Chapter Forty-Three

Rider's Bane

Shruikan and Idün flew back toward Gil'ead as the sun set, their armour glinting in the reddish light from the horizon.

Morzan made mental contact with Galbatorix. 'That didn't go so well, did it?' he said once Galbatorix had let him in.

'Not as well as I'd hoped, no,' Galbatorix agreed.

'Who's Einás?' said Morzan. 'He didn't mean that old elf what looked after the eggs, did he?'

'Yes, he did. She was his rider, you see. You heard the news about what she did, didn't you?'

Morzan thought about it. 'Didn't she run off or something?'

'That's right. She had a wild dragon, Skade, living with her in secret. When the Queen found out, she… well, I don't know exactly what happened, but it seems Skade attacked her. It was the day I left Ellesméra, after I got my sword. Einás and Skade ran away. When I was in Teirm, I got an order from Vrael to arrest them if I saw them. It seems they caught up with them eventually, and Einás sold Skade to them to save her own sorry hide. Skade was cursed with magic – they turned her into an elf, because she hated them so much. I met her out there, in the wilderness, around the time when I met Durza. What happened to her nearly destroyed her. After Rangda and Durza lifted the curse, Skade carried me to Ilirea – she helped me because she hated the elders as much as I did. I found Einás and Kullervo hiding in the forest, and I killed Einás. Unfortunately Kullervo had bonded himself to her, and I didn't realise it until it was too late.'

Morzan shivered. 'No wonder he hated you so much, then.'

'Yes… and I wish it wasn't like that. Taking his egg was a cowardly tactic, but it'll work. Dragons are very protective of their young. And he won't want to fight Shruikan, no matter what he said. Even if he won't agree to help us, he'll be just as unlikely to agree to help the elders – after all, they persecuted both him and his sister. His rider, too.'

'Yeh, we got lucky there, din't we?' said Morzan.

'A little. But not as lucky as I'd like.'

They flew on in silence, all tired, and by midnight they were within sight of Gil'ead.

'I see it,' said Shruikan. 'But…' he trailed off uncertainly.

'What is it, Shruikan?'

Shruikan tensed beneath him. 'They're being attacked,' he said.

'Godsdammit! Morzan, can Idün see anything?'

A few moments later, Morzan replied with; 'Yeah! There's other riders… she can see 'em in the air over the city. An' there's people on the ground, too.'

'Right,' said Galbatorix. 'Get ready. Shruikan and I will go ahead. Go for the riders, take them out, take them by surprise.'

'Gotcha.'

The moon was high overhead, and it lit the scene over Gil'ead brightly. And below, too… there was light.

Gil'ead was aflame. Bright fire turned the air red, and they could hear the panicked screams of the civilians below. Diving and wheeling in the thick black smoke above were the riders – their dragons armoured for battle.

Galbatorix's heart leapt into his mouth. 'Oh gods above,' he groaned.

One of the dragons attacking the city was huge and ancient, its scales gleaming gold. On his back, Galbatorix could make out the slim form of a pale-haired elf… Oromis.

But his fear and shock did not last long. His face hardened, and he reached into Shruikan's mind. 'Go for him,' he said.

The black dragon did not hesitate. He dropped out of the sky, head-first, his forelegs stretched out ahead of him, claws spread wide. He smashed straight into Glaedr's neck and wrapped himself bodily around it, claws ripping at the gap between the armour plates that covered it. Galbatorix managed to cling on as the huge gold dragon bucked wildly in the sky, bellowing.

Glaedr flew in a wide circle, trying to shake Shruikan off, but the smaller dragon would not let go. Galbatorix twisted in the saddle, and found himself facing Oromis. The old elf stared at him, his face hardening into an expression of pure and utter hatred. 'Murderer! Traitor! Half-breed dark elvish filth!'

Galbatorix said nothing. He hurled his magic directly at Oromis, as powerfully and recklessly as he dared. Oromis blocked and counter-attacked, and, an instant later, a powerful shockwave smacked into Galbatorix, making his teeth rattle in his head. Another dragon had rushed at Glaedr, hitting him in the chest. Glaedr, barely managing to keep himself in the air, screamed and lashed out with his foreclaws at this new threat. His attacker, a large red dragon, swung around to make another assault on him. Glaedr grabbed at her with one massive foreclaw and, quite by accident, he caught her around the middle, pinning her wings. The red dragon struggled, but Glaedr, realising what had happened, squeezed her tightly, making her ribs crack.

Moments later, a high, piercing scream split the air. It came from both Oromis and Glaedr simultaneously. Galbatorix risking a glance down, saw the red dragon go tumbling down toward the city. At the last moment she managed to force her wings to unfurl, and swooped back upward on an updraft, narrowly avoiding the bloody, severed foreleg that had nearly killed her.

