"Of marriage," said Roran, and lifted his chin. "Will you marry Katrina and me? It would please me if you would, and while I have refrained from mentioning it to her until I had your answer, I know Katrina would be honored and delighted if you would consent to join us as man and wife."

Astonished, Eragon was at a loss for words. At last he managed to stammer, "Me?" Then he hastened to say, "I would be happy to do it, of course, but . . . me me? Is that really what you want? I'm sure Nasuada would agree to marry the two of you. . . . You could have King Orrin, a real king! He would leap at the chance to preside over the ceremony if it would help him earn my favor."

"I want you, Eragon," said Roran, and clapped him on the shoulder. "You are a Rider, and you are the only other living person who shares my blood; Murtagh does not count. I cannot think of anyone else I would rather have tie the knot around my wrist and hers."

"Then," said Eragon, "I shall." The air whooshed out of him as Roran embraced him and squeezed with all of his prodigious strength. He gasped slightly when Roran released him and then, once his breath had returned, said, "When? Nasuada has a mission planned for me. I don't know what it is yet, but I'm guessing it will keep me busy for some time. So . . . maybe early next month, if events allow?"

Roran's shoulders bunched and knotted. He shook his head like a bull sweeping its horns through a clump of brambles. "What about the day after tomorrow?"

"So soon? Isn't that rushing it a bit? There would hardly be any time to prepare. People will think it's unseemly."

Roran's shoulders rose, and the veins on his hands bulged as he opened and closed his fists. "It can't wait. If we're not married and quick, the old women will have something far more interesting to gossip about than my impatience. Do you understand?"

It took Eragon a moment to grasp Roran's meaning, but once he did, Eragon could not stop a broad smile from spreading across his face. Roran's going to be a father! Roran's going to be a father! he thought. Still smiling, he said, "I think so. The day after tomorrow it is." Eragon grunted as Roran hugged him again, pounding him on the back. With some difficulty, he freed himself. he thought. Still smiling, he said, "I think so. The day after tomorrow it is." Eragon grunted as Roran hugged him again, pounding him on the back. With some difficulty, he freed himself.

Grinning, Roran said, "I'm in your debt. Thank you. Now I must go share the news with Katrina, and we must do what we can to ready a wedding feast. I will let you know the exact hour once we decide on it."

"That sounds fine."

Roran began walking toward the tent, then he spun around and threw his arms out in the air as if he would gather the entire world to his breast. "Eragon, I'm going to be married!"

With a laugh, Eragon waved his hand. "Go on, you fool. She's waiting for you."

Eragon climbed onto Saphira as the flaps of the tent closed over Roran. "Blodhgarm?" he called. Quiet as a shadow, the elf glided into the light, his yellow eyes glowing like coals. "Saphira and I are going to fly for a little while. We will meet you at my tent."

"Shadeslayer," said Blodhgarm, and tilted his head.

Then Saphira raised her ma.s.sive wings, ran forward three steps, and launched herself over the rows of tents, battering them with wind as she flapped hard and fast. The movements of her body beneath him shook Eragon, and he gripped the spike in front of him for support. Saphira spiraled upward above the twinkling camp until it was an inconsequential patch of light dwarfed by the dark landscape that surrounded it. There she remained, floating between the heavens and the earth, and all was silent.

Eragon lay his head on her neck and stared up at the glittering band of dust that spanned the sky.

Rest if you want, little one, said Saphira. said Saphira. I shall not let you fall I shall not let you fall.

And he rested, and visions beset him of a circular stone city that stood in the center of an endless plain and of a small girl who wandered among the narrow, winding alleys within and who sang a haunting melody.

And the night wore on toward morning.

INTERSECTING S SAGAS It was just after dawn and Eragon was sitting on his cot, oiling his mail hauberk, when one of the Varden's archers came to him and begged him to heal his wife, who was suffering from a malignant tumor. Even though he was supposed to be at Nasuada's pavilion in less than an hour, Eragon agreed and accompanied the man to his tent. Eragon found his wife much weakened from the growth, and it took all of his skill to extract the insidious tendrils from her flesh. The effort left him tired, but he was pleased that he was able to save the woman from a long and painful death.

