Sorry about updating this chapter too early, but I am going on a trip the weekend and will not have access to any forms of electronics.

Messenger birds

Eragon POV
Eragon was walking around Belatona with four of his elven guards, it was the fifth day since capturing the Varden and brokering the treaty with the werecats, and there had still been no sign of Mercury. Since Nasuada and the other leaders had kept Eragon and Arya's disappearance a secret, no one in the Varden knew what had transpired in the dungeons of the Black Hand castle, and therefore they only knew that Mercury had suddenly vanished without a trace.

The only people who had seemed to care about his disappearance had been the dwarves, and of course the few people who knew that he had probably committed suicide in order to get Eragon and Arya out. Eragon had been hopeful the first few days after returning to the Varden, but as the days wore on, he started to lose hope in ever seeing Mercury again.

Is this what my life is going to be like?, Eragon thought to himself, all the people who have ever cared for me have died to either protect me or because I was not strong enough to face my enemies.

Not all, little one, Saphira's gentle voice said, Arya, Roran, Nasuada and Orik care for you and are still very much alive.

Aye, but for how long?, Eragon questioned his dragon, Roran is constantly going out on patrols, Orik is the king of the dwarves, which makes him a prime assassination target, Nasuada is perhaps in even more danger of assassination and Arya...Arya would give her life without a second thought to protect us.

This is war, Eragon, people die, but why should that discourage you from seeking friendships and company, Saphira said to soothe Eragon, if anything this should make you want to treasure your friendships even more.

Thank you Saphira, Eragon thought back, while sending feelings of gratitude and love across their link, I think I might go and see what Arya is doing.

Eragon then informed his guards of their new destination and started to walk towards it, while still mentally conversing with Saphira.

Eragon could feel amusement of his choice seeping across the link, while Saphira said, going to see your elf mate?

Eragon's ears reddened and his cheeks blushed as he said, she is not my...we are not mates, Saphira.

Oh, but you spend a lot of time together without anyone knowing it, and from your memories, I saw that you slept together on the way back to the Varden...and does mates not sleep together?, Saphira said with the mental equivalent of a chuckle.

We don't tell the Varden about our walks, because they would think the same thing as you are doing, and if Islanzadi found out, she would be furious, Eragon defended himself, and about that...incident...on the way back to the Varden. It was just to preserve body heat, as we had no room for a fire and no sleeping equipment with us at the time.

Eragon knew that Saphira did not believe his answer, and frankly he had a hard time believing it himself. Arya had never been fond of any physical contact, but that night she had willingly made a bed which required her to snuggle close to Eragon. Despite the mattress being made of pine branches and the pillow being nonexistent, he had slept far better that night, than any night in the very comfortable beds in Ellesméra.

Arya and Eragon had never discussed what had happened, partly because Eragon was afraid of pushing her away if he mentioned it, and partly because they never had had a chance to be alone without prying ears. It had always been Mercury, who had provided the means for their small talks being kept private, but now there would be no one to provide them with alibis, and who would willingly take the blame if they were late for an urgent meeting, because they had taken a walk.

Eragon was interrupted in his thoughts as a hawk descended upon him and landed on his left shoulder. He immediately gave a yelp of surprise by the sudden appearance of a hawk. After recovering from his initial shock, Eragon wiggled his shoulder to try and signal to the hawk that he was not a good choice for a landing pad, but the hawk's only reaction were to dig its claws deeper into his shoulder.

Upon seeing the hawk dig its claws deeper into Eragon's shoulder, his elven guards tried to shoo it off without hurting it, but the hawk seemed to be intent on staying on Eragon's shoulder. By then Eragon had actually come to admire the hawk's courage, and when Blödhgarn came forward to try and pry it off his shoulder, Eragon responded by saying, "No, I do not believe this hawk means to harm me, so I will let it sit there for as long as it would like".

Blödhgarn responded with a, "as you wish, Shadeslayer", before he retreated to his original position, and the group began moving towards Arya's quarters again.

As the group neared Arya's quarters they found her sitting outside in the gardens, where she was sniffing a lily with a small smile on her lips.

"You may leave us", Eragon said, as he dismissed his elven guards, who simply nodded and silently disappeared into the city.

Arya looked up from the flower and towards Eragon, where she noticed the hawk sitting on his left shoulder, and shot him an arched eyebrow. Eragon chuckled lightly at her response before saying, "it landed on my shoulder on my way here, and it did not seem intent to leave".

Arya's lips curved upward in a small smile before she looked directly into the hawk's eyes. Eragon noted, that the hawk did not seem to mind the scrutiny, in fact it merely stared right back at her. They kept like that for a few seconds before Arya furrowed her eyebrows and said, "this hawk was instructed to find you and deliver a message to you".

Eragon pondered what the message might be and who might have sent the hawk, while he reached out with his mind to touch the mind of the hawk. He found the hawk's thoughts to be about finding him and delivering a message, but as the hawk had no message visibly attached to it, Eragon searched through its memories to find where the message might have gone.

