Disclaimer: First, I own none of the characters from the Inheritance Cycle. Second, All original characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Hey guys, so sorry about the long time since last upload. I am back from San Diego now, and will be writing more often. I did not get as much writing done on the plane as I would have liked, (First flight I slept the whole way, the second one I got a bit of writing done) Anyways, enough about that.
This chapter has some M rated violence and torture. Just warning you now that it is in there. Let me know what you think about it. Thanks for all of the reviews that you guys have been doing, I really appreciate that you take your time to tell me what is working and not working with the story.
Walker surveyed the remains of the base as he watched his squad prepare to leave. Standing among the remains of the mess hall, he looked at the rubble among his feet. Most of the rubble looked the same, however a few pieces of rubble stood out: a partially melted fork, some wires from their communications center, but everything else was indistinguishable. This morning, everything was fine around the camp, but now the camp was destroyed. Some power wanted to take Saphira and tried to kill Walker and his squad. If it were not for Eragon, they would have been able to complete both of those tasks.
As Walker was thinking, McKoy came up beside him, "Is your fireteam ready to go McKoy?" Walker asked.
"Yes. We should be ready to go once our transportation gets here, how are you doing sir?"
"I am packed; I was already ready to go before the attack."
"You know that that's not what I meant sir."
"What did you mean then McKoy?"
"Well, sir, someone in our government has just sold us out. When we leave here, we could be seen as traitors or deserters."
"I have only done what is necessary for our situation. I don't think that whoever ordered the attack on us was working for the United States, unfortunately I don't know who to trust now. I have to adapt to the situation and if anyone has a problem with that they are welcome to leave at the first town we stop at." Walker said, finishing with more hostility than he would have liked.
"Oh no sir," McKoy said while taking a small step back, "I didn't mean to sound like that. We are all right behind you sir."
"Sorry McKoy," Walker said, "I have been on edge since the attack."
"Understandable sir, we all are a bit irritable right now."
They both stopped talking and watched as Song and Rae drove two black SUV's into the middle of the base.
"I should probably go make sure that my fireteam is ready to go," McKoy said.
"Walker!" Eragon called out behind the two men.
Walker and Mckoy turned towards the forest as Eragon walked towards them. "Oh shit, Eragon looks pissed sir," McKoy said.
As Eragon walked towards them, Walker stepped forward to meet him, "What is the problem Er-"
"Arya is here!" Eragon interrupted angrily.
"What, are you sure?" Walker asked.
"I just scried her and she's in the same room as Senator Kenner," Eragon said as he gave a hand mirror to Walker.
Walker looked at the mirror and saw the elven form of Arya in the same white area as Senator Kenner. "Is there any way that this is a mistake?"
"No, they must be in the same location," Eragon said as the rest of Walker's squad arrived along with Dr. Saunder.
"Maybe Arya just came over, Senator Kenner could've just met her," McKoy said.
Walker thought about it for a moment before being struck by a realization, "Kenner didin't just meet Arya," Walker said, "he has been with Arya ever since last night. He must have had her ever since the EMP in Arizona. He just didin't tell us about her."
"Fucking hell," Gerling said, "he lied to us. He is probably the person behind the attack."
"How much you wanna bet Dr. Purington was working for him. He is probably the reason that Saphira was sedated before the attack," Perez said.
"What are we going to do about it?" Eragon asked.
"If Senator Kenner is involved in the attack, it's possible that General Forde is not involved in the attack," Walker said.
"General Forde would never have been involved in the attack," Dr. Saunder said.
"But," Walker continued, "We still can't trust him. He might be working with Senator Kenner." Walker paused for a moment to think before continuing, "Now, since Kenner has Arya, he almost certainly is holding her at his compound. I don't know if Saphira is going to be with Kenner, but I know that Arya will be there. What do you want to do Eragon?"
Eragon looked at Walker, then down at the mirror Walker held in his hand, "I want to get Arya. I want to know how involved Kenner is in what has happened to us."
Arya did not get any sleep over night. She was not certain if she would have been able to sleep in her situation anyways, but Kenner made his intentions clear before he stopped interrogating her.
