A Second Rider? (Eragon X Reader) [Book 1]

Chapter 40

Eragon POV

   I woke up in the same bed that I fell asleep in. I felt warm even if all of the blankets were under me. I looked over and saw Saphira sleeping on her mattress, her breaths coming out in even puffs.
I felt safe and hopeful the first time since the first time we arrived at Farthen Dûr. It felt like a knot of worry inside of me was finally about to loosen up - one that had grown ever since Brom died, and probably ever since I left Palancar Valley. I don't need to be worried anymore. But how is Murtagh? It was hard accepting the hospitality of the Varden when I knew it was me who, unintentionally, forced Murtagh into capture. I let my gaze wander over the coarse ceiling of the cave and started to think about Arya. Daydreamer, I cursed at myself and looked out towards the dragons nest. By the edge of the cave I saw a big cat sitting there licking its paw. When it looked towards me I could see the red eyes.
'Solembum?' I asked while almost not believing it.
It seems so. The werecat let out a yawn where he was sitting. He stretched out, then he jumped down from the cave to Isidar Mithrim, twenty feet below.
Are you coming?
I glanced over towards Saphira. She had woken up and were looking at me without moving.
'Go. I will be fine', she mumbled.
   I made my way down to where Solembum was waiting for me and saw that (Y/N) was there along with him. They stood at the opening that led to the rest of Farthen Dûr. The very second that I set my foot on Isidar Mithrim, the werecat turned around and disappeared trough the opening.

