63Here is hoping all of you had a good day .
Lies That Come With Loving You
Chapter 2 Fighter
*5 years later*
"Take your stance. Release." Eilian commanded more than instructed.
"I know how to shoot an arrow." I told him turning to face him with my bow pointing to the ground.
He beat me in height but in a battle he'd surely lose and, even though he was also two years ahead in age. He was easy on the eyes with light brown hair hanging to his shoulders and the lightest brown eyes I'd seen in all my years until we met. He knew how to shoot an arrow fairly well and knew how to fight with a sword fairly well also but most of all he was the only human companion I had since my parents death.
"Yes but your bow was a bit crooked." He joked and pushed my bow so that it was crooked now even as it faced the ground.
"You're one to talk about battle skills." I told him as I held my bow with my right hand and secretively maneuvered his dagger out of its place on his hip with my left hand.
"Oh yes I'm one to talk while you shoot a poor innocent tree with your arrows and shoot with a crooked bow, am I not?" Eilian commented on my technique of relaxation or training as he called it.
"Yes but who now has you dagger now? Certainly not you." I told him and waved the dagger in his face to show him that I had superior skills than he did.
"Well your skills must be rewarded, must they not?" He asked slyly leaning in so our foreheads touched slightly.
"Yes my rewards are very important as are yours."
"And what did I do to deserve such a reward?" He countered prolonging the moment.
"Nothing that hasn't already been stated." I said.
He leaned in now to capture my lips in a sweet kiss.
I slid his dagger back into its sheath so that with my left hand I could cup his face as he did with his left and with his right he pressed to my lower back to draw me closer to him.
'As loving as this moment is, we have unwanted company little one.' Zoltan informed me.
I broke away from Eilian and gathered my things and put them into the tan bag that I propped on my shoulder as Eilian followed suit with his things.
'We're taking the horses. If fighting comes then we will fight.' I told Zoltan as I jumped onto my horse and rode on with Eilian behind me.
I lead my horse around the trees and fallen logs deep into the forest where we could hide from the approaching threat. I stopped in front of a small pond as did Eilian to take the saddle off of our horses and hide.
We'd both gone over this drill many a times and had become accustomed to what we both had to do.
"Lead the horses of there." I told him gesturing to the left side of the pond, the farthest away side away from the tree we were going to have a hard time climbing.
I adjusted the saddle to my back to fit, and turned the light bags on the side so that it mirrored a rucksack a bit and strapped my sheath to my waist. Eilian was in the middle of strapping his sheath to his waist when we both heard horse hoofs on the earth floor.
"Hurry, climb." I told him as I took hold of a branch and tried to steady my weight out so that a flimsy branch wouldn't break.
Before we could make it to the mid section of the tree we both saw them. Five Urgals rode their horses up to the pond and took ours. They looked around and it looked as if they seemed to be setting up camp.
'Zoltan their setting up camp, out best bet is to fight if not to scare them away.' I told him.
'Do what you must little one I will come when you call.' He responded.
"Fight to the death Eilian." I told him as I drew my bow and two arrows.
"To the death." He said drawing his bow and an arrow.
I took aim and fired at three Urgals hitting them in the chest. Eilian hit on who was fumbling to get his bow and arrow but knocked him down onto the floor. I dropped my saddle down to the floor below to lessen the stress on my back to improve my aim as did Eilian. The earth floor wasn't far enough away to break anything, but it might falter me a bit but I took the chance and jumped and rolled to lessen the blow. Although I knew there was going to be a bruise on the right side of my body.
I used my bow to knock the last of the Urgals down on to his back. Without hesitating I drew my dagger from the side of my boot and threw it at the Urgals neck as it tried to get back up. I stood and retrieved my dagger to clean it on the grass and turned back towards my saddle that was lying on the ground.
"We better get moving if we are to make another camp side far enough away from this mess." I said nonchalant then gathered our horses.
"What should we do with them?" Eilian asked picking up his saddle.
"Leave them Galbatorix will find them missing soon enough." I stated saddling my horse fast but not in haste.
