Disclaimer: Don't own Eldest
Here's the action chapter. I'm back for three more days before a long, six-week vacation! Then I shall return! Really I can't finish this fic until the third book is released (September!!!), but I'll get as far as I can. Unfortunately, Murtagh will not rejoin Alycie until the end. The. End. I will continue to alternate chapters in between Garrick, Murtagh, and Alycie, but the latter two will not rejoin until the big climactic end. Just telling you now so you all can stop asking. If this changes, I won't alert you for the shock factor's benefit. Anyway, UK was great but it's good to be back and typing. Voila!
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Alycie got food before going to Bahri's tent in contradiction to Jarae's suggestion. She thought nothing of it though as she tore off a chunk of well-roasted meat in her mouth. Desert rat surprised her with its deliciousness. She lifted the flap of Bahri's tent and strode inside.
"Back for a bandage change?" asked the dusty-haired elf, gesturing for her to sit on the raised mat. Alycie nodded, taking her seat and pulling off her shirt. Bahri slowly began to unwrap her bandages. Alycie stared at the floor for a moment.
"Have you ever heard of anyone called Stronghammer?" she asked after a moment. Bahri glanced at her with pale eyes.
"No. Why?" he asked. Alycie opened her mouth, closed it, and shrugged instead.
"No reason. I heard the name somewhere," she said. Bahri dropped the dirty, yellow and red bandages to the floor and took out a new roll, starting to wind it around her ribcage. "Can you see my visions if you look in my mind?"
"I believe so," said Bahri.
"Have you yet?" asked Alycie, her eyes narrowing.
"No, but I am sorely tempted to."
"Could you tell me what they mean if you did?" Bahri looked up at her.
"I could try," he said. Alycie bit her lip. "Do you wish me to?" asked Bahri.
"Please," said Alycie, nodding. Bahri tied off her bandage, then held her wrists and closed his eyes.
Alycie didn't feel him enter her mind. She was about to ask him to when suddenly a familiar scene clouded her mind's eye. It was the first premonition since the Twins broke through and released her magic. The poems.
Two falen do
A vixen spy
And draw their bows
Let arrows fly
One doth meet heart
The other head
But dog bites one
And renders dead
A ghost it seems
In armor clad
Is chained to one
Who is but mad
With shining blade
And palm as well
It fights the first
On plains of hell
The poems were replaced by a speeding version of the first vision she had experienced during her time with the Varden. The dark knight by the pool of water. He issued two words in the ancient language then threw his head skyward demanding to know who it was that was scrying him.
On thieving heel
The fox must fly
With cloak and dagger
To bare the lie
Another poem. She had heard it after the Battle of Farthen Dûr. Then it was the reoccurring dream with the soldiers and the Rider. The Rider pounded the captain's face again and again...the blonde woman and the dark-haired man, the mountain man knealing before the Emperor, the war, the drunken man threw his sword at the frightened young, dark-haired boy...
A Rider of gold
A city of old
A raven crows riddles
So secrets unfold
The man and his red-haired love as they were attacked by the Ra'zac. The voice...
The tent swam back into view. Alycie's head felt dizzy and she realized she hadn't been breathing. She struggled to inhale and her breath came in long and ragged. She looked down at Bahri to find him unrolling another bandage. He removed the one wrapped around her head and replaced it silently.
"What do you think?" asked Alycie.
"I heard the Falen mentioned," said Bahri. Alycie raised an eyebrow.
"When?"
"Two falen do
A vixen spy
And draw their bows
Let arrows fly
One doth meet heart
The other head
But dog bites one
And renders dead," recited Bahri. Alycie's mouth dropped open.
"You're right...I didn't see that before..." She looked at the elf. "Do you know what it means?"
"No," said Bahri. "I will think about the others. A few mention a new Rider. One under Galbatorix's control. And there was a war in one...I am not certain. Give me time to think and I will tell you what I find out."
"Thank you," said Alycie. "Am I done here?"
"Yes, you are," said Bahri, his mouth stretching in a smile.
"Alright then," said Alycie, standing. "I'll be back tomorrow."
"I'll do what I can," Bahri replied. Alycie ducked out under the tent flap and walked away.
It was a few minutes before she realized that something was amiss. She listened for a moment, her body rigid and frozen in apprehension. There were no drums. There was indeed a fire, but there were no drums. Alycie wound between the tents, her pace quickening to a run. Tents shot past her as she dove around corners. Her feet slid across the sand and she fell, only to scramble back to her feet and press on.