And Glaedr screamed. He spiralled wildly in the air, thrashing his wings desperately, while on his back Oromis groaned and clutched at his arm, feeling the gold dragon's pain.

Galbatorix didn't waste a moment. He took his opportunity, reached out, and ruthlessly punched through Oromis' mental defences. Without hesitating for even a second, he let his mind tear through that of the old elf, plunging through layers of memory and knowledge to the deeper, more primal thing that lay beneath. When he reached that, he struck it as hard as he could and snapped back out into his own mind.

Shruikan let go of Glaedr's neck and flew hastily out of the way, but there was no more threat from either him or his rider. The big gold dragon fell from the sky, his wounded stump gushing blood, Oromis slumped unconscious in the saddle. They hit the outer wall of the city, utterly destroying it.

Galbatorix didn't pause to savour this victory. There were three other enemy riders still in the air, grappling with Tranah, Strein, and the three apprentices. Idün had landed in the city so Morzan could heal her wounds, and Galbatorix reached out to her mentally. 'Idün, help me. I'm going to attack the troops outside the walls.'

Without waiting for a reply, he urged Shruikan to head for the land outside the city, where at least two hundred elvish, human and dwarvish troops were trying to break in. They were already rushing to help Oromis.

Shruikan descended on them, killing dozens of them with a blast of fire before he landed, scattering more of them with his claws and tail. Arrows bounced harmlessly off his armour, and Galbatorix vaulted out of the saddle, landing on Glaedr's neck. He let Shruikan rush to attack the army, and ran nimbly over the gold dragon's armoured shoulder and up to where Oromis hung limply from the saddle. He spread his hands over the old elf and wove a spell that would lock his magic and telepathy away from him, and once this was done he cut the straps holding him in the saddle and lifted him onto his shoulder. He proved surprisingly light. Holding him like this, Galbatorix prodded at Glaedr's mind. He was alive and still conscious – barely. Galbatorix paralysed him with another spell, and then slid down his flank and onto the ground, landing inside the city. He ran off through the streets, carrying Oromis with him and ruthlessly killing any enemy troops who got in his way. Unable to use his sword because of his burden, he used magic or mental attack, and reached the castle not long later. The gates were still firmly locked, but he opened a side-door with magic and entered the castle, locking it behind him.

He dashed down into the dungeons, where Carina stared through her cell door in mingled shock and fear, and there unceremoniously dumped Oromis on the floor of an unoccupied cell, making sure he would be well out of her sight. He locked him inside, pocketed the key, and ran off as fast as he could go, up an endless flight of stairs which eventually led him onto the battlements. From there, he had a perfect view of everything that was happening.

The enemy's troops were entering the city, climbing over Glaedr's body to get through the breach in the wall. The city's own troops were driving them back, aided by Morzan, while Idün and Shruikan attacked those who were still outside. One of the enemy riders was dead, and Tranah and Strein were fighting the second while Tuomas, Gern and Kaelyn pursued the third.

Galbatorix stood still, watching all this happen and trying to decide where his help would be most valuable. He reached out with his mind, intending to contact Tranah and let her know her was there, and suddenly realised that the enemy rider she was grappling with was within mental range. He gritted his teeth and attacked. He was too far away to properly break into the other rider's mind, but he did the next best thing and struck him with a blast of mental force, destroying his defences. He felt the other rider recoil and panic and then, most horribly, he felt him die. Aedua and Talziri, seeing the dragon begin to fall, took hold of her wings and roughly dragged her away from the city so that she landed on the attacking army instead. That left only one. This last rider, seeing his companions dead, struck Leahdorus a blow that sent her tumbling backward through the air and made a run for it.

The was a rush of air, and Shruikan came down to land on the battlement beside his rider. Galbatorix heaved himself into the saddle, and the black dragon went in pursuit of the fleeing rider.

Galbatorix did not have time to do up the leg-straps. He held onto Shruikan's neck and stared intently ahead at the enemy rider. He was too tired by this time to try and break into his mind, so he simply launched a magical weapon at the dragon. It hit him in the hindquarters, instantly crippling him, and a second later Shruikan smacked into him. The black dragon's claws hit the other dragon's back, making his armour crumple. For a moment the two of them wrestled in midair, before Galbatorix hit the dragon's wing with a spell, severing it. A second attack took out the rider, who died almost instantly.

Without waiting to watch their enemy fall, Shruikan wheeled around and flew back toward the city. There they found that Morzan had led an assault on the ground troops which, backed up by Tranah and the rest of the Forsworn, had decimated them. The survivors broke and fled when they saw Shruikan coming, and in what felt like no time at all the battle was over.

Galbatorix was reunited with his friends by Glaedr's still-bleeding form.

Tranah, blood-stained and exhausted, clapped him on the shoulder. 'Good to see you back, sir.'

