Disclaimer: I do not own Eragon or Halo
A/N: I'm sorry! I'm late again! at least it's not a month long wait... I wont do that to you guys, I promise! Anyway, my chapters seem to be getting longer and longer, so I guess that's part of the reason why. anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and special thanks to those constantly reviewing and providing their suppourt!
Chapter 10: Terim
Roran looked back as the rest of the people of Carvahall staggered into the clearing. It had been several weeks in the Spine, and thankfully they had made it out with only a few minor wounds. The worst was when a villager broke his leg when he slipped and fell off a steep hillside towards a cliff. Thankfully, his decent had been slowed by a bush which caught his arm, causing him to break the leg when his body swung into a rock at full force. At least he was still alive.
Roran returned his gaze forward, looking at the magnificent walls of Terim. His plan had been to hire a ship to carry them to Surda, and if there was a ship that would do that, his first place to look would be Terim. Turning back, he motioned for Horst and Baldor to follow him as he walked towards the gates.
"Hold, state your name and business traveler," shouted one of the guards beside the gate.
Roran calmly replied "We are here to charter a ship for a delivery."
The guard was not satisfied, "What are you planning on delivering?" He asked.
Roran was at a loss for words, he had not thought that far in his cover up story yet.
"We are here to deliver livestock, our village has been destroyed, and we are in desperate need for money to rebuild. We were hoping to find a buyer here in the walls of Terim," said Horst, as he stepped up to cover Roran's lapse.
The guard nodded sympathetically. "Aye you'll find a buyer of livestock here," he said as he stepped aside to let them pass.
"Thanks" Roran muttered to Horst as they stepped into Terim.
"No problem, it's not only your life on the line here, it's all of ours.
Looking up, Roran realized that he was in the center of the city, right beside the notification pole. Curiosity got the better of him as he walked up to it to take a look. To his shock, he saw his own image staring back at him, with a price of 50,000 for whoever captured or killed him. I'm that valuable to the empire? Thought Roran. His shock was immediately swamped when he saw Eragon's image, with a price of over two million for his capture only. It also stated that if anyone brought in a dead Eragon, they would be punished greatly.
What in the world did Eragon do to the king to piss him off this much? Leading to capture only? That means that the King is planning on his own methods of torture, or that means that the King wants him for a twisted use thought Roran in shock.
Continuing on, he saw another wavier, this one offering a 100,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of the force of two million men sent into the Hadrac Desert. No doubt the men got lost, and died from thirst thought Roran.
Shaking his head, Roran resolved to grow a beard as he entered the nearest tavern.
"I'm looking for someone who would be willing to deliver some cargo at an extremely low price" Said Roran hopefully, although he had grave doubts of who would actually accept.
A man in the back snorted, no one here kid, although your best bet would be Jeod, he's been desperate for work lately, but no one is willing to ask him, because his goods have been consistently targeted by pirates these days, the poor man can't send a ship out without it being lost at sea.
At this, Roran's interest was piqued, "Where does this Jeod live?" he asked as he walked towards the man.
The man thought for a while, "He's in the rich neighborhood, you'll find him next door to a closed apothecary. It's down the road, to the left."
Roran nodded his thanks and left the tavern. He walked to the door the man had pointed out and knocked on it timidly. A woman answered the door, and glared at him questioningly. "Does Jeod live here?" asked Roran nervously. He did not like the glare that the woman was giving him.
"Jeod is in his study," she said stiffly, "please wait for me to get him."
Roran gave a mental sigh of relief as the woman walked away, presumably to get Jeod. After a few minutes, a tall man with dark rings around his eyes walked down the hall towards them. Smiling shakily, he introduced himself, "I am Jeod, what may I help you with?"
"We wish to charter a ship, to be able to transport a herd of animals," Said Roran.
Jeod smiled sadly, "I'm afraid I cannot help, my ships are disappearing and no one will be willing to take such a job from me. Superstition you see, - here, how about you come in and I can discuss other options, I can see that you desperately need help, and it is not in my nature to leave those in need to rot in the streets."
Roran nodded as he and his companions stepped in. "Roran, do you think we can trust him?" murmured Horst, as they walked down the hall.
"Do we have a choice Horst? After all, we have no other way to get to Surda," replied Roran.
Suddenly, they noticed Jeod had stopped. Slowly, Jeod turned around, and asked slowly, "Roran? As in Eragon's cousin?" he asked.
Roran felt a flash of panic, as he stood rooted to the spot, berating himself for being so careless.
Horst lunged forward, and pulled his knife from his belt, putting it at Jeod's neck and whispering menacingly, to him "What do you know about Eragon, and Roran?" he hissed. "I want to hear some answers. Talk!"
Despite the dagger at his neck, Jeod turned to Roran and smiled, "Yes, I can see the resemblance, although Eragon seemed to be a shade shorter than you."
Roran's interest was piqued, "You know Eragon?" he asked.