Alycie staggered out into the circular clearing where the fire pit had been dug. A tall, flickering fire had been built already, but there was nobody to watch it burn. The campsite seemed suddenly abandoned. Voices broke in upon her ears suddenly. Voices crying out in fear. Screaming.
Figures suddenly ran from between the tents across the clearing. Alycie sprinted around the bonfire, dodging the running Falen. She caught a tanned woman by the wrist as she ran, pulling her back.
"What's going on?" she shouted over the chaos. The woman's eyes were wide.
"War! It's a war between the heirs!" she uttered through clenched teeth. She pulled away and sprinted off with the rest of the crowd.
The clanging crash of metal on metal caught Alycie's attention and she ran towards it with a new fear rising. Her freshly bandaged ribs burned in protest to the strong movements, but she ignored the pain. She was listening hard, her ears poised to pick up a fatal scream of agony through the sounds of the swords. The line of tents ended and Alycie dodged a few running Falen, her eyes widening at the scene before her.
Two crowds of Falen soldiers were facing each other, one headed by Elian, the other by the elder son of Kahz, Nédan. Each was backed by ten men at least. Alycie could make out Talis positioned close to Elian's right side. Both groups had their curved swords out and were breathing hard. Alycie spotted scratches and bruises forming on several men. They seemed to be at a lapse in the fight.
"Nédan," Elian was saying, "I don't wish to fight you."
"Then you are a coward as well!" spat the son of Kahz. "He brings a sorceress of unknown origin in to break our peace and you wish to let him lead us still? To hold our lives in his hand while he makes rash decisions?" He did not look away from Elian's ice blue eyes as he addressed the surrounding crowd. Elian stared stonily back, but a Falen quickly ran out from behind him to join Nédan's posse.
"She is not dangerous and she does not mean harm."
"But how can you know? How can any of us know?"
"Bahri seems to trust her well enough," said Elian.
"Bahri," snorted Nédan derisively. "He could have been deluded by magic to favor her. Or seduced by...other means." Nédan's eyebrow raised. "He was looking after her injuries, after all, and women have their ways..." Another two men swapped loyalties.
"She was in Urgal captivity," said Elian, his voice growing stronger, or, Alycie feared, more desperate. "We would have had to be as cruel as Galbatorix himself to leave her in their hands!" Alycie watched gratefully as one of Nédan's men crossed to Elian's side. Nédan didn't seem to notice. He was laughing; a low, chuckling rumble that carried to Alycie's ears.
"You are not fit to succeed Jarae," he said, his voice cold and uncannily reminiscent of his father's. "You are not fit to lead the Falen. You bring witches into our midst and risk our legions against the Kull in Galbatorix's service. I won't let you lead our tribe to destruction. I'm not going to wait for Jarae Whiteyes to make his decision. We are ending this here and now!"
He lunged forward, his hand drawing the sword to Elian's neck, but steel met steel as his opponent reacted and blocked. Nédan jerked his weapon back and jabbed again, but once again his sword was met. The two crowds had begun to converge, but the two fighters shouted out in protest.
"No! He's mine!" commanded Nédan.
"It's between us alone!" said Elian. The crowds backed away and spread to form a circle around the two heirs and Alycie's view was blocked. The clangs resumed as she took a step closer.
"Stay back," said a cool voice in her ear. Alycie looked up to see Bahri, calm and pale, standing with his eyes on the crowd. "When you are the cause of a fight, you don't want to approach it."
"Can't you stop them?" asked Alycie in concern. Bahri looked from them to her.
"I'll get Jarae," he said, and disappeared into the tents. Alycie turned her eyes back to the fight.
Elian and Nédan were fighting at their full strength, neither holding anything back. Alycie was surprised at Elian's ferocity. He seemed to have snapped. She watched as he lunged forward at Nédan and dealt a rough blow with the hilt of his sword. Fresh rage was driving both sides. Elian looked as if he were possessed. Alycie had never seen him in such a rage. His movements were almost too fast to follow and she could see the fear in Nédan's eyes behind his anger.
Nédan swiped and missed. He drew his blade along back. Another miss. Someone ran past Alycie towards the fight and it took her a moment to recognize him to be Saleo. He was shouting something, pushing his way through the crowd. Alycie ran after him, calling a warning. Her eyes flicked to the fight. Nédan missed a third time and pulled his weapon back. His chest was wide open, undefended. Victory shone in Elian's eyes as he drew his blade back.
"Elian! Don--"
The sword lurched forward in a thrust and the cry broke off. Nédan's eyes were wide, but it was not his blood hitting the sand. Elian released the hilt of his sword in horror, his face frozen.
