Hello everyone,
Like I said, we should be back on schedule with the updates. Thanksgiving was brutal!
Anyway, onto the chapter. Don't forget about the authors note at the bottom! How could you? I say it every time!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"The siege weapons will be done by mid-day." Hrothgar said from beside me.
We stood on a hill, looking out at Feinster, one of the many cities that stood between the Varden and Galbatorix.
"That is an impressive construction time." I commented to let him know I wasn't ignoring him.
"We are dwarves, it is our specialty." Hrothgar retorted. "The world has forgotten about us." The last part he added, sad.
"The world will remember soon." I added as a type of comfort. I turned to him then. "Don't target inside the city at all, just hit the walls."
He met my gaze when I said that. "It'll take us too much to get through those walls. Eighty feet high, made well, upkept. They won't fall to our weapons."
"Aye."
"A distraction then." Hrothgar summed up, without me even telling him anything.
"Aye, on the third day, we will attack." I told him as much as I wanted to tell him for now.
"I hope you have a plan."
"I hope you have a plan."
I'm tired of hearing that. I thought to myself hearing the line once again.
You aren't the only one. Shadowcat purred from my lap.
"I do." I responded while turning to look at the speaker.
Arya just stared back at me with a look that demanded she be told of my master plan. I didn't fold to her princess stare.
"Where is Brom?" Arya asked with a very prideful look.
I just smiled at her, knowing the gig is up. "And Carn? Trianna? Angela? I can't seem to find any of our most talented human magicians…" She trailed off.
"Hehehehe…." I heard giggling from behind us when she finished talking.
I turned with a look of horror on my face. Elva's laughter increased then, and a smile broke through the look on my face.
"Funny is it?" I asked her. Elva could only nod as she laughed on my bed. Kids…
"So yes I do have a plan. One you seemed to have worked out." I spoke turning back to Arya, who also had a smile on her face.
"You think they will be enough?" Arya asked. "Because I have a plan of my own…"
I raised an eyebrow, interested in this master plan that she had concocted. Is this the same one you had in the books?
"Oh?" I prompted her to continue.
"Yes, another group scales the walls, under the cover of the siege weapons. Once we are discovered, they will send men to the walls, leaving the gate more vulnerable for the others to open it and let the army in." Arya told me laying out her master plan.
Simple, and effective. I admired.
"Ok, and what happens when that group is overrun on the walls, no one will have enough time to save that group…" I retorted, showing the flaw in the plan and exactly what happened in the books that almost got her killed.
"Simple. Eragon and Saphira." Arya shot back quickly.
Well if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I thought of the plan.
I smiled at her. "Exactly. And then we fight our way to the keep." I finished for her.
"We?"
I stared at Eragon's face in the water bowl beneath me.
"Understood?" I asked him.
"Aye, we'll get there. Our timing has to be right so when you hear Saphira roar, then you climb. We'll distract the soldiers on the wall, so that you can climb without being interrupted." Eragon confirmed.
"Good! Everyone get that?" I asked as I turned around to the audience behind me.
Vanir, Orrin, Hrothgar, Nar Garzhvog, Nasuada, Jormundur, the twelve elven spellcasters, Shadowcat, Elva, and Arya stood behind me in my tent.
I got nods from everyone in the room. "Brom says yes." Arya said from her place in a meditative position, with her mind connected to Brom's, who was currently inside the city.
"Good, now when we take the city, it will be clean. No plundering, no raping, understand?" I looked at all of the leaders of the Varden. "I want zero civilian casualties, if it happens, it happens but I want the men scared shitless of slipping up. Since I will not be leading the charge, I will hold you all accountable, do we understand each other?" I told them all, deathly serious.
"No dwarves will be guilty of this, you have mine word." Hrothgar spoke first.
"I will gut any urgal who disobeys your order, personally!" Garzhvog answered me.
Orrin looked like he wanted to challenge me, but I didn't leave any room for argument, so instead I got a nod from him and Nasuada.
Once I was satisfied I nodded back to them.
"Good!"
I walked quickly, but not fast enough to cause any distortions in the air. I felt the slow trickly of energy leave my necklace as I bent the light around me to camoflauge out approach to the walls.
Vanir and Arya followed very close behind me. It was the darkest part of the night, and the sun would rise soon.
I could see the soldiers on the walls walking back and forth with torches, and looking down on the field where I walked. None showed any reaction that would signal our discovery, so I kept walking.
Soon enough I got to the edge of the wall, luckily there was no moat. That would have thrown a wrench in our plans. I thought to myself and my companions.
We all three huddled on the wall next to a tower so that the shadows would aid our camouflage.
Now what? Vanir broadcasted to our minds.
