Hello everyone
We hit a huge milestone in the story! 100 Follows! Whoop.
Here's another chapter, as always there is an authors note at the bottom
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"State your business." The imperial soldier guarding the front gate of Teirm barked out barely sparing me a glance.
"Traveling merchant delivering this beauty to a client. He paid quite a sum for it you see it's meant to mimic the design…" I started patting my warhammer displayed for everyone to see.
"Yes, yes go on in." He stated as I took on a rambling tone of voice, obviously used to listening to many travelers stories everyday.
"Thank you sir." I stated as I rode past him in the direction of Jeod's house, while also rolling the hammer in a blanket to conceal its presence, no reason to give anyone the chance to ask anymore questions about it.
I was the last to enter the city, no doubt everyone had already arrived at their destination. Brom and Eragon went together in the morning. Arya, Faolin, and Vanir went in a little after them and used magic to completely rearrange their appearances. I went as the cover of a traveling merchant delivering a specially designed warhammer for a client who liked to collect such things. As expected, it was extremely easy to infiltrate the city, the guards didn't even want to find whoever the king was looking for. No doubt they wanted an easy life and being on the kings payroll suited them just fine.
As I strolled through the city I noticed that not much has changed, if you ignore the staggering amount of soldiers that seemed to patrol the streets. All of them wore Galbatorix's seal on their front, a flickering flame with a gold trim, simple but powerful. He's recruiting already. All the signs pointed towards one direction, war.
Finally arriving at Jeod's, I tied Cadoc off to the post where three other horses were tied to, all of them drinking from the trough and eating oats from the buckets hanging in front of them. The other two must have been around back to avoid suspicion. I reached out and let Brom know that I had arrived.
The door opened soon after while I finished gathering all of my things in my hands and Helen greeted me. "Hello stranger, come inside, everyone is gathered in the sitting area."
She seems happier. I thought. She seemed to look me up and down, taking in my change of appearance from the first time she saw me, a faint blush on her cheeks.
Jeod took your advice and gave her more responsibilities in the company. Claims it even improved their sex life. I snorted at the response Brom supplied through our link.
"What is it?" Helen said hearing me.
"Just remembering a joke." I replied just as we stepped into the main area of the house. Jeod's servant took my things and escorted them upstairs.
"Hello everyone! Any trouble getting in?" I asked as I approached the group.
"None, the guards were lax in their duties." Faolin responded.
I nodded agreeing with the assessment. "Good, How is Saphira handling it Eragon?"
"She doesn't like it but understands considering the circumstances." he replied.
"Jeod! It's nice to see you. You look well!" I said truthfully. He seemed to slim up and lost a lot of fat around the face. He looked healthy.
"Yes well considering the circumstances, I knew I had to shape up. You however, have grown, and you've filled out more. What have they been feeding you?" He said jokingly.
"Nothing nearly as well as you will I hope!" I said semi-seriously, I am tired of eating on the run, not enough time to truly cook something.
We continued to exchange pleasantries between all of us and soon enough we were finishing dinner. It turns out that Jeod has had many ships disappear and was coming into tough times, but they had enough money to live comfortably for a while.
Jeod and Brom called all of us to the main area again to talk business.
"Jeod has something to tell all of us" Brom started.
"Well good news first, I have found a crew willing to take us." He said smiling.
"And the bad news?" I asked.
His smile seemed to fade. "They're known to be smugglers, although no one can prove it. They have also been accused of pirating and are just as likely to sell us to the empire as they are to deliver us to Surda. They are also asking for an extremely large sum of money." He finally got out.
"Good. We'll pay any sum, I have more than enough." I said breathing a sigh of relief, truly feeling that way.
Everyone but the elves looked at me as if I was crazy.
"Why is that good?" Eragon asked.
I looked around, surprised that they hadn't figured it out. "Well if you think about it, we asked Jeod to find us a crew that would be able to transport fugitives. The way I see that playing out means that as soon as they found out who we are, or saw Saphira, they try and turn around or worse kick us out at sea. That would force us to take over the ship by less than savory means and turn completely innocent civilians into traitors against Galbatorix, ruining their lives."