Galbatorix breathed deeply and looked around at the others. Morzan's shoulder had an arrow embedded in it, but apart from that he looked fine. Kaelyn was leaning on Sartago's flank, too tired to even look up, Gern was busy healing the deep claw-marks in Leadorus' flank, Tuomas had an unpleasant burn on the side of his face, and Strein had actually fallen asleep in the saddle, evidently worn out from having used so much magic in such a short time. But they were alive, and they had won.

'Thank gods we showed up when we did,' said Galbatorix. 'What the hell happened?'

Tranah shook her head helplessly. 'The news had got out somehow. Kaelyn and Tuomas were keeping watch, and they saw the bastards coming. We barely had enough time to armour up and warn the city. Next moment they were on us.'

'Damn!' Morzan swore. He wrenched at the arrow, and managed to remove it. 'Waíse heill. Well, this ain't good.'

'But it's not too bad, either,' said Galbatorix. 'We've got Oromis. He's in the dungeons.'

Tranah gaped at him. 'He is? Good gods. I thought he must be dead when I saw Glaedr, but-,'

'Glaedr's not dead, either. Just paralysed. Yes, we've got Oromis. I've taken his magic away from him. He's not going anywhere.'

'That's perfect,' said Tranah. 'Absolutely perfect. We've got the absolute best hostage we could ever ask for. Damn well done, sir.'

'It wasn't just me,' said Galbatorix. 'Morzan was the one who put a stop to Glaedr.'

Morzan nodded. 'That's right. Took his damn leg off with magic. Bastard was crushing us.'

'Well, let's not waste time,' said Galbatorix. 'We've got to move Glaedr out of the way and fix this wall. Come on.'

They moved Glaedr away from the broken wall using a combination of magic and the dragons, who had to work as a team. Once the gold dragon was out of the way, Galbatorix cast more spells on him to ensure that he wouldn't escape and then went to help his friends with the wall. They lifted the stones back into place as well as they could using magic, though many of them had been shattered by Glaedr's impact.

'That's have to do,' said Galbatorix, leaning against the reconstructed wall and wiping the sweat off his forehead. 'We'll have to set some people to fix it properly. In the meantime, we'd better go into the city and see what we can do to clean things up. No doubt there'll be people needing healing and so on.'

The dragons gladly flew away back up to the castle walls to get some rest, and their riders returned to the city via the nearest gate. Inside, they found that the fire was still burning and had already consumed several buildings. They managed to put it out by conjuring some artificial rain, and after that it was simply a matter of moving through the city, killing any enemy soldiers that still remained, helping rescue people from collapsed buildings and healing anyone who needed it.

By the time dawn came, every single one of them was ready to collapse from exhaustion, but there was still more work left to do. Galbatorix wearily directed a group of volunteers to gather up the bodies of the enemy troops that had died and pile them up outside the walls where they would be burned. He himself, assisted by Morzan and Strein, retrieved the bodies of the three dead riders and their dragons. These were laid out not far away from the pile of dead elves, dwarves and humans. Galbatorix took their swords and had Gern take them to the castle, and then set about reciting the funeral rites. He said them three times, once for each rider, and finished by lighting the black fire over each one. Afterwards he gathered up the ashes and placed them in three urns, marking each one with the name of the rider. Once he had also given the rites to the ordinary troops and overseen the lighting of the bonfire around them, he took the urns back to the castle and stacked them neatly in the audience chamber. While the others saw to the dragons, he sat down at a small writing table and composed a brief letter that would accompany the three urns to Ilirea.

To my Lord Vrael,

These urns contain the mortal remains of Elric Ilireaborn, Rickon Karstark and Leolis of Sílthrim. I am returning them to you as a courtesy, so that they may be laid to rest in the vaults beneath the city. Be ye also ready.

Galbatorix Taranisäii

He sealed it with the emblem of the House of Taranis and put it on top of one of the urns.

A few minutes later, he and the rest of the Forsworn convened in the dining hall.

'The first thing we have to do is prepare the city for another attack,' Galbatorix said immediately. 'They'll be sending more people after us any day now. Also, the attack on Teirm must take place immediately or be called off. If there's another attack here, we'll need as many of us present as possible. But Roland will also have to be contacted, and soon. If he's managed to take Dras-Leona, it's imperative that the elders know about it. If they're forced to attack on two fronts at once, their forces will be stretched thin. What do you suggest, Tranah?'

Tranah took a while to think it over. 'I agree that we'd be well advised to make them spread out. There aren't too many riders left working for them by now, but the less of them we have in one place the better.'

'I got an idea,' said Morzan.

'I'm listening,' said Galbatorix.

'I'll attack Teirm,' said Morzan. 'I'll take a bunch of soldiers from here with me an', I dunno, maybe Strein to help. I reckon we could take it.'

