Chapter 4

James abruptly jerked upright.

"Aaaaggh, mother fucker!"

James swiftly lay back down, having forgot about the low ceiling. As he waited for the stars to clear out of his vision he wondered when he was going to get breakfast. The low ceiling-ed room he was currently occupying was pretty great, as far as jail cells went. It certainly beat the Pens. He got a bed, blankets, meals, all the comforts. Plus, the guards actually stayed outside the door. By his count it had been close to fourteen hours since they had brought him here and he was wondering if the mysterious leader guy was actually going to talk to him today. James didn't think the leader would. Had he been in the man's (or woman's, James had found that women were often better leaders than men) place James would have let himself sit and stew for a few days. As a result he was a little shocked when there was a knock on the door. Who the hell knocks on a prisoner's door? He wondered.

"Yeah?" He called out, not really wanting to leave the first real bed he'd slept in in almost fifteen years.

"Our leader Ajihad will see you now." A gruff voice called out. James sighed and rolled out of bed, making sure to stand up very carefully. He walked over to the door and called out

"Alright, let's get this over with." The door jerked open and he found himself staring out at a rather large contingent of guards. Clearly Jormunder wasn't taking any chances. Not that it really mattered. James sauntered out into the middle of the pack, ignoring the many curious and disapproving stares he and his clothes received.

"Well? Shall we go?" James offered his arm to the nearest guardsman. The man gave him a confused and deeply disturbed expression, causing James to chuckle. He noticed that several guards shivered when they heard it. James' smile grew even wider, knowing that his gravelly voice was the cause. A year or so of isolation, followed by ten months of screaming in pain for hours a day had really done a number on his vocal chords. They set off down the low hall. In fact, he suspected that most of this complex the Varden were using had been constructed by dwarves. Humans tended to prefer higher ceilings.

Eventually the group exited the cave complex and James found himself gazing out across a surprisingly large city constructed inside a what was either a very oddly formed caldera, or a hollowed out mountain. Either way, it was damned impressive to look at. He whistled softly.

"Not bad. Nice place to set up camp." He admitted softly. One of the dwarven guards managed to hear him and proudly boasted,

"Aye. This is Tronjheim, the greatest city ever constructed." James doubted that. This place had nothing on most cities back on Earth, aside from its location. Well... it didn't back when they were still intact. He and his entourage headed down into the city proper, taking main thoroughfares that were lined with people looking like they had just come from a parade. Weird. More than a few of the bystanders gave him odd looks, but he ignored them. As they approached a large central tower with four avenues leading off of it they passed the dragon he had followed here. The large blue beast was rather majestic, what with its vibrant blue scales that shimmered in the light. It was accompanied by a teenager who looked more than a little awestruck by the city around him. All of his guards muttered in awe, and a few of them even bowed. Idiots, James thought, getting distracted like that is just sloppy. He simply stared disinterestedly at the over grown lizard. He had seen enough crazy shit for this to leave him completely unfazed. The boy and the dragon finally noticed him. The teenager gave him a curious look, to which he replied with a predatory smile. The dragon, he noticed, visibly flinched and growled in his direction while a little bit of smoke wafted from its nostrils. Turning away he focused on the large ornate doors to which he was being led. Stepping through them, he saw a tall noble looking black man sitting behind a very expensive looking desk that was covered in sheaves of paper. Poor guy looked like had a headache already. Taking notice of James and his minders, the man stood.

"I am Ajihad. Leader of the Varden."

"And I'm James, no titles to speak of." He responded cheerfully as he leaned back into one of the chairs in front of Ajihad's desk. One of the guards hissed at at this, and James could have sworn he saw one of Ajihad's eyes twitch ever so slightly. He smiled up at the man as pleasantly as he could.

"So...James... why won't you submit to a memory check? I assure you, you will be in no danger." Ajihad got right down to business.

"Because I've had some very bad experiences with telepaths before. Where I'm from our ruler uses them to keep most of the population docile." James explained. Not the whole truth of course, but it was close enough. Hearing this, Ajihad pursed his lips, looking more than a little appalled. As any reasonable being would be.

"The purpose of the memory check is to ensure you aren't an agent of Galbatorix. If you're telling the truth, I can see why you would be reluctant to allow another into your mind, but this really isn't negotiable." Ajihad explained levelly. James chuckled and leaned forward in his chair.

"Let me ask you something. How many spies have you caught?" He asked.

"Enough to require us to take prequations." Ajihad replied warily.

"Right. Now, of all those spies, how many of them tried to sneak in by walking up to a group of officers and asking 'what's up'?" James inquired.

"Not many. Is there a point to this?" Ajihad was starting to sound annoyed now.

"Yeah. Bear with me here. Now, out all the spies you've ever discovered, how many of them beat the ever loving shit out of two spell casters at once and then threatened to kill every living thing in your mountain?" James asked.

"None." Ajihad replied through gritted teeth.

