Chapter Ten: Several People Show Up at the Same Time

A/N So, at the end of last chapter when I asked, I only expected one, or maybe two, ideas and then I'd pick the one I liked the most. What I got was three good ideas, and I didn't want to pick one.

So I thought, okay, how am I going to do this? I couldn't really think of anything, and then this idea hit me. I don't know if any of you have read the Crucible, but in the first scene, several characters sort of show up and cram into one room, so I've decided to do something on those lines.

Thank You to SOReality, Grammar Nazi co, and unknown Guest reviewer for giving your suggestions.

To answer the three guest reviews,

Chapter Seven: yes

Chapter Eight: yes

Chapter Nine: glad you still like it

And also, I'd recommend you get an account, so I can give you some credit and stuff.

ON TO THE STORY!

Eragon was nearly vibrating in excitement as he looked up at the stone towers which housed the Eldunari and the dragon eggs. Arya had just sent him a note by means of grass boat asking Saphira and himself to meet her there.

If you do much more trembling, little one, you shall addle your brain, said Saphira, laughing in that odd way she did.

Hush Sheep-Biter.

I'll get you for that!

Truth be told, despite her remarks, Saphira was just as excited as Eragon. She was quite fond of Arya, especially since Eragon liked her.

Blodhgarm came to meet them.

"Atra esterni ono thelduin!"

"Atra du evarinya ono varda."

"Un atra mor'ranr lifa unin hjarta onr, Eragon-elda. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

He and Blodhgarm had spent several days getting to know each other as the had occasionally worked together on particularly stubborn Eldunari. Eragon now trusted him above all the other spell-casters.

"Arya Svit-kona sent me this letter asking me to meet her here at this hour."

"She has yet to arrive."

"I understand. May I wait here for her arrival, Blodhgarm-vor?"

"You are always welcome here."

Eragon smiled as they went in and Saphira remained outside, content to curl up and have a short nap.

"How is Hvitrdramur?"

"My mate is well, as always."

"Good, good."

Blodhgarm and Eragon walked over to the balcony they usually sat on and looked out at the serene landscape.

"Well, if it isn't Firesword!"

Eragon started at hearing the name the Urgals gave him coming from a human tongue, and whirled around, hand going to his sword, before realizing it was Angela, Solembum at her heels as per usual.

The hat that Eragon had seen her knitting about three months ago were on her head.

"You know, you never told me what those runes meant," Eragon said.

"I told you that you wouldn't understand anyway."

"I suppose you being here means that there is something interesting about to happen?"

Angela chuckled.

"I suppose you aren't as blind as I thought."

Eragon wasn't sure whether to be pleased or offended. He went with pleased.

"Thank you."

"Why, you're welcome."

Blodhgarm smiled up at the herbalist.

"How did you like the Rider Eggs, Fricai Wyrda?"

Fate Friend? Eragon wondered to himself.

"I think the gold one with the black markings, and the purple one with the white markings are going to be the next ones."

"I see. Should we give those to Arya when she arrives?"

"Arya is coming?"

"Yes," said Eragon, joining the conversation. He handed Angela the letter.

As she read it, Eragon restlessly turned southward. As he looked, a bright red dot appeared on the horizon.

Saphira look.

Saphira stirred and looked where he was gesturing. In shock she said,

That's Thorn!

Eragon ran off the balcony, through the rooms and out to where Saphira was now awake. They could see Thorn clearly now, carrying three people on his back.

Blodhgarm, Angela and Solembum joined them, as well as another elf, Yaela.

Thorn landed next to Saphira, and the three people riding him dismounted. It was Murtagh, Nasuada, and Elva.

"Nasuada!" Eragon exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Murtagh? Could you tell him?"

"Thorn and I have felt a burst of magical energy that we've both identified as highly dangerous. It originated from somewhere to the south of Du Weldenvarden."

"So you brought Nasuada and Elva as well?"

"No Eragon," Nasuada said. "He came to my hall looking for you, but you weren't there. He asked me, citing his reason, and I insisted I come."

"As for me," Elva said, "I insist on going wherever Nasuada does."

Eragon quietly accepted their explanations.

