Author's note: By the status of my bookmark, we are halfway through Eragon! Thanks to all my RRFFers!
With thanks to my Patrons:
Regal Eagle
In response to reviews:
the headless horseman of rome: Cade will eventually return to being a single entity, but I'm not gonna say when. Sorry for missing your question when it came through on my PMs.
Wizzer96: Thanks!
chris: No, Cade has now reached full Ghidorahness, so he will not mutate further. As for your question about him being able to become Monster X, no he won't be able to, as that's a different Ghidorah. Cade exclusively has the powers of the Monsterverse King G.
eragon95159: Sorry, but that won't happen. People who become Plainswalkers are rare, and Cade already has Amara there, so nobody else he knows would get to Alagaësia, or in the Locostral Multiverse in general.
Man4God: Yeah, I try to update weekly. Doesn't always happen. Still, I'm glad to hear you're still reading, and thanks to your friend for letting you borrow his iPad so you can still read my stuff!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Inheritance Cycle.
Chapter 21: Brom's Departure
As Amara and we flew on, the storm we had kicked up quickly worsened. We had evaded the hail, but lightning still speared through the sky, and rain hit us in the faces like it was coming out of a faulty fire hydrant. Still, we had the protective membranes over our eyes down, and blinking worked a lot like how windscreen wipers did, brushing off the water that spat in our faces.
As thunder boomed through the sky, Amare yelled "This is pointless! We're getting drenched, and I can barely see where I'm flying! Let's land and continue this on foot!"
We stared at her like she was mad, lightning flashing in the near-distance. "Are you kidding? This is fine! Besides, the rain will just drip off your scales."
"You're crazy, all three of you! I'm cold, wet, and your bag of stuff is weighing me down! Why am I even carrying it? This is your junk!"
A gust of wind hit us, knocking Amara a little of course as she glared at us. "Fine." we conceded. "We'll do things your way."
"Good!"
We started to descend, Amara swooping towards the ground as we glided after her. She found a clearing that wasn't too mucky, landed, and looked up at us, hiding her heads under her wings.
As we angled towards her, we smelt ozone. With a loud ker-zap, lightning speared out of the sky, and struck us. We were fine, and welcomed the unexpected energy boost, but Amara shouted our name in fright as the bolt struck us. We ignored her, concentrating on absorbing the bolt's energy as we landed next to her, mud coating our feet.
"Aw, man!" Kevin groaned. "We're gonna be muddy for days if we have to walk!"
"You're... okay?" Amara asked us, confused.
"Yup." Sparta said plainly, completely unphased that we got struck by lightning.
"This isn't the first time we've been struck by lightning." Driscol said, taking our soggy bag from our cousin. "Last time, it was more like we were on a sugar high, but since we used a lot of energy today, we just got charged back up to full power. It kinda tingles."
Kevin stuffed our boom box back into our bag, and we started walking. The rain was blocking our ability to smell out our companions, but Amara had seen the direction our companions had headed in, so we vaguely knew which way we should go.
Over time, the storm started to lessen, slowly heading away as we stomped, splashed and pushed our way through the muddy forest. As darkness began to fall, the rain petered out, but the wind only grew stronger. It had grown from a whistle to a shriek to a howl, ripping around us.
"Cuz, the rain's stopped." Kevin said.
"And we're worried about what the Ra'zac are doing to Eragon, Saphira and Brom." Driscol added.
"So we're going to fly now, whether you want to or not." Sparta finished.
Amara looked skyward, then at her feet, which were up to ankle-level in mud. "Fine, you go. I won't risk flying in this wind though. I'll catch you up later."
We nodded and took off, grimacing at the mud that had caked itself on our wings. Eventually we reached a nice cruising altitude. Well, we thought it was nice. The wind probably would have knocked anything else out of the sky, but as we were the Death Song of Three Storms, we didn't have that problem.
After a few minutes of riding the gale, we opened our minds and scanning the surrounding area. There was a flare of the minds of animals, which we filtered out, focusing on anything sentient. We did find a few minds, all of them being travellers and merchants, so we widened our search to the limit of our mental capacity. We staggered in mid-air as we hit the hive of minds that was Dras Leona. There were just so many! Blocking them out, Kevin turned around to see if he could make out the city, but it was too hard to make out in the night. Still, where were our companions?
