Chapter 13 - Death

Arya woke up, and for a bit was not sure of where she was, but all that disappeared as she turned in the bed and saw Eragon sleeping happily beside her. She had no memory of what had happened as the last thing she remembered before waking up was fighting the shade. She once again involuntarily flinched at the thought of Durza. She tried clearing her mind by concentrating on Eragon's face. It worked, the look of peacefulness on his face was contagious, she often marveled at his ability to always comfort her no matter what had happened to her, and the pull she felt towards him since the day she had met him, had only intensified.

Morning emerald-eyes, she heard Saphira say in his mind and was instantly brought out of her inspection of Eragon's face. How are you feeling?

I'm good Saphira, but I'm still not sure what happened, the last thing I remember is fighting against the shade.

Ah, you should've seen it, little one ripped the shade apart piece by piece and then when the dwarves wanted to attack him, he basically threatened them into submission, because of it now the werewolves are officially recognized as allies of the Varden, she said and Arya could detect a hint of pride in her voice as she told the tale.

I'm glad he was able to sort everything with the Varden but I still think he took a great risk by coming to my aid. She was happy he did but at the same time was scared of the lengths he would go to for her. But apparently Saphira didn't think the same.

Arya, why are you scared? she asked, wouldn't you do the same for him? And besides, I doubt there is much that can hurt him. Arya was about to answer back but at that point Saphira started showing her Eragon's memories of the battle. She was taken aback by the reasoning behind saving her, it wasn't because of duty, but because of a need to see her happy and protected. She quietly watched Eragon's memories and was pleasantly surprised by the ferocity he displayed against her attacker. When the memories stopped playing she realized that all the emotions she felt towards him, he felt towards her. She also realized that she had nothing to worry about, Eragon had managed to take down a shade like it was nothing, like he was playing with him. Once again she was taken aback by the fact that she was fortunate enough to find a person like him, before she would've hated being put before duty, but with Eragon she felt happy that he held her first before anything else, well, safe Saphira.

Thank you Saphira, for showing me this, she said as she returned her sights to Eragon's sleeping face. Right then and there she knew that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, but still, she would have to think of the right way to tell him. She would have to make sure that both Saphira and her mother approved of this relationship. Although as she was thinking about it she only needed Saphira's permission, as her mother had vanished her she had no bearing on her decisions. A stirring Eragon brought her out of her reverie. As soon as he opened his eyes she smiled.

Eragon woke up and the first thing he saw was the woman he loved smiling at him. He knew he couldn't wait much longer before telling her of his real feelings but he was going to have to force himself, so he smiled back.

"Morning Arya," he said "How are you feeling?" instead of the answer he was waiting for he was happily shocked when she pressed her body against his.

"Thank you for coming to me as fast as you did," she whispered "you've saved my life for a second time."

"And I would do it a hundred times more." He said, and squeezed her tighter to him. The moment lasted a few minutes before they decided to get up and start heading towards Ajihad's study, there were things to do after the battle and they couldn't afford to waste time, no matter how much Eragon wanted to.

The next few days all passed by pretty quickly, he and Arya had already talked with Ajihad about him going to Ellesmera to continue his training, something he was looking for as he'd be able to spend more time with Arya and at the same time he would be able to phase without being concerned about who saw him.

The Varden were still busy after the battle with the shade, and even though the urgals disbanded and escaped as soon as Eragon had killed the shade and his spell had broken, some still remained in the tunnels. Everyday Ajihad led soldiers in order to hunt the remaining urgals, and as always at the end of the day Eragon and Saphira went to the entrance of the tunnel in order to welcome him back to the Varden. This is something that while it was technically not necessary, might make the people's opinion of him change for the better, slowly of course.

That day was not any different, the sun was setting so he and Saphira left their duties which at this point consisted of gathering supplies for their week-long trip to Ellesmera, and headed to meet Ajihad. They landed just in time to see his fain outline coming from the tunnel. They slowly walked the rest of the way in order to meet him. Out of nowhere he saw the glint of eyes in the darkness and instantly knew that something was wrong.

"Watch out!" he screamed to the Varden leader, but he was too late, the group of urgals that had been following Ajihad had already launched their attack and he couldn't stop them. The lead urgal ran Ajihad through his heart instantly killing him, while the rest of the urgals took care of the soldiers that accompanied him. He ran towards the fallen leader trying to heal him while the guards that were accompanying him took care of the urgals. He just sat there unable to help a man as he bled in his arms.