As he searched through the memories, most of which were of the hawk hunting mice, rabbits and smaller birds, he noticed a memory, which seemed to stick out from the rest. The memory did not feel like the hawk's other memories, it felt more...human. Eragon quickly recognized that this might be the message the hawk was intended to deliver, and started to watch it. The memory took place from the perspective of an unknown person.

Start of memory
He was walking down a corridor lit by torches and made of stone. As he gazed down he looked at the halberd he was carrying in his right hand, and at the black armour he wore. Directly behind him a voice could be heard, "move it Gaynor, or we will be whipped for being late at our shift. The Black Hand does not show mercy on its guards if they are lazy".

Gaynor increased his pace and soon they reached a door at the end of the tunnel. The door was solidly built of steel, and not a voice could be heard from inside, despite the shadows under the door showing several people. Gaynor knocked two times and then five with his halberd, before the door swung open. The room inside was well lit and in the middle was a table covered with documents, maps and several tankards, pitchers and plates.

Gaynor went to replace a guard at one of the pillars at the corner of the room, while the three guards behind him did the same with the other guards. All the people around the table had stopped talking the second the door had opened, and they did not start talking again until the four replaced guards had left the room and closed the door.

"Now, what were you saying about the assassination on Nasuada, Lehtry?", one of the people at the table said.

"I said that the reason behind our failure at assassinating Nasuada, have been found", Lehtry spoke, "it is a small witch girl called Elva, who can sense the pain of those around her and what pain will come to them in the near future, that has been the reason for our lack of success".

"How did you come by this information?", a third person asked.

"My highly placed spies in the Varden managed to deliver this information to me", Lehtry answered.

"I suggest we use this to our advantage", the first person spoke again, "they will have come to depend on the witch child's ability, so if we construct an assassination attempt, which kills Nasuada without causing her any immediate harm, then the witch child will not be able to prevent it".

The meeting continued on for another few hours, in which the attendants had decided how to attack Nasuada and that it would occur in the evening at one day from now.

The image then shifted to a forest, the sun was setting in the distance, while Gaynor appeared to be searching for something. Finally his eyes fell on a hawk, and by a voiceless command it descended upon his outstretched right arm. Gaynor looked the hawk directly in the eyes for a while, before the hawk ascended from his arm and flew south.
End of memory

Eragon retreated from the hawk's mind, and noticed that it was close to evening. Eragon realized with a jolt that the assassination would be occurring any minute now, and immediately started sprinting towards Nasuada's command room, where she would most likely be, the hawk had taken off from his shoulder, but it was still following him from the air. He only faintly noticed Arya racing to catch up with him, and as she reached him, she said, "Eragon what is the matter?"

Still running, Eragon said, "Nasuada is about to be assassinated, and there is nothing Elva can do to protect her". This seemed to quench Arya's wish to question him, but a moment later she said, "the nighthawks have been informed".

Eragon reached Nasuada's command room, which was guarded by four nighthawks, who immediately let them through. Inside an additional 6 nighthawks had taken up positions around Nasuada, who seemed to be relieved to see Eragon and Arya.

"Good you are here. Now tell me why you believe someone intends to have me murdered, and why Elva has not detected anything", Nasuada said in a controlled voice, which showed no fear, but only a slight irritation of something ruining an important meeting.

Eragon walked towards Nasuada's chair, bent down and examined the surface of the wood. As he did so, his eyes fell upon a very small and very thin needle sticking out of the armrest. Eragon immediately drew Brisingr and cut the armrest off, before he turned towards the others and said, "there was a hidden needle in the armrest. It contains a poison, which would not affect you for several hours, and when it finally begins to affect you, it will slowly start to lower your heart rate until your heart simply stops. The Black Hand intended for you to be asleep, when the poison began to take effect, and since it would not cause you any harm, Elva would not have been able to detect it".

Everyone in the room looked shocked at the new information; Arya was the first to recover, "when did you receive this chair?"

Nasuada seemed to shake herself out of her reverie, as she answered, "just this evening. The other chair had broken a leg, and the carpenter in the castle was quick to procure a new one".

"He must be in allegiance with the Black Hand. Jörmundur take three of the nighthawks and apprehend this man", Arya commanded, before turning her gaze towards Eragon, while saying, "what did the hawk show you exactly?"

Just at that moment the hawk flew through the window and landed on Eragon's left shoulder again. Most people in the room gave out a surprised yelp, but Eragon simply brushed the feathers of the hawk while saying, "noble hawk, you have delivered your message. May your prey never see you come and the wind keep you in the skies", and with that the hawk took off again and flew out of the window.

Eragon turned his attention back towards the assembled, as he began to recount the memory the hawk had delivered to him. Everyone was quiet for a little while after he finished, until Nasuada spoke, "I do not know who this Gaynor is, the Varden certainly has no spies with that alias or who have infiltrated the Black Hand at such a level".

