A/N Hello people! Guess what??
4 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS!!!
Replies to reviewers at the bottom of the page again, I think it's easier, don't you guys?
Ok, on with the chapter, yay, things are getting good!
Chapter 29- The Shade
Murtagh threw the flaming stick he was holding into the pile of Urgal bodies they had made a little way from their camp. The bodies took light and blazed in the morning sun light.
Legolas sat by the camp fire, head in his hands. How could he have let this happen? How could he have been so careless as to not keep an eye on the boy? He shook his head.
"Legolas," it was Gimli the Dwarf, his dear little friend with the stout heart. "Come Elf, I know what you are thinking. Blame can be placed on no one. you know as well as most that in battle you can not have your eyes monitoring everyone and everything."
Legolas lifted his head. "I know. But I should not have let my guard down. I should have paid more attention to-"
Gimli cut over him. "No you could not have and there is nothing you can do about it, except perhaps coming up with a plan to get the boy back."
Legolas stood. Murtagh had rejoined them and was listening eagerly. Legolas smiled slightly to see their enthusiasm. He placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "It will not be easy. But we must try. Here is what we will do."
-:0:-
Eragon could not contact Saphira. They had drugged him just as the Ra'zac had so he could not use magic. He sighed and huddled closer to the blanket,. Well, he thought dryly, at least I'm warm and dry.
He glanced up at the barred window, dim light shining through. It was level with the ground and all he could see was people's feet and legs as they walked by.
He sat up, massaging his temples. That had been quite a blow he had taken and his head pounded. Then he looked up, a thought dawning on him. he was obviously in Gil'ead, but he had been taken by Urgals, not men. So if Urgals had been sent after him, why was he been detained in Gil'ead? He rubbed the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes momentarily. His mind was too fuzzy to process that piece of information right now, so he filed it away for later when he could perhaps make more sense of it.
A man soon came bearing food and water on a tray for him. Eragon had a few sips of the paltry cabbage soup and drank the water, quenching his parched throat, then went over to the cell door which had a small barred window in it so he could look out into the hallway.
All was quiet until he heard an iron gate clang shut somewhere nearby and the sound of marching men with heavy boots. Cautiously, he peered out.
A line of soldiers marched through the hall their swords drawn and ready. Each was clad in matching armour which shone in the weak light. The line went on for ages until there was a break somewhere near the middle. Carried between two of the soldiers was a women, and she was unconscious from what Eragon could gather.
She had long black hair that hung down to obscure her face. A loose shirt hung about her lithe frame and she wore lather trousers with a belt and a sheath which was empty.
One of the soldiers shifted her weight slightly on his shoulder and her head lolled to one side, her hair fell back revealing a pointed ear. Eragon gasped.
This was the Elf form his dreams! He would recognise that beautiful pure sculpted face anywhere. He was angry to see the long thin scratch that ran down her cheek, the only imperfection to her flawless complexion.
She was carried off out of his sight and he followed her with his eyes until she was taken away from his line of view. Then his attention was diverted by the man that followed after.
A white face, as white as death, turned to look at him framed by crimson hair, hair as red as blood. Maroon eyes flashed at him and the man opened his mouth in a thin smile, flashing pointed filed teeth before carrying on.
Eragon gasped and jumped back.
A Shade!
What was a Shade doing in Gil'ead? And why did the guards not kill him on sight? For where there is a Shade, there is pure evil.
Disturbed, he sat back down and pulled the blanket tighter around him.
-:0:-
He must have gone to sleep, for when he awoke he found his mind a lot sharper, though he could still not grasp the magic or communicate with Saphira. He went to look out of the cell window on to the street, someone stood in front of the window, blocking out what little light there was. He felt like calling up to them to move out of the way when the figure turned. Looking up as best he could through the bars he saw the soft leather boots first, as his eyes travelled up the form, the light leggings, the green tunic, all framed by the dark green cloak draped around the shoulders. Gazing up into a welcome hooded face. He smiled. He wanted to leap for joy and shout out loud, but the figure placed a long slender finger to his lips indicating the boy be quiet.
Eragon understood and just smiled. Legolas turned away from him again so his back was to him, Eragon understood hat the Elf was trying to be as discreet as possible.
A piece of parchment fluttered to the ground just within Eragon's reach, the Elf nudged the piece of parchment towards him with his foot and Eragon quickly reached out a hand and snatched it back inside the cell. Unfolding it he read it quickly as he could, making out each letter of the swirling script.