"Our doctors studied you, and apparently you have quite enhanced eyesight and hearing," Kenner had said, "much better than human hearing and sight. So we have some specially made equipment made for you," he said while some men set up different sized boxes around the room, "First, we have a high intensity strobe light that will alternate between 30-150 flashes of light a minute. Additionally, we have some high quality speakers to blast high and low pitch noise into your ears. This may cause permanent damage to your ears, but quite frankly I don't give a fuck about your health."
And so, after Kenner left, the long, excruciating night began. Every time the light flashed into her eyes, it seemed to bore into retinas. Her eyes began to water as the lights dug into them. When she closed her eyes tightly, she was able to give her eyes some rest from the assault, however she could still see the lights through her eyelids, and after a few minutes, a throbbing pain began to form in her head, so she settled to leave her eyelids half open.
The noises that she heard seemed much worse than the lights. Her heightened senses heard the variety of excruciating sounds that they played for her. The noises were far louder than any noises in the battle of the Burning Plains. Whenever she began to become accustomed to one of the noises, it would switch to a different noise, an extremely high pitched whine would become a low pitched vibration, the sounds of a dozen babies crying would alternate with the sounds of explosions and agony of dying soldiers. She would have covered her ears with her hands, but her arms were tied to the uncomfortable chair she was sitting on.
All though the night, she listened to the noises and saw the lights while the liquid was pumped into her arm that removed her ability to access her magic.
Arya was almost happy when Kenner came in the next morning, for it meant that the lights and sounds were stopped for him to talk to her.
"Did you have a good night sleep?" Kenner asked as he pulled a gray bag on wheels into the room with metal shapes poking out of the top.
Arya remained silent.
"I will make you talk eventually," Kenner said, "it's completely up to you how much pain you suffer before you talk. I am fine with not laying a finger on you if you just tell me how many elves you have in your universe. How large are your armies?"
Arya's only response was a cold glare.
"Ah well," Kenner said as he pulled one of the metal rods out of the bag and started fiddling around with it, "I think I enjoy this way better."
Kenner raised the rod over his head, and then brought it down on Arya's left hand. Pain shot up Arya's arm. At least one finger was broken judging from the pain.
"Golf is an interesting sport. I really detest watching it, but they sure do make good implements to hit people with," as Kenner said this, he struck Arya in her stomach, "I love watching Soccer, but their sport sucks at making torture implements." He swung again, hitting her in the arm, "Now baseball, they almost have it down pat. The only problem is the bats break too often with repeated strikes," he finished speaking with three quick attacks against Arya's shoulders.
Sighing, Senator Kenner took a seat in a chair opposite Arya. Looking towards Arya, he spoke again, "You going to start talking sometime soon?" Arya's only response was to spit at the Senator. Standing again, Kenner wiped off the spit from his chin before smiling at Arya. "I do love it when you put up a fight."
Raising the club again, Kenner began to swing again, but was interrupted as the door behind him opened.
"Senator Kenner sir?" a man asked as he stepped into the room.
"What is it Dr. Purington?"
"We put the dragon in the hangar, and the connection is ready, we are ready to go," Dr. Purington said.
"Tell the men to begin transportation, I want all supplies and troops across by this evening," Kenner said, "Is there anything else Doctor?"
Dr. Purington briefly glanced up at the raised golf club in Senator Kenner's hands before quickly responding, "Oh no sir."
Kenner watched the door close behind Dr. Purington before turning back towards Arya and smiling, "Let's continue our conversation shall we?"
He swung again.
Walker and his squad drove the two SUVs overnight through the mountains of California into the Arizona desert. By mid-morning, they had gotten within 4 sand dunes of the compound and camouflaged their cars against being seen by air. After they set up their base, they decided to scout the compound.
Walker, along with Song and Eragon, approached the tip of the closest dune to the base cautiously. Eragon had used some of his magic in order to make them nearly invisible, however any movement in the sand could still be seen by observant, or a lucky sentry.