"Are we making it to an inn or camping out deeper into the woods?" He asked also saddling his horse.
"An inn would be safer then wandering the woods with this happening, we wouldn't want to be questioned or killed because of being in the same woods where we killed them." I explained and then got on to my horse.
*Sunset*
"Ok." I told the women who was greedily charging us for a room at the inn in Gil'ead.
"Your rooms are at the end." She told us as me and Eilian carried only our swords, money, some of my own homemade salve for any potential wounds, and food including water in canteens and a small bag.
"The price gets higher and higher, every time." Eilian sighed as he set his things down next to the small pallet that was pushed up against the wall.
"What do you expect to get lower maybe?" I asked sarcastically as I got ready for bed by taking my boots off along with my tunic to reveal a leather slip underneath it that had two, two inch thick leather straps to hold it up and two additional in the back to keep it on my body, and also buttons to the right side of my chest.
"I guess I shouldn't expect so much from such a place should I?" He stated rather than asked, as he shed his tunic as well as his boots leaving him with his short sleeved shirt that had lain underneath.
"No you shouldn't since we are to be here for no more than a night." I told him as I laid on top of the sheets for the dislike of what could be beneath them and placing my long braid, that reached down to my lower back, over my right shoulder as I settled.
"Good night Thena." Eilian whispered as he drew me close and wrapped me I his arms and we both fell asleep with our swords at our side.
*At the dawns peak*
I was up before Eilian like always, up before the Sun rose every morning. I was thinking of where we were headed after we'd get up and out of Gil'ead to find another place fitted for staying or maybe travel until we got sick of it.
"Up already?" Eilian said more than asked as he rubbed his face and sat up from the pallet I was no longer on.
"Yes and you sleepy head need to get a move on." I told him as I strapped my sheath with my sword to my waist and already had my green tunic on and my things packed and the money tied to my black trousers.
"All right then what are we to do for food after we leave this forsaken place?" Eilian asked throwing on his tunic carelessly.
Eilian also, unlike me, was a much laid back boy. He was too laid back to the point of almost earning an arrow to the chest when I first met him. I was more mature should I say by many years than he would be in the years to come, if only another year would come for him.
"Hunt of course unless you want to be lazy and not hunt your food but buy it." I said as I opened the door to the small room and out to the hall.
"This is why we have money." Eilian spoke as we moved outside to where the air was thick and gray with a slightly dingy taste to it.
"Go as you wish and buy the forsaken food they have here." I offered as I walked my way over to where our horses were and took them by their reins and led them to where Eilian waited. "Or you shall take your horse, mount it and find fresh food with me." I said climbing about my horse and riding it out of the gates with ease as we'd done times before.
"Fresh food it is then." He said as we rode and the Sun made its appearance.
"Beautiful sunrise is it not?" I asked as we watched the colors of the rising Sun paint the skies.
"Beautiful and intriguing I should say." He commented as we rode in to the forest ahead.
I saw what Eilian didn't see and that was a beautiful green dragon up ahead waiting to unite with me.
"Eilian take my horse I'll walk some, and just set camp a few trots up ahead as I'm in need of a walk. I'll be taking my things if you don't mind." I told him as I gathered my things from where they hung from the horse's saddle.
"Are you sure you're going to be fine on your own?" Eilian asked obviously forgetting who I was and what I was capable of in that moment, and that although he was a man that he could not defend me no better than I could myself, because I was the superior fighter no matter what he thought.
"I will be fine." I told him as I made my way through the woods, not turning back as I spoke and I knew that he knew whenever I took walks on my own it was for him not to follow.
'Hello little one, it has been a long while since a ride don't you suppose?' Zoltan spoke through our indlvarn prominence (bond between rider and their dragon).
'I agree, we are due for a ride.' I told Zoltan as I placed my things in the semi-empty bags that attached to his sides and climbed on to his back.