We wait. I answered simply.
And wait we did. Soon enough we were all sitting down, with our weapons in our lap, watching the sun rise and paint the sky orange.
Enjoy the beauty, it's about to get ugly. I warned them, and they obeyed, taking in the sight of the sun on the clouds above us.
The the siege weapons started again, and the impacts could be felt on the walls. None of them would get close enough to harm us. The people who knew made sure of our safety.
I saw the glittering of blue scales approach before my companions did. We watched in awe of another show of beauty as the sun reflected off of the brilliant scales. Eragon and Saphira circled the city a few times but she never roared. Multiple times, they bathed the walls in dragonfire, taking arrows the whole time. Luckily their wards deflected them back down to the ground.
They must have made four passes on the walls before the roar sounded out. And what a roar it was, it rattled in everyone's bones, spreading hope throughout our allies, and spreading fear throughout our enemies.
We were on our feet immediately, and spells to make sure our limbs stuck to the walls were whispered.
My hand reached and my foot found purchase as I started my ascent. I felt the drain on my energy immediately, and I reached out to my necklace to replenish myself.
We moved quickly, so quickly that the eighty feet felt like twenty because of the adrenaline and the spells increasing the speed with which we climbed. Not a single soldier noticed our climb, even with the distortions in the air that must have been there.
My hand reached the top first and with a heave, I vaulted over the wall and cut the energy to my spells. My warhammer found its way into my hands as I took stock of the walls.
There were four soldiers with their eyes to the sky, not noticing my presence. Arya and Vanir appeared behind me, swords drawn.
We walked forward calmly towards the soldiers. Finally they turned and noticed our presence.
"Stop, surrender!" One called out from his helmet as he drew his sword. His companions followed his lead.
"Funny, I was just about to say the same to you." I joked.
"Blast! It's Stronghammer, go get reinforcements!" The leader told the one in the back. His subordinate obeyed.
I advanced with purpose. "Don't leave just yet."
There was enough room on the wall for the three of us to fight individually without interfering in the others fight, although that seemed unlikely.
The leader thrust forward with his longsword and I calmly sidestepped it and brought Fram upwards in an uppercut that broke a few ribs. I moved to finish him after he doubled over, when Vanir parried, then in one motion cut the throats of both the guards.
I looked to my left to see Arya's opponent sliding off of the edge of her blade.
"Let's go, we need to draw attention." I told them as we began running.
I can handle that. Eragon told me in our minds.
Saphira landed next to us on the wall and roared for the second time, it served three purposes. One, to draw the attention of course. Two, to signal Brom and the others to make their move. Three, for the cavalry to begin their charge.
Timing is everything. I thought to my companions as we kept moving. Saphira took off again and I could feel the gaze of nearly the entire city land on us. There was movement immediately. Arrows rained around us and our wards flared up, deflected them from our persons.
I reached out to the bodies cooling on the floor and took the energy as payment for the arrows. I could feel Arya's silent disgust through our link. Vanir shivered.
Six guards approached trying to win glory for themselves, they died brutally, two from crushed skulls. More energy filled my necklace, and already I gained more than I spent from the camouflage and sticking spells.
We continued across the wall, moving towards the gate, killing as we went. I looked out across the fields leading into the city and could see my cavalry approaching fast, too fast because the gate had yet to be opened.
I felt a mind that was familiar and I let him in as I parried a sword that broke from the impact against my warhammer. My retaliation left him without a sternum and a working heart.
Gate is unlocked, can't get to the gears to open it in time! Brom told me as he sent me a picture of the gears and the twenty guards between them and the gears.
My mind worked through the options quickly. I'm on top of the gate now. More soldiers approaching, too much. Saphira is on the other side of the city. Cavalry is approaching archers range and if the gate isn't opened in time they will stall and be sitting ducks. Only one options. I thought to myself and my companions.
I broadcasted my intentions and the three of us turned around immediately and ran to the edge of the wall. They followed me without hesitation.
I reached the edge and didn't slow down to ponder my actions, I jumped and fell into a dive.
The first forty feet went by slowly in the dive, and then I noticed the ground approaching.
"Slow." I intoned and willed my companions and I to slow our descent. The magic began working and my necklace sang at the loss of energy.
We landed right in front of the gate and rolled with the momentum.
I hopped up immediately and could feel the hooves approaching behind me.
It better be unlocked like you said. I broadcasted.
Once again my mind reached out into the deep ocean of energy in my necklace. I slammed my hammer into the dirt so that the handle stuck up, ready to be wielded in the blink of an eye. Then I spoke again.
"Open."
The energy required was enormous, I didn't bother commanding the gears to move, they wouldn't have been fast enough, instead I forced the gates open. My arms raised to the gate without me even registering it, and made a grabbing motion, I pulled.
