The moonlight went swiftly through the poor house's windows, lightening the blacksmith and his family, who were enjoying a frugal dinner with his son and his two nephews(Six, five and ten). Vegetables and the meat he had managed to hunt from The Spine. Suddenly disturbed by hurried knocks against the door.
"Open the door in the name of the Emperor!"
Garrow raised from the table and looked at his son, who like his nephew Eragon raised as well from their chairs.
"Roran, take Eragon and Aina." Garrow said. "You know where to hide"
Roran nodded and went near the back of the house, but his cousins didn't follow. Aina was still on her chair, and Eragon was near her, waiting for her.
"Is something wrong uncle Garrow?" Aina asked timidly.
"No, 'course not." Garrow said lightly, kissing his nephew on the forehead. "We are going to play that game I told you about, the one we play every now and then. Do you remember it?"
"Really?" Aina asked happily, hugging her younger brother, who tried to get away from her grasp.
"Stop it Aina" Eragon complained. "I don't like hugs"
"Open the door in the name of the Emperor or we will tear it down!" The soldier said loudly, knocking more insistently than before.
"Father is done." Roran said hurriedly to his father, a floor hatched wooden door open at his side, Garrow nodded approaching young Eragon and Aina, both were looking at the door curiously.
"Eragon, Aina, go with Roran, hurry" Garrow called them out, snapping them from their dream, the two nodded and went with Roran who closed the door after him moments after.
"Open the door or we will tear it down" The three heard from inside the hatch, looking worriedly at each other.
"Will uncle Garrow be alright?" Aina whispered timidly to Roran, the eldest of the four down there, four years older than her and five than Eragon.
"Yes, of course, he will" Roran whispered back, a kind smile on his face. "But now it is time to play the game, remember?"
Aina nodded, closed her eyes and covered her ears, frighten, Eragon looked at his older sister and felt sorry for her, since what happened back then she changed so much, once lively and energetic, now fearful and timid.
And all because of her bicolour eyes, one of soft green and the other of an ice-blue colour, he ignored his thoughts and looked through the small holes the wooden floor had.
Maybe he could see something, hear something anything, but his gaze couldn't reach his uncle or the soldiers that had come in, just hear their muffled voices, besides him was Roran looking up with the same interest as he did.
"What can I do for you my lords" Eragon heard his uncle ask politely to the soldiers once the door closed behind him. He heard steps turning around and a voice.
"We are looking for your kid, the girl" Eragon heard the soldier say, he looked worriedly at his sister, her eyes still closed, her ears still clogged. "Where is she?"
"You must be making a mistake" Eragon heard his uncle Garrow say surprised "I only have a son"
"That's not what your neighbours or the reports we got say." the soldier said. "You are living here with two others besides your son. So, you can tell us where she is, or we will find her ourselves, but stop wasting everyone's time with this nonsense"
Eragon looked at his sister, more concerned than before, what could they possibly want her for? It was the first time something like this happened. Even Roran was looking at Aina with the same curiosity reflected on his face.
And their behaviour didn't make any sense, Imperial Soldiers usually stormed their home, broke everything, beat his uncle and took what they wanted, while they hid, but these ones seemed odd… even nice. Eragon looked back up and found himself staring at a soldier's foot.
"Listen" Eragon heard the soldier continue politely "I know you are sceptical to give your daughter away, my boy was taken like so many others, but this isn't something you can evade. The Emperor himself demands her, he is going to take her whether you like it or not.
It is not in your hands like it isn't in ours, so you can give her to us or wait for others to take her in a more… impolite way, and I, like you probably do, wouldn't want that to happen to my child."
Eragon heard his uncle sight in defeat, followed by a question:
"What does that monster want the kids for"
"We don't know" The soldier answered. "Here, take this"
Eragon heard the sound of parchment passing from one hand to another.
"Will she be safe?" Eragon heard his uncle ask preoccupied, as the soldier on top of the hatch door moved away.
"Yes." The soldier answered back. "The Emperor will take her and the other kids under his wing, they will live in the capital. That's all I know."
After this came a long silence, and then:
"Eragon, Roran, Aina, it is safe, you can come out"
"C'mone Aina let's go." Eragon said impatiently, taking his sister by the hand, but Aina freed herself from his grip. Scared. Roran had already left.
'Is… is it safe?" Aina asked scared, looking at the ground, trembling of fear.
"Yes, it is." Eragon said, trying to encourage his older sister.
