Disclaimer: All rights to the Inheritance Cycle belong to Christopher Paolini and Knopf Books

Eragon moved through the leaf-litter with speed and skill brought about by meticulous practice. It was late fall, almost winter, and the air was cold and dry. Eragon needed to head back to his uncle's farm by tomorrow at the latest to help harvest the crops. That meant that if he didn't make a kill by tonight, then Eragon would have to go home empty handed. Fortunately, Eragon was currently looking at a deer he had been tracking for several days. If he managed to bring it down then there would be enough food to last through winter.

As the deer came to a temporary halt to munch on some grass, Eragon crouched down inside the tree line and took aim with his bow. As he was about to release his arrow a bright flash filled the clearing. When his vision cleared Eragon realized the deer had started fleeing and took a hasty shot at it. The arrow missed the deer completely and imbedded itself into a nearby tree. By the time Eragon got another arrow loaded the deer had already fled into the tree-line, well out of sight.

Now that the action was over Eragon decided to take a closer look at what had lost him the deer. What he saw was a large, circular patch of scorched earth. In the center of the circle was a large, blue stone. As Eragon cautiously made his way toward it he was able to see the white veins running along its surface. Eragon poked at it with his bow a few times, looking for any reaction. After determining the stone to be safe Eragon picked it up to take a closer look.

The first thing that caught Eragon's attention was the weight of the stone. It was far heavier than it looked to be. The next thing he noticed was that the stone was incredibly smooth. He couldn't find a single crack, bump, or scratch on the entire stone. Even the white veins melded perfectly with the rest of the stone.

"What are you?" he asked. Not getting a response from the stone he took off his pack and placed the stone in it. Even though he lost the deer he was tracking he might be able to sell the stone when the traders arrived. It looked like it was fairly valuable. With any luck he would be able to buy enough meat with the money for his family to make it through winter. With the stone safely put away in his pack, Eragon began the trek back to the farm.

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After three days of travel Eragon was almost to Carvahall. Normally he would be going straight back to his uncle's farm, but this was fairly important. Eragon needed to visit Brom and ask about the stone he found. The old story teller seemed to know a great deal about many things. If he knew something about the stone than Eragon would have a better idea of who to sell it to.

As Eragon walks through Carvahall he hears some shouting from nearby. Looking around he sees a well-dressed man accompanied by soldiers standing in front of a house. Eragon realizes that it's Quimby's house and that Quimby is arguing with the well-dressed man. It was then that Eragon realized that the man was Cairn, the regional tax collector. The man had been raising taxes lately, and he was merciless in collecting them.

With a rising wave of anger Eragon started to approach the soldiers. He had no idea what he was going to do, but he was going to do something. Before he made it more than a few feet he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning to look he saw that it was Brom.

"You need to calm down before you do something stupid," Brom said as he led Eragon away.

"Someone needs to do something about Cairn. He's raised the taxes for the last two months! And the taxes weren't cheap to begin with!" Eragon exclaimed.

"And what do you think you're going to do?" Brom asked, "Start a fight with a bunch of trained soldiers and get arrested or, more likely, killed?" At this Eragon remained silent, unable to come up with a response.

"Now, what are you doing in town? Shouldn't you be up at your uncle's farm helping him with the harvest?" Brom asked him.

"Actually I came to ask you about something." Eragon said in a much calmer voice.

This grabbed Brom's attention. Eragon was often full of questions and Brom is the one that usually ended up answering most of them. "What is it that you wanted to ask me about?" Brom said.

"Well, I was up in the Spine on a hunting trip, like I usually am around this time of year. Unfortunately, I didn't catch anything. But while I was up there I found this strange looking stone, which is what I wanted to talk to you about. I thought you might know something about it and what I could get for it." Eragon explained.

"Oh really? Let's see this stone then." Brom said.

At Brom's request Eragon took the stone out of his pack. The moment that Brom saw the stone he went white as a sheet. "You said that you found this in the Spine?" Brom asked with an odd amount of fervor.

"Yes." Eragon replied.

"Then put the stone back into your pack and come with me. Quickly!" Brom commanded, "We'll talk about the stone more once we're in my hut."

As Brom began walking away with a worrying haste Eragon finished putting the stone in his pack and hurriedly followed.

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After Brom and Eragon were seated inside Brom's hut Eragon explained how he came by the stone. At the end of the tale a troubled look appeared on Brom's face.

"What you have there," Brom began quietly and carefully, "Is something vitally important to the future of Alagaesia. That is one of the last dragon eggs in existence." As Brom finished his statement Eragon looked at him with surprise and shock. Brom continued in a firm voice, "You need to take the egg home and hide it. Don't show it to anyone and don't tell anyone about it. I'm going to contact some people to come and collect the egg before the Empire finds out it's here."

Though the tone in Brom's voice brooked no argument something greatly bothered Eragon about the situation. "If that egg is so important why did it appear in the Spine in a flash of fire?"

"What you saw was a teleportation spell," Brom explained, "Which means that something has happened to the egg's courier, and that is a worrying thought indeed. Now get home, and quickly!"

"But what am I going to do for food? Without something to sell how are going to afford enough meat?" Eragon asked him.

At Eragon's question Brom gave him a bag of coins. "There is enough in there for the meat you need. And don't worry about what Garrow will say," Brom said, cutting Eragon off before he could bring up the man's pride, "I'll come up with something you can aid me with once the crops have been harvested. That way you can earn the money. Now go!" With that last command Eragon took the money and left, off to hide the egg in his home.

