I own nothing of the Inheritance Cycle!
Thoughts over bond
The day after Eragon woke up was when Ajihad had come to both David and Murtagh for help in searching for any run away Urgals still in the tunnels. With no reason to decline they accepted.
When they met back up with Ajihad David only realized the consequences of his agreement when he saw who their search party was made up of. There was a total of twenty people. Ten men and ten dwarves. Five of the men consisted of Ajihad, David, Murtagh…and the Twins.
When David saw the twins he wanted to turn around and walk the other way. He knew that when they came back from looking through the tunnels they were going to be ambushed, and Murtagh was going to be kidnapped.
But he didn't turn away. He accompanied the group into the darkness of the tunnels. He wasn't going to let Murtagh be taken to the Empire to be used as a pawn in Galbatorix's game.
There search through the tunnels was disappointing. They didn't find any Urgals so they decided to return to Farthen Dûr.
When going back up to the surface David kept Murtagh in the back of the party. Murtagh set questioning eyes onto David. David silently unsheathed his swords and murmured, "Be ready." Murtagh's eyes became serious as he unsheathed his own sword.
They exited the tunnel and David strained his ears in hopes of hearing any movement behind him. His efforts paid off when he heard scuffling sounds come from behind them.
Swarming the tunnel entrance was about two dozen Urgals. The Urgals quickly surrounded the group and began their attack. The battle was going well at first until a strange mist surrounded the fighters. In the confusion David was suddenly grabbed from behind. One bulky arm wrapped around his stomach, pinning his arms to his sides, while a hand clamped over his mouth. It's just like in Gil'ead.
The fog cleared and David saw that Murtagh was in a similar position. The Urgals then rushed against their group. David was forced to watch as Ajihad and the rest of their force was killed. No amount of struggling could loosen the iron grip from aroun his waist.
The Urgals quickly escaped back into the tunnel, the Twins in the lead.
Aquila, do you know where we are?
I can see you, yes.
Follow us, and when we leave the tunnel I want you to tear those Twins to shreds.
With pleasure. Her voice was ferocious.
Both David and Murtagh were suddenly dropped. They landed on the dirt covered ground of the tunnel, and by Murtagh's a cry of pain David could only assume he had broken or sprained something.
David looked into the Twins' eyes defiantly, "You bastards—" his head whipped to the side. A sharp crack resonating through the tunnel from the force of Thing 1's slap. Bringing his hand to his face David felt blood trickling down his chin.
Thing 2 untied the strap that he wore to hide his ears and used it to wipe the blood from his chin before throwing it off somewhere into the tunnel. The Urgal behind him grunted before its hand grasped his hair and pulled him off of his feet. David cried out in pain, kicking his feet out in the hopes of hitting something. He was satisfied when his foot connected with an object that grunted in pain.
He was dropped back onto the floor and received a swift kick to the ribs. A sharp snap and the following told him that one, maybe two, ribs had been broken. Damn.
If the sounds next to him were anything to go by, David would guess that Murtagh was receiving the same treatment.
Hearing a sword being unsheathed David saw Thing 1 looking down at him with a dagger hanging loosely in his hand. Two Urgals held both his hands and legs down while Thing 1 stood over him. The Twin pulled a piece of cloth from his hand and began stuffing it into David's mouth. With a sharp snap David bit the Thing's hand.
Thing 1 drew his hand back with a hiss. "I'm going to enjoy this. I would have enjoyed it more if I could hear your pain filled yells, but we don't want to attract anyone's attention do we?"
Dear God what is he gonna do rape me?
The Twin must have seen his worry because he let out a vicious laugh before raising the dagger and stabbing it into his right shoulder. The pain was blinding. He screamed, but with the cloth in his mouth it was effectively muffled.
The Thing grinned down at him wickedly before taking the dagger and bringing it to the corner of his left eye at his temple. He slowly dragged the blade to the bottom of his chin. David squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to keep the tears of pain from spilling out of his eyes.
