Chapter 43: Draumr Kópa Traps Arya: Then She Travels Alone
CP owns Eragon.
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Suddenly, Arya found herself in a dark room, different shades of black swirling around her. She glanced around, trying desperately to snap out of the dream stare. She could experience the whispers of some vague malevolent evil. She saw in the area to the right of her two ghostly figures on horses. "Faolin! Glenwing!" Arya cried out, but they did not hear her. She turned to the left and perceived tacitly Durza standing there. He laughed, a long evil laugh, and Glenwing and Fäolin burst into flames before her.
"No!" Arya screamed, desperately trying to reach Fäolin, the closer of the two. She inched closer, almost touching his hand with hers. "Grab my hand!" she yelled, but Fäolin faded away.
Just before he disappeared, she heard him say, "Arya, my love…" Arya stood there in the darkness, and until abruptly Durza stood before her. He laughed, a cruel twisted laugh, and the darkness overwhelmed her. Arya closed her eyes, hoping, begging for a respite. However, when she opened her eyes the darkness had turned to outlines of slightly gray walls. They shuddered, not staying in the same place from one second to the next. A bloodcurdling ululation of anguish poured within her ears. "Me!" she exclaimed. "No, that's impossible," she cried out, even as she heard the hiss of the Raz'ac's.
Arya turned quickly and ran, trying to get away from the horrible place. She had taken just a few steps when the head of one of the Raz'ac shot out of the darkness and tried to bite her with it gripping beak. She turned to go the other way, and found another Raz'ac. "You cannot hide from me," whispers came through the air. Arya swiveled hoping the unexpected nature of her move would catch the man who belonged to the voice off-guard, but he was not there. Durza's voice rang out from behind her, laughing with the mockery he held even as he tortured her.
Pain shot through her body, starting at the top of her head, moving all the way through her body, culminating in her toes. She felt herself screaming at the pain. Arya was not sure how or why, but she unexpectedly found herself back in captivity at Gil'ead. The hands of two Urgals grabbed her jaws and ripped them open to feed her the Skilna Bragh, which would take her life. She tried to spit it out, but one of the Urgals slugged her face, at which point they poured more into her. She could feel the Skilna Bragh start to do damage to all her systems, starting with the blood that coursed through her body. She shrieked as her blood felt like fire coursed through her body. She could hear Durza laughing at her plight, enjoying the misery he inflicted on her. Always laughing.
"No, this is not real!" Arya exclaimed. The gray walls and the Urgals faded away. She turned around and saw again Glenwing and Fäolin, still buffeted by the flames. She jumped through the fire, trying desperately to reach them, until she saw herself and her elven horse. She threw her arm up, not believing what she witnessed. The Arya facing her melted away and she could hear Durza laughing.
Glenwing's hand reached out. "Help me, Arya!" he pleaded. She tried to reach him, but his hand remained just outside her grasp. "Help me, Arya!" He faded away, but not before catching on fire and with blood pouring out of all his orifices. "Help me, Arya!" It was just a whisper, from some long-forgotten place and time.
"Arya, my love…" She turned towards Fäolin's voice, but the Shade was there. Laughing. The same sinister laugh, over and over again. Arya tried to turn away and run. She took three steps before Queen Islanzadí stood before her.
"Mother?" Arya asked, confusion reigning.
"You never should have taken the yawë," Islanzadí stated. "Now look what you have done."
"But I had to take it!" Arya responded.
"Look what you have done, just like your father," Islanzadí said sternly. "You have put yourself in a place that will take your life." Arya could hear the evil laughter again, coming from behind her.
"No! I did…"
"Yes, you did, and I will pay the price, just like I paid the price for Evandar's death. Oh well, it is good to know you care so little for me."
"I do care," Arya weakly said. "It's just the elves..."
"No, it was nothing but selfishness on your part!" Islanzadí stated. "Oh well, just look what you have gotten yourself into." A small tear dripped from Arya's eye, slowly running down her face. Islanzadí unexpectedly turned into a ghostly image, and she faded away, the last part Arya could see was her eyes—grimly accusing. Durza laughed again.
