A shade named Durza, along with a group of urgals, ambushes a party of three elves. After he and the urgals kill the other elves, Durza attempts to steal an egg carried by one of the female elves, but is foiled when she causes it to vanish. Infuriated, he renders her unconscious with a ball of fire and abducts her. Eragon is a fifteen-year-old boy who has lived with his uncle Garrow and cousin Roran on a farm near the village of Carvahall, ever since his mother Selena, Garrow's sister, left him there right after his birth. While hunting in the Spine, Eragon is surprised to see the blue dragon egg, which he believes to be a stone, appear in front of him. A few months later, Eragon witnesses a baby dragon hatch from the egg. Eragon names the dragon Saphira, after a name the old village storyteller Brom mentions. He raises the dragon in secret until two of King Galbatorix's servants, the Ra'zac, come to Carvahall. Eragon and Saphira manage to escape by hiding in the Spine, but