He felt Aquila's growing anger at the Twins actions.
I will rip them! Burn them!
And I will enjoy every second of it my dear.
The Twin moved the dagger towards his left arm. David turned his head to watch as the blade hovered over his bicep before it pierced through his sleeve. Thing 1 dragged the blade down the length of his arm, stopping at his wrist.
The pain and blood loss made David light headed. He barely noticed that his leather shirt was being torn off. When he looked at his bare chest he saw a bruise start to form over his rib cage from where he had been kicked. When he looked back up Thing 1 swiftly punched him in the right eye. David was only thankful he didn't hit the left eye.
The cloth was removed from his mouth and David was thrown over an Urgals shoulder. The pain in his ribs startled a sharp scream to come from David.
"Stop!" The hissed command came from the Twins. Everything in the tunnel became still. The only thing that could be heard was the echo of David's scream. Their was a sigh of relief from the twins before they heard something further down the tunnel. It sounded like running.
David casted his mind out and found a mind so fast and exotic he tried to recoil, but the conscious latched onto his. Who are you?!
Arya? David felt relieved.
David! Hold on, I am coming. Her voice was urgent, and even a little distressed.
David tried to maintain contact, but the Urgals had started to run through the tunnels. The movements jostled his ribs and caused pain to shoot through his body, he was unable to concentrate on keeping contact with Arya. David wondered why the Urgals footsteps were silent, he assumed the Twins had something to do with it.
He watched the tunnel behind them in hopes of catching any signs of Arya. He was not surprised when he never saw her.
They continued running through the tunnels for what must have been hours. David gave up any struggle, to pained to move. Murtagh wasn't much better. David looked over at Murtagh and touched his mind. Murtagh opened his closed eyes and looked at David as if to ask if it was him. David nodded.
All will be well Murtagh. He felt Murtagh's doubt.
Trust me. Have I ever been wrong before? Murtagh had no answer for that, but he was still doubtful.
David craned his neck to look behind him. He was rewarded with a stream of sunlight against his face.
We're coming Aquila.
I am waiting.
The group of Urgals broke out of the tunnel and into the sunlight. They kept running until the Twins held their hands up for them to stop. They seemed to be in some kind of abandoned city. This must be where all the Urgals had grouped up before they attacked the Varden.
The Twins seemed to be looking for something, their faces were full of confusion. They turned to the Urgals, "Drop them."
The Urgal holding Murtagh dropped him like a sack. But David's set him down rather gently. He decided not to comment on it.
The twins were looking at the Urgals, "Where are the horses?"
The Urgals had no time to reply, for a deafening roar sounded through the city. The Twins eyes widened. The Urgals shuffled with unease.
Another roar sounded, only this time much closer, and right above them.
They all looked up in frightened shock. Except for David. He looked up in relief, soon turning into admiration. It has been a year since he's seen Aquila and he could see how much she has changed.
The only real difference was her size. Over the past year she seemed to have grown about another two meters. Her shoulder now stood about 9 meters from the ground. Everything else was the same. Her scales still shone a brilliant Aqua blue color, the tips covered in a mint green color. The spikes along her jaw and lined upon her back were the same green color, along with her claws.
She landed in front of their group with a snarl. Her eyes were fixed upon the Twins as she let out another deafening roar. Everybody was either too shocked or scared to move. Feeling a touch on his conscious David looked at Murtagh and let him into his mind I told you we would be okay.
Murtagh shook his head I will never doubt you again.
David looked up at Aquila. His words were spoken softly, "Get them."
She lunged forward and snapped one of the Twins into her jaws. She bit down swung her head to the side, throwing the twin far into the city. She turned back to the other twin and let out a sharp growl. That was all it took to make him faint.
David tried to crawl forward but one of the Urgals behind him stopped him. Aquila took a menacing step towards them and grasped the Twin between her claws before taking off into the sky.
