Shortly after Brenden left Brom made them break for a quick lunch of dried strips of meat. A meager meal compared to what they ate with Brenden. Eragon ate silently while thinking of ways to sneak into the prison and rescue Arya. Whereas brom and Murtagh were both voicing their opinions about how to go about rescuing her.
"There is no way to rescue Arya without raising alarm. There are too many guards and patrols to effectively sneak in and out." Brom said clearly frustrated.
Finally Eragon spoke up at having heard this, "There has to be a way to get in, Murtagh is there any possible way to get and get out safely, maybe Saphira could help us escape?"
"Little one I could carry the 4 of you for a short distance only but, I could do it." Saphira said without conviction.
After much thought Murtagh spoke up triumphantly, "If we sneak in through the garbage chute, and have Saphira break apart the roof of a building we can get in and out easily."
"That might actually work." Brom said impressed, "But there is one thing that Brenden told me about that he wanted me prepared more than the two of you because I and I will be dealing with this threat. It is going to be a desperate fight possibly more so than my fight with Morzan but, with a little bit of luck I won't have to combat him."
"What could be this dangerous that Brenden had to prepare you for a such a fight?" Eragon asked concerned.
"A shade." Brom said quietly.
"A SHADE WE CANNOT BEAT A SHADE." Murtagh exclaimed with little room for argument.
"Listen to me boy, Brenden has prepared me for this fight and has given me enough energy to move mountains and raise islands out of the deepest trenches and still have enough energy to combat this shade." Brom told them, angry for Murtagh doubting him.
"Brom are you sure you can win?" Eragon asked worried.
"I believe in him Eragon, if he was prepared by Brenden and Brenden was satisfied with the results then we must try, we cannot allow an elf to die." Saphira said to him and him alone.
A light twinkled in his eyes while he said, "I know I can."
"Fine but, if I die, I am going to kill you both." Murtagh said defeated.
_ That night they set out leaving Murtagh to stay with Saphira to help get everyone to safety. As they arrived at a wooden garbage chute Brom pulled out rags to help block the smell and 4 small knives for them to use as they climbed. The chute was short but, steep and was lined with filth, once they got out of there Brom and Eragon knew they would have to bathe for a week. They arrived at the top after about 3 minutes, slightly faster than they thought they would. They continued down through the prison searching for the Arya's gear before, finally finding it in a storeroom that was isolated from the rest of the camp. As they left the store room two guards started rounding a corner and before Eragon could react two balls of fire whipped past him and incinerated the guards killing them instantly. Eragon whirled around to see Brom standing there not even winded from the spell.
"What are you waiting for, the shade to find us and die from shock?" Brom said impatiently.
After they found Arya's gear they went farther into the prison until they came across the cells. They both took a side of the hallway checking to see which cell contained Arya, after Eragon checked 7 cells before seeing her lying down on her cot eyes drooping and a pained expression on her face. Her Raven colored locks obscuring her pointed ears. A tight leather jerkin, and leather leggings that looked to be skin tight.
"Brom she's in here and she's awake." Eragon whispered loud enough for Brom to hear. Then he cast a spell to unlock the cell door and he entered to see Arya sitting with one hand supporting her on the cot before she collapsed from the effort almost falling of the cot before Eragon rushed forwards and caught her.
"Brom she passed out, what do we do?" Eragon asked worried.
"She'll be fine she's in a self imposed coma to help escape the pain of her wounds, I have Brenden's potion, I know he told me to give it to her once we got to safety but, We can't carry her out of here and fight a shade." Brom quickly explained as he poured the potion into her mouth. The potion was a deep golden liquid that seemed that smelt heavily of flowers and the spine in the spring, a pleasant forest scent.
