Hello everyone,
I've really been enjoying writing the last few chapters of my stories. There is an authors note at the bottom, like always.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
My new warhammer rested in my hands. I had been getting undressed for the night when I got distracted by its beauty. I didn't have a lot of time earlier, too busy being distracted by the seemingly endless amount of political moves in such a short time. Ajihad and Hrothgar were doing everything they could to tie Eragon to the rebellion.
Every good weapon needs a name. I thought looking at my new weapon.
It took me a while to decide but eventually I came to a conclusion.
Fram.
Forward, in the ancient language. I thought to myself. A reminder, to always move forward.
Setting the beautiful warhammer beside my bed, I went about undressing fully and warding my room. Soon enough I was asleep.
I woke to a mental buzz, one that was definitely not my morning wake up call. Someone tripped the wards.
As soon as I came to that conclusion, my hand reached out and grabbed my warhammer as I spun around and jumped out of bed. Waking shadowcat as I did so.
An eight foot kull stood at the doorway into my chambers. What the fuck is he doing here? I thought as I noticed he hadn't moved.
Who cares, just deal with him so I can go back to bed. Shadowcat echoed in my mind.
He still hadn't moved and I pondered on using magic to get rid of him but his eyes were hazy and unfocused, showing that he wasn't in full control. I decided not to waste the energy in my necklace.
I took a few steps forward and he matched me, I stopped, he didn't. His axe flew through the air lazily and I sidestepped and swung once. The fight ended with blood splattering on the walls. I'll have to clean that later.
Why would he ...a diversion. I thought as I sprung into action. I didn't even bother throwing on a pair of pants, instead I was sprinting through the city, bound for Ajihad's chambers.
My mind reached out and found Vanir, still sleeping. I woke him quickly. Urgals are here. Was all I said before I disconnected us.
As I got closer I could see dead bodies of both urgal and humans alike. Two of whom I recognized as part of Ajihad's personal guard.
It didn't take me long to stumble upon the scene. It was a bloodbath.
I spotted Ajihad fairly quickly, and I could tell his chest was still rising, but barely. As I approached I could hear coughing and bloody wheezing.
I knelt down and cast my diagnostic spell. Immediately I could tell that the damage was too extensive for even me to heal. Most of his chest was pulp, his lungs were collapsing and multiple arteries had been cut. Even if I succeeded, he would never be the same. My knowledge just wasn't extensive enough.
"Roran, I *cough* need you to take care of the Varden. Promise me." He said and before I could answer, his chest fell and a large breath of air escaped him. His eyes became glassy and unfocused.
I didn't say anything, couldn't say anything. Instead I just closed his eyes.
I heard footsteps and noticed guards, led by Vanir were approaching. On the opposite side, dwarves led by Orik came sprinting down the hall.
Orik approached first and noticed the scene.
"Barzul."
I stepped away from the body and made my way towards Vanir.
"We can't find Murtagh." He said.
I didn't react at first, instead I took in a large amount of air, and exhaled. Trying to cool the boiling anger underneath the surface. I was unsuccessful.
"We tracked them to the mountains, then the trail went cold." Jormundur told me as we walked together to the council meeting.
I was annoyed at the fact that I had to attend it, I was annoyed at the fact that Murtagh will face the same fate under Galbatorix's hand, and I was annoyed that I let it happen.
"Thank you, Nasuada has to be the one." I said.
"Yes that is what the others are saying also, although for a different reason than you, I suspect." He said in response, a bit puzzled. He didn't give me a chance to respond, instead he continued. "Ajihad gave this to me before ...well he said it was yours. I feel obligated to return it."
It was the book that I had given him to improve the army of the Varden, it contained a lot of Roman techniques, and other things from other empires in my past life. I thought about taking it but instead I just pushed it back to him.
"You are in charge of the military operations, I will help but I have my hands full with Du Gata Vrangr, and you have more of an idea of how to actually implement these strategies. Keep it." I told him.
He took the book back and looked down at it. "It's genius, but we don't have the supplies for half of the things on here." He responded.
"We will discuss what is important after the meeting." I told him as we walked into the chamber that we would be using for the selection of the next leader.
We walked in and it had five chairs set up in a semicircle, it overlooked a section of the room that was lower in height, an obvious power position. The other four members of the council were already seated. I nodded at Jormundur, telling him to take the last seat.
There should be six chairs. I thought as I took in the sight of the room. Ah they don't recognize me, I'm an outsider.
