visible sunrise."

Eragon laughed. "Not as nice as the Hadarac Desert then, Saphira?"

"Definitely not." she answered sniffily.

Eragon looked around the tent and reached for Zar'oc, then spun around cursing Murtagh for stealing it. I will have to get a replacement, he thought furiously, as he belted on his old hunting knife.

He gasped when he saw Saphira. A broad wound on her front leg was just scabbing over but had obviously bled a lot. Countless arrow wounds made small dark red spots on her wing membrane and blood trickled from her mouth.

"Saphira!" He cried out with his mind to her, "I'm sorry, I should have healed you last night , I didn't know you were in such a state!"

"You were too tired to heal me last night. It is of no consequence. I am fine."

"Never the less I should have cared for you better, I am truly sorry, Saphira."

"Never mind. It doesn't matter."

"I love you too Saphira."

He smiled as she started humming, her enormous sides vibrating.

Eragon started with the long wound on her leg, using one of the spells to heal muscle and skin tissues , then moved on to the arrow wounds which took little energy, though there were many, and mended the skin on the roof of her mouth where the soldiers' armour had pierced the skin and was causing it to bleed badly.

"Done", he said, as he stood back with a sigh.

"Thank you, little one, that feels much better now you've got rid of those little scratches."

Eragon smiled to himself. They were considerably more than little scratches in his opinion, "We should go and report to Nasuada ,we are needed."

"Agreed."

--

Nasuada's pavilion was by far the busiest, not to mention the one with a lot of soldiers on duty, guarding the two royal tents of King Orrin and Lady Nasuada ,who was considered royal.

As he entered the tent he heard Nar Gharzhvog's guttural voice which stopped as the occupants of the tent noticed him.

Arya , Jormundr, Garzhvog and King Orrin all turned to face him. He looked at them all briefly noting how Arya had a bruise on her left temple, how Garzhvogs breastplate was slightly askew and how King Orrin's face was smudged in a most unkingly way, before turning to Nasuada.

"Eragon!," said Nasuada , "I gave orders that you were not to be disturbed unless there was need. Did someone wake you ?"

Eragon smiled slightly, "No my Lady, thank you, I woke on my own. We left Roran to sleep, he needed it and he does not take well to being woken involuntarily."

" We wouldn't want to disturb his beauty sleep, then would we?"

"Certainly not my Lady", he answered, definitely smiling now, enjoying the nonsensical banter.

"My Lady?, I believe we were talking about what the Empires' next move will be, were we not ?" Arya cut in across their dialogue.

Nasuada's face turned serious and he noticed how her eyes were slightly bloodshot and there were small lines by her eyes that were not normally there, making her look drawn and grey, even underneath her dark skin.

"Yes, you are right Arya." Taking a deep breath, she announced to the tent at large. "We believe that the Empire will attack again after they have marshalled their forces. I also believe, and Arya and Garzhvog agree with me, that Galbatorix's plan was to greatly weaken or demolish our army as well as capturing you and Saphira, Eragon. Needless to say it has not yet happened. I would not like to be in the same room as him when he finds out that his army has not only failed but been nearly halved in size," she added with a tight smile.

"I agree, The Dragonwings flaming javelins wreaked a lot of damage to the command tents. They will need to reorganise their commanding officers and realign their troops too." said Eragon

"Which gives us about two, maybe ,three days to heal our majorly wounded,and also, I do not like the idea of stealing, but we should collect weapons from the bodies." said King Orrin, "We will have to burn as much of the dead as we can, if we are to retreat in three days."

"Yes, you are right, Orrin. It makes sense but first, I want to know what you and Saphira intend to do, Eragon." asked Nasuada, looking at Eragon questioningly.

"What do you think we should do?" asked Eragon of Saphira.

"Well first ,little one, I think you should heal Elva, unless you want to hear the end of Angela's tirade?"

"No I most certainly do not, she can be scary when she's like that."

"True"

" A bit like you , Saphira," he teased .

"Also true."

Chuckling ,he opened his eyes and told them, "First, I will heal Elva, then I think I will teach Du Vrangr Gata more healing spells, that way we will be ready for the march back to Surda quicker, then I," he blew out his breath, "will spend the rest of the day on the battlefield clearing the dead, and retrieving weapons ."

"Good" said Nasuada, "Meeting dismissed."

As Eragon turned to go Nasuada said, "Eragon stay back please, I wish to talk to you."

Eragon turned back, not altogether surprised, he had known that she would want to talk about Murtagh.

"Eragon, I want you to know that I really did mean what I said yesterday, do not imagine that your lineage has lessened our opinion of you at all

A lump came into Eragon's throat. "Thank you , my Lady, it means a lot to me,"

She looked at him with concern, "I know it will be hard, but you should try not to dwell on it to much, it will eat you from the inside eventually Eragon,"

"I know, my Lady, and I have finished grieving, I know that I must, sooner or later, defeat Murtagh, for I think that it is unlikely we will be able to free him without killing Galbatorix first."

