Hello again! I'm so sorry for the long wait, but my schedule has been hectic and this chapter was, for some reason, really hard to write. I think it turned out alright, though, and I actually got plot things done this time, which is excellent. Thank you to everyone who has continued to comment; it's been extremely helpful. Hope you enjoy!
By the time Eragon had stepped away from the wall, the stone had revealed the shape of two huge doors carved into the rock, large enough to make even Saphira seem normal-sized. "Ladrin," Eragon commanded, and Thorn jerked his neck back as the huge slabs of stone slowly rotated outward. It was disturbingly silent for an operation involving so much weight. The only thing visible inside was a dark corridor, the floor slanting down evenly as far as the eye could see. Corrin glanced over at Murtagh, who was regarding the passageway with mingled interest and suspicion.
Come, said Saphira, and paced forwards into the tunnel, Eragon walking at her side.
Corrin shrugged and moved to follow, but Kiera stood a few moments more before entering, apprehension rolling off of her in waves. Are you alright? he questioned her, concerned.
She snorted uneasily. I can sense… something, farther down the passage, like turbulent energy.
What do you think it is? Corrin frowned.
A mental sigh whispered through his mind like a gentle breeze. Only one way to find out, I suppose. Despite the excess of room, Kiera ducked her head down as she entered the shadowed tunnel. Corrin glanced up at the ceiling of the tunnel, still rough-hewn of grey and brown rock, as he walked.
Murtagh caught up to him no more than fifty feet down the passage. "I don't suppose the two troublemakers gave you any clue what on earth we are doing down here?"
"No," Corrin replied, shaking his head. "They seemed purposely vague about the whole thing." Eragon had finally let Leah and Varog loose after the mirror room, releasing them and their dragons to do as they would until the midday meal.
Murtagh huffed irritably. "I swear," he grumbled, "Eragon probably told them to keep us wondering. He has such a dramatic streak."
Corrin compressed his lips in an attempt to hide his smile, but Murtagh noticed anyway. "What?" he demanded.
He is probably thinking that 'dramatic' is a little hypocritical, coming from you, Thorn interjected with sly malice.
Murtagh rounded on the red dragon. "See here, you.." he began, holding up a finger in warning.
"Did I miss something?" Eragon called back from along the passage.
"You miss lots of things," Murtagh said. "Head of stone, you have there; it's no wonder the dwarves adopted you. Speaking of stone, where are we going?"
"Down," Eragon replied, "and we have a long way to go, so kindly hurry up."
"Yes, a long way, in the dark," Murtagh complained, walking. "Couldn't you have put some Erisdar in here?"
Eragon's sigh was audible to where Corrin stood, and the two brothers continued making jabs at each other as they walked a long, long way down.
Are all humans like these two? Kiera asked him privately. The elves were so much more composed.
Not all humans, Corrin told her, but they are worse because they are siblings, I think. Family.
You don't act like that, Kiera rumbled.
My cousins are both far older than I, he replied. They never had time to argue with me.
He could not have guessed how far down the tunnel went, but his feet had started to hurt by the time Kiera lifted her head and told him, I see light ahead.
Corrin looked up and caught sight of it himself; less light than a ruddy glow that permeated the tunnel and grew stronger as they walked. The floor abruptly leveled out and allowed him to see down a surprisingly short corridor to a doorway glowing with the red light. It was framed by a hulking stone archway, and even at his current distance he could see deep cuts forming letters of the elven script carved in the rock. Ahead, Saphira twisted her head around to glance back at them, then walked inside, illuminating the unbelievable scale of that arch.
Corrin and Kiera followed their masters through the arch. Within was a dimly lit antechamber, with three archways leading left, right, and straight ahead. Corrin would have stopped to look around, but Saphira walked without pause to the center arch, from which emanated the strange red light. The young Rider and his dragon walked through side by side, into a chamber of wonders.
The room within was perfectly circular, lit by the glowing light emanating from the pit sunken straight into the center. Tiers of stone rose a third of the way up the walls before giving way to rows of alcoves carved into the rock. On every tier were laid eggs in gorgeous colors stratiated with white, and in every alcove sparkled a jeweled, gemlike object. As Corrin stared around in open-mouthed shock, he more felt than heard a thousand whispering voices that seemed to fill the chamber with a gentle susurration like the wind on the plains. His eyes finally landed in front of them, where he beheld one of the strangest sights he had ever witnessed; a metal man with the head of a dragon sat in a carved throne across the room, with a naked Rider's sword laid across his knees.
Corrin felt a flicker of surprise from Kiera. He peeled his eyes away from the metal warrior, and startled; what he had taken for a shadow behind the dragon-man's seat was in fact none other than Shruikan, his sinuous black length draped along the curve of the back wall. The black dragon had his head down on his forelimbs like a cat at rest, but his glittering eyes were open and fixed on them.
Eragon frowned. "Shruikan," he greeted aloud, warily, but then his expression cleared and he directed his voice upwards, to echo off the higher levels. "Ebrithilar," he greeted, though Corrin saw only the one dragon-man, "We have newcomers that I would like to introduce you to."
Yes, spoke an amused mind that belonged to none of the dragons Corrin had met before. And we noticed that you took long enough about bringing them down. Welcome, Murtagh. Welcome, Thorn. We are glad to see you home with the Riders so soon. Thorn hummed loud enough to make Corrin's bones reverberate, and Murtagh dropped to one knee, grinning like a fiend. Clearly he shared none of Corrin and Kiera's confusion.
