Chapter 5: The Truth.
The sun glared down after almost four hours of morning, Murtagh blinked awake in Tornac's saddle.
Both Tornac and Snowfire were exhausted to the point of stopping, but they kept up the relentless pace. Whether it would be enough to outdistance the Urgals was a question of how well rested the Urgals were... and whether the horses could survive the pace.
"Shouldn't you have woken me at sunrise?" Murtagh yawned.
"I wasn't tired" Eragon kept his eyes focused on the trail, and on guiding Snowfire and Tornac "So I didn't see any reason too."
It was the truth, but Eragon also didn't want to wake him as a silent apology, for yesterday. The argument had been forgotten due to the Urgals, but the stiffness and ache no doubt remained in Murtagh's wrist, despite the healing.
The mountains cast shadows over the path, removing the warmth from the sun, his eyes flicked over to the north, where the Hadarac desert was a thin white band, glowing under the sun.
From high above Saphira voice echoed into his mind 'I must eat. Days have passed since I last hunted and hunger claws at my belly. If I start now I might be able to snag enough of these dear for a few mouthfuls.'
Eragon snorted at her exaggeration 'Alright, but bring Arya down first.'
After transferring Arya from Saphira to Snowfire, she took off anticipating the hunt. Eragon ran beside Snowfire, easily keeping pace with the horse. One of his arm snaked around Arya's waist holding her upright and ensuring she didn't fall.
Half an hour passed and Eragon received notice of Saphira success. They stopped at a pond to let the horses drink.
Barely a minute after stopping his eyes had locked onto a group of horsemen on a hill just in front of them.
Zar'roc was drawn and Murtagh's hand and a half sword soon joined it, gleaming in the shadows.
"Could they be the Varden?" he asked pointing his sword towards them, and keeping his eyes locked on them as well.
"The Varden are still many leagues away. If it is them, then it's either a raiding or scouting party."
"So they're most likely bandits."
"Probably" Eragon headed over a covered Arya in a blanket, they may have seen her, but from that distance they couldn't tell she was an elf, and Eragon intended to keep it that way "Should we try and outrun them?"
Murtagh took a glance from Eragon, to their horses and finally back to the group "It wouldn't do any good" he said shaking his head "Tornac and Snowfire are warhorses, and they're tired, the horses they have are meant for sprinting. We couldn't get half a mile away. Besides they might have something important to say."
A smirk spread across Eragon's face, he was excited about this, and he didn't know why.
"You should tell Saphira to get back here. Few sane people will dare fight against a dragon."
"Already done" answered Eragon, having contacted her just before Murtagh spoke.
'Be careful, remembered that magic can save you where speed and luck fail' she warned racing towards them, skimming across the land.
'Somehow, I doubt I'll need luck' his smirk widened further.
"Even with a dragon, we may have to kill enough of them to convince them we're not worth the effort" Murtagh's face was controlled, he was calm and unemotional, unlike Eragon who was shaking in anticipation "You okay?"
Eragon glanced over to Murtagh, who saw the sadistic grin that marred his face, a grin Murtagh had never seen before "Fine, utterly fine" was Eragon low and dangerous answer.
Murtagh put a hand on his should calmingly "They might be allies, don't forget that."
"I won't."
But despite that assurance, the smirk bothered Murtagh, the murder in Eragon crimson eyes told him that Eragon barely cared if they were allies or enemies.
Eragon let his wine red blade glimmer making sure that the horsemen could see it.
The man at the front, sat on a sorrel horse and with a mace in hand, gave a signal and the horseman cantered towards them.
Eragon's ears picked up whoops and cheers from the horsemen as they shook their javelins above their heads.
Their weapons were rusted and stained, four of the horsemen trained arrows on Eragon and Murtagh were they stood.
The leader swirled his mace in the air and the men encircled Eragon and Murtagh.
Murtagh was worried, but Eragon just had a confident smirk on his face.