Escape tonight. Wait for Murtagh and me.
He nodded and scrunched up the parchment, throwing it back out into the street. "I'll be ready," Eragon whispered knowing full well the Elf could make his voice out above the noise of the busy street.
Just then there was a rattle of keys outside his door and some conversation. Then the door opened, Eragon turned swiftly to see the Shade standing in the doorway.
He smirked showing his pointed teeth before shutting the door behind him.
"Who are you and what do you want?" asked Eragon sharply.
"No one of any consequence," replied the Shade. "You however are. As for what I want, tell me Dragon Rider, what is your name?"
"Eragon," he replied hesitantly.
"No! No! not that name. the other name. the one you use only very rarely," said the Shade.
Legolas' eyes widened as he listened from outside. This Shade was asking of Eragon's true name.
Back inside the cell, the same thing had just occurred to Eragon. Oh please, he thought. I wasn't born yesterday! As if I'm going to give you my true name. Even if I had a mind to, I couldn't because I don't know it!
Eragon thought for a moment, contemplating what to say.
Outside, Legolas was willing him to not say anything stupid. Though there was nothing he could do without giving himself away to the Shade.
"My name, the one you speak of, is," Eragon paused for effect, also to give himself more time to think. "Is Du Súndavar Freohr." He decided hoping that the Shade would buy it.
Legolas rolled his eyes, how typical to choose such a frightful sounding name. 'Death of the shadows'. But he was thankful as it seemed to work well enough,
The Shade smiled. "I see. Well, I must bow attend to certain matters. But before I go I will give you something to think about. who would you rather serve for example? A Rider who betrayed your own order or a fellow man like me, though one skilled in the arcane arts. When the time comes to choose there will be no middle ground. We will talk again later," with that the Shade turned to leave.
Once he had left and the door was closed and locked again, Eragon sunk to his knees. He did not want to speak with the Shade again.
Outside, Legolas closed his eyes in a grimace. So there was a Shade involved? That would not bode well for them. He had heard of Shades from the bits and pieces Brom had told him from what he gathered they were wholly evil beings. The closest thing he could compare them to was an istar who had gone bad. This could get complicated.
Eragon glanced up at the cell window. "We still on for tonight then?" he asked quietly.
The answer came back unexpectedly, quiet yet clear and full of determination. "Certainly."
-:0:-
Night feel and Eragon could feel the magic at the edge of his consciousness he could almost reach for it. He had twigged that the food and water he had been given was dosed with the drug that prevented him from performing magic. So he had refrained from eating his evening meal, scraping it away outside in the street, he was hungry and he was thirsty but the thought of been able to reach the magic again and communicate with Saphira kept him going.
It was pitch black when he looked outside the window, the street was empty. He wandered when Legolas and Murtagh would come and bust him out and hoped that they did not get caught. But Eragon reassured himself they were both exceptionally good fighters, and Legolas had magic at his aid if he needed it, though the Elf still preferred to fight the old fashioned way.
He felt as though he had been waiting forever. His stomach rumbled but he ignored it, then he felt it. The magic was there. He could reach it!
He was still not able to command all of it in his weakened state, just enough to unlock the cell door. He slipped out into the hallway, looking about cautiously. First he had to find Zar'roc, perhaps he would run into Legolas and Murtagh along the way. He just hoped he would not run into anyone unwelcome. And the She-Elf, he had to find her, help her to escape.
Then he smacked his forehead. Saphira! He had to contact her. he called out to her, telling her quickly he was out of his cell and about to find Zar'roc and the She-Elf.
'Wait for Legolas and Murtagh, they are on their ay. Do not do anything. I am flying over Gil'ead with Gimli,' said Saphira.
Then Eragon heard footsteps. Six soldiers now stood before him. They looked at him for a split second, and then charged.
Eragon was weak, but the thought of the She-Elf gave him strength, and with that strength came power.
He called forth the magic and raised his hand so the gedwëy ignasia glowed in the dimly lit passageway. As Eragon began to say the words, an arrow whizzed past him into the neck of the leading soldier. Another followed that to find its mark on the man just behind.
The soldiers remaining stopped to look at the new threat. Eragon turned to see two tall cloaked figures. He did not recognise them though.
"Surrender, you are out numbered!" shouted one of the guards, his voice quaking slightly. "Throw down your weapons!"
The figured looked to each other then back to the soldiers.