"Are-are you sure?" Aina asked timidly, not fully convinced.
"It is." Eragon said calmly, offering his sister his hand, who looked at him appreciatively and took it. Not trembling anymore, confident, feeling safe with her brother.
Moments after, the two were out of the hatchet and what they met took them completely by surprise.
Before them were five soldiers, they didn't look like the usual ones; their armours were spikier, fully black, lighter than the usual ones with a blood-red dragon on their chest and helmet(Which they held in their hands), long black capes storming behind them, dark spiked bracers coming out of their armours and claw-like armour. Each of them with a dark red-eyed dog at their side.
What called Eragon attention's the most was their faces, the two ladies looked fairer and more beautiful than any he had ever seen before, and the three men, imposing, with great dignities almost like kings. Despite the colour and appearance of their armours.
Eragon looked at his sister, who was still looking at the soldiers with the same wonder he had, admiration even.
"So this is the girl" Eragon heard the fairest of the soldiers say as he approached Aina, kneeling before her. Aina to his surprise didn't look back, lost in the soldier's deep blue eyes.
"Nice to meet you young lady" The soldier continued "My name is Kalandi, these are my companions; Morzan(Noded head), my sister Formora(Waved eagerly), Glaerun(Bowed respectfully) and Enduriel(Smiled kindly at her) my wife. We will take care of you from now on and led you to the Emperor. Will you come with us?"
Kalandi ended, offering Aina his hand, she took it…
"How-how may I call you sir." Aina asked timidly, looking away, the soldier looked back at her, smiling kindly.
"People know us as-"
But Eragon couldn't hear what the soldier said as if the soldier was voiceless, and suddenly everything around him began to twist and change like being eaten by a tornado…
And he found himself in Carvahall, outside of his house, pushing his way through a crow of people with Roran trying to reach the centre of the commotion where his uncle's voice and Roran's father's voice came from.
"Leave her alone" Garrow told the other voices. "She's done no wrong"
The others laughed mockingly at this:
"What are you going to do about it." One said, taunting him. "You touch us, you are dead, the law here is no other than us!"
"I'll show ya" Garrow answered back, Eragon heard punches, voices and screams as they finally made their way through. Pushing the remaining people that were blocking their way through.
Finding before them a very nasty and heartbreaking scene, a young woman with her clothes all torn, ragged and broken, crying before her husband's dead body. A soldier standing behind her, with a bloody fist and a sword covered in the same red,
Inside her house, her children were looking at this, terrified and traumatized, hiding behind the wooden door. Afraid to even step out. Eragon and Roran barely managed to see them because of this.
Not far from the first soldier(Eight feet at most) was another, sword out as well, leaning against a tree, with a body near him, and the last one, the closest to them, six feet away at most.
And then Eragon began to notice the small details, the woman's violet eye, the soldier that was standing behind her wound in the side, and his uncle lying on the ground head up with a wound near his chest. That if left untreated would surely kill him.
Roran and Eragon didn't think it twice and ran to where his uncle was without thinking it through, not hearing his warning.
"No, stay away!"
Roran managed to get the furthest, before being knocked out by the soldier who was with the woman, who intercepted him with ease, returning shortly after.
Eragon tried to reach his uncle and for a moment he thought he would achieve it until he felt a punch crushing his face, throwing him hard to the ground. Followed by laughter.
"Is he your son?" The first one asked. "Maybe we should punish him like we did to her" Looking lustfully at the young lady who dodged his, looking at the ground, tears streaming down her cheeks. Covering herself with her broken clothes as pudic as she could.
"Please let them go" Garrow begged them. "They have done no wrong"
"Silence, you have no right to speak here." Said the second one, putting his sword back in its case. "As for the boys… we will see"
Eragon tried to rise from the ground, and help his uncle, but it was useless, he felt a kick against his ribs and a voice that told him mockingly.
"Nah, nah, nah, you stay here little boy, our boss is going to decide how to punish you for your intrusion, aren't you Urgh?"
Eragon looked up at the soldier that had spoken and held him captive, his foot against his spine, but he wasn't a 'he', but a she. He hadn't realized it at first, too caught up trying to help Roran and his uncle, but now he could see her clearly.
She was more slender than the others, with long black hair, merciless brown eyes, a nasty scar on one of them. And her voice, he didn't notice at first, too dizzy and confused by the kick and the punch, but it was definitely a lady's, charming, almost enchanting. The rest of her face he couldn't make it, hidden by her dark helmet.
