Chapter 7
Who's ready for battle? *slowly raises hand*
Time passed in a blur for Eragon. His fingers were numb from firing arrow after arrow. The defenders rained death down on the besiegers but they kept coming. They had brought ladders to try and scale the walls, but with the elves accuracy they sliced many of the ropes mid-air, and the ladders fell, crushing many of the enemy beneath them. Eragon took down his fair share of ladders as well. Legolas and Gimli thought their companion strange. He occasionally muttered words to himself, something that sounded like "Jierda". If they were paying close enough attention, they would have noticed that every time Eragon muttered to himself, a ladder would splinter and fall to the ground, killing those on it and skewering many below.
Of course, they could not stop all the ladders. Some hit the wall, and the orcs scampered off like rats. They were quickly dealt with however, the elves easily dispatching the small number of opponents.
For hours the battle continued this way, but gradually, Saruman's army started to gain an advantage. The men and elves in Helm's Deep began to run out of arrows, and so more ladders hit the outer wall. With the ladders came more of the enemy, and they started to push the defenders back towards the steps leading off the wall and into the yard below.
Then Eragon entered the fray. Block. Stab. Swing. Sidestep. Repeat .Eragon was reminded that his enemies were deadly when he saw a man nearly get chopped in half from one swing of an orc's axe. Men and elves were dying, overcome by the numbers coming over the walls.
Eragon paused for a moment when he realised he had killed all the orcs attacking him. Surrounding him were limbless and decapitated bodies. Moving to the nearest ladder, he used Brisingr to break the grips holding it to the wall, and then pushed it off. "Thrysta."
Taking stock of the battle around him, Eragon noticed Aragorn trying to prevent orcs from swarming off the ladders. Alone.
"Legolas! Gimli!" Eragon screamed over the din of the battle. They somehow heard him and looked up. He pointed to Aragorn with Brisingr. "Help me!"
Eragon charged across the wall, sometimes not even bothering to swing at his opponents, simply pushing them off the wall to fall to their deaths a hundred feet below. He reached the orcs surrounding Aragorn and began slashing at the enemies in front of him. He fought his way to the centre of the horde to find Aragorn, bruised, bloodied, and limping from a cut on his leg, but alive nonetheless.
Sharing a glance, Aragorn nodded his appreciation for Eragon's help. The pair turned and began to fight back-to-back. They worked together seamlessly, as if they'd been doing so for their entire lives. When Eragon moved forward to attack, Aragorn defended, and vice versa.
Suddenly, orcs began falling to the ground, their legs cut out from under them. Others collapsed stone dead, arrows in the backs of their heads. Gimli and Legolas emerged, finishing off the orcs they'd incapacitated.
With two more joining the fight, Eragon and Aragorn were able to break apart and take on their enemies properly. The foursome fought fearlessly, Eragon and Aragorn with their swords, Gimli with his hefty axe and Legolas with his hunting knives.
Soon, all that was left of the enemy was dead bodies. Then Eragon felt a searing pain in his leg and he screamed. A not-so-dead orc that was lying on the ground had stabbed Eragon through the calf. Gimli reacted the quickest, first cutting off the hand holding the knife, then the head.
"Eragon, are you - " Legolas began. Then the world shifted. There was an enormous BOOM, and part of the wall exploded. Eragon, Legolas, Aragorn and Gimli were thrown apart. Stone blocks were raining down, crushing orcs, men and elves alike.
Eragon's head was spinning and his leg was throbbing.
ERAGON! Saphira screamed in his mind. GET UP! You're in the middle of a battle!
Eragon groaned, then coughed to try and remove the dust from his lungs. He opened his eyes to see an orc standing over him. It lifted its axe, then brought it crashing down. Eragon rolled at the last second, and the metal axe clanged off the stone. Ignoring the pain in his leg, Eragon sprang up and was behind the orc before it realised what had happened. He ripped his knife from his belt and stabbed the orc through the back of the neck. It collapsed dead at his feet.
After making sure that he wasn't under imminent attack, Eragon surveyed the carnage. The explosion had blown a twenty foot gap in the outer wall. Orcs were clambering over the rubble into the yard below by the hundred. They hadn't prepared for this. The defenders would soon be overwhelmed, and every man, woman and child would be slaughtered.