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"And so you just accepted the money?" Garrow asked with disapproval.

"Brom said he would find some chores for me to do after the harvest so I can work the debt off." Eragon said in his defense.

After a pause Garrow finally replied. "Alright, I suppose that would work," he said. "But you had better put in a good effort."

"I will," Eragon assured him. With their conversation done Eragon left to hide the egg in his room.

With the conversation finished, Eragon ran to his room and closed the door. He began looking for someplace to hide the egg, somewhere that would be out of sight. As he looked around the plain, bare room, Eragon realized the only place he could hide the egg was under his bed. He was reluctant to hide it there, as it was the most obvious hiding place someone could think of, but it would have to do. Plus, he had the advantage of no one at the farm was looking for it. Once Eragon had the egg safely tucked away, he began his chores for the day.

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After Brom's encounter with Eragon he traveled back to his hut with the utmost haste. The Varden had to be informed of what had transpired. This was, without a doubt, the most joyous occasion Alagaesia had known in over a century.

While he knew that Eragon was something of a dreamer, he hoped that the egg would never hatch for him. He didn't think Eragon was cut out for such a life. It might crush his hopes, but Eragon would never have the pressure of carrying all of the Varden's hopes, and he would certainly live longer. He also worried Eraon's temper would be a terrible liability.

When Brom reached his home, he was snapped out of his thoughts. He had something more important to do right now. Once inside, he began digging through a pile of papers and scrolls until he found a non-descript mirror with a plain, wooden frame.

With a muttered phrase the mirror sprang to life with Ajihad's image. "Hello, old friend," Brom said to get the man's attention.

With a small jump of surprise, Ajihad looked at his own mirror, shock in his eyes. "It has been a long time since any of us heard from you Brom," he said. "We thought you might have died."

"As you can see I am far from dead," he assured the leader of the Varden. "However, as much as I would like to chat and catch up with you, I have some very important news that needs to be heard as soon as possible."

That caught Ajihad's attention. "What could be so important that you would contact me after laying low for all of these years? I can't imagine it would be remotely trivial."

Brom looked around the room, making sure he was alone in his hut. With his fears temporarily assuaged he said in low whisper, "I've found the egg that Aria had been carrying. I fear that something must have happened to her for it to end up in Palancar Valley."

"Do you have it with you?" Ajihad asked.

"No," Brom responded, "But it's hidden."

"Where is it, then?"

After a moment of thought, Brom said, "It's with an acquaintance. And before you ask, I would trust him with my life. I'm confident that he won't tell anyone about the egg."

"I hope you're right," Ajihad said. "I'll send some Varden soldiers to collect the egg as soon as possible, and I'll look into what's happened to Aria." With that said, the mirror went blank again.

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It had been almost a week since Eragon had found the egg. Neither Roran nor Garrow showed any suspicion that they knew about the egg. On occasion, he would take the egg out from its hiding place and admire it.

Even now, he could hardly believe it. An actual dragon egg in his hands. It was like something from out of a dream. As he laid there on his bed, admiring the beautiful design on the egg, he became engrossed in fantasies of him becoming a dragon rider of legend. He would fight for justice and overthrow the empire! He would…

A knock at the door brought Eragon out of his day-dreams. As he scrambled to replace the egg in under his bed the door opened and Roran walked in. To Eragon's horror, the egg had been in plain sight when Roran had walked in.

After a pause, Roran asked, "What was that?"

"It was just a stone I found in the Spine," Eragon replied.

Roran didn't believe him for a moment. "If it was just a stone then why did you hide it?"

Eragon thought for a second and then said, "Because it's valuable and I want to make sure it's safe." He almost winced the moment the words left his mouth. Now he was just digging himself a hole.

Roran nearly exploded when he heard that. "If it's so valuable why didn't you try to sell it? We need the money to buy meat for winter!"

Roran walked over to Eragon's bed and reached for the egg. In a fit of panic, Eragon grabbed Roran's arm, trying to stop him. "Why are you hiding this stone!?" Roran asked as he struggled with his cousin.

As the struggle continued, Eragon grunted, "I promised Brom I would keep it hidden."

Roran had had enough. Throwing his cousin off of him, he pulled the egg from under Eragon's bed and said, "This is more important than a promise to an old story teller." Looking out of the window, Roran sighed as he saw the curtain of blackness outside. "It's too dark right now, but first thing in the morning, I'm going to take this into town and sell it."

Then, Roran left the room, taking the egg with him. As Eragon sat there, he felt despair and disappointment fall upon him. He had failed Brom.

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The next morning, Roran awoke to the first rays of dawn. Soon, he heard a sound coming from beside him. As the fog of morning continued to clear from his mind, he realized it was a light snoring sound. Confused, he looked beside him and saw a small, winged lizard. With a start, he scrambled out of bed, falling to the floor in an undignified heap.

His sudden movements stirred the creature from its slumber. It began looking around and when its eyes landed on Roran it let out a small chirp and began to amble toward him. In a panic, Roran looked for anything he could use to fend the creature off. His eyes fell on a pile of broken shell in the corner, where he had put Eragon's stone. Then he realized that it hadn't been a stone at all, but an egg.

He was pulled from his musings by a small chirp, and he realized that the small lizard had gotten near his hand. As Roran moved to push the creature away, its head dove toward his hand. Its snout touched his palm and the world went black.