Chapter 8
Eragon led Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Theoden and Eomer over to Saphira. When they were about twenty feet away, she dropped off the valley wall and landed on the ground with a dull thud. The horses skittered but Eragon calmed them with his mind. He dismounted, handing the reins to Legolas before walking over to Saphira's side.
"How did you tame the beast?" Gimli wondered aloud.
Saphira growled low in her throat. "She is no beast, Gimli. Her name is Saphira, and she is more intelligent than all of us here put together."
"How do you communicate with her?" Gandalf asked, bringing his horse forward.
"I will show you. Open your minds and do not be afraid."
Care to introduce yourself? Eragon said to Saphira, smirking.
She broadcast her thoughts to all those in front of her.
Hello.
"Arghhh!" said Gimli, grasping his head, "what is this sorcery?"
Theoden and Eomer also looked pained, while Aragorn and Legolas merely appeared uncomfortable. Gandalf however, although understandably wary, seemed extremely curious.
"I apologise for your discomfort. I forgot that for those not used to speaking with their minds, the first time can be uncomfortable."
"What do you mean, speaking with your mind?" Legolas asked curiously.
"Saphira cannot talk as we do. She is a dragon. So instead she uses her mind to communicate. In fact, it is even more expressive than speaking aloud. You can send feelings and emotions, even memories to another. If you wish to talk back to her, you may think your thoughts and she will hear, but it is probably simpler to just speak out loud."
Theoden brought his horse before Saphira. "I thank you, mighty dragon, for saving my people. I am forever in your debt. Anything you wish, I will grant, if it is in my power."
You owe me no debt, King Theoden. I simply did what was right. Those orcs had nothing on their minds except death for you and your people. They were abominations.
"That they were. Still, if there is anything you need, do not hesitate to ask."
Perhaps, later, you could direct me to where I may hunt without stealing your people's farm animals.
"Of course. There are wild goats and deer in the mountains behind us. They are uninhabited by people. They are hard to catch, but delicious."
Hard to catch for a human, maybe. But not for a dragon.
Gandalf guffawed. "I fear nothing in this land would be hard to catch, for a dragon. You are very wise and beautiful, mighty Saphira. I must admit, I thought the worst when I saw you at first. The only dragons I have ever encountered had no compassion, no mercy. They would not do anything unless it benefitted them, and never would they dream of putting their own lives at risk to save others"
Eragon's ears perked up. "You have seen dragons before? There are dragons in this land?"
Gandalf sighed. "There were, but no more. The last one was killed sixty years ago. But he was nothing like Saphira. He was cruel and greedy. He was a vicious, murderous creature."
"His name was Smaug," Gimli spat. "He killed mine people for gold. That snake arrived from the north. He flew to Dale first, a city of thousands. It was burnt to the ground. Then he attacked Erebor. Thousands of dwarves he burned to death, and thousands more had to flee. When he had conquered the mountain, he gathered all the gold into a pile and slept on it, not moving for fifty years."
"What happened?" asked Eragon.
Gandalf continued the story. "Sixty one years ago, Gimli's father, twelve other dwarves, a hobbit and myself set out to take back the Lonely Mountain. After a year of travelling, we eventually reached Erebor. When the dwarves entered the mountain, Smaug left to attack the nearby town, which was the only settlement that had been built since Dale was burnt half of the village into the river, but he was shot down by Bard the Bowman with an iron arrow. Luckily, the arrow managed to find the spot where one of Smaug's scales had falled out years before. He crashed out of the sky into the river, dead. There was a battle after that, between men, elves, dwarves and orcs. At the end of it all the orcs were defeated and the dwarves reclaimed their homeland. Sadly," Gandalf sighed heavily, "three of the Gimli's father's companions were killed in the battle."
Saphira was disgusted. Where I come from, dragons do not need gold or jewels, we are the most magnificent creatures to walk the earth. What else could we need? He murdered. He was no real dragon. He was more of a monster than the orcs we killed today.
Gimli, now standing, fell to his knees. "Please forgive me, O wise and beautiful dragon! When I first saw you, I thought you were a blue smaug, come to destroy and kill me and my people! I see how wrong I was! You truly are magnificent!"
You are forgiven, Master Gimli, Saphira said, amused. You can stand up now, if you wish.
Legolas hauled Gimli to his feet.
Eragon turned his attention to Aragorn. "Earlier, you asked me who I was. Now I will tell you." He rose to his full height, his hand on Saphira's flank. "I am Eragon, son of Brom, Shadeslayer, Kingkiller, rider to the dragon Saphira, and Lead Rider of the Order of Dragon Riders."
The group in front of him looked gobsmacked, even Gandalf.