I paused as I let them digest the information. When they all had looks of recognition on their faces I continued. "I was fully prepared to do this also, that is why I am relieved. Now I will only have to force known criminals to deliver us if it goes bad."
Everyone but the elves and Shadowcat seemed to look at me in a different light when I let that last piece of information be known, especially Eragon. He vocalized it next. "You would have done that? They are innocent!"
"Of course, we have to get to the Varden, by any means necessary. The coming conflict is bigger than any of us, it will decide the fate of too many people, of all races." I finished.
No one spoke for a moment. Then Jeod continued. "Yes well, now we won't have to worry about that now I suppose. They will be back in a weeks time."
The next week went by slowly, agonizingly slowly. I got more and more paranoid as the days drug on, but it was unfounded. Eragon managed to meet Angela and Solembum and get his future told, he also mentioned something Solembum told him but for the life of me I could never remember the phrases. Shadowcat trailed him that day and went to see her son also, she told me how she tortured him and gave him a bath while berating him on letting his coat get so ugly. She said he acted like a foolish youngling. It makes me laugh every time I think about it.
True enough, on the seventh day after we arrived in the city, Jeod got a messenger from the docks. He and Brom would go down and deliver half the payment, which took us quite a while to collect from the ground, and talk about when they would be ready.
They returned 3 hours later.
"Right, the captain, Fin, and I have come to terms. We are to meet them at the docks tonight, with all of our belongings, the horse won't do well with such a trip. We paid them enough to drop the rest of their cargo here to make the journey faster. I recommend resting before we leave. Jeod has decided to stay." Brom finished.
I was not surprised. "Yes, I will stay here. I help the Varden more than hardly any other merchant with my deliveries and while they have been getting harassed lately, I am too valuable where I am at." Jeod supplied after a second.
"No need to lie, I know Helen won't allow you to come." I said which got a few laughs out of everyone and lightening the mood.
Six hours later and we were fully packed, and I had said my goodbyes to Cadoc, gifting him to Jeod and telling him to take good care of him or I would castrate him. The elves seemed unworried about the fact, their steeds would be led outside the city and let go where they would make their way back north to Ellesmera, stupid broken elves and their stupid smart horses. I would likely never see Cadoc again but one could hope.
There were many patrols out tonight so we decided to conceal ourselves using magic when we needed to and hide in alleys when it was too risky. It took us another thirty minutes to reach the docs with Brom leading the way to the ship that would take us.
The ship was one of the bigger in the docks, it had a fairly wide deck and looked to have two lower levels, I was impressed. We met the captain Fin and true to his word, his crew was ready to load us and transport us.
I was fully alert and looking around making sure no patrols noticed what was happening. I had a sneaking suspicion that they were paid off because none came our way the whole time. The docks were actually empty of most people.
I heard it just as everyone loaded onto the ships, the sound of boots marching. I immediately turned towards Fin and drew my dagger. Grabbing him before he could react I held it to his neck. "Wait! I didn't tell them anything I promise."
I searched his mind for the truth finding it completely unguarded and discovered he was indeed telling the truth. "He is telling the truth." I said to my party.
I let him go. "We are leaving you useless sons of whores! Lets go!" he yelled to his crew laughing the whole time. Laughter resounded on the deck as they set to work.
In an extremely efficient display of teamwork, we were pulling away from the docks before the soldiers came into view. As we continued to get farther and farther away I saw a figure on a horse appear at the top of the docks looking down on to us. It was the second Ra'zac and I swore we made eye contact from 500 yards away. Nothing was said but we both understood that our next meeting, one of us would die.
Luckily no one got sea sickness, even Shadowcat seemed fine and I was kind of hoping to see her flustered for once.
3 hours into the voyage Saphira decided to make her appearance. It was hilarious seeing grown men scream like little girls as the dragon but after introductions were made, they marveled at her.
So after that we decided that brutal honesty was the best way to go, the elves dropped their disguises and took off their cloaks and we told them the truth. Fin was shocked at first but after talking it over with his crew, they decided that it really didn't matter to them who their passengers were, either way they were fucked.
