GUYS I'M SO SORRY!

I've been on vacation and I was under the impression that I would have at least some service to login and post the chapter but I was obviously wrong.

This is my bad!

We cracked 4k words this chapter! Don't forget the authors note at the bottom!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

I woke up in a bed for the first time in what felt like forever, it was absolute heaven. Eventually I had to get up and get prepared for the day. I had the option to go bathe in the bathhouses but I really didn't feel like being surrounded by naked men and dwarves. So instead, I opted for muttering my morning spell, and also trimming my hair and beard with an alternate spell. I didn't change the style at all, just trimmed up some areas.

Eventually I got dressed and strapped my dagger across my lower back and started walking. Naturally, I had no idea where anything was but I was determined to figure it out, eventually I had to ask some of the natives to point me in the direction of the training grounds.

I finally arrived and noticed that there were actually a lot of people there, way more than was common in Ellesmera. I also noticed that there was absolutely no order to the way in which they fought, everything was hacking and slashing away at each other.

This led me to why I was there in the first place. I had no idea how the armies of this world fought. I actually thought there would be marching, shield walls, and cohesion in the units but I could tell that discipline was a foreign word in this army. That will have to change. Along with Du Gata Vrangr. So much to do, might as well start somewhere.

I turned around as I finished my assessment of the army, not needing to see anything else. Someone must have noticed me this morning because a messenger boy approached me.

"I'm to escort you to Ajihad, my lord."

My lord? What are we in Game of Thrones. "Roran is fine, lead the way."

And so he did, along the way I discovered that he was thirteen years of age, his father was killed in a raid on the empire some time back. He was helping to support his mother raise him and his two younger brothers.

Once we made the same chambers as yesterday, I made sure to drop a few coins in his hand, enough to feed them for a month or so. He thanked me profusely and cradled them to his chest.

"We have been waiting for quite some time, Roran." Brom told me as I walked in the room, everyone was present, along with a few more important looking people. There were also twelve extra elves in the chamber.

Why are they so late? I thought they would make it before us. I thought to myself. Soon enough I felt Blodhgarm's mind join mine.

Islanzadi sends her apologies, politics got in the way of us departing. He sent my way, I ignored him in favor of replying to Ajihad.

"Apologies, I wanted to check something on the way here." He gave me an inquisitive look but did not respond.

Introductions were made and I was introduced to four other people present. All of them were on the council, the only important one being Jormundur, commander of the Varden forces.

I decided to take the time to respond to Blodgarm. Politics? I thought we handled all that?

There were a lot of important people that were not informed of us ambushing the shade. Most notably Gilderian. He responded. It has all been resolved but it delayed us for longer than it should have. Elves don't make decisions fast, nor do they forgive easily.

Well that actually made sense. The important thing is that you are here now. We broke the connection as Ajihad continued speaking.

"Before dawn broke this morning, I was informed by our host, King Hrothgar, that his spies had intercepted urgal scouts and discovered that the shade Durza has an urgal army hidden in the ruins of Orthiad, Ithro Zhada. It is estimated they arrived the past few days, we have no estimation of their numbers yet." There were a string of curses around the table, but no one spoke.

"The king has decided to call upon the clans and prepare for war, we will do the same. It will be announced later today that the women and children will be transported to Surda and should we fall they are to renounce all ties and live peacefully. The war for the fate of Alagaesia is here." Ajihad has been rehearsing.

"You are all dismissed, you will be called upon when I know more." He finished and everyone got up to leave. I spied a dwarf introduce himself and heard something about meeting the king. They soon left together. He'll be fine.

Arya approached me. "He blessed a child this morning, there was a big ruckus about it." She told me.

Fuck, how could I forget about Elva. "Damn, do we know the words he used?" I asked seriously hoping that his knowledge of the ancient language helped him this time.

"No, what's done is done. It is best to leave it alone afterwards, blessings are easily construed." She responded. "He is to be tested in the practice fields tomorrow."

I looked at her strangely. "We know of his abilities.."

