Chapter Twenty-Four: Fox Fur

"No way in hell Mariah's going past those gates." Mark insisted, folding his arms.

Mariah blinked, looking past him. She had her arms around his waist as they rode Aluora. After getting closer to Dras-Leona, Flayme and Saphira had to hide during the day as to not be seen by passers-by. "What?" She let go of his waist as he hurriedly dismounted, leaving her on the horse.

Gripping his she-horse's reins tightly in his right hand, Mark said, "No."

"It'll not be any different if you spend the night out here with bandits prowling about." Brom said.

"Yes it will. Between me, Saphira and Flayme she's got a much better chance of not getting kidnapped, beaten, mugged, raped! If you think for one second I'm letting my little sister go into that city you've completely lost your mind old man." The wind picked up, whipping his hair around as he glared at his grandfather.

Brom blinked at him. Eragon was openly gaping at his hostility, not quite able to process it.

"Mark-" his sister started.

"You don't have a choice. I'm making it for you. Be quiet." He snapped, staring down his grandfather.

Finally, Brom nodded. "Alright. You stay with the dragons then. Eragon can contact Saphira and she can relay any messages we might have for you. You can do the same."

"Good."

He looked over the young man again and smiled a bit. "C'mon Eragon, let's get going." He spurred Snowfire and headed off.

"Mariah-" started Eragon.

"Hurry up Eragon," she said, looking over at him. "Don't do anything… reckless."

He looked as if he wanted to say something else, but bit his tongue and hurried Cadoc after Brom.

"I'm sorry Mariah," said Mark. "I had a hard enough time with it when we were in Teirm. Dras-Leona is the worst place in the country, besides the capital… possibly worse, if you discount Galbatorix. I don't want you getting hurt… Flayme can't even come help you if you get in trouble either…" With that, he tugged at Aluora's reins and started for the woods where the dragons were hiding. He pulled his hood up with a shuddering hand and continued on.

"Thanks Mark… for being so concerned…" she said quietly, holding onto the saddle.

He said nothing, stopping once Flayme was in sight and helping her off the horse. Before setting up camp, he hugged his sister tightly, sighing.

She blinked, glancing up at his face, still slightly contorted with unease. Finally, Mark let go and busied himself with making a fire.

"How about we catch something for dinner?"

"Sure," he said, nodding and picking up his bow. While in Teirm, he'd purchased a new one, knowing it would be beneficial to have another in the event of Eragon's breaking.

Mariah pulled her cloak around her tightly and started off into the woods, Mark on her heels. They stayed down wind and slowly crept through the trees, trying to find anything that would make a decent meal. After some searching, Mark spotted an opossum. He glanced at his sister and shrugged.

"I'm not eating that."

"You wouldn't even know it was one if I had already skinned and gutted it." He argued, drawing an arrow back on his bow. A moment later however, before he could fire, a silvery black fox appeared, jumping out of the bushes and pouncing atop the juvenile creature. Mark snapped his bow, piercing through the throat of the fox. "Two for one," he smirked at his sister who had her arms folded.

"I like foxes…"

"You'll like it better when it feeds you," he assured, collecting the kill and walking back to camp with her.

She pulled out her hunting knife and started cleaning the opossum. "You get to eat that." She said, finishing and placing the meat on a spit.

"That means you have to eat fox…" he pointed out. "Thought you liked the fox."

"I do. And now I have a new fox skin," she said simply, being more careful when she took the hide off the second animal. The skin was extremely thin on foxes and she didn't want to put rips in it.

"How do you propose to finish that?"

"We're going to be out here for a few days. I have time." She commented, putting it aside carefully and completing the preparation of her dinner. She started cooking the meat and set to work on the pelt. Turning it inside out, she took her knife and ran it carefully along the skin, scraping off any remaining meat, fat, and membrane. She used a scrap piece of cloth to clean off any excess grease before buffering the skin with an abrasive stone and removing the cartilage from the inside around the ears and face. She went to retrieve the pot from the saddle bags and came back, dumping the fox's brains in and mashing them up best she could, adding some water into the pot to cover them.

"Might as well throw the opossum's in there too, in case you run out." Mark suggested, watching her.

"Good idea," she said, doing so.

