Adurna

One Day

Chapter Eighteen-

I tightened the last strap into place of Derikia’s rough saddle in the shade of the outskirts of the forest. My fingers lingered on the tough leather and I wondered idly how long it would last. Some parts of it had been rubbed off completely from his sharp scales and had the tendency to pierce my leg’s vulnerable skin. I’d have to get more leather at the next town to patch up the holes soon.

How many towns will we be able to stop at until we reached the Varden? Eragon never spoke of it on his own and I never pressed him for the details. I had a feeling we were closer and that both excited me and scared me. Closer meant truly taking part in the war I doubt I’m ready for. Closer also meant having less time with my companions.

At that thought, I glanced over at the three of them. They were gathered in a loose circle in the gorge’s meadow in what seemed to be complete silence to others. To me, there was a secret conversation brewing between them. With the shifts in expressions and bodies and the occasional buff of air I saw words. Maybe you couldn’t actually hear them, but seeing it was easy if you had practice.

We had stayed in by the lake’s shore for a week. Perhaps longer. With each growing hour, I grew to love it even more. I never wanted to leave and I knew no one else did either. It pained me to think of leaving, but the thought tittered on the edge of becoming a full blown discussion and soon, I hate myself for saying this, we will leave this place. I feared we’d never come back, but it is the price we’ve all had to pay in the past. At least we can enjoy our peace of heaven for the time being.

My eyes traveled to the three again, this time taking in each of their beauty. Saphira held her head high and stared off into the distance. The sun’s bright rays danced off her beautiful scales, making me squint to see her majesty. She was beautiful and she knew it. I smiled to myself at the relationship we have begun to form. It had its flaws, yes, but we’d die easily for each other. Next, my gaze found its way to Derikia. His head was buried in the long grass, hiding half his face though not his dazzling eyes. They watched Saphira kindly and only stopped to blink. He, too, reflected the sun, but not as brilliantly as she. I debated reaching for him in my mind, but enjoyed watching him so at ease with his surroundings. With one last look at the dragons, I shifted my gaze lower to the human that sat between them, seemingly oblivious to the beast before him. His brown hair billowed in the breeze, blowing the messy hair out of his eyes. To my dismay, the brown orbs were beneath their tanned lids, hiding away from my searching gaze. I wanted so badly to see his eyes that I almost ran to him and begged him to look at me. Staying seated, I continued to watch the scene before me.

I watched closely as Eragon plucked grassed between his fingers and examined them by holding them up to the sky and squinting at it before letting it go in the gust of slight wind. My heart suddenly ached for the boy trapped in a man’s body. He was just a few years older than me, but was wiser than most men decades before him. His jawline seemed to be carved perfectly out of bone and flesh as it slackened enough as he blew the grass from his hands when no wind came to claim the blades from his grasp. Looking over his body once again, I smiled to myself once I found no signs of the weapons he used to carry around. There was no need for them here, for there was no danger. I knew it was silly to find joy in the small gesture and I soon would have to learn how to handle a sword much like his, I didn’t like the thought of it in his hands. Something so soft and gentle against me couldn’t possibly be the same hands that had destroyed so many lives. Pushing those thoughts away, I stand, no longer being able to bear the distance between us.

Quietly, I glide against the pointy grass blades. I have found myself becoming more and more graceful for what Eragon says is “the dragon’s mark on us”. I guess that’s why my teeth have become ever-so-slightly sharper than before and the distance I can travel becomes easier and easier each day. My footsteps go undetected by them to my delight.