"Aye and so does Ajihad, but it is to take place at the training fields in front of everyone." She trailed off.

"They need a hero to rally around, of course, he is to be pranced around like a prize horse." I responded. "It can't be avoided. Who will be doing the testing?"

"Me."

"Good. Don't embarrass him too much." I laughed.

Her melodic laugher carried across the chamber. "No promises." She said as she walked away to join Faolin, they disappeared soon after.

"What will you do?" Vanir asked as he approached.

"There is too little time to do anything but prepare ourselves, we have maybe 4 days before the battle begins. Soon they will ask us to help them in collapsing the tunnels. When the time comes just search for any weaknesses in the rock and exploit them, it won't take that much energy." I answered.

"Excuse me!" A voice called out from behind us as we walked. It was a dwarf, he was barrel chested and had arms that looked to be chiseled out of stone.

"Yes?" I answered.

"I am Orik. King Hrothgar requests your presence, if you agree I am to take you to him."

So this is Orik. "Very well, lead the way. I will see you later Vanir." I responded as he led me through the corridor and out into one of the four main tunnels that divided Tronjheim.

We conversed a little along the way, mainly about construction techniques and the clans. Nothing was revealed that I didn't already know.

Soon we were passing Eragon as he returned from his meeting with the king.

"How did it go?" I asked.

"I am not sure honestly.." He replied a little uncertainly.

"I'm sure you did fine. We'll talk about it later." I told him and continued my journey.

Another 100 steps and I was led through a grand doorway. Sure enough Hrothgar sat upon his throne and looked down at me with his flinty eyes. His hair was braided finely and he was built similar to Orik. Powerful arms connected to a thick chest covered by chainmail. On his head sat an exquisite crown with rubies and diamonds embedded in it. He looked every part of what a king should look like.

I bent slightly at the waste and nodded my head in respect. "King Hrothgar."

"Rise up, I am not your king, no need to bow." He continued after I obeyed. "Roran, is it?"

At my nod he resumed. "You're the one who has gotten Ajihad all worked up. Yes I can see it, you have a warriors eyes, but also shrewd. I assume you know exactly the consequences of your actions yesterday?" He asked after his assessment.

"I do, but I had no choice, they had to be taken care of, it just so happens that it presented a great opportunity to make myself valuable." I responded knowing he could see right through my actions.

"And honest when the occasion calls for it." He muttered to himself.

This is a trial. I thought to myself. I shook the waters a lot yesterday and Ajihad didn't know how to react, so he threw me to the wolves.

"Why?" he asked me eventually and we both knew exactly what he was really asking. Why are you here, what do you hope to accomplish.

"Everything I do, I do to bring about Galbatorix's destruction." I replied as honestly as I could.

His eyes lit up once he heard that, and then darkened when he understood what it could mean. I instantly regretted being so honest to such a dangerous political player.

"Hmmmm you will be one to watch for sure. What about afterwards, assuming we succeed in the coming war?" He said switching topics.

"I'm not sure, settle on a farm somewhere." I told him.

He looked off and seemed to contemplate that statement for a minute. "No, no that won't suit you at all…" He said staring off somewhere above my head.

"No, no it won't." I said softly as I realized that he was correct. I could do too much, improve the lives of people too much with my knowledge on the world. I could never sit back and do nothing. Where that would take me I'm not sure but it wouldn't be on a farm in Carvahall that's for sure.

"You have satiated my curiosity Roran, cousin of Eragon. Go, you have my blessing to return to Tronjheim should you ever have the need in the future." He dismissed.

I hid my shock well as I turned around and left the chamber. I didn't even notice Orik trying to guide me back to my room as I was too lost in my thoughts. Somehow out of that clusterfuck I just gained a powerful ally.

I had no business being in that room, the books did not make him seem so…..dangerous. 'He sees keen into the mind of man' was the understatement of the century.

