Sorry this chapter was so late. I usually type the chapters during studyhall and because of finals I've actually been having to study during that time. However, I have some good news and some bad news.

The bad news: I don't know if I'll have enough time during marching band to type many more chapters. I'll see what I can do, but, for now, consider this fanfiction on hiatus until I can update it more regularly. I will try to update when I have a break, I promise!

The Good news: There is a really big break from marching band at the end of June and the beginning of July that I can type so I should have some time then!

Thank you for the support in the reviews and alerts! It's meant a lot to me! Thank you specifically xt-219 and Hollyleaf9 for reviewing my last chapter! :) Okay, on with the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Eragon. I own my OC's.

"Get ready, Ryla. It's gonna be any minuet now." Evan paced their rented room in the Golden Globe hotel.

"I'm prepared, Evan. I will be ready to lift you into the sky as soon as you get here." Ryla said. Evan could feel confidence and nervousness coming through the invisible link that connected them. Ryla was still a few weeks shy of being three months old, but she was convinced that she could carry him. In preparation for the message to arrive, he already packed up and saddled the horses. Munching anxiously on a schnitzel, Evan waited. It came moments later.

"The Ra'zac have found us! We have to get out of here!" He heard Eragon shout using telepathy. Eragon had gone to explore and must have just wandered into the Ra'zac's lair. Evan was already on the horse by the time Eragon and Brom came.

"I'll deal with the guards! You two keep the gate open!" Brom yelled as the three-some galloped through the streets toward the closing gate. Eragon shouted the spell since he was better at magic and Evan supplied him with some of his energy. Both boys were a little light headed from the magic usage, but they rode for their lives. After they were passed the city, the dragons landed and their Riders jumped on.

"Stay close. I don't care if the dragons are seen!" Brom commanded as he quickly tied the horses to each other. Saphira took off with practiced quickness and, soon, Eragon was high in the sky. Ryla, mimicking the older dragon's technique, spread her topaz wings, and, with a running leap, she jumped into the air. She flapped her wings as she struggled to stay aloft. They fell several feet and Evan wasn't sure what they would do if they weren't able to fly now! Suddenly, a gust of wind blew underneath Ryla's parachute-like wings, spreading them open and giving them lift.

"Yes! Ryla! You're flying!" Evan was sure to let all his happiness get through the link to Ryla. She almost purred and laughed a rough, crackly dragon laugh as they reached Saphira's altitude.

"Now, do you understand why Anabelle couldn't come? There's no way we could have escaped with one more person." Evan said as a matter-of-factly. Ryla saddened.

"Yes, I understand, but I still miss her." Evan rolled his eyes and sighed. He would never understand girls- of any species. They finally landed in a decently concealed place, and Evan ate another schnitzel he stashed away. In mid-bite of his second schnitzel, Saphira and Ryla said they smelled something out of place. Evan hit they deck just in time before Eragon was knocked on the head by a Ra'zac. Eragon fell to the ground unconscious. Evan had never seen a Ra'zac. They were human shaped- two legs, a head, and two arms, but they certainly weren't human. They were cloaked in black capes Evan guessed to look more human. But Evan could see a beak, like a bird's, covering most of the face. Their eyes were red and piercing. Their skin was crinkly and fingers knobby. Evan concluded that they were possibly the ugliest things he had seen. The sad part was he wasn't going to give them the award just yet. He still hadn't seen everything Alagaesia had to offer.

Brom started to say a spell when they sliced him with a sword. Saphira and Ryla tried to take out the Ra'zac themselves, sometimes narrowly missing them. Evan pretended to be knocked out as well. Call it an act of cowardness, but Evan knew better then to think he could take on the Ra'zac yet. One of the Ra'zac was pinned to the ground by Saphira, but the second Ra'zac held a dagger to Eragon's neck.

"If you harm ussssss, we will harm the Ridersssss." The Ra'zac's voice was dark and twisted. Saphira stopped in mid claw at the pinned Ra'zac's heart. It scudded over to stand beside the other matching foul creature.

"Good." Ra'zac 1 smirked. Behind the Ra'zac's turned backs, Evan saw a person craning their neck to be just above the tall grasses. Evan knew who it was, but the boy ducked down once Evan saw him. The Ra'zac then began to sniff. They started to communicate with confused squawks and clicks. Then Ra'zac 2 suddenly looked in Evan's direction. It ran over and hit Evan on the head. Evan's world went dark.

Evan later woke to a massive headache. He moaned and the guarding Ra'zac's attention turned to him. They smiled evilly, and the smile just kept spreading around their faces like the Grinch's. Eragon woke a few seconds later.

"Ssssso.... We're awake? My masssster hassssss sssssome anssssswerssssss he would like to get from you two."

