Well, this week I'm doing much better on my time schedule :D Crazily, I only have one day at school this week, cause today was a Bank Holiday and the last three days of the week I'm on this archaeological course thingy the History department's running :D And I love History so I just had to go on it :D (nothing to do with missing Maths ALL WEEK XD)

As always, thank you to ever single reviewer/reader there is, you mean the world to me :D

*evil laughter...let it begin...

Murtagh POV

An arrow shoots past me, missing my head by about three inches as I see the entire camp is now under a full attack from all sides. Hundreds, even thousands of Urgals uttering war cries everywhere, the Urgals on our side being forced to fight their own kind. I see men being cut down from behind, somewhere, people are screaming. All I can think of is that this was meant to be over. There wasn't meant to be anymore war. Another arrow comes close and I banish all those thoughts form my mind. The only thing driving me now is the fight, and I cannot lose.

THORN!

A huge roar comes from above, and Thorn comes into view, bellowing fire and smoke as he joins the fray, killing three Urgals straight off with a snap of his mighty jaws. Saphira joins him, Eragon on her back, wielding Brisingr, which is alight with blue flames. They are terrifying, emanating power. A smile curls my lips and I enter the thick of it with a cry, stabbing the nearest Urgal straight through the heart. I can't believe how many there are. As one falls it is replaced immediately by another. Soon I am coated with blood and the dust of battle. I see an axe coming towards my head, it takes only a moment to disable its owner, the head dropping into the dirt like a stone. WHACK!

MURTAGH!-

The ground blurs. My body seems light, almost distant from me, like I'm not quite in control of it. I fall to my knees in a daze, my eyes unfocused, unable to comprehend what has happened. How the hell I didn't get out of the way.

What?-

Murtagh, get up, NOW!

I try to obey, but my legs seem paralysed, my mind foggy. The voice inside my brain gets more panicked, as if it's sensing the danger.

A cool hand tilts my chin. Scarlet eyes gaze into my own, the Shade's smile revealing his filed, pointed teeth. Only half heartedly do I try to stab him with my mediocre sword. He bats it away as if it were a fly, his smile growing wider.

"Much as I enjoy watching your helplessness, my orders must be fulfilled. It's a shame my masters aren't here to see you fall. I suppose they'll have to take your brother instead," the Shade brings his own sword to my eye level, so I can see faint markings etched into the blade. I hear a woman screaming. Roars fill my numb brain as the sword rises, against the sun. Then something strange happens. The Shade's face grows pale, almost grey as the skin seems to crack. I stare at his chest, at the point of a sword showing through his breastplate. The Shade drops to his knees, his skin now transparent, wreathes of swirling darkness beneath. Behind him, her sword now free of its victim, stands my Queen. With a cry, the darkness inside the Shade is released, drifting away in great clouds, and he is no more. I stare at Nasuada, my mind slowly regaining its clarity.

"Now we're even," she says, turning to stab another Urgal, the soldiers renewing their morale, digging into reserves of adrenaline fuelled energy.

I look at my Queen and smile, getting to my feet just a second after another Urgal takes a swing at my head. My sword stabs into his chest for only a moment before it finds another life to end. It flashes in wisps of silver, red, streaking different ways as it parries, thrusts, stabs.

I find myself making my way towards where Eragon and Saphira are, now fighting separately. In a blast of pure white light, five Urgals around Eragon simply drop down, their hearts never to beat again. The soldiers around Eragon cheer on their powerful leader. I smile to myself. Two can play at that game. Two words from my mouth and seven Urgals drop to the ground. The cheers grow louder. I back my way to Eragon.

"Having fun little brother?" I say, my mouth still curled in a smile.

"You didn't look so happy when the Shade was holding a sword to your neck," he retorts.

I leave it, then my mouth hangs open.

"She's fighting?" I gasp, staring at Eragon for the briefest moment.

He looks back, his face creased. "Couldn't talk her out of it. And the elves are back to calling her Drottning so no help there."

"Brilliant." I mutter, before sprinting in her direction.

"What are you doing?" Eragon yells after me, engaged with a Kull.

"Someone needs to keep a closer eye on her," I yell back as I reach Arya. She raises her eyebrows at me. "Oh really? Says the person who had to be saved not five minutes ago" she says coolly.

I shake my head. "That wasn't saved, that was helped. And someone does need to keep an eye on you. Somewhere in that superior head of yours, you know it's true," I retort, stabbing an Urgal behind her to prove my point. In a truly unlike-Arya gesture, she rolls her eyes and mutters something I don't quite catch but sounds a lot like 'show off'.