By the time they got in a position to see into the compound, it was quite clear that they did not need to exercise caution. The troops in the base were busily moving supplies from trucks into the main house, and any mercenaries that were watching the perimeter were focused on the horizon, not on the near walls.
"They probably figure that any substantial force is going to raise a dust trail on the horizon long before they get near the camp," Song said, "they are probably not expecting invisible troops."
Walker looked around at the rolling hills of sand, and agreed with Song. Any vehicles would have put up dust trails from miles away, unless someone had a person who could use magic to keep the sand on the ground. Luckily, Walker's squad had that, so they were able to get almost to Kenner's doorstep without being noticed.
"Look at the activity," Walker said, "they are moving supplies from those trucks into the house. Are they expecting to be staying here for a while, are they preparing for a siege?"
"Look at that hangar over there," Song said, "It looks barely a week old, and it's easily large enough to hold Saphira."
Walker looked from the new metal hangar to Eragon, "Do you sense Saphira here Eragon? Is she in there?"
Eragon concentrated for a few moments before sighing, "I can't sense her in there, but they may be blocking her ability to communicate by her mind."
"Well let's assume that Saphira is in there, where would Arya be held?" Walker asked.
"It appears to me that she would be held in that building," Song said while pointing at an offshoot of the compound opposite of the hangar, "It looks like it's built in the middle of a well-guarded area, I would guess that Kenner added this to his compound years ago for these specific purposes."
Kenner's compound was an old army base; abandoned in the 1970's Kenner bought it and refurbished it to become his own house.
"How many troops do you think are on this base Song?" Walker asked.
"So far, I have only seen around two dozen, but this base could easily be defended by fifty to seventy-five troops. I think any attack we make on them will need to be precise and quick."
They made their way back to camp to talk to the squad about their plan of action. It was decided that they had to strike at both the hangar and the building they suspected Arya to be in at the same time. The consensus was that any guards would try and eliminate the prisoner they were guarding if they knew that the base were being taken, so after much deliberation it was agreed upon that they would split up into two groups. McKoy's fireteam would go with Walker to breach the northwestern section of the wall and secure Arya while Gerling's fireteam would go with Eragon to breach the southeastern portion of the wall and take control of the hangar and hopefully Saphira.
"I want us to attack at nightfall," Walker said, "That way Eragon has to spend the least amount of energy keeping us invisible while we approach the wall. That should also give us the cover we need in the base to make it to our objectives without being picked off by any guards on the high ground."
And so, Maski and Rae kept watch while the rest of Walker's squad rested before their attack on the compound would begin.
Walker was restless, and could not get any sleep even though he had just driven eight hours. Walking out of the camp a ways, he saw another figure sitting in the sand.
As he approached, Walker saw that it was Eragon who was sitting in the sand, watching a lizard run across the desert floor.
"Can't sleep?" Walker asked Eragon.
"No," Eragon said, "I don't feel like I can sleep right now. Not having Saphira with me is too painful; it's like half of my heart stopped beating. I don't feel right without her."
"We are going to get her back," Walker said, "We have a plan, and in less than 8 hours, you will be with Saphira again, I promise you."
"I just can't get over the fact that we are so close to her, and yet we can't do anything to get her. I just want to walk in to the compound now and be reunited with her."
"I know you feel that way," Walker said, "but our plan is the best chance we have for success. Not only is it going to be a tactical advantage for us to strike at nightfall, but we need to rest up. Most of us have been awake for over 20 hours. We need to be rested if we want to do our best to save them. You need to be rested too."
Giving a slight yawn, Eragon stood, "I suppose you are right Walker, I do need to be rested if we are going to attack the base. Are you sure that we are going to be able to get Saphira and Arya?"
Walker looked back towards the camp, and then to Eragon again, "Before tonight is over, I promise you that you will be with Arya and Saphira again."
With that, the two of them turned and walked back towards the base in order to prepare for the assault.
