AN: No reviews for the last chapter? Oh well, I'm sure you were all busy reading Inheritance. I happened to check the hits and it turned out to be: 1111 hits at 11:11 on 11/11/11. Fanfiction's format makes my story look really short. This was two pages (Times New Roman-Single Space) on Word, how does that translate into so little on this website?
Chapter 12
On Ohtar's command, the Guardians formed a turtle-like formation. It was a square, with men at the 'sides' of the square linking their shields, forming a miniature wall. The men in the center raised their shields to cover the top of the square to protect from arrows, all the while stabbing with spears through holes, that would emerge in the shield-wall and disappear in a matter of seconds. Thus they were protected from harm. With the Guardian's advanced training, it was rare for an enemy to be able to strike through the holes in the shield-wall.
But they faced not only normal men, but also magicians. Among their foes stood ten magicians. Ohtar stood behind his shield and tried to think of a way to defeat the magicians. He came up with one way, but it would be risky. He let out a mental shout: Guardians! Join minds and take over the magicians! The Guardian's minds joined together and launched an assault on the magician's minds, but they were halted. The magicians smiled, they were trained in mind breaking, they could hold off the Guardian's attack. So there was a stalemate, the Guardians were barely held back by the magician's minds, and the Imperial soldiers were only just stopped by the shield-wall. Then came the true terror of the magician's, spells began to be cast. Fireballs and stones hurled themselves at the Guardians. The fire could not breach the shield-wall, but it made the inside of the 'turtle' rise to a sweltering heat. The stones began to dent the shields of the Guardians, making it much more difficult to maintain a solid wall of shields.
Slowly, the Guardians began to suffer from heat, their throats began to burn, yearning for water. Then the air began to shimmer before their eyes, making it difficult for them to hit their enemies, they began to exhaust, barely able to hold up the shields, straining to hold up their weapons. Then, one by one, they began to faint from the heat and exhaustion. Ohtar was the last man standing, he looked around, his men were on the ground. Nearly a hundred enemies stood before him, he raised his sword, then fell down unconscious.
Edhellhach ran towards the mind he had sensed earlier, perhaps he would finally find Ohtar and the men he took with him. As he neared the mind, he paused. He could now sense many minds, nearly five dozen enemy soldiers were hidden in this part of the Spine. If they had captured Ohtar and his men, they would be out in the open. The only reason they would be hidden is if it was … an ambush! If the enemy had set up an ambush this elaborate, surely they had something that could hope to match him. Edhellhach turned around, there stood two beings, hooded an cloaked, emanating an aura of darkness. They had their swords drawn and approached Edhellhach. Edhellhach knew them to be Raz'zac, and thus vulnerable to light, and shouted "Garjazla!" A burst of light emanated from his hands and flew towards the Raz'zac, momentarily blinding and stunning them. He charged towards the Raz'zac with his swords drawn.
The Raz'zac quickly recovered and hissed "Attack him!" Out of the trees burst nearly fifty soldiers, charging towards Edhellhach. Edhellhach kept running towards the Raz'zac, but before they were in striking range, he leapt up, sailing over their heads.
As he landed he turned around and let out a cry of "Brisingr!" A ball of fire rushed towards the Raz'zac, dissipating when it hit their wards. Edhellhach charged forward, his swords at the ready. As he drew near them, he raised his swords, intent on running them through. The Raz'zac stepped around him, but he charged into them mass of soldiers, his blades slicing through steel and flesh. When at last his momentum slowed to a stop, he stood in the midst of the soldiers, with the Raz'zac trying to shove their way towards him. Edhellhach swung his blades in a large circle, creating a small clearing around himself. The Raz'zac came to a stop just before entering his little clearing. Edhellhach grinned, "Is there none among you who want to fight me, one on one? Or are you cowards, only wishing to attack with larger numbers?"
One of the Raz'zac stepped forward, "Foolish elf, you cannot trick usss like that. We have come jussst to kill you, we care not for honor." With that the to Raz'zac raised bows that they had drawn, and shot arrows towards Edhellhach.
Edhellhach grinned, he crouched down and the arrows sailed over him and embedded them selves in two of the soldiers standing behind him. "Obviously you care not for the lives of your men, you have them here as cannon fodder to slow me down while you try to kill me." The Imperial soldiers began to look uneasy, but the Raz'zac merely approached him with their blades drawn. Edhellhach cast his mind out, hoping to immobilize them with his mind. When he could not sense the Raz'zac, he went on to conquer them minds of the Imperials. As soon as his mind touched their mind, ten magicians began to assault his mind. Edhellhach steeled his mind, and began to focus on one thing only, destroying the Raz'zac that stood before him. As they neared, Edhellhach swung his blades, catching the blade of one Raz'zac, while side-stepping around the blade of the other. Edhellhach twirled thee Raz'zac's blade around, wrenching it out of the Raz'zac's grasp. He shouted, "Ganga!" and the sword flew through the forest impaling a tree over two hundred yards away. Edhellhach turned to the other Raz'zac and blocked the blow that came towards his head. He kicked at the Raz'zac sending it stumbling away. He turned around to impale the first Raz'zac with his sword, but then he stumbled. His shoulder was burning, the Raz'zac had bit him, somehow overcoming his wards. When the magicians began to gain a foothold in his mind, he let out a wordless cry, pushing his foes away from him.
He began to chant in the Ancient Language, healing his wounds before his enemies stood. He saw one of the Raz'zac struggling to stand up. Edhellhach shouted out, "Deloi vondr!" The earth around the Raz'zac and the Imperials began to shift, swallowing them into the ground. Now, instead of lying on the ground, the Imperials were lying in the ground. Edhellhach, walked over to where the Raz'zac lay and crouched down to speak to it. "Farewell Raz'zac."
Only the Raz'zac's head remained above the ground "I can tell you sssecretsss about Galbatorix'sss plansss."
Edhellhach smiled, "Secrets like what? Anything you could tell me I could tear out of the minds of Imperial soldiers. Besides, I care not for Galbatorix, soon I shall leave Alagaesia forever, I need only-" He abruptly stopped himself. "Slytha." The Raz'zac quickly became still, in a deep slumber from which it would never wake. Edhellhach did the same to the other Raz'zac. He turned to face the men that were half-buried in the ground. "Letta deloi vondr." As soon as the earth quit writhing around them, the half-buried soldiers looked at Edhellhach. Edhellhach looked at them "I do not wish to kill you, you can either join me and my men, or you can" Edhellhach paused, "Where's Ohtar and his men? I thought you captured them?"
One of the men laughed, "There's a traitor in your camp, elf. You will not here anything from us. We came here to look for a jewel and because of you and the Urgals, we have lost thousands of men. You shall suffer for that. And don't try your trickery with oaths, we swore loyalty to our king in your Ancient Language." He spat out the last two words.
Edhellhach delved into the man's mind and ripped out the information he needed. Ohtar was several miles north of here, held captive by the Imperial soldiers. Edhellhach turned and sprinted through the Spine, trying to find and rescue Ohtar.
AN: Please Review.