Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling et ál. The Inheritance Cycle is the property of Christopher Paolini et ál. No copyright infringement is intended with this work. No profit is being made from its publishing either. This is merely written for entertainment.
Eragon was hit with a wave of revulsion so great from Saphira, it was all he could do not to drop her charge and retch.
The Nighthawks surged forward and stopped beside Eragon, undecided about charging the enemy outside or keeping watch over the unconscious Varden leader.
In the end it was the ominous flapping of great leather wings that had them all running outside, barely escaping the towering inferno Thorn left in his wake.
When everybody managed to get back on their feet outside and looked around, Eragon realized several things: The supply train and Nasuada's tent were destroyed (the Commander's tent as well, judging from the direction of the first explosion); Saphira was already running to him and Thorn was turning around to make another pass.
"Change of plans." he said, shoving Nasuada at the still shell shocked Sandor. "Take her, Jörmundur and everybody still sane. Run for the Urgal camp. Don't stop for anything!"
Saphira reached them in time to cover the retreating Nighthawks with her own fire. The glare of the clashing flames showed Murtagh astride his dragon in stark relief against the dark red surroundings. He was casting a spell at the fleeing soldiers.
Eragon turned around halfway up Saphira's saddle and saw Sandor stumble and fall to his knees. The man obviously had some manner of magical protection Murtagh had not expected because Eragon still felt his life. It wouldn't matter much if Thorn torched him after he passed beyond Saphira's range.
Simply throwing a protection against fire would not save Sandor and Nasuada. Murtagh would notice the fire going around the shield and would cast again, likely faster than Eragon could counter. He had to become a greater threat and protect Sandor at the same time.
"Eragon! No!" Saphira cried when she realized what he was about to do.
A snarled incantation snapped Thorn's wings down and yanked the dragon to the ground. The move was jarring enough that Thorn's flame landed behind Sandor; the man was probably burnt anyway but with Murtagh's concentration also shot, he managed to stand back up and run after the others.
Murtagh, however, rallied quickly managed to break his brother's binding before crashing. He cast something, pointing his sword at the retreating figures down the path and flew up, turning around in the air to face the still grounded Eragon.
Eragon was dumbfounded. Murtagh hadn't attacked.
Casting a spell at a third party when another magic user was around was inviting disaster; Murtagh could have –should have- gotten in his head and at the very least made life very miserable for him… and yet he didn't. Nothing beyond a murderous glare over his shoulder.
Thorn's tail was also back. It was a ghastly thing; naked muscle over pale bone growing out the stump left behind after Glaedr bit the original off at the base, but it was functional.
Eragon woke from his stupor when Saphira dove aside to dodge Thorn's grasping talons. He was almost thrown off when Saphira reared to avoid the smaller dragon's lashing tail on his way back up.
The red dragon flapped furiously for a second and after making a very tight turn, faced Saphira again before Eragon was properly saddled.
The little bastard moves too fast. Saphira said. I'll try to get us some space. Watch Murtagh!
Thorn flamed them coming down. Saphira let the powerful torrent splash against their wards and pushed through it, rearing to grapple with the smaller dragon. Eragon swung at Murtagh over the dragons' thrashing necks and the clash of the two star metal blades was almost musical.
"Stop this madness brother!" Eragon cried.
His brother did not respond. His face was locked in a rictus of concentration and Eragon realized that even now, when Murtagh was facing only him, there hadn't been any sort of mental attack.
Eragon blocked his brother's riposte and dove into his mind in earnest, surprised to find little resistance. Murtagh's mind was a cacophony of voices, a jumble of ideas and great presences swirling madly without clear direction. Eragon couldn't find any trace of the mind he'd tangled with before in order to disable him. A brief spark, a moment of familiarity amidst the madness was all the warning he got before the presences floating in Murtagh's head galvanized into action and cast Eragon from his brother's mind.
Eragon's attack had been deflected in less than a second, letting him unhook his left foot from the saddle and hang on the right side of Saphira's neck to avoid Thorn's jaws. Saphira took the opportunity to land a savage bite on the other dragon's neck, causing his shields to flare a blinding red around her fangs.
Thorn pulled back before the larger dragon could drain his protections to the breaking point, pushing himself away with his hind talons and back winging to get some space. He recovered in a matter of moments, rolling and positioning his wings to regain altitude before he crashed on the ground.
Eragon righted himself as Saphira strained to follow Thorn's agile climb and stay on top of him. Eragon's vantage point let him see Murtagh shake himself out of a daze before refocusing on him.
"Vindr!" Murtagh cried, pointing at Eragon.
A massive pressure crashed down on Eragon's shields, draining them at an alarming rate.
"Blödhgarm!" Eragon cried out mentally to the leader of his guard even as he thought of a counter spell.
"Kasvaa vindr!" cried Eragon, countering his brother's air compression spell by commanding the air around him to expand. The drain on his wards stopped but he could feel Murtagh pouring a staggering amount of power into his spell; so much power that he feared he'd need to tap into the power stored in his belt even with the elves' help. He'd rather keep that to fuel his wards, as they were taking serious hits with the kind of magic his brother was throwing around.
Eragon felt the force pressing down on him stutter for a moment and he took the chance to direct a surge of magic into his own spell to overpower Murtagh's. The moment the constriction broke, Eragon saw the backlash daze his brother.
"Go!" Eragon said, directing Saphira to attack Thorn while he cast a binding on the other dragon's wings.
Saphira's dive was fast enough to clip Thorn's wards, causing a flare that was lost in the red after images his wings left with every flap; a sign of the binding spell that also bore down on his protections. Saphira used her fire to keep Thorn under her as she regained altitude, guessing that the smaller dragon would be unwilling to put more strain on his defenses.
Eragon ended his magical attack the moment he felt Murtagh's power resist his own, but he still saw his brother become disoriented by his casting.
"He's become more powerful still" Blödgharm said in Eragon's mind, sounding worried.
"It's not the same as before," Eragon replied, "His mind's a mess and it's difficult for him to focus. He's confused after every spell he casts. If I hadn't seen him inside own his head, I'd think him a Shade".
"He must be holding the curse." Arya interrupted suddenly.
"I won't kill my brother if I don't have to!" Eragon snarled back. "Has the altar been found?"
"Invidia found it." Arya said.
"See about destroying it, then. Eragon and I can keep Murtagh and his lizard busy." Saphira said, her disdain for Thorn evident in her thoughts.
"She's already tried. The red barrier is impervious to physical attacks and if it is attacked with magic, it will redistribute its power to strengthen the affected areas." Arya explained, "While Invidia could detect the resulting weakness, it is insignificant given the total area of the barrier.
She couldn't affect anything outside the barrier either."
"We'd have to attack it in several places at the same time," Blödhgarm mused, "and we don't have the numbers or the means."
"I'll need directions to the altar. I need to go in the opposite direction." Eragon said. "I'll herd Murtagh away from camp as I go to minimize casualties."