I decided not to make a big deal out of it and stood next to the table, chin up and shoulders squared.
"Jormundur, you brought a spare." The ugly one with make-up said.
"I was appointed to the council by Ajihad." I said simply.
"The council decides who sits on the council." The more important looking man said.
"Is that so? Well thank you for appointing me then." I said in response and before anyone could respond I spoke up again. "Bring her in."
The guards complied and soon Nasuada was brought in and was standing before us.
"Do you know why we called you here?" I said emphasising the 'we'.
"No, my lord." She said in response and I frowned.
"Roran."
She didn't respond and instead just nodded in acceptance.
"The council has decided that we want you to step into your fathers position." Jormundur said taking over for me.
"I would be honored." She said.
That was all I needed to hear, as soon as she said that I started moving towards the door.
I entered the chamber where close to thirty people were standing around talking. The room was divided, around twenty people stood to one side and obviously already knew each other, the others looked puzzled at what they were doing here and most were young, only a few looked over the age of twenty.
Vanir was sitting on the floor while leaning against a wall and petting Shadowcat, his eyes caught mine as I made my presence known. Trianna was the only person I recognized in the bigger group, everyone else was a stranger to me.
"You are all here because you are in or you are interested in being in the organization known as the Du Vrangr Gata." I started, and the room quieted.
"It just so happens that I was recently appointed to the leader of this little group. Does anyone have any objections to that?" I said, trying to establish the hierarchy fairly fast.
Surprisingly no one spoke up, I half expected Trianna to make a move for leadership, she obviously wanted to in the books.
Once no one spoke up I continued. "Good, now let me be perfectly honest with everyone here. You are all a lousy excuse for a magician, every single one of you."
I tried to meet everyone's eyes, especially the ones who seemed to take offense, once again no one spoke up. "But once I'm done with you, you won't be. Now, the first order of business is to properly rename this group. To properly name us as 'The Wandering Path' we must first use proper grammar. In the Ancient Language, it should be spoken as Du Gata Vrangr, this is the proper way to say it."
Trianna was openly smiling at me now. I honestly felt like one of the rats that Shadowcat likes to play with before she eats them.
"That is the only lesson of magic we will get to today. Instead, all of us needs to make a decision on if we really want to be here. Here is how it will work, we will all meet around an hour after the sun rises, in this very room. We, the collective group, will learn magic, and all its beautiful intricacies. We will do this until noon, where you will all be released to do what you like for the rest of the day, I will stay to tudor anyone who wants or needs extra lessons." I paused for a moment to let it sink in how much of a commitment it would be.
"Now I know that some of you have jobs and families to feed. So you will be compensated for that, I would not leave you unable to feed your family. I know this is a huge commitment, but I promise you, after the first few months, you will never have to worry about money or prestige ever again. We may be a laughing stock now, but soon we will be the most important group in the Varden, if not the country." I once again paused for a bit longer.
"Now, if you don't feel up to the task, then leave."
Not a single person moved, I expected to lose most of them. I turned to look at Vanir, he answered with a smirk and a shrug of the shoulders.
We've got our work cut out for us. I thought looking at all the faces in the crowd.
"Good, Vanir could you come up. This is Vanir, he is my second in command, yes he is an elf, no it doesn't matter at all. His people know more about magic than any other race alive, if anyone has a question and I am not around, he is your best source of information." I continued.
"Now I want everyone to come up individually." I said taking out a journal and pen.
Trianna approached first.
"Name?" I said more for a formality than anything.
"Trianna." She responded.
"Proficiency with the ancient language?" I asked curiously.
"Extensive vocabulary, but not fluent." She said honestly.
I made my notes about it and asked my next question. "Why?"
"Why?" She parroted. I nodded in response.
She seemed to be having an internal battle about whether or not to answer truthfully. I decided to interject before she could answer.
"I will not deny you, it is to help decide how best to teach you." I elaborated.
"I was weak once, I won't be again." She said with her head held high, her blue eyes piercing my brown. I nodded at her.
"Next."
"Stronghammer." The guard said as he put a fist over his heart and opened the door to the same study Ajihad used to work in.
I had been getting that a lot, stronghammer seemed to follow me around wherever I went. I wasn't angry, just shocked at the impact Hrothgar had.
Nasuada had apparently heard her guard because as soon as I entered she parroted him.
"Stronghammer ...Does it get old?" She asked curiously.