Once they had completely encircled Eragon and Murtagh, the leader headed through the group and eyes the two critically. He raised his eyebrows "Well these are better than the usual dregs we find! At least we got healthy ones this time and we didn't even have to shot them. Grieg will be pleased."
The men chuckled.
"No as for you two, if you would be so good as to drop your weapons, you'll avoid being turned into living quivers by my men" the archers grinned at this, and the men laughed again.
Murtagh only movement was to shift his sword "Who are you and what do you want? We are free men travelling through this land. You have no right to stop us."
"Oh I have every right" said the man contemptuously "And as for my name, slaves do not address their masters in the manner, unless they want to be beaten."
Murtagh scowled, and gripped his sword all the tighter.
The lines deepened on the leaders face "Throw down your swords and surrender" he demanded, the salvers tensed staring at them with cold eyes as neither Murtagh nor Eragon lowered their weapons.
"Torkenbrand this one's an elf!" shouted one man, cursing mentally Eragon turned and found one man had pulled the blankets of Arya revealing her face.
The leader spurred his horse over to the elf, looked down at her and whistled.
"Well 'ow much she worth?" someone asked.
"At the very least, fortunes upon fortunes. The empire will pay a mountain of gold for her!"
The slavers cheered and pounded each other the back.
"You know Murtagh, we should probably ignore pathetic shits stains like these, they aren't worth licking the crap off of our boots" Eragon added his two cents.
The slavers all froze and turned to glare at him.
"You dare address your master like that. I'll have you licking shit from my boots if you aren't careful son" warned Torkenbrand, bringing his horse back in front of Eragon.
"You see Murtagh" Eragon shrugged "Not worth our time, hopefully if we just ignore them they'll go away" the slavers laughed "If not we'll have to squash them like the bugs that they are" now they stopped laughing.
"You little..." mace spinning Torkenbrand took a swing. Eragon grabbed the mace with his and right in front of his own face.
The slavers stared in shock as Eragon held the metal, no injury on his palm and it didn't move another inch despite the force placed behind such a blow.
Eragon looked Torkenbrand straight in the eye, letting his crimson gaze scare the shit out of the man "Die" it was a simple word, or was it a promise, either way combined with the wine red blade of Zar'roc entering his neck it was a self fulfilling prophecy.
"SHOOT 'EM!" cried one sending the archer into action.
"Jierda" said Eragon, the magic spilling into him like burning hot metal, the necks of several horsemen of the broke, their heads hung limply to one side, the archers were the focus of his assault.
"You little cunts dare attack me, do you have any idea who I am?" asked Eragon, staring at them, they were frozen in place by his bloody glare.
"No! Surprising, well there is only one thing, I think, useful to know about me... run" his warning spurred the horsemen into actions and following his advice they galloped away.
Murtagh chuckled "Nice work."
Eragon kept his gaze on the fleeing horses "Oro reisa" arrows raised from the quivers of the dead men, and spread out in front of their gaze "Thrysta!"
The arrows shot off, before Murtagh could even get a word in, they pierced the bodies of the horsemen, killing most and those that weren't soon would be due to injuries.
Saphira landed a small way a ways 'That was cold' she admonished.
"Why did you do that?" asked Murtagh staring in shock "They were fleeing!"
"Better them dead than the Urgals capturing one alive and using them to find us" was Eragon's simple reasoning.
"They had horses, they could have escaped."
"I didn't want to take that chance" Eragon looked Murtagh dead in the eyes "Better them than us."
A sigh, then a nod agreeing with his statement "Alright, I understand" another sigh "Let's just go."
'You've changed, you would have never considered such a heartless act before...' she left what was before, but her meaning couldn't have been clearer, before he was a shade.
'Everyone changes Saphira' he said sharply, then sighing and taking a calming breath he added 'If you're still hungry help yourself' he gestured to Torkenbrand corpse and stomped away, intent on readying Snowfire for travel.
Eragon sat in the saddle, the steady beat of Saphira's wings calming him, the feeling of freedom doing much the same.
'We have come far, given you are riding deer' Saphira commented, as they looked back over the distance they had already covered.