"It's not a concern any more, Eragon" Blödhgarm said. "The possessed headed towards the urgal camp some time ago. We need to stop this as fast as possible."
Eragon knew Blödhgarm was right. If he took too long to dispel the curse, the possessed Varden would throw themselves on urgal blades until they were all dead or they broke through. That would break the Varden as sure as Nasuada's death. His brother had ordered his horde after her when he saw Sandor flee. Now he needed only wait.
It didn't matter that Murtagh seemed unable to attack with his mind at the moment, he had power to burn and Eragon knew that if they kept throwing magic at each other, he'd eventually lose.
That didn't take into account some of the attacks he'd seen on the mages earlier. Some part of the curse could drain a sorcerer in moments and even if Zagrok's defenses were strong, they wouldn't last forever under that sort of attack.
"Follow me as close as you can. Stay in range." Eragon ordered the two elves linked to his mind. "Tell Invidia to be ready; I'll think of something."
Roran's twitching had subsided on its own without causing any visible harm to the human. Keeping him down had been a more difficult task than Harry might have expected between not squishing him by mistake and keeping very sharp talons away from the little body between them.
Roran's condition afforded Harry the benefit of watching the confrontation between Roran's cousin and Murtagh without being noticed, and he had the uncomfortable realization that he was, once again, quite out of his league. The situation was reminiscent of Dumbledore's fight with Voldemort in his fifth year; two titans of magic duking it out where he could only feel the aftershocks of the terrible magic they unleashed. Only now they were riding dragons and it looked like their mounts also knew their way around a fight.
Harry needed to take stock of their situation before Roran was back on his feet. He could feel the waves of magic coming from the fighting Riders even from afar, and he knew that he wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of those spells.
Thorn would also be a formidable opponent, as he was smaller and faster than Harry. He would probably fly circles around Harry like Harry himself used to do around Crabbe and Goyle. Harry had the advantage in strength but he didn't think grappling with Thorn like he'd seen the blue dragon do would end up very well for him; he didn't have the female's skill in melee combat.
Harry's musings were interrupted by a pained groan from Roran. The human was confused but otherwise calm. He tried to stand up but stopped when he felt Harry's talon pinning him down.
"What happened? Where… am I?" Roran asked no one in particular.
He could focus on his surroundings after a few more seconds lying down and he threw a glare at the massive dragon.
"Finally decided to eat me?"
"Hardly." Harry rumbled back, the sound seeming to surround Roran with Shruikan's neck curled around him as it was. "Are you yourself? Are you injured?"
Roran wriggled all his fingers and toes.
"I'm alright, I think." He said.
Harry lifted his paw off Roran and the man stumbled to his feet, holding onto the dragon for support for a moment before he regained his balance. Harry couldn't believe he was about to willingly bear this man, pale and tired as he was (and a muggle no less!) into battle.
"Something tried to get into my head." Roran said. "Thanks for keeping me in one piece."
Harry stood up and folded his wings.
"Not a problem." He replied. "I assume you still intend to help your cousin."
"Of course." Roran said, his resolve unchanged.
Harry himself could not deny the urge to charge after Thorn. The myriad aches that had pushed him south disappeared under the tide of rage he'd felt when he saw the smaller dragon. He felt better now than he had since first awakening in this world and resisting the lust for battle in favor of his companion was a real effort.
Harry crouched low so Roran could climb back onto his saddle.
"I had to cut you loose when you lost consciousness." Harry explained, "You'll need to keep yourself on my back because I probably won't have the chance of catching you if you fall."
"I'll manage." Roran replied.
"We can't cross the barrier from this side. Once we engage Murtagh, we won't be able to retreat until the It comes down."
Suddenly, a pillar of golden light split the red murk over the Urgal lines. It expanded with an unearthly screech, taking the shape of a massive eagle that covered the whole Urgal camp under its brilliant wingspan. After a few moments, the image of the eagle faded and left behind a smaller golden dome whose edges wobbled under the pressure of the curse around it.
"There is the magic Yarbog spoke of." Roran said, awestruck by the great feat of magic. "Things must be going really bad if they had to do something this big."
"I'll hit him from above. Try to freeze one of his wings too." Harry shrugged, "We'll only get the one chance. After that, we'll have to stay out of their way until your cousin brings them down."
"Rather simple plan, don't you think?"
"Less things that can go wrong with a plan like that." Harry chuckled. "We need to go, time's wasting."
Neither of them brought up the issue of magic. Harry couldn't use it as a dragon (and wouldn't be able to use it even as a human for lack of a wand). Roran knew whatever protections Eragon had put on him would not stand up to someone of Murtagh's caliber for long. They'd both have to make do with what they had and hope for the best.
Harry flew straight up until he reached the top of the barrier and followed the curve of the dome in the direction he'd seen Roran's cousin fly. The red gloom reduced his visibility but he thought the sound of their battle would carry a long ways.
Before long Harry and Roran started hearing the roars of fighting dragons below them. At Roran's nod, Harry folded his wings and plummeted towards the fight.
For once in his life luck was with Harry and he came up to Thorn and Saphira from behind the smaller dragon as they circled each other. Saphira however, froze when she saw the black dragon appear behind Thorn and her opponent took the opportunity to charge. Both dragons went down in a snarling tangle of scales and flaring wards.
Harry edged his dive downwards to follow the falling Riders, snarling cursing himself for a fool all the way.
"Get him away from her!" He heard Roran yell into the wind.
Easier said than done, Harry groused to himself. His earlier plan to tackle Thorn and snap the little bastard's wings off was no longer an option, much to his regret. Harry couldn't just freeze the lot of them either, as Roran would probably not appreciate his cousin preserved for posterity in such a manner.
Harry flapped furiously until he was abreast of the dragons, but he couldn't make a grab for Thorn with Saphira in between them. Fortunately for him, Thorn started in surprise upon seeing another dragon, letting Saphira grab onto his shields and swing him around against Harry.
Thorn's shields absorbed the collision with only a red flare to show for it, but Harry felt his chest bruise from the hit as he fell with the smaller dragon. Harry held Thorn's back close to his chest, taking advantage of his greater size to savagely drive his talons into the shields that protecting the red dragon; the wards were strong enough to stop the attack but faded away after that. The sharp bone on Thorn's thrashing tail drew a long bleeding wound on Harry's underside, but the animagus thought it a good trade.
Harry saw a couple arrows hit Thorn around the joint of his right wing. He tried, despite his awkward position, to land a bite on the other dragon's neck, but Thorn leaned forward to force Harry to overextend. This gave Murtagh room to lean under Harry's head and swing at his neck with Zar'roc. Harry aborted his strike as soon as he saw the Rider lean back in his saddle and this saved him from having his throat slit.
