Hey guys! By now you guys are probably thinking I'm dead or otherwise incapacitated, AGAIN. Well...
Au Contraire Mon Capitan! Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee's BACK! ~ Reference
Hey guys! I'm sorry I took so long but [INSERT EXCUSE HERE] Cricket noises, circle of circles, blah blah blah.
Now we've got that out of the way, let me please give a massive shoutout to all you guys who dropped a review for that last "chapter!" Let me just clarify what I meant though: I was always going to finish The Hidden God, the question was whether to write further fics and make it a series. Yeah, that was poorly worded. Anyway though, thanks to the phenomenal response, I am DEFINITELY going to be continuing the Order's adventures in further fics, barring the Giants coming to knock on my door and forcing me to kill off all the good guys before I get around to writing a sequel. I don't think I would have bought myself to commit to it if not for you guys, so thanks again for all the encouragements, praise, and dire threats!
Well, that's pretty much all I have to say! And so now, without further ado...it is finally time for this story's big reveal...the shocking surprise...that half of you already guessed anyway. Never mind, who needs suspense? Enjoy!
The dwarves, humans and urgals thought of the underworld as the residence of the spirits of the dead—a fairly frightening prospect, but the reality was worse.
The cavern stretched on for as far as the eye could see—though that wasn't saying much, considering the thick, vapoury darkness that swirled about the place. The ground was an uneven landscape, with steep hills, sheer cliffs, and gigantic stalagmites that rose column-like into the darkness. In the lower areas, molten lava spilled over cliffs to form fiery waterfalls which plunged into huge subterranean lakes. Evil-looking structures dotted the landscape, growing out of the rock—fortresses for the armies of Faolin.
The aforementioned armies were really rather large. Blurs of fiery darkness raced through the fiery skies, racing between the various fortresses. Many more were manning the castles.
"So much for this place being too cramped for dragons." She muttered.
"They wouldn't have made it through the tunnel." Said Angela, a little defensively. "I never said that this would be too small for them."
Arya reached out her mind to ask Firnen what he thought of it, but something was wrong. She turned to Murtagh, and from the look on his face, the exact same thing was happening to him. They couldn't reach their dragons.
Frantically, Arya stretched out her mind trying to make contact with any of the others, but Angela stopped her. "No!" she hissed. "You're going to get us discovered!"
Hesitantly, Arya withdrew back into her mind. "Murtagh?" she asked.
"I can't feel any of them either." He said.
"I'll give you three guesses why." Said Angela. "There was more than one reason why the dragons couldn't come."
"Well, thanks for telling us that and saving us all that indecision." Said Arya resentfully.
"Did I say I knew this was going to happen?"
Arya sighed. There was no point in arguing with her. No point. No point at all.
"So," Said Arya. "Where do we go?" -somebody had to ask it.
"Good question." -Typical Angela answer.
"This place is massive." Said Murtagh grimly. "The location Faolin's keeping Eragon likely won't be easy to find."
"Maybe not." Said Arya hopefully. "I'll bet not many people make it this far, since only someone with the blood of the giants can open the entrance. Why would he need to hide the prison from his own people?"
"Letting everyone know the location of his most important prisoner doesn't sound like him to me." Said Murtagh. "Anyway, we can't just walk around and look into whatever areas look like prisons. If we're going to find him, we'll need to learn his location from someone else."
"Easier said than done." Said Arya. "Angela, do you have one of those devices that you used to capture Dathedr?"
"I'm afraid not." She said. "That was our only one."
"I suppose we'll have to do it the old fashioned way then." Said Murtagh. "We capture one of them alive and Angela zaps him until he tells us where the prisoners are held, or at least something that can help us find them."
"That's going to be a problem." Said Angela, and Arya thought that was an understatement. Though there were plenty of Giants to be captured, very few of them were moving in small groups. Besides, once they got themselves discovered, she had a feeling things would get bad fast.
"I'm going to have to try and find him myself." Said Angela after a few seconds. "The king gives off a powerful aura. Hopefully I'll be able to locate him."