'Hmm, but if we don't make it to the Varden by tomorrow, it's likely that Arya will die' he frowned.
'Perhaps you should contact her as she requested' said Saphira, diving then rising.
'Maybe... huh' he stared out over the surrounding landscape 'I don't know what to do, the horses are exhausted, they look like they're about to collapse and to be honest, I don't know what to do about it.'
'Is there not some spell you could use to make them well rested?'
'I don't know, I probably could but I don't know how much strength it would take and...'
'You don't want to lose yourself.'
Eragon frowned down at the earth that was many feet away.
'Eragon, about the slavers... did...'
'I don't know' said Eragon, his voice cold 'It's complicated. I wanted to kill them Saphira... I wanted it so much it hurt. I knew I was going to kill all of them long before they had spoken, before I knew whether they were enemy or ally I knew I was going to kill every last one of them. When I told them to run, I enjoyed their fear... and their hope, and I craved to crush it... and crush it I did.'
He shivered, and not from the cold 'I...'
'It's alright little one.'
'Is it?' Eragon shook his head, clearing away such thought 'Saphira, are you seeing what I'm seeing?' he asked hopefully.
'Sorry little one, I am.'
'Great' Eragon sighed as he stared at it 'Take us down.'
They landed with a thud beside Murtagh who pulled the horses to a stop "What's up?"
"The sky strangely enough" was Eragon witty response, which received a snort of amusement "The Urgals are overtaking us" he said gesturing back to the columns camp.
"How far do we still have to go?" asked Murtagh staring at the sun, trying to calculate the time before sunset.
"Normally, I'd guess five days. At the pace we've been travelling three, but to be honest we need to get there tomorrow. And so we need to ride through the night, not stopping for anything, not even sleep."
"Couldn't she last another day?" asked Murtagh frowning.
"She could, but I don't want to take that chance."
Murtagh considered it a few moment "I could leave, let you and Saphira fly to the Varden, you could easily make it on dragon back, and the Urgal would be forced to split their troops so..."
"That's suicide Murtagh, I really don't want you dead. You see, I've already seen an entire village slaughtered by Urgals. I lose a friend, and it might turn into such a deep hatred that I slaughter everyone single Urgal in a massive act of genocide."
Murtagh frowned, unsure if he was kidding or not.
"The only way we can be safe, is by taking refuge with the Varden."
"I'll escape later" Murtagh said quickly "Down a side valley of the like then I can find my way to Surda where I can hide out without raising too much suspicion."
"So you're staying?" asked Eragon.
"Sleep or no sleep, I'll see you to the Varden" promised Murtagh.
And so they rode, trying to put more distance between themselves and the Urgals, but still they crept forwards and by the time night fell a full third of the distance separating Eragon and Murtagh from the Urgals had been lost.
Eragon kept lead when Murtagh slept, his mind wide awake with an obsession driven strength, fatigue ignored, along with ache and pain.
He relied heavy on Arya memories and only once did he make a mistake. After that he made no more, they angled towards the foothills of the eastern arm of the mountains, looking for the valley that would lead them to the Varden.
Midnight passed with no sign of it.
The sun rose, covering the land in light. The Urgals were far behind now, something that greatly pleased Eragon and Murtagh.
"This is the last day" Murtagh turned to look at him "If we're not reasonably close to the Varden by noon, I'm going to survey our position and decide whether or not to fly ahead with Arya, sorry."
"I expected nothing less, trust me" Murtagh just grinned half heartedly "We could still make it though."
"We could" agreed Eragon, but he doubted it.
Much later in the morning, at almost midday, having circumnavigated a particularly broad mountain he saw it.
A narrow valley that could easily be overlooked, the Beartooth River flowed from it and Eragon grinned, they were on the right track.
He glanced back, then kept his gaze firmly planted ahead "We better try and sneak into that" he pointed to the valley.
"Why?"
"Look behind you Murtagh" Eragon kept looking straight forwards, whilst Murtagh turned.
