Chapter Four: The Collapse
Roran walked quietly through the city of Dras-Leona along with Albriech and Baldor. Roran had gone searching for Eragon and Murtagh. Baldor and Albriech had insisted on going with him. Three days of begging was enough to accomplish this.
After his father and he had had the argument, he ran away. Albriech and Baldor had found him hiding and the woods and decided to accompany him. Eragon and Murtagh were as much their buds as they were Roran's.
"I want you and Baldor to look for supplies," Roran whispered to Albriech. He frowned but did as he was told. Left alone in the growing crowd he decided to go to the tavern. That is where one would go to hear the latest gossip.
Roran opened the door of the tavern and stepped into the loud and musty smelling building. He wrinkled his nose in disgust as he walked to the bar. He hated taverns. The loud noises of people talking melded together into a low monotone. The quiet murmurs put him into a daze. The soft light did not help anything either.
The tavern was almost empty when he awoke. He lifted his head slowly and looked at the sparsely filled room. When his head cleared he realized that he had fallen asleep. He jumped up to leave but stopped when he heard whispering of a couple in the back.
"…yeah...that's what I heard…two boys… Uru'baen…Morzan would never have stopped looking for his sons…" Roran stood in shock. That was what he had come for. Roran ran out of the building and out of the city to meet Albriech and Baldor as he had planned. When he got there he meet two very angry brothers.
"Where have you been Roran?" Baldor nearly shouted at him, "we have been waiting for five hours, five hours, Roran!" Roran flinched when he heard this. He had not meant for it to go this far.
"I am sorry, Albriech, Baldor," he said solemnly, "I fell asleep and did not notice the time." This brought only glaring from the other two. It had made things much worse. An idea popped into his mind. This would change things a lot.
"I learned some things when I was in the tavern," he said slowly to the brothers, "I learned that they are in Uru'baen and that they are the son's of Morzan." Albriech and Baldor gasped and turned to each other in shock. Could this be true?
"Now Murtagh," the King commanded him crossly, "you must accept this reality sometime." Murtagh just stood before the King with his arms crossed defiantly. Eragon stood fearfully in the corner as far as he could from the King and Morzan. The King rolled his eyes and ordered that Murtagh be put into a prison cell. He turned to Eragon and smiled.
"Eragon, come forward," he ordered him. Eragon walked forward obediently, unlike his brother. He bowed before the King then straightened. Galbatorix walked forward and looked him over slowly.
"What is that you have?" he asked when he saw the protuberance in his shirt. Eragon looked down in horror at were the King was looking. Morzan also stiffened and walked forward. Galbatorix stuck out his hand and grabbed the object. He pulled it towards himself and gasped. Morzan's eyes widened in surprise when he saw the object his King was holding.
"A dragon egg!" he exclaimed in surprise. Galbatorix smiled and once more turned to Eragon.
"Where did you get this, Eragon?"
"I stole it from Brom," Eragon answered him sheepishly. Galbatorix laughed but stopped suddenly when it began to shake violently. He looked in astonishment at the egg and then smiled at Eragon.
"It seems, Morzan, we will have another member in the rider family." Morzan closed his gaping mouth and then nodded gravely. The violent shaking of the egg stopped and then small, paper- thin cracks began to appear on the surface of the egg. Galbatorix set the egg on the ground gently and stepped back. A small piece of the egg fell off and out stumbled a small sapphire dragon. Eragon gasped and looked at it intently. He slowly reached out his hand to touch the hatchling. Galbatorix and Morzan smiled when they saw this occurring. A flash of pain knocked Eragon unconscious. The last thing he heard was the scraping of metal as swords were drawn.
"Come on, Eragon!" Keitha shouted to the man who ran behind her. A large gray wall was coagulating before their eyes. It stretched endlessly and its bulk crushed the trees and hills beneath it. Keitha and Eragon ran forward and placed firm hands against it. The rock around their hands began to glow a bright yellow. This glow began to spread rapidly along its length. When the whole wall was glowing with this soft light it began to disband once more. The pair sat down in exhaustion where the wall once more.
"I would blame that on you," Eragon whispered, "but it was probably my fault."
"You think?" she said glaring at him sadistically. The pair was trying to pass through the wall when it began to collapse. They had miscalculated the strength and density of the wall. It had been weakened by the spell cast by Eragon.
"I can't believe," Keitha said in exasperation, "that you convinced me to go home, through the Ecaps Llaw!"
"Do you know what would make things better?" Eragon asked in irritation.
"What?"
"For you to stop talking." Keitha glared at him and turned away.
"We wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't decided to use your new powers to make sure Saphira never died." Eragon froze and stared at her in horror. This curt remark had hurt him more than a clout would. Keitha stopped in surprise. Did she really say that? She stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder reassuringly.
"I am really sorry, Eragon," she reassured sorrowfully, "I didn't mean it." Eragon stared up at her in gratitude.
"Thank you, cousin," he whispered into her ear.
"What do you think you are doing, Eragon?" Keitha whispered irately. Eragon looked up from his rummaging and gave her an incensed glare. "I will ask once more, what are you doing?"
"Looking for supplies."
"In the garbage? We are looking for a way in, not rotting food." Eragon rolled his eyes and continued to search. To Keitha's exasperation, he continued to search for five more minutes before straightening with an object in his hand. "What is that?" Eragon gave the object one hard shake before banging it upon the ground. It began to glow brightly revealing a large hole in the wall.
"I take that back," Keitha said in amazement before following him into the cave. The cave led under the city of Uru'baen to the castle. They were on a rescue mission. Eragon had believed that it was their entire fault this was happening, so they went after them. Keitha was surprised at how much Eragon was like Galbatorix. They both did things irrationally and, even though Eragon did not kill mercilessly, they both killed without a thought. They were both very powerful, but Eragon was much more. Many other traits were also the same, ones that she could not bring to mind at that moment.
They reached the end of the tunnel in the matter of minutes. Their speed was incredible. They traveled much faster than the elves. If one were to witness this, they would appear as mere blurs to the naked eye.
"Come on, Keitha, I can feel the magic density pressure, they are near by." Keitha nodded and took the lead. They walked silently forward following the magical scent.
"As long as they don't know about the magic densities," Keitha whispered, "we are at an advantage." Eragon nodded and responded to her statement.
"It is strong here, we can kill them off easily."
"No Eragon, if we do that we will weaken the Ecaps Llaw even more. The Space Time Continuum is unraveling, our job is to stop it, not make it worse." Eragon grumbled under his breath in irritation. It would be much easier to kill them off now, then later.
In the distance they could hear men talking. And to their surprise, the telltale sound of a cracking dragon egg. Their acute senses allowed them to pick their way through the castle without being caught. Eragon focused his magic into a tendril of light. He focused this magic towards the sounds. He saw in his minds eye Galbatorix and Morzan leaning over the body of a young boy lying on the floor. The two rush forward and barged through the two large doors. Galbatorix and Morzan looked up in surprise at the two. They drew their swords and meet them in hand-to-hand combat.