A slightly deeper voice spoke next. And welcome to you as well, Corrin, Kiera. Eragon has told us much that he learned of you from Lady Arya, but we are glad to meet you both ourselves.
We are grateful, Ebrithilar, Kiera whispered. But we do not understand.
Be at peace, young ones. All will be revealed.
"The gemstone-looking objects in the walls are called Eldunari," Eragon said to them, "and they are the Rider's greatest secret. Your greatest secret, now, too. Before I can explain, you must each of you swear to never discuss what I tell you with any but another Rider without my or Saphira's permission."
"I swear, Ebrithil," Corrin answered instantly, and heard Kiera do likewise.
Good, Saphira snorted. Each Eldunari contains the soul of a dragon whose body has died. Though they have left behind their flesh and bones, their minds and their magics are preserved. Here lie nearly every Eldunari that the Black King stole from the Riders of old. And here also are the Eldunari who sheltered in the Vault of Souls on Vroengard for nigh on a century, guarding the eggs which are the hope of our species.
How is that possible? gasped Corrin, unable to speak aloud.
"We'll teach you when you are a little older and more experienced," Eragon assured him. For some reason Murtagh barked a laugh.
The first voice that had addressed them all spoke again. I am Umaroth. In the centuries before Galbatorix destroyed the Riders, my companion was Vrael, leader of our order in the War of the Forsworn.
The second, deeper voice introduced himself next. I am Glaedr, and my Rider Oromis and I were Eragon and Saphira's teachers before they faced the Black King.
And the guardian, Saphira concluded, is Cuaroc. The dragon-man raised his sword in salute, then resumed his statue-like position.
How...how many others? Thorn asked, hesitant.
Of the eggs there remain two hundred forty and three, Umaroth answered him, of which three and fifty are destined to be bonded to dragons. Of us Eldunari, we are still in the process of counting. You may get up and look around, Murtagh, he added. We are hardly formal enough to require you to keep kneeling, and fear not that you will harm the eggs.
They are bespelled enough that you could probably not do anything to them if you meant to, Glaedr amended.
Corrin waited for a nod from Eragon before approaching the tiers of eggs himself. He could feel Kiera's joy and curiosity, emotions washing over him like waves and mingling with his own. She nudged him with her nose, sending him stumbling towards the lowest tier, and when he had regained his balance, he found himself in front of a pretty green egg. He'd never seen any dragon egg except Kiera's, but this one was very similar, glossy and with the vibrant color broken by a matrix of pure white lines. He wondered, idly, what the egg of a white dragon would look like, even as he hesitantly lifted and then dropped his arm, unsure whether he could touch them safely.
You can, a distantly amused female voice informed him. This one is a female, and she will be Shur'tugal, one day.
Thank you, he replied, reaching out to lay a hand on the smooth surface of the egg. May I ask who you are?
I am Agaravel, she told him, and withdrew from his mind before he could answer, like a butterfly flitting away from a flower.
Corrin nodded thoughtfully and stepped away again. Kiera reached her head out to tap her nose gently against the egg. Behind them, Saphira began to hum. Come, she said, we have much to speak of.
With a final glance at the green egg, Corrin turned back and he and Kiera returned to their master's sides. Murtagh and Thorn approached from the other side of the chamber, though Corrin worried Murtagh would fall over something, with his eyes focused on the higher levels of the chamber.
"This is incredible," Corrin said, though the word seemed rather flat by comparison.
Eragon grinned and nodded at him. "We think so," he agreed. "In this room is the hope of all races of Alagaesia. For now, at least, the Rider's job is as much to protect the eggs and Eldunari as it is to make peace among the races. This is an important part of our heritage, and you both are now responsible for helping to preserve it." Corrin nodded seriously.
Across from the door, Shruikan suddenly heaved his bulk up and began to walk towards them, rounding both the rock throne and the glowing pit. Corrin instinctively drew back towards Kiera; he knew logically that Shruikan had no reason to hurt him, but the image of the fanged, house-sized, black reptile advancing on him was intimidating nonetheless.
Fortunately, his instinctive apprehension was unwarranted; Shruikan paced across the stone floor and between Saphira and Kiera towards the door. He paused only once, when his head was even with Kiera's, to turn one eye onto the young Shur'tugalar.
One ice-blue eye, to be exact.
Corrin's mouth opened before he could even think of stopping the words. "I thought you had yellow eyes."
Shruikan made an odd houghing noise in his throat, and craned his long neck around until he could blink at Corrin with the other eye, which was the deep golden color he remembered from the night previous. Yes? A new, deep voice drawled in the ancient language.
Corrin blinked twice and swallowed. "Oh," was all he managed, shocked to realize that Shruikan had spoken in the ancient language after he'd heard so much about the wild dragons' lack of language.
From the black dragon Corrin felt a sense of profound amusement, enough to make him flush with embarrassment, and then Shruikan moved on.
Oh? repeated Kiera. I hope one of our masters knows the secret to teaching eloquence. You're sorely in need.
You… just… hush, he retorted huffily.
So yeah. Shruikan has mismatched eyes. I've been wrestling with his eye color for literal months now, but in the end I just couldn't help myself. You have my sincerest apologies for bashing you over the head with the symbolism. Hopefully this will be the last major character introduction and I can get on to more interesting story points. Please feel free to comment, particularly with any criticism, and bragging rights go to anyone who can remember who Agaravel is!