"I like you Arya," Kenner said as he sat down to regain his breath, "You have willpower. Other people, they barely give me a chance to warm up my swing, but you? You have given me plenty of practice today alone. I guess I may not have learned much from you this way, but you know what? I don't care. Eventually, we are going to find some form of torture that will have you spilling all your secrets, but until then, I really do love hitting stuff, especially when it bleeds."
Kenner stood again and flashed Arya a grin before striking her in the ribs again. Arya's body was in a state of constant pain after the last few hours. Her nose and lips were bleeding profusely, and her ribs provided a constant source of pain. At least two of her ribs were cracked, and her left shoulder was dislocated. Kenner had not been merciful in his torturing of Arya. Over the last few hours, the Senator had almost exclusively beaten Arya, or asked her questions about the elves. The only pauses were for switching golf clubs when one got too bent, and a lunch break where Kenner ate a variety of fruits in front of Arya and offered her some if she would cooperate. When she did not respond, more beatings ensued.
Arya was preparing her body for another series of strikes against it when the door behind Senator Kenner opened once again. "Senator Sir?" Doctor Purington asked.
"What is it now Dr. Purington?"
"The transport is almost complete; we are down to 10 percent base capacity."
"Good, good," Kenner said, "there have been no problems?"
"Not yet sir, however we have gotten word from the Consortium that Walker and his squad have found out about our involvement much quicker than we would have hoped. They may be on their way here now."
"That could be problematic," Kenner said as he put the club down in order to think, "We might have to speed up our departure. I want you to go through with the next set of supplies."
Dr. Purington nodded and left the room. Kenner turned back towards Arya and gave a mocking bow, "Well I am afraid that I must leave you now. I hope you know that I have enjoyed our time together so much, I just wish that you had been more cooperative in that time."
Taking out a radio, Kenner began to speak into it, "Alpha team, come to the prisoner room and eliminate the elf. I don't care how you get rid of her; just make sure she is dead. After you do that, get to the evacuation room for transport."
With that, Kenner put his radio away and left the room, closing the door after him.
Arya quickly began to look around the room for something that she could use as a weapon. Kenner had left the golf clubs, however they were too far away from her to allow her to grab them. The good news was that the IV bag that was causing her to not be able to access her magic was almost empty.
While she tested the bindings again, Arya felt and heard two explosions from outside her room. Raising her head to the door, she began to hear bursts of shots in the distance. Lowering her head again, she began to trash at her bindings.
Again she heard shots, this time from just outside the room. There were a few quick bursts before silence fell again.
The door burst open and Arya saw two men with metal weapons in their hands. They pointed the weapons at her before lowering them and rushing towards her.
As one of them knelt beside her and started to cut her binding on her right arm, Arya compressed all her anger and hatred that had accumulated over the past few days, and with a new surge of adrenaline she prepared to strike.
Walker and the rest of his squad were in position. Crouched beside the wall, Walker and his men braced themselves for the explosion.
"We are in position sir," Gerling said over the radio, "we will move on your command."
Walker looked at the men assembled behind him, then spoke into the radio, "Prepare to breach in 5… 4… 3… 2…"
Two explosions erupted almost simultaneously as debris flew away from the explosion site. Walker stood and ran towards the newly created gap in the wall. As soon as he got into the courtyard, Walker knelt down into a firing position and began to survey the area.
The mercenaries in the courtyard were not prepared for them. There were only about half a dozen in the courtyard, and most of them had been carrying crates and boxes which now lay on the ground. Some of them had drawn their sidearms and had begun to look around.
One of them, seeing Walker, began firing his pistol before Walker dropped him with a quick burst from his M16. The rest of the mercenaries in the courtyard began to draw their weapons, however after being fired on from Walker and Mckoy's fireteam, and Gerling's fireteam from the other side of the courtyard, they succumbed to the crossfire.
After the men in the courtyard lay either dead or wounded, Walker and his squad began to move to their objectives. Moving to the prisoner building, Walker was about to enter when they were fired upon from a new set of mercenaries from the main house in the compound.
Ducking behind cover, Walker quickly thought about how to best accomplish the mission. Turning towards McKoy he said, "You go with Song and Rubio, I want you to cover us out here and see if you can't gain entry to the house and find Kenner. Perez and I will search through here and find Arya."
