Disclaimer: not mine not making money

They had flown almost nonstop for the last three days. They had only stopped briefly at nights when the Dragons became tired and hungry. During the nights they took turns sparring and keeping watch. During the day they would sleep on the dragons as they flew. They would eat while flying and while it was not comfortable trying to eat and drink while airborne it did save them a great deal of time. Eventually they were a less than an hours flight from the Helgrind. They set down and Sahkur-rah motioned them to gather close together.

"We should go the rest of the way shortly after daybreak in the morning. I want to wait until the sun is high overhead before we begin the attack. We should get a good sleep tonight before we fly the rest of the way tomorrow. I think it would be best if we didn't spar for the night as the noise might alert certain unsavory characters to our presence. Now you know what is expected of all of you?"

They nodded in affirmation of that.

"Good, Roran you will fly directly back to Ellesmera without complaint and stay there right."

Roran nodded.

"Say it out loud Stronghammer."

"Yes I know to go directly to Ellesmera and stay there."

"Good. There will be no room for arguing tomorrow. Let's get a good nights rest now. I'll take the last watch; the rest of you can decide who takes which watches."

They got up just at the crack of dawn the next day and ate quickly. They put on their armor and strapped on their swords. Sahkur-rah had managed to get some armor and what she called a war hammer for Roran. Roran needless to say, was quite pleased with it. Oromis passed around a small container of faelnirv that everyone took a swallow from. Roran gasped at his first taste of it.

"If humans could brew like this we would be drunk all the time."

Then it's a good thing that you can't otherwise I'd never have hatched. I do not like drunkards.

Silvress spoke without venom in his voice but it was clear that he meant every word he said. They mounted their respective dragons and took to the air. When they could see the Helgrind just below them they landed a safe distance away. The dragons followed Sahkur-rah and Eressmiss to the lair while the others found a safe secluded spot to watch from. Sahkur-rah stood at the foot of the helgrind.

"Hello are there any overgrown insects inside this maggot filled termite pile, or have they all gone away in fear? Here I stand waiting for the fear inspiring Ra'zac and their addlebrained parents to come out and strike me down for being here and all I see are dust motes. I have seen more frightful things crawl out of a well than I have here."

There was movement at the top of the Helgrind, where the opening was supposed to be. Eragon Watched in horrified fascination as the first Ra'zac and lethrblaka came out the top and swooped down to her. Sahkur-rah laughed and sidestepped them easily.

"I ask for a challenge but I get a child and a brood mare. I want a challenge. Are all of your kind this pathetic?"

With a scream of rage the lethrblaka made another dive at her. Sahkur-rah rolled out of the way and brought her sword down on its neck. It glided a few feet more before it fell down headless. The Ra'zac that had been riding it made a shrill high pitched cry as it stood beside its fallen parent. There was a loud rumbling as Sahkur-rah swiftly decapitated the pupa. She turned in time to see the entire colony of ten adults and close to thirty pupae emerge from the helgrind. She laughed as they charged towards her. The dragons emerged from their hiding places and surrounded them, breaking the wings of the adults as they tried to fly away. It was shortly after the dragons came out of hiding that the others, Oromis, Roran and Eragon snuck up to the helgrind. They managed to get to the topmost entrance with their magic and then snuck into the dark dank smelly cave. Eragon summoned enough of the light element to light up the area around them as bright as day. They encountered little to not resistance in the cave as they traveled the steep ramp down to the bowels of the mountainous lair. They were rounding a bend when Roran yelled for Eragon and Oromis to get down. They did so and Roran brought his heavy war hammer down on the head of a newly hatched pupa. Its head split open with a sickening wet sound as it fell down. The rest of the journey to find Katrina was uneventful except when they found the bodies of Sloan and Birgit on the floor outside of a door at the very end of the pathway. Inside the room they found her, starving but whole and aware when the got to the very bottom of the stone formation. She couldn't help laughing and crying for joy that she was rescued. They covered her with a cloak and Roran gathered her up and they ran as fast as they could to the top of the formation; she fell asleep before they reached the opening. Silvress saw them at the opening and flew up to meet him, Eressmiss and Glaedr taking his place easily. Roran spared a glace at the other two before he took off.

"We'll meet you in Ellesmera, stay there and take care of her." Eragon had told him before Roran took off. Then he was gone traveling fast as the wind. Oromis and Eragon lowered themselves down the side of the helgrind as Sahkur-rah and the dragons began herding the creaturesback. There were a good dozen of the pupae and adults lying dead on the ground. They managed to fight them up to the steep side of the helgrind but with all of the adults wings broken there was no where for them to go. They had been backed into a corner. It only took a moment for them to summon the fire elemental and when they did it only took a few secondsto release it onto the Ra'zacs and burn them to ash. After that it was simple enough for them to go into to the helgrind and flush out the rest of the newly hatched pupae and destroy them. They then methodically went into every room and nook and cranny of the helgrind and destroyed the eggs that had yet to hatch. When it was done the sun had begun to set. They made camp in the gutted former lair of the Ra'zac and waited a few more days before they headed towards the capital.

