Chapter 10: Battle, Surprises and Requests
Eragon looked up in horror, for the elves were thoroughly unprepared for a battle. He saw Thorn flying towards them, and slowly getting closer.
I must distract them from the elves long enough for the elves to get prepared… What the…?
Below Thorn was a huge army of nearly ten-thousand soldiers in black and crimson amour. They were heading towards the elves, and they were faster than normal humans.
"As a matter of courtesy, I'll let you prepare for battle! You have fifteen minutes before we attack." Murtagh's magnified voice shouted.
All about Eragon was utter turmoil. Elves were running around, pulling their armour over their robes, getting their weapons. The place where the funeral was taking place was not exactly a defendable location. It was a few miles away from the city, in a vast open ground covered with grass. There were a few trees around, but they hardly provided any cover.
No wonder Murtagh could spot us so easily! We should have thought of an attack earlier….
"Eragon, are you going to just stand there? Prepare for battle, shur'tugal!" Izlanzadi shouted at him.
Without a word, Eragon ran towards his tent, but….
"Eragon, before we fight I would like to have a word with you and Saphira, prepared or not prepared, spare me a few minutes and come here!" Murtagh's booming voice said, as Thorn landed a few miles away from both armies.
Saphira?
Forget the saddle, just get on and let's go.
Right!
Eragon jumped onto Saphira's back in a single leap, but as he did so, a consciousness brushed against his which he recognized immediately as Arya's.
Eragon, I am coming with you, wait for me! No Arya, stay with the army, they'll need you. You cannot convince me otherwise, Eragon, if you don't wait for me, I'll run up to where they have landed and join you there! Arya please, I know you are a fearsome warrior but I… Don't you dare say it's too dangerous, Eragon, I have been in many more life threatening situations and have managed to stay alive! Shut up you two! I am taking off, Arya or no Arya!
Wonder why they gave us time to prepare, and what they want to talk to us about? I don't know little one, but be careful, there will be more than just idle friendly talk.
She landed in front of them and Eragon got down from her back, Murtagh was already standing in front of him with a large leather bag at his feet.
"Come here brother, I am not going to eat you up!" Murtagh jested, beckoning him to come close.
Hesitantly approaching him, Eragon asked, "Why did you give us time to prepare when you could have attacked and defeated us when we were not ready, have you …." The rest of his words were silenced when Murtagh embraced him tightly, and said,
"Thank you Eragon! Thank you so much!"
"For what?"
"For giving me and Thorn hope of escape, it's working Eragon, I and Thorn are changing. You know what I mean! Also I thank you for telling the elves the truth of what happened when we fought the elder Rider and dragon. At least they know we were trying to run away, but it was Galbatorix who controlled us. And to express my thanks, I have some gifts for you!" Murtagh said, tears of happiness in his eyes.
Why the heck is everyone around us getting so emotional, first Arya, then Izlanzadi, then the entire Elvin army, now Murtagh, the hardened warrior who didn't care about anyone except himself and Thorn! And to think elves never express their emotions openly, why, my stupid speech made all of them cry. Eragon complained to Saphira, as Murtagh released him and began opening the bag.
Your speech wasn't stupid little one; you might even have surpassed Roran today, though you spoke the truth, whereas Roran speaks what the people want to hear. You're right, thanks, that's quite a remark, coming from a…. WHAT THE HECK?
Murtagh had just opened the bag and pulled the last dragon egg. It shone brilliantly in the sunlight, like an emerald. Eragon looked at the egg, and then at the inside of the bag, which was glowing with different colours of light. Murtagh handed it to him and muttered, "You need it more than me and the king. I hope the next Rider and dragon are on the good side! And there is more, in this bag; it is my personal store of eldunari. I give it to you! You know what an eldunari is, right?"
Eragon nodded, but was so astonished; he was at a loss for words as he took the egg in one hand and the bag in another.
"Today brother, we fight as ourselves, without foreign help!" Murtagh told him.
"Murtagh, won't you get into serious trouble for this? The king won't be happy that you gave us the egg and almost two dozen eldunarya!" Eragon finally managed to say, as he put the egg back inside the bag, after he looked inside. He extended his mind towards the bag nevertheless, and confirmed that it was an egg and eldunari in the bag.