The wood groaned and my necklace grew hot underneath my armor. I felt the wards from the opposing magicians fail as I poured energy into the spell and made my will known.
Then all at once, it gave.
My arms snapped back and the gates followed the motion, two halves ripped off of the hinges. The two sixty foot pieces of wood and metal would have fallen on top of me and my companions if given the chance. Luckily I still had control over the magic and threw them on either side of us, giving my army enough of a path to ride through.
Dust and splinters flew everywhere.
I sucked in gulps of breath and fell to a knee as I released the spell. I reached out to the necklace and took even more energy to replenish myself.
The first horse rushed past me. Then the cavalry soared past me, parting around us.
A hand grabbed my shoulder. "Roran, we have to move before we are trampled." Vanir spoke in my ear.
"Aye." I said and stood up, recovering from the mental strain and grabbed my warhammer, steeling myself before taking off in a sprint. I felt them follow me and with our enhancements, we kept up with the horses to our sides.
Brom, where are you? I asked, feeling him and his party fighting for their lives still.
All I received were pictures of directions, left after the gates, through a door, a series of turns. We found the door quickly, opened it and immediately my wards deflected a sword, he died with a dagger to the throat.
We fell into close quarter combat and I felt more than saw, my companions swords singing through the air next to my head.
Four more people fell dead, their energy went to my necklace at the same time as I took off sprinting again. We took everyone by surprise after that, a throat slit here, a dagger to the brain there. All of the blows were made in stride, without hardly slowing down. I drug my warhammer in my left hand, unable to swing it in close quarters.
I felt Brom take a cut on his upper arm as I ran through the door that would join our parties together and give our companions a much needed break.
Five soldiers stood between our two parties. They had Brom and Carn pinned and only their wards were saving them from being skewered.
Three died immediately, the other two were killed by Carn and Brom advancing on them quickly. Brom and Carn turned quickly and pulled a body towards us, out of harm's way from the soldiers approaching on the other side of the hallway.
Trianna fell into Vanir's arms and I could see the blood running down her face from a cut on her forehead. Her left arm was also soaked in scarlet.
Arya and I followed Brom and Carn. I immediately saw Angela's glass thin sword whipping through the air and spraying blood everywhere. Brom grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back to give her a break.
She fell into my arms and I caught her arm before her swing could connect. "Angela, it's me!" I yelled, unable to tell her through her mental shields.
She looked at me and realized who I was, before shoving me away and responding. "It's about time." Then she walked off.
Fucking witch.
The sounds of fighting stopped and I looked around to find that there were no more soldiers coming. Instead there were bodies and blood covering the floors.
How did we even run in here without tripping? I wondered looking at the carnage.
"Well that was fun." Carn commented wiping his sword and dagger off on a body at his feet.
We don't have time, there is a shade coming. I thought to my party. "Get the energy you need from the bodies, we need to get to the keep." I told them as I walked back the direction I came from.
I opened the door that led outside and turned right to get back on the main road. I was met with the site of the first row of marching soldiers, there was no opposition for them to defeat. Bodies lined the road, victims of Orrin's cavalry. I walked forward to the head of the army, where Jormundur sat on his warhorse.
He spotted me quickly. "Roran." He saluted.
I nodded back to him and my companions joined me by my sides. "You know what to do!" I yelled to him as I took off at a slower pace than earlier so that everyone could keep up.
Trianna was on her feet again and her wounds looked healed. Vanir had a look of absolute murder on his face.
Uh oh. I joked to myself at his look.
We jogged without opposition for a good five minutes. Even then we weren't engaged by the enemy soldiers, most of them were retreating.
I understood why when Saphira landed right next to us to deposit Eragon with my party. He drew his new sword from the Belt of Beloth the Wise when his feet landed. It's blue tint, matched Saphira's scales perfectly and had a blue gem in the hilt.
"It's beautiful." I commented while nodding to his new sword.
"Brisingr." Eragon said without thinking. The sword lit up with blue flame traveling down it's blade immediately. The flames cut off quickly.
"Sorry, it'll be awhile before I am used to that." He mumbled and I couldn't help but bark a laugh in response.
"If you two are done, we have sorcerers to interrupt." Brom called out. His tone was sharp but his eyes were pained as he looked at the sword.
"Aye, he's right." I agreed and we took off again.
It didn't take us long to run into opposition now that we were so far ahead of the army, who was busy clearing the city, street by street.
Our party of eight, quickly became a party of twenty as the twelve elven spellcasters joined us. We moved through the opposition like a warm knife cuts through butter. We fought for what felt to be like another hour, but must have only been fifteen, twenty minutes, before we approached the gate that led to the keep.
