Chapter 54 – New Life, Old Tales
His offer must have been appealing to her, for her steps became slower in her trudging and it wasn't long until Eragon caught up with Niduen. The elf bent forward holding tightly to her bag and catching her breath.
Eragon approached her with caution, Moonlight raised.
"Give me the bag, Niduen, and come with me. I promise no harm will be done to you."
Niduen shook her head effusively, standing up straight. Her dark green eyes looked at him through her raven hair.
"I cannot."
"You don't want to deal with the content of that bag, I assure you. You don't want that."
"I need to take it to her."
Eragon didn't dare to communicate with Glaedr, in fear he would expose himself to a mental attack, but if he did, he was sure the dragon would demand that he retrieved the bag at all costs. Stepping even closer, Moonlight was only a few inches from her face.
"I won't let you."
Her hands started to glow, even while grasping the leather. It made Eragon pause.
In a voice that wasn't hers, she said, "you don't have what it takes to stop me, Rider."
"Bachel?"
Niduen suddenly changed expressions. From a fearful runway to a maleficent being. Her lips deformed in a terrible smile.
"How I wish to be there myself, to see the life leaving your body."
Eragon felt the hair on the back of his head stand up.
"Let go of her, Bachel. Let her walk free and I will meet you. You shall have your fight."
An even more terrible laugh came out of Niduen, and as fast as it came it vanished. In her face, only the nervous look she had before. Her eyes grew wider when she realized where she was. With a quick look around, Niduen restarted to run.
"Here goes nothing," he said to himself when accessing his magic. "Malthinae!"
The spell was supposed to bind Niduen in place, helping her from getting any distant, but all it did was make her trip a little, and she caught herself before falling. To Eragon, however, it meant a huge loss of energy.
Feeling his head becoming heavy, Eragon barely felt when his knees hit the floor, then his head.
When he closed his eyes, he was no longer in Du Weldenvarden, but in the Empire, fighting nameless and faceless soldiers. His feet stepped on a damp ground, a mix of human guts and blood. He was about to put Brisingr through someone's throat when a voice brought him back to reality.
Eragon! Wake up!
Eragon opened his eyes and looked at the treetops wishing he could stay there, resting. A jolt of energy ran through his body, making him sit straight at once.
Go after her! Glaedr screamed in his mind, not caring if they would be attacked or not.
He was right, Niduen was running away with some of their most precious possessions. Realizing she was leaving him far behind, Eragon stood up, sheathed his sword, and started his run, revigorated by Glaedr's energy.
And don't use magic against her anymore. She has powerful wards.
If I can't use magic because of the wards, then I can't use Moonlight either!
Glaedr didn't respond, which made him think that he was in the middle of a dilemma without a solution.
An idea came to his mind, it sounded stupid to him, but he couldn't think of anything else, so he appealed to the dragon once more.
Master, a little more energy, please?
Already seeing what the Rider had in mind, Glaedr gave him a boost of energy, that sent him running so fast that the surroundings looked like a blur. The soles of his boot felt on fire and in no time, he was an arm's length away from Niduen.
With a last push, Eragon threw himself toward Niduen and grabbed her back. They rolled on the ground for a few seconds before he pinned her down, fighting to get the bag from her. His hands clasped around her wrists, as he squeezed as hard as he could. Niduen let out a groan of pain and let the bag fall from her hands, so he could grab it and throw it far away from them. His intention wasn't to take the bag and leave but to recover Niduen as well.
"You are coming with me, Niduen."
She contorted under him, trying to free herself from his clasp.
"Only dead," she managed to say.
Her hands started to glow again, a red light emanating from them, so Eragon tried to work faster than her. He thought of a spell that would break through her wards and make her comply. Remembering how he made Galbatorix see the harm he had done to the people he had hurt, Eragon created a spell that wouldn't cause damage to Niduen but make her want to be free from her oath.