Afterward, Eragon rejoined Saphira outside of the archer's tent and stood with her for a few minutes, rubbing the muscles near the base of her neck. Humming, Saphira flicked her sinuous tail and twisted her head and shoulders so that he had better access to her smooth plated underside. She said, While you were occupied in there, other pet.i.tioners came to seek an audience with you, but Blodhgarm and his ilk turned them away, for their requests were not urgent. While you were occupied in there, other pet.i.tioners came to seek an audience with you, but Blodhgarm and his ilk turned them away, for their requests were not urgent.

Is that so? He dug his fingers under the edge of one of her large neck scales, scratching even harder. He dug his fingers under the edge of one of her large neck scales, scratching even harder. Perhaps I should emulate Nasuada Perhaps I should emulate Nasuada.

How so?

On the sixth day of every week, from morning until noon, she grants an audience to everyone who wishes to bring requests or disputes before her. I could do the same.

I like the idea, said Saphira. said Saphira. Only, you will have to be careful that you do not expend too much of your energy on people's demands. We must be ready to fight the Empire at a moment's notice Only, you will have to be careful that you do not expend too much of your energy on people's demands. We must be ready to fight the Empire at a moment's notice. She pushed her neck against his hand, humming even louder.

I need a sword, Eragon said. Eragon said.

Then get one.

Mmh. . . .

Eragon continued to scratch her until she pulled away and said, You will be late for Nasuada unless you hurry You will be late for Nasuada unless you hurry.

Together, they started toward the center of the camp and Nasuada's pavilion. It was less than a quarter of a mile away, so Saphira walked with him instead of soaring among the clouds, as she had before.

About a hundred feet from the pavilion, they chanced upon Angela the herbalist. She was kneeling between two tents, pointing at a square of leather draped across a low, flat rock. On the leather lay a jumbled pile of finger-length bones branded with a different symbol on each facet: the knucklebones of a dragon, with which she had read Eragon's future in Teirm.

Opposite Angela sat a tall woman with broad shoulders; tanned, weather-beaten skin; black hair braided in a long, thick rope down her back; and a face that was still handsome despite the hard lines that the years had carved around her mouth. She wore a russet dress that had been made for a shorter woman; her wrists stuck out several inches from the ends of her sleeves. She had tied a strip of dark cloth around each wrist, but the strip on the left had loosened and slipped toward her elbow. Eragon saw thick layers of scars where it had been. They were the sort of scars one could only get from the constant chafing of manacles. At some point, he realized, she had been captured by her enemies, and she had fought-fought until she had torn open her wrists to the bone, if her scars were anything to judge by. He wondered whether she had been a criminal or a slave, and he felt his countenance darken as he considered the thought of someone being so cruel as to allow such harm to befall a prisoner under his control, even if it was self-inflicted.

Next to the woman was a serious-looking teenage girl just entering into the full bloom of her adult beauty. The muscles of her forearms were unusually large, as if she had been an apprentice to a smith or a swordsman, which was highly improbable for a girl, no matter how strong she might be.

Angela had just finished saying something to the woman and her companion when Eragon and Saphira halted behind the curlyhaired witch. With a single motion, Angela gathered up the knucklebones in the leather square and tucked them under the yellow sash at her waist. Standing, she flashed Eragon and Saphira a brilliant smile. "My, you both have the most impeccable sense of timing. You always seem to turn up whenever the drop spindle of fate begins to spin."

"The drop spindle of fate?" questioned Eragon.

She shrugged. "What? You can't expect brilliance all the time, not even from me." She gestured at the two strangers, who had also stood, and said, "Eragon, will you consent to give them your blessing? They have endured many dangers, and a hard road yet lies before them. I am sure they would appreciate whatever protection the benediction of a Dragon Rider may convey."