Eragon knew he had to do something. But first, he had to find Aragorn. He quickly scanned his surroundings, and eventually he spotted him. He was standing a stone's throw away on the parapet, but the wall between them had been destroyed and there was no way to get across in time.
"ARAGORN!" Eragon yelled. He looked up. "Let me help!" he shouted across the divide! He saw Aragorn look up the sky and then look back at Eragon, thinking hard. Finally, he nodded his assent. "You can't attack! Whatever you think, you cannot attack! Please," Eragon shouted, "TRUST ME!" Aragorn nodded again. Eragon pointed to the yard below, "Drive them out, I'll handle the rest!"
Turning away, Eragon cast a quick ward about himself to ward off arrows.
Ready, Saphira?
Let's teach these monsters about dragons!
Eragon stepped up on the edge of the wall. Looking down, he saw the hundred foot drop. Raising his eyes, he saw the thousands of Uruk'hai trying to enter the Deep and destroy the people hiding there.
NOW, SAPHIRA!
He felt her leap off the cave ledge, and silently glide until she was over the castle. Seeing through her eyes, he saw the thousands of orcs in much greater detail, their leering faces and murderous eyes.
Saphira roared, so loud that the stone under Eragon's feet vibrated. Not a sound could be heard on the battlefield. Every man, elf and orc was silent, all quivering with fear.
Eragon looked at Aragorn one last time, and saw him shocked. Then Saphira dived.
Bathing blue flame on the enemy, Saphira swooped low, incinerating those closest to her, while those further away roasted to a crisp. Using her tail she battered rows of the enemy into the sides of the valley, and her raking claws decapitated scores more.
The Uruk'hai ran screaming. They had been sent to kill men, not face down a dragon. Nobody wanted to burn to death. But Saphira would not let them escape. She used her flames to herd the attempted escapees back into the valley, where they joined their companions.
Inside the castle, there was mayhem. The fighting had resumed in the yard, but those on the walls were torn between joining their comrades below and attacking Saphira. Above them all, could be heard the deep voice of a dwarf.
"DRAGON! DRAGON! KILL IT! SMAUG HAD COME AGAIN!"
Eragon had no idea what a smaug was, but others were rallying to Gimli's cry. The archers were gathering together, preparing to fire, when a voice bellowed, "STOP!"
It was Aragorn. "Stop this madness! Look with your eyes! The dragon is not attacking us! It is helping us! Leave it! We need to help our brothers below! Men of Rohan, to me! To me!" And he charged down the steps, closely followed by a hundred men and elves. Together, they cut through the orcs, driving them back through the wall or killing them.
When Eragon looked back, he could see that Saphira had grouped the remaining Uruk'hai together and that they were encircled by a ring of fire. There were less than three thousand left.
The remaining orcs had finally organised themselves. The archers they had left fired at Saphira when she came in on one of her passes, forcing her to change her tactics. Instead of constantly sweeping over them, she hung in the sky, invisible against the dark night.
Then she dropped silently on to an unsuspecting group and tore them to pieces, taking off before the rest could attack her. She would also fly in low, and use her teeth and claws and occasionally her tail to maim and kill as many as she could before rising again.
Saphira, can you handle them? I'm going to help Aragorn.
Don't worry Eragon, they're not going anywhere, she said with a little too much relish.
Eragon hopped off the parapet and fell to one knee, suddenly remembering the hole in his leg. Now that he wasn't being attacked he had time to heal it.
"Waíse heill," he said. The muscle in his calf knitted together and the skin smooth over to form an unblemished surface. Rising from one knee he continued down the steps, searching for Aragorn.
He found him lying on the ground, cradling the head of a dying elf. Legolas and Gimli were looking on, grim-faced.
Eragon rushed over. "I can heal him," he said.
"How?" Aragorn rasped. "He has a spear in his belly. It's impossible."
"You've trusted me this far, let me help you. Let me help him."
Aragorn looked down at the ground, then up at Legolas who nodded imperceptibly, then gave his own assent.
Eragon set to work immediately. The first thing he did was to see what the damage was inside. The spear hadn't gone all the way through, but it had nicked the spleen and the head was buried in a part of the intestine.
"Legolas, I need you to pull the spear out. One quick movement, no hesitation. He's unconscious already, so he won't feel it. Ready? One, two, three, pull."