Accessing the magic in his consciousness, he wished Niduen would want to be free from Bachel.
When his power exited his body and entered Niduen's, the effect was instant. Her eyes stopped looking at him with anger and her hands weren't glowing anymore.
"What… what did you do to me?" She whispered in the Ancient Language.
"I freed you."
"That's impossible."
"You are not resisting anymore, so I believe it worked." Eragon stood up and helped her do the same. "And now I'm taking you to see Arya."
Master, would call Saphira for me, please?
I already did.
"No! I cannot be in Arya's presence!"
"You will not try to hurt her, Niduen. It's over."
The elf began to walk in circles, as she pushed her wild her back. It was as she was recomposing herself.
"I'm not so sure it's over."
"Do you still feel compelled to obey Bachel?"
Niduen faced him with a blank expression.
"As I said, I'm not sure."
Saphira's wings made the treetops move as she approached their location.
"Let her decide what to do then. She is the queen again. Still."
"What if I try anything against her?"
Eragon suspected that Niduen wasn't after sweet comforting words, but to know the truth.
"I will kill you."
Her eyes weren't afraid anymore.
"Before I succeed?"
"I promise."
Niduen nodded and let herself be guided by him to the place where Saphira landed. Then, Eragon went to catch the bag with the Eldunarí and the egg. Before he jumped to Saphira's saddle, he bent down on one knee so he could take a look inside it. It was with great relief he saw they were all safe in that leather pouch.
"All right. Take us away, Saphira."
He flew back to the core of Ellesméra, where he found celebrations but also grief. Some people were being carried away from the hall, others were being healed on the spot. It looked like a violent fight was still happening inside. Eragon jumped from Saphira's back as soon as she landed and rushed through the open gates ready to fight his way back to Arya if needed.
Between him and Arya, there was a crowd. A dense crowd of commoners and Falael's soldiers fighting each other. Eragon unsheathed Moonlight but it seemed that the guards were too busy to stop his advance. Only once he traded blows with a soldier, but it ended quickly as Eragon hit him so hard he was thrown away in the middle of the crowd, losing sight of Eragon.
When he was almost at the door of the throne room, the sound of flapping wings made him turn his eyes to the sky. Saphira prepared to land on the patio near Fírnen with Niduen still on her back, threatening to crush several fighters, enemies and allies. The allies rushed out of their radius, but the enemies weren't so lucky. The dragons attacked with their claws all signs of black and gold they could see, and soon a big clearing opened around them.
"Saphira!" Eragon screamed.
You should've waited for me to bring you here.
Aye, I should. Sorry.
Saphira blinked an eye and signaled with her head for him to enter the throne room. Then, she started showing her teeth to the crowd as Fírnen was doing, making them back away from the palace.
When he crossed through the doors of the throne room, what he saw made him relax his shoulders and the fingers that held Moonlight.
"You need to order your troops to stand down, Falael," Arya demanded from her throne, endorsed by her guard, Elva, Alanna, and Dusan. Blagden rested on Arya's lap, visibly beaten from the fight.
Falael was all alone, kneeling on the steps before Arya with his head down, completely defeated. The bodies of his allies were being piled up against the furthest wall by Arya's soldiers.
"No matter now," Eragon intervened. "Fírnen and Saphira are stopping the fight. Not diplomatically, but efficiently."
Falael's eyes seemed to want to pop out of its sockets.
"I should do what you say, your majesty. We do not need any more casualties."
He got up and did a reverence before rushing out of the room. With a hand motion, Arya sent two of her guards to follow him and make sure he wouldn't run away.
Arya's eyes met Eragon's and the relief he felt before grew in his chest. She was safe and sound.
"Niduen?" Arya asked.
"Outside with Saphira."
"Let her inside," she said to one of her guards, who sprinted out.
Eragon walked closer to her throne and let the bag on the highest step, by her feet.
"It's all here. I believe you will want to keep them somewhere safe."
