Alright. Long chapter last time.

I'm still on the plane, so this one probably will be too.

Meh. I find it hard to imagine you guys complaining XD

Edit:

Today, we shall be seeing my wide (sort of) knowledge of draconic defensive maneuvers. No, not all of them were stolen by How to Train Your Dragon. Just most.

Also, Tania will be doing some unbelievable things with the bow. You will probably think it's a bit OP.

Well.

My answer:

PRACTICE.

Tania looked across the field, hiding her distaste, though she'd seen much worse than that messy demise. There were similar fires by the other battalions as well. Eragon sheathed Zar'roc and stung his bow, which she raised an eyebrow at. She usually kept her bow strung, and had done when they were traveling—you never knew when you needed it, and stringing it took too long.

More Urgals soon tamped the pitch down and clambered out of the tunnels over their burned brethren. Tania frowned, pushing back a spark of distractive thought as she pulled the bowstring back, loosing an arrow and then another into their ranks, not really aiming for particular Urgals. Tania watched the shafts from her bow and the bows of the other archers eat through the Urgals' ranks.

The Urgal line wavered, threatening to break, but they covered themselves with their shields and weathered the attack. Again the archers fired, but the Urgals continued to stream onto the surface at a ferocious rate.

Tania shuddered at their numbers. Killing every single one seemed a madman's task—then again, so did fighting and destroying the Empire, yet here they were. She was encouraged by the lack of sight of Galbatorix's troops. Yet.

The opposing army formed a solid mass of bodies that seemed to stretch endlessly. Tattered and sullen standards were raised in the monsters' midst. Baleful notes echoed through Farthen Dûr as war horns sounded. The entire group of Urgals charged with savage war cries.

They dashed against the rows of stakes, covering them with slick blood and limp corpses as the ranks at the vanguard were crushed against the posts. A cloud of black arrows flew over the barrier at the crouched defenders. Tania hissed and crouched by Saphira, who had dipped and covered her head, shielding both the Riders. Arrows rattled harmlessly against her armor.

Let's hope they don't get lucky shooting upward, she told Ophelia.

Let's hope I see and avoid them if they do, she replied.

Momentarily foiled by the pickets, the Urgal horde milled in confusion. The Varden bunched together, waiting for the next attack. After a pause, the war cries were raised again as the Urgals surged forward. The assault was bitter. Its momentum carried the Urgals through the stakes, where a line of pikemen jabbed frantically at their ranks, trying to repel them. The pikemen held briefly, but the ominous tide of the Urgals could not be halted, and they were overwhelmed.

The first line of defense breached, the main bodies of the two forces collided for the first time. Tania's heart pounded frantically in her ears as a deafening roar burst from the men and dwarves—and, to her surprise, herself—as they rushed into the conflict. Saphira bellowed and leapt toward the fight, diving into a whirlwind of noise and confusion.

In the confusion, Tania vaulted onto Ophelia's back, and they took off, gaining height, unseen by both the Varden and Urgals. They saw Saphira with her jaws and talons tearing through an Urgal. Her teeth were as lethal as any sword, her tail a giant mace. From her back, Eragon parried a hammer blow from an Urgal chief, protecting her vulnerable wings. Zar'roc's crimson blade seemed to gleam with delight as blood spurted along its length.

Ophelia flapped her wings, gaining height, then dived to the tunnel, clawing briefly through the ranks of monsters, leaving them yelling in pain and confusion, the bronze claws on her talons leaving gouges in heads and torsos. A few archers tried to shoot upward at random; the camouflaged dragoness beat her wings once quickly and then tucked them in and spun in a twisting corkscrew upward, the arrows whizzing by her, repelled by the air current from her momentum. Then she straightened, winging upward once more, out of arrow range, hissing as she observed the battle below.

Tania saw Orik hewing Urgal necks with mighty blows of his ax. Beside the dwarf was Murtagh on Tornac; his face was disfigured by a snarl as he swung his sword angrily, cutting through every defense, Tornac below him rearing and whinnying furiously. Arya she saw using her sword, visible only as a silver blur, before stepping past the lifeless body of an opponent.

Tania nocked an arrow once more, unleashing a volley of well-aimed missiles that, more often than not, hit their marks in eyes, throats and chinks in armor. Grinning, she briefly wondered what the Varden soldiers thought when arrows suddenly sprouted out of the Urgals necks and eye sockets. She stopped once the quiver on her back was half empty; she had another full one on either side of the saddle, but she wanted to conserve them. Running out of arrows before the battle ended was not something Tania wanted to do.

She briefly saw Murtagh lifting Eragon into Tornac's saddle, rushing toward Saphira, who was embroiled in a mass of enemies. Tania quickly nocked, aimed and fired five arrows in as many seconds, using a technique Brom had taught her. Ophelia dived again, tearing through the Urgals that were jabbing at Saphira's eyes, driving her back. The blue dragoness snorted at them, then dived back into the confused mass as Eragon, who had jumped off Tornac and demolished more of the monsters, leapt onto her back.

By unspoken consent, Saphira took flight and rose with Ophelia above the struggling armies, seeking a respite from the madness. The adrenaline running through Tania's veins was like ice, yet like fire, burning her bones and boiling her blood. She could tell that Ophelia felt it as well; her wings shook, but not from fear—they trembled with the instinct to rip and tear and demolish their enemies.

Tania watched as Saphira circled long enough for herself and Eragon to recover their strength, then descend toward the Urgals, skimming the ground to avoid detection. She approached the monsters from behind, where their archers were gathered.

Before the Urgals realized what was happening, Eragon lopped off the heads of two archers, and Saphira disemboweled three others. She took off again as alarms sounded, quickly soaring out of bow range.

Tania exchanged a look with Ophelia. Ajihad only told us to stay in the air and keep lookout…

Ophelia grinned. He never said anything about not attacking. Soundlessly, Ophelia soared in the opposite direction of Saphira's new target, allowing herself to be pulled downward, then snapping her wings open as she reached the Urgals' heads, ripping through them with claws and tail, soaring upward before they had a chance to even decipher what was going on. Tania loosed more arrows upon them, quickly emptying her first quiver. Ophelia hurtled upward, allowing Tania to switch it out. Once she had, they repeated the tactic on different flanks of the army. Ophelia's invisibility, silence and speed, coupled with the darkness of Farthen Dûr, made it impossible for the Urgals to be prepared for another bombardment.

As they flew high over the battle once more, Tania leaned low to Ophelia's bronze-plated neck, seeing the battle's progress. There were three separate fights raging in the mountain, one by each open tunnel. The Urgals were disadvantaged by the dispersal of their forces and their inability to get all of their army out of the tunnels at once. Even so, the Varden and dwarves could not keep the monsters from advancing and were slowly being driven back toward Tronjheim. The defenders seemed insignificant against the mass of Urgals, whose numbers continued to increase as they poured out of the tunnels.

Tania frowned, slightly confused, as the Urgals rallied up around several standards representing each clan. They paid virtually no attention to each other, but fought smoothly, with no inter-clan skirmishes as one or the other got in the way. As if their orders came from one being… yet no orders were shouted loud enough to be heard, and the horns were mainly blown to signal for help when one of the dragons attacked.

So it must be a mental connection. Tania relayed the information to Eragon, who would hopefully relate it to the Twins. Whether or not the Twins would then tell Ajihad, she had no idea, but she hoped they did.

Urggh… I am so sorry. I kept you waiting, and then I made it short. I've been distracted.

But please do review :)

FF