A/N: After the longest hiatus I've ever expected to take, I'm back with this chapter. Just know, because of how long my hiatus was and of how I didn't save my content to a Word document all my progress on this chapter was setback. Because of this I've decided to discard the lemon as I don't want to spend most of my time trying to think of how to keep my character's attitudes and reactions close to how Paolini wrote it. Enjoy.~Quil
Eragon
The plan Eragon had given had taken Arya and Murtagh aback, he knew Arya wouldn't go through with it, but he was surprised Murtagh had the same reaction since it wasn't his troops that he had to sacrifice.
"Do you really think I will go through with this Eragon!?" Arya yelled slamming her fist on the table.
"No, but I think this is the only chance we've got to beat these Shades" he countered. He was looking at Arya and of how furious she was with him, almost looking as if she was going to explode in rage.
"I won't let you sacrifice the lives of my troops AND MY citizens!" Arya yelled again.
"Murtagh" Eragon reached out to Murtagh's mind while responding to Arya at the same time. "I know it's hard Arya, but with all of our combined might we MAY be able to save the rest of Alagaësia and some of your elderly and children here in Ellesméra".
"Yes Eragon?" Murtagh responded. Arya was still taken aback she was just sitting in her chair, not saying a word and looking down, as if she was deeply saddened.
"I hope you were able to see past my muse" Eragon stated "At no point in my life will I ever sacrifice the lives of innocents" Eragon with his arms crossed still looked at Arya, Murtagh at Eragon.
"What plan do you REALLY propose brother" Murtagh told Eragon. Eragon's eyes snapped to Murtagh.
Murtagh
Murtagh saw the sadness in Eragon's eyes. His plan may as well be the worst news bearer of the day.
"Instead of sacrificing the lives of innocents, we need to sacrifice ourselves." his brother stated. Murtagh's eyes went wide open. Murtagh looked back at Arya who was still silent and in the same position as before.
"You know Arya will not go through with this plan Eragon" he stated. Eragon made a saddened smile
"That's why I proposed that other plan to Arya, she will not accept the reality that we may as well die" Eragon once again countered.
"How do you plan on sacrificing ourselves?" Murtagh asked.
"Simple" Eragon replied "Use the soldiers as bait and then self destruct, I will inform the magicians of this so they can shield themselves from the blast" Murtagh couldn't believe what Eragon was saying. Nonetheless, his brother continued "If ANY Shades survive the soldiers will be able to pick them off" Arya looked up.
"I will go along with this plan, if my citizens die in vain, you know I wouldn't be able to forgive you Eragon" she said, looking at Eragon.
LATER THAT SAME DAY
Eragon
Eragon and Arya went out to the training grounds, it was nearing night time, but the soldiers were working hard, training for the war against the Shades. When the trainees saw the leader of the Dragon Riders and the Elf Queen herself they moved out of the way and cleared the training area, a circular arena that is held together by wooden beams, the traditional gladiatorial type place. Eragon was surprised to see human architecture in the most elven place possible. He looked at Arya and she just laughed as if it were an inside joke.
They both entered: Eragon with Brisingr and Arya with Támerlein. They both knew the rules, one hit and you're taken out. They chanted the spell which blunted their weapons, then got into their ready positions. Eragon with his sword down to his side and Arya doing the same. One of the trainees shouted
"GO" they sprinted at each other swords at the ready. Eragon was the first to attack, but Arya parried his strike sending them passed each other. They set at each other again, this time Arya attacking first, Eragon countered it however and went for the finishing blow, but Arya expected it and blocked that attack. In a blur of motion each attacked while the latter either blocked or parried the attacker's strike. They clashed, swords sending sparks everywhere. In one instance when they clashed, swords stuck together, one opponent trying to overcome the other, Eragon planted a kiss surprising Arya, at the same moment he flew back and came back towards Arya trying to attack the surprised elf. However, Arya somehow blocked the attack and the battle raged on. Later in the fight, Eragon noticed he was starting to get exhausted, but he had to move forward until he either beat Arya or she beat him. The battle still didn't tilt to anyone's favor as both of them knew each other so well that it's as if they predicted the other's attacks well before the attacker knew what to strike with. Eragon then tripped on his foot on one attack and Arya moved in for easy pickings. However, Eragon rolled behind Arya and swung Brisingr for hopefully the last time. Arya, with the fastest speed possible blocked the attack from behind without even looking. Eragon was so surprised by this and deeply angered, he put himself into a vulnerable position, as if knowing, Arya turned and struck Eragon in the middle of the chest. He knew this would happen and had his sword come down on hers knocking it out of her hand. He struck at the vulnerable elf, but she rolled and picked up Támerlain. They then swung at the same time, striking each other in the chest, ending the match with a tie.
The entire crowd burst out with applause as the master Dragon Rider and the Elf Queen bowed to each other for possibly the finest battle they've had together.
Arya
Arya couldn't believe how much Eragon had grown from a person who could barely even last 10 seconds with her to her equal. Eragon looked at her and she looked at him, it was as if there, she realized her love for him. She blushed and looked away. She was still saddened at the fact of the idea of having her citizens fight until she realized, the dwarves could be of help and replace her citizens rather than have them all slaughtered.
"Eragon, take me to where you're staying, I want to discuss a different plan" she told him. He complied and they walked together to his place. She realized that he was staying at the same place that he was when he first visited Ellesméra. When they entered they sat in the living room, a cozy place with a seat that held 5 people and 3 individual seats. They took a seat on the big seat.
"Eragon, I've come up with people who could replace my citizens" the man looked intrigued.
"And who may these people be?" he asked. Arya still couldn't believe that he had forgotten all about the dwarves, he then blushed and looked down. "I forgot about the dwarves and the Urgals didn't I?" Arya was once again surprised, she herself had forgotten about the Urgals.
"The fight of all races, to help Alagaësia from these fiends." she stated "We may as well win this thing without any innocent casualties". Eragon looked quite relieved at the end of her sentence. "Why are you so relieved Eragon?" she asked. Eragon looked at her, then looked down
"I didn't mean to put your citizen's lives at risk" he said "so I planned to use the self destruct spell with Murtagh to weaken them while your army picks them off". Arya gasped, teas started welling in her eyes, before any fell Eragon came up and hugged her. "But now that I know we can have a much stronger army" he apologized "the chances of us having to use that spell has gone down quite a lot". They kissed yet again, but this was more passionate than the last, they walked to Eragon's room and fell onto his bed.
A/N: Well, there you have it, the end of a new chapter that I planned and wrote in 2 days. I know it's a bit short, but since the battles are coming up I'm sure the chapters will become quite elongated. Take this as me coming back and proof that I'm not dead. Also, in the ending with Arya, that was the planned lemon, but since it was erased and I didn't have it saved, I decided to stop writing it. Hope you enjoyed! ~Quil