Please note that the world and characters of the Inheritance Cycle belong to Christopher Paolini. Those characters which I myself have introduced to his work are all works of fiction are themselves, works of fiction. Any similarities they have to real people are entirely coincidental.

Chapter 1

The forest was full of the war cries of Urguls. They charged with their horned heads lowered, and their weapons raised. There must have been thirty, at the very least, and a fair number of them were Kull. They charged a small group of humans, numbering only seven. Five of the seven had their weapons drawn, their faces pale with fear. The other two, were strangely out of place in the scene. One was a tall man, built like a bull, with broad shoulders and a thick muscled frame. Yet despite his great frame, his eyes were dim, and his expression vacant, indicating that he clearly lacked the wits of most men. He carried no weapon, and wore no armor, despite the fact that he looked as if he would be the best to send into a battle. The seventh human, was the only woman amongst them. She wore a cloak of royal red, bearing a black insignia of a claw clutching a globe. Her body was thin, and narrow beneath the folds of her garment. Her face was young, but already gaunt with years of suffering. It was this woman who stepped out in front of her companions, with the larger man close behind her.

"Böetq brisingr!" The woman in the red cloak shouted. The surrounding portion of the Spine ignited. The Urguls that had been charging a moment before disappeared into the host of twisting flames, and their scream s were drowned out in the roar of the fire. She let the blaze burn for a moment longer, and then quietly she said, "brakka," and the fire fizzled out to leave the trees hissing as steam escaped their wounded forms.

The small group of humans with the woman lowered their weapons, looking at her with a mixture of awe and fear. "I didn't think you were really a sorceress…" one of them said, "I thought that they were all caught up in the war…"

"Of course not," the woman replied, "There are greater treasures to claim than those that lie in the halls of Uru'baen or Trojenheim." Then, quietly she said to herself, "And greater secrets to discover."

"With the Varden so close to Uru'baen, wouldn't it be better to wait until things calm down. I heard there are elves patrolling the Spine, hunting down Galbatorix's men, why do this now?" another member of the party asked.

The woman in red replied, "Because everyone has their eyes on Uru'baen, waiting to see if that child dragon rider and his pet can manage to usurp the throne. Afterwards, it doesn't matter…if Galbatorix wins, he'll just go on making himself stronger. If the Varden win, they'll divvy up the spoils and we'll have a new king or queen and everything will be back in order. Now, while things are in a state of disarray, we have the chance to find a treasure unlike any that has been seen by the eyes of man before. Then, when the weather clears, we can live like royalty."

Another opened his mouth to protest, but then he fell to the ground, with an arrow protruding from the side of his head. Several of the Urguls had survived, and now, with the smoke clearing, it was clear that the Urguls had not come alone. Two figures stood amongst the smoke, small next to the Urguls, but far too graceful of form to be merely human. The small group, now only six, raised their weapons again.

The Urguls charged in, while the woman in red met the elves with her mind. Their thoughts stabbed and struck against her mind's defenses trying to get in, and she held them off, easily. The discipline of her thoughts was unparalleled, and for good reason. The reason, they soon discovered, as the elves tried to make their way into her mind, she very suddenly opened the whole of her being to them, and they fell to the ground, screaming. She extended her consciousness out, touching the minds of the Urguls, protected by the wards of the elves, but their minds were open, and ever so vulnerable. The Urguls too, collapsed, twitching in agony, unable to find the will to scream. "Yes," the woman said, her voice drawn out in a hiss. "Yes, feel it. Join me in my pain; join me in my curse, burn with me." The big man placed a hand on her shoulder, and at once she collected her thoughts, saying, "Hjartya letta," and at once all the Urguls were still.

The woman in red walked forward, amongst the corpses of her enemies looking like a wraith of death in her proper home, and stood over the fallen elves. Their minds were caught in her own, but their consciousness had retreated, leaving them vulnerable. She delved into their minds, drawing out all that they knew, all that could be useful. The melodies that played in their minds were silenced by the torments that her touch brought with her. There were few words of the ancient language that she did not already know, and fewer pieces of history that were of any relevance. Yet, she carefully noted everything. She then sought out the knowledge of the elves wards, and meticulously deconstructed them, drawing on the strength of the elves themselves to remove their protection. At last when they were fully vulnerable she withdrew her mind from them and said, "Manino neiat." With that the tormented expressions of the elves softened, and their breathing became easy and untroubled.

"Why not kill them?" One of the men asked.

"Questions, questions, questions." The woman in red said, "Because the elves would seek retribution for their deaths. You can kill Urguls by the dozens, but slay an elf and their whole nation won't rest until you're dead. These two won't remember anything when they awaken, nothing at all. Not even their names, their own tongue, nothing. They will be found by allies or enemies, and be left to them. Beyond that, it matters not." She then stepped over the prone forms of the elves and continued on her way. The others of the group hesitated over the body of their companion, and then followed the sorceress deeper into the wilds of the Spine.

#

Three days later the company of six was standing on the edge of the ocean. They had come to a beach with fine sand and the water lapped up gently on the shore. The trees were short and scraggily where they encroached upon the sand and several had fallen over, due to their unstable foundation.

The tide was out so the woman in red stood out at the edge of dry land. She crouched low and placed her hand in the water, "Jaris, come here," she said, and the big man lumbered over from where the others had started a fire. "I need your strength again, friend."

"I help. Don't hurt me much," he replied.