Arya furrowed her brows.
"Why don't you keep it?"
"They should stay here with you as they had been before. Besides, I wouldn't risk taking them with me to Ceunon."
"So you're leaving."
Eragon nodded and stepped back to see Niduen escorted by Arya's guard.
Niduen looked like herself again. The Niduen Arya had in her memory. Since Arya could remember, their relationship was delicate, hanging on a grudge Niduen had against Islanzadí and her royal child. Arya's mother would console her little daughter, saying that her aunt wished what she couldn't have. Arya knew that Niduen didn't hate her, only her privileges.
Niduen had her sparkling eyes back. Her dark green eyes. Her most prominent feature, once hid behind her raven eyes, now looking at everything and everyone with intensity.
"Glad to see you back, my aunt."
"I'm not sure if I am back."
Arya frowned and looked at Eragon.
"What does it mean?"
He spoke first, "I cast a spell to free her from the unspoken oath she made, but she doesn't know if it worked completely."
"I see." Arya stared at Niduen with concern but also a relief. She had feared that Eragon would have to hurt her to retrieve the Eldunarí and the egg, or she would hurt him to getaway. It was good to see them both alive in front of her. "Well, you should take a rest and make sure you are out of Bachel's influence. My guard will escort you to your room. We shall talk tomorrow."
"My room? I thought you would want to imprison me."
"Not for now. Go, Niduen. Rest."
Arya motioned her hand so the guards would take her, and when they were out of sight, she looked at Eragon, who clearly had many questions inhabiting his mind.
"Yes?"
Eragon was ready to ask about what had transpired while he was gone when they all heard a tremble coming from the bag. He got down on his knee and opened the flaps of the bag to reveal the Eldunarí and the egg. He grabbed the egg in his hand to realize that it was the source of the shake.
"Is it… hatching?" Arya asked unsurely.
"I believe it is," he said. "The only question is… for which Rider?" He looked at Arya's companion wondering who the new dragon would choose.
Arya was shocked. Of all the things she imagined happening that day, the birth of a new dragon would be last on her list. She felt excitement, of course, but apprehension was her most abundant feeling.
Locking eyes with Elva, Eragon extended the egg to her – it was gray, almost silver, with darker veins. Elva walked fast to him, with her eyes fixated on the egg. However, when her fingers touched it, even before it left Eragon's hand, the trembling stopped.
She furrowed her brows, turning the egg in her hands, and the disappointment was clear. That wasn't the moment when Elva would become a Dragon Rider. To be honest, Arya felt relieved.
"I'm sorry," Eragon whispered.
He took it back from Elva and walked to Dusan. The elf seemed afraid to touch the egg, but when he did, nothing happened. So, Eragon moved on to Alanna.
The egg shook so much in her hands that she had to hold it against her chest not to drop it. Her expectant eyes met Eragon's then Arya's and they both held encouraging looks.
Alanna dropped to her knees and put the egg on the floor before her. It was a special moment for every Rider, the bonding, and Arya was anxious to see it after years since the last elf had been chosen.
The first cracks on the shell appeared, then some more, until a little silver head poked out of the egg. The little creature struggled to rid itself from the rest of the shells until it stumbled on the floor in front of Alanna. She had unshed tears in her eyes, and it made Eragon remember the reverence with which the elves treated the dragons. For Alanna, after years of hoping and standing in line to touch the eggs, it must have felt like a miracle happening right before her eyes.
The hatchling first opened its lids and looked around, but there was no doubt who was its Rider. Moving still a little unstably, the little dragon approached Alanna, who held her hand out for it. The contact sent her on her back, holding her right hand against her chest in an expression of pure pain. A new pair of dragon and Rider was born.
"And now what?" Sir Urien asked with his hands on his waist looking at the white forest in front of them.
"Now we wait."
"Wait?! Here?"
Angela started to set the campsite, picking up the tent from her bags.
