How It All Goes Down
The Hadarac Desert
- The motley crew camps for a bit on the edge of the desert. Eragon doesn't like the look of the barren expanse before them, but Saphira is all excited. She's got space, yummy things to hunt, and warm weather. What's not to like?
- Eragon says that maybe they can come back when everything's settled.
- After a quick nap, they head into the desert. They come to some crags at sunset and set up camp.
- Eragon summons water with his magic, filling up a hole for the horses and Saphira to drink from. He and Murtagh fill their waterskins, too.
- Eragon's drained from the effort, but happy that his spell worked. Now it's off to bed.
- The next morning, it's freezing. The elf is still not awake.
- As they break camp, "a line of dark smudges [becomes] visible on the horizon" (45.26). Murtagh thinks it could be hills, but Eragon's not sure.
- As they travel onward, Eragon realizes that these smudges are in fact "the bases of gigantic mountains, scores of miles wide" (45.31). These are the Boer Mountains and, boer-y, are they big. (Yeah, we went there.)
- As they near these big mountains, the weather cools and some grass starts to sprout up. A herd of gazelles goes bounding by as they set up camp near the mountain foothills. Saphira looks at them, licking her chops.
- Mmmm… gazelle.