She managed a wry smile, "No, I don't hurt you much," and with that she reached out with her mind. She sunk into his being and felt his muddled comprehension meld with her sharp intellect. His thoughts were simple, and his observations plain, yet sometimes she would cross thoughts that to her bordered on revelation. His mind was plain, and yet his simplicity of being allowed him to see past the details to truths that her own mind obscured with infinite detail. Her pain flowed into him, and yet he did not resist her. The agony enveloped his mind, but didn't seem to affect him in the slightest.

"Thank you again, my old friend." She said in the privacy of their minds.

"Not liked men go now? Men who not Jaris?" He asked in a question that came all at once, surfacing from deep within his being.

"Yes, they will be gone soon," She replied.

Then she drew from his strength and then she breached the barrier in her mind, unleashing her magic, but she uttered no spell allowed. What she was doing was far too complicated to conduct merely with words, but instead, she directed the spell entirely with her thoughts. She dipped a single finger into the sea, and out from it a silent call went forth, looking for but a single being to hear it. The spell, though powerful, drew little power from either of them. It echoed through the water out into the open sea carrying with it several thoughts that would bring their prey to them. "Now again, we wait."

"I do good?" Jaris asked.

"Yes Jaris, you've done well. For now, go and keep warm by the fire. I have thinking to do," she replied. The big man lumbered away to where the other five sat, trying to keep warm.

#

Hours later, as the tide rose, and the sun edged its way to the horizon the woman in red was pacing. Her boots were sodden with seawater, but she seemed unwilling to move from the small section of the beach that she occupied. Her mind reached out and gently touched every being that came near. Yet, what she sought still eluded her. Then, at the edge of her consciousness she felt it, very suddenly, and it was coming for them, with great speed. She called out, "Jaris to me!"

The big man reacted quickly, jumping to his feet and running to her side, ignoring the cold water that saturated his shoes. He reached her just in time. "Garjzla moi!" she said, and at once the two of them vanished.

The beast rocketed out of the sea, its huge maw open, with fangs longer than the height of a man bathed in the fiery red of the evening sun. The five men left by the fire screamed as the titan bellowed. For a moment everything was flashing teeth and writhing fins and then the campfire was extinguished, along with the lives of those that had been sitting around it a moment before. "Letta," The woman in red said, and she and Jaris reappeared. The giant sea creature turned to them, propelling itself with its fins, sliding its massive bulk toward them. The woman held up her hand and said, "Ach neo sharj, Nidhwal. Ie wilae yauna onr lifaætti ono sharj." Do not move, Nidhwal. I will take your life should you move.

At once the creature lashed out at her with its mind, gripping her with its ancient and alien thoughts. She did not resist, instead, she let the beast attack her mind. It was strong, and the agony that she felt did not dissuade it.

The ancient mind of the Nidwhal took what it saw from her mind and formed thoughts in a language that she would understand. "You are stupid and weak," The creature said in her mind. Her mental agony did nothing to keep it from gripping her thoughts with its own. It had faced much worse in its lifetime.

"And you are wise and mighty, Ebrithil gamall einn," she replied, "Yet, I am not one to forget what I learn. I have learnt of the sea, Gamall einn, and I wish to learn more."

"What secrets do you seek, fool of the dead land? You are wise enough only to find me, but stupid enough to not realize that I do not treat with land-dwellers." The great being began to draw its mind away from her, but then an image surfaced in the woman's mind. It was this image that drew the mind of the Nidhwal back. "Rralbrathrönd drragral rallorst! What doom do you bear small one?"

With that the woman reached into her cloak and drew out a knife. She took off her cloak and handed it to Jaris. Then she drew up her shirt until her ribs could be seen through her skin. She ran the blade along the rib that was second from the bottom, gashing her own flesh without as much as a flinch. A cold glow emanated from the wound, and she used her knife to pry out the small orb that was embedded in her own bone. It glowed with a faint white light from within its dark black surface.

She said, "This is the heart of hearts, of one of your kind, and while it is small, this single being has survived in this state for thousands of years, bearing with it memories of secrets that no one now remembers. It was through this Nidwhal that I learnt of the creature that called itself, Ævarandi Konungur. The Perpetual King. I know where his tomb lies, at the bottom of the sea. There, I wish to see what secrets lay upon the ocean floor."

"So you wish me to bear you to the bottom of the sea? I, eldest of my kind, rover of the waves, master of the currents and bearer of the tides? You think to command me? What makes you think that I would grant a nothingness like you even a passing thought?"

She responded in her mind, "Because you wish to know as well, Gamall einn."

The thoughts of the Nidwhal turned from musings of eating her, and the curiosity that it had been feeling bubbled to the surface. "Yes, you are right; I do wish to know what rests in the murk of the deep. Yet I see not how to get there in your mind."

The woman reached into her cloak and drew out a scroll. "I have written the precise directions to the sunken wreck. I erased my memory of how to get to the ship, as well as my time writing this parchment. I shall read it as we go so that you will have to bear me the whole way."

When she finished speaking the Nidwhal withdrew its mind, and opened its mouth, lowering its tongue to the ground, so that she and Jaris could climb in. They did, and the titan's jaws closed around them, plunging the world into darkness, accompanied only by the reek of old fish. The two of them heard the Nidwhal's body scrape against the sand, and then all was silent from the outside world. The woman in red lifted her shirt up again, revealing the self-inflicted gash. She placed the Eldunari back into the wound and uttered, "Waise heill," and the light from the small orb was sealed up within her own body.