The woman realizing that he was looking at her kicked him hard, but not in the ribs like before, in the face, breaking his nose, spattering blood everywhere.
"How dare you look at me, you peasant." The woman said with a voice full of disgust. "I should kill you right here, right now, for your insolence!"
Eragon saw the woman drag her sword, and she would have probably killed him right there if it wasn't for the intervention of a more commanding voice. Probably the leader.
"Vera stop"
The woman put her sword back on her waist case, seconds ago, against his neck.
"Fine, but I want this insolent brat's head, how dare he look at me." Vera said displeased, crossing her arms against her chest, giving Eragon one last kick in the ribs before joining her boss.
"His life?" The second one said teasingly. "You never had any sense of fun, Vera. That's why no one goes out with you."
"You shut up, Gethren! If I ever need your opinion I'll ask you" Vera said sarcastically. "So what do we do with this insolent brat and his rotting old man boss? Torture? Mutilation? Putrefaction? Or just burn them alive?"
Vera asked walking towards Urgh, stepping over Eragon's uncle's stomach who screamed out in pain.
"Leave him alone!" Eragon shouted, rising from the ground, holding his left side of probably broken ribs and cleaning the blood from his broken nose with his arm. As he approached them.
"Should I-"
"No, let him come" Urgh ordered. "Vera, Gethren, stay back"
The two did as Urgh commanded, without interfering in Eragon's path, Vera muttering to herself, clearly displeased, Gethren smiling satisfied.
"Take the woman to her family" Urgh instructed them "No distractions, I want you here once you are done"
Vera stepped over his uncle's stomach once again, passing him without a glance, reaching Gethren and the woman shortly after.
"Move it bitch." Vera said harshly, clearly displeased with her orders hiding it no more, Gethren laughing at this as if she had told a joke. "I said move it" Vera yelled at the woman pissed.
Seeing no other reaction from her other than embracing her husband's dead body, but Vera had enough, taking the woman by the hair, forcefully splitting her from her husband. Leaving behind her a trail of screams and laughter as they disappeared through the crowd.
Eragon doubted for a second whether to help her or his uncle and Roran, the doubt disappeared as fast as it had come, his uncle was wounded, on the ground and his cousin knocked out. While on the other side, that woman was being taken back to her family. Right?
"I am sorry for my men's behaviour" Urgh apologized helping his uncle get up "It won't happen again I swear on my family's name and our master and lord"
"Then leave our village" Garrow said weakly, leaning on the soldier finally rising up, Urgh nodded as he finally reached his uncle, but something was bugging him badly. And he couldn't help but ask as Urgh was about to leave.
"What's going to happen to the girl" Eragon asked concerned.
"Thee woman will be fine" Urgh reassured him. "She is being taken back to her family by my men, you have nothing to worry about."
Eragon nodded, turning back to his uncle as Urgh left them.
"Are you okay, uncle Garrow?" Eragon asked worried.
"I am fine, I am fine" Garrow said lightly. "We better go and see how your cousin is doing"
After this, things happened really fast, they reached Roran as expected who was now waking up from the knockout, smiling weakly at them until suddenly Eragon felt something against his face.
It resembled raindrops, that wasn't right there were no clouds in the sky, he touched it with his fingers and looked at it with horror. Blood. But from whom?. He looked for his uncle, but he wasn't there, he had fallen to the ground near Roran's side.
They looked at the spear piercing his father with horror, harshly taken back by the one to whom it belonged. Who spoke.
"Your uncle's time is almost over." The voice said. "Speak with him while you can"
Followed by a woman's clearly displeased. "You didn't wait for us?! You know how long it took us to hang that bitch! Tsk, next time Gethren can do it himself, I am tired of losing these parts"
But to Eragon and Roran there were no other voice but his uncle's and father as he passed away.
"Pro… tect e-e-e each other"
Then the scene changed once again, his uncle was hanging off a tree with the young woman, her husband and her kids, rain falling down to the muddy ground. The skies, consumed by darkness, his mind his uncle's words.
'Protect each other', he would do so, protect the people he cared about, he promised, he would find his sister and avenge his death, they would pay for what they had done to his uncle.
They would pay for everything Carvahall and his people were suffering, all the families destroyed, torn to pieces, all the rape and injustice, Galbatorix, he would find him and end him for what he had done.
And suddenly…
I dedicate this chapter to Druen la Lontra, my buddy and first follower.