Hey! thanks for all the reviews! And i know that i didn't really explain the mind sheild thing, but basically i figured that Murtagh learned to block people out, and when Eragon was getting his mind checked, his mind shields just went up automatically, so I just kinda combinded the two, and obviously Roran's mind shields weren't that strong because he was captured...But ne ways, thats about it! R&R!

Eragon slowly craked open his eyes. Above him a gleaming sun blinded him. He groaned and turned over. His whole body was in agony. After a few minutes, he reopened his eyes, and sat up slowly. He found himself at the same spot that they had set up camp the night before. He slowly lifted his shirt, where he found a large gash across his stomach. He muttered "Waise heill" and watched his skin pull itself back together, leaving a small mark. Satisfied, Eragon stood up and looked around and noticed that Saphira was not there, and contacted her.

Where are you?

Hunting, she replied sounding grateful that Eragon had finally contacted her, I woke up a couple hours ago; Arya asked me if I would get some meat for when you wake up.

What happend?

I don't know, I too passed out. You'll have to ask Arya. Eragon said good-bye, and then headed toward Arya.

"Good morning," said Arya. "Are you feeling ok?"

"Headache, but that's about it," he replied, "I had a cut on my stomach when I woke up, but I already healed it."

"Sorry, I was going to heal it myself, but I was working on Murtagh. But you shouldn't have been wasting your energy on that..."

"It's fine, but what happend to Murtagh? Is he ok?"

"He's not good," said Arya solemnly. "He has a cut on his stomach too, but, it's like it's cursed or something. I can't heal it." With out a word, Eragon walked away and headed toward Murtagh. He pulled away the blanket and lifted his shirt. Under it was a deep cut, oozing something black. Eragon scanned it carefully, and attempted to touch it, when a burning sensation ran up his hand. He cried out in agony, and crumpled to the floor. He felt Saphira try to contact him, but he pushed her away. Arya flew to his side with lightning speed, attempting to help him up. After a few minutes, the pain subsided and he was able to stand up again.

"Are you-" Before Arya could get it out, Saphira soared down into the clearing a buck in her mouth, which she threw to the ground. Growling, she broke into Eragon's mind.

What is the matter with you! She roared. Again and again! Time after time! You know about dark magic! And about what can happen to you if you interfere with it, but you don't LISTEN! I cannot leave you for one minute without you getting in trouble. Saphira's face was now inches from his and smoke flaring from her nostrils; Eragon feared she may catch him on fire by accident. From now on you will consult me before trying anything like this ever again! Understood? Eragon fearfully shook his head yes. Apparently satisfied, she pulled her head back and walked over to the fire and sat down, turning her back towards him. He quietly approached her, and touched minds with her.

I know that you care about me, and that I'm ignorent, and should be more careful. Saphira snorted in agreement to this. But I need to help Murtagh...if I hadn't touched him I wouldn't know how bad that cut was...And I can't let another friend meet that terrible fate. Then Eragon began to silently mourn Brom's death. After a few minutes of silence Saphira finally replied.

I understand, little one. But if Arya can't heal him with magic, there is nothing we can do...For severel minutes, Eragon and Saphira just sat there, Eragon stroking her neck. Eventually Eragon tore himself from staring at the Beor Mountains infront of them and walked over toward Arya, who was leaning over Murtagh. She covered him up with the blankets again and was tending to a few minor cuts on his face.

"Are you feeling ok?" she asked again. Eragon nodded yes. "What happend?" she said, eyes still on Murtagh as she tried to force feed him some of the soup she had made.

"When I touched his cut...it started to burn, almost like when I got my gedwey ignasia." Fear struck Arya's expression.

"This must be worse then I thought. I've never had to heal a cut that was cursed by black magic. And I can only think of two things that could cause such a wound..."

"What are they?"

"Well, obviously, a Shade, but the only one known of is now gone."

"What's the other?"

"The Ra'zac."

Inside Eragon exploded. The Ra'zac! For so long they had done nothing but cause his heart to break. First the death of Garrow, and then the death of Brom. Eragon swore to himself that he would not let Murtagh die, not without revenge. Furious, he did not reply at first, just starred at the ground. Eventually he changed the subject and spoke.

"Is there anything you can do to help him?"

"I've tried everything I can think of. I attempted to use magic on him a couple hours ago, but it just exhausted me, and did nothing. I've put some herbs into the soup that may help any other internal injuries, but that's all I can think to do..."

"Well, can we take him anywhere?" said Eragon, frustrated.

"I dont' know where we would go," replied Arya, equelly frustrated. "The closest town is Herdarth, but the Varden suspect that's where the Urgals came from. Ellesmera is too far away, he'd be dead by the time we arrived there, and if I can't help him, there are slim chances that anyone there could."

