The Magic in Books: Chapter one

The Magic in Books: Chapter sixteen

As soon as we landed in the camp the elves began to ward it against Kane. Now that I had stolen his puppet, he would be even more enraged, and would probably stop at nothing to find and kill me.

I stumbled as I jumped from Saphira's back, almost dropping Cole. Setting him down I checked his pulse, barely there, even to my elf ears. I waved Eragon over, "Do you think you can get inside his mind? Try and see if you can get Kane to release his hold on him?"

"I can try," he muttered. Kneeling down, Eragon closed his eyes. Occasionally his eyebrows would pinch together or his jaw would clench, but other than that he stayed perfectly still.

Suddenly, Cole's breathing picked up, as did his heartbeat. Eragon's face went pale for a second, before he clenched his fists and gasped, his eyes flying open. I put a hand on his shoulder, "What is it? What did you see?"

Eragon shook his head, "later." Jerking his chin toward Cole he said, "You're kidnapper however, is cured. ...you were right, he is not human."

As all of us watched, the elves peeking over our shoulders, Cole's ears lengthened until they were like an elf's. As soon as they stopped growing, his eyes fluttered open. They were no longer cold, but warm and deep, like staring into maple syrup or molasses. They darted to look at me, "Alex...you actually made it back. I was so sure he would catch you."

At the sound of his voice, seeing his face and eyes, the elves gasped. "No, it cannot be...the child disappeared more than ninety years ago!" One of them said.

The only one with silver hair looked down at Cole with a mixture of sadness and awe, "You were not always Kane's slave, you know that right?"

Cole nodded, "I remember my parents, I remember the night I was stolen away...Kane, he, he tortured me until I was no longer myself...I was only ten!"

Cole ran his hands through his hair, gasping, his shoulders shook. As one, the elves gathered him up and took him to the fire to try and calm him down. I tried to follow but Eragon put a hand on my arm to stop me, "he needs to be with his own people now, they are the only ones who will understand."

"What about you Eragon?" I asked. "Who do you go to when you need someone to understand?"

He smiled ruefully, "Until you, I was the only known half-elf...you know that."

"Two of a kind huh?" I crossed my arms, relieved that, for now, I could rest. Tomorrow I could run for my life, but tonight I would not worry about it.

Eragon frowned, "do you think that the spirit of the dragons will ever send you back to your world?"

I shrugged, "As long as I'm doing something useful, I don't see why he/it should."

He nodded, "I'm glad to have you here, Alex. We both are the only two half-elves, we have both left the land we were born in, both created by the power of the spirit."

I fluffed my hair obnoxiously put my hands on my hips, "Well, I still think I'm the smarter, better example of our two-man race." 

"Oh really?" He asked, grinning.

I nodded. 

Well that ended up with him throwing me over my shoulder and refusing to let me down until I admitted he was 'more awesome'"

Whatever.

Finally I got him to let me down because I promised carrots and sweet potatoes sauteed in butter and brown suger. Men, all it takes is food. So for now we were at a draw, though he promised that one day I would relent. 

My only reponse to this was to lick my finger and stick it in his ear