The day after Kelshk's attack was, as Brynner predicted, foggy. Arlen could only see thirty or forty feet in front of him, which annoyed him quite a bit, but it was not a major impediment. What was worse was Kelshk's lack of interest with their trap, as Arlen viewed outside of lockup with Ehren, Alaric, and Roran. They had forgone any search parties until they knew the full extent of what happened the previous night.
Kelshk had gone nowhere near Emmerich, leaving him in the cage with their traps unsprung. They removed the traps around Emmerich and went to him. He seemed relieved that Kelshk had not attempted anything against him, but he should have been more worried. Since the trap had failed, they had a very difficult choice: did the penalty of death still stand, despite his willingness, or would they let him go? Arlen was somewhat in favor of letting him die, but that was his anger speaking.
The decision was not his but that of the others. Alaric had a strong opinion about this. "He did all we asked; he should go free," Alaric said.
Ehren had a similar opinion to Arlen though. "No. It didn't work so he should still be given the full wrath of our laws."
"But it isn't his fault that it didn't work," Alaric countered. The Rider turned to Roran and asked, "What about you? What do you say, Roran?"
"I don't think it's much of my business what goes on here," Roran replied. "I'm earl of Palancar Valley, but this isn't Palancar. The people of Cathalorn should decide what goes on here."
Alaric frowned and turned to Arlen and Ehren. His question surprised Arlen greatly. "Who is your lord?"
"We… have none," Arlen replied. He was just as confused as Alaric seemed to be, but he had never thought about it like this. Cathalorn had no lord over it; they were autonomous for the most part, but had strong ties to Ceunon. The followed the Empire, but they decided their fate; not any lord. Though he would mention the closest they got to it. "Our leaders are Brynner and Arne, but they are no lords."
Alaric shook his head exasperated with something and said, "Then we'll go to them."
"I am here," Brynner announced as he ambled over to them. Arlen hadn't noticed his approach, but here he was all the same. "You want my advice about this?"
"Yes," Alaric said. "If you would, we would greatly appreciate it."
"I had a feeling you would." Brynner looked into Emmerich's face for a good long while and said, "He died last night. Perhaps not literally, but he saw himself die a thousand times both in his rare dreams and out of them. He has passed through death and has come out different. He does not deserve the noose now, for his punishment was far worse. I say release him."
Arlen realized that Brynner was right. He himself was trained to prepare for possibilities, and to think that Emmerich had considered many deadly ones himself last night made him understand why he should live. He still did not like Emmerich, but he would at least not advocate for his death.
Ehren nodded and said, "You speak well, Brynner, and I will honor your counsel." He then turned to the guardsman with the keys to the lockup and said, "Release him."
As they opened the door Emmerich said, "Thank you. Thank you for your mercy. I won't try to test it again." And he was escorted to a house by a guardsman—not the same house as Leonie was in, just to be safe.
Now Arlen's thoughts turned to Ludger's tavern and the twins Detlef and Gerulf. They had been the ones to be attacked so he wanted to make sure they were alright. They were leaving lockup anyway, so Arlen excused himself to go to the tavern.
When he arrived he found Detlef and Gerulf outside with their spears leaning against the outside of the tavern. They were having a rather heated discussion about something, so Arlen didn't want to get involved, but once they saw him they quieted down and assumed relaxed stances. Arlen was suspicious of this, but didn't ask about it. Instead he asked, "How are you two doing?"
"Fine," Detlef said curtly. Arlen looked to Gerulf and he shrugged.
Not at all amused by their defense he said, "Can we actually talk? You can tell me what happened."
Detlef was about to say something when Gerulf stopped him and said, "He knows."
That didn't calm him at all. Instead he got upset and growled, "You can tell him but not your own brother?"
"I didn't know what to do or who to tell, but I knew Arlen was trustworthy," Gerulf said. He then slapped himself in the face and said, "That came out wrong."
Detlef laughed. "Even your silver tongue is getting a bit rusty, is it?"
Gerulf frowned. "Silver doesn't rust; it tarnishes," Gerulf said.
"It's not like I've seen a lot of silver."
"Excuse me," Arlen interrupted. "But what exactly happened last night?"
Gerulf looked inside the tavern and the gestured for Arlen to follow him across the street. Apparently he didn't want anyone hearing this who shouldn't. Gerulf then sat on a creaky barrel and said, "The Ra'zac came for us last night; I don't know why but he just did. He snuck into our room and tried to kill me."
"How did you survive?" Arlen asked.
Gerulf gulped and said, "I used the magic spell I saw the Roden use against the Ra'zac and crippled it with pain. After a little while I felt really tired and somehow stopped doing it. I couldn't do much after that, but the Ra'zac stood up and tried to kill me again. That's when Detlef stepped in between us with his spear. For some reason he got scared and jumped out the window."
Arlen shrugged. "He might have thought one of you was an illusion and that you were more powerful than you let on. Or he thought both of you were magicians and lost his nerve."
Gerulf nodded. "I guess that Ra'zac's afraid of magic."
"Yeah…" He suddenly realized something that couldn't wait. He excused himself, but just before leaving he asked Gerulf to give his regards to Leonie.
Arlen ran straight to the great hall where Alaric was preparing a search party. He had a question for the Rider Chief that he felt was so obvious that he was surprised he hadn't considered before. As he approached Alaric he asked, "Why don't you just kill it with magic?"
Alaric turned around, surprised at Arlen's sudden arrival. Arlen then repeated his question. "Why don't you use magic to kill the Ra'zac? Lynde used a spell that killed at least fifty Urgals that were spread across the village. Why don't you use a spell like that to kill the Ra'zac without even seeing it?"
Alaric frowned and said, "Because he has wards." That answered his question somewhat, but raised another one. Alaric explained. "The Ra'zac we encountered during the Great Hunt had wards around them placed by magicians loyal to Galbatorix—or Galbatorix himself—when they were eggs. These wards protected against many spells, including teleportation, which Brynner overcame last night, but they cannot be easily overcome. I do not have enough energy to kill it at such a distance as you ask, not without Magnora, and even then I might not. Perhaps with all the strength of the village, but I doubt they would agree to me using it." Arlen agreed with that last part. "It simply isn't feasible. But you did well to point it out since sometimes people can forget these things."
Arlen nodded and said, "I'll remember that."
Alaric nodded back and then raised his sword into the air. "Let us hunt, men of Cathalorn, and find that which is most terrible to us; the Ra'zac!"
As the hunting party left Arlen to defend Cathalorn he wondered how successful they would be. Of course he didn't have to wonder; they had Alaric with him, and on his own he seemed a quite difficult opponent to overcome. He would not be surprised if he came back with the remains of Kelshk.
