The Truth About Lies (An Inheritance Cycle Fanfiction)

Secrets Revealed and Truths Shattered

But I knew, deep down inside, that things could never be the same. There would still have come a time where I would have searched for the truth about my past, even if none of this had ever happened. Events would have been different, but the results would still be the same: I would still be ignorant and miserable, with everyone refusing to answer my questions.

Saphira suddenly broke into my consciousness. 'Eragon is coming,' she said. Good! Now I can give him a piece of my mind for leaving me behind and...no. No, I wouldn't do that. He's stressed enough as it is without having to worry about me being mad at him. I'll just leave him alone...for now.

It took him a while, and a bit of help from Saphira, to get to the top of the cliff, but he finally made it. He clambered over the edge of the cliff, Saphira dropping him from her mighty jaws, and rubbed the dirt off of his clothes.

"Hello," he called over to me timidly.

"Hi," I called back half-heartedly. He sat down beside me, Saphira lowering her massive body down next to him. "So, how's Teirm?"

"It's wonderful!" he said, his eyes gleaming. "The city is huge! There's so many buildings and shops and people. I've never seen anything like it! You would love it, Tabatha. They have this building that's dedicated entirely to books and scrolls, and you can go there anytime of day to read, whenever you like. It's called a 'library'. Brom says there's tons of them in the larger cities. I can't imagine a city being bigger than that!"

"Wonderful," I mumbled, my heart sinking from the jealousy clasped within it. I had resolved not to be angry with him, but he was making it extremely difficult.

"I'm sorry you couldn't come, Tabby. Really, I am," he tried to comfort me. It wasn't working.

"It's fine," I said, hiding my anger from him. It wasn't so much that I was angry about not being able to go, I was just so frustrated about so many different things, that I was afraid that all my anger and wrath would come flooding out all at once. It's like they say: "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned", and I wanted nothing more than to go into the city right now and to find out what Brom was hiding from me.

Eragon looked at me sadly and made to say something else, but he thought better of it. Smart move. He turned away from me and looked over at Saphira, no doubt conversing with her about all of the wonderful things he'd done and seen. I called goodbye as Saphira chartered him back down to the bottom of the cliff at sunset.

Night soon fell and I wrapped myself in a blanket to go to sleep, resting my head on top of my arm and staring at the night sky. The moon shone down bright and clear, reflecting off the waters of the sea beyond the city. Stars wheeled above, their numbers unfathomable; sentinels watching over me in the night. As I drifted away, my head was swimming with thoughts, but all I could really think of was my mother and father.

That night, my head filled with strange dreams. I couldn't remember most of them come morning, except for one...

I was in a large palace, like the citadel Brom had described to me that was in Uru'baen. The halls twisted and turned as I ran through them, searching for something. As I turned corners and traced my path through the corridors, I could just make out someone in front of me: a woman, with long, flowing dark hair, a circlet of purest silver around her head. She wore an intricate dress of dark blue silk with silver embroidery around the hem and the edges of the sleeves. She was running as well, though I could not tell from what. Was it me? I called after her in a language that was strange to my own ears, but she never turned.

As I rounded another of the corners in the hallway, I saw a long corridor of stone stretching before me, glass-paned windows lining one side, and torches adorning the wall of the other. It was dark here, and the flickering flames of the torches cast strange shadows upon the walls. It suddenly felt very cold and I could see my breath coming out in front of me. I wrapped my arms around myself and couldn't help the fit of shivering that came over me.