Arya started to run, but she stopped in front of Eragon and Saphira. They looked at her, not saying anything, but rather staring at her with an accusing look. Why did you turn my Rider away? Saphira asked. Arya glanced up at Eragon, and saw his face melting away.
"No, I did not," Arya protested.
Yes, you did, Saphira accused her. She then suddenly pushed her body forward, jaws open to reveal her teeth. Arya put her arms up in a feeble attempt to block Saphira's attack, but she only felt the wind whispering around her. When she opened her eyes, Nasuada stared at her with a look of anger on her face.
"Why did you hide the fact you are a princess from me?" Nasuada accused Arya.
"I did not think it mattered," Arya responded helplessly.
"No, you do not trust me," Nasuada stated harshly. "And I will never trust you again."
Nasuada started fading away, and Arya jumped forward trying to catch her, but when she should have caught her there was nothing there, just a ghostly apparition. The malevolent laughter came again. Arya swirled around to find it, but she could find nothing. They darkness grew, and the small amount of light faded away. Arya cried out, "No!" The only response was the vicious laughter. Arya screamed…
The darkness increased, and Arya heard the distant screams of elven kind. She started running, and as she came near, they could not grasp anything with hands that were reaching out. Arya ran closer and tried desperately to save them. She grabbed onto the hand of one of the elves, a friend of hers named Kílethlí. "Help us," he cried out in the ancient language. "I am trying," Arya yelled. Then the baneful laughter came again, though she hardly noticed there was a slight difference. She pulled with all her might, but it did no good. Kílethlí went into the void. "No," she shouted. "Not the void, Arya," she heard a voice say. Arya could not recognize it, and the screams intensified around her.
They became so loud Arya could not think clearly. She felt panic gripping her heart, more so than anything Durza had done. She shrank back as ghostly people were all around her. "No! Let me out!" Arya screamed. "Let me out." All at once she knew what Saphira had felt when she could only say, "Oaths betrayed, souls killed! Blood everywhere. Murderers!" The darkness closed in around her and she felt only gripping fear unlike anything she had ever known before.
"Arya! Arya! Come out of it!" a voice yelled at her. She wondered briefly who it was.
She could feel the Skilna Bragh working its poison, her blood boiling. "The Skilna Bragh is working in me now!" she told the voice.
"Eta, Arya! You must come out of it!" said another voice. She heard two voices together chanting the ancient language and suddenly she could see dwarves holding onto her. She glanced around, trying to place where she was.
"You are here, with us, safe, like we promised our King," one dwarf stated.
"Hrothgar?"
"Eta, King Orik," the dwarf answered.
"The Skilna Bragh! They made me take it, you have to…" panic struck Arya's voice.
"Eta! You are safe here with us. The poison you speak of happened long ago," the dwarf responded. "We are making our way on the Beartooth River."
Arya looked at him dumbfounded. She shook her head. "But Durza…"
"Durza is dead," another dwarf said. "Eragon Shadeslayer killed him, with your help."
"The Isidar Mithrim?" Arya asked, trying to gain her bearings.
"Oéi. You broke the great star sapphire," a dwarf said.
"However, you also offered to ride Saphira and take Isidar Mithrim back to its lofty place."
"Then restoration will come to the heart of Tronjheim."
"You are Gûnsaw," Arya said to one dwarf. She turned toward the other. "And you are Teobâvz." She turned to the last dwarf, "Hévzíâtor."
"Oéi," Hévzíâtor said softly.
"The dream stare!" Arya exclaimed. "I did not enter on purpose!"
"We know," Hévzíâtor said slowly.
"Fortunately, King Orik in his wisdom, sent two of us from Dûrgrimst Vanyûlíz," Teobâvz stated. "The draumr kópa would still have you if it were not for us casting a spell, which freed you."
"Barzûl!" Arya cursed. "How long?" she asked.
"An hour," Hévzíâtor replied.
"An hour?" Arya asked, incredulous.
"Oéi, that it was."
Arya noticed the two canoes strapped together and pulled over to a shallow part near one of the banks of the river. She groaned.
Hévzíâtor asked, "Arya Svir-kona, why are you having trouble with the dream stare? I considered that as a basic for all elves."