"I might ask what Angela is doing here."

"It caught my fancy."

While they were talking, a dragon they had never seen before crept up to them.

Eragon was in the midst of hearing a story that Murtagh was telling about meeting an Urgal even bigger than the Kull, when Arya spoke from astride her dragon, amusement coloring her voice.

"Well this is quite a merry gathering!"

Eragon turned and was dumbstruck.

"Arya! You- But-"

Arya laughed as what Eragon was going to say died down into incoherent noises.

"Firnen here hatched for me!"

The dragon was a beautiful green color, verging on white near his belly. Arya's expression then turned more serious.

"I didn't ask you here to show off my dragon though, Eragon. Our entire nation is in turmoil over the burst of energy we sensed two days ago."

"Why didn't Saphira and I sense it?"

We were mopping up the rebels in Aroughs two days ago. The ones who ran into the swamp.

"Why is this burst so important that it would bring all of you back into this part of Alagaesia?"

"Because-" Arya started before a huge boulder twenty feet to their left cracked and five figure stepped out of it.

Eragon's first thought was, could this day get any weirder?

Will looked at the group of people they had stumbled on when they first walked out of the path to the Underworld. They were an odd group.

There was a black woman with a simple crown, more of a northern Europe style, than the golden laurel wreaths favored by the Greek kings he had come across. Next to her was a man with black clothes who stood near her protectively. Will knew there was something between the two. On the other side was a girl that Will assumed to be about ten.

Across from them was a teenaged boy with features very similar to Oromis, with their feline sharpness and grace, but with a certain ruggedness, and a bit of stubble. With him was a female elf, and a woman with a cloud of curly hair.

As well there was a human-like wolf with black fur, and another female elf, who stood very close to the teenaged boy. Will could tell that the two liked each other, the boy more so than the elf.

What really took him aback though, were three huge dragons, the largest being the red one, but the blue one wasn't too far behind, and the green one being a bit smaller than that. Will could tell that the blue one was the female.

Nico glared at the group of people, specifically the wolf. The dragons he didn't mind so much as the fact that these people were allowing that werewolf scum to remain alive.

Nico drew his Stygian Iron sword and charged, ignoring Will and Reyna's yells to come back and don't be stupid.

The older boy charged to meet him, his speed far exceeding any humans. Nico had trained under similar circumstances however: the dead are not encumbered by physical concerns.

Nico barely registered that the boy's sword was of a bright, gleaming blue, before they began dueling fiercely, Nico holding his own despite his opponent's clear superiority in speed and strength.

Eragon couldn't believe what was happening. Any human opponent should already be disarmed or dead. It wasn't just a question of different techniques, this boy seemed to know exactly how to compensate for increased speed.

His sword had also caught his eye. It was black as ink, with a skull for a pommel. It lacked any sort of gemstone, but it was clearly not a normal metal.

Is it brightsteel? Eragon wondered.

Elva shrieked, just as the odd sword bit into his side.

Reyna charged down to the fight, hoping that no one would prevent her from restraining the fool.

She cursed Nico as she ran. She reached the fight, already predicting where Nico was going to roll next. As he did so, she grabbed him, and pulled him away from the strange warrior. He looked at her in confusion as the rest of the demigods arrived.

One of them, Marco she thought, spoke, "We're all very sorry about this idiot. We didn't mean to attack you."

Will bent down to examine Eragon's wound.

"I don't understand this. You can't be mortal, otherwise the sword would have passed right through you, but you didn't dissolve either."

Reyna was already yelling at Nico in Latin.

"You idiot di Angelo!" she yelled in that language. "Why did you attack them!"

Nico glared at Reyna and pointed at the wolf and said in English, "The werewolf."

Eragon was thoroughly confused, as was the rest of the group. One of the strange boy's companions had come to restrain him, another had apologized, and a third had looked at him and said something incomprehensible about not being mortal and the sword destroying him.

Now the girl who had restrained the boy was yelling at him in a language he had never heard before. Then the boy had pointed at Blodhgarm and said, "The werewolf."

Eragon had no idea how to react and was surprised when Blodhgarm and Angela both burst out laughing.

"I am not one of those silly little legends boy. I am an elf!"