Slightly changing our strategy, we changed from searching for human minds to searching for dragon minds. Almost immediately, we encountered Saphira's consciousness, and we zeroed in on her position. She was about five kilometres away, in the middle of what we had labelled as 'The Badlands'. Flying out there didn't take too long. The Ra'zac were already there, and Saphira was muzzled and in chains while Eragon and Brom were lying on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs. We waited to make our move until the Ra'zac dragged Brom toward the centre of the camp and shoved him to his knees.
Brom sagged to one side as Eragon struggled, trying to get free. We began charging our Gravity Beams as the tall Ra'zac poked Eragon with a sword. It was when we saw the first of Murtagh's arrows that we opened fire, strafing the area with our golden bolts as we rapidly descended with angry roars.
The Ra'zac left pretty sharpish after that, although the taller one did fling a dagger at Eragon, just as it was told in the books. Brom threw himself in front of his son as we hit the ground with a wham, and the dagger plunged into the side of the old man's stomach. We roared at the servants of Galbatorix, promising death and destruction, but we didn't pursue them. We hang back, content to launch a few gravity beams around the general area the Ra'zac had fled in.
Eragon and Brom had both passed out, leaving us with Saphira and the still concealed Murtagh. We turned our attention to our fellow dragon. Fortunately, she was unharmed apart from being trussed up like a turkey.
Saphira looked at us gratefully and said "Thank you" as we snapped the chains restraining her apart, sending links of metal flying through the air.
As we wrenched the muzzle of her head and used a gravity beam to melt it into a gooey mush of metal, Saphira closed her eyes and pressed her head against our chest, her breath coming in irregular bursts. We didn't really know what to do, but we understood why she was acting like this. She was scared.
After a couple of seconds of hesitation, we pulled her into a hug, saying, "It's okay. We've got you. You're safe."
We stayed like that for a few minutes before Saphira eventually pulled away and checked on her rider. We let her go as we informed Amara about what had happened. Now all we had to do was look for Murtagh…
We eventually got things sorted out. We found Murtagh hiding behind a clump of bushes, and we basically just pointed at Eragon and Brom and growled. He got the gist of what we were trying to say. We could have hacked down his mental barriers, but we didn't want him to know how overpowered we were at that, and it would have been an invasion of his privacy, so we abstained from breaking in.
Murtagh made a fire as we assured Saphira that we could trust him. He also fixed up Eragon and Brom to the best of his ability, although we knew that Brom was done for. It was just a matter of time for him to… pass on.
Like with Garrow, we felt guilty about this. Even though it had happened in the books, we'd allowed it to happen in real life, even though we had the ability to stop it. We took the blame for this, and our only excuse was 'because it was important for the plot'.
A bedraggled and mud stained Amara joined us in the morning, which improved our mental state, and severely freaked out Murtagh until he made the connection between her and us. We talked with her briefly, and then flew off to find something for us all to eat. By the time we came back with food, Eragon was up and about.
Throwing a carcass each to Saphira and Amara, we walked over to him and plopped our final kill next to the fire.
"How badly are you hurt?" Driscol asked him. "Give us a straight answer. Don't feel that you have to act tough."
"As you'd say, I feel like ****." The young rider said grimly. "Murtagh says that I probably have some broken ribs and I'm lucky not to be coughing up blood."
"Take it easy for the time being then." Kevin said. "We'll help however we can."
Eragon nodded, and Sparta asked "How's Brom?"
"Not good." The young rider confessed. "I've healed the wounds on the surface, but I don't know how to fix whatever's damaged inside."
"So what's the plan?" Driscol asked.
"We move before the Ra'zac return with reinforcements."
"Good plan." Sparta agreed. "When do we leave?"
"As soon as we eat."
"Roger that." Kevin nodded.
By evening that day, we had relocated to the cave in the hill of sandstone. Amara and we had barely fit through the gap, although it was by choice for us. We wanted to display as little of our powers as possible to Murtagh, so we didn't bother changing size. Still, there wasn't much room left for our companions, and we slept in restlessly, each of us too close to each other for comfort.
