Atra esterni ono thelduin/Mor'ranr lifa unin hjarta onr/Un du evarinya ono varda.
The final battle is here. I know you're impatient, so don't let me keep you.
Oh, by the way, from now on I'm only posting one chapter at a time for suspense purposes.
Chapter Twenty-Five: The Final Battle
A cruel smile lit Galbatorix's face.
Dressed in black armor, the king sat upright on Shruikan's back as the black dragon glided over his master's troops. Clad in the royal colors, they were well trained, organized, and devoted to his service. Well, all right, maybe not that devoted, but they would not run. They would fight for him no matter what. The Varden would have no chance.
Ordinarily, the King would not have gone out into a fight himself, but Murtagh and Kara were late back with the egg. He had tried to contact them, scry them, connect with their minds, anything he could think of to get in touch. To no avail. No matter; he'd find them soon enough. At the moment he needed to concentrate on the battle.
Shruikan turned in the air, sniffing the wind.
They are over there, in the east valley.
Fly there, Shruikan. The King closed their mind connection to talk to his troop commanders. They would be there soon and win the battle. Then the Riders would be under his control, the Varden destroyed, Surda re-added to Alagaësia. Thorn would breed both Saphira and Veritas. The new Riders would be forged. And the Empire would be all his, with no question of his power.
This was almost too easy. But that meant he wouldn't have to work as hard.
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Kara had explained previously to Nasuada that she and her dragon must not be seen until the last possible second. The element of surprise was one of their biggest factors in the strategy they had planned.
Another was magic. Nasuada had just warned all of her troops that they might feel energy being poured into them from enemy at any time of the battle. Unfortunately, Angela was not about to get another chance at poisoning the soldiers; Murtagh had told Galbatorix about the incident at the Burning Plains, and no one could approach the food stores without permission from a senior officer. So Kara had decided to teach Triana and the other members of Du Vranga Gata how to steal life energy from one person and put it in another. So far, they'd been practicing on mice. Eragon had not been happy when he'd found her doing that; indeed, he'd yelled at her. Kara had responded with a kiss that stunned him, followed by an apology.
Saphira chuckled about the incident later. She has excellent skills at tact. Her Rider's face grew red, but he made no response, either mental or verbal.
But Kara was concentrating on the troops at the moment, leading Trianna and the rest of Du Vranga Gata in stealing life force.
"If you feel your own energy draining, keep a little for yourself when you give it to our troops," she advised them. They took her suggestion willingly.
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Aelyn was in charge of a large group of Urgals and Kull, working with their chief, Nar Garzhvog. The moon-pale girl scowled at the terrain in front of her. It was not ideal territory for either army. Too many spots of mud to slip in after the recent rain.
Why on earth had her cousin chosen this place? "Trust me" was not a good enough answer. While the Silver Rider had the greatest trust in Kara, she just wished the dark-haired girl would tell her what was going on. But some traits were very hard for the Green Rider to overcome, and one of those was being extra secretive about important business.
A loud bugle sounded in her mind. Looking up, she saw Shruikan above them, Galbatorix on his back. Automatically, she dropped to her knees, the Kull following her lead just in time to avoid a volley of arrows from the Empire troops.
The deciding battle had begun. Aelyn only hoped that Fate was their ally.
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The black shadow above them flapped its wings; Kara thanked Fate that it was Shruikan and not the Ra'zac. She didn't think she'd have the energy to kill them again if the King had indeed managed an act of necromancy.
She shook her head, ashamed of her foolish thoughts. Galbatorix had amazing power and skills; the Ra'zac had much smaller minds that would be easy to overpower. She would have a hard time killing him. Indeed, all three Riders would have to chip in. But she had vowed to kill Galbatorix and she knew instinctively that the killing blow would be hers. It had better be.
Her mind was whirling through the strategy she had planned. Glancing over at Trianna, she absentmindedly noted that the sorceress was having to keep a lot of power in order to do her job. Most of the other members of Du Vranga Gata were the same. Hmph!
She stepped closer to Trianna mentally, nudging the sorceress. Can you keep this up? I have to leave.
Triana nodded. Go, Kara. She broke the mind connection.
The young Rider turned and fled to her dragon's side.
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Saphira glided easily towards Shruikan, then away, drawing the dragon a bit away from the main battlefield to hover over slightly firmer ground. Eragon was busy with a mind connection.
Now, Aelyn!
A volley of arrows were released from the western slope, several of their barbed tips going through Shruikan's wings. The black dragon roared in enraged pain, rolling to escape the volley. Saphira noticed Galbatorix's lips mouth a curse she felt glad not to understand. It sounded like the Northern Kull dialect.
Aelyn was no fool. She did not let her archers shoot again, knowing that this time Galbatorix would be ready and shielding against them. They had too few arrows as it was.