When Roran arrived at the tree house a few days later he was pleased to see that there was an elf there with the necessary medical supplies already. He was glad because that meant that he wouldn't have to go wandering all over the forest looking for one. He knew that the others had wanted him to stay here and not get involved with the attack on the capital but he was going to go anyway and no one was going to stop him. This way he could be sure that Katrina was safe without having to go through a great deal of hassle. The elf introduced himself as Vanir and asked him to place Katrina on the nearby bed. Roran did and was about to go back to Silvress when the Elf stopped him by placing a large bowl in his arms.

"I need you to go and find enough high quality fungus to fill this bowl. It will be needed later."

"Look I am happy that you are here to help Katrina but I really have to be going now because the others will need me at the capital before long."

"I know all about the attack on the capital and I have been given specific orders to keep you from going there. Now if you would be as good as to not try and leave then it would make my life and my job much easier."

Roran was seeing red. They had gotten a babysitter for him. That was the last straw. Roran strode to the trapdoor and was about to open it and leave when he was picked up and tossed unceremoniously across the room away from the door. Silvress looked on in amusement.

"Now then I didn't think that you would be as foolish as it seemed that your cousin feared you would be but it seems his worries were correct. If you do not behave yourself I will have to follow though on my promise to lock you in the wash closet until they return."

Roran got up and charged the elf, swinging his war hammer in front of him. The elf dodged his blow with ease and plucked the hammer out of his hands. He then picked him up like a parent might pick up a misbehaving child and put him in the wash basin and filled it with cold water. He then left closing the door with a click and then blocking it.

"You will have to explain to your cousin why you had to be locked into the wash closet. I would rather not be the one to break the news to him that his cousin behaves like a child."

Roran pounded on the door and yelled himself hoarse to be let out. Even Silvress would not help him to get out. Roran grumbled for a while longer and then took a seat on the floor to wait for the return of the rest of the riders.

When they started out for Uru'baen they were just coming down from their victory over the Ra'zac. The return of the feeling of tension before a big battle was both welcomed and unwelcomed. They would soon be striking a major blow against Galbatorix and his kingdom and would ensure that from then on he would no longer have the advantage. It would be a glorious victory if they succeeded, but Eragon did not want to think what would happen if they were to fail. They had just set down outside of the outskirts of the city Uru'baen and had witnessed as Sahkur-rah had called on the elements to take the innocent from the city. Before long it was easy to see that the elementals had succeeded in their task. Sahkur-rah began to summon all of the elementals again. This time though when she had succeeded in summoning them she gave them no instructions, instead letting her hold on them go. Eragon was not sure what to expect at first but he soon realized the horrible powers that the elementals could summon as first a large tornado touched down and ignited and burned a path towards the city. Then soon after the earth began shaking and rolling like tidal waves. Eragon and the others took off into the air. The wind was abnormally still but then Eragon looked up and saw not just the one fiery tornado that he had seen but at least a dozen others ravaging the city. Then a storm broke loose drenching Eragon within seconds of it beginning with lightening striking down at one building in particular; the palace. The elemental storm continued to grow as he and Oromis glided slowly close to the ground. When they reached the city they saw that there was no need to fear being noticed. It was absolute pandemonium within the cities gates. The storm was unexpected and unnatural. The entire place was shaking like a tree caught in the wind. Eragon and Oromis managed to make their way to the castle and were soon within its walls. Eragon had chanced to look up and saw what appeared to be a large black dragon trying to evade a fiery tornado and something that looked like a human with wings. They made their way inside and every where they went there was chaos like what they had encountered outside. They managed to work their way down into the dungeons where there were several locked cells. Eragon opened his mind and looked for his brother; he soon found him and his dragon in a cell nearby. Oromis began talking to the dragon silently. When he had convinced the dragon that they were there to rescue him and Murtagh and get the last egg from the vaults Oromis signaled to Eragon to go ahead with the plan. Eragon opened the door expecting to find Murtagh in a richly furnished room. He instead found himself in a dingy little cell with Murtagh chained to the wall. There were fresh whip marks on his arms and legs. Eragon made his way over to him and tilted his head up. His eyes were open but unseeing. Whispering a few words of the ancient language he insured that Murtagh was asleep and would remain asleep until they got to Ellesmera. Eragon turned his attention to Thorn who was now being released by Oromis. The dragon took one look at him and spoke to him.

Take good care of him. I want him in one piece when we get back.

Aye, I will.

With that Eragon took his brother to Saphira and they made it out of the city and were well on their way back to Ellesmera leaving the ruins of Uru'baen behind them.