"Thrysta!" Harry heard Murtagh yell before a powerful banishing propelled him away from Thorn, his grip on the smaller dragon being loose from his deflected attack. Harry spat his freezing breath at Thorn as he flew away, but the other dragon was already expecting such a move and twisting away. Harry only struck Thorn's hind legs.
Saphira tackled Thorn from above leading with her talons, tearing long gashes in the membrane of his left wing and throwing him back to the ground and breaking pieces frozen flesh off Thorn with the collision. Harry overloaded the crystals left inside Thorn's thighs, tearing a pained roar from the falling dragon. Then, instead of following their plummeting foes, Saphira turned and headed for Roran and Harry.
"Keep him busy!" Eragon shouted at them. "I'll deal with the barrier!" Without another word, Eragon and Saphira also headed to the ground.
"What the hell?" Harry mumbled at Roran in the sudden lull. "We had him on the run! He ought to have followed him!"
"It's no use Shruikan!" Roran replied. "Eragon doesn't want to kill Murtagh and until he does, he's more of a liability if he hesitates at the wrong time."
"Well, what are we supposed to do? Yell at them?!" Harry asked back, "I'm not wearing any shields, you know."
"Don't let him get too close then." Roran shrugged, "Look alive Shruikan, here they come!" He said, pointing at the incoming Rider behind Harry.
Harry turned his head around and saw Thorn flying low, heading for Saphira. The wounds on his wing were healed and he appeared unbothered by the gaping, frostbitten holes in his hind legs. His movement didn't waver and Harry couldn't see any blood trailing from the wounds.
"Holy shit…" Harry swore. "That's some powerful healing magic."
"Go!" Roran cried, urging Harry on with his feet.
Harry dove at Thorn, aiming to intercept them before they reached Eragon. Murtagh, unwilling to wait until he closed the distance, waved his sword at his brother and shot a giant fireball at him. Thorn, noticing Roran and Harry's dive, turned his head up and spat a torrent of fire at them.
The first attack connected with a deafening explosion and Roran could only hope his cousin's shields had held.
Harry dodged up, barely evading the stream of fire headed his way, only to slam headfirst into a wall of compressed air cast by Murtagh as Thorn passed under them. Harry scrambled to maintain his altitude and shake off the dizzying crash, spitting a freezing cone at the retreating figure in the hopes of distracting him from his target.
On the very edge of his breath's range, a few crystals formed around an invisible new shield protecting Thorn and his Rider. Seeing this, Harry overloaded these, as well as the ones in the arrows embedded in Thorn's wings, causing them all to explode. The ones on his shields did so with enough force to throw him off course while the ones around his wing blew out the joint, forcing him to the ground again.
Harry sped after them, aiming to get between Thorn and Saphira before Murtagh could get his dragon back into the fight.
This guy is packing a lot of power… Harry thought. He healed the wounds on his dragon and threw up a shield against my breath weapon in very little time.
Harry knew enough about the local kind of magic from Shruikan's memories to be scared of such prowess.
Eragon had to cast a powerful healing spell on Saphira coming out of that last explosion.
Murtagh's fireball had bust through what was left of their fire wards and hit her along the back; it was a testament to her training and resilience that she only wobbled for a moment before recovering.
"He's casting faster." Saphira commented; her voice sounding relieved after the blue glow of Eragon's magic had healed the burns on her back.
"He must be getting used to the amount of power he brought," Eragon thought back grimly. "And he's still on your tail; we won't be able to land."
Suddenly Eragon saw a white mist reach Murtagh and Thorn from behind. The explosion that followed sent their pursuers reeling to the ground, giving them some respite.
"What happened?!" Saphira asked, unwilling to lose speed to look behind her. "Up or down Eragon?"
"That other Rider did something, Thorn's grounded for now!" Eragon replied, allowing himself the elation he'd fought down when he first saw the black beast barreling down on Murtagh and himself. "Land! I have an idea. With any luck, we'll have this curse broken before Zagrok's shamans run out of energy."
"Murtagh will be on us before too long." Saphira warned.
"He's outnumbered!" Eragon replied, sounding happier than he'd been since Glaedr and Oromis died. "The black Rider will keep him off of us."
"I doubt he's outclassed though." Saphira grumbled. "Where do you think this dragon came from? Why didn't he approach us sooner?"
"You know I don't have any answers." Eragon replied. "Besides, now isn't really the time for questions."
Eragon directed Saphira to land close to the edge of the barrier and dismounted. He shook the acorns out of their pouch into his hand and sat on the ground.
Saphira eyed Eragon and the disturbed soil curiously.
"Just what is it you're trying to do?" She asked.
"I've seen spirits do wondrous things. They can use their power to warp nature and life with an ease that would be very difficult to match." Eragon explained, thinking of a rose made of living gold.
"I don't know how to attack a magic construct of this sort. I don't have the time to figure out how to dismantle it and I don't know how to drain its power, but I've been given a crash course in spirit magic by the best shaman we have.
"I'm hoping to ask the spirit Zagrok has already summoned to help me change this acorn, so that the tree that grows from it feeds on magic. I'll then sing it to life with elven magic and make it big enough to weaken the barrier and allow Invidia to cast a spell across it."
"That seems a rather… foolish hope." Arya said in their shared mind link.
"Desperate, I'd say." Eragon replied wryly. "Summoning them is the hard part though, and we have a great spirit already here."
"I've also seen spirits Eragon." Arya admonished, "Talking to them isn't exactly easy either"
"It took an entire Urgal tribe and that huge totem they were lugging with them to summon that thing that protects their camp. It takes the entire dwarven nation to summon the spirit that crowns their kings." Eragon snapped back. "Both spirits seem of a similar nature to me and Guntera talked to Orik just fine."
"…and how do you propose to talk to the Urgal eagle?" Arya asked, her disdain for anything related to the dwarven religion ringing across their bond.
"I'll throw my mind at it and see what happens." Eragon replied.
"You can't be serious!"
"Focus!" Saphira snarled at everyone, annoyed at the pointless discussion.
Eragon opened his eyes to see Murtagh in the distance, flying at them. The black dragon and its Rider landed a ways from Eragon and Saphira, shielding them. Eragon was relieved to see his earlier hunch proven right.
"Indeed, Murtagh is coming again." Eragon explained for the benefit of those who could not see.
"What about your safety then?" Blödhgarm asked, "How long will this plan of yours take?"
"As I said before, the black Rider will distract my brother." Eragon said. "You and your people will help him do it."
"What?!" the elf roared back.
"You heard me." Eragon ordered, "We all know a lone Rider can't stand against him. Arya can stay on me to buy time in case you need to change targets back to me."
The elves decided to forego any further discussion in the face of renewed battle, but Eragon could feel both their minds seething.
"I know it'd be better if you helped against Thorn but…" Eragon hedged, looking at Saphira for a moment.
"I'd rather you didn't stay completely defenseless" Saphira replied privately, her voice reassuring Eragon. "We don't know what will happen and I want to stay close in case you need me."