Arya frowned. She then shook her head. "That is not for me to say," she answered. "Just know that I am aware of it." Hévzíâtor, Gûnsaw, and Teobâvz bowed their heads and left her alone on that point. A grateful Arya sank down in one of the canoes as the dwarves busily broke the rope that tied the two canoes together, and soon they were on their way down the river. The night came fully and everything in it was cold. Arya did not sleep at all. The night turned to day and Arya did not speak. Fortunately for her, Orik had done what she requested and the dwarves talked only a little and then only among themselves.
Arya considered what she had been through with the draumr kópa. Surely she hadn't lost all control of something so basic as the dream stare. However, juxtaposed against that was the dream stare she had just experienced, the worst so far. Finally, Arya concluded she couldn't do anything about it until she found the elven spellweavers. Surely they would know what to do.
Finally, they reached the place where the Beartooth River flowed into a lake. The dwarves guided the canoes to the banks of the waterway, and allowed Arya to disembark. She bowed to say, "Thank you," but Hévzíâtor asked, "Arya Svit-kona, would you allow us to accompany you to Surda?"
Arya thought for a moment, and then slowly answered, "No, I do not believe the draumr kópa will take hold of me for the rest of my journey to Surda and beyond. And I will not use it, instead I will sleep."
Hévzíâtor stated, "As you wish. Farewell, Arya Svit-kona. May the Gods watch over you."
"May the stars watch over you," Arya responded, then turned and faced the Beor Mountains. She glanced upwards and saw an eagle circling his prey. "At least Eragon will not face any problems getting feathers for his arrows," she thought. She started to run, faster than the dwarves. If she had allowed them to come with her she would lose the advantage she had, speed.
She covered the path through the Beor Mountains in two days, only stopping to sleep for a couple of hours once. As she came out she saw the path they had taken when they went into the mountains was already gone, washed away by rainstorms. The Beor Mountains held mysteries until the elves unlocked them centuries ago. While the land outside the mountains experienced raging thunderstorms, the same fronts never could pass into the mountains because they were too tall. Except for the valley where the Beartooth River ended, the lake where Tarnag was, and a small part where the Az Ragni River entered the mountains, there was never any rain. Even then the rain came not from fronts but from 'pop-ups' that formed right over where they dropped. The mountains had their own way of getting water, early morning dew. They were also far enough south to not get snow during the year, though the peaks had glaciers on them, but that was because they went high in altitude.
As she entered the realm of Surda, she stopped to talk to the chief Urgal, Nar Garzhvog. Garzhvog, when he saw her immediately raised his bulky arms to the sky, drew in a huge breath, and let out with a guttural roar from deep within his throat. Arya realized Garzhvog had greeted her the same as he would any Urgal war chieftain.
"What news have you received from the army?" Arya asked.
"Nugul, no dove has come," Garzhvog stated. "Nugul message from anyone. I have been here all this time."
Arya frowned. "Thank you," she replied. "I have no doubt about the Urgals and your commitment. I am sorry, however, because no dove came to Farthen Dur. I must go, however, I will let you know Firesword and Flametongue will soon pass this way, with the company of two elves and another human. They will ride horses."
Garzvhog bowed his head, and when he lifted his arm the rest of the Urgals let loose with a thunderous cry. Arya bowed to Garzvhog and started running. Her thoughts of, "Where are they?" and "What has happened?" soon took on the cadence of her running. Arya scowled and ran faster. She only stopped to eat and take short naps, careful not to enter a dream stare. Thankfully, she received a respite and had no more encounters with the draumr kópa.
Arya traveled north of Aberon, but south of Lithgow. She cared not for running into people, and so avoided them at all cost. She was quiet enough to slip past people's farms and hid well enough when she had to stop for a meal or sleep. She got a third of the way between Lithgow and Cithrí when she felt a presence on the wind. She immediately stopped and tuned in to see what she could find.
At first the presence remained just a small occurrence on the wind, nothing to make it stand out. But as she stilled herself, and allowed her mind to open, she could make out an elven mark. "Finally, the spellweavers!" Arya rejoiced. She focused on the mark, and broadcast her color, emerald green to show the elves she was there. Arya reached out with her mind until she touched another. The guards were up, but as she slowly made him aware, his mind opened to hers.