Arya shook her head. "It can't be that easy. I don't know how this all works, but I can assume that if you sense something powerful enough to be him, it's probably a trap."
"And people call me drastic!" said Angela, with feigned surprise. "We're in Faolin's kingdom, I'm going to try the most obvious way of finding someone known to our kind, the person I'm looking for is the easiest person in the world to sense, and therefore if I succeed it is likely to be a trap. Your reasoning astounds me."
"Just pointing it out." Arya grumbled.
"Question." Said Murtagh. "This whole godly-sensing thing is all wonderful, but I was just wondering...will it work as well if we're all dead?" And with that, he pointed to the streaks of darkness and fire which were quite noticeably racing towards them.
"I think we may have been spotted." Observed Angela.
"Oh, you think so?" said Arya, whipping out Tamerlain while Za'roc flashed out of its sheath at Murtagh's side.
"No!" hissed Angela. "We have to lose them. If we get bogged down in a fight they'll be able to call in reinforcements and we'll be overwhelmed."
"What do you suggest then?" asked Arya. "Shall we teleport?"
"If anyone can teleport in this place, I'm a toad." Said Angela. "And they don't exist. Fly!" and she was gone in a blur of light.
Murtagh and Arya looked at each other, and a silent understanding passed between them—Angela was going to get the lot of them killed. With a shrug, Murtagh sped after her.
Arya reached inside herself and tapped into the power of her immortal soul, focusing on trying to replicate her earlier feat and blast herself into the sky. The result was less than ideal: the struggled into the air, hovered for a few feet, and then fell back to the ground.
Come on! She thought. The Giants were almost upon her now.
"Arya?" asked Murtagh through their mental link. "Arya, what's wrong?"
She didn't know. For some reason, she was finding it incredibly difficult to use her ability—unlike Murtagh, who was clearly a natural where flying was concerned. Arya thought she could feel the dark power that surrounded her pushing her down—straining against her own strength in order to keep her trapped on the ground.
If only Firnen were here! Thought Arya angrily. The Giants were almost on top of her now.
Come on... the thought desperately. COME ON!
"Arya!" said Angela, and she caught a glimpse of the first blur of light turning around to come back for her, but it was too late. A blast of fiery energy missed her by a metre and exploded on the ground next to her.
UP! Thought Arya, drawing on the focus that comes only from times of imminent death. With an almighty bang, all the pressure was released and she rocketed into the air.
It was several seconds before the great blast of energy dissipated enough to allow her to regain control of her flight. With some effort, she steered herself towards the other two and shot through the vapoury darkness like an arrow from a bow. Steeling a glance behind her, she saw that the Giants were already in pursuit.
The other two slowed down to allow her to reach them, and then they all shot forward in a kaleidoscope of light.
"They're calling in backup!" said Angela, and looking around for a brief moment Arya confirmed that Giants were coming in from all directions in an attempt to surround them.
"We can't fight that many!" said Arya.
"Then we'll have to try and lose them." said Angela grimly. "Follow me and don't hesitate."
With that, Angela began to dive towards one of the massive rifts that ripped open the landscape.
"Are you crazy?" yelled Arya.
"Figured it out, have you?"
They entered the canyon at incredible speed, and it took all of Arya's concentration to keep herself from smashing into the wall. Below them, a river of lava flowed through rapids of black rock.
Steeling another quick glance behind her, Arya saw that Angela's plan had worked; all the Giants were now behind them. The first group was just descending into the canyon, while the others were still flying towards it.
The lapse in concentration cost her dearly, though, and she had to swerve wildly to avoid a great pillar of rock which cleaved the canyon in two, straight down the middle. She and Murtagh we now on the left side, Angela on the right.
"Leaving me, are you?" she said indignantly, and the rolled up into the air, over the divide and back into their side, while the Giants seized the opportunity and hurled bolts of fire towards her.