Galbatorix considered it. 'It's true that there's only two other riders there right now, and a possible third. You could well succeed. I suggest that you take Durza with you, when he gets here. He's a very powerful fighter and could probably beat a rider.'

Strein looked dubious at this, but Morzan said; 'Yeah, sure, I got no problems with that. The freak's better at magic than I am. He did a good job here when we rescued Gern an' the rest. I'll take him along. Idün won't mind.'

'It could work,' said Tranah. 'But we need more troops. If we send off the numbers we'd need to overrun Dras-Leona, we'd be practically defenceless.'

'Yes…' Galbatorix sighed and fingered his beard, deep in thought.

No-one spoke for some time. Finally, Tuomas spoke up. 'Sir? I've got a suggestion.'

Galbatorix looked at him expectantly.

'What about the urgals, sir?' said Tuomas.

'What about 'em?' said Tranah.

'Well, why don't we ask some of them to help us?' said Tuomas. 'I mean, the other riders drove them out of their homes and they keep killing them for trying to come back. If we told them they could get revenge, they might help. Yansan said they were obsessed with war.'

'You know,' said Galbatorix, 'You could have a good point there. I haven't really dealt with urgals in the past, but it's certainly true that they've had their share of persecution from the elders. If I offered them the chance for revenge – and perhaps the opportunity to return to their old territories – they could well be interested. The trouble with that idea is that I'd have to go and speak to them myself, and if something happens while I'm away…' he sighed. 'I'm beginning to wonder if capturing Gil'ead was such a good idea in the first place. At least when we spent all our time on the run we didn't have to worry about keeping hold of a stronghold.'

'No need to be despondent, sir,' said Strein. 'Things are going well. We've got Oromis, we've got Gil'ead, and there's a good chance Dras-Leona will be ours soon too. Once we've got Teirm and Vroengard, we'll own every major city in the country except Ilirea. Once that happens, we'll have the numbers to attack Ilirea and hopefully kill the elders there.' She paused. 'My gods… I just realised there's only three of them left now, including Vrael.'

'But that doesn't make them any less dangerous,' said Galbatorix. He sighed. 'We'd better get some rest now… we can talk some more tomorrow.'

No-one argued. They shuffled out, each one too exhausted to say another word. Galbatorix got up, wincing a little at the ache in his limbs, and was heading for the door when Kaelyn caught up with him.

'Yes, Kaelyn? What is it?'

Kaelyn was pale and bloodied, just like her fellows, but she held something out for him to take, saying, 'Here. I looked after it for you, sir.'

Galbatorix took the iron dragon amulet. 'Thanks, Kaelyn. I was trying to remember what I'd done with this.' He put it on. 'Oh, that reminds me… I've got a job for you.'

Kaelyn looked up, a hint of hope showing in her eyes. 'Yes, sir?'

Galbatorix reached into his robe and brought out the red egg. He put it into Kaelyn's hands. 'Here. Look after this. Guard it with your life. Never let it out of your sight. Can I trust you to do that?'

Kaelyn cradled the egg, staring at its ruby-coloured shell with wonder. 'Is this-?'

'Yes. Morzan has another one; tell him I told you to take it off his hands. You'll be our Egg-Guardian from now on. Don't let anyone see them, and don't talk about them. Just keep them safe. We might be able to get them to hatch some day, so they're invaluable to us. I'm sure I can rely on you.'

'You can, sir,' said Kaelyn. 'Where did you get them from, though?'

'The one Morzan has used to belong to the first rider we killed. I found it on her after she was dead, so I took it. The other one belonged to the leader of the wild dragons.'

Kaelyn's eyes widened. 'What?'

'I took it as a hostage,' said Galbatorix. 'I told him it would be destroyed if he or any of his race got in our way. So for the love of gods, don't lose it.'

'I won't,' Kaelyn promised.

'Good. Now, off you go.'

Kaelyn left, cradling the egg. Galbatorix was about to follow her out of the room when he realised there was someone behind him and turned.

It was Morzan, who'd been watching the conversation from a distance. The big rider approached him now, looking slightly furtive.

'Yes, Morzan?'

Morzan glanced at the open door. 'So we got Oromis in the dungeon,' he said.

'That's right. And he's not likely to get out of there, either. As soon as he stops being useful, he's dead.'

Morzan hesitated for a few seconds, and then lowered his voice. 'Well, sir… can I… pay him a visit?'

Galbatorix said nothing for a few moments, before he realised what his friend meant. He reached into his pocket and brought out the key to the cell door. 'Well…'

Morzan was looking almost hungrily at the key. 'C'mon, sir.'

Galbatorix glanced over his shoulder, and then put the key into Morzan's hand. 'All right then. But if you give him any permanent damage, there'll be trouble. I mean that. And if anyone asks, I didn't know anything about it. Understood?'

Morzan's fingers closed around the key. 'Yes, sir.'