"Great. We got captured by bad guys with lisps." Evan said sarcastically. He meant to tell Eragon through telepathy, but he couldn't find the door that let him out so it defaulted to him saying it out loud. In the amount of time it took Evan to figure this out and think "Oh snap!!", the Ra'zac had grabbed his neck and chucked him into the wall across the room. Evan clenched his teeth as he could do nothing to stop himself from slamming into the wall and falling. Evan gasped as he tried to stop the room from spinning and stay conscious. He was faintly aware of the blood spilling out of his mouth. Evan could see Ryla chained to the ground not ten feet from her and neither could do anything to help one another. Evan tried to contact her, but he was puzzled when he once again couldn't find the familiar opening in his mind. He tried again and his mind worked sluggishly to recall where the telepathic door was. He tried the same with using spells, and he couldn't manage to remember the words of the ancient language! Feeling like an old man with Alzheimer's, he could only offer Ryla sympathetic eyes to reassure her. Speaking of old men, Brom was also tied and gagged in a corner. Ra'zac 2 had sauntered over to where he had thrown Evan with a triumphant air about him.

"Now, will you sssssserve my massssster?" Evan saw movement in the upper balcony of the building they were being held in. Smiling, Evan hissed,

"I will never ssssserve you, you ssssscumbagssss!" Evan mocked the Ra'zac and he hoped he spit on them when he was exaggerating the S's. The Ra'zac looked furious, but were caught off guard from punishing Evan by the sound of arrows. An arrow buried itself in Ra'zac 2's shoulder. Screaming in pain, Ra'zac 2 still dodged the barrage of arrows with inhuman agility (which was expected because they weren't human anyway). For a second, the attack ceased. The Ra'zac stood poised for another round, but, without warning, the arrow fire continued from the opposite side. The Ra'zac were not expecting this. With lightning speed reaction time, an arrow shaft still managed to enter Ra'zac 1's arm. With a short burst of whistles to each other that obviously sounded panicked and outraged, the Ra'zac ran for the door. On their way out Ra'zac 2 stopped momentarily to viciously kick Evan. Evan twisted to the side and the Ra'zac only hit him in the shoulder. Ra'zac 1 pulled out a nasty looking dagger and whipped it toward Eragon like a tomahawk. Brom, without warning, jumped in front of the dagger. The large knife sunk into him and he collapsed.

"NO!" Eragon screamed. Although Evan knew it was coming, he'd never seen anyone in real life stabbed before. He was king of scary movies too! He'd seen pretty much every one he could get his hands on and liked the thrill it gave when you found out that even though the zombie was on fire, he was still alive! He'd seen people decapitated, ripped apart, eaten, dismembered then eaten, mutilated, crushed, suffocated, exploded, randomly combusted, and run over in movies, but he was always aware in the back of his mind that the movies were not real. Brom laying on the ground bleeding profusely from the unclean dagger that protruded from his chest was real. Eragon collapsed, whether from the pain from his wound or just the shock of everything, Evan didn't know. Evan was still in pain, but conscious. Evan struggled to get out of his ropes, but couldn't without causing pain to lance up his arm. He crawled over to Brom who was lying in the center of the room, and slowly pulled the dagger out from Brom's chest. Brom would probably be better off without it. He then started cutting away at the ropes. Evan tried not to think about why the dagger was soaked in blood. Once, he was free, he staggered to his feet. He couldn't help Brom. He didn't have magic. He'd have to wait until he remembered the words. After standing and wiping the blood trailing down his jaw, he started to feel faint, and he caught himself on the wall. He stood there until his head quit spinning. Evan then tried to free Ryla. Using the wall to hold him up with his good arm, Evan finally got to Ryla. He started to pull the heavy chains off when the chain accidentally fell off and hit his shoulder the Ra'zac hit. Evan cried out and fell to the floor withering, pleading the pain would stop! After he started to see tunnel vision, he didn't fight it. The sweet blanket of unconsciousness came over him and he happily agreed to follow into a place where pain cannot reach.

--

"Here is the end of the valley." Richard announced as Anabelle's eyes followed the river along the mountainside until it rushed out into a large plain. It was the same plain that Anabelle had crossed with Eragon, Evan, and Brom before only she was on the other side.

"This is where we must part ways, girl." Richard said solemnly. They called her girl because Anabelle knew that if she told them her name, they could tell the Empire where she was. It was like giving her fake name to Nathan only ten times more secretive.

"Is there a place where I can get away from the Empire?" Anabelle asked.

"You probably want to go to Surda then. It's the only place truly separated from the Empire. Follow the river south which then dumps into Leona Lake. Follow the lake until you get to the city Dras Leona. Then continue to follow the river until it leads you into Surda. The trip will take a while. We have some extra provisions you can have." Melay said simply.

"Thank you." Anabelle said trying to swallow the fear rising inside of her. She didn't want to have to run from the Empire alone, but she didn't know how to other then be alone.

"But, is there some place where I could just hide?" Anabelle said. She didn't know how else to ask the question. The Fire Chasers looked at each other.

"The Varden." Melay said. Anabelle tried to smile, but she didn't do very well.