Meanwhile, the Giants directly behind them were still gaining. Blasts of dark energy flew past them , missing by no more than a few metres each time. That dark force continued to press against Arya, allowing the Giants to continue to catch up no matter how hard she tried. It felt as though the darkness itself was against them.
"Lower!" said Angela, and they descended closer to the fiery river. Here, Arya could see the sides of the rift were riddled with smaller caves and crevices.
"Just keep flying." Said Angela. "I have a plan."
"Oh, joy." Said Murtagh.
They continued to race along, and as the Giants continued to gain their shots were coming closer and closer.
"Angela, about that plan?" asked Arya frantically.
"Just a bit longer..."
Arya risked turning and wildly attempted to blast one of the Giants, but it was a futile move. Turning again, she extended her hand and with a great yell shot a great wall of energy out of her palm. It expanded in midair and blocked the entire canyon, but they were too far away and had time to register what was going on. The leader let loose and angry roar and a jet of fire burst from his hand, blowing the shield apart.
"Angela?"
"Wait!"
"ANGELA!"
A second later, one of the blurs of light swerved sharply and darted into the canyon. Before Arya could turn back, Angela had landed in one of the smaller crevices. With no time to process what they were seeing, the Giants continued to zip towards Arya and Murtagh. Within the space of a second Arya's elven eyes saw Angela extend her spear, which crackled with energy. A wall of lightning shot to the other side of the cavern, and the Giants hit it at full speed. With roars of rage they dropped down into the lava.
Quick as a flash, Angela was back alongside them.
"Nice!" said Murtagh, shooting Angela a mental grin.
"Not really." She replied. "That fire won't hurt them. In fact, it may make them stronger. Ironic, isn't it?"
"Great plan." Said Arya.
"Well, would you prefer them to be right on top of us?"
"I can't keep this up much longer." Admitted Arya. "I'm finding it hard to fly—harder than before, anyway."
"I can feel it too." Said Murtagh.
"This place is strong in dark power." Said Angela. "Everything is going to be harder for us and easier for them."
"That's promising." Said Arya, as several other groups of Giants now converged in the canyon and raced towards them.
"Grab hold of each other." Said Angela. "We'll all use each other's strength."
That sounded like a bit of a one-sided deal to Arya, considering the fact that Angela was about twice as powerful as the two of them put together, and normally she would have declined, but then again, it was Angela. If she was going to die, she wasn't about to do it arguing with the most annoying person in existence. Slowly, they edged towards each other and though the multicoloured light rushing around them made it difficult, they managed to grab onto each other's hands and arms. Arya felt herself surge forwards a little as Angela was able to increase to her full speed.
"You two see if you can take out a few of those Giants." She said. "I'll keep us on course."
Arya turned, and saw that their situation had improved somewhat. The group of Giants—which had swelled to at least a dozen—was a fair way off, and they were maintaining their distance. Though she had to concentrate less now because Angela was doing the navigating, she could still feel her power being drained from the effort it took to keep herself in the air.
"Bet I can get more than you!"said Murtagh, shooting a bolt of crimson energy from his palm. It struck the side of the rift and rubble exploded outwards; harmless to the Giants but it gave Arya an idea.
"Collapse the canyon walls!" said Arya, as retaliatory blasts of dark power shot past them. Murtagh sent her a mental nod. Neither of them had tried something this big before, but it was going to take a lot to stop the Giants.
"You take the left side, I'll do the right! On three!" said Arya, drawing on her power in preparation for what she was about to attempt. "One...two...three!"
Arya held out her palm and jerked it sideways, imagining she was grabbing the canyon wall and pulling it outwards. On both sides the rock exploded, a large section falling into the lava with a great ka-boom!
The front rank of Giants had no time to process what was happening before they hit the wall of black rock, and the rubble exploded outwards with the force of the impact. A few of the lesser Giants fell into the lava, but the other, stronger ones were almost completely unfazed, a new gleam of rage in their fiery eyes.
