Alright, well, I didn't get the five reviews I wanted *sobs* but, I thought I'd be nice and update anyways... so review. That means you too, Kyrie. And no, I don't own any of this. Sadly.


Miranda gasped. Ari! How could she be here? Oh, right, Durza. That meant he would be around somewhere… Well of course he'd be around, he was going to try to stop them from escaping. Escaping… that would be a good idea.

"We gonna go now?" she asked the boys, who were ogling Arya. Well, Eragon was ogling, Murtagh looked really impatient.

"Yes, we are. Hurry Eragon," he ordered, then led the way to the banquet hall. They hid under a table. Once sufficiently hidden, Murtagh turned to Eragon. "Can you contact Saphira? Tell her to wait five minutes." With that he ran out of the room. Eragon raced over to a table to grab someone's abandoned lunch. Miranda turned to Ari.

She looked different then she had. Her ears were, of course, pointed. Her eyes were slanted, catlike. Also, they weren't their normal muddled blue grey that couldn't decide if they liked hazel more. Instead they were green, but lighter than Arya's. Instead of a green-black they were green-silver. Her face was gaunt, and her clothes needed repair. She looked older, more world-weary than she had before. As Miranda noted that, Murtagh came back with Zar'roc, and Arya's bow and sword.

"I've never seen weapons like these so I assumed they belonged to one of the elves." He showed them the strange weapons.

"They are hers," Ari confirmed. "But I will take the bow, for she has no need for it and I am weaponless." She reached for it and winced slightly. Miranda eyed her worriedly.

"Now what?" Eragon asked.

"We wait. Our escape has been arranged," Miranda informed. Even if there's a shade here, she added silently.

"But there's a Shade here!" Eragon exclaimed, echoing Miranda's thoughts.

"A Shade?!" Murtagh swore. "In that case, tell Saphira to come immediately."

"And lets hope that Shade doesn't find us," Miranda muttered. Not that that would happen…

Durza's cold chuckle filled the hall. "I'm afraid it's far to late for that, little girl."

The four of them spun around. He was standing in the middle of the dining hall, blade unsheathed in hand. Eragon stood up, drawing Zar'roc.

"Let me fight. He wants me alive," he muttered.

"Be careful," Murtagh replied just as quietly.

The two faced off. Miranda would have watched, because she was sure she would have learned some pretty cool tricks, but she was busy trying to get out of the way of the falling ceiling. Saphira's head suddenly appeared in the opening that had been made. Murtagh took that moment of confusion to loose an arrow at Durza, which struck the red-haired Shade between the eyes, causing him to evaporate. Then Saphira ripped through the rest of the ceiling and the soldiers scattered. She hopped down and started humming when Eragon hugged her.

"Saphira can't carry five," Miranda pointed out, loathe to rain on the parade, but it was true.

"Eragon, you go. Take the elves. Miranda and I will get out some other way. You can send Saphira back later. Go!" Murtagh ordered when Eragon looked ready to argue. "We don't have time to discuss this with a committee. Just go!"

"I am not a committee," Eragon grumbled, but he did as he was told. Then Murtagh grabbed Miranda by the hand and pulled her up the stairs.

"Which way is out?" she asked.

"The gate is that way, I think."

"Oh, great. You think."

"Just stay in the shadows. Everyone's so busy, I doubt they'll notice us, so long as we're hidden. Follow me." Miranda did, and at some point they did reach the gate. It was closed.

"Here it is. Just like I said."

"Just one problem, Murtagh. It's closed."

He shrugged. "We'll climb the wall. Let's go."

They actually did manage to scale the wall without being caught. Getting down was slightly more difficult, but they managed. Then the two of them started in the direction of the camp. Saphira met them about half a mile from the city, and they flew the rest of the way.

Camp was quiet. Cassidy was tending to Julia. Arya lay unconscious next to them, and Ari was resting against a tree. Eragon was sitting on a patch of grass. When Saphira touched down, Miranda and Murtagh clambered off and then she went to go curl up near Eragon.

"Who are you?" Murtagh asked Ari, not bothering with introductions. "Who's she? Why were you in the Shade's prison?"

Ari looked up at him. "I am Ariana," was the only answer she gave. Then she turned her attention to Miranda. "What happened to Julia?"

"She was stabbed by an urgal," Cassidy answered. "Can you help her?"

"I am to weak to fully heal her… but I can send her to someone who can." She crouched next to Julia. "Awake, my friend." Julia stirred.

"Ari?" she asked incredulously, "What the…?"

"You are wounded, and I am not strong enough to heal you, nor is Eragon. However, I believe it is within my power to send you back to Sylivia. Know that if you choose to return, you cannot live in any world say the Land of Gates, though you may visit. I am sorry."

"It's okay," she wheezed, "I'll go back. I liked it most there…Go ahead." Ari nodded slowly, then placed her hands on Julia's shoulders. She began chanting something in the Ancient Language, but the meaning escaped Miranda. Her chanting reached a climax, and as the trees had, Julia glowed, then pulsed. Then she was gone. Ari stood, staggered, and fell. Miranda hurried to her.

"Do not wake me. It will speed my death." Then she dropped unconscious. Cassidy joined Miranda.

"What the heck just happened?"

"I dunno," Miranda answered. "I think she must've been poisoned or something like that. She just said don't wake her, because that'll kill her." She turned to Saphira. "I think you'll have to carry both of 'em. Sorry."

"She says she'll do it," Eragon said for her, rising. We can put one on the saddle and tie the other to her stomach." Murtagh stretched out a blanket for Arya, and they used Julia's stuff to tie it to Saphira. As they were lifting her, thought, her sleeve tore. Miranda gasped at the half healed cuts and burns on her arm. What about Ari? She wondered. Pulling back her friend's sleeve, she saw her arm too was mottled, though not at badly as Arya's.

"I think she'll need some healing too," Miranda told Eragon, who was asking Murtagh for boiled rags. He sighed. "Just get the rags. I can't heal everything."

They spent that healing the two elves. Well, Eragon did the healing, Cassidy and Miranda bandaged the wounds that weren't life threatening, and Murtagh kept watch with Saphira. They were done by midmorning.

"We'd better ride now. If we stay any longer we chance being found," Cassidy said.

"Eragon needs rest," Murtagh argued.

"I'll sleep in the saddle. Cassidy is right. Let's go."

They rode all day, and stopped late, eager to put as much space as possible between them and Gil'ead. It was time to face the dreaded question: Where to go?

"They'll be searching for us all over the Empire. We should leave," Murtagh suggested.

"Yes, but where would we go?" Eragon countered.

"How about the Beors?" Miranda put in.

"The desert," Eragon reminded her.

"But not all of it. Just a corner," Cassidy spoke up.

"And it'll be harder for them to send soldiers after us," Miranda added.

"They have a point," Murtagh conceded. "And why not? It's outside the Empire."

"But how will we get water? Saphira can't carry it."

"Pull it up from the ground," Miranda suggested, remembering Eragon's 'experiment.' He stood up.

"I'll try it. Then we can decide." He disappeared for a few minutes, then returned. "It's possible. We'll go through the desert."


So... Julia went bye-bye and they're gonna go through the desert. Review!!!