He was sitting on a cliff, looking out over a dark expanse of clouds, dark and roiling like a black sea, no ground in sight. His feet dangled for a moment, and then a compulsion took him. He jumped. The light fell away as he was immersed instantly in dark clouds, dampness all around him as he plummeted down, down. Something was wrong, there was a hand on his side, pushing him...
"Come on, wake up."
Jarvis opened his bleary eyes to Arien, crouching over him and trying to stir him awake.
"Alright, I'm up. What time is it?"
The sky was still dark, but there was a faint light on the horizon.
"Just before dawn. We must make good time if we are to reach the southern tip of Lake Leona by nightfall."
Jarvis pushed himself into a sitting position and rubbed his forehead. The same obscure dreams plagued him since he had escaped. Always a cliff, and always he jumped into darkness. Arien sat across from him and produced a loaf of bread, breaking of a piece which he accepted with a mumbled thanks.
"Something wrong?"
Jarvis shook himself, he had been staring at his bread, lost in thought. He put a bit in his mouth and chewed hungrily.
"No. Nothing wrong."
He looked up at the elf.
"How about you? You alright?"
Arien continued to chew her bread for a moment, angular jaw working noislessly. Then she swallowed and nodded.
"Yes. I think so."
Jarvis fiddled with his ring absentmindedly, swiveling it around on his forefinger with a thumb.
"I'm sorry you had to see that, I didn't know you were, ah, not, well, you know..."
He trailed off awkwardly, but the elf nodded, getting his point.
"I was a spellcaster before I joined the Varden. Little to no swordsman training. I thought it would be an adventure. My mother knew more than I did, and she refused to condone it. Now I think I know why."
The assassin finished the last scrap of bread and watched a lizard pull itself sluggishly to the top of a spiky bush, spreading in preparation for the sun that would soon break over the distant plains. From their vantage point Jarvis could see the Lake Leona, little wind-driven waves breaking constantly on the pebbly shore.
"The first one is always the hardest to watch, but it gets easier with time."
"I don't know If I want it to get easier."
Jarvis said nothing. Arien finished her breakfast and the two of them approached the horses that had been tied to a tree the previous night. The grazing animals looked up from their grass as they approached, Arien teaching Jarvis the sentence i the anciet language that would assure his steed he meant no harm. Once the mounts were pacified, Jarvis pulled himself into the saddle, much less gracefully than Arien next to him. He had never been much of a horseman.
***
Arien stood on the crest of the hill, looking down into the dimly glowing city of Bellatona. They were both tired, patrols dogged the roads and more than once they were almost seen. Finnaly the stress had gotten to Jarvis and he had insisted that they move farther form the road. As a result they had overshot Bellatona by a good mile and were now on a ridge over looking the Jiet river. The massive ribbon of blue twisted through the grassy plains, the gravel road running parallel to it, looking like twin snakes in the fading light. The bridge was unguarded, but the approach to the castle was almost perfectly flat. The city walls could see for miles in any direction, and would pick them up instantly. Jarvis heaved a deep sigh and Arien twisted around to look at him.
"You know you could help instead of simply groaning."
Jarvis retreated from the berm and began to rummage through his horses saddlebag, looking for food.
Arien turned back to the city, shading her eyes against the evening sun. After watching for another few minutes she joined Jarvis in procuring something to eat. The assassin flicked his hood up against a gust of wind.
"So? What's the plan?"
Arien shrugged.
"I haven't the faintest idea."
"Aren't you supposed to be a magician? Why can't you just make us invisible?"
Arien shook her head.
"Already thought of that. Pure invisibility is hard to maintain while moving. I would be dead before we covered the whole distance. Unless..."
"Unless what?" Jarvis questioned
The elf did not say anything in reply but walked toward Jarvis, who eyed her apprehensively.
"Turn around."
Jarvis hesitated.
"Why? What are you-"
Arien rolled her eyes.
"I'm not going to bite you, just do it."
Jarvis faced away from her slowly. Common sense dictated that something as crafty as an elf demanded at least one eye at all times, if not two. Arien pressed her hand onto the back of his cloak and muttered a long sentence in the ancient language. Jarvis didn't notice any difference, and the elf stepped away.