Eragon's shoulders sagged with relief. He could send the elves away but he could never feel comfortable going into battle now without Saphira with him. He closed his eyes again and probed the distant Urgal camp with his mind, looking for the spirit inside the totem pole.
Harry had a problem and he knew it.
He and Roran were waiting for Murtagh to return to the fight and they had nothing to throw at him.
"He's coming back covered in wards, you know." Roran said, echoing Harry's thoughts.
Harry rumbled his agreement. "It was a good thing you thought to shoot his wing when you had the chance."
"I was aiming for Murtagh." Roran grumbled.
"Oh…" Harry hedged. "Well… you hit something good at least."
"We'll have to keep him off Eragon as long as possible." Roran added.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"He said he'd deal with the barrier, not that he'd do it quickly."
"I meant, why didn't he go after Murtagh? We could have killed him!"
"I told you, Eragon won't kill his brother." Roran said.
"That's his problem," Harry snarled. "It doesn't change that both Murtagh and his dragon really need killing."
Harry really felt that, too. The binding Shruikan's dying wish placed on him only forced Harry to kill Galbatorix and act to that end, but the dead dragon had more than enough hate to spare for Thorn and his Rider. The sheer contempt Shruikan had for those that would choose a life of bound servitude when they could take an honorable death that would also deal a crippling blow to their captors earned Murtagh and Thorn a very high place in Shruikan's to kill list.
Harry could understand Murtagh's probable feelings on the matter. Despite his need to help others, Harry was by no means suicidal; letting Voldemort kill him without putting up a fight had been the hardest thing he'd ever done.
Harry also empathized with Murtagh's circumstances, having spent all his life bound to a fate he couldn't fight and pushed along by forces greater than himself. He even understood Eragon's need to help his family; Harry himself had always yearned for one, but even without the pain to help it along, Shruikan's hate for Thorn and Murtagh could be so overwhelming that Harry didn't know if he'd be able to help himself, had he the chance to kill either of them.
Perhaps it was for the best Eragon didn't pursue Thorn earlier, but now they'd wasted the element of surprise. Never again would they meet Murtagh unprepared for Harry's particular brand of attacks and they didn't have anything solid to fall back on.
"Oh I agree with you. I may understand my cousin's feelings, but I think it's too dangerous to leave that brother of his flying around." Roran said, "Not much I can do about it now though. I had my chance and blew it."
"We still need to do something for your cousin's protection."
"There isn't much we can do." Roran said. "It's frustrating to sit on all your power and be unable to use it like Eragon does. How do dragons endure it?!"
Harry's response stuck in his throat. It wasn't that he couldn't use his magic; it was more that he was afraid of what it'd do. Transforming into a dragon had almost killed him; learning to live with so much magic churning in his gut, ready to do whatever he wanted was even worse. A stray thought let him speak as a dragon! A little focused desire and it was a done deal.
His magic was there ready as ever to help him, he just didn't have anything to cast with. Right now it was only good for changing himself (probably), and turning human now would only kill him faster.
Roran's right. This is fucking unfair! Harry growled at himself. He could see Thorn closing in, he'd reach them quickly. Holly and phoenix feather… it never let me down. Right now I'd even welcome Ron's old busted wand, not that I could use it, being a dragon and all.
Thoughts of that old thing and how much trouble it gave Ron with his casting, made him realize something. It didn't work well (the wand was broken after all) but all Ron had needed to do to cast anything was to try. Lockhart had gotten a spell off of that thing too, come to think of it.
Unicorn hair, phoenix feather and dragon heartstrings, Harry thought, recalling the cores Ollivander had told him he used for his wands so long ago. It won't hurt anything to try at this point.
Thorn was barreling down on them, headed straight for Eragon regardless of Roran and Harry standing in the way. Roran shot an arrow at him when they were in range and missed. Harry concentrated on his magic, thinking back to the first task of the Triwizard tournament, when he'd first tried what he was about to do.
If this works, I'll be pissing off a dragon again. Harry thought wryly.
Thorn approached them and neither the dragon nor its Rider spared Roran and Harry a glance, trusting in their wards too much or just dismissing them as a threat; either worked for Harry just fine.
"Accio Thorn!" Harry cried when his target was above him, pointing a claw at them.
For a moment, it felt as if Harry's entire limb was pressed into a huge vice. Then his magic surged inside him and exploded out his outstretched claw, leaving behind a bone deep ache. Harry didn't have time to appreciate the pain before his summoning charm crashed against Thorn and he felt his arm almost pulled out of its socket.
Thorn was only slowed at first, two flaps of his wings carrying him only halfway to Eragon and Saphira. Murtagh tried a spell to break a binding without success, as Harry grit his teeth and pumped more magic into the charm, tugging on it fiercely. The resistance on the other end disappeared suddenly and Thorn was coming towards Harry.
Thorn leaned hard to the left and tucked his wings close to himself, to keep from breaking his tail or his wings upon crashing. Murtagh turned in his saddle and Harry heard him cry "Grajzla!" hurling a fireball straight at his face.
They were too close for Harry to dodge and the fireball crashed into him. Carn's ward protected him from the initial blast, but the fire washed over him blinding and burning. Harry snarled a flame freezing charm and the resulting squeeze all over his body was only marginally better than the burn, but at least Roran would be safe. Harry scrambled backwards blindly, hearing Thorn crash where he'd been standing while he tried to blink the spots away from his eyes.
"Shruikan watch out!" Roran cried above him.
Harry recoiled at Roran's warning and Thorn's claws caught him across his muzzle instead of tearing his eyes out. Harry tried to back further away but Murtagh cast a binding that stopped him in his tracks. Thorn stalked forward and lunged at Harry's paralyzed neck, ready to tear his throat out, when he was paralyzed too.
"Those damn elves again!" Murtagh growled.
Murtagh snarled a spell and the binding on Thorn broke. Somewhere behind him, Harry heard someone cry out in pain. Thorn regained movement at the same time, but couldn't keep his balance and stumbled, his bite falling short of its target. When Murtagh dispelled the bind on Thorn, his focus on the one he cast on Harry waned and the animagus cast a powerful blasting curse at the red dragon.
Harry's magic built in his talon in a powerful pulse that broke every bone in the finger pointing at his target. The sudden flash of pain threw Harry's aim off and the overpowered curse blasted the ground between both dragons, throwing them backwards in a shower of earth and stone. Once again, Murtagh's powerful shields absorbed both the fall and the hits from the debris raining around them.
Thorn looked at the black dragon gingerly getting back on its feet across the crater and turned to go after Eragon.
Not three steps closer to the Rider, Saphira stood before him, ready to defend her partner.
Harry was elated that his crazy idea had worked, that he had his magic back, but casting spells was hurting him and the more magic he put into a spell the worse the resulting wound was. His entire right arm still throbbed in time with his heart beat from casting the summoning charm and the burning pain of broken bones in his right talon was as blinding as it was familiar.
