For Alagaesia: 72. A meeting with the traitors

The forest around the palace was suffocating. Thorn and Murtagh had left her in a portion of the vast ruined palace which seemed less sinister than the other portions. The place had only been in ruins for twenty years. But it seemed like it had been absorbed into the wilderness far earlier than that. The other way to think of it was comparing it with Eragon – the dragon rider’s birth coincided with the fall of the palace and its lord. When seen from that angle, it only felt right that the palace had changed a lot because in these twenty years Eragon had grown into some sort of a guiding light to Alagaesia’s populace.

For Alagaesia: 71. Euphoria of losing

He had thought that it was just another ordinary day until he heard her lilting laughter. The innocence and glee in her voice and face told him only one thing: search for a way to stop time from advancing and watch this moment over and over again till the green trees turn brown and the mountains are ground down to dust. It all started that day two weeks ago, when they left Silthrim. It was Saphira who suggested that they commence aerial combat training now that Indra and Arya had learned to fly together.