Reunion (An Eragon Spin off)

Chapter 4

"Selena was only a few months pregnant when she came to Garrow's house. She — she begged him to let her stay until she gave birth. He reluctantly agreed." Brom truly was a Storyteller, his facial expressions gave away as much emotion as his voice, and his words effortlessly drew a painting of the scene. "I was hunting down Morzan. He had Saphira's egg at the time. I knew nothing of you and your brother's birth. Your mother gave birth to twins, and begged Garrow to care for Eragon ..." he paused, a pained look in his eye. "But for some reason, she made your uncle swear never to tell Eragon, or anybody for that matter, about you, Elizabeth." I grunted and tested the rabbit to see if it was done. I sighed when I found that it definitely was not done. "She then retreated back to Morzan's castle where I found that she had died from the affects of a premature birth, not to mention her riding all over Alagasëa while she was pregnant." He bowed his head and continued. "I figured she'd gone to Carvahall, to her brother, and so I left as soon as I could to find my child, or as I now know children.

"I found a very exhausted Garrow trying to care for two newborns as well as his own son. I wanted to take both of you with me. I hoped we could find an even more secluded village and go there ... alas, that was not our luck. Garrow refused to hand over Eragon, but if Galbatorix found out that Morzan's very own Black Hand had given birth to children other than his ..." He paused momentarily, letting our minds wander. "I came back and took you, Elizabeth. You and your brother were safer apart. Garrow could tell no one that you had gone missing, as your mother had made him swear -- in the Ancient Language none the less -- not to tell anyone anything about you."

I glanced up to see tears dripping off his face and into his lap, Arya had noticed too, but said nothing. I checked the rabbit again.

"I took you to Nar Garzhavog who promised to raise you as a warrior."

"He did a good job too." I grumbled. Brom smiled lightly at me before continuing. "Seven years later I came and explained everything to you, and allowed you to spend time with your brother. It amused me how quickly you two grew as friends." His face fell once again as he continued. "But I made you promise to never tell Eragon who you were and who I was. And, after a week was up, I took you back to the Urgals, for both you and your brother's safety.

"Years later, me and Eragon set out on a 'quest' to kill the Ra'zac that had killed Garrow and burned his house to the ground. We stopped by an old friend's house, he went by the name of-"

"Jeod!" Realization hit me. I had grown close to Jeod during my time with the Varden. I had even looked at him as a surrogate father. "Yes. Jeod promised me he would do anything to keep Eragon safe ... that is after I told him he was my son. Eragon was eavesdropping, it was quite amusing how subtle he tried to be about it." Brom smirked slightly, but it quickly fell of his face and was once more replaced with a frown. "I swapped my appearance with Jeod, in the hope that I could keep both you and Eragon safe. As you know, Jeod didn't make it. He died protecting Eragon. I didn't show my true self to Eragon in the fear that he would hate me. And I know how hard it must've been for you to idly watch your brother fight and walk by without knowing what he meant to you." Brom once again bowed his head as tears flowed freely down his face.

"Later I was snuck up on and sent here by a Shade. I presume the same happened to you two?" He asked looking at Arya and me. We both nodded and I once again checked the rabbit.

"It's done." I handed them each equal amounts and took some for myself. "Arya could you make a bow and some arrows as soon as possible? You could use the rabbit bone as the arrowheads." She nodded.

"That is something I could easily do." She confirmed as I handed her a chunk of meat. She grimaced and shook her head.

"Oh! I forgot! Elves don't eat meat. I could go look for some berries?"