"Oh, yes, Sir Urien. The werecats have finally made a decision, and the Dark Magicians will come to meet us. We are on a strategic spot."
"On a death spot, you mean."
Angela shrugged and got to work. Solembum sprinted to the trees, and Urien predicted that he would come back in his boy form, carrying piles of wood in his little arms.
He decided not to question the witch anymore and do what she told him.
The night was spent in a nice silence, soothing even. But he felt the need for answers, and he thought that being on the brink of death would grant him some privileges.
"What are we doing here specifically?" He asked when they finished eating and stared at the northern sky.
"I told you already. We will try to end this before it even starts."
"But how? You think that talking will have any effect on the evil magician?"
Angela shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Isn't that your expertise? Knowing things?"
She gave him a crooked smile.
"It is. But she blocks me from knowing her things. It's annoying."
Urien frowned and stared at her.
"How does she do that?"
"Aren't you a curious cat?"
"You told me I'm going to die no matter what, so I believe you owe me some answers."
The herbalist squinted her eyes and nodded.
"Yes, that's fair." Then she looked deep in his eyes and raised a finger to him. "Listen. I am going to tell you everything you want to know because you won't have the chance to speak of it to anyone else. Now, if the gods like you and by chance you survive, I will rip your tongue out if you even consider sharing this information with someone. Get it?"
Urien nodded, so Angela started, looking at the sky, remembering things.
"Bachel and I know each other for many years now. When I say many years, forget decades, I'm talking about a lifetime. A very long lifetime"
"All right."
"We were both apprentices of an old magician called Tenga. He was the most powerful magician there was at the time."
"He passed away?"
Angela seemed lost in thought when she answered.
"Not exactly. Well, I don't know. For some reason, I can't find him."
"But you said he was the most powerful magician. If he is not dead, who is more powerful than him now?"
"Bachel, without a doubt. But I imagine Eragon could beat her if he has the right information."
Urien didn't know what the Rider would have to do to pull that off, but it honestly was none of his business.
"Right. Go on."
"So, Tenga trained us in all aspects of magic. He also taught us the art of the occult and how to use nature in our favor. All was good until he was entrusted with an important task. To find and train the next Soothsayer. Have you ever heard of the Soothsayer?"
He shook his head. His mother had told him many magical stories when he was a boy, but never he heard that name before.
"She was an oracle who lived in the depths of Ilirea. For centuries she used her sight to tell the future, to guide men and women of power."
"Did she die?"
"No one knows. One day, she left her chamber and never came back. No one saw, no one knows," she repeated. The way she told the story made him want to know more. "The king at the time sent a search party to find her, of course, without success. So, he ordered Tenga to make another Soothsayer. Someone of a similar gift, that would guide his moves. Tenga did what the king wanted, the gods know why, but he never told us. Until one day, when he had decided who he would pick for the task."
"He chose you."
Angela confirmed with a nod and a wicked smile.
"You should see Bachel's face when she realized I was his favorite. She was full of rage. She caused a scene, of course. Screamed that I didn't even have magical powers, that I was only a witch, with superstitions and some tricks up my sleeve. Bachel disappeared after breaking everything in sight, nearly causing our deaths. She didn't wait for me to say that I didn't want to be the Soothsayer. One day, Tenga had two candidates for the post, the next day, he has none."
"So who became the Soothsayer?"
"No one! The king was left without his oracle. But he soon died, and the world forgot about that. That's the fun part of humanity. They are so fugacious that we don't have to worry about lasting memories."
"Did you keep your studies with Tenga?"
"Oh, no! I left; I so was mad at him. He bent to the will of a king instead of being honest with us. I trusted he was going to respect my nature and not put on my back a mission I would certainly refuse."
"Why did you refuse?"
"Do you really think I would want to be stuck in a chamber for centuries working as an oracle? I am a free woman, Sir Urien."
"Good for you," he approved of her principles.
"Yes, good for me."