"Good thing you don't get queasy easily."

"I wouldn't do it if it was alive."

"I would hope not." He chuckled, "But still…"

She blinked at him, "Are you upset because your sister isn't scared of blood and guts?"

"No. I'm very proud actually, that you have a stronger stomach than most girls."

Mariah shook her head and set the pot over the fire to cook the brains. She cleaned her hands and looked at her brother. "There, that just needs to cook. Now, would you care to spar before we eat?"

"Might as well," he said, standing and stretching, grabbing his sword.

Mariah drew her blade and set aside the sheath, glancing at the dragons who were watching, amused. She waited for her brother and nodded when he stood still, sword drawn, at the ready. After several silent moments, he took one step towards her. Immediately, Mariah ducked, avoiding the blow towards her face and shot behind him, dragging her sword upward along his back, ripping into his tunic. A couple inches closer and she would have slashed right through to his skin.

After fighting for years, they didn't dull their blades. There was no sense in a fight if there wasn't pain involved because when the time came, and they were really in a battle, there would be real pain. No blocked edges of swords. No sibling to stop the fight and heal your wounds. No stopping a fight to go to dinner. The numbness to pain that came from fighting with sharp edges helped in a real fight. When cut, there would be no shirking away in hurt, there would only be the will to continue and shrugging off the wound with the thought of having had worse, by a family member no less.

Mark twisted around, running his sword up the side of her own, turning his hand and trying to pry the blade from her fingers. She tossed the sword from her right to her left, stepping around him again. The easiest way to win a fight was to knock the other's sword away. The quickest was cheating and using magic in a sword fight. The most beneficial was both and the cheap way out was to kill your opponent, but obviously the last option was out of the question.

Mariah jammed her sword toward Mark again, slashing into his shoulder. His face didn't betray his pain, watching her change hands. Pressing harder, he started overpowering her with sheer strength, the only advantage he had over her. Elsewhere, they were evenly matched. She stumbled back, tripping and hitting the ground. Shuffling to try and regain her footing, she fought him off with wide swings of her sword, finally backing into a tree. Mariah propped herself against it and stood. As she did so, Mark stabbed forward, locking his blade into the bark. She twisted around and smacked his waist with the flat of her blade.

He retaliated quickly, pulling his sword back from the tree and swinging his arm around towards her. She scampered back, but not until after he caught her forearm with the tip. Mariah stopped a few feet from him, taking a deep breath and judging that the cut wasn't too deep, waiting. He stepped towards her again and she wheeled around behind him, kicking hard and sweeping her leg to slam into his ankles, forcing him to tumble to the ground. Immediately, she pounced on him, pinning him with the point of her sword at his throat. Smirking, she sat on his chest. "I win."

Mark sighed, tossing his head back to smack against the dirt, "Alright."

"You're no fun tonight."

He said nothing, just laying there. She rolled her eyes, sheathing her sword and healing up her arm. Mariah walked back to him, nudging his torso with her boot. "Get up, your food's done."

After dinner, they simply -rested by the fire, soaking in as much heat as they could.

Saphira snorted from behind them and Mariah twisted around, blinking at her. "What?"

The two of them explored the city today before resting. Both have been drinking heavily, Eragon's mind is fuzzy to the point where even I cannot think straight.

"A drink sounds lovely right about now," Mark muttered, leaning into his palm, watching Mariah sew his tunic back together. The cut she'd put in it was extensive and taking much more time than she really wanted.

"They're going to feel terrible in the morning."

"As opposed to my feeling terrible now. I don't see the difference, really."

She sighed, "You hate alcohol…"

"Not today I don't."

Mariah chucked his shirt at him, shaking her head, "Stop it. I don't mind that you lost it today, really. I appreciate your concern."

"Mariah…"

"No, really. I didn't particularly want to go there… everything about it makes my skin crawl. I felt okay with all of you but, honestly feel even better just with you outside the city."

He nodded, tugging his tunic over his head. "I'll stay up for a bit; make sure no one finds us. You want me to work on your fox?"

"Sure, thanks. Good night." She told him, walking over and laying out some blankets before curling up on them.