"Shit... well it's worth a shot, but they've followed us easily enough so far."
"I noticed" Eragon spurred Snowfire onwards at a quicker pace, the proximity of the Urgals barely a league behind them keeping him going.
The knotted branches of the Beors mountains forest hung overhead as they approached. The trees were tall, creviced bark that was almost black, dull needles of a similar colour and knobby roots that rose from the earth like bares knees all added up into one creepy forest.
Cones littered the ground each the size of a horse's head. Sable squirrels chattered from the treetops, and eyes gleamed from holes from holes in the trunks. This place was hostile, it was as if the very tree resented their intrusion.
'They are very old' stated Saphira touching one tree with her nose.
'They don't seem too pleased to see us.'
The forest grew denser and Saphira, who had travelled with them since the morning, was forced into the air with Arya.
There was no trail and Murtagh and Eragon were flowed the by tough underbrush. The beartooth flowed next to them, filling the air with the sound of gurgling water. A nearby peak obscured the sun and threw them into premature dusk.
At the valley mouth Eragon realised that, although it looked like a slim gash, it was in fact as wide as many of the spines vales. The enormous size of the mountains merely made it look small.
"The Varden are hidden at the end of this valley" he told Murtagh "If we hurry we can make it by nightfall, hopefully."
Murtagh grunted "How am I supposed to get out of here?" he asked moodily, it seemed the closer to the Varden they were the worse Murtagh mood got "I don't see any valleys joining this one and the Urgals are bound to hem us in pretty soon. I need an escape route."
Saphira landed in a nearby glade 'I just passed a flock of birds that were black and green with rd markings on their wings. I've never seen bird like that before.'
'This is a strange place' replied Eragon 'I'm going to ride with you for a bit, look for an exit for Murtagh and keep an eye on the Urgals, do you mind.'
'Of course not.'
He turned back to Murtagh "I'll fly with Saphira, see if I can't find one, okay?" Murtagh frowned "This is a long valley, there bound to be an exit further in" he promised. He headed over to Saphira and shifted the elf from her belly to Snowfire "Look after Arya would ya?"
"Be careful" Murtagh warned, his brow furrowed, in either thought or frustration, then headed off with the horses.
Eragon watched them leave deep in though.
'Something wrong little one?'
'No, everythings fine' Eragon clambered up onto Saphira and strapped himself into the saddle 'Do you think we reach one of those peaks, we might be able to see the waterfall?' he asked as she kicked off into the sky.
'Perhaps, but it will get much colder.'
'I'm dressed warmly' he said grinning confidently, feeling Saphira excitement at flying so high.
'Hold on then' with that brief warning she shot straight up, throwing him backwards in the saddle, her wings flapping madly, driving their weight upwards. And soon the valley was little more than a green line below them, the Beartooth River shimmered like silver where the light struck it.
They rose to the cloud layer, an icy moister saturated the air and they went right through it, letting the gray blanket consume them, limiting their vision to an arm's length.
Eragon looked around with a grin, enjoying the flight. He barely noticed water running down his entire body, soaking him completely.
He watched a dove fly past him, Saphira went for it, her jaws snapping closed just behind its tail feather, he chuckled at its utter terror, only seeing the white band round its leg afterwards.
'Looks like it's some type of messenger bird' he said struggling to see it again as it had faded into the cloud, Saphira gave him no response.
The breached the clouds soon after, emerging from it in a strong glide, water glimmered on Saphira scales, like tiny rainbows.
Eragon shook himself, letting some of the water fly from his clothes and hair.
Rather than forest, snow and ice covered the mountains now, glowing a pure white under the sun. The glare was harsh but Eragon's eyes could handle it.
'Quite bright isn't it' he commented looking around in amazement.
'True' Saphira gave her strange growling laugh at his interest in everything up here.
Soon it turned frigid, the water in his hair froze, forming his hair into a hard helmet, his clothes too froze, forming hard shells around his legs and torso. Saphira scales became slick with ice, hoarfrost laced her wing.