In our newly worked out custom, one of us was always on watch while the other two slept. Therefore, it was no surprise that we saw the signs of Brom's feverous thrashing first. Alerting both Saphira and Amara, we stood guard over the cave's entrance, trying to be out of the way as Saphira nudged Eragon awake with her snout.
The young rider woke Murtagh, and the two of them held Brom down until he lay still, and carefully returned him to the rocky ledge he'd been sleeping on. As Eragon sighed and stretched, Brom's hand shot up and grabbed Eragon by the shoulder.
"You! Bring me the wineskin!" Brom said huskily, his voice horse.
"Brom, you shouldn't drink wine…" Eragon said hesitantly. "It'll only make you worse."
"Bring it, boy- just bring it…" Brom sighed, his hand going limp and slipping from Eragon's shoulder.
"I'll be right back- hold on." Ergaon said before sprinting to the saddlebags and rummaging through them in a panic. "I can't find it!"
Kevin gently nudged the wineskin over to the young Rider, who grabbed it with a nod and returned to Brom.
"I have the wine." Eragon said as Murtagh retreated towards the mouth of the cave to give them some privacy.
Brom groaned "Good… Now… wash my right hand with it."
"What?" Eragon asked.
"Do whatever he tells you." Sparta ordered. "He hasn't got long left."
Eragon nodded, and though he was confused, he followed Brom's command. After a while, a brownish dye rubbed off, revealing the gedwëy ignasia.
"You're a Rider?" Eragon asked him in shock. "Is Ghidorah your…"
"No." Brom groaned, a faint smile on his lips as he saw our scandalised expressions. "Once upon a time, that was true… but no more. When I was young… younger than you are now, I was chosen… chosen by the Riders to join their ranks. While they trained me, I became friends with another apprentice… Morzan, before he was a Forsworn."
Cue Eragon gasping.
Brom continued, his voice barely more than a whisper. "But then he betrayed us to Galbatorix… and in the fighting at Dorú Areaba- Vroengard's city- my young dragon was killed. Her name… was Saphira."
"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Eragon asked him softly.
"Because… there was no need to." Brom said. "Sometimes… knowledge given before it is due… is more harmful than a thousand warriors. I am old, Eragon… so old. Though my dragon was killed, my life has been longer than most. You don't know what it is like to reach my age, look back, and realise that you don't remember most of it; then to look forward and know that many years still lie ahead of you… After all this time, I still grieve for my Saphira… and hate Galbatorix for what he tore from me."
His eyes drilled into Eragon's and he said fiercely "Don't let that happen to you. Don't! Guard Saphira with your life, for without her it's hardly worth living…"
"You shouldn't talk like this." Eragon said, worried. "Nothing's going to happen to her."
"And we are bound by an oath in the ancient language to protect both of them." We said gently. "Don't worry, Brom. We'll look after them."
Brom nodded, then looked into Eragon's eyes with a piercing stare. "This… this is a grievous wound; it saps my strength. I have not the energy to fight it… Before I go, will you take my blessing?"
"Everything will be all right." The young Rider said, lying to himself. "You don't have to do this."
"It is the way of things." Brom said gently. "Will you take my blessing?"
Eragon bowed his head and nodded, overcome by his emotions. We could plainly see that he was only barely managing not to cry. Brom placed a trembling hand on Eragon's forehead and gave him his blessing before whispering several words of the ancient language into his ear.
That done, he closed his eyes and whispered "And now… for the greatest adventure of all…"
We took that as our cue. Connecting with Brom's mind more than we ever had before, we drew his consciousness into a mindscape replica of one of the strongest memories we had. Where we'd died.
It was evening here, the sun setting over the mountains as a campfire crackled behind us. Birds sang and chirped as the smell of smoke drifted away on a cool breeze. It was only us and Brom here though. None of our friends were in sight, even though the pickup truck was here, and the tents were up.
"What is this place?" Brom asked us.
"This is a mental reconstruction of Glacier National Park, Montana, USA." We replied. "Where we died."
"Where you what?" Brom said.
All three of us looked at Brom, staring him in the eyes.
"You heard us correctly." Driscol said. "We died here."
"And then we got blasted across the multiverse and landed in Alagaësia in this form." Sparta added.