"Roran, are you alright?" He groaned as he got back on all fours, being very careful with his right forepaw.
"Hanging on… I don't know how I've not fallen yet." Roran groaned, hanging tight to the bone spike in front of him. In the tumble, his hands had slipped and he'd cut himself on the spike's sharp upper edge again.
Harry realized that his small arsenal of spells left him with very few attacks that could punch through Murtagh's formidable defenses and not kill him with the resulting wounds.
The unforgivable curses will ignore his shields Harry thought to himself, shaking his wings out to confirm nothing was broken. But if a simple blasting curse broke several bones, an unforgivable might very well put me down for good. And I might miss.
What Harry needed was something that packed a lot of power without causing a massive spike in the magic he focused within himself; something that built up slowly.
"Roran, I need you to go around them and reach Eragon to see what he's doing." Harry said, an idea forming in his head.
"What for?" Roran asked, gingerly dismounting.
"I'm going to try something very stupid and dangerous." Harry replied. "I'll need you to tell him and his dragon that as soon as they see lightning in the sky, they should drop what they're doing and come over to my side immediately."
"Why? What will you do?"
"I'm going to cast a spell, one I've never used before." Harry explained, "Big magic like that often goes wrong."
"What's the deal with that?" Roran asked, bewildered. "I thought dragons couldn't use magic!"
"Now isn't the time!" Harry growled. "Go now! Before Thorn gets away from Saphira!"
Across the crater from Roran and Harry, Thorn and Saphira were having a fierce fight. Talons and fangs flashed, shields flared on both sides and neither gained the upper hand. Murtagh's spells only barely affected Saphira; something was countering them very fast despite the power the Rider put behind them.
"Help me across this hole you made then." Roran said, grabbing for Harry's spines again so he could be flown across the small crater. "It'll take too long to-"
Harry grabbed Roran in his healthy paw and tossed him towards Eragon. Fortunately, Roran's panicked scream was ignored by the fighting dragons and the lone Rider.
Roran cleared the hole and landed on the other side, rolling to reduce the impact on his already bruised body. He clambered to his feet and flipped the dragon off, not entirely certain he would understand without hanging bits for comparison.
It's the thought that counts! Roran grumbled to himself, running to Eragon and hoping Murtagh's fight was dangerous enough he decided to ignore the lone man running to his target.
Roran knew he'd been spotted when he felt the crushing force of Murtagh's magic crash against the formidable defenses Eragon had cast on him. The spell forced his protections to draw upon his own strength before breaking, leaving him panting and trembling, yet alive.
A pair of lithe cloaked elves rose from the tall grass around Roran and invoked a protective ward around them all just in time for Murtagh's next spell to break against it in an impressive flare of green magic.
Roran recognized Blödhgarm, Eragon's furred elf guard, panting on his right. He didn't know the elf on his left; the man was on his knees and almost unconscious after the combined barrier had faded away.
"Roran?!" cried Blödhgarm in surprise when he recognized his ward's cousin as the black dragon's rider.
The elf was prevented from saying anything else because of an explosion of blue light from behind them, where Saphira and Thorn still fought. All three people turned to see Saphira rearing in front of her smaller opponent to swipe a claw at Murtagh, unseating him. The shower of red sparks that flew around him when he was hit proved his personal shields were still holding strong, but his spell casting was interrupted.
Saphira paid a heavy price for the feat, however. Thorn did not ignore her vulnerable position and attacked with fangs and claws. Her wards were enough to prevent Thorn's biting her head off, but broke against the claws aimed at her belly. Frantic backpedaling kept her from being disemboweled; eight deep wounds painted her chest red instead.
Arya was suddenly between the three horrified spectators, slapping Eragon's belt against Blödhgarm's chest.
"Go distract Murtagh!" she ordered.
Blödhgarm ran off without a word.
"What about Eragon?" he asked with his mind as he ran.
"He's still communing with the eagle spirit." Arya replied.
"I'll buy as much time as I can, but I've spent all my reserves already and I'm pretty drained as it is."
"Use the energy in the belt!" Arya said. "What about the others?"
"Invidia's waiting for the barrier to come down still," Blödhgarm replied. He drained the energy from one of the twelve jewels and aimed his blade at Murtagh's neck, his elven stride letting him close the distance in just a couple seconds. "Two are dead, the rest drained almost dry. It's just us."
"Damn it!" Arya cursed aloud, watching Blödhgarm dance around Murtagh and his blade.
The elf had the advantage in strength and speed, as proven by the constant red flares of the human's shields. Murtagh's blade, Zar'roc, and magic were vastly superior however. If the Rider could concentrate enough to get a spell off or managed to cut through the elf's sword with his, Blödhgarm would die.
"I'll hold him as long as I can" Blödhgarm said. "Get Eragon!"
"Arya!" Roran cried, distracting her.
"Roran?!" the elf started. "What are you doing here?!"
"I'll explain later! We need to get to Eragon!" Roran said. "There's a storm coming and we need to be under cover when it hits."
"A storm?" Arya asked, looking at the clear –if red- sky above.
"He's calling it." Roran explained, pointing at Harry and deciding to keep his name out of the conversation in the interest of haste. "When the lightning starts up, we need to be close to him or we'll be in danger."
Arya had heard stories about the wild dragons of old being able to affect the weather if they set their minds to it, but even if Roran's dragon was able to do such a thing, she failed to see what use a storm would be.
"It does not matter." Arya replied grimly. "Eragon's been sitting in a trance since you and your friend arrived. You can try to wake him up, but I think he'll only react when he's finished with whatever plan he's set in motion."
Saphira's pained roar drew Arya's attention back to the fighting dragons, where Thorn was milking his shield advantage for all it was worth.
Fearing to close in on the smaller, more agile dragon, Saphira had allowed Thorn to get back into the air and he was harassing her nonstop, keeping her grounded. She'd managed to prevent him from getting a killing hold like the one that had felled Glaedr, but she was covered in wounds all the same. She was only focused on staying alive and keeping her wings in one piece.
Arya cast a protective ward around Saphira, throwing as much energy as she could into the spell. She felt a dizzy spell coming from the exertion, swaying drunkenly on her feet until Roran steadied her from behind. Before Saphira could get farther away, Arya drained all the energy she had stored in her gear and cast a healing spell at the dragon.
The words of the spell were a whisper Roran only barely heard, but its effects were obvious. Saphira's wounds stopped bleeding and some of them closed altogether.
Sensing the shields around her and feeling the invigorating effects of the healing spell, Saphira braced herself against Thorn's latest dive, letting him bounce off her protection and digging her claws into the ground to stay as still as possible. Thorn was disoriented from the unexpected rebuff and could not dodge when Saphira did a quick half turn and slammed her tail into his shields, sending him to the ground. Saphira took the opportunity to get back into the air.