"Turn your head and look now at your back."
Jarvis craned his head uncomfortably and looked at the back of his cloak.
One half of it showed the dark green of the grass, interspersed with loose rocks and dirt here and there. The top half reflected the exact hue of the sky, even matching the sparse clouds that hung over the sunset. He grinned broadly for the first time that day.
"This is incredible!"
Arien looked at it ponderously.
"I think I can maintain that without too much effort. We'll just wait until nightfall."
Jarvis sat down and leaned against a weather-worn boulder. He rummaged in his pack, and after a few moments produced a pipe and began smoking. Thick wafts of fragrant smoke issued from his lips now and then. Arien wrinkled her nose, her heightened sense of smell overwhelmed by the pungent herbs. She moved a little so as not to be downwind from him. Of all the races, save maybe the Urgals, the humans had the oddest habits.
"We will have to leave the horses."
Jarvis blew out a stream of blue vapor and nodded glumly. He had been enjoying the few days of respite a beast of burden had provided.
***
The sentry sat, almost unmoving in the tower, his eyes aching from the effort of keeping them open. There had been a raucous night at the bar only a day ago and he was still recovering, his limbs leaden and his body plagued by headaches. A patch of grass caught his attention. Or rather, the two odd shimmers that were moving through it, slight distortions in the grassy slope that lead up to the city walls. The guard stood and rubbed his eyes. They were gone.
"Trick of the eyes..." He murmured to himself.
***
Arien breathed out deeply. She had been staring at the bottoms of Jarvis's boots for almost two hours since they crawled on all fours, camouflaged, over the distance between them and the walls. Twice they had rested, even the elf's arms slowing down as fatigue seeped into them with a dull ache. At last they reached the wall, the perfectly mortared stone towering above their heads.
"It's bigger up close." Jarvis muttered as he pushed himself into a crouch.
Arien pulled a length of rope from her pack and tied a large metal claw on the end. She wrapped the hook with a layer of cloth to muffle the clattering sound it would make. The elf took a few steps back and threw the weight overhand. It sailed in a graceful ark over the rampart and there was a distant thud. Gently she reeled the line in until it caught on something. After a few tugs to ensure it could bear their weight she lept nimbly onto it and began hoisting herself up, Jarvis close behind. Two shadows spilled onto the top of the battlements. Arien placed the grappling hook back into her bag and motioned for Jarvis to follow. Carefully they made their way past a guard tower, it's lone inhabitant snoring gently, and down a wooden scaffold, dropping silently to the paved street.
"Where do we go from here? No one will have us at this hour in the morning." Jarvis hissed to the elf.
"There are some. We came in by this direction for a reason. This is the market quarter, no one ever asks questions if you hand them a coin or two."
They moved off, making their way inwards into the city, eyes open for a inn with a light on. The pair appeared as ghosts in the darkness, only observed by a few creatures. A tomcat watched them from his perch on a wooden fence, whiskers twitching slightly in the cold wind coming off of the Jiet River. At last they stumbled into a main intersection and saw a yellow beam of light and voices coming from a tavern on the left side of the street. Wearily they made for it, eager to get their feet out from under them. Jarvis paid the barmaid some money and they retired to a room that was small but surprisingly clean. There was only one bed so Jarvis lay in a corner, his cloak pulled tight to ward off the drafts that kept gusting under the door.
***
Jarvis's eyes blinked open and he winced. The light was shining through the window and directly into his eyes. Reluctantly he got up and stumbled to the window. He noticed Arien, sitting on the edge of her bed looking into a small glass vial. After a moment she held it out to him.
"Drink this."
Jarvis took the vial from her outstretched hand and eyed it dubiously.
"And this is...?"
"Antidote. Its been nearly a week, and I can't have you dropping dead just yet."
Jarvis drank the potion in one sip, then made a face.
"Ugh... Tastes awful, what did you put in it?"
The elf smiled slyly and took the bottle back from him.
"You know I can't tell you that. Even if I did, the antidote is just as hard to come by as the poison itself. Very popular in the slave trade."
"So you were going to slip this tom me regardless, am I correct?"
