I do not own the Inheritance Cycle.
Edited 1/30/22 - all chapters are getting a overhaul. Things might not match until this process is complete
Enjoy,
Journey
Part 3
That night passed painfully slow.
It seemed that the darkness itself were creeping through the small woodlands, and into a dimly lit cave, hungrily carving to extinguish the feeble light that brightened its dark corners. Selena firmly believed that it would go on forever; that daybreak would never come.
There had been little for them to do but wait that night, and the wait was if anything worse than the battle that was about to take place. She wished that the Ra'zac would attack just to end the forbidding silence that had descended on her and Brom. There didn't, in truth, seem to be anything to say. Their situation was clear: they were trapped by a formidable foe, who had powers that they did not fully understand.
She had been heard once long ago, in some place she didn't reminder that the Ra'zac draw their strange powers from the darkness and their targets' fears and that they fed off both of these things, though she did not know if these were true or if they were simply rumors, spread across the lands to scare off the King's enemies. She wondered if they would do that them now.
Pulling the blanket tighter around her body, she reached out her mind again, mindful of the dangers out there. She wasn't looking for the touch of their minds, she found out the dangers of doing such things many years ago, but for the sounds they made. She could still hear them out there in the same place they had been throughout the night. They hadn't moved.
Though Selena could not say that she did feel nervous about the Ra'zac being there, she had thought that they would have come for her much sooner, and an icy appetence had overtook her. For the majority of that night it had stayed there until it was melted by a flaming thought.
In a way she was glad that the Ra'zac had come after her. Her heart ached with the burning vengeance to make the beasts pay for pain they inflicted upon her brother and son. And though she had said that vengeance was not the answer to grief, it would be a favor to the world to kill the Ra'zac, to insure they cause no more pain, no more fear, no more suffering. And, a small part of her agreed, the simple act of repaying them for what they've done would feel so very good.
She shook herself, and looked into the fire. She could not afford such thoughts in times like this. Her mission now was to get the dragon egg safely to the Varden; far too many people had helped her get this far for her to fail because the Ra'zac. Gritting her teeth, she looked at the corner where she had placed the dragon egg, snuggly hidden within the enchanted bag. It was safe there.
Let them try, Selena decided. Let those murderers try to take the egg from her, and should they it would merely be her excuse to do them what they did to her brother.
With a frown she turned to Brom. After a moment he looked back at her grimly and then slowly stood up. He said nothing as he threw in the last of the logs into the fire, building it up so the flames leaped high. It was unbearably hot.
Then Brom cleared his throat. "I think that they're waiting for us to do something," he said slowly, his voice echoing off the stony walls. "For what, I do not know. We've waited them out for quite some time to see if they would make their move but now that it's nearing morning I have a feeling they may not continue on in this way. "
She nodded in agreement, folding the blanket and placing it into her bags. They had very few more hours left of night; she felt as Brom that if they were going to attack it would be very, very soon. "They are either waiting for us to come out or they know not that we are waiting for them as well."
"Both, I would think." Brom leaned back against the rocky wall. "Which means we have to figure what to do."
Selena shifted with a sigh. "What can we do? Remaining here in hiding will force them in and we shall have very little room to fight them off, and should we come out we know they will attack. It leaves us with little advantage."
Selena looked at Brom meaningfully, and he slowly shook his head. "I know," he said, his eyebrows drawn together. "They've done a mighty fine job trapping us. Until now there is little we can do now except to wait and see but I believe it is time to draw them out."
"Let the hunters become the hunted?" She smiled lightly, and shook her head. "That's a stupid plan," she said. "They'll turn whatever or whoever we send into a breathing quiver, at best."
"What else do you suggest we do then?" he grumbled in a steely voice. "Stay here and wait from them to attack or for us to eventually die from starvation?"
"Don't start this ridiculousness," said Selena, "we'll likely run out of water then we will food." She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him, fighting back a yawn. "You cannot jump into this rashly, Brom. You'll get us both killed if you do. We need to think this through."
"It's been a long night. I've had plenty of time to think over it," he grumbled lowly. "We just need to smart about it."
Selena swept her hair back from her face and tied it back with a length of cloth. "That should not be too hard, we're smarter than they are," she said softly. "Had we been the ones ambushing we would not make so much careless noise. They're confident that they can take us."
"Aye, they are, but be careful when they attack," Brom said, "and I'm fairly certain they will. When they do remember that they are stronger and faster than we are, and watch out for their breath at all costs. Your mental spells won't work against them, they have shields on their minds, and they have some sort of armor on their body." He paused and looked down at his sword. "Their blades are probably poisoned."