"You look like you have some questions, and it's only fair I answer them. But I suggest we go back to the castle and eat something. We've been fighting all night long and you," he looked at Gandalf, "have been riding for several days. We all need to sit down and have a rest, I think."
So together, they mounted their horses and rode back to the castle at a leisurely pace. Behind them, Saphira rose from the ground to go hunting for some of the goats Theoden had mentioned. As they entered through the gate, a big cheer went up. The path was lined by cheering soldiers with their families all the way to the keep. There were shouts of "Theoden!", "Aragorn!", "Gandalf!", and even the occasional "Eragon!"
An hour later, they were sitting in the keep at a big wooden table, each with a tankard of ale and a plate of bread and meat.
Eragon decided to tell the story from the very beginning. He told of his life on the farm with Garrow and Roran, how he found Saphira's egg in the Spine and of his travels with Brom. He recounted how they found the Ra'zac's lair, and the subsequent ambush from which Brom later died. He spoke of rescuing Arya from Gil'ead with Murtagh and their journey across the Hadarac Desert to find the Varden. He described Tronjheim and Farthen Dur – at which Gimli became very interested – and the battle against Durza and the urgals. He spoke of his debilitating back injury, Ellesmera, and discovering that Arya was in fact a princess. He talked about his training with Oromis and Glaedr, his eventual transformation at the Blood-oath ceremony, and the battle at the Burning Plains where he met Roran again and discovered that Murtagh was his brother. The moon was high in the sky, the night old, when Eragon finished telling of how he had defeated Galbatorix.
Theoden had left a few hours previously with Eomer, to talk with his advisors.
Gandalf sat back in his seat, pipe in hand, blowing smoke rings. "That was quite a story, young Eragon. You have performed many heroic deeds."
"Aye," said Aragorn, with admiration. "Your father would have been proud to see what his son has become."
Eragon was filled with a sense of warmth looking at the people around him. He had found friends in this strange land, true friends.
"Well," Gandalf said, "I believe we are leaving the day after tomorrow. We had better get some rest."
The following day was spent making repairs to the outer wall and burying the dead.
The people of Rohan gathered their fallen. The bodies were cleaned and made to look like they were only sleeping. Families grieved, women and children crying for husbands and fathers. Saphira dug trenches with her paws, scooping out the earth and putting it to one side. The bodies were placed in gently, each family marking their loved one's grave with a small marker. Then Eragon buried them.
"Reisa," he whispered. The earth rose into the air, moving sideways and then slowly covering the bodies. He packed the earth in so that animals would find it hard to dig in it. "Crescere," he said. Grass grew over the mounds, covering the stark earth in a soft green carpet. Then little white flowers popped out of the soil, waving in the slight breeze. The flowers bloomed year after year, but they never strayed from the graves.
Each year, the people of Edoras would make the trip to Helm's Deep to honour their dead, and in the ages to come, anyone who saw the flowers would remember the sacrifice of the Men of Rohan.
The elves buried their dead the same way Alagaesian elves did, which Eragon found very interesting. They placed them in the ground, then placed a seed on each of their chests. Filling in the earth, they stood back. Wanting to help, Eragon asked them, "Would you like me to grow the trees for you?"
The elf in charge looked at him with tears in his eyes, the said quietly, "If you did, we would be forever grateful."
Reaching out to the Eldunarí, Eragon started to give the seeds energy. After a few seconds, shoots broke the ground all around them. A lone voice started to sing a haunting melody, slowly others joined in. the trees seemed to respond to the melody, swaying in tune. An hour later, Eragon stopped feeding the trees energy. Around him were trees that had twenty years of growth. There were many different types of trees – oak, cedar, ash, willow, hazelnut, apple, cherry blossom, beech, chestnut and many more. An elf took a seed from each tree. "To give to their families," one explained. Legolas stepped up to Eragon. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "They will never forget what you have done for them."
The orc bodies were gathered and piled at the edge of the valley. Saphira burned them until nothing was left but ashes. Unlike the graves of the Men of Rohan and the elves, this place remained barren forevermore.
Under the guidance of Gimli, the gap in the wall was partially filled. The foundations were redone and, with the help of Saphira, the largest stones were put back into place.
When they had finished repairing what they could of the outer wall, Gimli approached Eragon.
"Eragon, if you would like to follow me, there is something I think you would like to see."
Gimli led Eragon back through the gate, over to the yard and into a passage set into the mountain wall. They walked quietly for a couple of minutes, Eragon occasionally having to duck to avoid lumps of rock that Gimli didn't have to worry about. Suddenly, the passage opened out into an enormous cavern.
Eragon was speechless. The cavern rivalled even the greatest beauties of Tronjheim. The walls of the mighty cave glittered with uncut gems, sparkling in many different colours. The ceiling was no different, looking like a cloudless night sky. Gigantic white marble pillars held the cavern together, the columns infused with swirling patterns of dusty rose and duck-shell blue.