Arya felt a massive drop in her power—almost enough to make her pass out. With a jolt, she realized that her tunnel of light was failing—as was Murtagh's. They were rapidly losing altitude; Angela was doing all she could to keep them flying, but her strength alone wasn't enough. Desperately, Arya tried to use normal magic to keep them airborne, casting a simple spell to get the winds to lift them up, but something was wrong. She couldn't speak the words she needed. Cursing, she tried to use a non-verbal spell, but there was no response. Energy fell out of her much more quickly than it should have, and she only just managed to cut off the flow of magic before she passed out.
"Mortal magic, here? Really?" Said Angela, as she struggled to keep them in the air.
"It was worth a try." Said Arya, barely able to maintain her mental connection.
Arya knew Angela was bursting to let loose a scathing reply, but it was taking enough of her concentration to prevent them from plunging into the lava.
The Giants were gaining more rapidly than ever now. Blast after blast of dark energy flew towards them. Wearily, Arya turned around to deflect the ones that would have otherwise hit them, but she knew she didn't have it within her to keep it up for long. Murtagh joined in, but they were still descending and losing speed at an alarming rate.
"Hold on!" said Angela suddenly, and with a last burst of speed she swerved sharply into one of the smaller crevices. The cave was barely a few metres high, and almost totally dark, the only illumination in the depressing vapoury blackness the glow of the molten lava only a few metres from its entrance. They flew a little further, before hitting the ground hard in a barely controlled landing, tumbling several metres across the smooth, hard floor of black rock.
"Get up and draw swords!" yelled Angela, and the three of them struggled up, Arya barely managing to rise and quite sure that she wasn't about to be much good against the large group of Giants, now only seconds away.
"The roof!" Murtagh yelled, and Angela nodded. The two of them shot twin bolts of energy at the cavern roof, and a hundred tons of rock came crashing down.
The Giants were ready for it this time though, and with a fiery explosion the wall was blown apart. Angela's palm flashed up and a wall of energy turned the flying rubble to dust a fraction of a second before it could hit them.
The Giants—there were now five of them—landed far more gracefully than they had, and assorted fiery weapons appeared in their hands. Arya and Murtagh whipped out their swords, and Angela's sword-staff appeared in her hand, its tips crackling with lightning.
"Surrender or die!" said the leader, a confident grin on his face.
"That's my line!" said Angela indignantly. The Giant's mouth opened slightly in a twisted grin. "Slay them!"
In a blur he dashed towards Angela, but she sidestepped equally as fast, spinning as she did so. The Giant was sliced in two. The next two approached more cautiously, but Angela held them at bay.
The remaining two charged Arya and Murtagh—Arya's attacker carried a long sword, Murtagh's held a mace.
Grasping her sword in two hands, Arya deflected the Giant's first few strikes, but she knew she was too weak to fight him for long. Grinning, the Giant pressed his attack. Arya just managed to block the following blows, but each time their swords collided she felt herself growing weaker. The Giant aimed a kick at her chest, and the blow sent her flying several metres through the air.
He leapt through the air, his sword held high, but with a yell Angela jabbed her spear backwards, sending a crackling blast of energy at the Giant's back. He stumbled and let out a roar of pain, and Arya drove Tamerlain through his heart.
"Thanks!" she yelled, promptly turning and blasting the Giant who was attacking Murtagh with a bolt of emerald Energy.
"No problem!" Angela replied, as Murtagh and Arya came to her aid. Arya managed to distract one of her attackers, allowing Angela to finish him off—Murtagh meanwhile dispatched the final enemy before he could turn around.
"I take it you're choosing the 'die' option then?" said Angela to nobody in particular.
Arya sank down into a sitting position—she felt so drained that she was sure she couldn't have fought a minute longer.
"Well, hopefully we've lost them." Said Murtagh.
"Well, I suppose we'd better get comfortable." Said Angela. "Looks like miss sleepyhead's about to pass out, again. How many times do you have to do that on this trip?"
"I'm fine." Said Arya scathingly, shakily beginning to stand up to prove her point, then thinking better of it and sliding back down the wall again.
