Chapter Fourteen: Battle of Helgrind

Wow I feel like such an a**hole. I promised I'd get a new chapter up really soon and now it's f***ing March. Right so this is NOT the final battle in any capacity, so don't go thinking it is.

To answer reviews: tip of the hat to you swordia, glad you like it that much.

Oh, it came to my attention recently that lines don't copy form Word docs, so I'm going to be using [_] to signify shifts in time and/or place.

Right, now let's get into the battle.

Galbatorix was fuming. That boy with the dark sword had killed Carsaib. He had just gotten him back and that boy had killed him! Galbatorix swore an oath in the Ancient Language then and there that he would kill the boy if it was the last thing he did.

Galbatorix turned to the rest of the cave and called,

"Octavian!"

He appeared instantly.

"Yes, my liege?"

"Open the portals to Tartarus. We will destroy these demigods."

Octavian showed fear, but he bowed and went about his task.

"Tantalus!"

Tantalus came faster than Octavian.

"Are your spirit soldiers ready?"

"Two more phalanxes worth have just arrived, equipped with the spells your caster gave me."

"Good. We march in one hour. Be ready."

[_]

Nico settled into his position between Will and Reyna. Several skeletal fighters stood at the ready. They felt unfamiliar to Nico, which made sense seeing as they were a strange mix of Greek and Alagaesian.

Reyna looked dramatically off into the middle distance in a way which always irritated Nico.

"Let's hope the gods are on our side."

Nico rolled his eyes and summoned more skeletons. Eragon and Arya had given him a crash course in Alagaesian magic, which seemed to focus mostly on life and growth. How ironic.

Bianca sat on Nico's shoulder, fanning her wings. Nico was slightly wary of those claws. He had seen her remorselessly kill someone, and it didn't feel right, despite what Arya said. Will readied his stock of medical supplies, which were painfully lacking in Alagaesia. They had never seen gauze before, let alone Band-Aids.

Marco was up at the front planning out various movements with a hand selected set of skeletons, which he had outfitted with Celestial Bronze. He judged that the Rider's brightsteel may suffice, seeing as it wasn't regular metal.

Nico was practicing shadow travel when a horn sounded and sweeping out of a huge hole that had suddenly appeared in the base of the mountain were several dozen Laistrygonians followed by a man dressed entirely in black riding a muddy brown drakon.

They charged up the field at the comparatively pitiful line of skeletons. Most of them were swept aside. Suddenly, three dragons flew straight into the air. The blue one and the red one flew near each other and blasted the Laistrygonians with fire. The green one flew over to the entrance to the cave which several dozen telkhines were pouring out of.

The green dragon bathed them in fire as Arya on his back chanted in that odd language of theirs and collapsed the cave entrance.

Nico kept summoning skeletons to join the fray, as Reyna and Marco fought side by side with one of the telkhines.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Nico noticed several ghostly figures streaming through the rocks. They were dressed in Greek battle armor. Nico found the armor style familiar and he racked his brains trying to remember as the elite skeletons started moving over that way.

Suddenly the style came to him. The city-state of Sipylus had that design. Which meant…

[_]

Tantalus stood inside the cave, watching his soldiers begin to carve through the skeletons. He had been ordered to fight along with them, but that was something he didn't like to do. He felt that he was technically fighting by directing them from afar, so they didn't fall into chaos.

Tantalus grinned as he remembered the spells which would render that Nico boy's power over the undead useless in their case.

[_]

Nico instantly tried to dispel them all, but he felt like he was trying to hold onto a slippery glass ball. He couldn't. Nico grabbed Reyna as she tried to run past him.

"Those are Tantalus's soldiers!" he yelled, "I can't get rid of them!"

Reyna paled, but she nodded. She took her sword and charged them right alongside that wolf-elf Nico had tried to kill.

Nico sighed as he summoned more skeletons and started to shadow travel into enemy lines for quick ambushes. It was going to be a long battle.

[_]

Eragon looked down at the battle from on Saphira's back. Over the past hour it had slowly gotten closer and closer to Dras-Leona and some of the residents were looking out at the strange and fierce battle. Several odd black dogs and one-eyed giants were now surrounding Galbatorix.

He looked around at the field an- wait was that a Shrrg?

Saphira heard that thought and swooped down to burn a line of the one-eyed giants, but Galbatorix shot a burst of energy at Saphira. She had to spiral away, but Eragon had already made out that the Shrrg was just Blodhgarm.

Arya wants to know why Galbatorix is not mentally attacking us, Saphira said.

"I've been wondering that myself," Eragon replied.

[_]

Nico was conscious of a sudden pain. A tendril of thought twisting in his mind. Bianca shrieked and Nico felt her mentally attacking wherever the thoughts were coming from. Nico panicked as the tendril began rifling through his memories, and instantly triggered his memories of Tartarus which were fresh and vivid.

Nico collapsed, luckily near Will, but he had the satisfaction of felling the tendril withdraw and he felt the shock from the other side.

[_]

Will looked down at the screaming Italian. His anguish seemed to have an effect on all of the nearby enemies and was causing his powers to go wild. Every single enemy nearby was either sobbing uncontrollably or was being consumed by the darkness.

Suddenly, the enemy began to retreat. Will wasn't sure why, but they began running to the north-east.

The battle was over.

Right so that was interesting to write. Again this is by no means the end, so expect more pretty soon.

See you soon!

-LordofNothing1