"Night Mariah." He said, getting the brains off the fire and waiting for them to cool a bit. Once they were warm to the touch, he took the pelt and started rubbing the mess into the skin. When he'd run out of brains, he tucked the fox into a bag, tightening the opening to keep it shut. Mark lay down on the ground and stared upward, connecting stars together as they appeared overhead. Every half hour or so, he checked the pelt until it smelled terrible. "Awful really…" he said. Flayme snorted, trying to get the scent out of his nose and tucked his muzzle under his paw to try and block it.

Mark started stretching it and working it as it dried. He sat by the fire, keeping himself warm as his hands moved, constantly pulling the pelt back and forth gently to avoid tearing. Finally, it began to dry. He worked more quickly, making sure the skin wasn't going to stiffen when it finished drying. Mark ran his fingers over the skin, making sure it had softened properly. He stood, stretching his arms, popping his shoulder after all the pulling. Looking through the saddle bags, he found some rope and returned to the fox pelt, glancing over at his sister, asleep on the ground. He sighed and looped the rope through the eyeholes of the fox and threw the other end of the rope over a branch, hanging it there. He built up a second small fire below it, making sure it smoldered and smoked more than burned. When he was satisfied it was doing well, he sat down near Mariah.

Thank you for convincing them to let you stay out here, I feel better with her in my sights. Flayme said to him, flicking his tail tip. With her in the confines of a city I would worry and be helpless to assist her in the event of trouble. Out here I may eat whomever I please without much worry of them being of importance.

Mark looked over at him and smiled. "Of course. Did you and Saphira eat anything today?"

I have not, thank you for reminding me. He said, stretching a bit and standing. I shall be back shortly.

"Circle and check for anyone near us, alright? Warn me if there's anything that looks dangerous around. Animals included. The last thing I want is for a pack of wolves to appear and hunt me down while I sleep."

The red-orange dragon inclined his head and shot upward into the air.

That next evening, Saphira relayed another message from Eragon. They have seemingly found the Ra'zac's lair. I believe they'll be done in the city soon.

"Great… where is it?"

Helgrind.

"Naturally," Mark sighed. "Of course."

She started growling a moment later however, making Mark jump.

Mariah simply started looking concerned. "What is it Saphira?"

It's nothing, she snorted, laying her head on her front paws. Eragon is being foolish again…

Throughout the following day, Mariah and Mark sparred as often as possible. They took turns shooting Mark's bow and hunted for their lunch as well. They were stretched out on their blankets after eating.

"We're headed for the Varden you know."

"You've told me this before, yes."

Mark blinked, rolling onto his stomach, "I don't know if Eragon wants to come along."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"You know exactly what I mean."

The other day when she had been taking off his splint, finally, they had started talking about past injuries. Mariah had broken some of her fingers once in Carvahall when she was little, which had been slightly painful, but not all that inconvenient, not at the time anyway. Eragon had laughed a bit at her, but suddenly turned serious at the mention of home. "I would like to return home, after I've killed the Ra'zac. There's more to life than war," he'd said. The idea that there might be a normal life waiting somewhere seemed impossible. She'd grown up with Brom's stories of Dragons, War and Riders. Now that she was part of that, it seemed impossible to separate from it again. They were bound to this journey now, wherever it led them - to life or death, glory or failure – and she knew that she'd break if Eragon left her to continue on alone. And that stupid splint wouldn't come off.

"Mariah?"

She snapped her head up to look at him. "Sorry…"

"It's alright… what?"

"I… I know what you mean, yes," she nodded. "I hope he doesn't decide to go back home…"

"I don't know how he can," Mark admitted. "It's not safe for him. There's nothing left back there either, for any of us."

"Except memories."

"Painful ones. And memories can be made anywhere, anytime, with anyone."

"I know that Mark."

"Then I just have to convince him," he nodded, smiling a bit, "Got it."

She smiled back a little before jumping as Saphira stood abruptly, snorting ferociously. They are in trouble.

"What?" Mariah jumped up, tying her sword to her waist, Mark following her movements.

The Ra'zac have found Eragon. Brom is meeting him at the inn. Then they are going to meet us at the edge of the city. Come, now. She flew off without further explanation.

Mariah scrambled over to Flayme, pulling herself up into his saddle and holding tight as he followed, Aluora shooting after the dragons on the ground below. They landed just shy of the entrance to the city, Saphira clawing at the ground in irritation.