Arya knew Saphira wouldn't be able to keep Thorn pinned down (he could power through her attacks with his stronger shields) but, like Blödhgarm, she could delay for a time.
"Let's go wake your cousin, Roran." Arya said, heading for Eragon as fast as she dared, in her state. Roran followed close behind her.
Eragon knew that spirits were powerful, their magic akin to a dragon's. He knew some of them, those that formed Shades, coveted the physical form of a body and thus were willing to possess someone for the benefit, fleeting though it usually was.
Touching a conscience as vast as the Urgal's eagle was a humbling and frightening experience. It communicated without words, through feelings and images that didn't lend themselves to explain complex abstract ideas like the spoken language of the sentient beings of Alagaësia.
This spirit had seen the shaping of their world, the Spine rise from the sea and jungles dry into the Hadarac desert. It was all Eragon could do not to be swept away by the images and feelings of a life that spanned ages. Eragon reached for his bond with Saphira, trusting (hoping) that a dragon's magic, the sheer power of a race so magical that they could erase someone from existence, would be enough to anchor him to his own conscience. Eragon could feel his partner's pain and urgency, his allies' need and worry for him even through the pressure of the spirit's conscience further grounding him until the alien mind took notice of him and acknowledged Eragon's presence.
From what he'd been able to understand from the spirit's mind, Eragon surmised that it had made contact with Zagrok's ancestors at some point and agreed to help them in return for something. Just what didn't matter to the Rider at the moment, but Zagrok's image in his mind let him convey to the spirit that he was working with the shaman's blessing.
The spirit riffled through Eragon's memory without regard for his mental protections, like the small spirits in the plains had done before. It inspected all his memories relating to Zagrok and his tribe, from their fight at Farthen Dur to their present march. After scrutinizing each and every episode to its satisfaction, the spirit retreated from the shaken Rider's mind and the sprit's great conscience settled around Eragon's, expectant curiosity reverberating through it.
Eragon's elation at having secured the mighty spirit's aid didn't last long past realizing just how difficult it was to communicate his request without words. Their first two attempts were a dismal failure, turning the acorns into empty burnt husks.
The last acorn seemed to still be alive when Eragon woke from his trance to inspect the now pale blue seed. Eragon could feel a faint tugging on his energy just by holding it in his hand, very much like the technique used to take energy from living things. His shields were affected by it too; Eragon felt their energy slowly swirl into the small seed on his palm.
A cold shiver raced up his spine when he realized just how dangerous his little experiment could become.
Eragon was seriously thinking about destroying the seed and finding some other way to bring down the barrier when Roran of all people, called out to him from behind.
"Eragon!" Roran cried.
"Roran?!" Eragon stared dumbfounded at his approaching cousin and the haggard looking Arya with him. "What are you doing here? You can't be here!"
"We saw the big red thing around this place early in the morning." Roran explained once they'd reached Eragon. "I couldn't stay away."
"What?" Eragon asked. "Last I'd heard you were miles away!"
"Explanations can wait." Arya interjected. "We've got more important things to worry about."
"What's happened while I was busy?" asked Eragon.
"Saphira's only barely holding Thorn back and I took your belt to Blödhgarm to keep Murtagh busy." Arya reported. "Can you bring down the barrier now?"
"Well, I've got everything ready. I'm just not sure if I should go on with my plan." Eragon said.
"We're not exactly spoiled for choices right now, cousin." Roran said.
"It's pretty dangerous." Eragon hedged.
"We'll deal with the consequences." Arya said. "Right now, we need to get rid of the curse before every human left in the camp dies on Urgal swords."
"Alright…" Eragon agreed, making a hole in the ground with his magic and planting the mutated acorn in it.
"What about Murtagh though?" he asked. "Getting rid of the barrier may not help us any against him."
"Roran and his dragon seem to have a plan for that." Arya said.
"What?!" Eragon boggled at the implications.
"I'll explain later." Roran urged. "But yes, there's something in the works and it won't take long for it to go off. Get on with it already!"
"It's only a matter of helping it grow big enough to crack the barrier." Eragon explained aloud for Roran's benefit. "Don't touch the tree as it grows, it'll probably kill you. Drop any protections you have, they'll just be in the way now."
Eragon passed this information through his mind link to his guards and Saphira. He then closed his eyes and sang in the Ancient Language; a song of power and endurance, of life and growing that poured his magic into the small seed in the ground before him.
A tiny shoot sprouted in the earth and in a few seconds became a sapling oak with blue wood and lavender leaves. Eragon felt the tree taking nourishment from the ground like any other plant, but he could also sense magic slowly draining into its leaves, helping its growth along.
"Will this take too long?" Roran quietly asked Arya.
"I imagine it will, unless he can throw a lot more power into his song." Arya replied. "We'll have to wait and see. At least it's working; the tree does feed on magic. How much does it have to grow to be useful? That, I don't know."
"It better be quick." Roran mused, looking at Saphira fighting Thorn and Blödhgarm's fight with Murtagh. "Saphira and Blödhgarm won't hold forever and we've got nothing else to throw at Murtagh when they're done."
After sending Roran on his way Harry worked on his own plan in earnest. He'd dreamt again early this morning, while Roran and his people made ready for the trip, and he was fairly certain that his dreams were memories of things that had actually happened.
If his dreams were memories, then the magic he'd seen was real too. It was a pity that he hadn't thought to test the theory before now, but he was pretty good at improvising-the one time he'd gotten himself killed, he'd taken the bad guy down with him.
He drew three different runes on the ground, going slowly so he could focus on what he remembered from his dreams and Harry found, much to his surprise, that he had little problem drawing the runes, despite not knowing a thing about the subject. He drew the runes clearly and with a steady hand, sitting on his haunches to stay off broken bones. Another trial run (just to be certain it wasn't a fluke) showed that if he focused too hard on what he was doing.
In the interest of time, Harry decided to trust muscle memory (even if it wasn't his own) and not to worry about specifics.
Harry pushed magic into his uninjured talon, feeling it squeeze his whole arm like the summoning charm had done. He felt it pool in his palm; a steady burn that hurt without marring his hide. When the gathered power was enough to produce a green glow over his claws, Harry drew the first rune in the air before him.
About a third of his claw chipped off by the time he was done, but eldritch drawing looked right to him.
Here goes nothing…
"Nef!" Harry intoned, focusing on what he'd seen happen before.
The effect was instantaneous. All the pooled magic vanished from his body the instant the word left his mouth. Despite blood rising in his throat and the painful shudders that wracked him, Harry almost roared his success as dense gray clouds unfolded from a point far above Harry, gradually carpeting the sky inside the dome.
Now I just have to wait as long as I can. Harry thought, feeling a dull throb all over his body that pulled magic out of him and into the sky with every beat of his heart. Catch my breath, for Merlin's sake.
The darkening gloom eventually clued the other combatants to the gathering storm, prompting everyone to act.
