Before The Fall {An Eragon Fanfiction}

Chapter 1- The Beginning

The air was crisp as I stepped out of my home into the quiet streets of Daret. Few were awake at this time so I was able to walk down the streets unnoticed. Though it was a special day, I ended up doing the usual.

Holding my bow, I headed out into the prairie to try and see if there are any deer that I might have been able to bring home. When I reached the edge of town, I noticed some fresh tracks and tried to decide if it would be worth it to track the herd down. Finally, I decided the effort would be worth the delicious meat we would gain if I found the herd and set out in the wake of the trail.

Following a trail always seemed to clear my mind. The peace out on the prairie with the wind blowing slightly through the tall grasses was calming like nothing else. The tracks looked very fresh, and within ten minutes I could see the herd up ahead of me.

Pulling out my trusty bow my father had made for me, I notched an arrow and make the string slightly taut, so when the time came and I had to take the shot I would have been ready.

Scanning the herd, I decided on an old doe. As I crept through the grasses crouched down low, I tried to get as close as I could without scaring the herd. But, my luck did not hold out. Stepping down on a twig at the edge of my shot range, it echoed with a loud crack.

The herd scattered. Blowing my cover, I ran forward and pulled the bow string to my cheek and fire at the deer closest to m. As I released the taut string, it launched forward with a sharp twang, striking the deer closest to me. A young buck with velvet spikes. The arrow flew through the air like an enraged hornet and struck the young deer right in the heart. He dropped immediately.

For a moment I felt a pang of sadness for ending the life of such a young creature, but survival of the fittest. My family needed food.

Hoisting the buck over my shoulder, I began my slow journey back to Daret. My father would have to skin and gut the deer. Every time I tried to help he would push me away, muttering how it's a mans job. But there was one thing he didn't realize, and never would. I was stronger than most girls, and men for that matter.

Because what father didn't know, was that he was not really my father. When my mother showed up on his doorstep, she was already pregnant. Of course, she wasn't showing, but they must have gotten together pretty quickly for my dad not to know she was already pregnant. She had never told him about my real father, not that I didn't consider him my father for he raised me. But she has told me the real story.

Shifting the buck into a more comfortable place on my shoulder, I could clearly recall the day she came into my room. It was a Sunday, I remember because it was the only day mother didn't spend all her time cleaning and cooking, but doing something small for herself and I. I was brushing my fingers through my dull blonde hair, that I despised so much, when she came into my room. She sat down beside me and quickly braided it into a side braid. I smiled despite how much I hated my hair, though mother always seemed to make it look decent. When she was finished, she reached down and grabbed my hand in her own and I remember looking into her pale brown eyes. So unlike my own. In fact, I barely looked like her at all.

My blonde hair was the only thing I inherited from her. But my blue eyes, slightly angled features, and perfectly athletic body was completely different. It's not like my mom was fat, far from it, she was just not muscular.

"Talia", my mother said looking down at me. I knew her like the back of my hand, so instantly I knew something was wrong. Instead of asking questions, I said nothing.

"Talia", she said again, "there is something you need to know about your father, something you cannot tell Royce."

My first thoughts were that father was caught sleeping around the tavern with the bar whores, but then I realized she said my fathers name at the end of the sentence. I was utterly confused.