Saleo looked down with wide, confused eyes, at the hilt sticking out of his middle. Blood filled his mouth, staining his teeth as he overbalanced and fell sideways, eyes still wide. Elian wasn't moving. His eyes were fixed upon Saleo's shocked face. His hands were by his side, shaking. Alycie watched from the crowd with wide, glassy eyes. Her legs were frozen to the sand. She realized he wasn't breathing and drew a shuddering breath, watching distantly as Nédan fell upon his brother, crying out.
Saleo's sea-blue eyes moved to Nédan's, locking on them for a single moment. A constricted breath left his throat and he was gone. Nédan shook his head, yelling apology after apology into Saleo's face. He ran a hand roughly through his dead brother's sandy hair, brushing it back off of his forehead as he began to rock back and forth. Then he grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, shouting. After a minute or so, he stopped, laying his brother back onto the sand. His shoulders racked in a sob as his fingers drifted over Saleo's forehead, drawing the eyelids over the glassy, lifeless eyes.
"Murderer..." he said in a constricted voice. The other men stood like stone statues, looking down at Saleo's corpse, but at the word all of their eyes turned unto Elian. Alycie's were among them. Elian's legs suddenly became loose, making him stagger. He looked unstable, as if he were standing on the edge of a cliff with his back to the bottomless abyss behind him. And Nédan was getting to his feet, grabbing the sword in Saleo's middle.
"What's going on here?" ordered a gruff voice from behind Alycie. The crowd turned and parted immediately as they recognized Kahz. All eyes followed him as he moved the dark caves of his eyes over the faces in the crowd, then Elian, Nédan, and finally Saleo's body. He stopped in his tracks, staring. His eyes stared for a long time at the face of his youngest son before they moved to the elder's. "What happened?" His voice was no longer gruff, but weak and shaking.
"Elian killed Saleo," said Nédan, his fingers tightening on the hilt of the sword that had murdered his brother. "He killed him. Saleo's dead! Murdered!" Kahz's eyes now moved to Elian, and a rage had twisted his features to unrecognizable proportions.
"You!" he growled. "You! You killed my...my..." His face went pale, and then purple as his feet regained movement, carrying him to the center of the circle.
"Kahz," came a voice.
Jarae was there, Bahri at his side. His eyes were staring at some point off in the distance, but Bahri had his fixed on the corpse in the sand. He was muttering quietly into the old man's ear. Jarae went very still, even as Bahri finished speaking to him. His face filled with a great sadness that diminished his authority and made him look older and more fragile than Alycie had ever seen him. Then his sightless eyes turned directly to were Elian stood.
"Elian, son of Nalia, my daughter, and carrier of my blood, in light of...this heartless act of violence and rage, you are hereby exiled from the Falen. You are a murderer of my kin, and shall be branded as such!" With these last words, Jarae raised his hand. A shock of light split the night and Elian cried out in pain suddenly, clutching the right side of his face. Jarae was a mask of authority and power now, nearly unrecognizable as the kindly old man he had been mere hours before. Elian's groans of agony did not phase him in the slightest. "You may take your horse, but all else shall be retained by the Falen. Also, as she was in your charge, Alycie must leave us as well. Go now and leave us!"
Elian looked around with his left eye, his face pleading. He approached the crowd that had backed him before, but they stepped back with stony faces. He walked to Talis imploringly, but she stepped away as well, her face matching those around her. Elian walked through the parting in the crowd, reaching Jarae.
"Please," he said, his voice breaking. The man did not move a muscle. Bahri looked at him with a sorrowful, yet calm, face. He did not move. It was then that Elian spotted a familiar face behind the leader. His uncle and guardian. "Oedän," he said, stepping forward. "I swear, I didn't mean to. It was an accident. Please, believe me!" The old man did not look up from the sand. Elian took his shoulders, shaking him. "Don't send me away! My only home is with the Falen! Don't--" Oedän grasped his nephew's wrists and pulled them off of his shoulders, pushing him away. Elian stared around, grunting as the pain enveloped his face again. He looked lost. Abandoned.
"Go," Jarae said shortly over Kahz's fresh sobs that had begun to break the silence. Elian stood stock still for a moment longer. He stared at the old, blind man.
"Alycie," he said, not looking away. Alycie detached herself from the crowd and walked slowly to his side. Elian turned away from his tribe and set off around the camp of tents. The girl glanced back one last time at the Hadarac natives before following Elian to the stables.
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