Thorn adroitly disengaged from Saphira and charged Murtagh's opponent. The other man chose to flee to Roran's little group rather than fight a dragon on foot.
"Confringo!" Harry cried, firing a blasting curse at Murtagh the moment his opponent was away.
Harry was ready for the pain of casting and he could keep his aim on target a little better this time around, but the resulting explosion was still not enough to cover his roar of pain as every bone below his elbow cracked. Channeling the rune's magic had made him more fragile.
Harry hobbled awkwardly on three legs, trying to shake off the shock from the pain when he felt the ground shake under him. He channeled his sudden panic into furious flapping that was barely enough to get him high enough to clear the stone spikes that exploded from under him.
While the dust settled, Harry steadied his flying and looked around the battlefield.
Saphira circled a fast growing tree, bathing it with a bright blue flame as she dodged the expanding branches. Roran and his other human allies were clustered at its base, keeping their distance from the thickening trunk. There were more people in the field than there had been when he joined the fight but he surmised that those he didn't know were allies, given that only Murtagh was trying to kill him.
"Garjzla!" Harry heard Murtagh's voice cry before he realized the Rider was coming at him from the ground. The resulting fireball hit Harry in the chest, dropping him to the ground.
Harry hit the ground curled around his burnt chest. When he finally stretched out and looked up he saw Thorn diving at him with all four talons stretched out for the killing blow, the naked bone in his tail trailing behind him in stark relief against the dark sky.
"Stupefy!" Harry cast on instinct, rolling out of the way.
Harry's casting arm went numb but to everyone's surprise, the red beam went right through Murtagh's wards and struck his dragon. Thorn tilted forward the moment he lost consciousness, giving Harry enough space to avoid them entirely.
Thorn didn't crash though, since Murtagh cast a hurried levitation spell to land. Seeing that Murtagh would be busy rousing his unconscious mount, Harry flew closer to the others and set about finishing his runic spell.
With his dominant hand numb from the shoulder down and his chest hurting like hell despite his scales having weathered the explosion as well as could be expected, Harry sat on his haunches and drew a barely serviceable rune with his left hand.
"Tyr!" Harry cast once the glowing rune was finished, his voice echoing over the plains. The rune's magic washed over him, leaving his body tingling but hardly crippled like his other spells had thus far. Harry laughed happily, realizing his idea was mostly correct: the bulk of the power behind this spell built up after casting the first rune; the rest wouldn't hurt him half as much!
Thunder rolled behind the echo of the rune's name and green lightning arced in the clouds above them. Harry's grin was all fangs.
"Come on Roran… you're up."
Eragon was singing nonstop, helping the mutated oak tree grow. When the clouds rolled in Arya stared, Roran hoped Shruikan's idea worked out, Blödhgarm returned and Eragon kept singing.
"What happened?" Arya asked, catching the belt Blödhgarm threw at her.
"That other Rider cast something big." The elf shrugged "Murtagh decided he was a bigger threat than Eragon and went after him instead."
Saphira was flying around the growing oak, bathing it with a steady stream of blue flame. The tree shot up ten times faster, the creak of wood and rumbling earth now very audible as wisps of clouds and red sparks swirled around the expanding canopy. The tree had already taken everybody's magical protections.
The sudden explosion distracted the three spectators from their reverie. They could all see Shruikan's outline in the sky.
"Where did you find this Rider, Roran?" Arya asked quietly. "He's very powerful."
"Indeed." Blödhgarm agreed.
"There's…" Roran gulped, turning back to the elves. "There's no other Rider."
"What?" Arya asked, confused. "That's impossible!"
"Where's all this magic coming from, then?" Blödhgarm asked.
"That's all him. That's all-Shruikan!" Roran cried when he saw the huge fireball down the black dragon.
"What did you say?!" Blödhgarm roared.
"Explain yourself!" Arya ordered.
"You have to help him!" yelled over the two elves, when he saw Thorn's red form diving for his friend.
The point was moot however. A red flash struck Thorn and the dragon crashed behind Shruikan, who took to the air and landed much closer to them.
"Never mind that." Roran amended around a relieved sigh. "Get Eragon, tell your elves to find cover. We're out of time."
Eragon, however, had decided to join them after hearing the last part of their argument.
"Just what the hell is going on Roran?!" he asked.
"We'll explain later." Roran said, nonplussed. "For now, let it be enough that he's on our side."
Eragon stared hard at his cousin for a few moments and nodded.
"Saphira, that's enough! We're getting out of here!"
"Should we trust him?" asked Arya after hearing Eragon's call through their mind link.
"He's taking on Murtagh without any shields of his own, judging from that last hit. For us." Eragon said. "That earns him the right to speak and be listened to, in my book."
"What about the tree?" Blödhgarm asked as Saphira landed beside them.
"We've done as much as we can. Anything else would be too dangerous." Eragon explained, climbing into his saddle. "Besides, it's already doing what it's supposed to; it's only a matter of time now. Get on!"
A word resonated all around them before anyone else moved. Light blinded them all as a web of green lightning arced above them and the rolling thunder behind it shook their bones.
As soon as they blinked the stars out of their eyes, Roran and the two elves clambered onto Saphira and held onto Eragon, his saddle or herself as best they could while she flew over to where Shruikan waited.
Behind them, eddies of red magic and swirls of clouds fed the steadily growing oak.
Within moments, Roran and his party reached the black dragon. Saphira landed a few feet away so everybody could get down.
"A word of advice though," Roran said. "Shruikan is very much unlike Saphira."
"How so?" Eragon asked, intrigued.
"Well he-"
"Roran! Great timing!" Shruikan rumbled. "Get over here, quickly!"
"-talks, for starters." Roran finished, taking in his companions' dumbstruck faces.
Roran ushered everyone closer, taking in his friend's battered and bruised state. His chest was one big burn, his right foreleg seemed useless and his face still dripped blood, but he was in good spirits in spite of all that.
"You look like shit." He said.
"Yes, well. The other asshole's riding on several dragons' worth of magic." Shruikan replied. "I'd say I'm doing pretty well for myself, all things considered."
"There is that." Roran agreed.
"We can do introductions later," Shruikan told everyone, opening his wings. "Right now, I need you all to get as close as you can, for your own safety. Don't get under me though; I may collapse when all this is finished."
The mystified humans and elves huddled under one wing close to his body, while Saphira crouched low to fit under the Shruikan's other wing and sidled up to him.
"Don't move away until there's no more lightning," Shruikan added, shaking some feeling back into his right forepaw. "because everyone out there will be shit out of luck."
A faint green glow shone on Shruikan's raised talon and everyone watched as he drew a strange symbol in the air, chipping his index claw down to a nub in the process. Some distance away, Murtagh and Thorn got back into the air and observed their group, as if Shruikan's last attack had made him hesitate to attack head on again.
