For Alagaesia: 36. Heart-wrenching

"Is it a good idea, Eragon?", Roran asked for nearly the hundredth time that morning. Eragon, although fed up with answering the same question repeatedly said, "Yes, Roran. It will be for the best."

"Will she be safe?", Roran asked.

"Roran. Be calm. Vanir has promised me that he would do all he can to keep Katrina safe."

"Yes, I know. You said that already. Still, how will somebody else watch over Katrina like me or you?", Roran said, his voice etched with worry. Eragon was left speechless. Roran had, as a matter of fact, included Eragon as Roran's equal in caring for Katrina. The trust Roran had in him astounded Eragon. Feeling slightly embarrassed for sounding irritated, Eragon said, "Roran. You have seen the elves. They keep their promises whatever the price and Vanir has grown to be one of the few elves, I truly trust. I know of his skills. And Arya has promised Saphira that the other elves going are no mere warriors either. No harm will come to Katrina"

Roran nodded slowly as if pondering Eragon's explanation.

"Who will attend to her during the birth? Elain and Gertrude are here.", Roran asked after a period of silence when Eragon waited patiently for the next question to come for he knew there would be plenty of questions. Roran would never allow Katrina to leave if he had even the slightest doubt about her safety. But for this question, Eragon was unprepared.

"There will be many elves where she goes, Roran. They will take care of her.", Eragon managed to stammer out a response.

For Alagaesia: 35. A welcome party

It seemed anxiety was the only emotion Eragon possessed. He did his best to bring a calm look about his face but traces of his emotional self persisted, showing itself whenever some friend of his came to him to start a conversation. The party was arranged for him and so he was the centre of attraction of everybody. Even though Eragon was quite used to being the focal point of such gatherings, he felt it too much today to cope.

Whenever somebody came to speak to him, he eyed them with caution, a behaviour which Saphira noticed as 'over-cautious' and 'cold'.

'You are treating them coldly Eragon. They have come here for you. Be friendly', she said.

'As if I am not trying', Eragon replied. 'Oh, poor little thing.', Saphira said and covered her wings around him protectively. Eragon admired Saphira. Since she had promised that she wouldn't bring up the matter of his days in prison, she had not even mentioned about it once. Instead she had tried to bring peace to him by being close to him and advising him to behave as he would have before his capture.

For Alagaesia: 34. The wolves inside

He didn't remember sleeping on something as soft as what he was sleeping on now. As far as his memory permitted, Eragon remembered going to the balcony where Saphira lay curled and speaking to her about his encounter with Arya. He had suddenly felt so tired and had fallen into his waking dreams leaning against Saphira's body. But now he saw that he was covered in warm bed-sheets. Confused, he raised his head and tugged lightly at Saphira's wings. Saphira lifted her wings letting the bright morning sunshine hit his body. She stretched like a cat pushing away all sleepiness and said, 'Good morning, little one', brightly.

'Good morning, Saphira.', Eragon said getting on his feet scratching the scales on Saphira's legs affectionately.

'How, may I ask, I came to be covered in blankets?', he asked her wanting to clear his doubts.

'Arya came to visit me and seeing your pitiful state, had them brought here.', Saphira said nonchalantly. 'Oh..', Eragon said disgruntled by Arya's actions, given that she had strangely been silent all the while they walked back to the city, the last evening.

For Alagaesia: 33. Rotating wheels of life

Ten people stood around the dragon egg, each thinking hard about the kind of spell that would be laid on the egg. Eragon was among them and so was Arya. Murtagh's words rang clearly in Eragon's ears: "Don't touch the egg. You will die."

Eragon's mind raced through all the possible kinds of spells that someone as cruel and sadistic as Galbatorix would cast upon their most precious possession. Knowing Galbatorix, Eragon could guess that he will not only kill the person touching the egg without his permission, but also move the egg back to his treasury with energy from the person touching the egg. 'It would make the person weak and powerless. But it won't kill the person. So what trick would the usurper employ?', Eragon thought. He looked around him and saw that none in the group was anywhere near trying anything. Eragon sighed and thought more about Galbatorix. 'He likes to gloat about his achievements. He would like to do that to the thief too.', Eragon thought.

For Alagaesia: 32. Reunion

The pleasant melody in the air woke Eragon up. He flickered his eyes open expecting to see the dark and damp interiors of the prison cell. Instead he was greeted by a glorious blossom of flowers hanging just above his head. A shadow moved away from him and bright sunlight hit his face.

'Good morning, Little one', Saphira said and he realised that it was Saphira's wings that had given him shade. He turned his head around to see a group of elves gathered around somebody or something, he couldn't see.