Eragon hesitated. He knew that Angela rarely cast the dragon bones for the people who sought her services-usually only for those whom Solemb.u.m deigned to speak with-as such a prognostication was no false act of magic but rather a true foretelling that could reveal the mysteries of the future. That Angela had chosen to do this for the handsome woman with the scars on her wrists and the teenage girl with the forearms of a swordfighter told him they were people of note, people who had had, and would have, important roles in shaping the Alagaesia to be. As if to confirm his suspicions, he spotted Solemb.u.m in his usual form of a cat with large, tufted ears lurking behind the corner of a nearby tent, watching the proceedings with enigmatic yellow eyes. And yet Eragon still hesitated, haunted by the memory of the first and last blessing he had bestowed-how, because of his relative unfamiliarity with the ancient language, he had distorted the life of an innocent child.

Saphira? he asked. he asked.

Her tail whipped through the air. Do not be so reluctant. You have Do not be so reluctant. You have learned from your mistake, and you shall not make it again. Why, then, should you withhold your blessing from those who may benefit from it? Bless them, I say, and do it properly this time.

"What are your names?" he asked.

"If it please you, Shadeslayer," said the tall, black-haired woman, with a hint of an accent he could not place, "names have power, and we would prefer ours remain unknown." She kept her gaze angled slightly downward, but her tone was firm and unyielding. The girl uttered a small gasp, as if shocked by the woman's effrontery.

Eragon nodded, neither upset nor surprised, although the woman's reticence had piqued his curiosity even more. He would have liked to know their names, but they were not essential for what he was about to do. Pulling the glove off his right hand, he placed his palm on the middle of the woman's warm forehead. She flinched at the contact but did not retreat. Her nostrils flared, the corners of her mouth thinned, a crease appeared between her eyebrows, and he felt her tremble, as if his touch pained her and she were fighting the urge to knock aside his arm. In the background, Eragon was vaguely aware of Blodhgarm stalking closer, ready to pounce on the woman should she prove to be hostile.

Disconcerted by her reaction, Eragon broached the barrier in his mind, immersed himself in the flow of magic, and, with the full power of the ancient language, said, "Atra gulia un ilian tauthr ono un atra ono waise skoliro fra rauthr." By imbuing the phrase with energy, as he would the words of a spell, he ensured that it would shape the course of events and thereby improve the woman's lot in life. He was careful to limit the amount of energy he transferred into the blessing, for unless he put checks on it, a spell of that sort would feed off his body until it absorbed all of his vitality, leaving him an empty husk. Despite his caution, the drop in his strength was more than he expected; his vision dimmed and his legs wobbled and threatened to collapse underneath him.

A moment later, he recovered.

It was with a sense of relief that he lifted his hand from the woman's brow, a sentiment that she seemed to share, for she stepped back and rubbed her arms. She looked to him like a person trying to cleanse herself of some foul substance.

Moving on, Eragon repeated the procedure with the teenage girl. Her face widened as he released the spell, as if she could feel it becoming part of her body. She curtsied. "Thank you, Shadeslayer. We are in your debt. I hope that you succeed in defeating Galbatorix and the Empire."

She turned to leave but stopped when Saphira snorted and snaked her head past Eragon and Angela, so she loomed above the two women. Bending her neck, Saphira breathed first upon the face of the older woman and then upon the face of the younger, and projecting her thoughts with such force as to overwhelm all but the thickest defenses-for she and Eragon had noticed that the black-haired woman had a well-armored mind-she said, Good hunting, O Wild Ones. May the wind rise under your wings, may the sun always be at your backs, and may you catch your prey napping. And, Wolf-Eyes, I hope that when you find the one who left your paws in his traps, you do not kill him too quickly Good hunting, O Wild Ones. May the wind rise under your wings, may the sun always be at your backs, and may you catch your prey napping. And, Wolf-Eyes, I hope that when you find the one who left your paws in his traps, you do not kill him too quickly.

Both women stiffened when Saphira began to speak. Afterward, the elder clapped her fists against her chest and said, "That I shall not, O Beautiful Huntress." Then she bowed to Angela, saying, "Train hard, strike first, Seer."

"Bladesinger."