"Here's a dose of real magic for you, cowards!" Shruikan snarled.
"Nef!" He called the name of the first rune again, causing its likeness to appear on the ground at the tip of each of his wings.
"Tyr!" Upon casting the second rune, it etched itself onto the ground, inches from the tip of his muzzle and behind him, at the tip of his tail.
"Thurisaz!" The third casting caused the rune Shruikan had traced to disappear. Concentric rings of green lightning flashed in the sky, centered on Shruikan
Suddenly, the red gloom around them and the dome in the distance blinked a couple times and disappeared, leaving the sun shining around a localized thunderstorm very close to the ground.
"Invidia destroyed the altar!" Eragon cried.
"Shit! That means Murtagh can leave!" Shruikan snarled when he saw Thorn turn tail and rocket for the edge of the storm.
"Oh, no you won't…" Shruikan growled, glaring at the fleeing Rider. "Drepa, Mjolnir!"
The third rune appeared above Murtagh and Thorn, following them and Shruikan's conscience fled into the storm.
When Harry triggered Voldemort's deceptively simple storm spell, he realized what a magical juggernaut he'd summoned.
He saw everything under the canopy of clouds as a black expanse where he was aware of every living thing as shining beacons in the dark. He instinctively knew how much power resided in the clouds and felt it when any amount of it left them.
Living things drew lightning to them when they were big enough (and from the amount of lightning falling in and around the Varden encampment, Harry was pretty certain that adult humans were big enough). Compared to the multitude of targets in the camp or the huge magic devouring tree behind them, Murtagh may as well be invisible to the spell.
Fortunately, Harry's idea to keep his party safe worked: He could see his own body –open wings and all- as if in the eye of a hurricane; safe in a space where no lightning could reach.
It took Harry precious moments to understand the workings of the spell at this stage and yet more seconds to wrest enough power from the storm to actually direct it to the moving beacon that was the third casting rune, Thurisaz.
Once he managed to direct them, several bolts of lightning converged on the rune floating above Murtagh and a column of electricity bore down on the Rider.
The Traitor dies here, today. Harry thought to himself.
Murtagh, however, had made good use of the time it took Harry to prime his attack.
Having witnessed firsthand just how much magic a Rider's blade could handle during his fight with the elven Master Rider Oromis, Murtagh anchored a shield against lightning on Zar'roc and pumped every bit of magic on his person into the blade and raised it when the smell of ozone surrounded them.
The massive lightning bolt crashed against the red blade and broke into many smaller ones that arced over the shield protecting Murtagh and Thorn. Deep in his mind, Harry growled in defiance and fought to push as much power as he could into the spell before Murtagh left the storm or the giant tree on its other end devoured most of its strength.
Eventually Murtagh was forced to focus his magic into a smaller, sturdier shield, leaving Thorn largely unprotected. However, the dragon pressed on in spite of the shocking burns from the magical lightning that twisted back to hit him instead of dissipating into the ground.
Roran and everyone with him were awed at the staggering display of power unfolding before them.
"He's going to kill them!" Eragon cried, alarmed.
"I fail to see how that's a bad thing." Roran growled.
"He's family Roran! He's spared me before!" Eragon snarled, turning to face his cousin. "Hell, he even did it today!
"I don't know how managed it now, but do you really think that we'd still be alive if he'd put as much effort into killing us as he did in defending himself?"
"The words he knew." Arya interrupted, trying to defuse the situation.
"I-what?" Roran sputtered.
"Galbatorix probably let Murtagh handle his own studies of the Ancient Language." Arya elaborated. "He didn't seem to have a lot of words and spells to use for attack, so he must have focused on his own defenses. That way he'd be able to face Galbatorix and say that he did his best effort to kill us and still fall short of doing it."
"It's not a mistake the Emperor will repeat, if that's the case." Blödhgarm said.
"Look, it doesn't' matter! You can't put everything else at risk for the sake of saving Murtagh." Roran said, turning back to Eragon. "Look at what he can do on his own-and half trained at that, if Arya's right."
"I didn't let the dangers stop me from helping you save your wife, did I?" Eragon whispered back.
Roran started at his cousin's words and heaved a resigned sigh.
"Whatever you're going to do, better do it fast." Saphira said. "Thorn's almost out of the storm and this one will kill himself if this spell of his doesn't stop right now!"
Indeed, in a show of supernatural stamina, Thorn had kept an excellent pace through the onslaught. Eragon judged he was a couple minutes away from the edge of the clouds.
When Eragon turned to Shruikan, the Rider realized with only a very superficial scan of the dragon's body that he was on the verge of irreparable harm.
His heart will do him in well before Murtagh's clear of the clouds. Eragon thought to himself, trying to understand what the dragon had done to cast his spell.
All three wizards figured it out at the same time.
"The drawings!" Eragon cried. "We have to destroy them! Quick Roran, head for the one by his other wing!"
The two elves were ahead of Eragon and his cousin, dashing the runes at Shruikan's front and tail with their swords before the latter did the same with the runes at the dragon's wings. Shruikan sagged forward and Saphira scrambled to support the much larger dragon.
The lightning web above Murtagh disappeared in the blink of an eye; the storm clouds started breaking down seconds after that and Thorn fled into the clearing sky.
Harry came to with a start, to find himself eye to eye with a bright blue dragon. He tried to speak but ended up coughing up blood for his trouble.
"Good to see you're still alive!" Roran said, stepping into Harry's view when he settled down.
"Are they dead?" Harry asked, ignoring the human's broad smile.
"No. We had to break your spell."
"Why the hell would you do that?!" Harry growled back.
"The way my cousin tells it, your heart would have exploded before you fried Murtagh." Roran explained. "We figured you'd rather stay alive."
"Oh… well… I guess I'll have to settle for the bastard shitting his pants every time it rains, then." Harry grumbled as he carefully got back on all fours.
His comment startled a laugh out of Roran and his companions, allowing Harry a moment to study them. Judging from Shruikan's memories, there were three elves plus the dragon.
He also took stock of his injuries and realized that despite feeling bone tired, he wasn't in quite as much pain as he was when he invoked the storm spell. The burn on his chest was healed, he wasn't coughing up blood and the pain in his right arm was merely excruciating, as opposed to unspeakable.
"I suppose I should thank your cousin for healing me." Harry said.
"That wouldn't be a bad idea, let me introduce you." Roran said.
Roran turned to the other people before Harry.
"This is Blödhgarm, one of my cousin's bodyguards." Roran said, pointing to the strangely furred elf.
"This is Arya, the elf you were looking for." He said, pointing at the black haired elf that glared suspiciously at him.
"That's Saphira over there, my cousin's dragon companion." Roran said, nodding at the dragon behind the last of the elves. She looked surprised… gobsmacked really, if Harry were to be honest.
"Lastly, this is my cousin, Eragon." He said, throwing an arm around the elf's shoulder.
"Everyone, this is Shruikan."