"More or less. I was told you might be unwilling to accompany me."
"I wasn't born onto this earth to fight anyone's battles save my own."
"Sometimes duty compels us to do things for the greater good."
"Think of it from my perspective. Say Galbatorix wins, crushes your rebellion under his heel. What happens to me? My line of work is still much in demand. As long as there are but two people left on this world, I guarantee you, one of them will eventually ask us to kill the other one."
Arien stared at him incredulously
"That's really how you think of everything? In terms of personal gain?"
Jarvis turned from the window and returned her stare.
"Is that so wrong?"
"Yes! Yes it is! What about the other people that share this world with you?"
"What about them?"
Arien shook her head in exasperation
"You must lead a lonely existence."
"Maybe, but at least it is never boring."
The elf stood and picked up her pack
"Come. We must go and find supplies."
***
Jarvis leaned against a temporary barricade in the marketplace, surveying the crowd pensively. Behind him he could hear Arien haggling with a stall owner over the price of a bushel of apples. The square was a beehive of acticity, makeshift stalls adivtised eveything from fine jewelry to cosmetics, to fresh produce. Children chased each other through the market, women perused the stalls, examining things and chatting with friends, and salesmen shouted their pitch to the congregation. All in all it was a bit suffocating and Jarvis was glad when they broke away, even if the elf volunteered him to carry the goods she had purchased.
"Now we just need... Leather, alright, I think the tanners is just up the street this way."
Together they walked up the cobbled street, doging children and the occasional horse. Before stepping into the shop Arien checked her pocket and cursed.
"Blast, I don't have hardly any money left!"
Jarvis set down the basket of items and reached into his own pocket, withdrawing a small moleskin pouch that jingled faintly. He tossed it to the elf who caught it and looked at him incredulously.
"Where did you get this?"
"Ah, found it. Sitting on a counter all alone."
"We can't pay with this, this is stolen."
"Relax, I'm pretty sure it belonged to a wealthy man."
"That still doesn't make it right!"
"But it makes it better than wrong. Look, if you don't want it I'd like to have it back, there was an absolutely beautiful pipe back there that was singing my name."
Arien expression did not change but she took the coins grudgingly
"You are an unscrupulous beggar and no doubt."
"Would you love me if I were anything but a rascal?"
Rolling her eyes, the elf straightened her cap and walked into the tannery, a smiling Jarvis close behind.
***
Night stretched on as Jarvis and Arien dashed over the plains. He almost missed the city now, but it was long gone, a little blip on the horizon that had faded into obscurity as the days went by. Their travel followed a strict pattern. Awake at dawn, they would eat a sparse meal and run the rest of the day, as much as their muscles could tolerate, taking breaks every so often to let their legs stop aching and catch their collective breath. Jarvis had been a good deal more winded than Arien, who he suspected was holding herself back to allow him to keep pace. Still, he made it a point of pride to never ask that they stop, it just happened, almost spontaneously, and they spoke little through out the day. A few hours after nightfall, just when Jarvis was reaching his breaking point they would stop and eat a meal before going to bed. He slept so soundly he doubted that he would wake even if he was struck by a rock. This night seemed to be different however, he could sense the elf's eagerness, and he knew that Feinster must be close. Jarvis forced his tired limbs to keep running just a few more steps, just a few more steps. They started to go uphill, leaving the plain behind them. Arien seemed to sense Jarvis's exhaustion and slowed to a walk. They crested the hill and Jarvis's tired eyes opened wide. The city of Feinster stretched to their right, but it was what lay just a little ways off that amazed him. Just beyond the range of the cities archers lay a massive camp. Thousands of fires burned in the night, making the surroundings glow with a strange and other-worldly light, casting long faint shadows where it touched upraised rocks.
"Come, we can make it tonight easily, it is not but a mile and a half away."
Jarvis nodded and shook himself, eager for the journey to be over and done with. After a moment of adjusting rucksacks, and drinking some water, the two began their trek down the slope, the elf taking a slightly circular path to avoid the archers effective range from the battlements. A minute passed and Arien broke into a run, Jarvis doggedly following in her footsteps, panting lightly.