They were already basically pirates and smugglers, now they just got to charge an outrageous amount for it. They raised the price to double the amount originally agreed upon and I told them we would pay triple. This on top of the fact that we also told them that if we won, they would be pardoned for any crime they might or might not have done convinced them.
The days passed into weeks and the weeks passed into a month. Most of the time Brom and Eragon could be found on an isolated part of the ship practicing magic, learning the Ancient Language, or sparring. It was exceedingly difficult to spar on a ship so it was only done when the waters were flat and the ship wasn't rocking. Because of the difficulty it actually benefited us a great deal, improving our footwork and making us more surefooted.
The elves and I got bored most of the time so we decided to help around the ship a lot, I learned a lot about how it worked and how important everyone job is on the ship. We rolled dice with the crew and engaged in just about everything that pirates did, boredom was avoided at all costs. Unless your name was Shadowcat, she just slept through the whole thing.
Saphira would spend most of the day flying and diving in and out of the water and playing, she loved the sea. It was a sight to behold when she came from under the depths and launched into the air a brilliant sparkle of blue reflected the sun's rays. She was truly marvelous to watch. The fish diet didn't seem to affect her either, she was still growing by the day and seemed to have doubled in size since we first departed from Carvahall.
Then finally, Faolin and Arya stopped avoiding showing their affection for each other in public and I got to see the real side of both of them. Apparently they had been together for a couple of months already and were steadily growing closer. They seemed to laugh and smile more which in turn brought made Vanir join in. I noticed Eragon sulked a little more when he realized the fact that she was taken. Poor kid.
Vanir and I grew closer, he seemed dead set on trying anything and everything human, so he gambled with us, developed a taste for english swear words, and even drank rum until he was puking over the side. Luckily there were no human women that he could woo into his bed on the ship or I'm sure he would do that too.
Another thing Brom and I did was gather all the extra clothes that we had and made a saddle for Eragon and Saphira. We did it with the help of magic because we had to make some more leather to finish it but in the end they could enjoy flights during the day on his off days. It was truly a sight to behold.
I was truly envious of the two. The views they must get to see from the sky. I thought.
We finished it the same day that we caught sight of the Boar's eye, a massive maelstrom off the coasts of Bierland and the surrounding Islands. Fin decided very quickly that we would travel around the islands before turning back east and going to surda. His reasoning is that it would throw off the empire if they decided to pursue from Aroughs.
I wasn't one of those fans that thought they would get the opportunity to have a dragon hatch for them. I knew for who they would hatch and I was determined to see it happen for them. That line of thought made me wonder what Murtagh was doing, and if he was ok. I doubt we will get to meet him, unless it's on opposite sides of the war.
I had long since realized that I could not save everyone, only help where I could, and leave the rest to any deities that might exist.
Luckily the empire decided not to send any ships at all which I found quite odd and disturbing also. Maybe Galbatorix was letting us go to the Varden? Maybe he wants to capture Eragon and destroy the varden in one fell swoop? I wasn't sure but it worried me.
"Land ho!" Someone from the crew screamed out as he caught a glimpse of the coast. We knew that it was coming soon because of the increasing sightings of other ships coming and going from the port.
A chorus of screams resounded across the deck as everyone raced to the edge to confirm and surely enough there was land.
Fucking finally! I thought.
"Captain Fin! Your payment as agreed. It has been a pleasure." I said handing over the bags of coin.
"Aye. If you ever need anything else Roran I would love to do business with you!" He said as his arms dropped from the weight of the gold. He turned around and went back to the ship, no doubt to resupply, we drank a lot of Rum over the past month.
I eventually found the others purchasing mounts for seven of us but Eragon would be riding on Saphira for most of the trip, only coming down to get practice in the ancient language. He had mastered the basics of magic, all that was left was to survive the coming battle and send him off to Oromis so he could become the man he was meant to be. We would begin sparring with him at night during the trip also to advance his swordsmanship also.