"Let's have some light, shall we?" said Angela, and with a wave of her hand a small fire ringed with nice, ordinary, grey stones appeared. She thought for a moment, shrugged, and then caused three pillows and blankets to appear. "Might as well." She said.
Murtagh sat down and made himself comfortable—Angela strode around for a few moments, muttering incantations, and then she followed suit, with their little tunnel now full of fine mist that Arya knew to be protective wards. "We should rest for a while." Said Angela. "We all need our strength."
Arya shook her head. "The Giants must know we're here now." She said. "I'll bet Faolin will be tightening security."
Angela smiled. "Well, that's where you come in."
"Me?" asked Arya.
"Well, I figured we should kill two birds with one stone." Said Angela. "Wonderful expression, that. The humans came up with it. I mean, seriously, if you're going to kill birds, why not use an arrow? Or a pointed stick? Honestly. Anyway, we need rest, and we also need to know where Eragon is. So, why don't you go into your little waking dreams, and see if you can get your soul to find Eragon. That's one way Faolin won't be prepared for. You know, I just thought of that plan. Aren't I brilliant?"
Arya shook her head. "It was Faolin who told me about the way my soul isn't anchored properly to my body. He knows more about it than any of us."
"Yes, I'm sure he does." Replied Angela. "But it's very hard to defend against someone when they're not in physical form. I don't think he would have at last revealed himself to the mortals with his little distraction if he hadn't thought that we could actually stand a chance of finding the king. He always prefers to stay in the shadows."
Arya shrugged—Angela's reasoning seemed fairly sound, though she didn't want to trust anything Faolin had told her—nor did she have any confidence that she could control these 'excursions.'
"How do we know that I have any control of what my soul does?" she asked.
"Well, you are the chosen one, aren't you? I'm sure you must be useful for something."
There was silence for a few moments as Arya took time to collect her thoughts.
"Okay." She said. "I'll try. But before I do, back up in Farthen Dur, you were about to tell me something that related to Eragon. Since I'm about to go looking for both him and your king, I want to know whatever it was. Now."
Angela grimaced. "Find the king, and you'll have your answer."
Arya shook her head angrily. "No." She said. "I'm looking for Eragon first. I'm not even trying to find your stupid king until I've found him."
A faint smile came upon Angela's features. "Well, I suppose it makes no difference." She said.
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Arya, please. Just go into your waking dreams. I don't think it will be very difficult to find what you seek. I'm not telling you any more now, so you're just going to have to trust me."
Arya was about to reply that she didn't; Angela was keeping things from her, Angela was sarcastic and superior, and all in all Angela was completely insane. But for all that Arya knew that deep down, she did trust her. Despite everything—despite all the reasons she had to mistrust the quirky Alaelan, she knew that Angela was her friend.
With a final sigh she closed her eyes. "Wish me luck." She said.
"I'd much rather wish you skill." Said Angela. "But if you insist. Good luck."
With that, Arya slipped into her waking dreams.
She now stood in a pleasant glade DU Weldenvarden—one that looked suspiciously like the one where she had rejected Eragon—the one she would often visit in secret during her time as queen. It was a place of bad memories, yes, but it was also the place where Eragon had said he'd loved her.
Feeling no desire to linger here now, she willed herself to leave her body and find Eragon. She was still going to look for him first, cryptic marks aside.
She now found herself back in the enormous cavern. She had no idea what she was supposed to do now—Oromis hadn't taught her how to use her power to sense the things around her, and her normal mental powers weren't going to be of much help, considering her mind was several leagues away. At least she was fairly sure she was doing the right thing—everything had a strange, unreal quality to it, each colour sharper than usual.
With no better idea, she simply willed herself to find him, pouring all of her concentration into the task. Within seconds, she felt something—a slight tug that was trying to pull her somewhere. Arya let it do so, but a few seconds later she started to feel another force—the dark power of the underworld pulling her back, trying to keep her from her goal.