After waiting several excruciatingly long minutes, the two horsemen finally arrived in full view. Eragon fell off Cadoc, climbing Saphira's back before she flew off. Brom joined Mark and rode as fast as they could away from the gates of Dras-Leona.

Glancing over, Mariah looked at Eragon who seemed extremely pale as he leaned into Saphira's scales. She wished she could hear what he was thinking, but didn't want to pry into his mind at the moment. They flew low and fast over the road. Leona Lake receded behind them; the land became dry and rocky and filled with tough, sharp bushes and tall cactuses. Clouds darkened the sky. Lightning flashed in the distance, making Mariah think of the nettle still in her pocket from several days ago, warding off the lightning. As the wind began to howl, Saphira glided steeply down to Brom and Mark, Flayme quickly following. He stopped the horses and asked, "What's wrong?"

"The wind's too strong."

"It's not that bad," objected Brom.

"It is up there," said Eragon, pointing at the sky.

Brom swore and handed him Cadoc's reins. Mariah was already up behind her brother, holding onto him tightly, burying her face in his back. They trotted away with the dragons following on foot, though on the ground they had difficulty keeping up with the horses.

The gale grew stronger, flinging dirt through the air and twisting like a dervish. They wrapped scarves around their heads to protect their eyes. Brom's robe flapped in the wind while his beard whipped around as if it had a life of its own. Mariah had hers curled around her tightly as she pinned herself behind Mark to shield herself from the weather. Though it would have made them all miserable, they hoped it would rain so their tracks would be obliterated.

Soon darkness forced them to stop. With only the stars to guide them, they left the road and made camp behind two boulders. It was too dangerous to light a fire, so they ate cold food while the dragons sheltered them from the wind.

"How did they find us?" Eragon asked bluntly.

Mark glanced over at them, wondering that himself, wrapping his arm around his sister. Mariah was tucked up against him, trying to stay as warm as possible.

Brom started to light his pipe, but thought better of it and put it away. "One of the palace servants warned me there were spies among them. Somehow word of me and my questions must have reached Tábor… and through him, the Ra'zac."

"I want to know how the hell you two got caught though. Once they knew of you it was probably easy, right?"

"I'm assuming so. Though I wish it wouldn't have happened. It didn't matter much however, because Galbatorix will be there within the week, probably sooner if word of us reaches his ears quickly."

Mark blinked, glancing at Mariah. "If the horses weren't so tired and it wasn't black out, I would suggest we keep moving."

"But it's not, so we have to rest. I am sorry Marcus."

He let out an annoyed growl until Mariah prodded him with her finger.

"Mark. It'll be alright. We'll get out of this…" she insisted, smiling a bit. "Everyone's safe."

"For now. We're going to have the entire city guard after us. The Ra'zac and probably the King's army now too…" Mark sighed.

"We can't go back to Dras-Leona, can we?" asked Eragon, looking away from Mark towards Brom.

Brom shook his head, "Not for a few years."

Eragon held his head between his hands. "Then should we draw the Ra'zac out? If we let Saphira be seen, they'll come running to wherever she is."

Mark was about to snap at him, but stopped when Brom spoke.

"And when they do, there will be fifty soldiers with them," said Brom. "At any rate, this isn't the time to discuss it. Right now we have to concentrate on staying alive. Tonight will be the most dangerous because the Ra'zac will be hunting us in the dark, when they are strongest. We'll have to trade watched until morning."

"I'll take first," Mark said to them. "Since you two've been running all day."

"Right," said Eragon, standing. He hesitated and squinted. He stepped toward the edge of their camp.

"What is it?" asked Brom as he unrolled his blankets.

Eragon stared into the darkness, and then turned back. "I don't know. I thought I saw something. It must have been a bird." The last things Mariah remembered were Saphira roaring and Eragon toppling to the ground in front of her.

Oh yay, cliff-hanger for the weekend. I'll post the next chapter soon. I promise. - Vel eïnradhin iet ai Shur'tugal.

And yes, I learned how to tan a fox hide just for the story. I kinda really want to try it. Now... where to get a fox hide...

With Love, As Always,

Mariah