When she was, maybe twenty stories high, she dropped the Twin. They all watched as his body fall and heard the horrible crunch of bones breaking when he hit the ground.
Twisting in the air Aquila dove towards the group, her maw was open with blue green flames shooting down and incinerating most of the Urgals. She could not burn the ones right behind David and Mirtagh without risking burning them.
She landed over the burning bodies an swiped her paw at the remaining Urgals. The force sent them all flying far into the depths of the city. All that remained was David, Murtagh, and Aquila.
David let out a happy whoop and ran up to Aquila. He climbed up to her back and hugged her around the neck. Aquila let out a happy roar and took off into the sky. She leveled off before nose diving back towards the ground. They were feet from crashing when Aquila snapped out her winds and glided over to where Murtagh was sitting, watching them with a mixture of shock, awe, and amazement.
"You're a dragon rider?" Murtagh began walking up to Aquila with caution.
"Yeah," He nodded his head at Aquila, "This is Aquila."
Aquila snorted and brought her head around to inspect Murtagh with one of her eyes.
He is acceptable.
David grinned down at Murtagh, "She likes you."
Murtagh seemed relieved with the news. He lifted his hand and held it out towards Aquila's snout. He looked at her with apprehension, "May I?" Aquila answered by pressing her nose into his hand.
David smiled at the sight before clapping his hands. Aquila raised her head from Murtagh's hand and stretched out her neck.
David slid down her side, his landing jarred his already-in-pain ribs. He hissed in pain and let himself lean back against Aquila. He brought his hand up to his right shoulder and used his magic to heal where the Twin had stabbed him, before moving his onto his left arm and healing the cut from shoulder to wrist. He let out a sigh of relief before touching his face and healing the cut from his eye to chin, then healing the black eye that formed from where the Twin had punched him.
He looked at his ribs and gently prodded, quickly stopping when the pain was too much. Feeling his energy he knew he had enough to fix it and then he could fix Murtagh. Thinking of the ancient language words he knew he hovered his left hand over his chest and felt the ribs snap back into place. He clenched his jaws from the pain, but he didn't stop the magic until the bruise on his chest went away as well.
When he looked at Murtagh he saw him looking at him with amazement. "Your turn."
He quickly healed Murtagh's wounds, only pausing when he found Murtagh's broken ankle. He looked up at Murtagh, "This will hurt." Doing the same as what he did with his ribs David watched as Murtagh's ankle snapped back into place. Murtagh made no noise but his face was screwed up in pain.
"Alright you or fine, but I would take it easy on the ankle for the next few days." Murtagh nodded.
"So now what?"
David looked at Aquila, "Well, you can't ride Aquila because she doesn't have a saddle."
"By the looks of things you don't ride her with a saddle either." Murtagh pointed out.
"Well I have the pants for it. If you rode on her with just those cotton pants your legs would be rubbed raw until they bled."
"Alright so what are we going to do walk?"
David looked at the city around him, "Nope." He murmured.
"Súndavar, eom eka." This time there was no wait as he watched the shadows crawl towards them. He directed them onto Aquila's back, thinking of what Saphira's saddle had looked like and shaping the shadows to into the same thing.
The shadows eventually settled and David's efforts were rewarded by a pure black saddle now resting upon Aquila's back.
"Now Aquila, I don't have any horses to ride with. Just you and me. And Murtagh of course."
David climbed up onto her back without a problem. Used to having to climb up onto her back. Murtagh on the other hand was a different story. He didn't even try.
David rolled his eyes, "Aquila can you help him somehow."
She brought her tail up in front of Murtagh and waited until he grabbed onto it before lifting him off the ground and setting him on the saddle behind David.
David grasped the spike in front of him and he looked over his shoulder at Murtagh, "Better hold on tight buddy!"
Murtagh had just enough time to wrap his arms around David waist before Aquila shot into the air. Murtagh's screams of excitement and terror were drowned out by the howling wind.