They had never flown this high before, yet the mountaintops were still miles above them.
Saphira's flapping gradually slowed, her breathing became laboured. Eragon's own was struggling.
'Saphira, we have to go down' he said, but Saphira seemed not to hear him 'Saphira, down! SAPHIRA!'
He swung a fist down on her side "SAPHRIA!"
'She can't hear me' he realised.
Focusing on her mind, he pressed against it, trying to reach her 'SAPHIRA!' when she didn't hear that he smashed into her mind.
Forcing himself into control of her body was a strange and unpleasant experience, he could now feel her own confusion. She truly didn't know what was going on, but he kept it up and forced her to glide down, using his limited knowledge of flying to guide them.
Soon they were below the cloud level, he slowly removed himself, very slowly, so she could get to grips with what was going on.
'Sorry' he apologized, knowing how she felt about the experience, it was utterly degrading, but he had to do it.
'It's alright little one, what happened up their?' he could feel her confusion, and to be honest he was confused as well, but quickly set his mind to figure it out.
'I think we ran out of air' he said after a minute.
'Ran out of air?'
'Yeah, it must be that there's air down here, but... it must get less up there or something.'
'I see' they were silent for several moments 'We must remember this, if we must ever fight another rider, it will be useful knowledge.'
'Yeah' Eragon watched the ground know, looking at the Urgals who had know reached the valleys mouth 'How are they moving so fast?'
Saphira took a few moments to examine the column 'Now that we are closer I can see that these Urgals are bigger than those we encountered before. They would stand head and shoulder over a tall man. I...'
'If they keep this up they'll catch up to Murtagh before we reach the Varden.'
'Could you stop them with magic?' Saphira asked gliding gently on the wind.
'Stop them... I don't know, I'm not sure... but...' a grin spread across his face as his eyes landed on the thin layer of mist that coated the valleys floor 'Maybe I can slow them' he carefully selected the words needed from his arsenal "Gath un reisa du sakr!"
The valley was disturbed, from above it looked like the ground itself was flowing together into a great sluggish river. A leaden band of mist gathered in front of the Urgals and thickened into an intimidating wall, dark as a thunderhead.
They hesitated before it but kept charging, like battering ram. The barrier swirled around them concealing the lead franks from view.
Feeling pain strike at his skull he released the magic, letting the mist dissipate, the fog fell to the ground like a mud tower sliding apart.
The Urgals had not been hindered at all.
"FUCK!" he roared trying to pour all of his anger into the word.
But he couldn't and it grew stronger, he lifted his glowing palm, other words at the tip of his tongue ready to burn every Urgal into oblivion.
'Eragon!' Saphira inserted pointedly.
His hand fell back down 'Sorry, I forgot that magic was affected by distance.'
'Honestly, are you trying to kill yourself' she growled angrily.
'Of course not. I would never try to deny you the rights to such an act.'
She snorted.
'Let's go down.'
Murtagh turned from his examination of the ground as they landed. When he noticed Eragon rubbing his head he asked warily "You okay?"
"I'm good. Just made a mistake" Murtagh looked at his questioningly "The Urgals have entered the valley, I tried to distract them, and forgot on the rules of magic, and it cost me" he said truthfully.
Murtagh nodded, then pointed over his shoulder to the patch he had been examining before they landed "I found some wolf tracks, that are as wide as both of my hand an easily an inch deep. There are animal around here that might be dangerous to even you Saphira" he turned to her "I know you can't enter the forest but could you circle above me and the horses? That should keep these beasts away. Otherwise there may only enough left of me to roast in a thimble?"
"Humour Murtagh?" he gave a quick smile but the pain in his temple was distracting him.
"Only on the gallows" Murtagh rubbed at his eyes "I can't believe that the same Urgals have been following us the whole time. They would have to be birds to catch up with us!"
"Saphira said they're bigger than the other Urgals we've encountered, head and shoulders over a man."
