Disclaimer: I do not own the Inheritance Cycle. All rights go to Christopher Paolini.
Drifting.
Yes, this is what Arya was experiencing now. Was her name Arya? The more she though about it, the more she was surprised.
She shook her head, trying to clear it. But she had no control over her body. All she saw was an endless darkness. Her eyes flickered. Someone was shaking her.
"ARYA!" Arya's eyes snapped open, and she sat up. A flood, a lifetime, 100 years of memories came back to her. She was overwhelmed for a few minutes, and her head hurt. She looked around. Angela was standing next to her, leaning over something. Arya realized that Angela had shaken her.
They were in a large room, dimly lit by a torch on either side of a metal door. The dark stones making up the chamber were scratched and worn. This place had to be many centuries old.
"Angela?" Arya was surprised how weak her voice sounded.
The witch turned. A smile lit up her face. "Good, you're alive! Now help me wake the others. We can't use magic." Even through her brisk tone, Arya could tell she was relieved. As Arya got up from the floor, she saw what exactly covered the floor of the room they were in. Bodies.
Arya almost screamed, then realized they were her friends. Arya ran to Eragon, and saw that he was just unconscious, not dead.
"Yes, they're not dead. But all of them are useless if they're not awake. We need to figure a way out from here. And the worst part, Laciana isn't here."Angela said grimly.
Arya looked up at the elf's name. She blinked back tears, as she realized what the old elf had been trying to tell her. Run. She had been warning them.
"Angela...I think Laciana might be dead."
"What?"Angela said straightening up. Arya explained her ordeal. A horrified expression came on Angela's face.
She muttered to herself, then stopped, and said,"Well, for now, we must try to escape from here. So we need to get them out of their present state."
They both looked at Eragon, who was stirring. Then his eyes opened. He jumped up, and reached for his sword, which wasn't there. "What-"
Angela rolled her eyes. "Oh, save the theatrics and get to work." She turned to Vrael, and shook him.
Eragon looked at Arya. Arya looked at Eragon. There was a brief uncomfortable moment when their hands were still touching, as Arya had been next to Eragon when he was unconscious. "Um..."
Arya released his hand. "We need to wake the others."
"Right." Arya watched him go to his half-brother, and sighed. She needed to stay focused right now. No romance allowed when survival was their main concern.
Gradually, everyone woke up, though Elva had a hard time. Vrael and Oromis questioned them about her, and in the end, they gave in and told them about her spell.
They also realized that they could not contact their dragons. The five Riders in the room were extremely worried. It was a rather dreadful experience knowing you had no idea what was happening to the other half of your soul.
Then Elva passed out again, so they had to revive her. The reason was that someone was being tortured not far from here. However, Elva couldn't tell who because of some sort of magic. Finally, the group got organized enough to find themselves sitting in a circle on the floor. Vrael began the conversation.
"So, let's straighten out what's going on. First, we're in a dungeon, we can't contact our dragons, and we're missing Laciana. Second-"
"You call that a first?" Elva interrupted.
Vrael seemed irritated, but Elva couldn't tell very well because of the lack of lighting. "Yes, I do. Second, we have no weapons, can't use magic-"
"Oh, I see how you're grouping things together! But why did you say our location in the 'what we're missing' category?" Elva was thoroughly enjoying this.
Vrael gritted his teeth. "Anyways," he said, putting the accent on the first syllable,"We have to stop getting off topic, so we can get out of here."
Elva shrugged. "Not necessarily. We could just bust out of here with no plan."
"That wouldn't work though." Oromis inserted.
"It's worked plenty of times for us."Elva retorted.
"STOP it." Arya said, after feeling this had gone on far too long."Vrael's right. We need to stop arguing and stay focused. Now, we don't know any way out of here except that door. So, ideas?" They thought for a while.
"We could try ramming it." Eragon offered.
"That probably wouldn't work. Whoever trapped us has been at work for a long time. They probably have thought about their prisons being secure." Angela replied.
"Have you got a better idea?" Solembum said. Angela sighed.