"Yes, he and Brom passed by a few months ago, tracking down the Ra'zac who I believe killed your father," Said Jeod. "Just in case you don't believe me, Brom is an old man, who walks with a staff, and carried the occupation of a storyteller in your village, am I correct? Eragon was the smaller version of you, with a quick temper and never stops asking questions. Now, can you please release me so that we can talk in the privacy of my study?" asked Jeod.
Roran nodded to Horst, signaling him to let go of Jeod. "Very well," he said.
Jeod closed the door with a sigh, turning back to them and offering them a smile. "Perhaps we can exchange our stories?" he asked.
Roran nodded and began retelling his journey.
Afterwards, Jeod leaned back and smiled, "Incredible, for you to bring the entire village here, from one of the most important cities in the empire, and have no one the wiser, just incredible." Turning his attention back to Roran, he smiled, saying "Then it appears that I can help you after all, however, I also will have to go with you."
Roran quickly tried to speak, but Jeod cut him off "No, no, I was meaning to move on my own, however, I did not have the crew to make an escape from Terim, and I cannot sail a ship alone. However, now that you are here, we may be able to help each other, and all escape to Surda, provided that you allow me to come with you of course."
"That would be no problem" replied Roran, "But what do you propose to do?"
Jeod smirked, "did you see that ship out there, when you were walking down the street?" he asked pointing to a ship in the harbor.
Roran nodded his affirmation.
"That is the Dragon's Wing, the fastest ship in the empire. I propose we hijack it and sail for Surda. It'll be at least three days before the empire will be able to put together a force to chase us down, and by then, we'll be long gone," said Jeod.
Roran slowly nodded. It was an excellent plan in his mind. "Let's do it then, when should we begin?"
Jeod seemed mildly surprised, "How about tomorrow, there's no sense in waiting any longer." He said.
Roran nodded, "We'll be there."
The next day
Roran led the village of Carvahall through the gates, and to Jeod's home, where they would be staying until Baldor came to get them. His handpicked men had concealed some equipment so as to help them with hijacking the Dragon's Wing.
Meeting up with Jeod, who had a rapier strapped to his waist, Roran and his men continued to the wharfs.
Nodding to each other, and confirming the plan, Roran and his men quickly slipped into the water while the guards were distracted by Jeod. Climbing the rigging like they were born to, Roran silently jumped onto the deck with his men. Within minutes, the ship was theirs.
Signaling Baldor to get the villagers, Roran settled down and waited for the next step.
After hearing a shout from Baldor several minutes later, Roran stood to see the village beginning to embark. Roran's satisfaction quickly turned to horror as the alarms began ringing, and soldiers started rushing towards the wharf.
The villagers also heard the alarm. Abandoning their supplies, they quickly stampeded up onto the boat and began pushing away from the harbor with the long wooden poles designed for the purpose. Sighing, Roran joined them, noting that their food supplies were now dangerously low, as many lay discarded on the pier.
Pushing with all his might, Jeod's helpers quickly ran up the masts to unfurl the sails, and provide them with a much needed boost in speed. Slowly, the Dragon's Wing inched out of the harbor and into the open sea. Roran quickly dispatched villagers to get below decks and begin rowing, to get the ship out before the soldiers organized themselves.
The Dragon's Wing finally reached the open sea, and leapt forward, as if she was eager to get away from Terim as well.
Roran had just slumped to the deck in relief, when he saw two warships detach themselves from the harbor and give chase. He shot up and reached for a weapon before Jeod walked behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Relax; they wouldn't be able to catch the Dragon's Wing now. She's the fastest ship the empire has ever built."
Roran realized that Jeod was right, as the ships quickly fell far behind.
Two days later
Roran's tension had returned, as he gazed at the two ships that had yet to refuse to give up. "They are catching up" he said, to Jeod.
Jeod grimaced "I forgot they had magicians in their fleets. You don't happen to have any villagers capable of magic do you?" he asked.
Roran shook his head.
Jeod sighed, "Then we must prepare for a battle, they will catch up by the end of today."
He was interrupted when the ship trembled, as if it had hit a reef.
"Wha-?" Jeod was interrupted by a shriek high above them, one that made Roran want to hide in a hole and never come out again.
He looked up in horror as a beast, flew out of the sky, leathery wings extended, and carrying a Ra'zac on its back.
Just then, a massive spray of water erupted beside the ship. Roran turned to see their pursuers launching great flaming boulders at him. He realized in horror that the ships were gaining at a much faster rate than before.