Then I realized why he may have invited me in the first place. No doubt he had people watching me as soon as I left my room this morning. They would have reported back that I studied the troops for a while before attending the meeting this morning. This on top of the fact that I had ousted a traitor the night before and made a spectacle of it probably led him to think I had some nefarious purpose. He might have even thought me a traitor myself, what better way to get into someone good graces then helping them discover who is betraying them.

It really was a trial.

Now I realize that my honesty helped me more than I know. When I walked in he saw a warrior, not a spy. Someone willing to fight and take advantage of opportunities, not one willing to sell out his family for power. All he had to do was find out my objective. It was a good thing he didn't think I was lying because I don't even want to think about what would have happened if he did.

What a badass. Were my only thoughts as I returned to my room.

I was woken by Shadowcat jumping on my chest. There is a dwarf beating on the door, make it stop.

Grumbling I walked to the door and opened it. The dwarf turned around immediately. Didn't get dressed oops, it's only underwear. Oh right medieval society.

"No need to be embarrassed, what is it?" I started.

"Your presence is being requested, Ajihad sent me."

"Give me a moment."

Soon enough I was dressed and for the first time since I had entered in the mountain, I was carrying my warhammer. We ran through the corridors and soon enough we were joined with the rest of my party.

Ajihad was barking out orders to others before he finally addressed us. "We have reason to believe that they will use the tunnels beneath the city to attack. I need your help."

"What can we do?" Eragon spoke up.

"We have decided that since we cannot close all of them, we will have to live with funneling them into easily defensible positions. Is it possible to collapse the tunnels with magic.

Eragon did not respond so I decided to. "The question isn't if it's possible, it's if it is feasible. The answer would be yes. We can search for weaknesses in the stone and using the least amount of force possible, collapse it."

"Good. Will you do this for me?" He continued at my confirmation. We all nodded at him.

"I cannot use magic, but I would like to help." Murtagh said.

"See me after this. Everyone else, follow these dwarves, they have been briefed on which ones need to fall." He said and turned to Murtagh.

I ignored them as I raced off again. As we ran around I could see everyone arming themselves preparing for the coming battle. Dwarves were fitting humans with chainmail and handing them weapons, most had a shield and sword.

Soon enough I arrived at my first tunnel, there were dwarves chipping away at it with pickaxes but they were making poor progress.

"Everyone back up, I don't know how much will fall." As soon as the were cleared I whispered only one word and let my will do the rest. "Deloi."

Soon enough I found a weak spot and the ceiling fell, covering enough of the tunnel for it to be useless.

We continued for hours, most of our time was spent running around to the tunnels. Soon enough we fell no less than twenty before we finished. With all of us working to take them down, we collapsed every single tunnel the dwarves felt comfortable with. Any more and they feared for the integrity of the city.

After everyone finished there was nothing to do but rest, something I did not do. I spent my time strategizing where our troops would be stationed, and how we would split up the magicians amongst the battle.

The strategy ended up being the same as the books, the entrances to the tunnels would be covered in oil and as soon as the urgals came forward we would light the oil, the archers would begin firing and wouldn't stop until the battle was over. Any that got through would meet our soldiers in melee, unfortunately there would be no order after that, we hoped Durza would be dead by then.

Finally the only thing left was to go armor up. As I was brought to a dwarven smith, he showed me many options. I decided against full plate, instead I had chainmail on that didn't have sleeves, instead vambraces covered my forearms leaving my upper arms bare. A cuirass covered my chest and back. I wore no helm, I couldn't see anything out of any of the options. They thought me insane but they didn't know about my wards anyway. My legs had my normal attire on and greaves over the lower part of my leg.

The cuirass was very plain and in my anxious state before the battle I decided to engrave a basic design of a bald eagle with its wings spread across the front of it, paying homage to my past life. The greaves and vambraces had tribal designs etched across them by the end of it also.

God I am so vain. I couldn't help but think as I waited.

I was woken by Vanir shaking me. "It is time."