"So you're… from a different world?" Brom said, his mouth falling open.
"Yes." Kevin confirmed. "We call it Earth."
"So you lied to us." Brom said flatly. "You said you were exiled from a land beyond the sea."
Sparta grinned. "Sometimes. Most often, we just manipulated the truth. We died. Death can be seen as an exile. We came from a different world. Obviously, a different world is from beyond the sea. We did try to be as straight with you as possible. Of course, there were times where we had to flat out lie to keep up the story."
"But… why?" Brom asked. "And why tell me now?"
Driscol sighed. "You wouldn't have believed us if we said we came from a different world. And at first, we thought we were stuck here, so we played it strategically. We changed our name to match our form. We manipulated our story, based it on truths from a certain point of view. It was only when we got to Teirm that we found out that we weren't alone here. And we found a way to travel the realms."
"There's someone else in Alagaësia from your… Earth?" Brom said, surprised.
"You've met them." Kevin said. "You remember Angela from Teirm? She's from Earth. So is Amara. And like us, neither of them looked like that before they got here."
"What?"
"We used to be human." Driscol said. "And our real name is Cade. Cade Mason."
"Cade…" Brom mused. "Hmm. I still don't understand why you're telling me all this."
"Because," Sparta said, rolling his eyes, "you're dying, and we want to tell you that your death isn't in vain. Where we come from, we have a lot of fiction. And each piece of that fiction represents a realm that really exists in the multiverse. Before we landed here, Alagaësia was just a place in a four-part book series centred around Eragon and Saphira. We've read all the books, and we're in the middle of the first one. Connect the dots."
"You…" Brom stammered. "You know the future?"
"And he gets it!" Kevin said happily. "Yeah, we know what's going to happen in general. We know that Eragon is your son. We know that you were going to die before it happened. We allowed it to happen."
"Why?" Brom growled. "I still have things to teach both Eragon and Saphira!"
"Because we know that the Varden- namely Eragon and Saphira- are going to defeat Galbatorix." Driscol said. "We know of one way that that slimeball dies. If we modify events, we might destabilise everything here. We need to plan out all of the twists and turns this might take before we even think about trying to modify the future of this Realm. Our third priority is to make sure Galbatorix dies."
"And your first two priorities?"
Sparta smiled. "Defend this realm from the Shadows, and protect Eragon and Saphira. Shadows are basically really powerful, dark forces that like to wreck the multiverse. Don't worry though, we have stopping them covered. And after Ellesméra, Eragon and Saphira can take care of themselves. We're telling you this stuff because we wanted you to know that your death isn't in vain. The Eggbreaker does fall from his throne, and that's pretty much what you've been working for your whole life, right?"
Brom nodded. "That… I… Thank you. If Eragon and Saphira are with you, then they'll be safe. Just… please look after them. Promise me you'll do that."
We smiled. "Cross our hearts and hope to die."
Brom raised an eyebrow.
"We have two hearts, and three Heart of Hearts." Driscol said. "Nice backup system for if we all get decapitated."
The old man nodded, and we stood up, ready to leave.
"Any words of wisdom you have to share?" Kevin smiled.
"Any messages you want us to pass on?" Driscol asked more gently.
"Anything you want us to blow up?" Sparta grinned.
Brom just sat and watched the sun set. "No. I am content."
"Then may good fortune rule over you."
"And may the stars watch over you." Brom said, gazing out into the valley.
"And may peace live in your heart." We finished as we pushed Brom and the mindscape into his own mind, and returned to reality as a great man slowly passed away.
Snapshot #2C:
The filming and editing was done. Jacob was happy with the result, Darius had had a good time exploring a new Realm, and we had found out that we made a great cameraman. So, Jacob's film was finished, and we were about to show it off. As our Clanmates gathered in the main room, Darius, Jacob and we were hiding on the ramp.
"Ready?" Jacob grinned at us.
"Yep." Darius whispered back.
"Go for it!" We smiled, and turned to watch as Jacob wirelessly switched on the TV and pressed play.
The backing music for the Pokemon theme started playing at full blast, and we sat back to watch the carnage as Jacob's voice started singing.
"I want to be the very best,
Like no one ever was.