Arya didn't know which force should win—the first thing she had felt could just as easily be a trap as Eragon. Still though, the dark powers of this place were trying to stop it from getting her, and though that just about seemed like the oldest trick in the book to her, something in her heart told her to trust her original instincts.
Then Arya heard it—a soft chuckle, but as audible as the surge of the sea upon the coastline. The laughing continued, and though it was still quiet, Arya imagined she'd be able to hear the sound from a thousand miles away.
Arya heard the rush of wind around, her, and the shadows around her grew stronger. She felt a definite presence, and knew that this was the power that had been resiting her every action.
"So, you think you can elude detection with your clever little tricks, child?" the voice that spoke to her was like nothing she'd ever heard—primal, and ancient beyond measure. Arya had the funniest feeling that if the underworld itself had a voice, this would be it.
"Oh, he may not be able to sense you, but do not think that I am so oblivious. You think to best me, then? To outwit me? I'll take that challenge. We'll see which one of us is the cleverer. And you will see how easily you may be broken."
Arya instinctively knew that this voice wasn't joking—that he truly intended to break her, and that he had the power to do exactly that. She prepared herself to feel some sort of blow, but nothing happened. In fact, the force that had been pulling her back released, and she sped up, racing towards the other presence.
Arya's mind raced. Had it been a trick—a little ploy to unnerve her as she now raced towards Faolin's trap? It seemed like something Faolin would do to her, but in her heart she knew it was something else.
The force was moving her faster and faster now. Arya gasped as she drifted right through the ground, and through a maze of corridors and huge stone galleries until finally she reached a great set of doubled doors. They swung open, to reveal the cavern within. The place was huge. She advanced more slowly now—the shadows were extremely thick here. Finally, she saw the sole feature of the room—a man chained by his arms, suspended with fiery bonds over a great pit.
Eragon.
Suddenly, her feet touched the ground, and she felt herself regain control of her body—or whatever form she was in. Frantically, she rushed towards him.
"Eragon." She hissed. "Eragon!"
Slowly, Eragon raised his head. "Arya?" he asked, his voice incredibly weak.
The elf in question could only gasp. Eragon looked completely awful—his face was horribly pale and there were grey streaks in his hair. Arya saw massive burns on his wrists where the chains made contact, and she could feel their heat from where she was standing.
He looked different in other ways too, though. He wore armour, but none like she had ever seen—a silver cuirass, which shone brightly in the darkness of the cave, and a silver circlet with an intricate leaf design adorned his head. He wore blue pants and brown leather boots, a heavy blue cloak attached to his shoulders by a pair of silver clasps. There were also some items of clothing which she recognized—the belt of Beloth the wise (which as far as she'd known was still lost,) and his father's ring, Aren. Why he hadn't been stripped of these great stores of energy, or at the very least the armour, she didn't know. She supposed Faolin hadn't even seen reason to get rid of them—the energy within the gems would be no good against the Giants, and the tortures he was enduring were likely on a much higher level than those which the armour could protect him from.
Worst of all, tendrils of blue energy were being pulled from his feet down into the pit. He had a thin aura of light about him, but even as she watched she saw it ever so slowly turning from silvery-blue to grey.
"Arya." He confirmed, his voice grim and resigned.
"Eragon!" she sobbed. His condition would have caused her to break down completely; especially since Firnen was no longer in her mind to help her pull herself together, and the pain was countered only by her new resolve. She was so close to getting to him now. She would do anything to make sure he got out of that place.
"Arya, what are you doing here?" he asked.
"Rescuing you." She said, pushing back her pain. She could break down over his state later, when they were safely away, and preferably with him held tightly in her arms, but right now she needed to make sure that could happen. "I'm here—not right here, this isn't really me—look, it's complicated." She said, finding the words spilling out of her mouth much faster than she intended. "You just need to hold out for a while longer. I've met some new friends—well, old friends, actually—this is difficult to explain." She paused for a moment. "Are you alright?"
