Kenna clenched her jaw. She was too far in town now for Orion to get to her. She'd have to save herself.

"What do you want, father?" She demanded.

"You've been gone six months, young lady. I'd thought you left town all together. But I see not. You managed to sneak past me."

"What did you do to mother, you monster?" Kenna demanded, the blood on his hands and clothes definitely not his. Her heart was beating faster in horror for her mother, now.

He reached out and grabbed her by the throat and shoved her back against the side of the closest building, squeezing his fingers tight. "You little bitch. You're gonna pay, just like she did for speaking back to me."

"No." She gritted out and sent him a glare right back of pure hatred, even as tears streamed down her face. "You are."

She focused on the bottle as his hand began to tighten around her throat and spots appeared in her vision. Then, the bottle exploded in his face, sending glass shards and alcohol spraying everywhere.

He let out a strangled cry and released her. She stumbled to her feet and sprinted away from him, making it to Brom's door and banging on it to be let in as her father spotted her and yelled insanities, walking haphazardly towards her, cuts bleeding on his face from the glass.

Tears of fear sprang from her eyes. "Brom! Help!" She yelled. The door opened and she raced inside and closed the door behind her, breathing hard and coughing as she held her throat.

Brom lifted a hand to her shoulder, and then helped her stand. "Shhh. It's alright. I'll take care of it. Go sit. Have some tea, it'll help." He said gently and helped her stand and sit in an armchair. The table in front of her was strewn with books and she spotted a bag packed with bedroll attached.

"Y-You're ready to leave with us?" She rasped, voice hoarse.

"Shh-shhh. No. Don't try to speak, Kenna. You've been through much." He said somberly. He kneeled in front of her and tilted her chin up to examine her throat and clenched his jaw.

He rested his hands over her throat gently and closed his eyes and whispered a phrase she had never heard before. "Waíse heill."

An immediate warmth spread through her neck as the pain vanished. He moved his hands and she stared at him in shock. "That was magic." She said, aghast.

Suddenly there was a pounding on the door. Kenna jumped. "Get out here, you old man! Give her back, she's mine!"

"You lost all claim to her, Joffrey, when you put your hands on her and her mother in violence." Brom hissed in reply.

"You shut up and bring me my daughter!" He screamed back.

Kenna began to shake all over and tears sprang into her vision. She looked up at Brom and shook her head. "P-Please. Don't."

She watched in horror as Brom opened the door and barred her father from entering. He looked at him and said a string of words she barely made out, or understood, and her father's body went rigid as he turned and left, walking down the road and out of sight.

"A-Are you a wizard? A sorcerer? How are you doing that? What did you say to him?" She demanded, standing from her seat as Brom stepped away from the door.

He sent her an amused look. "Something you'll learn in time, Kenna. I've not spoken with a Rider in years. You and Eragon will learn on this journey. I'll teach you all I know. Now come. We must leave. Take from here what you think you and Eragon will need." He said and jutted his chin to the house as he picked up his own bag and pulled it onto his back. "And I assume you'll need horses?"

Kenna nodded as she found two bags and began to fill them with things from around the house, wrapping cheese in cloth and slipping leather bags of dried meat into them as well as wrapped loaves of bread and apples. Anything that would last.

"Very well. I'll be right back. Stay here." He said and turned and left the house before she could say anything.

She turned to the house and went about packing more supplies. She found clothes in the back of the house and quickly changed into the trousers and shirt, lacing her corset up over them. She grabbed a cloak and clipped that at her neck. She made sure her boots were tied, then went about gathering other supplies and what few gold coins she could find that she knew they'd need later on their journey.

Then, her eyes fell on something leaning against the wall. It was a sword. A red sword in a red scabbard with a red gem on its pommel. There was a strange black symbol on it.

The sword made her feel uneasy, and she turned away from it, something about it making her stomach turn in knots.

Little one? What is wrong? Are you alright? Orion asked down the bond.

"I- yeah. Yeah I'm alright."

You were hurt. You were frightened.

"It's ok. Brom saved me."

Hm. Hurry. I am not comfortable with you being alone.

"I will."

Suddenly, the door opened and startled, Kenna grabbed the red sword from the wall and drew it from its scabbard and pointed it at Brom and Eragon as they entered.

They jumped and Kenna nearly dropped the sword.

Brom sent her a cautious look. "Where did you find that?"

"I-just over there. Leaning against the wall. I'm sorry. You scared me and it was the first weapon in sight, and I-" she stopped and merely sheathed the weapon and handed it to Brom. "I'm sorry. I'm better suited with a bow, anyways."

Brom took the weapon and sent her a curious look. He merely held the sword and said, "This is a Rider's sword. It is called Zar'roc."

"Zar'roc?" Kenna asked.

"Why do you have a Rider's sword?" Eragon asked.

"So many questions. What we should be doing is leaving. Do you have everything you need?"

Kenna and Eragon nodded and grabbed the bags from the floor and followed Brom outside. He locked the door to his house, then turned to where three horses saddled and ready with traveling supplies and surprisingly, leather and furs.

Kenna approached her horse and swung into the saddle and turned it to follow Eragon and Brom out of the town and into the woods. She didn't look back.

When they reached the clearing that Saphira and Orion waited for them in, the horses anxiously tossed their heads and pawed the snowy ground that was now melting into the ground to make mud. It was springtime.

They were pacing and Kenna swung down from the horse and Brom took the reigns, holding the three horses steady as Orion pushed his head into her arms almost immediately, the mental link portraying his worry for her.

He lifted his head and sniffed at her neck, and then snorted, anger coursing down the bond.

"Hey." She whispered and lifted her hands to hold his scaled head between her hands, rubbing over the midnight colored scales soothingly. "I'm ok. Brom healed me."

He nudged her ribs and hands where the scrapes and cuts from his scales were. Yes. But I did that.

"You didn't do it on purpose. You were saving us. And they're only scrapes. You're just sharp."

He snorted a puff of hot air in her face. Mm. Perhaps.

Eragon approached and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Kenna? Are you alright?" He asks. She turns to face him and he rests a hand on her cheek, gently tilting her face to examine the left over bruises on her neck.

She reached up and took his hand as his expression hardened. "I'm ok. Brom, he healed me and then sent away my father. I don't know how he did it."

His grip tightened on her hand as he said, "Whatever the case, we have nothing left here. We should get moving."

He then turned to his horse and swung up into the saddle, and Brom and I followed suit. Saphira and Orion raised their wings and leapt into air, Prion almost disappearing completely against the night sky.

And they left Palencar Valley, making their way south, to an unknown future.