As McKoy nodded and began to provide covering fire, Walker and Perez ran into the building. Once they entered, they saw two mercenaries about to enter a door at the end of the hallway. Getting into a firing position, Walker and Perez quickly eliminated the men.
Rushing to the end of the hall, Walker and Perez entered the room with their weapons drawn. As they entered the room, Walker quickly lowered his weapon. The only occupant in the room was the extremely beaten and bloody form of Arya. Strewn around here were several bloodied golf clubs that it looked like she had been hit with repeatedly.
Rushing towards her, Walker removed a combat knife and began to cut through the bindings that were holding her to the chair. As soon as he had freed one arm however, the beaten elven woman quickly grabbed hold of his neck.
Grabbing at her hand, he tried to remove her vice like grip from his neck. Gasping for breath, he stared into her emerald green eyes. In her eyes he saw an extreme hatred pierce into his essence, and he knew that if her hand did not kill him, her eyes would certainly do the job.
As blackness started to overcome his eyes his arms stopped trying to fight Arya and he embraced unconsciousness.
Realizing he was on the ground, Walker began to draw quick, raspy breaths.
Perez knelt down next to Walker, "Shit sir, are you okay?"
"What happened?"
"She got a hold of your neck. I had to hit her with the butt of my rifle."
Walker looked up at the elf in the chair. She looked dazed and was just beginning to focus on the two men in front of her. Once she became focused, the same hatred Walker had seen surfaced again in her eyes.
"Perez, go and guard the hallway, I will handle this."
"Are you sure sir?"
"Just go Perez," Walker said. Perez stood and went outside to keep watch. Turning back towards the elf in the chair, Walker took a few steps towards her. She sat back in the chair and tried to get as far away from Walker as possible. Realizing that she thought Walker was with Kenner, Walker thought about how he could convince her that he was not with Kenner. Remembering the words that Eragon taught him, Walker said, "Eka malabra ono né haina" (I mean you no harm)
Confusion overtook the elf's eyes as she looked at Walker. Then she showed a sense of understanding and the hatred in her eyes was replaced by a curious look.
Taking another step towards the elf, Walker began to talk again, "My name is Sargent Walker. We are here with Eragon to save you and Saphira; we are not with Senator Kenner." Arya stared at Walker for a few seconds before nodding her head. Walker took another step towards Arya and spoke some more, "I am going to cut you from your bindings, is that ok with you?"
There was a few seconds pause before Arya almost whispered her response, "Yes." Taking another step and kneeling in front of her, Walker cut off the other bindings from Arya. Rubbing her wrists, Arya spoke, "Thank you Walker."
Arya began to stand, but stumbled a bit out of her chair. Walker quickly provided support to keep her from falling, "Are you okay Arya?"
Looking at her feet, Arya replied, "I can walk."
Gerling's voice came over the radio at that moment, "Gerling here, we have secured the hangar and Saphira is here. Eragon is checking out how she's doing. What should we do now?"
Walker spoke into his radio, "Take your fireteam and provide support to McKoy, they are securing the main house and trying to locate Kenner."
"That is not going to be necessary sir," McKoy said over the radio, "We have cleared the house, there were only a few troops in here. I think that Senator Kenner escaped."
"How did that happen?" Walker asked.
"I would like to know that myself Sgt. Walker," said General Forde over the radio.
So there we go. Arya is saved, Yay! But this means that I have to have Arya and Eragon conversations... I'm anxious about that. Maybe I should find a way to kill Arya off. (JK of course. I know that you guys would kill me if I got rid of Arya) Please review and tell me what you liked, didn't like, what I can fix.
In other news, I am starting the background for my second Inheritance Cycle Fic. It is less AU than this one I think, but I don't think I am going to begin actually uploading it until I have finished this Fic. On that note, I do have a tentative ending in mind for this story, so don't worry, unless I fall into a coma this story is still going to be updated, perhaps just not as regularly as some authors on this site...
s/8105053/7/Two_Worlds