With a swirl of skirts, she and the teenager strode away and soon were lost from sight in the maze of identical gray tents.

What, no marks upon their foreheads? Eragon asked Saphira. Eragon asked Saphira.

Elva was unique. I shall not brand anyone else in a like manner. What happened in Farthen Dur just . . . happened. Instinct drove me. Beyond that, I cannot explain.

As the three of them walked toward Nasuada's pavilion, Eragon glanced at Angela. "Who were they?"

Her lips quirked. "Pilgrims on their own quest."

"That is hardly an answer," he complained.

"It is not my habit to hand out secrets like candied nuts on winter solstice. Especially not when they belong to others."

He was silent for a few paces. Then: "When someone refuses to tell me a certain piece of information, it only makes me that much more determined to find out the truth. I hate being ignorant. For me, a question unanswered is like a thorn in my side that pains me every time I move until I can pluck it out."

"You have my sympathy."

"Why is that?"

"Because if that is so, you must spend every waking hour in mortal agony, for life is full of unanswerable questions."

Sixty feet from Nasuada's pavilion, a contingent of pikemen marching through camp blocked their way. While they waited for the warriors to file past, Eragon shivered and blew on his hands. "I wish we had time for a meal."

Quick as ever, Angela said, "It's the magic, isn't it? It has worn you down." He nodded. Sticking a hand into one of the pouches that hung from her sash, Angela pulled out a hard brown lump flecked with shiny flaxseeds. "Here, this will hold you until lunch."

"What is it?"

She thrust it at him, insistent. "Eat it. You'll like it. Trust me." As he took the oily lump from between her fingers, she grasped his wrist with her other hand and held him in place while she inspected the half-inch-high calluses on his knuckles. "How very clever of you," she said. "They are as ugly as the warts on a toad, but who cares if they help keep your skin intact, eh? I like this. I like this quite a lot. Were you inspired by the dwarves' Ascudgamln?"

"Nothing escapes you, does it?" he asked.

"Let it escape. I only concern myself with things that exist." Eragon blinked, thrown as he often was by her verbal trickery. She tapped a callus with the tip of one of her short fingernails. "I would do this myself, except that it would catch on the wool when I'm spinning or knitting."

"You knit with your own yarn?" he said, surprised that she would engage in anything so ordinary.

"Of course! It's a wonderful way to relax. Besides, if I didn't, where would I get a sweater with Dvalar's ward against mad rabbits knit in the Liduen Kvaedhi across the inside of the chest, or a snood that was dyed yellow, green, and bright pink?"

"Mad rabbits-"

She tossed her thick curls. "You would be amazed how many magicians have died after being bitten by mad rabbits. It's far more common than you might think."

Eragon stared at her. Do you think she's jesting? Do you think she's jesting? he asked Saphira. he asked Saphira.

Ask her and find out.

She would only answer with another riddle.

The pikemen having gone, Eragon, Saphira, and Angela continued toward the pavilion, accompanied by Solemb.u.m, who had joined them without Eragon noticing. Picking her way around piles of dung left by the horses of King Orrin's cavalry, Angela said, "So tell me: aside from your fight with the Ra'zac, did anything terribly interesting happen to you during your trip? You know how I love to hear about interesting interesting things." things."

Eragon smiled, thinking of the spirits that had visited him and Arya. However, he did not want to discuss them, so instead he said, "Since you ask, quite a few interesting things happened. For example, I met a hermit named Tenga living in the ruins of an elf tower. He possessed the most amazing library. In it were seven-"

Angela stopped so abruptly, Eragon kept walking another three paces before he caught himself and turned back. The witch seemed stunned, as if she had taken a hard knock to her head. Padding toward her, Solemb.u.m leaned against her legs and gazed upward. Angela wet her lips, then said, "Are . . ." She coughed once. "Are you sure his name was Tenga?"

"Have you met him?"

Solemb.u.m hissed, and the hair on his back stood straight out. Eragon edged away from the werecat, eager to escape the reach of his claws.