"Not if I can help it, I have a plan, but I'll need your help for this!"
"Of course, Murtagh!"
Arya just came up to them; she gave Eragon a look that would curdle milk, then said, "What do you want, traitor? You killed Oromis and Glaedr, now ….."
"He DID NOT kill them Arya, you heard what I said some time ago, I hope! Don't blame him for something he didn't do!" Eragon said, returning her look with furious eyes, "Anyway co brother.." He saw Arya's look of shock when he called Murtagh 'brother'.
"Well, the king didn't know you would be here, so he thought I and Thorn could easily take out the elves with these soldiers, but since you are here, you saved me a headache. I was supposed to stop the elves, which I wasn't going to do since without the elves, there is hardly any hope of victory over Galbatorix. And then I was ordered to go to Belatona and stop the Varden, and capture you which also I was not going to do. But now that we are fighting here, once you and Saphira defeat us; we'll meet in Belatona, where you can capture me and Thorn. Simple to say but difficult to execute, eh?" Murtagh said.
"But where do you need my help?" Eragon asked, surprised at how bluntly and calmly Murtagh had said that he was to be defeated and captured.
"Why, you have to let me and Thorn escape today of course!" Murtagh said with a grin, and continued, "My idea is that you and I will fight on the ground, whereas our dragons can fight in the air. This way you can defeat me in a 'one-on-one' duel and also Saphira can defeat Thorn. Then all you have to do is act, while I and Thorn escape."
"But why can't I capture you here?" Eragon asked, also grinning now.
"Because I doubt the elves will leave me alone, they will tear me to ribbons with their bare hands." He said, nodding at Arya, who was still shocked," And I…. well, I want to be captured by the Varden!" Murtagh said, the last part rather hurriedly.
"Has this got something to do with seeing Nasuada?" Eragon asked, almost laughing now.
Murtagh face turned bright red as he replied, "Of course not, don't be a fool. And … I….I am sorry for all the trouble I have caused….. I shouldn't have insulted you like that the last time we fought. I was just…. too proud that I was a lot stronger than you, and I thought I could defeat you easily….. Can you forgive me, please?"
He has certainly changed a lot; he never used to ask for forgiveness before, even when it was his mistake. Eragon said to Saphira, disconcerted by Murtagh's change in personality and attitude.
Maybe he was always like this, partner-of -my-heart, but due to death of his friend, Tornac I think, he thought it better not to get close to anyone. I think it's the same with Arya, when her two companions died at the hand of Durza, she probably felt it better to stay away from people, not to get close to anyone to avoid hurting herself emotionally. What you see now is the way they were before tragedies happened in their life. Saphira told him.
How can you understand people so well? Because I am a dragon! Now reply to Murtagh, he must be getting desperate since you have fallen silent.
"Of course my friend and brother, I'll forgive you. You have …" Again his words were cut short when Murtagh embraced him even more tightly, "Come on Murtagh, people are watching us."
"Eragon, how can you forgive him so easily? He may not have intentionally killed Oromis and Glaedr, but he killed Hrothgar, your foster-father! How can you forget that?" Arya practically shouted at him.
Murtagh looked at her with pleading eyes and said, "I did not have a choice in the matter! The King forced me to swear an oath that if the dwarves came I should kill their king in the first chance I got since it would cause complete chaos among the. There was nothing I could do about it, the promise was straightforward and there was no way I could get around it. I must ask the dwarves for forgiveness as well!"
This is really frightening Saphira. Eragon, Murtagh is happy that he has been forgiven, no doubt he was guilty of what he did and when you forgave, all his tension must have been gone, since you are his only friend and hope of freedom. You can't blame him! Thanks Saphira, err….. What is it? Even you are acting quite strange nowadays, especially when I am with Arya! Am I? Listen, Murtagh is saying something!
"Right Eragon, go keep those gifts somewhere safe, pull on your armour and defeat me, let's get this over with!" Murtagh said in a determined voice.
Eragon nodded, and jumped onto Saphira, Arya followed him. Saphira then wordlessly flew towards his tent. While flying, Eragon tried to slip into Saphira's mind without her noticing, but her mind was guarded by extremely strong barriers.