"You are all safe?" Arya asked.
"No," Lagow answered. "Only me and Nuala are coming. We are right now going south by the rocks which grace the land near Lake Tûdosten."
"What do you know of the rest of the spellwaevers?" Arya asked.
"When we came we saw the army of the Empire in retreat," Lagow explained. "We decided to separate and two or three together would follow to see if we could gather intelligence. Nuala and I have followed a group of soldiers that ran until they encountered an elite force of one of the earls under Galbatorix. They received orders to turn around and attack Surda from the other side of Lake Tûdosten."
"So soon," Arya recoiled at the thought.
"Right now, they are encamped just outside Furnost," Lagow said. "Waiting for reinforcements to come from Urû'baen."
"Then I must get to the Varden's army and warn them of the threat," Arya concluded.
"You should order the army to that place, but I do not know how or when Galbatorix will send his forces," Lagow stated. "He is furious no doubt because he lost the battle, but we could not determine how long the Empire's army will wait. He will not send a huge force to fight, just enough to beat the Varden. However, he does not know we have seen his army. Once the Varden know of his plan and move part of their army to defend the place, we feel Galbatorix will withdraw rather than lose another battle."
"Galbatorix's army stationed right outside Furnost could very well not be an attacking force, but a defending force," Arya speculated. "Placing the army at Furnost would allow them easy access to go either way depending on which way Nasuada plans to move the Varden." Lagow agreed to the possibility.
Nuala entered the conversation. "A group of three went to the city of Melian. It is almost a certainty Galbatorix sends his army there too."
"Yes," Arya stated. "I would certainly send part of my army to the outskirts of Melian, especially since the city is due north of the Burning Plains. Have you heard from them yet?"
Arya could feel Lagow discomfort. "We do not know," he said slowly.
"You have a sense of foreboding about them?" Arya asked.
"Yes," Lagow stated. "I have never felt what I do now."
"Did Kílethlí lead the group?" Arya asked.
Lagow emanated surprise. He confirmed it, and wondered, "Arya Dröttningu, how is it that you know such a thing?"
"I have had the foreboding too," Arya answered. "Not only was it me, but Saphira felt it more keenly than I did. 'Oaths betrayed, souls killed! Blood everywhere. Murderers!' were her exact words. Now, where are the rest of the spellweavers?"
"Split into two groups of three," Lagow stated. "They are following the rest of Galbatorix's army even near Urû'baen."
"Did you know one of Galbatorix's eggs hatched? And the Rider is loyal to Galbatorix?" Arya asked.
"No, I did not," Lagow answered. "He must have gone to Melian, else we would have seen him."
"It is worse than that," Arya exclaimed. "The new Dragon Rider is somehow stronger than Eragon. Why, I have an idea, but it is for me to share another time. Eragon said the Red Rider will be vulnerable if Eragon approaches him with the help of elven spellweavers. I broke into Du Weldenvarden and had Lifaen and Narí come to join us in Farthen Dûr, where we went to bury Hrothgar. Orik is now the dwarves King. Eragon is going to Helgrind to rescue his cousin's fiancé. Enough of this talk. Would you meet me at the Burning Plains?"
"You broke into Du Weldenvarden?" Lagow asked incredulously.
"I did, however wait until another time for me to speak of it," Arya answered.
Lagow and Nuala agreed. "We will alter our course right now," Lagow responded.
"Will you stay?" Nuala asked.
"No, I will go and try to find out what happened to the group led by Kílethlí," Arya answered.
"May good fortune rule over you," Lagow said.
"Peace live in your heart," Arya responded.
"And the stars watch over you," Lagow finished.
Lagow and Nuala broke off contact, and Arya altered her course to get to the Burning Plains. She could order them to move the army, and they would listen to her. Nasuada had placed the confidence there, and every one of them had grown up with Arya around. Once she got there, she would assure them about Lagow and Nuala, so they would work together. One situation she must deal with is Du Vrangr Gata, especially Trianna. The elven spellweavers could not share anything other than the bare minimum. Trianna gave cause for Arya to deal cautiously with humans.
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I appreciate reviews.
Nugul – the Urgal word for "no" (I had to make this one up, hope it's okay).