I wish we could have stayed a few nights in Surda to see the sights but unfortunately we could not risk any more time, we had to reach the Varden soon to help prepare for the attack. So we set off without any delay and rode for about six hours before setting up camp.
"Remind me why we couldn't stay and rest before riding again?" Eragon said as we all dismounted.
"Surda and the Empire are notorious for having spies in important places. We couldn't risk being found out, that and we need to reach the Varden soon." I told him in response while feeling the same way.
"I don't under….."
Suddenly I felt something hit me in my left shoulder with enough force to knock me to the ground. And then the pain started, it was extremely intense. I looked down to see an arrowhead sticking out of my chest right below the collarbone, it was barbed. How did it get through my wards?
Ignoring that fact and getting up, I looked around to see that I was the only one that was hit but everyone else was set upon by urgals. Luckily I seemed to have gotten the worst of the ambush and everyone was dealing with their opponents quickly. Suddenly a roar could be heard in the sky and it was met with a piercing shriek, I felt panic.
"Ra'zac!" I yelled as I broke the arrow off and pulled the shaft out. Concentrating I muttered a diagnostic spell and took cover behind a tree, knowing I would be a liability until I fixed the damage. Poison. This is what they tortured Garrow with in the books.
I quickly muttered the healing spell and concentrated my will on accelerating the rate in which everything sewed up and healed. It took a fair amount of energy in my necklace but not enough to be a hindrance in the future. With that finished, I drew my dagger and ran back out into the fighting and saw bodies falling.
There were ten dead urgals and four kull engaging the elves and Brom. They seemed to be intentionally isolating Eragon and I because the Ra'zac took that opportunity to jump into the fight and engaged us in combat. I could immediately tell that it was out for blood, it didn't care for the others because they didn't kill its brother, it wanted us two and Saphira, who was in a life or death battle in the skies with the lethrblaka.
I wanted to reach out to the others but couldn't because of the concentration it was taking to defend myself and cover for Eragon in the fight. Eventually I could tell he wasn't ready because he kept making more and more mistakes leading to cuts and bruised over both of us. Go get your bow and go for a killing shot! I screamed at Eragon mainly to get him out of my way.
As he turned and ran to his horse the Ra'zac gave chase and I intercepted him before he could get any further. He chose a different tactic than engaging me in swordplay like last time and decided to try and tackle me. He succeeded and we went tumbling with him winding up under me, both of us were unarmed so he decided to use his next best option. Wrong decision.
His beak snaked forward towards my head and I just moved my head to the side as the sharp beak pierced right into the same red wound I just got done healing. "Ahhhh" I cried out as I felt it reopen. My left hand grabbed the beak ripped it out and held on for dear life as I rolled us around and my right arm snaked around his windpipe. I sat behind his body, wrapped my legs around his center and pulled.
He continued to struggle for a long time and could somehow still breath so I rearranged my arms, I grabbed his right shoulder with my left hand and his jaw with my right and with a roar I twisted.
SNAP!
The body beneath me dropped to the ground completely limp as I continued to roar and the crunch of bone breaking rang out through the field. A shriek pierced the air again in response and I looked around to see two kull sprinting towards me, suddenly both were pierced by an arrow, and then they fell. Seeing no more enemies my thoughts went to Saphira and I looked up to search for her.
I found her and the lethrblaka in a clash. It detatched itself from the clash with Saphira and looked in my direction, no doubt searching for its offspring. Saphira took the opportunity and her head snaked forward grabbing the beast by the neck and plummeted. As the fell through the sky a shriek that would have incapacitated lesser men pierced the air. Then in a cloud of smoke and the crack of bone rang through.
When the smoke cleared Saphira could be seen standing on top of her foe. She shook her head to make sure the bastard was dead and after her confirmation, raised her head high and roared in triumph.
My body took the opportunity to react to the injuries sustained and I promptly passed out.
A/N: Whooo! Another ambush, another fight scene.
Don't worry everyone, this story will slow down soon. I thought that a sense of urgency is needed to match the mindset of Roran and the others.
I do think that I missed some opportunities to do some character building in some of the characters but at the end of the day, I'm happy with this outcome.
Review and lets talk about it.