"What do you mean?" Nasuada asked.

Angela explained.

"When humans landed back in Alagaesia, one of their first reactions was that elves were wolf-men who could assume a human form. They called them werewolves."

The girl who had been yelling in the odd language, as well as the boy with black hair and stormy grey eyes both looked at her askance.

"But there is a such thing!" the girl protested.

"We just said there isn't," argued Angela.

"But King Lycaon was turned into one by Zeus for trying to feed him human flesh," explained the boy.

"Who is Zeus?"

Oromis had warned them that the people of Alagaesia were unfamiliar with the ancient Greek stories, but Marco hadn't been expecting this.

"Maybe before we get into this, we ought to have some introductions, and some explanations?"

"Let's do!" said the curly-haired woman.

"I'm Wilbur Marco, son of Athena. This is Will Solace, son of Apollo, and his boyfriend Nico di Angelo, son of Hades." Several of the people seemed surprised by the gay relationship. The elves, and the curly-haired woman weren't but the rest seemed slightly troubled, as if such a relationship had never occurred to them.

"Here we have Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, daughter of Bellona. Our last member is Christine Grant, Daughter of Vulcan."

The boy who had dueled with Nico, who looked like a mix between a human and an elf, spoke first.

"I am Eragon Shadeslayer, Son of Brom. This is my dragon, Saphira." He indicated the blue dragon.

The black woman spoke next.

"I am Nasuada, High Queen of the Broddring Kingdom."

Then the young girl stepped forward. She was quite striking, with violet eyes, and her hair brushed aside to reveal a silver star on her forehead. She introduced herself in the voice of an adult, which made the demigods flinch.

"I am Elva Farseer."

Nico chose to speak.

"You have suffered more death than you can bear Farseer, and not by your own volition it seems."

Elva gasped.

"How can you know this?"

"My father is Hades, God of the Underworld."

The elves looked at Nico as though he had gone insane. The man in black stepped forward.

"I am Murtagh, Son of Morzan. This is my dragon, Thorn." He waved vaguely at the red dragon.

"I am Angela," said the curly-haired woman, "and this is my long faithful companion, Solembum." Angela indicated an odd-looking cat.

"My name is Arya Drottningu," said one of the female elves, the one with the black hair, "and this is my dragon Firnen." Marco found Arya to be one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, but it was impossible to avoid noticing how Eragon looked at her. Best not to get involved.

"I am Yaela," the other female elf said.

The wolf-elf then spoke, "My name is Blodhgarm, and I choose to look like this. I admire the creatures of the wild. Some elves look far stranger than myself, but I cannot turn back at will."

Marco found these introductions to be quite satisfactory.

"Tell me please," asked Arya, "You have told us who you are, but not quite what you are."

Will answered, "We are demigods. One of our parents is a god, the other a human."

"Elves don't believe in gods."

"Yes, Oromis told us this."

Eragon reeled.

How could they possibly know who Oromis is?

The one you fought mentioned an Underworld. Saphira answered.

"Please describe Oromis for us," Eragon said.

The one called Christine answered.

"He was tall and kindly. He had silver hair and a certain wiseness about him, but also a certain sadness. Hades also said, 'In life, he was crippled by magic.'"

Eragon stared in wonderment. They truly knew him.

Arya's mind had been working quickly.

"If you've just come from this Underworld, then there must be a reason."

The boy, Nico answered.

"Five spirits have escaped into your land. Three of them are vilified in our world. Octavian, who nearly wiped out half of the Demigods. Bryce, who killed his own centurion and enjoys inflicting pain. Tantalus, who killed his children and tried to feed them to the gods."

"The other two are Alagaesian?" Arya asked.

"Yes. One of them is known as Carsaib."

Eragon gasped and Arya looked at him.

"What?"

"That was the name of the human who became Durza."

"The other was King Galbatorix."

There was a sudden explosion of noise as every Alagaesian tried to talk at the same time.

Wow, I can't believe I wrote this much in one chapter! 2,446 words at that. I'm sorry if it dragged, especially at the introductions. I wanted to get the Demigods' reactions.

See you soon!

-LordofNothing1