Suddenly, she overturned and flew upside down. Eragon yelled and would have fallen to the ground if he had grabbed her neck spike in time. Arya was not so lucky, when she had been sitting there, she had been sitting behind Eragon and had wrapped both her arms around his chest, when Saphira overturned, Arya screamed at the top of her voice and embraced Eragon around the chest so tightly that he had trouble breathing. Now he was hanging, holding the spike with only with one hand and struggling to pull himself up, while Arya was hanging onto him for dear life.
Saphira! That should teach you not to invade my mind without permission.
I am your rider and partner of mind and heart, how can you say that! Now pull us back up, for Arya's sake at least, if not for mine! Eragon yelled, both physically and mentally.
I don't think so, Arya it's his fault you are in this situation, it will be prudent to blame him rather than me!
Sure Saphira, I won't forgive him now can you please upright yourself? Arya replied frantically, almost pleading with Saphira.
Fine! Saphira replied and turned over.
Eragon didn't speak to her at all, even when they landed. Arya got down before Eragon and took several steps away from Saphira before saying, "Please be careful Eragon, I…I can't lose you, I have already lost a lot, Please, for my sake, be safe and return alive and whole." She looked at him, concern evident on her face and her eyes pleaded at him to do as she asked.
"I will, wiol onr ilian (for your happiness)." Eragon replied, even more surprised now. Where is the cold, unemotional and impassive elf that I knew for so long? Saphira is probably right, this is must the true Arya, under the mask of impassiveness! He thought as he looked at her running towards the battle field, then turned to look at the armies.
Eragon saw that the elves were assembled in front of the opposing army. A third of the elves had departed to Gil'ead to defend it from any invasion, thus it was ten-thousand humans against about twelve-thousand elves.
What makes Galbatorix think he can defeat us with this army? Eragon thought as he kept the bag inside his tent, grabbed Saphira's saddle and his armour and ran outside.
A consciousness brushed against his mind and gently prodded it to show that it meant no harm. After lowering his barriers a little bit, he realized that it was Thorn.
Murtagh forgot to tell you, but those soldiers are immune to pain and have half-a-dozen wards on them which can anything and everything from harming them. They have only one weakness, unless you want to circumvent those wards.
His voice was a gentle, masculine voice, not unlike Glaedr's, but still gave a feeling of ferocity to the listener.
Well, what's the weakness? Eragon said quickly.
Fire! Heat will burn away their wards, since they have stop anything from harming the soldiers, enchanted fire which cannot be extinguished will be the best way to do that. Saphira can do it.
Thanks Thorn! How do you know this? Eragon said, again surprised by their bluntness.
"My Master Shruikan told me." Thorn said and withdrew from his mind.
Right. Eragon replied as he climbed onto Saphira and contacted the Queen, telling them about the soldiers, their weakness and his plan for Saphira to envelope their entire army in a raging fire, while the elves enchanted it to make it inextinguishable.
Saphira was silent throughout his narration after which, with the Queen's consent, she wordlessly flew towards the soldiers, while Eragon pulled on various parts of his armour. As soon as the soldiers were in range of her fire, Saphira released a sapphire blue inferno at them. Immediately the elves began enchanting. The soldiers hurriedly shot dark arrows at them, which were made in order to circumvent any wards, so they weren't stopped by the wards Eragon had placed around them. But Saphira just burnt the arrows and covered the archers in the inferno. Eragon saw Thorn hovering a little distance away, not even attempting to stop Saphira from burning the soldiers. After several minutes, the entire army was covered in the inferno. Then, Saphira started flying towards Thorn. The soldiers below them were trying to get away from the fire, or trying to extinguish it, but they were unsuccessful. Soon their wards were gone, and the elves stopped enchanting, so the fire soon died away, burning a few soldiers as it did. The wards of the soldiers were gone, but regardless of that fact, they charged towards the elves, overconfident due to the fact that they were painless.
Saphira, I am sorry I should not have shouted at you. Eragon said, in an attempt to make her talk to him again. He didn't think just trying to get into her mind would make her that angry.
No reply.
SAPHIRA, CAN YOU HEAR ME?
Yes Eragon, now get off and fight Murtagh. She said crossly.
Eragon promptly jumped down, utterly confused by her reaction.
It'll have to wait. He thought, as he drew Brisingr, and Murtagh likewise drew Zar'roc.