"Shit" Murtagh cured, clutched at the pommel of his blade "That explains it. They must be Kull, the elite of the Urgals. I should have guessed the chieftain had been put in charge of them. They don't use horses because none could carry their weight. Not one is under eight feet tall and they can run for days without sleep and still be ready for battle. It takes five men to kill one."
Eragon looked back to where, although he couldn't see them, he knew the Kull charged.
"They never leave their caves except for war, so they must expect a great slaughter to be out in such numbers."
"I always did like a bloodbath" muttered Eragon "Can we keep ahead of them?" his thoughts turning from killing to the elf's plight.
"Who knows? They're strong, determined and in large numbers. It's possible we'll have to fight them, and if that happens we better hope the Varden have men posted nearby who'll help us. Despite our skill, Saphira and your magic I doubt we can hold off such numbers" Murtagh kept scanning the valley whilst he talked, worry in his eyes.
He was looking for an exit, Eragon knew that "There'll be one further in."
"Of course" he said with forced optimism "We better go."
"How's Arya?" he asked looking over to Snowfire where she sat, fevered and tossing and turning in the saddle.
"The fevers worse and she's been tossing and turning like that for hours. What do you expect? Her strength's failing, you should fly ahead now to the Varden before the poison does any more damage."
Eragon reached out and gripped Murtagh's forearm "I won't leave you behind with the Urgals so near, that'd be like killing you."
Murtagh shrugged, but there was thankfulness in his eyes "As you wish. But I'm warning you, she won't live if you stay with me."
"And you'll most likely die if I leave you. You're my friend" the words made Murtagh flinch, but he smiled all the same "She's just some elf, I would prefer her to die than you."
"Thanks" he said quietly.
An Urgal horn interrupted them.
"Go, I'll keep an eye on the Urgals, I'm sure I can slow them down somewhat."
Murtagh nodded and ran over to the horses, grabbed the reigns and lead them off along with river.
Eragon growled in frustration as he remounted Saphira 'Saphira, could we take Arya to the Varden, they fly back and help Murtagh.'
'They wouldn't let you go little one, they'd want to know why you've brought a company of Kull to their door step and if you forced you way out they might not help Arya.'
'We could just tell them the truth and hope they trust us.'
At this Saphira snorted 'We aren't exactly arriving in the best circumstances to gain their trust. What will we do if the Kull attack?'
'Fight of course, I won't let either of them die.'
'If you had to choose Eragon, which?'
It was a cold question, but Eragon had answered it already 'You already know, I will stick with Murtagh. I know him, I care about him. The elf is just some elf. I don't know her and barely care about her.'
'But you do' she said carefully.
'Yes.'
Saphira remained quiet a few moments 'If they attacked, we would kill many, you with sword and magic, and my weapon as tooth and claw. But in the end we would be overwhelmed. There are too many.'
Eragon was quiet. Thinking carefully 'I still don't know the limits of my strength, and that anger could only be damaging to the Urgals, so surely I could...'
'NO! Do not even think of that little one' Eragon blinked he hadn't realised he had been projecting these thoughts to Saphira.
'Saphira why...'
'Each time you overexert yourself it gets worse Eragon, I know you've noticed it. Whether it's just emotions or the shade I don't know but... Eragon I don't want to lose you.'
Eragon carefully guarded his thoughts now 'Of course, why didn't I think of it before it's just like Durza said 'The Spirits inside of you are devouring your very being' they must've been the demons. But I didn't kill them did I, no I just defeated them, brought colour to the landscape and yet they still existed in that colour. Why didn't I realise this before? It's not a shade, nor emotions, it's the spirits they're what's causing this anger, they're the source of this magic. Of course the more I pull on their magic the more I must pull on their own emotions, I can handle it in small dosages but too much and...' he thought of the splitting headaches.
'And yet that just brings more danger. Because if I use too much of their magic, they'll take over won't they. So I have to be even more careful. But now I understand it, and that can only be a good thing.'
'I understand Saphira, I won't consider it' he promised.
'Good. Eragon I may have a plan.'
'A plan?'