Oromis and the others followed Thorn to the vaults. While they were walking there Thorn was telling him what he knew of how Galbatorix was able to become stronger with each year. Oromis knew of such ways but they all required dark twisted magic's to do them. It seemed that he was using the life-force of an unborn child in order to increase his own strength. What race the child was Thorn did not know. Oromis was still pondering what the implications of this knowledge when they came to the vaults. It was an easy matter to knock the guards unconscious and open the door. Oromis strode into the room with the dragons fanning out looking for the egg. Oromis Found it in a glass tank filled with a strange looking liquid. Oromis muttered a few words and determined that it was an acidic material that would dissolve flesh on contact. He looked around and found a large decorative spoon made out of gold with precious jewels imbedded in the handle. It was clearly used for decoration but Oromis decided that it would suit his purposes well. He dipped the spoon into the tank and used it to lift the egg out. He muttered a few words and managed to get the remainder of the acid off of the egg before he handled it. He put it in his pouch and told the others that he had the egg. Glaedr was silent for a while. Oromis looked over to the corner where he was sitting and asked him what he was doing. He said that he was doing nothing but Oromis could tell that he was not telling the entire truth. He pressed the dragon, he knew that Glaedr usually didn't hide things from him unless he felt it to be necessary but he wanted to know. Glaedr told him he would tell him when they got back to Ellesmera. Glaedr walked out of the vault with something in his front left paw that he would not tell Oromis about. Oromis shrugged, contacted Sahkur-rah, and they took off through the glass ceiling, Oromis used his magic to keep the glass shards from cutting them to ribbons as they fled through the howling superstorm that Sahkur-rah had unleashed on the city.

Sahkur-rah was getting bored of playing cat and mouse with the king when Oromis told her that he had gotten the final egg. She was glad because it meant that she no longer had to hold back from engaging him in combat. She flew forwards as fast as she could and brandished her sword. She fought like a demon. She engaged the king in combat while he was trying to navigate the storm. He gave as good as he got though and it soon became clear that she was not going to get anywhere by fighting him. So she changed her tactics and attacked the dragon Shruikan, cleanly cleaving off his right foreleg in her first swipe. The king and Dragon both howled with shared pain as she sensed the others flee the city as fast as the wind could carry them. She felt Eressmiss fly up behind the king and blast him with fire. Sahkur-rah blasted the dragon from the front with fire. They then began to fight in sync. First Eressmiss would swipe with a talon or try to bit them, then Sahkur-rah would strike with her sword. Before long the king was in retreat, but not before Sahkur-rah chopped off one of his legs. They then flew after the others to Ellesmera.

When Eragon arrived at the Tree house he saw Katrinalaying asleep in bed whileVanir was holding the door to the wash closet closed.

"Let me guess, my cousin decided to act like an idiot right?"

"Actually I would say child but idiot works as well." From behind Vanir there came a muffled pounding sound as Roran banged on the door.

"Let me out of here."

"Better let him out Vanir, I can deal with him."

"I have no doubt; do you need me to work on that one?" Vanir indicated the unconscious Murtagh in his arms.

"Please, that would be a great help to me." Eragon gently moved his brother to a nearby bed as Vanir moved away from the door to the wash room. Roran came stumbling out a moment later looking very angry.

"A babysitter! You got me a babysitter!"

"If I hadn't you would be walking into a very nasty storm right about now and would probably get caught by Galbatorix and turned into his puppet."

"I don't' believe this! I am a rider too Eragon! You should respect me!"

"Respect is earned, not given" Vanir said coldly from where he was tending to Murtaghs'

injuries "Your cousin earned my respect after he proved that he was worthy of it, and I must say before he managed to prove he was worthy of it he conducted himself in a better manner than you do."

"And how do I prove myself worthy of respect oh wise and knowing elf" Roran mocked Vanir. Eragon took a couple of steps away from Roran as Vanir launched himself at Roran and dangled him out of the dragon entrance in the side of the house. Silvress kept a close eye on them without any real alarm. He had gotten to know Vanir well enough to know that he wouldn't do any permanent damage to him. Eragon went to Murtagh and continued to heal his wounds.

"A good place to start would be to stop acting like a simpering child." Vanir continued to scold Roran for the next couple of hours until he saw Glaedr and the other dragons flying towards the tree house. He tossed Roran inside and went back to work on Murtagh muttering under his breath about childish humans. When Glaedr flew inside it was obvious that he was carrying something in his claws. Oromis climbed down nimbly and set the last dragon egg on the table. It was a pure white egg. Oromis appeared to be arguing about something with the large dragon and finally it seemed that he won. Glaedr opened his claws up and showed Oromis. Oromis stood in shock for a few moments; Eragon wanting to know what he had seen looked over. It made him freeze in horror. In Glaedrs claws was what appeared to be a fetus that was stored in an odd looking container. From the shape that the features would have taken had it been allowed to develop to term it would have probably been an elf. Oromis was shaking like a leaf in the wind.

"Is… Is it alive?"

It is faint but I can sense life within it.

How can this be? It was over a hundred years ago and she looked as if she were still pregnant.

Galbatorix used dark and twisted magic to preserve it in a state just before it was to be born. He managed to do so that the fetus could remain alive indefinitely. It was the source of his power. Now he no longer has that unnatural power. The child can be saved Oromis, it can live.

Oromis looked as pale as death as he walked outside of the tree house. He did not take any notice of Sahkur-rah as she flew in, bloody and bruised and flushed with victory.

Note: Elemental magic does not require energy, just concentration as the elementals themselves provide their own energy and have an inexaustable amount.

So what should be done with the fetus?