To travel the realms is my real test,
To defend them is my cause!"
The black background faded into a scene of Jacob going into the Rift, the camera following him.
"I will travel across the realms,
Searching far and wide.
Each Shadow to destroy
The darkness that's inside!"
Jacob popped out of the Rift into the How To Train Your Dragon books, and started flying across Berk.
"Plainswalkers!
Gotta defend the realms!
It's you and me,
I know it's my destiny!
Plainswalkers!
Oh, you're my best friend,
In a realm we must defend!"
The camera cut to Darius, emitting a lot of smoke to give a shadow-like appearance as he climbed up to the top of a mountain and roared menacingly.
"Plainswalkers!
Gotta defend the realms!
A heart so true,
Our courage will pull us through!
You protect me and I'll protect you,
Plains-walk-ers!
Gotta defend the realms!
Gotta defend the realms!"
Our clanmates were watching in ever-increasing horror as the video continued to play, with Jacob's ear-flaps sticking up as he heard Darius's roar and turned to face the 'Shadow'.
"Every challenge along the way,
With courage I will face!
I will battle every day,
To claim my rightful place!"
Jacob took off, heading towards Darius with a roar of his own.
"Come with me, the time is right,
There's no better team!
Arm in arm, we'll win the fight,
It's always been our dream!"
Jacob got to the mountaintop, and roared at Darius, who did a really good job of an evil laugh before launching a ball of fire at him.
"Plainswalkers!
Gotta defend the realms!
It's you and me,
I know it's my destiny!"
Jacob easily dodged and returned fire at Darius with some low-powered Plasma Blasts so he didn't hurt the bigger dragon. However, Darius pinned Jacob down with one paw, chuckling menacingly.
"Plainswalkers!
Oh, you're my best friend,
In a realm we must defend!"
Then we joined the fight with some very low powered Gravity Beams, having set the camera down on a tripod. Darius roared in mock pain, and lurched back, freeing Jacob.
"Plainswalkers!
Gotta defend the realms!
A heart so true,
Our courage will pull us through!"
Jacob launched into the sky again, giving us a high-five before we turned towards Daris and grappled him.
"You protect me and I'll protect you,
Plains-walk-ers!
Gotta defend the realms!
Gotta defend the realms!"
Jacob and I started launching beams and bolts at Darius, who roared back and launched a jet of fire at us.
"Gotta defend the realms!"
We acted as a shield for Jacob, turning our back to Darius and spreading our wings out. The fire had hurt a little, but it wasn't much more than a hot sting.
"Gotta defend the realms!"
As the jet of fire ended, we slammed into Darius as Jacob distracted him, disabling his hold on the mountain.
"Gotta defend the realms!"
Darius snorted angrily and took flight, little embers and a big trail of smoke in his wake.
"Plainswalkers!
Gotta defend the realms!
It's you and me,
I know it's my destiny!"
Jacob and we looked at each other and nodded before taking off in hot pursuit. The view switched to being from Jacobs perspective.
"Plainswalkers!
Oh, you're my best friend,
In a realm we must defend!"
We let out a loud cry, and lightning struck us as we grew into our maximum size and roared.
"Plainswalkers!
Gotta defend the realms!
A heart so true,
Our courage will pull us through!"
We let out three full powered Gravity Beams. On-screen, it looked like we'd hit Darius, causing him to explode, but that was just CGI. We cried in victory and landed, Jacob next to us. Then we shrank down to our regular size and gave him a fist-bump.
"You protect me and I'll protect you,
Plains-walk-ers!
Gotta defend the realms!
Gotta defend the realms!
Plains-walk-ers!"
As the video faded to black, a message came up saying: 'No Shadows were present in the making of this video, and no Plainswalkers were harmed. Credits: Jacob as Director, Lead Singer, Lead Actor and Secondary Cameraman. Cade as Lead Cameraman and Actor. Darius as an Actor. Created by Bluepeak Films.'
There was ten seconds of silence before Gem bellowed "JACOB!"
Jacob yelled "Cheese it!" and the three of us bolted as our Clan started to chase us across the city. Little did they know that we'd already uploaded the video to Locostral's section of Youtube, and there was no way in hell we were going to take it down.