What sort of a question is that? She asked herself, furious. He's being tortured by the Giants! Why was it that she just couldn't speak properly now that she finally had a chance to talk to Eragon, and had so little time to do it?
"Never better, though the accommodations could use some work." He replied with a grim smile.
"You sound like Angela." She blurted. "Angela's here, by the way, with me. She's one of the Grey Folk. I know this must be hard to understand, but we were wrong—about everything. It was all an act. The Grey Folk—they were the dwarven gods, but they're not gone like we thought. My father, Evandar, was one of them, and Oromis-elda, too. They're both still alive, by the way—they're not here though, they're up in Tronjheim. The people who've captured you, they're the Giants, from the dwarven legends, and...you must think I'm crazy." She closed her eyes in frustration.
"I...take it they haven't told you, then?" he asked heavily.
"Told me what?"she asked. "Who haven't told me?"
"Oromis, Evandar and Angela."
"Well, I don't think they've told me everything, but—wait a second, you believe me about them?"
"Yes."
"Faolin told you, then? He...he's one of the Giants, if you didn't know." She said.
"As best I can remember, Faolin didn't do much apart from gloat." Said Eragon ruefully.
The realization that Faolin was likely making regular visits to this place bought Arya back to reality. She wanted to stay here longer—talk to Eragon for the first time in so long—but she knew that if Faolin spotted her here, things would become ten times harder.
"That sounds like him." Said Arya. "Eragon, I can't stay for long. There's someone else I have to find, and before that I have to find out how exactly I got here in the first place. If you know everything, that saves us some time—just get ready, alright? I'll come for you as soon as I can."
Eragon shook his head. "No." He said.
Arya felt tears rush to her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Eragon. I need Angela's help, and I don't think she'll help me free you unless I find the other prisoner. I had to make a deal. If I could free you without the others...I would." She said. "Did you see another prisoner—someone who looked, well, like a god? You probably know about Guntera if you know about everything else. Do you know where he is?"
"Arya, that's not what I meant. I meant you don't need to find another person. There's only one of me. I mean, we're the same person. I'm the leader of the Grey Order, Guntera to the dwarves. I'm the king of Alaeala."
For several seconds, there was complete silence, deeper than the deepest caverns of the underworld. Eventually, Arya let out a small exhalation of disbelief—the beginnings of faked laughter, but the gesture was not returned. Eragon's face was utterly serious. Then it hit her. He'd spoken to her in the ancient language. That meant he couldn't lie to her, unless...unless he was one of the Grey Folk.
"I don't believe it." She said. It must have been a trick. Faolin was trying to mess with her. This was all an illusion—how else had she been able to come here so easily, anyway?
"Arya, I'm sorry I lied to you. I—"
Arya's face contorted with rage. "You really thought I'd fall for this? Try harder, Faolin. I'm still going to find him."
Eragon bowed his head. After a few seconds, he looked up at her, and she saw a single tear on his cheek. "Angela...will confirm what I am saying, after you wake up. And after you return to your body...get yourself out of here, Arya. I never wanted you to get dragged into this. My power is being drained. I can talk no more. Go."
Arya shook her head. "You're lying!" she yelled. "Where's Eragon?"
"Go!" he said, his voice more forceful this time. Arya heard the winds stir around her, and before she could protest she once again lost control of her movement, pulled back the way she came. The doors slammed shut behind her, and she began to drift faster and faster, until she was racing up through the ceiling and into the gigantic cavern. A few seconds later, her eyes snapped open.
"Welcome back, oh master of sleeping." Said Angela. "How did it go? Did you find him?"
Arya shook her head. "No." She said. "I thought I had, but...it was another trick of Faolin's."
Angela winced. "Did Faolin appear to you? Was he there?"
"No." Said Arya.
"In that case," said Angela, "I probably need to confirm to you that there's only one of Eragon. And also, in case you haven't figured it out already, we can indeed lie. I am a toad. See?"
"Wait." Said Murtagh, confused. "What are you talking about?"