He took off, shooting in to the air like an arrow and splitting the wind that came at us. He flew high, so that if someone was to see us they'd just assume he was a bird hovering in the sky. Zoltan leveled off once we reached a certain point in the sky to watch the Sun stroke more colors into the sky.
I felt light and free in the moments I spent flying with Zoltan. For those moments I wasn't a girl with the responsibilities her parents had left, nor was I someone who was to soon be joining the Varden to overpower Galbatorix, I was someone who I wanted to desperately be but never would be except for those few moments.
'It looks like someone has set camp up fairly well.' Zoltan commented as we flew over the spot where Eilian had picked a clear spot for camp.
"Skulblakas ven (Dragon sight)." I spoke as I looked down at the camp Zoltan had been so kind to hover over and drop lower upon.
The scene was magnified through Zoltan's eyes and made the green in my line of vision seem more vivid. Eilian was unpacking some of his things and setting up a spot for camp, and most likely waiting for me to return so we could hunt for food.
'Shall we help by catching a rabbit or two perhaps?' Zoltan suggested with light humor.
'Eilian needs all the help he can get to catch even half of a rabbit.' I joked with Zoltan, laughing lightly.
'Finding some will be as easy for shooting an arrow for you little one, you could probably do it by the time you where three and not yet passed learning the full basics in archery.' Zoltan added to our joking.
'Let's not make fun, but catch breakfast my dear Zoltan.' I said leading him down to where the trees covered us and I could hunt for food on the ground.
I slid off of Zoltan and retrieved my bow and quiver of arrows from the bags attached to his sides. I searched, using Zoltan's vision, to find me and Eilian something to eat. I spotted four red rabbit shaped red blobs behind some bushes yards away from where we stood. I drew two arrows and loaded it into place on my bow, I took my stance and aimed at two of the blobs I saw. Then I released letting the arrows soar to their destination. I struck them both and put my bow inside my quiver as I staked forth to claim my kill and return my vision back to its own.
I informed Zoltan to stay behind yet again, because Eilian still wasn't aware of the fact I was a dragon rider much less the rightful leader of dragon riders or in a higher perspective, which I like not to use, the Queen of dragon riders.
"I see you waited, but think you've waited a little too long." I said startling Eilian a bit.
"I see you've not waited as well." Eilian commented taking the rabbits from me to skin them.
"If you're skinning then I'm making the fire." I told him as I gather the wood he'd already had again a tree trunk.
"No I'm the man in this journey so it'll only be suiting if I do most of the work, don't you think?" Eilian stated more than asked turning his back to me and started to skin the rabbits.
"Let's have at this when you're done with skinning them and when I've started the fire." I stated angry because of his growing senseless attitude toward me.
I understood well that he was a male who needed to be told that he was in fact a male or maybe to be reminded that he was a male because he was almost always in the company of a woman. How I was getting tired of this fast and it needed to be put down or I'd be faced with humiliating him, not that I didn't plan to when he was done with the rabbits and me with putting on the charade of acting like making a fire without my magic.
I acted for but ten minutes or a little more with starting the fire then decided to whisper an incantation as Eilian had his back turned.
"Brisingr (Fire)." I whispered low as the wood caught fire slowly and I guided it until I felt it was well lit. "I'm done with my task, are you my dear Eilian?" I asked dusting my hands off and standing to lean on a tree trunk.
"I am done but-" He was cut short by the hoof beats in the distance as my body went in to overdrive and I quickly packed our stuff up as well as Eilian's things as he washed his hands with a bit of water and a rag.
"We'll not be able to hide from this time like the last." Eilian told me but I already knew that we were going to have to fight as many Urgals as we could until one of the groups came to their death.
I threw our things next to the stump of a tree and drew three arrows that I loaded on to my bow and aimed to where the hoof beats came from.
The first Urgal to emerge on his horse towards us had no clue what hit him as did the two behind him as I let lose my arrows as they flew to their targets.
The first was knocked off of his horse but the other two rode on until I loaded and drew two more arrows and released them into their chest once more. This time they fell as at least five more rode their horses faster towards me and Eilian.