"Of course they are."
"Galbatorix had probably set some sort of wards around them, too," he continued to warn. "Stay as close to the fire as you can, they don't like bright lights. That won't stop them from coming for us though."
Selena looked at the blinding fire with sudden realization and smiled. "What else?"
Brom looked at her and for a moment firmly held her gaze. "Stay alive," he said gravely.
"I can take quite a liking to that plan," she said and then paused. Her smile fell and a deep frown replaced it. "It sounds as if you have had a run in with them before."
Brom nodded, and stood up, well, he stood up as best as he could with the low ceiling of the overhang. "I have."
"What happened?"
He didn't move but stared ahead in silence as he tried to listen. His face was hard and unreadable, his sword held firmly at his side. His eyes were closed.
Poking at a long branch that stuck out from the fire, she frowned. "Brom?" she said.
"Hmm?" he replied not moving in the least.
"What happened when you ran into them?"
Brom huffed and leaned against the stony shelf wall. "They caught me off guard," he said. "It was just before Garrow died, not long after they had arrived in Carvahall. I was trying to find out why they had come to Carvahall. At first I thought that Galbatorix had found out where I was hiding and had come repay me for all the trouble I've caused." He shook his head and opened his eyes slowly, almost lazily, then looked at ground as if studying it. "They had come after Eragon, or Saphira's egg is what I should say. So, I was sneaking around and they caught me off guard and attacked me. Neediness to say I thought I could handle them and keep them away from Eragon, but they were stronger than I was. I should have known better."
Selena narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head. "And you call me conceited."
"That's because you are," Brom said with a small shake of his head. He stood up and began to shuffle through the bags, apparently looking for something of use.
"What do you think the chances are of them just simply leaving?" she asked after a time of watching him.
"Not likely at all."
She sighed, and looked down at her hands. "That was perhaps hoping for too much," she said. "What do you have in mind?"
"Nothing of much use." He looked out into the night with a frown. "I have a vague plan, but you're not going to like it."
"If it is one of your ideas we both know I shan't enjoy the outcome," said Selena rather seriously. She looked at him with a frown and then sighed; she could tell what he planning. "Don't you dare try to tell me that your plan is to go out there-"
"Selena," Brom began softly.
"And play the part of the hero," she said, narrowing her eyes at him. "Heroes do not return."
"Do you have any other ideas?" he grumbled, his head falling into his hands. "If you do I'd love to hear them."
There was a short, charged silence. Selena didn't look at him as she stared out the small opening. "This hangover is low enough to protect us fairly well from their arrows," she said after a moment, "but I can shoot my arrows out. You said they do not like light, and we have a fire or the ability to magic a fire. We could use that and the fatty oil we have to set up a raging fire outside. It's worked for me before, though not with the Ra'zac but it's an option that does not involve you being an escape goat."
Brom sighed forcibly, and looked out of the opening. He was quiet for a long time.
Selena turned away and watched the light throw harsh fractures of shadow across the stone wall. As she watched her mind began to wander; hadn't she been told once that she would had she would die should she ever be ambushed? That it was humoring how horribly she fought when surprised, when it was normally her doing the ambushing?
Morzan had gotten quite a laugh out of it, once, long ago. Even as she grew under Morzan, he told her of her culpabilities more and more often, as if he took some sort pleasure from watching her face fall and her struggle as she tried to correct it. While she was working for him she worked hard at strengthening herself, and though it was for a different reason she continued to do so even after she escaped his control.
Selena knew what he would say all those years ago, had he been alive when she had been ambushed on her journey back from Carvahall, and the mere thought made her grit her teeth. She didn't even want to think about what he would have said if he knew what had happened at Spine Pass and the events afterward. It was ridiculous that she had thought of them so often; normally she could push such thoughts away but these hung heavily in the back of her mind. She had been thinking of Morzan too much lately, it seemed. She wondered what started it; why she was thinking about a man she had worked so hard to forget.
"Can you hit that died brushweed?" Brom said suddenly, startling her.
Selena blinked and took a deep breath, before looking out where he pointing. She could see nothing but shadows in the darkness. "Where? All I see is shadows," she said. "Your eyesight is better than mine, remember?"
"Just straight ahead."
Selena blinked into the darkness. "Oh, I shoot straight no problem," she muttered lowly. "Where is straight ahead exactly, Brom? You're going to have be a little more detailed than that."
Brom sighed, and pointed out into the darkness. "Aim there," he said and as notched an arrow battered in fat he gave her further instructions. Selena pulled back and said a silent prayer to the gods before she released the arrow into the night, and then released a spell.