It was open, with bodies lying in front of it. The cavalry succeeded in racing to keep so that the gate couldn't be closed, but lost good men and horses in the process. Saphira was on top of the walls, tearing catapults and men into pieces before moving to the next one.
The price we pay. I thought to myself, looking at the bodies of men defending their city, and bodies of men trying to overthrow a tyrant. Two points of view, both of them being right.
I steeled myself as I knew what lay beyond the door that led up into the tower where Lady Lorana and her three spellcasters would be.
My mind reached out to all of my companions. Prepare yourselves. I told them. Trianna, do not reach out to your spirits. I commanded and confusion spread across the link, followed by fear.
Brom sent battle hardened focus through our links and we all followed his lead. I thanked him for bringing us back under control.
Eragon stepped forward and sliced the door open with his new sword, it went through without resistance. His foot followed and broke the door in.
I followed him in and was met with the site of what must have been the court that Lorana ruled from. It was a long room that reminded me a lot of the Great Hall from the Harry Potter franchise. There were no house tables, instead rows of seats flanked the hall and led to a throne atop a set of stairs.
We passed the grand room and ran towards where two more guards were guarding a door. They saw the opposition and dropped their weapons, surrendering.
The younger one spoke up. "All the way up, the three magicians took the Lady Lorana. You must hurry."
I nodded to him and opened the door to find more guards on a set of stairs that spiralled upwards.
These guards didn't drop their weapons. Eragon and I engaged them quickly, Brisingr and my dagger sang death as we got into close quarters and picked them apart.
Vanir and Arya would pass us up when we engaged two more soldiers, and then we would overtake them. The elves behind us shot deadly accurate arrows where they could and felled many soldiers before we had to, buying us precious time.
It took us a few minutes to climb five floors. When the last soldier was killed, I wasted no time in kicking down the door that led to the top of the tower.
Immediately I saw the three spellcasters sitting down facing each other. The Lady Lorana stood in the back, surrounded by more soldiers. The soldiers made to move forward before the Lady's hand raised and stopped them, her eyes pleading with mine to stop the magicians before her.
I obliged and closed the distance between myself and the three magicians on the floor. Eragon dropped like a rag doll and impacted on the floor. My mind registered what that must mean, but I didn't stop.
My dagger slid into the brain of the closest magician. Brom mimicked me as the second fell without a head. Arya's sword was poised to pierce the last one before a wave of pure force exploded outwards from the last magician.
I landed on my back and rolled with the momentum to flip over and look up. Dozens of bright red lights swirled around the last magician before coalescing into the body at once.
NO!
I reacted immediately and moved. The distance was closed before anyone could react, anyone but the newly made shade that is.
My right wrist was caught before my dagger could pierce his chest, right above his heart. He twisted it and my bones creaked as I rolled with the twist. My left elbow moved up to impact his nose and he reeled back.
I saw a glint of steel pass beside my armpit. The sword found purchase in the shade's heart, right before a body hit me and all three of us went ass over tit.
A loud howl, not unlike the one Durza released, rang out across the room. The body beneath me dissipated into nothing as the same jets of red light from before burst out of the body. I had to close my eyes because of my proximity.
It took a few moments for the howl to stop and the lights to fade. Once they did, I opened my eyes just as the body that landed on top of me decided to also move.
I turned around to see a hand extended to help me up. It led to the black hair of Vanir, the most recent Shadeslayer of Alagaesia.
I took the hand and pulled myself up. "Shadeslayer." I greeted.
"Stronghammer." Vanir replied with a nod.
I smiled and looked back to my other companions, most of whom were holding their heads or on the floor. I walked over to where I dropped my warhammer and picked it up before turning to the leader of the city I just conquered.
"Lady Lorana, thank you for the hospitality. Do you surrender?" I asked her.
Her guards chuckled a little at the joke. "I do, Roran Stronghammer. Please treat my subjects with care."
"Of course." I responded before turning back to my party. "Carn, go announce the surrender of the Lady."
He nodded to me before shuffling back out of the room and down the stairs. Eragon took that moment to jerk awake and look around the room. He spoke words that I knew were coming, but still shook me to my core.
"Oromis is dead."
A/N: Boom, siege of Feinster!
It almost took a turn for the worst! Luckily Roran was able to think quickly on his feet. I've seen some reviews that mention wanting Roran to have more magical feats, or to use magic more in battle, well here you go! I have been planning this for a while, and am happy with the way it turned out. Vanir is a shadeslayer, not Arya, what do we think about that?
There will be a lot that is cleared up about the fight with the shade, and how easy it was in the next chapter.
Tell me what you think. Let's talk in the reviews!