"I said drop your weapons and surrender! I will call for reinforcements!" he charged at the two figures, sword raised. But he never came to clash with them and he fell, an arrow protruding from his neck.
The two figures stepped forward and light form a nearby torch fell on their bearded faces. "There, that evens it out," said one of them. I think it best if you three surrender now."
"Slytha!" the other called and the three men's eyes rolled into the back of their heads and they fell down.
"Are you all right?" one of them said, and it was then that Eragon realised who it was.
"Yes Murtagh," Eragon replied as the young man pulled down the fake beard he had donned. Then Eragon looked to the other cloaked being. "Legolas? Is that you?" he had to bite his tongue to stop himself from laughing.
The Elf pulled off the fake beard to reveal his fresh beardless face. "Yes," he said irritably. "Never speak of this, especially not to Gimli or I will have no choice but to kill you," Legolas threatened thoroughly serious.
"You have no idea what I went through to get him to put this thing on," Murtagh laughed, receiving a sharp nudge form Legolas. "But we had to come in disguise.
Eragon straightened out his features and composed himself, saying more seriously, "The Elf, you know Legolas, the one from my dreams? Well she's here in this prison. I've seen her, we have to go and get her, she doesn't look to be in a very good way."
Murtagh nodded producing a ring of keys from under his cloak. "I stole there from a guard, which cell is it?"
"I'm not sire, it's up here somewhere, just look and see if you can find her!" said Eragon.
"Very well, but we must hurry. We need to get to the next floor, our escape rout is there," said Murtagh.
They hurried off in the direction Eragon had indicated, checking cells as they went, glancing in through the barred panel in the door.
"Thus is the one!" Eragon called. Murtagh fumbled to find the right key and jammed it into the cell door. It clicked and he flung it open. Eragon rushed inside and stopped suddenly.
The She-Elf stood fair and proud, drenched in the moonlight that shimmered in through the window. Murtagh and Legolas entered just behind him, her eyes went from Eragon, to Murtagh before fixing on Legolas who inclined his head in respect for to him it seemed she had a queenly demeanour about her. she held his gaze for a few seconds, then collapsed onto the floor.
A/N Lalalala. I get to have some fun, mwhaha! You know a lot of you guys asked me about the Legolas/Arya thing? Well soon all shall be revealed! I am so looking forward to what's coming next!
Reviewers
Moonyasha- Thanks, but being sick totally sucks! Merry Christmas!
dragon-miko- Yup, I have seen the Eldest cover on Shur'tugal. It's good, but I have to say, I personally prefer the one on Eragon on Saphira. It's so cool though! I think that Eldest is set for something like August next year or something.
SageWriting- Yay! Thank you. ROTK EE DVD came out 14th December, so it's out now. Go get it, it's FANTASTIC!!!
Zammy- Thanks.
The Writing Bee- Thanks, glad you liked that little bit in Gil'ead with Dormnad, I wanted to see that part in the book, so I made my version up instead!
Xiad Rusco- Well I wish it could be Christmas everyday! Lol, couldn't resist!
Freakypersononsugarhigh- Thank you so much!
Lestatlover1784- Heya! Yup, you got the title of 200th reviewer, bear it with pride! Lol. Hehehe, imbeciles, I like that word! You want some new fics to read? There are tons of brilliant ones on here, erm… you could check out my faves list, they are all (in my opinion) brilliant! Some are funny, some are angst, but they're all good! Lol. Email you later!
Tim, Digidestined of Loyalty- Thanks. I know, a whole year of writing this! Never thought I'd get this far. Oh well, still going and I'm glad you like this! Merry Christmas!
TrekieGreenieShannaraElfOfME- Erm… I do not know! Yeah, tell me when you remember.
Belegboy- I've looked for it, but I haven't seen it. Arrg, they better have it over here! I need to know what happens in the next chapter! Yeah, Beleg was the Elf who was friends with Túrin and went looking for him when he ran away. He found him with the Dwarf Mim and the men he was now commanding. There was a fight with orcs (I can't remember exactly) or something and Túrin was captured. Beleg went looking for him, found him, tried to set him free, Túrin mistook him for an orc and killed Beleg with his own sword. When he realised it was Beleg he was too late and buried him with his bow. Right? Hehehe, I love the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.
Ok people, I don't know whether there will be an update before Christmas; I hope I will be able to but I'm making no promises. So if I don't update until then:
!MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Mereth Veren e-Doled Eruion
Sidh ed
Lolly pop