Shadow of a Shade

Chapter Twenty-Two

Will and Addiane ran into a problem almost immediately.

When they walked over to Nyriem and Addiane began to show Will how to get up into the saddle, he laid his hand on Nyriem's side. 

A bright spark shot between the dragon and the Ranger, then he stumbled backwards and collapsed heavily to the ground.

"Will!" Addiane's shout alerted the others as she dropped to her knees next to him, raising her hand to his face instinctively to check if he was breathing. He was, so she quickly rolled him flat on his back, frowning worriedly at his face.

He'd gone extremely pale, and was shaking slightly, but even as Addiane inspected him, the quakes died down. His skin was cold to the touch when she laid her hand on his forehead like she'd seen her adoptive mother do to people sometimes when checking for illness.

"What happened?" Halt was the first over to them, with Gilan and the two Senior Riders right behind him. He laid his fingertips on Will's neck, looking extremely worried. 

"I don't know! He just collapsed!" Addiane looked frantically up at Eragon and Murtagh.

"I could use a spell to wake him, but I don't know if it would cause harm or not. I think it would be better if we got him into Roran's house and let him sleep it off...." Eragon suggested slowly. He looked at Nyriem, who was watching the proceedings with mild interest, then back at Will. "Would you like to carry him or should I?"

"Gilan can do it." Halt shook his head immediately.

Gilan picked Will up carefully, supporting his friend's head on his shoulder. "Lead the way."

Addiane chewed her lip worriedly as the three walked off, Eragon leading the way. Murtagh stayed with her.

Once Halt was out of earshot, she whirled on her dragon.

'What did you do?'

"I don't know."

'Well you had better figure it out. That was dangerous, and it's never happened before!'

"It was just dragon magic. I didn't do it on purpose."

'That doesn't matter, Nyriem, you hurt him! He was shaking, his entire body was cold, something was seriously wrong. You need to try and figure out what you did-

"Do you think he died?"

"Nyriem!" She snapped sharply.

Several people jumped at her outburst. Addiane glared up at him, crossing her arms.

Nyriem finally huffed and laid his head on the ground. "I'll apologize to him once he is conscious and moving again."

'You'd better.' Addiane rubbed a hand over her face and turned, walking off.

"Am I missing something?" Murtagh followed her.

"There was a spark. Like Nyriem... harnessed lightning or some strange thing. I have no clue what happened."

"Huh... well dragons are prone to strange accidental bouts of magic, maybe it was something along those lines."

Addiane chewed her lip worriedly. "Why would he hurt Will though? With the magic they still have to have some sort of purpose, and all Will did was touch his side."

"Good point." Murtagh ran a hand through his hair. "We could go see if anything's going on inside the house."

She was about to reply, but Addiane saw Gilan shuffling out of the house. He looked worried, but hopefully the fact that he was confident enough to leave the building meant that Will wasn't on death's door quite yet.