The Truth About Lies (An Inheritance Cycle Fanfiction)

Progress

"Are you sure it's a good idea for you to be walking around?" Eragon asked in concern, following closely behind me.

"Yes, Eragon, I'm fine. Stop acting like my mother," I replied darkly, narrowing my eyes at him. Really! He could be so overprotective of me sometimes.

"But-" he began to protest.

"No, Eragon," Brom interjected. "Tabatha's right. She should be walking around and trying to regain her strength. Actually, I'm surprised that you're alive at all, Tabby. That wound on your head should have killed you. Anyone else would have bled to death..." I pondered that for a moment. This is just the same as the wound on my stomach. It healed far quicker than is humanly possible, and well as my broken rib and punctured lung. Something is wrong here, and I had a sneaking suspicion that Brom knew what it was.

"Well then," I said bitterly, "I suppose I'm just lucky to be alive after all that's happened to me." Brom and I stared at one another for a moment, and I hoped he realized why I was angry with him.

"Come on," Eragon said darkly, pushing between us to get to the horses, "we better get moving."

"Indeed," I agreed with a huff.

"I'm going to ride Saphira today," he said, clambering up her foreleg and into the saddle. I mounted Cadoc on my own and nodded at him as they flew off into the sky, Saphira's scales glittering like that of a fish in the bright sunlight. Brom began to ride off through the trees and I spurred Cadoc forward, following in quick pursuit.

"What's gotten into him?" I asked. "He's acting so...strange. I can take care of myself!" This last part I yelled toward the sky where the pair was soaring overhead.

"Calm down, Tabby," Brom laughed. "You two are best friends. He's only trying to help."

"Yes, well he never liked it when I tried to 'help' him. I don't see why he would think I wouldn't do the same!" Brom laughed again heartily, which only gave me cause to be angrier. "Hey! You have no room to laugh, old man."

"What?" he asked innocently, shrugging and holding out his hands.

"You are just as infuriating as Eragon is," I said, jabbing a finger accusingly at him. "You and your little secrets are driving me insane. I know that you have an idea of what's going on with me, and I want some answers." Brom's face fell from its joking demeanor.

"Tabatha," he said quietly. "I have been meaning to speak with you about this for a very long time. But now is not the proper moment."

"Will it ever be?" I asked bitterly. Brom looked as though he was about to respond when he stopped suddenly, reining Snowfire in. He jumped down out of the saddle and knelt to the ground. I followed his lead and pulled Cadoc to a stop. After another moment, Eragon and Saphira landed close by. Brom must have called them.

"What is it?" Eragon asked, coming over to where Brom was still inspecting the ground.

"Tracks," Brom muttered, running a hand over the smooth dirt. "The Ra'zac's trail is gone." He was right. The tracks had stopped suddenly and all that remained were large gashes in the ground.

"Look at those marks!" Eragon exclaimed. "They're just like the ones that Saphira makes when she takes off. The Ra'zac have flying mounts!"

"I had heard rumors of this," the old man mumbled, standing up with a look of deep concentration on his face. "It seems that the rumors are true. There's no denying that these marks were made by winged creatures." Eragon held a look of consternation on his face and then suddenly stalked off angrily into the trees. It didn't take long for him to return.

"Look at this!" he exclaimed in excitement. In his hands, he held a canister of pure silver. Slowly, he handed it over to Brom's outstretched hand. "Be careful, it-"

"Burns the skin, I know," Brom retorted sharply, cutting him off. "I'm surprised you didn't drink it. There would be nothing but a puddle left of you if you had."

"What is it?" I asked as he took a sniff. He handed it over to me as well and I brought the lip of the opening to my own nose. I inhaled deeply and was surprised to find that it held no scent.

"Oil from the petals of the seither plant," he replied. "It's normally used by jewelers for treating pearls, but, when treated with magic, it burns away the skin and eats anything that is alive. It's the favored weapon of the Ra'zac. It's also what killed your uncle, I'm afraid." Eragon looked deep in thought, stewing on whatever dark thoughts were circulating in his head. Suddenly, his eyes went wide and he looked up at Brom.

"Do the merchants that sell the oil to jewelers keep shipping records?" he asked hurriedly, his hands shaking a bit.

"Yes," Brom replied slowly, "they have to."

"In all the coastal cities?" he continued. Brom's face suddenly lit up.

"Yes!" he exclaimed. It snapped in my mind and I suddenly saw where Eragon was going with this.

"If we could get a hold of these records, we could find out where the Empire is sending the seither oil and, by extension, where the Ra'zac are!" I chimed in, clapping my hands together loudly.

"Exactly!" Eragon cried, a wide grin on his boyish face.

"We'll start with Teirm. It's the closest, and I've got an old friend there, Jeod, who may be able to help us," Brom said.

"Good," I muttered, "we're finally getting somewhere with this chase."

It was nearly a fortnight later before Teirm finally came into our sights, and it was the largest city I'd ever seen! Buildings towered over one another, seemingly in a race with each other to the sky. The sounds of the sea floated over the air, and seagulls screeched and cried to one another as they flew over the city. The whole place seemed to be shining, and there was a fresh scent of salt air permeating everything. I couldn't believe that a city this large could be so clean! And it was amazing to me that human hands could have built something so magnificent.

"It's beautiful," I breathed as I continued to gaze down at the glimmering port city from the hill we'd stopped on. We'd had to cross back through the mountains to get to Teirm, but it was much warmer here in the south at this lower altitude. I still needed my winter cloak, but the chill was not so deep as in the Spine.

"I don't know how safe it is for you to come with us, Tabby," Brom said. "This place is crawling with Imperial soldiers. Galbatorix has his dirty hands in every sort of mercantile enterprise in the whole Empire. They'll be watching carefully. It might be best for you to stay here with Saphira until we can properly gauge the situation."

"Very well," I glowered, jealousy seeping into my heart as I realized it was very likely I'd be missing out on most of the events of this journey. Now I understood how Saphira felt all the time, having to hide. Just when we were finally starting to make some progress, I was being left behind again.