As soon as the spear slid out, Eragon's hands were on the wound. Because of his extensive knowledge and practical use of the Ancient Language, and because of the Word, Eragon didn't have to use a long complicated incantation to heal the elf, he simply had to say, "Waíse heill," and he could direct his power to the right place. Blue sparks danced across his hands, and he heard Gimli whisper.
"Magic!"
As the skin on the elf's stomach closed over, his breathing evened out and he fell into a light sleep.
"You are a magician," Legolas stated.
"I am," Eragon replied.
"Who are you?" Aragorn asked with wonder.
"My name is Eragon, my story I will tell after the battle is done. For now, let me heal the wounded.
The hours until daybreak were spent well. The dead were gathered and brought up to the keep. The orcs were piled in a corner to be burned. With the help of the Eldunarí, Eragon healed everyone that he could. He reattached limbs and put broken bodies back together. He saved more than a hundred lives.
By the time the sun had risen, Saphira's raids had reduced the corralled Uruk'hai from 3000 to 500. Those remaining were like caged rats. They would do anything to get away from the dragon.
Eragon, there's a large group of riders approaching from the east valley wall. Are they going to attack us?
I don't know. I'll ask Aragorn if he knows. Be ready just in case.
At this point, Eragon was in the keep with his three companions, the King and his advisors.
"Aragorn, what do you know about a group of riders approachingfrom the east?"
"Gandalf! He went searching for the Rohirrim. They're the Riders of Rohan. If you hadn't been here Eragon, we would certainly have been in a worse state. I fear Gandalf would have been too late. As it is, it seems they aren't needed."
"On our way here, we passed many villages that had been destroyed. If that was my home, I would want revenge. It was Rohan that was attacked, Rohan should finish this battle!"
"Yes," said Theoden, smiling, "we shall ride out to meet them, and the horn will sound in the Deep once more! Gather the horses!"
Saphira, they're friendly. We're riding out to meet them. Can you drive the orcs east?
That should be no problem. They're terrified of me. She sent a mental grin.
Someone found Eragon a horse, and he rode out at the front of the column with Theoden and Aragorn. They reached the gate, which was battered and splintered but had held firm. A path had been cleared for the riders and they trotted out the entrance down the ramp. Once they reached the bottom of the ramp they spread out into two lines, with swords drawn. As they started trotting, Saphira started to drive the orcs east. Thinking they may escape, they ran for their lives. Her job done, Saphira rose into the air to settle on the far side of the valley.
From the east, a white figure appeared on a white horse.
"Gandalf! Gandalf!" cried the men.
Then he was joined by horsemen, hundreds and hundreds of them. They started to canter down the hill, then they broke into a gallop. Too late, the orcs realised they were trapped. They turned to run back, but it was obvious they'd never make it.
A horn sounded from the castle. It reverberated around the valley, echoing off every rock and stone, getting louder and louder. Eragon could hear the horses' hooves thundering against the ground, then the Rohirrim caught the orcs. It was slaughter. They were cut down from behind, ridden into the ground. The riders showed no mercy, clearly driven by revenge for their families who had been killed, their homes that had been destroyed.
Not a single orc was left alive, and not one rider was killed.
They met with Gandalf in the centre of the valley.
"Theoden," he said, "it is very good to see you still alive, my friend."
"And you, Mithrandir."
"I must admit, I am surprised to see so many of you, and so few orcs! And unless my eyes deceive me, and I don't believe they are, there is a dragon sitting on the valley wall!"
Aragorn brought his horse forward. "Gandalf, there is someone here you have not met. I believe he can explain both to you. To me as well. This is Eragon." He gestured for Eragon to come forward, which Eragon duly did.
"Eragon," said Gandalf, looking him over, "an unusual name, one that has never before been heard in Middle Earth, I would think. You are not from this land, are you Eragon?"
Eragon was impressed. Clearly, there was more to Gandalf than you would first think. He already liked him, but he also knew that he was the most dangerous person he had met yet. Eragon could sense the power radiating from the seemingly frail body.
"No, I'm not. I'm from a land called Alagaesia. As for the dragon over there, she is the reason for the lack of orcs. You can meet her, if you wish. She won't attack us. I swear to you."
"I would very much like to meet her. Lead the way, young Eragon."
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