Sja Fram [Inheritance Cycle | Eragon Fanfiction]

Chapter XXIII: Dras-Leona

I nodded with a small grin, "Us? In trouble? Don't make jokes like that." Brom glared at me and raised an eyebrow. "I won't." I promised.

Eragon promised the same and Brom handed him some coins before striding away in the opposite direction. "Eragon, I'm going to go find some work at a stable. I can work for some money pretty quickly there, and the other worker's tongues will loosen. Plus I won't be too suspicious."

Eragon nodded, "You sure that'll work?"

I nodded, "It's worked before when I was trying to learn about stuff in other towns." I said before heading towards the Golden Globe.

Arriving at the Golden Globe, I went to the front desk. "Do you know where I could get some work for the day? Preferably, with horses, I can work with those animals pretty well. I just thought it'd be a good idea to make some money."

The man at the desk gazed at me with bored eyes. "Go back out to the main street, turn right travel two blocks, turn left, and around there will be the stable."

"Don't you have a stable here?" I asked, thinking of where Istal had been stabled in the courtyard.

"Yes, but no business," the man replied, turning his gaze elsewhere.

I walked out with a mutter to myself. I followed the man's directions and soon came to a stop outside a large stable. Entering the stable, I asked one of the workers where I could speak about having a job for a few hours.

I was directed to a large man in the courtyard holding a dapple-grey horse being hooked up to a carriage. "What is it?" He asked gruffly looking at me.

"I need a job for a few hours, I was told to stay out of trouble for a while and I'm good with horses. You don't have to pay me either if you don't want." I said trying to appear as earnest as I could.

"Have you worked with horses before?" The man asked sternly.

"Yes, I have my own stallion."

"Bob!" The man called, a thinner man came over. "Take care of the carriage and see that they pay and get out of here, I'm going to see if this skinny rat can actually handle a horse." The thin man, presumably Bob, nodded. "Come," the man commanded. I followed him to a large stall. "Get this horse and led 'im out to the courtyard. Manage to get him hitched to the next carriage that already has a chestnut hithced and you can stay. If you can't then you can go," the man told me. 

"Bob!" The man called, a thinner man came over. "Take care of the carriage and see that they pay and get out of here, I'm going to see if this skinny rat can actually handle a horse." The thin man, presumably Bob, nodded. "Come," the man commanded. I followed him to a large stall. "Get this horse and led 'im out to the courtyard. Manage to get him hitched to the next carriage that already has a chestnut hithced and you can stay. If you can't then you can go," the man told me.

I nodded and took the headcollar from the man. The horse was a pinto, brown with splashes of white – a skewbald – with a patch of black in his mane. The horse tossed his head and neighed, "Stop it." I said to the horse sternly as he lifted his head as high as he could. "Really?" I questioned, I reached up and just managed to slip the headcollar on. I quickly tied the horse up. "Where's the gear?" I asked.

The man silently pointed to a pile of leather and buckles on the ground in front of the stall and a bridle hanging up. I easily and quickly fitted the bridle over the headcollar, tying the reins in a knot to rest on the gelding's neck. I quickly fitted the rest of the harness over the gelding's body, every so often giving the horse a slap on the neck as he turned to bite me. When I was done, I led the gelding out into the laneway between stalls and headed to the courtyard.

The gelding pulled and yanked as I walked him out, at one point he bit my finger. The chestnut gelding was waiting patiently in a harness attached to a two-horse carriage. I backed the gelding and quickly attached him to the carriage and fixed the reins so they could be used for a two-horse carriage. When I was done, I stepped back and let the man check over everything.

"Welcome to Greenyard Stables," the man said holding out his hand for a handshake.

I shook his hand, "Name's Umaroth, so it's all right if I pop around the next few days?"

The man laughed, "Name's Jalf and I'm the stablemaster here if you couldn't already tell. You can obviously work with horses pretty damn well. You'd be welcomed back anytime. Come see me at the end of the day for pay. Just stick around here and if someone brings in a new horse take and and put it in a stall. Someone else will write down where the horse goes so we can locate them." Jalf said before walking off. I nodded, pleased with my efforts, before getting out of the way.

"Horse over here!" Someone shouted, I sighed. It was going to be a long day, but hopefully I would get a lot of information.

Horse is the pinto gelding