"Met him?" With a bitter laugh, Angela planted her hands on her hips. "Met him? Why, I did better than that! I was his apprentice for . . . for an unfortunate number of years."

Eragon had never expected Angela to willingly reveal anything about her past. Eager to learn more, he asked, "When did you meet him? And where?"

"Long ago and far away. However, we parted badly, and I have not seen him for many, many years." Angela frowned. "In fact, I thought he was already dead."

Saphira spoke then, saying, Since you were Tenga's apprentice, do you know what question he's trying to answer? Since you were Tenga's apprentice, do you know what question he's trying to answer?

"I have not the slightest idea. Tenga always had a question he was trying to answer. If he succeeded, he immediately chose another one, and so on. He may have answered a hundred questions since I last saw him, or he may still be gnashing his teeth over the same conundrum as when I left him."

Which was?

"Whether the phases of the moon influence the number and quality of the opals that form in the roots of the Beor Mountains, as is commonly held among the dwarves."

"But how could you prove that?" objected Eragon.

Angela shrugged. "If anyone could, it would be Tenga. He may be deranged, but his brilliance is none the less for it."

He is a man who kicks at cats, said Solemb.u.m, as if that summed up Tenga's entire character. said Solemb.u.m, as if that summed up Tenga's entire character.

Then Angela clapped her hands together and said, "No more! Eat your sweet, Eragon, and let us go to Nasuada."

MAKING A AMENDS "You are late," said Nasuada as Eragon and Angela found seats in the row of chairs arranged in a semicircle before Nasuada's high-backed throne. Also seated in the semicircle were Elva and her caretaker, Greta, the old woman who had pleaded with Eragon in Farthen Dur to bless her charge. As before, Saphira lay outside the pavilion and stuck her head through an opening at one end so that she could partic.i.p.ate in the meeting. Solemb.u.m had curled up in a ball next to her head. He appeared to be sound asleep, except for occasional flicks of his tail.

Along with Angela, Eragon made his apologies for their tardiness, and then he listened as Nasuada explained to Elva the value of her abilities to the Varden-As if she doesn't already know, Eragon commented to Saphira-and entreated her to release Eragon from his promise to try to undo the effects of his blessing. She said she understood that what she was asking of Elva was difficult, but the fate of the entire land was at stake, and was it not worth sacrificing one's own comfort to help rescue Alagaesia from Galbatorix's evil clutches? It was a magnificent speech: eloquent, impa.s.sioned, and full of arguments intended to appeal to Elva's more n.o.ble sentiments. Eragon commented to Saphira-and entreated her to release Eragon from his promise to try to undo the effects of his blessing. She said she understood that what she was asking of Elva was difficult, but the fate of the entire land was at stake, and was it not worth sacrificing one's own comfort to help rescue Alagaesia from Galbatorix's evil clutches? It was a magnificent speech: eloquent, impa.s.sioned, and full of arguments intended to appeal to Elva's more n.o.ble sentiments.

Elva, who had been resting her small, pointed chin on her fists, raised her head and said, "No." Shocked silence pervaded the pavilion. Transferring her unblinking gaze from one person to the next, she elaborated: "Eragon, Angela, you both know what it is like to share someone's thoughts and emotions as they die. You know how horrible, how wrenching it is, how it feels as if part of yourself has vanished forever. And that is only from the death of one person. Neither of you has to endure the experience unless you want to, whereas I . . . I have no choice but to share them all. I feel every death around me. Even now I can feel the life ebbing out of Sefton, one of your swordsmen, Nasuada, who was wounded on the Burning Plains, and I know what words I could say to him that would lessen his terror of obliteration. His fear is so great, oh, it makes me tremble!" With an incoherent cry, she cast up her arms before her face, as if to ward off a blow. Then: "Ah, he has gone. But there are others. There are always others. The line of dead never ends." The bitter mocking quality of her voice intensified, a travesty of a child's normal speech. "Do you truly understand, Nasuada, Lady Nightstalker . . . She Who Would Be Queen of the World? Do you truly understand? I am privy to all of the agony around me, whether physical or mental. I feel it as if it were my own, and Eragon's magic drives me to alleviate the discomfort of those who suffer, regardless of the cost to myself. And if I resist the urge, as I am this very moment, my body rebels against me: my stomach turns acid, my head throbs as if a dwarf is hammering on it, and I find it hard to move, much less think. Is this what you would wish on me, Nasuada?