"Honestly? No." I said, letting a bit of my ego show.
"My father put a lot of faith in you." She said starting the conversation off.
"I made myself valuable." I said deciding to be completely transparent, opposite of the rest of the council members.
"Yes you did." She responded.
We stood in silence for a moment. "How goes the Du Vrangr Gata?" She asked after the silence.
"Du Gata Vrangr. And there is no need to say 'the' before the name, 'du' translates to 'the'. There is a lot of work to be done, but we will get them ready." I responded trying to educate her a little on the subject while also showing off my competency.
"Apologies, Du Gata Vrangr it is then. My father told me something very important right before he passed." She started, obviously getting to the point of why she called me in.
"A secret so big, that it could change our race for ...well forever."
It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that she was talking about how all humans were capable of learning magic.
"Aye, and it will." I responded.
"I will be blunt, there will be no more recruits. No one else will know that all of us are capable of magic, none but the ones you have already told. Any that you haven't will be told to return to their duties. Understood?" She said giving me the order.
"No." I said simply in return.
"No?" She said with a raised eyebrow. "I don't think you understand." She continued. "That wasn't a request."
"You respected me enough to be straight forward, so I will do the same. I refuse, anyone that comes to me and wants to learn magic, as long as he or she isn't a criminal, will be taught." I said with a tone that signalled finality.
"Don't you understand? Should this information get out, the repercussions would be ...terrible. Left and right, people would be trying to perform magic, imagine anyone…" I couldn't listen to her ramble any longer.
"Let me stop you there. Why hasn't it already happened?" I asked.
"Why hasn't what happened?" She asked, obviously angry that I interrupted her.
"Why hasn't these 'repercussions' already happened?" I asked. At her silence and confused stare I continued. "Let me answer for you and elaborate a little, it has to be taught. Yes all of us can use magic, but it has to be drawn out. Of course there are exceptions, and some rare few will naturally draw on their magic, but the most they could do would be to hurt themselves and MAYBE a few others around them. Magic is bound to a language, and it can be extremely dangerous when you don't know that language and how to properly speak it. But, knowledge of the language does not mean that you can use magic, for example, Du Gata Vrangr means 'the wandering path' in the ancient language. But nothing happened when I spoke the words correct?"
At her nod I continued. "You have to put all of the pieces together, you must learn to channel the energy from your body, focus it, and on top of all of that construct a sentence that allows you to do what you want to accomplish. It's actually even more complicated than that, but that is the basics behind the art. Do you see now? We have to educate people on the subject, by educating them we can make sure that less accidents happen, and at the same time, better people's lives, enrich them and the country. Imagine it, no starvation, shelter for everyone, cleanliness." I finished trying to show her the benefits.
She didn't say anything for a long time, an uncomfortably long time. Instead she began pacing around the room, trying to digest the information dump that I just gave her.
Eventually I decided to add. "Plus we can help fund the war." I said trying to make the decision easier on her.
Her eyes lit up at that.
"I will need to think a little bit longer on this. I'll call for you when I have made a decision." She said eventually dismissing me.
I got to the door before I decided to speak about something that was bugging me.
"Before I leave I feel like I should get this off my chest. If you suppress knowledge that could help your people in indescribable ways, wouldn't that make you a tyrant? Why should I help someone replace a tyrant, with another tyrant? Food for thought."
"I need your help." I said to the person standing opposite of me. A person that should be with Eragon right now, a person that is known to travel around a lot.
"Why should I?" Angela responded.
"Because you have such a big heart?" I said hopefully.
She looked down at her chest. "Nonsense, it average sized."
I just stared at her in response. I decided to try a different tactic. "Here just read this, this is what I would want you to teach."
"I have read this before, did you get that from the library in Ellesmera?" She said throwing me off.
"This is a copy, an edited copy by me. There is some extra stuff you might find interesting." I said.
"I'll get around to it." She said in response.
"Well hurry because I will need that in the next few days."
*The very next day*
"When do we start?"
I jumped out of bed with my dagger in hand.
Angela was standing in my room, inside my wards, without me knowing about it.
Wait my wards aren't up anymore.
"Impressive." Angela said looking down towards my crotch.
A/N: I thought the ending was funny. Mostly stupid, but a little humor mixed in.
What does everyone think about Murtagh and Ajihad? Any thoughts?
Nothing Roran can do seems to change the plot very much huh?
Let's talk in the reviews!