Nasuada nodded, "I cannot believe that the Murtagh that fought for us in Farthen Dur, that hunted the Urgals in the tunnels with my father, is gone." Her voice broke and she allowed a tear to roll down her cheek and looked away.

"I know my Lady, it is hard, but you did not see him as he took Zar'oc from me and the cruel smile on his face as he told me his, 'claim'. He knew it would torment me but I am determined not to let it, it will be playing into his hands." Eragon said in a harsh voice. "You see, my Lady ?," he added in gentler tones , "Galbatorix has poisoned his mind. Murtagh believes his corrupt vision of peace, he is gone my Lady, and we cannot bring him back."

Nasuada nodded again, she looked much less poised and in-control than he had seen her for a long time.

"You should know, Eragon, that we call him the Red Rider now, to protect his identity for as long as we can. So, is there anything else before you depart?"

"Yes my Lady, as we told you last night, Rorans' bride-to-be, Katrina, has been captured by the Ra'zac and she is imprisoned in Helgrind at the moment and I wish to go and save her as soon as we can. Roran holds her closer to her heart than anything else in Alagaesia. It will kill him if we do not save her."

Nasuada looked at him thoughtfully, "I see no objection at the moment, though you cannot go until we reach Surda, we may need you."

"Thank you so much, My Lady. It will mean everything to Roran, and to me also."

"That's alright, Eragon, I couldn't not let you go, not the least reason being that I would not condemn anyone to even two days with those monsters ."

Eragon smiled, it was no wonder that even the Surdans loved Nasuada. She was an excellent leader." I will go wake Roran, though he should be awake by now. He never was a morning person."

"What about you Eragon? Were you an early morning person?"

He smiled, "Why, Garrow and I got up with sun, my Lady."

Nasuada laughed; It made her suddenly appear the age she was. "Dismissed - and would you tell Stronghammer that I would like to see him briefly an hour before lunch?"

"Of course, my Lady ," he bowed and exited the tent.

Eragon navigated the soldiers on duty passing the experiment house of Orrin and the store of arms. As he walked past the entrance to the yellow tent that held all the spare sword, bows and armour, the flap parted and Arya emerged from the tent.

"Good-day Eragon." She said evenly.

"Arya." He couldn't help being slightly wooden; he was still uncomfortable in her company. "How are you?"

"Well, thank-you. I have been checking the supply of swords. It is very meagre - the only ones left are the ones that are so badly balanced that it is nearly impossible to swing them in the right direction."

He nodded at that, easily believing it. They walked in silence back towards the outskirts of the camp. Her scent, of crushed pine-needles, washed over him, jogging his memory.

"Arya," he said suddenly, "I have a mesage for you, from your mother."

Her face betrayed no emotion, but she stopped and caught his eyes. "What does she say?"

"She expresses her affection to you and says that you are sorely missed in Ellesmera."

Arya's face still lacked any expression. "Thank-you for your message, Eragon."

"But I have not carried out my task properly, Arya. I did not tell you before the battle - you could have been killed in the fighting and you would never have known." He said remorsefully, cursing himself for forgetting.

"But I was not killed in the battle and I do know," she said coolly, "so there is no problem." They were nearing the pavilion that Arya was camped in and she took her leave, bidding him and Saphira good-day.

"Goodbye, Arya."

She nodded acknowledgement, then disappeared into the throngs of people that crowded the tents.

Saphira and Eragon reached the tent that Eragon was situated in. The people of Carvahall and Jeod had, as soon they had found out that Roran and Eragon stayed there, pitched camp immediately.

Eragon circumnavigated the large tent that housed Fisk and his family, "I suppose that Jeod will want find out how Brom died soon," he thought heavily, "and I should repay Gedric for the skins I stole in Carvahall, and I would repay Sloan but seeing as the traitor has got himself and Katrina locked in Helgrind, it'll have to wait, though I will certainly not repay him now.Eragon had reached his tent where Roran was just crawling out ofthe entrance flap looking gaunt but well rested.

"He looks completely different from the young man I left all ready to marry Katrina in Palancar Valley," thought Eragon.

"Mornin' Eragon" was the greeting he got as he drew near, "where's food?"

But still the same old Roran deep inside, Eragon smiled to himself as got food from his pack.

While they ate he told Roran that Nasuada requested him to visit him and that he would be spending the rest of the day on the battlefield.

When they had finished eating, Eragon stood up.

"Where're you going,?" asked Roran

"To right a wrong." answered Eragon quietly

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OK, so , sorry that there isn't much description or much Arya or Roran but next chappie will be better done and stuff.

Review if you so want!

Aeronnen

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