I took a look at my surroundings and saw our original party minus Eragon and Saphira, they were with the twelve spellcasters Islanzadi sent to protect him. Even Shadowcat was in her human form being creepy as fuck. Off to the side I even saw Angela and Solembum

We were in the same group as Brom and Murtagh but we were going to be running around a lot. As soon as one tunnel was about to fall we would head over there and take some of the pressure off, Saphira and Eragon would do the same with the spellcasters trailing after them. Brom, Murtagh, Faolin, Glenwing and Arya would protect Ajihad, he also wanted to keep an eye on Murtagh himself.

This battle would also be the first when I would try a new trick, or rather a tactic, something to push me over the edge to truly elite spellcaster status. It was fairly simple actually, while engaging in combat with an enemy, as soon as I, presumably defeat them, I will reach out to their minds in their last dying seconds. This will allow me to grab onto their life energy as they are fading away and either store it in my emerald, or use it to kill the next enemy or the next two enemies.

A simple concept yes? Except I would do it over the span of an entire battle. The amount of focus that it will require will be...well difficult would be underselling it. Now I didn't expect to succeed every time I did it but it seemed like such a waste to just let the universe drift off into the universe unused. Eventually I drew into myself to prepare myself mentally for what was to come.

We were all standing with all the soldiers at the ready when we heard the first noise, the warband howled as they ran through the tunnels. It had an affect on our troops but none fled.

Eventually they came into view and the next thing I knew the tunnels and bodies caught flame. From where I was standing I couldn't smell them burning and was immediately grateful. Eventually the flames died out and the urgals charged out again. The archers immediately started firing and the enemy's ranks were thinned considerably. Then the melee began and our troops were holding their own.

The constant hail of arrows meant that our boys only had to deal with a small amount of urgals but even then the pikemen at the front of the vanguard was overrun. Vanir and I set off with the spellcasters immediately and reached the battle the same time Saphria and Eragon landed and joined in the melee. I stayed a fair amount of distance from the distance so that I wasn't mistaken as a foe and went to work.

My hammer sung as I dodged the swing of a Kull and crushed his skull with the flat of my hammer. I didn't have the time to reach out and capture his energy before he faded. The next one to fall never saw me, and another try at capturing energy escaped me.

Vanir was a whirlwind of death and activity as bodies fell around him. Murtagh raced over on his horse and picked Eragon up off the ground. They rode over to where saphira was getting surrounded, I joined them.

Our initial charge allowed for her and Eragon to escape to the skies and they began circling around the battlefield. After we finished off the group I reached my mind out to Brom. Where to? I asked still fighting.

Another two urgals fell to my hammer before he responded. Hrothgar is being overrun, Saphira and Eragon are on the way.

Vanir and I both ran to the direction we knew the king to be fighting and reached him quickly. We hit the side of the urgals the same time Saphira flew down and startled them enough for the dwarves to fight back. The next thing I knew the king was fighting right beside me swinging Volund around with so much skill it amazed me, every blow signaled death. I was right beside him, looking less graceful, but dealing out just as much death.

"Hahahaha truly a great battle."

He's a fucking mad man.

Vanir took the opportunity to connect his mind to mine. We are needed with Brom. And so we would run, turn the tide of one side of the battle and then run again. I continued to be unsuccessful at my new trick until I simply let my mind broadcast to my surroundings before I attacked. At first it was very disorienting and I faltered before everything clicked, an urgal saw my stumble and thought me easy prey. I felt his intentions through my new awareness and reacted.

Everything fell into place and as his soul? left the world, I grabbed onto his energy and pulled it into my emerald. I did it. Now I understood what Oromis really wanted Eragon to learn, this had to be one of the most overpowered techniques. I thought I had the trick down initially of broadcasting my mind out and being aware of everything around me but this is actually the culmination of all the aspects of magic.

From that point in the battle I was a nightmare for the enemy troops, every urgal I killed either replenished my energy or 3 others would fall with their hearts crushed in their chests as my words vibrated the very air around me.

The night continued like this for hours and we were slowly being pushed back. Vanir and I continued to run around and help where we could but it wasn't enough, we were being slowly pushed back into the city. We typically stayed on opposite sides of the fights as Eragon and the spellcasters, they were doing the most damage to the enemy forces.