"Night and day I have no respite from the pain of the world. Since Eragon blessed blessed me, I have known nothing but hurt and fear, never happiness or pleasure. The lighter side of life, the things that make this existence bearable, these are denied me. Never do I see them. Never do I share in them. Only darkness. Only the combined misery of all the men, women, and children within a mile, battering at me like a midnight storm. This me, I have known nothing but hurt and fear, never happiness or pleasure. The lighter side of life, the things that make this existence bearable, these are denied me. Never do I see them. Never do I share in them. Only darkness. Only the combined misery of all the men, women, and children within a mile, battering at me like a midnight storm. This blessing blessing has deprived me of the opportunity to be like other children. It has forced my body to mature faster than normal, and my mind even faster still. Eragon may be able to remove this ghastly ability of mine and the compulsion that accompanies it, but he cannot return me to what I was, nor what I should be, not without destroying who I have become. I am a freak, neither a child nor an adult, forever doomed to stand apart. I am not blind, you know. I see how you recoil when you hear me speak." She shook her head. "No, this is too much to ask of me. I will not continue like this for the sake of you, Nasuada, nor the Varden, nor the whole of Alagaesia, nor even for my dear mother, were she still alive today. It is not worth it, not for anything. I could go live by myself, so that I would be free of other people's afflictions, but I do not want to live like that. No, the only solution is for Eragon to attempt to correct his mistake." Her lips curved in a sly smile. "And if you disagree with me, if you think I am being stupid and selfish, why, then, you would do well to remember that I am hardly more than a swaddling babe and have yet to celebrate my second birthday. Only fools expect an infant to martyr herself for the greater good. But infant or not, I have made my decision, and nothing you can say will convince me otherwise. In this, I am as iron." has deprived me of the opportunity to be like other children. It has forced my body to mature faster than normal, and my mind even faster still. Eragon may be able to remove this ghastly ability of mine and the compulsion that accompanies it, but he cannot return me to what I was, nor what I should be, not without destroying who I have become. I am a freak, neither a child nor an adult, forever doomed to stand apart. I am not blind, you know. I see how you recoil when you hear me speak." She shook her head. "No, this is too much to ask of me. I will not continue like this for the sake of you, Nasuada, nor the Varden, nor the whole of Alagaesia, nor even for my dear mother, were she still alive today. It is not worth it, not for anything. I could go live by myself, so that I would be free of other people's afflictions, but I do not want to live like that. No, the only solution is for Eragon to attempt to correct his mistake." Her lips curved in a sly smile. "And if you disagree with me, if you think I am being stupid and selfish, why, then, you would do well to remember that I am hardly more than a swaddling babe and have yet to celebrate my second birthday. Only fools expect an infant to martyr herself for the greater good. But infant or not, I have made my decision, and nothing you can say will convince me otherwise. In this, I am as iron."

Nasuada reasoned with her further, but as Elva had promised, it proved to be a futile prospect. At last Nasuada asked Angela, Eragon, and Saphira to intervene. Angela refused on the grounds that she could not improve on Nasuada's words and that she believed Elva's choice was a personal one and therefore the girl ought to be able to do as she wished without being harried like an eagle by a flock of jays. Eragon was of a similar opinion, but he consented to say, "Elva, I cannot tell you what you should do-only you can determine that-but do not reject Nasuada's request out of hand. She is trying to save us all from Galbatorix, and she needs our support if we are to have any chance of success. The future is hidden to me, but I believe that your ability might be the perfect weapon against Galbatorix. You could predict his every attack. You could tell us exactly how to counteract his wards. And above all else, you would be able to sense where Galbatorix is vulnerable, where he is most weak, and what we could do to hurt him."