"Perhaps it is a new ally then", Arya said in an emotionless voice, which showed none of her thoughts.

"Perhaps...", Nasuada said with hesitation, "but we can't trust him just yet. He may have warned us as a way to establish trust on our part".

"Aye, for now we will wait and see what will come", Eragon said, and with that they ended their small meeting, and let Nasuada continue her own as planned.

Time skip(a week and a half later)
The Varden had been marching towards Belatona for about a week, Eragon had begun training with Arya in swordplay. Arya continuously beat him with ease, a fact which Eragon was not happy with. Eragon and Arya had still not been able to spend much time alone, so the sparring matches had become their new talks. Whenever they sparred, it seemed to Eragon like they were not only sparring, but communicating to each other. The communication was simple and yet intimate, in that it did not involve any words, but merely their emotions and feelings. Eragon could often see how different parts of Arya's day had been, in these matches, and he guessed she could see his too.

Ordinary people would not have a chance to see this, and Eragon believed that even the elves would have trouble deciphering the secret meanings, if they did not know the two Shadeslayers very well. Blödhgarn had seemed like he knew something was going on, but he never said anything to either Eragon or Arya, and from the lack of response from Islanzadi, Eragon guessed that he kept it secret from her as well, a decision Eragon was very glad for.

Eragon was currently in the middle of another sparring match against Arya, when a dove descended upon him and landed on his left shoulder. Eragon and Arya immediately stopped their sparring match, and looked towards the dove. Gaynor had not contacted the Varden again since the first time, but Eragon guessed that it was him, because who else would have a bird descend upon his left shoulder, and none other than himself, Arya, Nasuada, Jörmundur and the few nighthawks, which had been present at the time, knew about Gaynor or the assassination attempt.

Eragon tentatively reached out towards the dove's mind, and again found the command to seek out Eragon in its thoughts. As he reached deeper into the dove's memories, he found the one he was looking for.

Start of memory
It was the same room in which Nasuada's assassination had been planned. Gaynor was quickly shifting through the documents on the desk, and as he glanced over his shoulder, he noted the three other guards with deathly wounds across them, proof of his betrayal.

He returned his attention back towards the documents, when suddenly an alarm bell began to ring. Gaynor began to feverously search through the documents, until he came across a large one, which had the title: Black Hand operatives in the Varden and their functions. Gaynor only had time to read the title, as the door burst open. Gaynor immediately tucked the document under his armour and turned around to see two guards walk through the door, just in time for a couple of the dead guards' halberds to descend upon them and kill them.

With his safety trap sprung, Gaynor hurried out of the door, before the image shifted again. Gaynor was now running along a shore line, which resembled Leona-lake. He had discarded his heavy black armour in favour of something lighter and less noisy, but he was still panting for breath from running for so long.

He looked around him before he sat down at the shore and made as if to drink from it. When he looked into the water he could see his own reflection: his grey eyes, the visible but not prominent cheekbones, his skin, which had turned to a slight tan, and his short grey hair. Instead of quenching his thirst he poured some of the water onto the shoreline and started to draw a crude map of Leona-lake, the Spine and the cities of Belatona and Dras-Leona.

For the first time in the memories, he spoke, "I hope that this finds you Eragon. I don't have much time before I have to move again, so I will make this short".

He seemed to gather himself for a moment before he continued, "I am approximately here", he said as he pointed a finger at a point in the north western part of Leona-lake, "I will move towards the Spine like this, and then wait there for two days. If I have not seen you or Saphira by then, I will assume my message was lost, or that you have otherwise been hindered, and I will start moving south through the Spine and eventually reach Belatona, where I hope I will be able to burrow a horse and supplies, before I continue up towards Dras-Leona and regroup with the main army", as he said his route, his finger glided across the sand and followed it.

He then started to get up, and wiped the drawing away with his boot, before he looked one last time towards Leona-lake, and then started heading west towards the Spine, where he called for the first bird he noticed.
End of memory

Eragon stared at Arya for a moment, before he said, "He is alive...Mercury is alive, Mercury is Gaynor"

Arya stared confused back at him, as the words sank in, but Eragon did not give her time to respond, "I,no we, Saphira and I have to go and pick him up right now".

Arya seemed to come back to her senses, as she said, "you know where he is? What has happened since he is suddenly in such a hurry to be picked up?"

"I will explain it, when I explain to Nasuada why I must leave", Eragon said as he turned to run towards Nasuada's command pavilion, but Arya's hand caught his arm, and as he looked back, she was looking directly into his eyes, while she said ,"no Eragon, you must explain to Nasuada, why we are leaving".

Eragon nodded, and she released his arm, before they both ran towards Nasuada, who especially after hearing about the document with all the Black Hand operatives in the Varden, agreed to let them go.