After a few seconds she didn't awaken so Eragon offered to carry her until she woke up. She was little lighter than Eragon had suspected but, was heavy enough that he could not run while holding her. Once Brom was satisfied that she would be safe they set off towards the store room they were going to have Saphira rescue them from. They encountered a patrol that Brom quickly slayed with a much subtler spell than what he used earlier causing them to have the liquids drain out of them turning them to dust in a matter of seconds. Horrified at the way Brom killed them Eragon held down bile rising in his throat and pressed on. Once they arrived safely at the store room Eragon contacted Saphira and sent her pictures of where they were and waited. After a few seconds they heard a slight crash on the roof normally not loud enough to arouse suspicion but, under the circumstances they knew it was Saphira who was on the roof. At that moment however Arya awoke to see the two of them standing there.
"In the case that you are fulfilling your duty Brom I must know why are you here?" It's too dange-" Arya managed to get this out before Brom cut her off with
"a man by the name of Brenden asked us to deliver the message 'The Night remains until the Breaking of a New Dawn."
"When did you meet this man Brom and why did he feel that you needed to tell me this?" Arya asked frowning slightly.
Before they could continue a menacing voice filled with malice spoke out "Yes I would like to know this too."
They turned and saw a tall pale man with blood red hair and clothes just as red. He bore a grin with teeth filed to points and pure black nails filed to points. In his right hand he held long skinny sword paler than he was with a long scratch running down the center of his blade.
"Durza, we meet at last." Brom said cooly, a murderous look on his face.
"Brom you can't beat him, he's too powerful." Arya said in despair.
"Yes Brom we both know you got lucky with Morzan." Durza said demeaningly.
"I killed Morzan because I was better than him just as I am better than you Durza." Brom said flatly. To Arya he said, "He is nowhere close to how powerful I am at this point."
Eragon chose that moment to say, "Tear his head off."
"I will do worse than that." Brom said before lunging forwards faster than they had in any of their sparring matches. At that same time Durza struck blocking Brom's sword as they moved faster and faster until they were blurs to Eragon, it seemed neither of them could gain the upper hand in swordsmanship when all of a sudden Brom kicked Durza the chest knocking him to ground and raised his sword to strike. As the blade flew through the air Durza raised his sword in time to deflect the blade to head on a course for his neck instead. The sword removed his head but as it passed through Durza disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.
"NO." Brom roared in anger. "The fiend knew I was going to kill him so he redirected the blade so it wouldn't pierce the lump of coal in his chest he calls a heart."
Eragon remained silent because throughout the fight crashing on the roof started going off until it was almost deafening. Rubble falling from the roof and glints of blue were showing. Then all of a sudden Saphira's glittering head erupted through the roof like a snake striking a rabbit in its den. In the saddle they saw Murtagh grinning at having been able to ride a dragon.
"What took you so long" Eragon asked laughing at how ridiculous Murtagh looked.
"You try digging through a stone roof while defending this one from soldiers." Saphira told him sarcastically.
"There were a few soldiers but, Saphira and I took care of them pretty easily." Murtagh said still grinning.
"I didn't think I would see a dragon for a long time." Arya said surprised.
"Enough jibber jabber." Brom interrupted rolling his eyes. "Let us be off."
With that they all climbed onto Saphira's back with leaving no room at all, and everyone was cramped on her back. Brom fed her energy as she set off allowing her to fly above any arrows that came close to hitting them. They flew for several miles until they reached what seemed to be a distance that would dissuade pursuers, they landed to make camp and to treat Arya's wounds. They were curious to why the potion didn't heal her wounds.
"The reason why the potion didn't heal my wounds is because I had been poisoned with an extremely powerful substance." Arya explained.
"Is that why you entered the coma?" Eragon asked concerned.
"Yes in the trance it slows the poison, I would have been fine for another few weeks. I only entered that trance because I felt safe when I saw Eragon, I could see the Gedwëy ignasia." Arya explained warily. "I still have wounds that need to be seen to however."
"I can heal your wounds but, I will need to put you in a magically induced sleep to properly examine your wounds." Brom told her with a slight frown on his face. "I also would like a second opinion on how I should tend to your wounds and since Eragon is the only other magic user I am going to require his help."
"Are you sure, I know very little about healing." Eragon said surprised.