Arya didn't answer—her attention was directed solely on Angela. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was asked nicely not to. Next question."
"Wait, why didn't she tell you what?" asked Murtagh. Arya ignored him again.
"Why didn't he tell me?"
"Same reason as the rest of us." Said Angela. "We were trying to keep things secret, you know. You really are a slow learner, aren't you?"
"But after you told me about everything else." Said Arya angrily. "Why didn't you tell me about Eragon then? Why did he tell you not to?"
"CAN SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON?"
Angela turned to Murtagh. "The man you know as Eragon is not real. The real Eragon is our leader, and he posed as a human to help you sorry little rebels get your sorry little act together."
"WHAT?"
"I agree. He did it a few thousand years ago with the elves and the dragons, and he just assumed that it would work again. He thought it would be poetic, I suppose, restoring the riders in the same way he'd originally started them. He should have listened to me. I mean, look at the sort of company he ended up with!"
"That's ridiculous." Said Murtagh. "You just proved you can lie. Eragon acted nothing like all of you."
"Yes, well it just might have looked a bit suspicious if the human farm boy gave lessons to your wisest scholars and then blew Galbatorix to tiny little pieces. He was in character. You people really need to try watching some theatre."
"This is insane." Said Murtagh.
"That's what I told him." Said Angela. "And Arya, as to the question I was about to answer before we were so rudely interrupted, I suppose he thought that if the secret did need to get out, he wanted to tell you himself."
"So we've been lied to since we set off on this quest so he could stop the lies himself? What if something had happened and Murtagh and I were without you and had to continue on?"
"There was no question of that. If we were to perish or get separated, there'd be no way you two could finish the quest alive. Besides, we didn't set any sort of protocol for if he was captured. He may have had other reasons from keeping his identity from you. He's our leader—we weren't about to simply assume that his orders were no longer valid."
Arya was utterly furious—with her so-called friends, for keeping her this much in the dark, and even more with Eragon. Her world had been turned upside down. Everything she thought she knew about him had been a lie—everything he'd said was part of an illusion. And Arya hated being lied to.
Murtagh looked at Arya, and she could understand his meaning perfectly. Is this some sort of joke? She shook her head, and his face darkened.
"Apart from telling you about his true identity, what did he say?"
"Nothing." She said, her voice thick. "He said his power was being drained and he couldn't talk any more. He told me to get myself out of here, and that he never wanted me involved in this. Then he sent me away."
All colour fell out of Angela's face. "You're sure that's what he said?"
Arya frowned. "Yes. He definitely said his power was being drained."
"And that he couldn't talk any longer?"
Arya nodded. What she didn't mention was the malevolent force that she had a sneaking suspicion was watching them—the voice which had casually decided it was going to break her. That disturbed her too much, and at that moment she really wasn't in the mood for discussion.
Angela closed her eyes. "This is the worst possible thing that could happen."
"What now?" asked Arya. All things considered, she really wasn't in the mood for yet another problem.
"I feared he might do this, though how...Eragon isn't simply imprisoned. He's being consumed. His life force is being drained."
"What?" asked Arya.
"It's a horrible practice. Very rarely has it been undertaken—never with a being as powerful as Eragon. The idea is to take the soul of one person and draw it into another. It takes an incredible amount of dark power, but if it works, the subject can be completely consumed—their very essence absorbed. Once that happens, what's left of them is utterly enslaved to the host." She opened her eyes, and a steely resolve was in them. "We have to stop it, or Eragon will suffer the worst fate possible, and Faolin will become completely unstoppable. If Eragon was too weak to continue talking to you, he won't be able to resist much longer. We'll be lucky if we can count the time we have left in days. We have once chance to pull it off."
"I just love our adventures." Said Murtagh. "Never a boring day."
"Finally, someone who agrees." Said Angela, with a brave attempt at her usual upbeat attitude. "Well, everybody up, then! We'd be burning daylight if there was any down here. Giants to kill, world to save and all that. Let's have some fun!"