After a short while, the ship brought up anchor, and they began their seven day journey down the coast to the island of Illium, where it was rumored that Galbatorix was training half men-half beast soldiers, and spared no expense for slaves that the soldiers would hunt and massacre. When Graden heard this, he knew now was the time to get out of there. The next night, Graden put his plan into action. After the guard came and checked to see they were all asleep, which Graden feigned, he slipped his boot off and unsheathed the dagger. He picked it up and carefully sliced the rope binding his hands and slipped them off. Each rope was sliced off of the wrists of every person in the cargo hold and everyone sat still in their beds for the guard to come back. One guard came down every thirty minutes to make sure they were all behaving. For the guards, once every thirty minutes was too often, for their slaves were bound by the hands, so what could they do?

A simple step ladder led down from the upper deck, and Graden stood in the shadows behind it. It seemed like hours until the next guard came to check on the slaves, but the guard started stepping down the ladder. When the guard's right foot came down, Graden put his hand near it, and when it started moving, he snatched it, and the owner grunted, stumbled, and crashed noisily to the ground. Immediately, the guard was rushed by half a dozen slaves, particularly one large, muscle-bound blonde fellow who grabbed the guard by the head and put his hand over his mouth. The guard tried screaming for help, but the brute's hand greatly muffled the cries. In desperation, the guard bit down hardly on the man's hand, who grunted in pain. The man moved the guard's head under his right armpit, wrapped his right arm around the guard's neck, put his left hand on his chest, and snapped the guard's head back. The guard's arms and legs stopped flailing as his neck made a sickening crunch as the vertebrae were crushed.

"Name's Bründ mate," the burly man whispered, offering a hand to Graden.

"Graden," he replied, shaking Bründ's hand hesitantly.

Bründ took the sword from the dead guard, and someone else took his knife. The slaves sent forward their smallest member. The boy was young, maybe fourteen years old, and thin, as well as awkward, a very lanky person. They gave him the knife, told him to distract the other guards. Their whole plan included taking over the entire ship. The boy took off his shoes, and they bade him good luck. Soon after the boy took off upstairs, they heard frantic voices and feet scrambling. Numerous shadows passed the trapdoor, and the group made their way up, with Bründ in the front.

"Get back with the rest," a voice said.

"Grab him, he's just a boy."

"OW! SHIT! He's got a knife."

They crept closer and closer, the voices louder and louder.

"Where's the new guy?"

"The boy must've killed him. An aggressive slave is worth next to nothing. Cut his throat and toss him over the side."

They heard frantic crashes and scrambling, tables being knocked over and panicked voices. Graden couldn't take it anymore, he did not want a boy that young dying. He shoved up right behind Bründ and whispered to him to hasten to the boy. Bründ nodded, and went towards the voices at a brisk trot. They came to a stop at an open doorway, where Bründ peeked over the edge of the doorframe and readied himself with the sword.

Bründ rushed in quietly with Graden right on his heels. There were half a dozen guards gathered around a single spot. By the time the guards realized that Bründ was behind them, he had the sword back, ready for a full swing. Before the man that saw him could alert the others, Bründ swung the sword with all of his might. The attentive guard rolled under the blade, but the five other guards felt Bründ's wrath as the first four unarmored men were severed at the waist. Since the sword was swung at a downward angle, the blade was stopped halfway through the guard's pelvis. The sword was wrenched from Bründ's hands as the guard's body fell twitching to the ground.

The live guard looked disbelievingly at what was happening and removed his sword from its scabbard, preparing to cut Bründ down. Graden acted on instinct by ripping his dagger from its sheath and sent it spinning at the guard. Before the guard could react, the dagger flew past his sword and into his left eye. The guard screamed, dropping his sword and tried to pull the blade out. When his hand touched the handle, he screamed even louder, becoming more frantic as thick fluid flowed from his eye socket. Bründ picked up the sword, pinned the screaming guard to the wall, and thrust the metal blade through the man's heart, which immediately ceased to beat as it was split in two.

"What's goin' on down 'ere?" an unfamiliar voice said from above. Bründ scrambled to pick up a sword, and stood next to the door, back up against the wall. A chubby man came limping around the corner. He stopped when he saw all of the slaves out and about, and started hopping back towards the door, as he only had one leg and used a crutch. Bründ had slipped behind and cut off the man's retreat.

"Good sirs," the man said nervously, "I don't want no trouble."

"I don't trust this character," someone whispered into Graden's ear, "We should put him out of his misery before he tries anything."

"He hasn't done anything to earn our distrust," Graden replied, "I know what we'll do." Graden walked to the front of the group to address the man directly.

"Sir, I haven't done nothin' fer y'all to kill me so please…I beg you," the man pleaded.

"Crippled man, you will take this ship to land once you return to the bridge and you will leave us and not look back while the ship is in sight or I will kill you myself. Nor will you tell anyone we have the ship, for if anyone comes after us, you will be hunted down and killed have I made myself clear?"

"Yessir kind sir, you are most merciful good sir-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever… Bründ, escort him back to the bridge and keep an eye on him."

"T'will be done. Let's go filth," Bründ said following the one-legged man up the stairs.

Seven of the former slaves helped out in taking weapons form the corpses and unceremoniously throwing the pieces over the sides of the ship. Unfortunately, the fourteen year old boy they sent as a distraction had his belly slashed open multiple times, the skin around his abdomen cut to ribbons, and his entrails were spilling out onto the planks. They wrapped him in a sheet taken from the guards' barracks, held a brief sending, and tipped his body into the sea.