"Why don't we go to the Varden? It's only a days ride away and they might have potions that could heal him."

"Even if we did go back, they wouldn't help him," said Arya. "He was a prisoner there, and Morzan's son. Although he has not acted untrustworthy, because he would not let him search his mind, they would not accept him. Aside from that, they have nothin there that we don't have. There is not a cure for him there if there's none here."

"So what are we supposed to do?" shouted Eragon. "Just keep traveling and let him die!"

"There is nothing that we can do for him! We have no choice!"

Eragon stormed off and sat down next to the fire. Saphira sat next to him and wordlessly nuzzled him. And for awhile Eragon just sat next to Saphira, enjoying the comfort her warmth as a few silent tears rolled down his cheeks. Eventually Arya cautiously walked toward the fire and sat on the opposite side. Eragon quickly wiped away his tears.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly starring at the fire. "It's just...the Ra'zac have killed so many people that were close to me." This shocked Arya, not hearing the previous stories about Brom and Garrow.

"I didn't know," she replied. "Do-do you mind telling me?" For the next few minutes Eragon told the story of how the Ra'zac had destroyed his house and how the seither oil they had used on Garrow eventually killed him, and how Brom had jumped infront of Eragon when the Ra'zac had thrown the spear, which, too, killed him. He ended with telling Arya about the diamond grave that Saphira had created. Once he was done, he looked up to see a few tears streaming from Arya's face, and noticed that he was doing the same.

"I'm so sorry," she said, her voice cracking. "I had no idea..." Eragon shrugged it off and starred into the fire. Arya stood up and went over to the buck Saphira had caught earlier, cut it up and began to cook it. As she leaned over the fire, cooking the meat, Eragon realized that he never found out what actually happend last night, apart from the fact that he had gotten cut in the stomach and Murtagh had also been cut.

"Where you concious last night?" asked Eragon. Arya quickly looked up and replied yes. "What happend?"

"Well, when you and Saphira were keeping watch something, probably the Ra'zac, shot you with arrows that caused you both to loose conciousness, although they had to hit Saphira with a couple more arrows to get her finally pass out. And when Saphira fell, she clipped you with one of her spikes, which is what cut you. Then I woke up, as did Murtagh, but I only saw some hooded figures in the dark, and once I unshealthed my sword some sort of black smoke arose from no where. I tried to use magic to get rid of it, but I couldn't, I wasn't fast enough. They must have been able to see through the smoke, because I heard Murtagh scream, and by the time the smoke faded away, he was on the floor unconcious and the hooded figures were gone. Then I pulled the arrows out of you and Saphira and attempted to heal Murtagh. After failing, I began to make him soup, and you woke up." After this story, Eragon lifted his shirt to reveal his stomach and the faint mark where he had healed his cut.

I'm sorry,said Saphira softly as she saw his cut.

It's not your fault, said Eragon as he stroked her neck. You were unconcious, there was nothing you could do about it. I'm lucky, it was a close call.

Yes, you are very very lucky...

After a quck meal of meat and bread, Eragon and Saphira laid down for bed and Arya took the first watch, assuring them that she would be alert. Although it was an uneasy sleep, all of them woke up in the morning, arrow free and cutless. They quickly ate, extinguished the fire, and began to pack their things and load the horses.

"What should we do about Murtagh?" asked Eragon. Arya considered this for a second and came to a conclusion.

"We can strap him onto Tornac for now, we'll just have to tighten his straps every so often to make sure he doesn't fall off. So they strapped in Murtagh and took off. This was the first time that Eragon truly took in his surrondings. The hard, cold mountain ground thawed out as they headed father north and became green grass. To the right was the Az Ragni river, which flowed smoothly north, downhill from the Beor Mountains and would eventually empty out into Edda River. To their left was a clump of valleys, where Saphira was flying. As Eragon was appriciating the beauty of the valleys, Murtagh fell of Tornac. Eragon quickly forgot about the valleys, and ran back to Murtagh. Murtagh just layed face up, eyes wide open starring at the sky, but didn't seem to be taking in what was happening around him. Arya soon kneeled next to Eragon, holding her hand on Murtagh's face, checking his temperature. Eragon did the same to find that his forehead was burning hot. At this point Murtagh's mouth opened slightly, and white foam leaked from his mouth. He just layed there for awhile, but then suddently closed his eyes. His fever broke, and was oddly cold. His breathing slowed down, until it stopped.

"NO!" cried Eragon. He barely noticed Saphira land next to him. Tears flowed from his eyes onto Murtagh's dead body. Saphira nuzzled him, comfortingly.

It's all my fault, Eragon said to Saphira. I wasn't watching, and now he's gone...

Yea, I know, it's sad...And I know that I didn't include Roran in this chapter, but i will in the next one! Will update soon!