'Yes' she slid through the air elegantly 'We could strike first.'
'What? But the Urgals would...' Eragon grinned 'They couldn't do anything.
'Exactly we could cause so much damage from a safe height.'
'So, rocks do you think?' he asked charmingly, her inspired plan eating away all his worries and thoughts.
'Yes, if their heads aren't thick enough to block them.'
They landed in the river where Saphira picked up one small boulder in her claws. Eragon went for something more numerous "Stern Reisa."
'Eragon...' she said warningly.
'Don't worry' stones circled around his body, about twenty of them each the size of a fist 'I could carry this before, I can do it now, and to throw them will be just like me throwing them only with more force. I'll be fine.'
She glided on silent wings over the Urgal horde, he knew they were down in the forest below, he let the rocks spread out slightly.
'Now!' Saphira dropped her boulder and with a simple incantation of "Thrysta" the twenty stone were also shot into the group. Numerous cracks sounded their success and Urgal cries could be head ads they scrambled for cover.
Eragon grinned 'Let's find some more ammunition' her roar of approval was all the answer he needed.
It was long hard work, each time they went to collect more rocks the Urgals gained ground, but their combined efforts killed a good few of the Kull and slowed them down so that Murtagh could maintain a lead.
But when night truly fell and there was neither sun nor moon to guide them they were forced to stop their bombardment. Despite her keen hearing and delicate sense of smell Saphira could no longer locate the horde through the dense forest.
As they descended Eragon was fairly certain he saw a faint white line ahead 'We're close.'
And affirmative growl answered his words.
'We should head to Murtagh and stick with him now. They could sneak up on him in this.'
Saphira nodded and banked down and to the left, she landed on the left side of the Beartooth River and crouched expectantly.
Eragon leapt down.
'He comes.'
But even before Saphira's word Eragon had heard the stomp of hooves.
Murtagh emerged from the wood, he saw them but didn't slow. Eragon started running and soon matched Murtagh's pace, Saphira dived into the river so that she could move easily.
"I saw you dropping rocks onto the Urgals, ambitious" he said with a grin "Have they stopped or turned back."
"No they're still on us. But we're nearly there, how's the elf?"
"Alive" said Murtagh quickly, keeping up the quick pace. His next words were calm and collected, but Eragon could tell there was a feverous passion hidden behind them "Is there a valley or gorge ahead that I can leave through?"
"It's dark" Eragon started slowly "I might have missed something..." Murtagh slowed slightly almost sensing the next words "But no."
And with that he pulled to a stop, forcing the horses to stop with him "Are you saying the only place I can go is the Varden?" he shouted uncaring if the Urgals heard.
"Basically, but we better move if we don't want to end up as the next meal of the Kull."
"NO!" shouted Murtagh angrily, he stabbed a finger towards Eragon "I warned you that I would not to the Varden, but you went ahead and trapped me between a hammer and an anvil! You have the elf's memories why didn't you tell me this was a dead end?"
"I knew where to go, not what lay in-between. And if we don't move it going to be our dead end!" Eragon tried to keep quiet but it was pointless as Murtagh's shouts had no doubt drawn their attention.
His breath hissed between his teeth as he turned away, tense like a cornered wolf.
'Why have you stopped?' asked Saphira alarmed.
'Give me a moment' he reached forwards and gently placed a hand on Murtagh's shoulder "What's your quarrel with the Varden?" he asked calmly "I meant what I said those... some days ago. I won't judge you, I don't have the right!"
There was a long silence.
'The Urgals' warned Saphira.
'I know, but we need to sort this now.'
'Well do it quickly.'
"Murtagh" he said gently "Trust me. Unless you wish to die we must go to the Varden. It's going to be dangerous enough without unnecessary surprises so tell me. I won't let them hurt you" he promised.
Murtagh finally turned to Eragon and locked eyes with him "You have a right to know I guess. More than most" he paused then continued in a tortured voice "You see the truth is that... my father is..." he paused as if unable to continue "I am the son of Morzan, first and last of the Forsworn."