"What about with us?" Richard asked D'lani. Melay gave him a look that said 'No way, Jose.' But Richard persisted.

"Maybe that's why Noah was following her. Because he knew that she needed to join us."

"We know too much about her." Asterion spoke for the first time in the two days Anabelle had been following the Fire Chasers. His voice rumbled but he spoke with such authority that it was almost universal among the group that what he said was law. Probably only D'lani had the guts and position to argue with him. The group instantly nodded in agreement with him. Even Richard who opposed his side nodded obediently. D'lani hesitated as if weighing the options then nodded as well. The group started to walk away, the decision being finalized.

"Good luck, girl." Richard said before the Fire Chasers disappeared into the forest leaving Anabelle to contemplate where to go, if she could go anywhere.

--

"Ouch!" Moaned Evan as he woke from being unconscious. His arm still hurt majorly.. Evan saw Ryla standing above him smiling in that dragon-way of hers.

"Finally! You're up!" Evan smiled back and slowly sat up. He saw a kid, about 18ish, that he did not recognize sitting on the floor by a fire whittling a stick. Every once in a while he would look over his shoulder at Saphira who was protectively guarding Eragon. Eragon was still out cold.

"Who are you?" Evan said. Although Evan already knew who he was, he had to pretend he didn't.

"Murtagh." The scruffy-looking boy replied. Murtagh looked exactly how Evan pictured him. Dark, messy unkempt hair, and a superiority complex.

"You were the one that drove off the Ra'zac."

"I was tracking them. If you think you're the only enemies the Ra'zac have, think again." Murtagh continued whittling.

"Well, we were completely on top of the situation anyway. You just happened to help our plan. "Evan joked. He had no intention of being friends with Murtagh at all.

"Then maybe I'll let you handle it next time! So when you're dead, I'll just laugh!" Murtagh retorted.

"Geeze, man! Calm down! It was sarcasm!" Evan knew exactly how to make people twitch. Annoying Murtagh was no harder then annoying Devin back home. And it was equally just as fun. Evan walked over to where Brom was. The pool of blood was still wet so Evan must not have been out that long. Evan had no idea of medical stuff what-so-ever, but any bozo on the street could tell you that it was a really bad wound.

"He was drifting in and out of consciousness. He's acting feverish and slightly delirious when he is conscious. It doesn't look good for him." Murtagh explained. Evan dug in his pocket and was slightly relieved when he found a schnitzel inside. He scarfed it down and he was in a surprisingly better now. Eragon woke up and Murtagh's introduction started all over again.

"We should probably leave before the Ra'zac come back." After deciding to put Brom on a litter and carry him that way, Ryla found a good place for the four to stay. It was a naturally-made mini fortress made of sandstone. It wasn't comfortable to sit on and it seemed to snag everything, but, hey, they were safe -for now.

That night, Brom started to die. Evan didn't cry, but Eragon sure did. Brom wanted to talk to Eragon with his final breaths, and Evan completely understood. Evan walked away to give them some space.

"Why aren't you over there?" Murtagh asked.

"Eragon was closer to him then I was. Eragon knew Brom his whole life while I...just met him." Evan said as he habitually wound his finger around a longer strand of his hair that contained only a hint of red.

"I really need to cut my hair." He thought, trying to distract himself from Brom. He didn't think Brom's death would affect him so much, but it pulled a little harder on his heart-strings then he thought they would.

"So, is that Brom, the Brom? The one who killed Morzan, Galbatorix's servant?"

"The one and only." Evan sighed.

"Evan!" Eragon shouted. Evan ran over to where Eragon was kneeling down holding to one of Brom's limp hands.

"He's gone." Evan said for Eragon who was too overcome with emotion to talk.

"He was a Rider!" Eragon managed to spit out flipping over Brom's palm and revealing the gedwey ignasia, or the Rider's Scar. Eragon seemed a combination of appalled/stupefied/distraught.

"It makes sense." Evan answered calmly. Eragon retorted all but calm.

"It makes sense? It makes sense!!? That's all you can say! He lied to us about who he really was this whole time! He couldn't have told us any sooner!?" Eragon fumed, tears streaming down.

"Well, he also saved you're life!" Evan retorted. Eragon, in emotional turmoil, glared at Evan and stomped off.

"You know just how to tick everyone off, don't you?" Murtagh watched as Eragon sunk down next to Saphira and buried his head in his knees.

"Don't forget, that includes you." Evan smiled evilly. Murtagh frowned.

Woot! So there you have it. I hope it was a cliff hanger! I hope to update soon! Thank you again for reviewing! (Sorry Hollyleaf9, I don't know when they are coming out with the movie Eldest.) Just a little trivia, I originally spelled Melay, "Melé" with an accent on the last "e" to make it have an "ay" sound, but I didn't know if people would pronounce her name right so I changed it to a phonetic spelling. I also put an 'I' with an accent on the end of D'lani's name. Her name, by the way, is pronounced (Duh-lawn-ee). Woot. Please review!!! I will try to update when I can!