(Y/N) POV

   As Eragon came walking towards me with a questioning look I shrugged my shoulders as we started to hurry after Solembum. We soon realised that we were at the top of Vol Turin, the Stairs Without an End. We started to walk down the stairs since there was no other way to go.
   We stopped at a door on our right as Solembum went inside.
'Wait', I heard Eragon say to him. We tried to catch up to him, but we only saw him quickly here and there in the abandoned hallways. When we finally turned a corner we saw that Solembum was stopping in front of a door and started meowing. The door opened inwards, on its own it seemed. Solembum went inside and the door closed behind him. It felt surprising as we went over towards the door. Eragon lifted his arm to knock, but the door opened before he was able to do so and it let out a warm light. After a moment of hesitation he went inside and I followed him.
   We arrived in a two room suite that had the colour of ground and was decorated with a lot of creeper plants. The aur felt warm, fresh and damp. I didn't have that much time to look around the room before I heard Eragon say: "What are you doing here?"
   In the middle of the room there was someone sitting in a leather chair, or more precisely, Angela. I elbowed Eragon in the side at his kind of rude question. He only glared weakly at me before we looked back to Angela. "Well, why won't you sit down on the floor so I can tell you why?" Me and Eragon sat down on the floor in front of her when she was done talking. "So!" Angela said and leaned forward. "You are a Rider. I suspected it, but I wasn't sure until yesterday. I am sure that Solembum knew, but he never told me. I should have figured it out the same moment that you mentioned Brom. Saphira... I like it - a fitting name for a dragon." "Brom is dead", Eragon said. "The ra'zacs killed him." Angela had a sad look on her face. She started to twirl with one of her curls. "I am sorry. I truly am", she said softly. Eragon let out a bitter smile. "But not surprised, are you? After all you foresaw his death." "I didn't know who was going to die", she said while shaking her head. "But no, I am not surprised. I met Brom a few times. He didn't like my "frivolous" look on magic." It irritated him." Eragon furrowed his eyebrows. "In Teirm you laughed at his fate and called it a sort of joke. Why?"
Angela froze for a moment and I thought that she wasn't going to answer. "Not that funny, now afterwards, but I didn't know what was going to happen to him. How should I explain?... There was a sort of curse over Brom. His wyrda was with one exception destined to fail everything that he did, but it was not his fault. He was chosen to be a Rider, but his dragon died. He loved a woman, but his affection for her became her doom. And I assume that he got the mission to protect and train you, but in the end he failed to do that too. The only thing he succeeded with was to kill Morzan, and he could not have done any better deed." "Brom never mentioned a woman to us", Eragon answered sharply. Angela just gave us a shrug of her shoulders. "I heard it from someone who couldn't have lied. But enough about this! Life goes on, and you shouldn't bother the dead with your own problems."
   Angela then gathered a pile of reeds from the floor and started to braid them together. We took it as a note that the subject was over. "As you wish. Why are you in Tronjheim and not in Teirm?" "Oh, finally an interesting question", Angela said. "When Broms name appeared again during your visit, I suspected a return from the past in Alagaësia. There were whispers that the Empire was hunting a Rider. I then understood that the dragon egg from the Varden must have hatched, so I closed my shop and left to find out more." "So you knew about the egg?" "Of course I did. I am not an idiot. I have followed along longer than you would realise. There is barely anything happening without me knowing about it." She became silent for a while and continued to braid. "However I understood that I had to leave for the Varden as soon as possible. I have been here for almost a month, even if I don't really like the place - way too moldy for my taste. And everyone in Farthen Dûr are so serious and noble. But even so they are fated for a tragic death, every one of them." She let out a deep sigh when she was done before speaking again. "And the dwarves are just a bunch of idiots who are happy with chopping rocks for the rest of their lives. The only reasonable thing with this place is all of the different mushrooms that grows inside Farthen Dûr." "Then why are you still here?" Eragon asked while smiling. "Because I like to be where important things happen", Angela answered while cracking her neck. "And Solembum would have probably left without me if I had stayed in Teirm, and I like his company. But now do tell me, what adventures have the two of you been through since we last talked?"
   For the next hour me and Eragon told her what had happened during these two and a half last months. Angela sat there silently and listened, but when we mentioned Murtagh she hissed: "Murtagh!" We nodded. "He told us who he was. But let us finish before you judge." We continued to tell our story. Without a thought on her reeds Angela leaned back in her chair when we finished. Solembum suddenly jumped out from his hiding spot and onto her lap. He curled himself into a ball and looked at us. Angela petted the werecat. "Fascinating. Galbatorix allied to the urgals, and Murtagh finally showing himself openly... I should warn you about him, but you are apparantley already aware of the danger." "Murtagh has been a reliable friend and an unfaltering allied." "Be careful anyways." Angela made a face. "Then we have that shade, Durza. By Galbatorix's side I think that he is the biggest threat towards the Varden. I hate shades - next to the dark magic users and their magic it is the worst of them all. I would like to carve out his heart with a blunt hairneedle and feed it to the pigs!" Her sudden burst out was surprising to say the least.
"I don't understand. Brom said that shades were enchanters who made their will through spirits, but why does that make them so evil?"
Angela shoke hear head.
"It doesn't. Normal magicians are just normal - neither better nor worse than the rest of us. They use their magic to control spirits and spiritual powers. Shades, however, refrain from that control in their hunger for power. They give up their bodies and let them be controlled by spirits. Sadly enough it is only the most evil spirits that wants to control humans, and when they have ensconced themselves they never leave. A sorcerer can be possessed by mistake, if they summon a spirit that is stronger than themselves. The problem is that it is incredibly difficult to kill a shade, once it is created. There are only two people, Laetri the elf and Irnstad the Rider, who has survived suck an accomplishment, which you surely know about." "I have heard those stories" Eragon said as he gestured to the rooms. "But why do you live so far up in Tronjheim? Isn't it impractical to live so isolated? And how did you move all of these things up here?" Angela laughed at this. "For real? I'm hiding. When I arrived at Tronjheim I got a few days in peace - until one of the guards that let me into Farthen Dûr told about me. Then every magical user here, even if they barely get to be called that, started to nag about that they wanted me to join their secret group. Especially that one that the Twins run. I finally threatened to turn them all into toads, sorry, I mean frogs, but when that didn't scare them away either, I my way sneaked up here in the middle of the night. It wasn't as difficult as one may think, especially for someone with my capabilities."
"Didn't you have to let the Twins into your mind before you were let inside Farthen Dûr?" Eragon asked. "I had to let them look at my memories." Angela's voice seemed to get cold. "The Twins would never dare to search me, out of fear for what I could do to them. Oh, they would really like to, but they know that the effort would make them into mindless idiots. I came here long before the Varden started searching through people's minds... and they ceartanley won't start with me now." She looked inside the other room and said: "Oh well! This was a uplifting conversation, but the two of you have to go now, I'm afraid. My brew with mandrake root and newt's tongue is boiling and I have to take care of it. Come by when you have the time. And please do not tell anyone where I am. It would be terrible to move again. It would make me very... irritated. And you do not want to know how I am when I am irritated!" "We will keep you secret", we assured her as we stood up. Solembum jumped down from Angela's lap and stood up. "Good!" she exclaimed.
   We said goodbye and left the room. Solembum showed us the way back to the dragons nest and then walked away.

^Hello guys!! I am so sorry for not updating in a while! How are you guys? I just want to thank every one of you for reading this book and I hope that you will continue to do so. See you guys next time!!^