Roran quickly began dispatching orders to the villagers. However, he knew that they had already lost. The flying beasts could easily keep up and even ram the ship, and their pursuers were now so close that Roran could see the leering faces of the men on the ship. As if to seal their doom, twin balls of green flame arced from the ships and hit the Dragon's Wing's main mast, exploding, and consuming it in an instant. The ship began sinking, and Roran finally gave up, as he uttered a prayer that Katrina would be released after he died.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of thunder, a mere twenty meters away. He clamped his hands to his ears in pain as the sound rolled over him, compressing his battered body into the capsizing ship. He looked up in shock to see a ship, much larger than any he had ever seen before. Somehow, the ship looked… wrong, It took a while for him to realize that it was made entirely of a strange grey metal. Just as he reached that thought, the long tubes sticking out over the side blew identical trails of flame from their ends, as the sound of thunder repeated. This time, he heard an echo accompanied by the sound of massive amounts of water being displaced. He turned around to see nine geysers erupt around their pursuers.
"Kid if you wanna drown, then stay there, this craft is filled anyway, but they insisted to come back for you!" shouted a voice from his left.
Roran turned to see a man wearing a peculiar mottled green vest and helmet reaching out with his hand towards him from another boat made of the same material. Instinctively, he grabbed the proffered hand, and was hauled aboard.
"Roran, are you alright?" asked Horst.
Before he could reply, the guns fired again, causing their small ship to yaw, and sending another nine geysers erupting around the ship.
The man who had saved him frowned. "Strange, the guns of the UNSC Victory are usually much more accurate than they are now. It's unheard of for them to miss three salvos in a row."
Jeod offered an explanation from his ship, which was currently being hauled up by cables of a kind Roran had never seen. "There are magicians aboard that ship; chances are that they are diverting your shots into the sea around them."
The man sighed. "That sucks, Looks like we're going to have to just keep firing."
He was interrupted when the "guns" fired again. This time, one of the pursuing ships erupted into a fireball three times its size. Roran stared in shock as the other one fired a flaming crossbow at the Victory only to have it skid harmlessly off the metal plates and fall harmlessly into the sea.
His thoughts were interrupted, as he felt himself moving up. He looked around in surprise to see them being hauled aboard the Victory. Just as his smaller craft cleared the deck, seven strange angular looking birds leapt forward, off the deck, only to rise up and climb higher than even the clouds.
"What are those?" asked Roran as he wondered how objects so large could fly with such ease.
"Those are our F99 UAVs," said the man who had saved him. "They are currently protecting the skies after those three flying zombies were sighted."
The guns fired again, and the second pursuer vanished in another fireball.
Just then, Roran saw the three "flying zombies" circling above. Two disengaged and flew back towards the mainland while the third stayed behind, to slow down the "UAVs".
It barely lasted two minutes as a rhythmic clattering sound drifted downwards, and the beast dropped from the sky, blue gore dripping from several small, precise holes in the thing.
"Hmm, they bleed blue, kind of reminds me of the covvies during the war," mused a man who was obviously the captain of the ship.
He turned around, and smiled. "Hello, and welcome to the UNSC Victory of the wet navy. Details are classified, but know that we have orders from higher up to bring you to Surda. Apparently, it was a request from the Master Chief himself, to Lasky. I'm honored to have you aboard. "
Roran was in a daze, "How did you find us?" he asked.
The man smirked as he pointed upwards. "The UNSC Infinity is currently in orbit above us. Cloaked, of course or you'll be seeing a big-ass ship floating along, blocking out half the stars of whatever galaxy we're in. Anyway, her cameras tracked everything that happened to you, and we cross-referenced it with all major settlements on the continent. After that, it was easy to guess where you were headed."
Roran barely grasped what the man was talking about. "But how did you know we were heading to Surda?" he asked
The captain smirked, "We never did, we had orders to bring you to Surda, the fact that you were actually heading there was merely a coincidence."
Roran nodded his understanding, "What is this ship made of, and how is it floating?" he continued his stream of questions.
The captain's mood grew even more serious than before. "The first is classified information. The second question can be answered with air. The total density of this ship is less than that of the water because there is a lot of air in this ship. However, if you were to crush her into a ball and drop her into the water, she would drop like a stone. Here, take some clay, and mold it into a ship, now put it on water. It floats, see? However, if you crush it, then put it in water, it sinks. That is why our ship floats. It's because of the total density of it."
Roran's mind was reeling at the thought and what the captain had shown him. He could have been listening to quantum theory for all he knew (not that he knows what the hell quantum theory is).
"Ookay…" he said. "One last question; which person was the one that came up with the idea to help us?" he asked
The captain blinked, "Don't you know him?" he asked.
Roran shook his head.
The captain gave a short laugh before replying, "Why you're cousin Eragon, of course."
A/N: This is the chapter, and to me, it seems a bit rushed, and confusing at times. I just feel like this chapter isn't the best one I have written. I will probably be rewriting it when I find the time to. Anyway, hope you guys still liked it, if not, please tell me what I'm doing wrong! Thanks again! (Also I know that there were only two Lethrblaka, however, I felt like there needed to be two to match up with the Ra'zac. And I think there should be two Ra'zac alive when Eragon invades Helgrind (I'm looking forward to that chapter btw) so that both He and Roran can find closure with the two Ra'zac.)
Hope the reviews continue! Many thanks!