"Fine. We'll try ramming it. But with what?"
"Ourselves?"Murtagh suggested half-heartedly.
"Okay, that idea won't work." Oromis concluded. They thought some more.
"Maybe its enchanted. So you can only pass through it if you go gently. Like that gate in Inideim?" Elva said to Angela.
"Yes, it could be like that. Try it. That was a wise trick." Angela murmured.
Elva walked to the door and touched it lightly. Nothing. It was solid. She tried to push it open, but that didn't work either.
"Well that was helpful." Murtagh commented.
Elva stuck her tongue out. Murtagh did the same.
Vrael sighed. "I suppose all we can do is wait, and if they come to give us food, we can attempt to escape."
No one protested. They didn't have a better idea. As the hours passed, they lost track of time. They didn't have a window, so they couldn't tell if it was night or not. Elva fell asleep, along with Solembum in his cat form.
For the first few hours, they had talked, told legends and stories they knew. The time-travelers hadn't told much about themselves, though they did have a brief session of funny stories about their dragons when they were hatchlings. That had lightened the mood, but after a while, the tension had returned.
Gradually, their voices had ceased and all grew silent, as if the dark chamber had absorbed the energy from their bodies. Now they simply waited, as the minutes turned to hours, and nothing happened.
Then, they heard footsteps. The door creaked as it was opened. The group jumped up. Solembum woke up and hissed. He leaped at the masked man who brought their trays. There was a crash, and Elva woke with a start, as she felt the man briefly hurt, then fall unconscious.
"Not very smart way to enter now, was it." Eragon commented.
All of them had jumped and rushed at the man before he could cry out. Murtagh had gotten there first, and banged the man's head on the stone walls. They took a minute to grab something from the trays and drink water, then hurried out the door.
They walked along the hallways, stealthily, not making a sound. The halls were lit better then there room had been, so they did not constantly crash into things. The guards in the dungeon were very spaced out, so there was no time the group had to face more then two or three soldiers at a time.
After what seemed like forever, they found stairs. The group crept up them, and saw a window. The sun's early rays were visible, behind a thin layer of clouds. Now was a good time to escape, for the cloud cover would prevent them from being seen. If what they saw was true, they had been in the dungeon the whole night.
Arya, who was leading, briefly paused at the window, and looked at the world outside. Nature had yet to wake up, but a few birds could be heard. She stood for a few seconds, then hurried up the second set of stairs.
Not many people were awake at this time in the castle, but they still remained cautious. They looked around for their weapons, and found them in a room not far away. They exited, and decided to find out as much as they could about this place.
They searched many rooms, and as they prepared to walk around the corridor, they almost ran straight into some guards.
One guard turned in their direction, and saw them. He was a dwarf, just like the other guards around him. His eyes widened, and he prepared to warn the others, but never got to say the words. Vrael reached over and knocked him on the head with the hilt of his sword. He fell to the floor.
The other dwarves turned, but Solembum and Angela had already run behind them. They joined their comrade on the floor. Then two more guards heard the noises, and soon many more men joined them. Soon, there were eight guards total, the exact number of people in their group. They had the advantage of height, as the dwarves only came o their waists.
"Everyone, take a guard!" Arya yelled, and they all attacked one dwarf.
The neat organized fight plan Arya had made in her head failed as soon as Vrael defeated the first guard. Then the guards began attacking anyone in sight, and so it took a while to subdue them, but they managed. The group continued on their way.
Finally, they reached a room with humongous doors. Arya quietly opened one slightly, and peaked inside. No one was there, but there was a table with notes spilled across it. She gestured to the others, and they all slipped inside. As they walked to the center of the room with their weapons raised, they noticed the notes on the desk.
Angela gasped. The plans were based on the things the Riders had said during their meeting. She turned to Vrael, who looked dismayed, but nodded.
"We have a traitor." He said grimly.
"Indeed, Master Vrael. And welcome my dear time-travelers."The mocking, familiar sound sent a shiver down Arya's spine. They all knew that voice.
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