"Aye lad," Gimli said, chuckling. "That was my reaction too when I first saw it. It's breathtaking."
Eragon nodded slowly, simply awestruck by the sheer beauty. He noticed a large pile of rocks lying on the floor to their right. "What happened there?" he asked Gimli, pointing in their direction.
"Orcs," Gimli growled. "The explosion knocked some of the more delicate stalactites off the roof," he said, as the two of them walked towards the loose stone. As soon as Eragon could see it properly, he gasped. It was not stone, but gems. A pure gem stalactite had fallen, some of it smashing into bits, but much of it staying together in one piece. Reaching out with his mind to see the energy capacity of the gem, Eragon was blown away. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought it was enchanted. Just from a glance it seemed even a small piece of the gem could contain as much energy as ten big diamonds! It was incredible!
"Gimli, what do you think will happen to this gem?" Eragon asked.
"I wish I knew," Gimli replied glumly. If we dwarves had a wonder like this and a piece fell, we would treasure it still, perhaps slowly carving it to reveal even more beauty. But alas, these men do not appreciate what they have. It will probably be put in a corner and left to gather dust!"
Eragon thought hard. He could use this gem. If not in this war, then certainly it would help the future Riders.
"Gimli, do you think they might let me have it?" Eragon asked, a bit tentatively.
"They'd let you have anything you want, boy!" Gimli boomed. "You saved them, well, you and your dragon that is. Why do you want it?"
"I can store energy in it, and then during a battle I can use that energy to heal a wound, stop arrows or break open a gate to a castle. It has a great many uses."
"Hmm," said Gimli, intrigued. "Well, I'm sure they'd let you have it, but you'd better ask first, just in case."
With Saphira's help, because he was underground, Eragon searched the keep above with his mind until he found what he was looking for.
Gandalf, it's Eragon. Can you hear me? Just think what you want to say and I'll understand.
Eragon? This is very queer I must say.
Gandalf, are you with the King?
I am.
Would you please ask him if I could have some of the fallen gems in the caves?
Bemused, Gandalf replied, If that is what you wish. Just a moment.
There was a pause for a couple of moments, then, Theoden says to take as much as you like. They have no need for it.
Please tell him I say thank you. Myself and Gimli will meet you in the keep soon.
Eragon cut off the connection. "You were right, Theoden said I could have it. Now, Master Gimli, would you like to see some real magic?"
"Thrysta," Eragon said. All the pieces of gem that had broken off came flying back to land in a bag Eragon had pulled from his tunic. Placing the bag full of gem fragments beside the larger piece, Eragon repeated the spell the Eldunarí had taught him on Vroengard do long ago. With a pop, the bag and stone disappeared, now enclosed in a pocket of space a fixed distance behind Eragon's head.
"Amazing," breathed Gimli.
The rest of the day was spent preparing for the coming journey. Supplies were gathered, carts filled, horses fed, watered and saddled.
That evening, they all met again in the keep. Gandalf said to the king, "Theoden, tomorrow, I ride to Orthanc to visit Saruman. I wish for you to come with me."
"Come with you!" Theoden exclaimed, "Why would you go towards the snake that tried to kill my people? You would need an army to get through those gates."
"Not anymore," Gandalf said, sounding satisfied. "The ownership of Orthanc has, ah, changed hands, I suppose you could say."
"What are you talking about, old man? Who could possibly have taken Orthanc from under Saruman's very long nose?"
"You would not believe me unless you saw it with your own eyes. Come Theoden. We will arrive back at Edoras at the same time as the rest of your people. Our small group will travel quickly."
"I cannot simply leave my people to fend for themselves! There could be orc packs hunting the plains. They would be slaughtered!"
"I would never suggest such a thing. Eragon and Saphira have said they would like to accompany us on our trip. With a dragon protecting us we will be safe. That means that the whole Rohirrim can guard the people on the way to Edoras. No orc pack would dare attack a thousand mounted warriors. This has all worked out very nicely hasn't it," said Gandalf, rather jauntily.
Eragon had to work rather hard to suppress a grin. Gandalf was a very clever old man.
""You tricked me!" Theoden said indignantly. Then he laughed, "But you're right, as you always are. I am curious to see Saruman's captors. We leave at daybreak!"
So off we go again! I just want to say huge thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story! It makes it so much easier to write when you know that people are reading it! Special shoutout to Elemental Dragon Slayer, Mac Gustah, Leroy Allen, Deranged Silence and Ny'Kle – you guys are awesome.
On a sidenote, from now on I'll be trying to update this story every Thursday/Friday. Stay tuned for more, folks. Nym