Percy's Point of View

I was going to lie down and go back to sleep but before I could I heard Roran calling us. I got up again, wondering if I would get any sleep, and went to see what was going on. Roran didn't stop until most of Carvahall stood before him, Roran was silent at first and his left hand was clenched into a fist. When he raised his hand and opened it, we could see that his fist had been so tight that his fingernails had dug into his palm causing it to bleed. I wondered why he had called us all out here and that question was eventually answered after he started speaking.

"This," he said, "is my pain. Look well, for it will be yours unless we defeat the curse wanton fate has set upon us. Your friends and family will be bound in chains, destined for slavery in foreign lands, or slain before your eyes, hewn open by soldiers' merciless blades. Galbatorix will sow our land with salt so that it lies forever fallow. This I have seen. This I know." He paced like a caged wolf, glowering and swinging his head. "My father was killed by the desecrators. My cousin has fled. My farm was razed. And my bride-to-be was kidnapped by her own father, who murdered Byrd and betrayed us all! Quimby eaten, the hay barn burned along with Fisk's and Delwin's houses. Parr, Wyglif, Ged, Bardrick, Farold Kelby, Melkolf, Albem, and Elmund: all slain. Many of you have been injured, like me, so that you can no longer support your family. Isn't it enough that we toil every day of our lives to eke a living from the earth, subjected to the whims of nature? Isn't it enough that we are forced to pay Galbatorix's iron taxes, without also having to endure these senseless torments?" Roran laughed maniacally, howling at the sky and hearing the madness in his own voice. No one stirred in the crowd.

"I know now the true nature of the Empire and of Galbatorix; they are evil. Galbatorix is an unnatural blight on the world. He destroyed the Riders and the greatest peace and prosperity we ever had. His servants are foul demons birthed in some ancient pit. But is Galbatorix content to grind us beneath his heel? No! He seeks to poison all of Alagaësia, to suffocate us with his cloak of misery. Our children and their descendants shall live in the shadow of his darkness until the end of time, reduced to slaves, worms, vermin for him to torture at his pleasure. Unless..."

I had to admit he was making a rather impressive speech. He was obviously trying to motivate everyone to try and escape the situation we were in and I guessed he had probably come up with a way to do that.

As Roran continued it became clear that he had.

He said, "Unless we have the courage to resist evil. "We've fought the soldiers and the Ra'zac, but it means nothing if we die alone and forgotten—or are carted away as chattel. We cannot stay here, and I won't allow Galbatorix to obliterate everything that's worth living for. I would rather have my eyes plucked out and my hands chopped off than see him triumph! I choose to fight! I choose to step from my grave and let my enemies bury themselves in it! "I choose to leave Carvahall. "I will cross the Spine and take a ship from Narda down to Surda, where I will join the Varden, who have struggled for decades to free us of this oppression."

The other villagers looked shocked at the idea, but Roran wasn't done talking, "But I do not wish to go alone. Come with me. and seize this chance to forge a better life for yourselves. Throw off the shackles that bind you here." Roran pointed at us, moving his finger from one person to the next. "A hundred years from now, what names shall drop from the bards' lips? Horst... Birgit... Kiselt... Thane; they will recite our sagas. They will sing "The Epic of Carvahall," for we were the only village brave enough to defy the Empire."

"What could be more noble than cleansing Galbatorix's stain from Alagaësia? No more would we live in fear of having our farms destroyed or being killed and eaten. The grain we harvest would be ours to keep, save for any extra that we might send as a gift to the rightful king. The rivers and streams would run thick with gold. We would be safe and happy and fat! "It is our destiny."

Roran held his hand before his face and slowly closed his fingers over the bleeding wounds. He stood hunched over his injured arm as he waited for a response to his speech. None came. Roran stood up straighter and resumed speaking. "Our age is at an end. We must step forward and cast our lot with the Varden if we and our children are to live free." When Roran eventually finished he said, "I march in two days. Accompany me if you wish, but I go regardless." He bowed his head and stepped out of the light.

Overhead, the waning moon glowed behind a lens of clouds. A slight breeze wafted through Carvahall. An iron weather vane creaked on a roof as it swung in the direction of the current. From within the crowd, Birgit picked her way into the light, clutching the folds of her dress to avoid tripping. With a subdued expression, she adjusted her shawl. "Today we saw an..." She stopped, shook her head, and laughed in an embarrassed way. "I find it hard to speak after Roran. I don't like his plan, but I believe that it's necessary, although for a different reason: I would hunt down the Ra'zac and avenge my husband's death. I will go with him. And I will take my children."

She too stepped away from the torch. A silent minute passed, then Delwin and his wife, Lenna, advanced with their arms around each other. Lenna looked at Birgit and said, "I understand your need, Sister. We want our vengeance as well, but more than that, we want the rest of our children to be safe. For that reason, we too will go." Several women whose husbands had been killed came forward and agreed with her. The villagers murmured among themselves, then fell silent and motionless. No one else seemed willing to address the subject I could understand why it would most likely be a difficult decision for the villagers to make.