"No offense, Angela, but if Bachel is the most powerful magician there is, why did he choose you? You said you don't have magical powers."
"Non-taken, sir, not at all. It's a good question." She paused because Solembum decided to lie down next to her to rest his feline head on her lap. "My power is very specific. I had it my entire life, but Tenga was the one who showed me how to channel it."
"You said you know things. Is there something to do with it?"
She nodded once.
"I bend time, good sir. I can travel through it. Make it run fast or crawl slowly. I visited your future many times. I do it every morning, and every morning I watch you die. That's how I know things."
Sir Urien felt his world opening a little wider. He had spent all his life serving as a loyal soldier, his world was iron and blood. But now, it felt bigger, as he was entering an uncharted land.
His mind was racing, but all he managed to say was, "you would've made an amazing oracle."
Angela's laugh echoed loudly through the forest, awaking Solembum, who stretched and went back to sleep.
"Wouldn't I? I guess that's why Bachel was so furious because there was one thing I was better than her."
"So now she is blocking you."
"I can't travel to her past or her future. I can't see her at all. She has magic on her side, wards to stop my prying. I am hoping a reunion between us can stop this conflict."
"She never gave you the chance to explain it all before. What makes you think she will now?"
"She just lost the land of the elves to Arya and Eragon. She is afraid. We have a chance."
"What do you mean?"
"If her goal is to be the Soothsayer, then she has to guarantee that her influence reaches the entire Alagaësia. The coup against Queen Arya, the rebellion in the south, and the war in the north, all to put her allies where she needs them to be. If she feels she is losing, then she may want to negotiate."
"Why would she still want to be the Soothsayer? To serve a king or a queen for the rest of her days?"
"Imagine having your words influencing the most powerful men and women in the world. Not only influencing but manipulating. Who do you think has more power then, who passes the sentence or who executes it?"
"The oracle is more powerful than the king. I understand now."
"She wants unlimited power, so she will never have to run and hide again."
They stayed in silence for a few moments while Urien processed the whole story. He had been traveling in the company of a woman who could bend time at her will, who could see things that he could only imagine. It was too much for him to understand, but what he could do was to embrace his destiny.
"I'm not afraid of dying, you know?" He said with his deep and raspy voice being the only sound in the night.
"Oh, I know!"
"Do you?"
"Why else you would be here? It's crazy." Her tone was of amusement.
Urien took a deep breath. If he was going to die, and if she shared so much with him, he could offer her the same courtesy.
"I served the Lord with all I had. Well, all three of them, but Edd… Well, he inspired something else in me."
After a minute of silence, Angela reached out for his arm and pressed it firmly once before letting go.
"What if I told you that one day, far ahead in the future, what you and Lord Edd had will be considered normal by most?"
Sir Urien's heart began to race inside his chest. He had never talked about his relationship with the fallen lord to anyone before, as he thought he didn't have the right to feel what he felt. But somehow, he found in Angela the approval he secretly sought.
"Normal?"
"Yes, normal. By most. It won't be easy to achieve that, but I believe it will be worth all the struggle."
"I wish I could see that," he paused feeling his eyes burn. He held the urge to cry, but his voice came out more choked than he wished. "Can I live again? Do you know if people live again after they die?"
Her face illuminated as she had found the toy she had loved and lost one day.
"Isn't that one of the greatest mysteries of all? That and, of course, the whole question about frogs and toads."
"What's the difference?"
"Exactly! What is the difference?"
A/N: Hello, hello!
There's a lot happening in this chapter, and believe me, there was more, but I decided to leave it to the next chapter.
I took the liberty to "solve" Angela's mystery powers, using the theories I've heard so far that I consider being more plausible and useful for this story, I hope you agree with me. If you have other theories about her tell me, I would like to hear it.
And a new dragon! It was going to be Alanna since day one, so here it is.
Let me know what you think.
Thank you! Bye!
