A boy trudged through the forest, cutting away at the undergrowth with a large knife. Sweat trickled down his forehead as the afternoon heat cut through the trees above.

The boy stepped on something that was camouflaged in the green undergrowth, and he fell over. Pouting the boy got back up and glared at the thing that had caused his discomfort. His eyes widened in wonder.

A large green gemstone sat there, partly hidden by the undergrowth. It was oval in shape and white veins ran through it. The boy, excited by his discovery, picked it up and hurried to his hometown, Ceunon.

The boy stumbled past the guards at the gate, who let him past without questioning, before hurrying through the streets to his house. He burst through the door, squealing in excitement.

“Mum! Mum! Look what I found!” he yelled excitedly.

“What is it dear?” said the boy’s mother in a board tone.

“Look! Look!” the boy took the green stone out of his bag and slammed it on the bench.

His mother gasped in surprise, “Where did you find this?”

“In Da… Du… Wedb… the forest!” gasped the boy, not being able to find the right words.

“In Du Weldenvarden?” scolded the mum, “What did I say about going in their?”

The boy hung his head in shame, then looked at the stone, “But look what I found.”

The mother looked at the stone. A smile spread across her face. With an emerald this big they would be rich. She gently took up the stone as if it were her child.

“Go to the market, and sell it,” she said to the boy, “We will be rich.”

The boy nodded excitedly before taking the stone once again and raced to the market. He went to the nearest trader he could find and put the stone on the bench.

“How much will you buy this for sir?” asked the boy.

The tradesman at the desk looked down at the boy with surprise. He was a stocky fellow, with long garments. He looked like he had all the money in the world.

He looked at the stone and frowned, “That is a big emerald.”

“I know,” said the boy.

He tapped it with his finger and nodded to himself, “I’ll give you one hundred crowns for it.”

The boy shook his head, “One thousand.”

The man’s eyes widened in surprise, “One thousand crowns?”

The boy nodded. The man smiled gently at him, before realising the boy was serious.

“How about… five hundred crowns and I’ll through in this nice pair of gold earrings,” said the man, holding out two of the earrings.

The boy thought for a second, “Six hundred and the earrings.”

The man smiled at that, the boy was a good haggle, “Done.”

They shook hands. The man gave the boy the money in a small chest, with the earrings attached to the side. The boy was staring at the chest in amazement. He had never held this much money in his arms before.

“Okay then, hurry on,” said the man, “And be careful not to let anyone steel it.”

The boy nodded, still staring at the chest. He walked out of the store the man had set up and hurried home. Meanwhile inside the store the man was studying the stone. It certainly looked like a giant emerald, except the white vanes that were running through it. And it was way to smooth to be a naturally formed emerald.

‘Maybe it was made from the elves,’ thought the man.

Seeing another customer come through the door he hurriedly hid the emerald away and greeted them with a smile. As the day wore on the man found himself thinking more and more about the stone. There was just something magical about it. By the end of the day he had decided. They would take it to Uru’baen, after a few stops at some other cities.

That night he and his company packed up for the journey ahead. It would take a about a month to reach the main city, especially if they were going to stop in a few towns along the way. As he made the plan the next day, he decided to do a roundabout trip, from Carvahall, down to Daret and across to Dras-Leona. After that he would to a half circle through Belatona, Fienster, Melain, Furnost then up to Uru’Baen. He smiled when he saw the plan, and estimated the circle to be an extra month.

One and a half months later the group was on it’s way to Furnost, the last stop to Uru-Baen. They had jus reached the lake and the city was coming into view on the horizon. The group was sighing in relief when the spotters came with the news.

Only a few hours away, they were saying. The leader of the group smiled at the thought of a warm bed and food. Hey had been on the road for a while and Melain hadn’t reaped he harvest they had hoped. Bandits had been causing trouble. He pattered his horse’s flank. It was also getting tired.

There was a sudden yell from down the length of the carriage train. The man turned around in surprise.

“Sir!” yelled one of the guards, “Bandits!”

The man gritted his teeth, this is what he least needed right now. He drew the sword at his hip, “Get the guards down there! Now!”

“Yes sir!” replied the guard.

The man spurred his horse down the line. He rammed his horse into the first bandit he saw, cutting of its head at the same time. The fighting intensified as the rest of the guards joined in the fray.

Arrows flew everywhere as the bandits in the trees fired down their arrows, and the guards retaliated. One arrow, one very lucky arrow, hit a chest at the top of a pile off good. The chest was knocked off the train and hit a slope behind. The latch of the chest broke and the lid flew open, revealing the stone. It rolled down the hill and fell into the lake.

Unlike a normal stone, instead of sinking to the bottom, it began to float. It was like that for days, just floating down the very week current towards the mouth of the lake, where it turned into a river. Eventually it came to that point and found itself being swept down the stronger current.

Another few days later there was a waterfall. It fell from the waterfall, bounced of a rock and onto the banks of the river, startling a group of rather large wolves. They backed up from the strange stone, some growling, others looking in interest. One particularly curious one walked up to it and put it’s poor on it, then yelped as the egg cracked.

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Hey guys, new story, my first Eragon Fanfic. Tell me what you think so far. It's a story that has been swirling around my head for a while. The real story will start soon. See Ya!

Pennator^^