An ear splitting screech fills the air, drawing everyone's eyes upwards to where it jumps from its strange mount, a mount more air than substance, and lands on the ground with a hiss. The battle seems momentarily stunned into truce, then with a volley of war cries the Urgals resume their onslaught, now joined by what I had prayed I would never see again. The last Ra'zac.

If he's shocked, Eragon does a good job of hiding it, but he must know what they expect him to do. What he must do. Head Rider after all. Pulling Brisingr into a war salute that goes down the centre of his brow, he walks steadily towards his new foe. Another cry enters the slightly fetid air, and I find myself with my arms locked around Arya, stopping her from collapsing into insanity again. Her entire body shivers against me, but I cannot let her go. Not like this, He'd get himself killed trying to protect her. The battle is continuing half heartedly, but most have turned to see the second main event. My Queen is one who carries on fighting, letting fate do what it must. Four elves protect Arya and I from being attacked while we watch. Then, in a look that chills me right down to my bone, the Ra'zac looks directly at us, at me, then Arya, before back to Eragon, who has followed his foe's gaze and is now wearing a hard expression. Then it begins.

Everything happens as if in double time, the Ra'zac just as fast as Eragon, almost as lethal. The two of them engage in a dance that will end in one of their deaths, sound broken by hisses and the air being cleaved by metal. On and on it goes, and then I notice it. A slight twitch in Eragon's hand. Mentally, I go back through the time. He has to be exhausted. And the Ra'zac, a spectator until now, is clearly not. I wonder why Saphira hasn't entered into battle with them.

He doesn't want her to

Thorn? How d'you know that?

I asked her the exact same thing you wondered- apparently Eragon wants it to be a fair fight or something like that.

I snort with laughter. How like my little brother. Good to his core, even if it means his death.

I suppose he doesn't see how vital he is to everyone?

He is still stubborn. Like you.

It'll get him killed.

I turn back to the fight. Little things are now creeping up in Eragon's play, things the soldiers wouldn't see but I would. Things the elves would. Things the Ra'zac would. I see it coming before he does. I release Arya. I do what my heart screams to me, and ignore my head.

I get there just in time for the sword to impact me and not my brother. For the second time, I fall to the floor, my gaze dimming. In what seems like fog, I see Eragon using Brisingr, alight with flames again, to stab the Ra'zac through it's heart. I hear something in my head. A woman singing.

At night, he comes to me in a dream,

Takes my hand and smiles sweetly at me,

Tells me he knows it's not a story,

And that he swears he believes,

How love will conquer everything

How it lasts, all through the ages

How he and I'll have a future,

Somewhere, somehow together,

He says he's loved me forever,

My mother's voice echoes in my head as my body loses its warmth, the blood seeping out.

I'm lying on my bed after a particularly vicious beating from Morzan. I think of the servants who simply stood there. My nurse is stroking my hair as she applies the salve to my ruined back, trying not to let it sting. My eyes wander as I think of the last person who did this. When I was three. The gardener my mother was always with. He returned just after she had died. I think of when she died. Of when she sang to me and held me weakly before Morzan ordered me away. I think of her lying in state, her auburn hair brushed out over her shoulders. Her mouth that would never smile at me again. Her grey eyes, proof that I belong to her as well, will never look at me again.

Eragon kneels beside me, muttering frantically as he starts to repair the damage.

"Guess you need saving too sometimes huh little brother?" I manage to whisper, my vision returning as his magic takes effect.

"You didn't have to, I saw it just as you did," he answers, as he mutters more incantations.

I manage to laugh, pain shooting through my ribcage. "Worried about me little brother?"

"Stay still."

"They'd better be grateful for me saving such a stubborn fool,"

"Not as grateful as me,"

"Thought you saw it coming?"

He looks at me. "What do you want me to say, Murtagh?"

"That just for once, I got to save you."

Another look. "Fine. You saved me."

A pause.

"And I'm glad you did."

The incantation finishes. As if by flicking a switch, the battle is resuming. This time, I know we're winning. The Urgals time is numbered. My sword is back in my hand, ready to be used again. Then my world spins.

The red point of the sword is showing from her stomach. Zar'roc. I look to the person who had taken it.

Kendar smiles as he pulls the sword out of her. Out of my Queen. Her eyes meet mine for only a second before she falls to the ground.

Whew. My hands hurt from typing... I promise it won't be long until an update, seeing as I'm being evil to you at this ending...