Horst strode to the torch and stared with a drawn face into the flame. "It's no good talking anymore... We need time to think. Every man must decide for himself. Tomorrow... tomorrow will be another day. Perhaps things will be clearer then." He shook his head and lifted the torch, then inverted it and extinguished it against the ground, leaving everyone to find their way home in the moonlight.

The next day the villagers who would be going with Roran were packing their things. I was going to go with them but obviously, I didn't really have to worry too much about packing since I didn't exactly have much. It seemed most of the villagers weren't ready to admit if they would be going or not, but their preparations were pretty obvious. I helped out a bit since I didn't really have anything better to do. I realized that after we leave, I might be able to help the villagers with more than just fighting since it seemed we would eventually be traveling by boat.

Later that day I ran into Roran and I couldn't help but mention his speech from the night before. I said, "That was an impressive speech you gave last night, I suspect most of the village will go with you,"

Roran acknowledged my comment, yet he didn't seem entirely pleased by how effective his speech had been. It seemed like he was thinking about saying something but hesitated. Finally, he said, "I didn't really want to lead everyone, I was just trying to persuade them to come with me,"

I nodded understanding, I'd never really wanted to lead during the wars either but after everything I'd done it seemed everyone just started to see me as their leader. It was obvious that the same thing had happened to Roran since he was one of the only people in the village who'd actually killed some of the soldiers and he'd killed more of them than anyone else.

I replied, "I know how you feel, back home before I was betrayed many people who I considered friends saw me as their leader because of things I'd done. I didn't really want to lead them either, I just wanted to fit in with everyone else rather than everyone thinking I was better than them,"

It seemed that little bit of information about my past made him curious to try and find out more.

He asked, "What did you do that made them see you like that?"

I replied, "Most of them thought I was the best swordsman in the camp, and I defeated a lot of powerful enemies over the years. My parentage didn't help matters either since my father is one of the more powerful gods,"

He just nodded accepting that answer.

Obviously, I hadn't told Roran my entire past I just explained that I was a demigod and blessed by two other gods and that's why I had special powers. I hadn't told the villagers about all of my powers either. I'd told them that I had more than just controlling water, but I had really explained what the other ones were yet

Roran asked, "Are you going?"

I replied, "Yes I don't really have anywhere else to go and it's certainly not safe to stay here, although I'm not looking forward to being in another war,"

"Another war?" Roran asked sounding surprised since I hadn't mentioned the wars yet.

I replied, "Yes, back home I fought in two of them, the first one was really when everyone started to see me as their leader,"

I talked to Roran for a little while longer although my past didn't really come up again. After that conversation came to an end, I couldn't help but think about everyone back home and wonder why almost all of them had betrayed me. Eventually though I thought of something that left me slightly annoyed at myself but also worried, I'd thought of my mother and realized that she was probably worried about me. I didn't know if she would know what had happened to me but If she had heard from someone, she was probably worried. If she didn't know she might not be worried yet since she would probably think I was still at camp.

This realisation made me want to contact her somehow, but I didn't know if I could. I didn't know if Iris messaging would work from here, and even if it did the gods might have made Iris not allow me to contact anyone. I did have a couple of drachmas from before I was sent here but I still had no Idea if it would work.

I supposed the only thing I could do was try so I walked toward the river thinking that if I did it there, I might be less likely to be seen if it did work. I used my powers to bring up some water and used it to make a rainbow I decided to throw in both drachmas, yes, I was technically Bribing Iris but if she did let me contact my mom, she would be getting extra for letting me talk to my mom when I was so far away.

Unfortunately, though that would also mean that I wouldn't be able to contact my mom again if this did work. If it didn't work, well I wouldn't really need the drachmas anyway since I wouldn't be able to use them here. I was pretty surprised when it actually worked. My mom was clearly surprised when the message appeared in front of her. As I talked to her it became clear that she did know what had happened to me, apparently, Nico had heard, and he stopped by and told her. Due to this, she was worried about me and she was also clearly furious with my father for him betraying me and agreeing with the banishment.

I told her that I was okay and although I didn't want to worry her, I told her about some of the things that had happened since I got here and that I had made a few new friends, mainly Roran, and a few other villagers who were around my own age. After I eventually swiped through the message I wondered if there could be some other way to contact her since I used the only drachmas I had, and I should probably contact my mom eventually just to let her know how I'm doing.

The next day Everyone who was leaving Carvahall gathered together and began the trek into the mountains. When I'd noticed that Morn, the tavern owner was bringing several casks of beer I could only think, seriously? But I didn't bother saying anything even though it seemed unnecessary to bring them. I did hear that it was the last batch Quimby had made but that didn't really change my opinion. I knew it wouldn't be easy for everyone to make it through the spine and to Narda Alive, but I would try to make sure that everyone would survive it.