Curse of the Phoenix

Ch.18 -Choices

~Iara

Suddenly Eragon and Murtagh were silent. It lasted a few seconds. No longer. I was uncomfortable. Murtagh was different than Eragon. His hair was a dark color, but nothing close to the black mine was. He seemed bigger than Eragon, but that was because he seemed more muscled. His dragon, Thorn, was red. Startlingly bright against the snow. Like blood. Or poinsettia. 

Iara, lets go back to the castle. Eragon said.

But why, we've barely even been outside...

We have a guest.

Can we come out later then?

I promise. I was satisfied with that. Saphira rose skyward, and we followed. Saphira and Eragon were in front of us, Murtagh and Thorn behind us. I noticed as soon as we were in the sky that, well, Thorn was bigger than Saphira. A lot bigger. Was he older? How older? 

We came back to the castle rather quickly, as me and Eragon had left on foot, so we were only a mile or so away when we had met Murtagh. The doors had been left wide open. Strangely, no snow had gotten inside. There were only a few small puddles of water. Maybe I could ask Eragon later. Grimm was small enough to fly right in. He did, and landed in the empty room.

Saphira walked in next. Followed by Thorn. They each got off of their respective dragons. We were a few dozen feet away. Whenever Eragon looked at me, it was strange, as if he knew something. I tried not to let it bother me.

They both seemed to be chatting, so I let myself go upstairs. Grimm stayed downstairs. I was uncomfortable in situations like that. Grimm said I just liked being the center of attention. I thought he was teasing me. I got into my room and flopped down on my bed. Maja stared back at me. His cute kitty smile never faltered. I smiled and picked him up. He was big enough to hug. So I sat on my bed and did just that. I began to think back, to when we had grabbed my knapsack. The knapsack. The sword. I rolled over, and looked at my dresser. 

After the day it had appeared, I had put it as far back as I could, in the lowest shelf there was. I buried it under my clothes and other things. It had a strange feeling to it, that I couldn't identify. I didn't know what it was, so I just kept it away. It seemed safer there. After a while I heard Eragon's voice.

"Iara! Can you come downstairs?"

"Kay coming!" It was about time he noticed me moping. I jumped off the bed and sort of ran downstairs. I had taken off all of my snow gear, and left it in a heap on the floor. Eragon and Murtagh were sitting across from each other at the table. They were talking. There were also a few things in the middle of the table between them. A map was the only thing I recognized. The other two things were a sword, red, that drew my gaze, and a small half-circle object. Eragon put a hand around the circle once I came over and put it away. Did he not want me to see it? Was it another secret?

I stood a few feet away from both of them. 

"Good, you're here."

"What is it?"

"Well, it's going to be a bit of an explanation....you can sit if you want."

"I'm fine."

"The thing is...we-you, have a choice to make." While me and Eragon were having this conversation, Murtagh merely watched. He unsettled me. I looked at the table quickly. The red sword had to be his. I heard a snort behind me. I glanced over my shoulder. Grimm, Thorn and Saphira were behind me. All three of them were watching me. I was uncomfortable....everyone was looking at me. 

"What is it? What do I have to decide?"

"We have one choice really...it involves your....siblings." He said the word lightly, like he was afraid it would send me into another attack. It merely shook me. I had to sit down. 

"What about them?"

"They're waiting, in Teirm. Come here, it's not far." I walked over to him. He pointed to a labeled dot on the map. It was on the coast. The island we were on seemed small compared to the mainland.

"Why are they waiting?" Eragon glanced at Murtagh. I understood. So he knew why. 

"They're waiting for you. We, and by "we" I mean all six of us, can either go to Teirm, or me and you can stay here. What do you want to do?" What did I want to do? Did I want to.....see them? What would it do to me? I didn't care, I wanted to see them regardless of my own well being.

"I wanna go see them."

"Then we leave first thing tomorrow morning." Murtagh said.