Sja Fram [Inheritance Cycle | Eragon Fanfiction]

Chapter XIII: Secrets

Chapter XIII: Secrets

Jeod took us through Teirm toward the citadel. I led Snowfire, with Istal walking next to me. Eragon was on the other side of Istal leading Cadoc, ahead of us Jeod gestured at our destination. "Risthart, the lord of Teirm, has decreed that all business owners must have their headquarters in his castle. Even though most of us conduct our business elsewhere, we still have to rent rooms here. It's nonsense, but we abide by it anyway to keep him calm. We'll be free of eavesdroppers in there; the walls are thick."

We went through the fortress's main gate and into the keep. Jeod strode to a side door and pointed to an iron ring. "You can tie the horses there. No one will bother them." When Snowfire, Cadoc, and Istal were all tethered, Jeod opened the door with an iron key and let us inside.

The hallway was surprisingly cold and damp, lit by torches set into the walls. I shivered as I gazed down the long, empty hallway. My fingers brushed the wall by accident, and I recoiled as I touched a layer of slime. Jeod grabbed a torch from its bracket and started walking down the hall. Eragon and I shared similar disgusted gazes and quickly followed the two men in front of us. We stopped before a heavy, wooden door. Jeod unlocked it and ushered us in.

The room was dominate by a bearskin rug laden with stuffed chairs. Bookshelves stacked with leather-bound tomes covered the walls. Jeod piled wood in the fireplace, and lit it using the torch, the fire quickly roared into being. I gazed in awe at the amount of books, noting how some covers looked a fair bit dusty than others. "You, old man, having some explaining to do."

Brom's face crinkled with a smile. "What are you calling an old man? The last time I saw you there was no grey in your hair. Now it looks like you're in the final stages of decomposition."

"And you look the same as you did nearly twenty years ago. Time seems to have preserved you as a crotchety old man just to inflict wisdom upon each new generation. Enough of this, though! Get on with the story. That's always what you were good at," Brom said impatiently. I wondered if I was about to learn something more about Brom's past.

Brom relaxed into a chair and pulled out his pipe. He slowly blew a smoke ring that turned green, darted into the fireplace, and then flew up the chimney. I wrinkled my nose at the sight. I was normally fine with smoke and fire; however, smoke in a small area always made me nervous - along with large fires. "Do you remember what we were doing in Gil'ead?"

"Well of course," Jeod said. "That sort of thing is hard to forget."

"An understatement, but true nevertheless," Brom said dryly. "When we were... separated, I couldn't find you. In the midst of the turmoil, I stumbled into a small room. There wasn't anything extraordinary in it - just crates and boxes - but out of curiosity, I rummaged around anyway. Fortune must've smiled upon me that hour, for I found what we had been searching for." An expression of shock ran over Jeod's face. "Once it was in my hands, I couldn't wait for you. At any second, there was the chance I might have been discovered, and then all would be lost once more. Disguising myself as best I could, I fled the city and ran to..." Brom hesitated and glanced at Eragon and me. "I ran to our friends. They stored it in a vault, for safekeeping, and made me promise to care for whomever received it. Until the day when my skills would be needed, I had to disappear. No one could know I was alive - not even you - though it grieved me to pain you unnecessarily. So I went north and hit in Carvahall."

I almost groaned aloud when I realised Brom was deliberately refusing to say something with Eragon and I in the room. A quick glance at Eragon showed me he was infuriated with this fact, as his clenched jaw showed.

Jeod frowned and asked, "Then our... our friends knew you were alive all along?"

Brom nodded in reply and Jeod sighed. "I suppose the ruse was unavoidable, though I wish they had told me. Isn't Carvahall further north, on the other side of the Spine?" Brom inclined his head. For the first time, Jeod inspected Eragon before scanning me with his grey eyes that took in every detail. Jeod raised his eyebrows and looked back at Brom. "I assume, then, you are fulfilling your duty?"