Every once in a while I would look to the sky to see if Eragon and Saphira had fled to the dragonhold.

Eventually I heard a roar and Saphira rose above the fighting with two familiar shapes on her back. It is time. I told Vanir.

I immediately turned around and sped off, Vanir on my heels. We ran into one of the four main chambers of the city, it took us about 15 minutes to get to the bottom of the dragonhold and when we did I was greeted with the sight of dust and rock exploding upwards. We quickly made it to Eragon before anyone made it out of the tunnel.

Out stepped a tall figure in black armor, red hair spilled out of his helmet and onto the shoulders. His eyes found mine immediately. "The human and one of the elves from the forest? I suffered greatly at your parties interference." He spat out. I didn't even know he saw me that night.

"Oh? Was Galbatorix rough?" I responded. He didn't get the joke.

"You have no idea." This guy must not know what a sexual innuendo is…

"Ahhh the rider, I will make you watch as I break his mind." He continued after I didn't respond. Then he barked out orders to the kull and they formed a circle around our party. The twelve spellcasters arrived too late and were on the opposite side of the Kull, and there were a lot.

At some unspoken signal everyone sprung into action. The three of us melded minds at the same time.

Durza went for Eragon first, trying to incapacitate him fast. As soon as his sword met a shield, we felt our mental defenses get attacked. Luckily we were used to this type of fighting so it didn't affect us, Vanir and I stepped in and engaged him.

It was the hardest opponent I have faced to date. He was so fast and so strong, it was all Vanir I could do to cover each others bases. Every swing was batted away easily, counterattacks were barely avoided and the mental fight raged in our minds distracting us. Even with all of our practice we were no match for the shade.

In the end it wasn't enough and we were separated. Vanir's overhead swing was blocked and then he took a kick to the chest. He flew away wheezing, no doubt with broken ribs.

I tried to take advantage of the distraction and swung at his heart with the sharp side of my warhammer. He deflected, counterattacked and swung down with force, my warhammer rose to block it, and was cut in two. The two useless hunks of metal dropped beside me in slow motion as I realized that my weapon was destroyed.

Luckily I wasn't close enough to his swing for him to actually hit my body or I would have been bisected.

I suffered the same fate as Vanir and landed some feet away with no less that two cracked ribs. I looked up and saw Eragon engaging him in combat and realized that our minds were no longer connected.

Eragon's swing was lazily deflected and backhanded to the ground. He retaliated with a blow to Durza's hip which distracted him. Soon enough they both stumbled with their hands on their heads. Durza's face contorted in rage as he reacted first and swung.

No! I thought as I got up to move. Durza's swing was already connecting with Eragon's back and a spray of blood ran across the floor before I could even step towards them. .

As I moved towards him I heard a crack and then a loud shattering sound. The Isidar Mithrim. I thought in the back of mind as the star sapphire shattered and we both looked up. Saphira had her jaws open and fire billowed out of them as Arya's green tinted magic littered the sky.

The next thing I heard was a cry of "Brisingr!" and a flaming sword burst through Durza's chest. His eyes met mine as an inhuman howl rang out through the corridor as Durza's skin peeled back and split, then disintegrated. Three bright red balls of energy exploded out of his body and raced out of the mountain.

Eragon fell back to the floor, and Zar'roc fell from his fingertips with a loud clang on the stone.

A/N: Boom!

That is the end of the first book! It passed by very quickly but I couldn't find any scenes that really advanced the story without copying from the original book and I don't want to do that.

The way I see it, that is the end of Roran's first act. (or book, if you choose to look at it that way.) And that started 14 chapters ago, so I don't feel that bad about it. The next books should last a little longer as the real war comes up.

What do you think? Everything Roran has changed and Eragon still ends up killing Durza and suffering the same injury. I couldn't justify changing this because it was such a crucial part of Eragon growing as a character in the books.

Anyway. Review! Tell me your thoughts.