"It is best that you learn how to heal people Eragon, you could save many lives." Saphira told him adamantly
"Even with that, It is still best to have a second opinion." Brom told him. "Besides as a dragon rider you will need to be able to heal people and this can help provide you with some experience but, I will only do that with your permission Arya."
Arya answered him saying, "Yes I agree it would be best for Eragon to get some needed experience." During this time she had lain down on bedding
"I'm going to put you to sleep now and we'll begin working." Brom told her calmly before he used a spell to put her to sleep.
"Now let's begin eragon." Brom said a worried expression on his face. As he lifted her shirt to look at her back his face turned from worried to horrified and angry through the span of a few seconds. Brom let loose a barrage of curses at the full extent of the damage done to her. Eragon looked over and saw to his unbelieving eyes the full extent of the damage. Her back was covered with scabs that made her skin look like dry, cracked mud. She had been whipped mercilessly and branded with hot iron rods in the shape of claws. Where her skin was still intact but, it was purple and black from numerous beatings. On her left shoulder was a tattoo inscribed with indigo ink. It was the same symbol that had been on the sapphire of Brom's ring. Murtagh rushed forwards hearing Brom and swore loudly at the damage.
"How could she have even walked after such torture." Murtagh asked horrified.
"She is strong to have withstood such damage." Saphira said impressed.
"Brenden's potion must have done a lot more than heal the potion, it must have held back the pain of the beatings and given her newfound strength to keep going." Brom said shaking with anger at her abuse and relief that the potion had done so much for her.
"Couldn't Brenden have enchanted the potion to do more than that?" Eragon asked angrily.
"Don't doubt how important that potion had done, if he had enchanted it to completely heal her such a project would have taken months if not years for the potion to have been ready. Be glad it did as much as it did." Brom chastised him without anger.
"You two need to heal her, some of those wounds could get infected, not only that but, they will be searching for us." Saphira warned.
"She is right Eragon, we cannot tarry." Brom agreed.
"Let us begin."
They first went over the more serious wounds with Brom quizzing Eragon over the best way to heal them, and throughout the healing Brom refused to use the energy Brenden had given him saying, that it would be best to save it. Once they went to the more minor wounds Brom had Eragon heal the bruises and scrapes, but Brom healed the burns. They preserved Arya's modesty as best as they could, even though under the abuse Eragon could tell she was quite beautiful indeed. They finished much sooner than they would have had Brom healed her alone. They were glad to see murtagh had cooked some venison.
"Murtagh, thank you for the food, that healing took a lot out of us." Brom said.
"Aye" Eragon agreed tiredly. "Should we wake her soon? We'll have to set off tonight if we want to evade capture."
"We should wake her very soon but, you must know she does not eat meat, we have some bread she can eat for tonight, but we'll need to gather up some food for her in the wilderness until she is at full strength." Brom told the two of them.
"Will we wake her when we're finished eating?" Eragon asked wanting to make sure Arya was well.
Brom answered him with a simple, "Aye."
They ate ravenously tearing through the meat on their plates and the little bread that they hadn't saved for Arya. After Murtagh ate they asked him if he wanted anymore and when he declined they filled their plates once again. They left enough venison to satisfy Saphira for a day or two so she would not have to hunt that night. They then packed up camp and put out the small fire Murtagh had cleverly made the fire positioned in a hollow depression hidden in a hill that blocked the light from prying eyes.
When Arya awoke she asked, "Am I fully healed?"
"Yes you are." Brom answered her.
"Good...thank you Brom, Eragon, Murtagh, Saphira...Thank you all for my rescue and my healing." Arya said Grateful for the risk they took in rescuing her.
"Don't thank us yet we have to get to Farthen Dur still." Brom told her." The best course of action would be to brave a small portion of the Hadarac desert."
"Yes that is the fastest but, not the safest way to go." Arya told them. "But it is the fastest and we are in great need for speed."
"I always liked a race." Brom said smiling.
"As do I." Murtagh said grinning.
"Same here, and now we are in one for our lives." Eragon said smiling himself.
Author's note: The next chapter will fast forwards a bit into the future for the sake of events that were majorly changed like entering into Farthen Dur and the battle of farthen dur.