'Good morning, Saphira... um, how long was I asleep? Where are we now?', Eragon asked afraid that he had overslept due to his tiredness.

'Oh, not much. You have been asleep only from yesterday evening. Just after you had fallen asleep, we reached the elven camp under Blodhgarm. Nobody wished to wake you. So we left you to sleep for a while'

Eragon peered at the sky taking his eyes away from the beautiful bunch of flowers that hid the sky from his eyes. The sun was almost at its zenith which meant it was nearly noon. He had slept nearly one full day and because of him they had made no further advance than the elf camp. He loathed himself for being weak.

For Alagaesia: 31. Sunshine at last

The sun was setting in the western sky, its golden rays playing hide and seek with the clouds. Roran watched it with a feeling of doom. Eragon's ring that had calmed down before two days had yet again warned him of problem for Eragon in the morning. Ever since Saphira and Arya and had gone looking for a way to free Eragon, he had been anxious. He didn't even know if letting them go was the right choice. But he knew for a fact that nothing could have stopped them from going. And he too didn't want Eragon to suffer anymore.

But one thing had troubled him so much in the past few days: if something bad happened to Saphira or Arya on their adventurous quest, Eragon would hold himself responsible for it and feel guilty. Knowing Eragon Roran also feared that Eragon may even kill himself if such a thing came to pass. He shuddered at the thought. It had been four days since Saphira and Arya left from the Varden. There wasn't any news from the since except calling Blodhgarm to their aid.

For Alagaesia: 30. Blessing as a bait

Watching Saphira fly towards him worked wonders on his tired mind and body. If he felt safe when he saw Arya in the prison, he felt every emotion that was worth mentioning as good when he saw Saphira. He couldn't wait for her to reach him. He needed to touch her scales; the jewelled scales that made her more worthy than anything in Alagaesia-be it the Isidar mithrim that she repaired or the menoa tree of the elves-atleast for him. He could now feel her body-warmth on him. Oh, how much he missed it? And the wish to sleep under Saphira's wings took over him and he ran as fast as he could. His eyes started playing games with him by blurring Saphira out and soon his legs joined in by not responding to his will.

For Alagaesia: 29. Dawn

Eragon shifted his worn out body slightly. It was better if he could stay immobile because every movement induced a pain in him like being stabbed by a hundred spears. Staying immobile had its own discomfort for it stopped blood flow making his body ache for some movement. The foul smell of the dungeon cell he was in combined with his own dirty body layered with blood and some white liquid that oozed from his wounds was too much to bear that it nauseated him. But his stomach was empty and nothing remained in it to vomit. He wanted sleep to take over him but unconsciously he avoided sleep. He feared that sleeping would again put him through the hell, he had faced thinking he was dead. It was the worst moment in all of his captivity except perhaps the time when Galbatorix had gained entry into his mind for a few fractions of a second. No he wouldn't sleep hereafter. Not without resting his head against Saphira.

For Alagaesia: 28. Tackling the lion's den

Every wing-beat, a mixture of joy and fear, Saphira flew out of Du Weldenvarden. It was early in the morning now. But she wasn't feeling the usual activeness that comes with the morning. In fact, she felt worse than she did at night when she had been in Du Weldenvarden. The mystic-forest-of-elves had a calming effect on her. But now that she was back in the open air, she was feeling more and more that their doom was near. But ever since, she had started off from Ellesmera, the immense worry that she had been feeling for five days had left her. It indicated only one thing: the danger that Eragon was facing was gone. His life wasn't threatened atleast for now. That one thought gave her the strength to face every adversity that lay ahead of her.

For Alagaesia: 27. Eventful evening

The sun was low in the western sky. The meeting was going on so well that Nasuada thought that at the end of the meeting even the most hateful man of the Varden would have got one friend from the Urgals. It was a master stroke by Roran who had arranged this meeting. It was held under the pretense of reiterating their opposition to Galbatorix in difficult times. Roran had planned this meeting earlier when he had taken over the affairs of Urgals to create awareness about the Urgal customs among the Varden. But there had been no time to conduct it till now. Roran was not so keen to conduct the meeting when Saphira and Eragon both were in danger. But Nasuada, being the leader she was had found it to be the best time to conduct it. It served two purposes now: lifting the failing moral strength of the men and getting the men friendly with the Varden. Personally she too was not interested in having this meeting at this time. But she had been taught by her father, Ajihad that whatever difficulty a leader faces, he or she should try to give their best to their followers. This meeting was just one of many things Nasuada had done keeping in mind her father's advise.