Chapter Eighteen:
Capture
Adurna woke seconds before Eragon sat upright in the bedroll next to hers. Her palm was tingling strangely, just like it did when it touched Vanilor or Saphira, but this time neither of the dragons was within two feet.
Everything was quite, still.
Too still.
A strange feeling was in her mind, almost begging for her to discover what it was. She felt like she was about to find a breakthrough, something that would answer all questions; answer everything she had ever wondered about.
Beside her, Eragon stood, buckling Zar'roc to his side silently. Adurna followed suit, loosening Aiedail in its sheath quietly, ready in case of a fight. Both dragons looked at them, eyes wide and bright, shining in the night from the light of the crescent moon and stars.
What is it? Adurna heard Saphira ask.
Eragon projected his thoughts to Adurna and Vanilor. I don't know. He looked at Adurna to see if she knew anything. She shook her head.
Vanilor and Saphira sniffed the air, the latter merely curious while the former cautious. The white dragon snorted, shaking his head in disgust and Saphira hissed quietly.
I smell horses nearby that are not ours. They are not moving, Saphira said, lifting her head.
They reek with an unfamiliar stench, Vanilor added.
Urgals?
No, they are present, but that is not the smell, Saphira answered, eyes narrowing.
A male and a female.
What, Vanilor? Adurna asked.
There are two, one male and another female. They do not smell like humans, or elves. Though I highly doubt that elves would work with Urgals anyway.
The Riders nodded, and Eragon went to wake Murtagh. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Murtagh jump up with a start, yanking a dagger out from under the blankets before he realized who it was that had shaken him. Eragon quietly explained what was going on.
They stationed themselves next to the dragons, Eragon on Saphira's right, Adurna in between the dragons and Murtagh on Vanilor's left. Each had either teeth barred or a sword drawn.
They waited quietly, watching for any sign of movement. Nearby, a squirrel chatted animatedly with another of its kind before both were suddenly silenced.
Adurna looked warily around, eyes flickering back and forth through her vision.
An angry snarl sounded and she whipped around. Eragon stood, looking at a humongous Urgal carrying a mattock with a nasty looking spike at its end. The Urgal roared and waved his weapon, but did not charge.
"Brisingr!"
The Urgal exploded in a flash of blue light, sending blood splattering across the side of Adurna's face as she turned and closed her eyes against the black blood.
Vanilor roared, his voice long and loud, and she whipped around, eyes widening. In front of them and on the side, was a large group of Urgals.
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Adurna reprimanded herself. Steel on steel resounded loudly from her left as Murtagh met the oncoming Urgals. She raised Aiedail against a group of four Urgals, all sneering with their ugly faces at her. They thought they would take her out easy. They should think again.
She stabbed the first through the heart and then lobbed another's head off, the body standing for a second before falling to the ground. Another group of four joined the remaining two. They surrounded her, advancing. Through a gap in the circle, she could see Eragon trying to lift his sword in time to block the club of an attacking Urgal. The group around her constricted their ranks, blocking her view.
There was a sickening crack and a loud shout of "Fly, Saphira!" and a loud thump followed after. The only thing Adurna could think of was that their ranks had been lowered from five to four.
One Urgal lashed out at her with a sword and she dodged, the blade just barely scratching her shoulder. She backed up against a medium sized boulder, switching sword hands.
Lifting her left hand so that the gedwëy ignasia showed, she shouted, "Alavar!"
A stream of white and gold flame flowed out of the glowing mark. The Urgals eyes widened. They hadn't thought that she was the second Rider; they had thought the other male was.
The fire incinerated three of the six monsters, and she could vaguely see the dragons and Murtagh fighting some distance away from her. The remaining Urgals shouted in a ruff language to their companions.
"Trazhid! Beh gahz ut!"
The other Urgals converged on Adurna, sneering and jeering. They tightened ranks until the closest were only a few feet away. Something shoved her from behind and her skull connected sharply with something hard.
Her vision blurred as the ground rushed to meet her.
"Go, Vanilor, Fly!"
Nice little chappie isn't it? Didn't turn out quite as I imagined, but close enough. Sorry this was from Adurna's POV instead of Alavar's POV. It just wouldn't work.
Oh yeah, since you're all probably wondering, all words above in other languages are made up. Yeah. And I know she shouted Alavar's name. But Alavar's name is from the Ancient Language in my story, even if in the books it is not. But whatever. So, translations:
Alavar- mean's 'flame'
Trazhid! Beh gahz ut!- Urgal for "Attack! She is the one!"
So, review. And oh, please don't criticize me for my crude Urgal words. The books don't really hint much at how to form a sentence and the words to put in it.
REMEMBER! THE TITLE WILL CHANGE TO WATER AND FIRE BY JUNE 31st
Signed,
V.H.