Eragon, however, had used the time to his advantage. At his signal, Kara had opened cuts in the black dragon's foot, rubbed salt into them and closed them, working too fast for Galbatorix to stop her. Eragon grinned as he heard her mental laugh. By now, Shruikan was flailing about in all directions, leaving his Rider hard put to keep his seat, let alone start a mental battle with Eragon.
The Blue Rider decided it was time to send the King a huge blow. As His Majesty worked to calm his frantic steed, Eragon knocked a mental blow into the older man's gut. As he expected, the older man responded with another punch; fortunately, Eragon was already back inside his shields and didn't get the worst of it.
Saphira was already following their combined instincts. Time for some help, girls.
She had scarcely begun speaking when the two cousins jumped onto their steeds, blasting into the sky.
As planned, Aelyn flew between Shruikan and Saphira, distracting the King enough for a moment that he didn't notice the flame coming from behind him for a few seconds. Regrettably, he still had enough time to put up a shield and then look behind him. One glance at the green flames was all he needed. The last dragon had hatched, and a long time ago from the look of the flames. Now he knew why Kara and Murtagh hadn't returned on time.
He flashed his sword in Aelyn's face. The girl countered it with her own blade. Her bared moony scales reflected dazzling light into his eyes, but he was not blinded. Shruikan twisted, scratching Veritas. The female dragon screeched back at him. Eragon caught Shruikan's tail with Ilian's edge, and the dragon whirled to face him.
A horn sounded far below, but they did not listen. As Ilian clashed with Galbatorix's sword, the King winced. His hand looked as if it had gone numb from the force of the blow.
And then there came a mighty roar.
Shruikan turned to the green dragon and roared back. Suddenly, both dragons were locked together. Eragon gasped as he saw how they fought to stay upright as their Riders dueled both mentally and physically. Kara's face was white; Galbatorix's was purple with raw rage. Eragon could not understand how Kara was managing to hold up against the force of the magical blows, but she was, and returning ones even fiercer apparently. He winced as her griffin-like shriek rang out.
The two males managed to pull themselves apart. As they did, both of their Riders slumped for a moment, then pulled themselves upright, dueling with swords. The King thrust a finger at her with his free hand, shouting an ancient word Eragon did not understand, but Kara evidently did. She raked a claw through his hair as Ayatas darted close to them. Galbatorix had to stop and heal himself. However, he had no cloth to wipe away the blood that now ran down his forehead, trickling into his eyes.
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The ruler made a wide gesture in his former servant's direction; suddenly, a ghastly wound opened in her right shoulder. Kara grimaced, but knew she could not spare the energy to heal it if she was to win this fight. The wound gave extra strength to her left arm, though; she slashed back at the monarch, cutting him through the armor and into his side. To her annoyance, he healed himself with a tap of his finger and two quick words.
Blood was beginning to pour out of her shoulder. How could she bind it up?
A familiar mind connection appeared; the wound closed. Thanks, she grunted to Eragon, knowing what he was risking with Galbatorix around. He chuckled and withdrew.
It appeared Veritas had distracted the sovereign with a ball of silver fire while Kara had been healed. Now she and Shruikan were dueling, scratching and biting, rolling in such positions that their Riders had a hard time keeping their seats. Damn. Now she couldn't use the distraction to plunge a knife into his back; with this tumbling, Aelyn might as easily be hit.
Saphira, however, had a clever idea. Without warning, she twisted her tail into Shruikan's and gave it a hard yank, pulling the dragon backward. Before he could right himself, she released herself, leaving Ayatas free to engulf him in fire. As the flames evaporated, Galbatorix's face showed, blackened with fire. Eragon couldn't help laughing.
Furious, the ruler twisted in the saddle, shouting out an unintelligible word and throwing out one arm. A black ball erupted from it.
"NO!" Kara screamed, jumping off Ayatas into midair. She leaned forward and plucked away the ball. She threw it back at Galbatorix.
Just before it reached him, it exploded into a fountain of clear liquid. Shruikan twisted to avoid it, as did Veritas and Ayatas. Saphira followed their lead, barely in time to dodge the last drops.
Kara twisted and rolled, frantically evading them for several minutes, falling all the time. As soon as the last drop was gone, Ayatas caught her, barely a hundred feet above the ground. The young woman's face was blank, but Eragon noticed her eyes had turned ruby red. Ayatas roared a ball of defiant fire at the old black dragon.
At that moment, Kara fell from his back again—as did Galbatorix from Shruikan.
Before Eragon could panic, Kara had grown wings, stopping the freefall. Galbatorix used magic to slow his, landing neatly on his feet. As did Kara, her wings fading back into her body as she alighted and drew her sword.
Now Veritas and Saphira brought their Riders closer to the ground. Eragon hefted Ilian as he jumped to the ground. Aelyn grinned at him, returning the gesture as they started towards the Black Rider. Behind them, the two females took off again to join Ayatas in harrying Shruikan.
But by the time their Riders reached the duelists, it was clear that they could do nothing to help Kara. The fight was out of their control.
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The deciding duel begins…
Let me know what you think about this! The story's almost over!
-Deer-Shifter