"Bingo. If I was a spy, I would literally be the shittiest spy ever. Of all time. Because now you know that I'm dangerous and are probably going to have me accompanied by at least one guard everywhere I go. And probably a sniper on over-watch just in case. Also, I know for a fact that I'm wearing the strangest clothes you've ever seen. That's because I'm foreign." James triumphantly concluded what he felt to be a flawless piece of logic. Ajihad steepled his fingers and stared at James with a calculating expression. James stared back with an I'm-right-and-we-both-know-it expression. Eventually Ajihad sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I am forced to conclude that you are most likely telling the truth. Your clothes are indeed unlike anything I've ever seen, and you're absolutely right about how you're going to be under guard everywhere you go. But more importantly, why did you injure the twins, and how did you do it so quickly?" James shrugged nonchalantly.

"I kicked the shit out of them because they tried to get into my head without permission. I thought that would be obvious by now. And to answer your second question, I used by hands and feet." Ajihad groaned.

"I meant, what sort of magic did you use to be able to do it so fast? Not even elves are capable of feats like that."

"Oooh you have elves here too? That's so cool. Wait... are they the tall sexy Tolkien elves or the tiny amoral baby stealing elves?" James sat upright, his eyes bright with curiosity. This place was just getting cooler by the second. It had dwarves, dragons, elves, and orcs. He wondered if he'd landed in Middle Earth.

"...What?" Ajihad was completely blindsided by this sudden change of topic. James sighed and mirrored Ajihad's nose pinch maneuver from earlier.

"Eleves. Describe them please. And can I meet one? That would be kick ass."

"Umm, tall and graceful with pointy ears. And no, you definitely will not be allowed to meet the only elf present. She'd probably kill you for insulting her."

"I doubt it." James smirked. Ajihad gave him an incredulous look.

"Don't. Elves are far stronger and faster than humans or dwarves. You wouldn't stand a chance. Now, what magic did you use to disable the twins?" He insisted. James smiled slightly. Now he just had to meet this elf.

"Tell you what. I'll tell you if you tell me why this Galbatorix is so evil. Oh! And you have to let me meet this elf." James stuck out his hand for a handshake. Ajihad stared at him with another calculating expression.

"Fine." He reached over his desk to shake James' hand. "Galbatorix is the king of Alagaesia. He used to be a dragon rider, a group of humans and elves chosen to keep peace and order throughout the land. But his dragon was slain during an urgal raid and the head Riders refused to let him see if another would hatch for him. So he slew a fellow Rider and enslaved his dragon with dark magic he learned from a Shade. He then gathered a group of like minded Riders to him and together they slew the rest of their order, along with all the dragons. Only three dragon eggs survived, and one just hatched. That is the dragon you followed here. Galbatorix had reigned for a hundred years since then." Ajihad looked at James with a serious expression.

"His crimes are many, and we seek to slay him and restore peace and order across the land." James frowned.

"So... let me get this straight. This one guy killed an entire order of his peers, then created an empire, which you seek to overthrow. I have two problems with that. One: if a small group managed to kill an entire order of their peers, the rest of the Riders must have been pretty fucking incompetent. Second: you claim to want to restore peace and order, but are currently in the throes of a rebellion that I'm guessing is causing violence and chaos. So I'll ask again, why is he actually evil? From where I'm standing it looks like he just took over the reigns from a group that were clearly too weak to hold on to them." The entire room gasped with horror at James' analysis. Then the shouting started.

"He wants to kill or enslave my entire race!" A dwarf yelled.

"Tax collectors bleed us dry and conscript or imprison anyone who can't pay!" Another human yelled.

"He allows slavery and human sacrifice an Dras Leona!" The guard right behind him snarled. James stood up and turned around.

"Then you should have led with that." He called out. Turning back to Ajihad he said,

"Don't bitch about a bunch of dead people I couldn't give less of a shit about if you're trying to sell me on you're little rebellion. Do what they did and actually bring up some human rights abuses! See, now he actually sounds evil and not just ambitious." Ajihad just buried his face in his hands and muttered something. James suspected it wasn't very nice, but didn't react. Instead he flopped back into his chair and cleared his throat.

"Well, you've kept up part of your bargain," he began, "so I'll keep up mine. I made it look like I kicked the shit out of the twins instantaneously by convincing their minds to shut down for a little while. Sort of like when your really tired and you just kind of zone out." James lied through his teeth, giving Ajihad a pleasant smile the entire time. Most of the men in the room went a little pale as they listened. It was brilliant, subtle, and incredibly insidious. It wasn't even an attack really, they reasoned, it was more along the lines of a gentle nudge.

"How could you be capable of this?" Ajihad asked incredulously.

"Remember what I said about those telepaths keeping most of the population docile? Yeah, well that was a handy trick I developed to stay not docile." James replied proudly.

"I... don't suppose you'd be willing to join our cause?" Ajihad asked hopefully. James considered it. On one hand, he really didn't care about these people's problems and didn't want to get stuck in a situation he couldn't get out of. On the other hand he needed the resources they could provide.

"I have a few conditions. One: stay the hell out of my head. That should be obvious by now. Two: I'll work with you, not for you."

"There's a difference?" Ajihad interrupted.

"Yeah, that means instead of just giving me orders you politely ask me to do something, and I'll probably acquiesce. Three: I'm going to need some gear. And four, I want to be paid." James finished. Ajihad glared at him.

"What makes you think you can dictate terms to me?" He asked, somehow managing to keep his temper under control. James smiled and stopped time.