Coming of the Spirits

Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't sue. Thank you.

The woman/dragon knocked into Luce, trying to pull her off of Iormungr. The green dragon flipped, but it did nothing to deter the woman.

"Letta…" Luce began before the woman clamped a hand over her mouth. Luce elbowed her in the stomach as she felt herself slip out of the saddle. The woman let go of her and hovered above her as she crashed downward.

Den-ner let out a howl of anger when Iormungr caught his rider. Luce strapped herself back into the seat, and Iormungr flew directly at the creature. She slashed at it, and a long and skeletal sword blocked the blow. The thing dragged her out of her saddle again. She clung to the woman/dragon in midair, trying not to fall. Den-ner/Lïornien tried to draw it's sword to kill her. Luce unbuckled the blade as it was being drawn. The sheath crashed downward, and the blade fell with it. The tip cut her calf and ankle. She gasped. The thing took advantage of her pain to try to push her off. Luce hung on to her wrists, digging furiously into them with her nails.

The creature shot down to the ground. Luce knew what it was going to do. It was going to shove her into the ground unless she could stop it. Iormungr couldn't reach her in time, so it was up to her. When they were fifty feet from the ground, Luce let go of Den-ner/Lïornien's and grabbed her ankles instead. The creature kicked at her head. At twenty feet, she managed to swing her body upward so that her feet landed on the thing's wings. She felt her back crack slightly as she assumed the stretch. She also heard the crack of wing's breaking.

Ten feet from the ground, Iormungr sped himself up and caught her with his teeth before she hit the ground.

Orrin stared ahead. His cavalry was lined up, waiting for the attack.
"What's that?" someone shouted, pointing to the Varden's troops.

"They're being attacked," another yelled.

"Go help them!" Orrin ordered.

"No!" a voice he recognized as Vrael's put in. "Two more Foresworn are here."

Orrin's eyes followed the pointing finger. Two winged humans were soaring towards them.

"It's a distraction," a third voice yelled. Orrin turned his horse and saw another part of the army coming towards them.

"Attack them!" he demanded. He turned to Vrael and asked, "Can you fight those two?"

Vrael raised his orange blade and nodded. "I'll keep them away from you as much as I can." A par of him was worried. He didn't have his dragon with him, and those creatures were both combined. He hoped Eragon and Murtagh would return soon.

Nasuada's horse reared back as the creature crashed into the ground, and Iormungr caught Luce. The rider swung herself back into the saddle. Nasuada saw blood dripping down her leg. A soldier from the Empire swung at her neck, and she barely managed to block the blow.

"Help us, Luce," she ordered.

The older woman shook her head and pointed upward. Another one of the Foresworn had come.

Lebrantí, the nearest elf, suddenly shouted a spell. A group of the Empire's soldiers fell. There were still many. Nasuada yelled orders to those under her control. A force hit her mind. One of the magicians was attacking her. It stopped as Trianna and Carlo joined hands and yelled the same spell.

Ardis had only just mounted Kazul when the attack on the dwarves began. Orik shouted, and the other twelve clan chiefs joined in. All the surrounding armies joined in. Ardis added in. A dragon's roar combined with a human's yell cut them off. One of the Foresworn was upon them.

Kazul scratched at it before it could get to Ardis. It dodged the dragon's claws and swung its sword at Ardis' neck. She ducked the blow and drew her sword. She was a horrible disadvantage.

She managed to hook her foot under the man/dragon's chest. She pushed him off herself for only a second. That second was long enough for Kazul to knock him out of the way temporarily. The thing began to mutter a spell. A broad stream of fire was sent her way.

"Letta du brisingr!" Ardis shouted. The fire halted. She couldn't keep up this block forever. "Adurna," she yelled again. The fire was put out by a jet of water. The Foresworn shielded himself from it as it came towards him. The water divided and went around him.

I should have thought of that, Ardis cursed.

Kazul charged him. The battle was fast becoming aerial. Both Kazul and the Foresworn seemed to tire quickly because of its intensity. Ardis saw an opening and shot at the Foresworn. She hit a large vein in the left wing. The thing fell shrieked and flapped its other wing in an effort to stay aloft. Ardis shot again and hit it in the neck. It crashed into the battlements. The dwarves cheered. Kazul swooped down to help them.

"Letta!" Vrael shouted as one of the two Foresworn he was fighting sent a beam of light to Orrin. It stopped just before hitting the king. He heard the other one's wings flapping behind him. He turned and yelled, "Letta älfrs hjarta!" The thing dropped dead but not before kicking him squarely in the chest. He gasped in pain. He may have the consciousness of a man, but he was in possession of a woman's body.

The other Foresworn grabbed his hair. A long skeletal sword was placed at his neck. Vrael watched as an arrow pierced the thing's arm and it dropped the sword. Vrael rolled off his horse and away from the falling sword.

"Which one are you?" he asked. The thing was female, but he had seen another one in the guise of a woman fighting Luce.

"Ligan," the thing replied. "It's not as though your new form is more desirable."

Vrael laughed and knocked Ligan's blade away. "You only lasted through sneakiness, I see," he said as he beheaded Ligan's host.

He looked down briefly to assess the damage done to him. His armor had been dented in the chest, and it had left a large bruise.

"Waíse heill," he muttered. He also healed the spot on his neck where Ligan's death sword had cut him. An arrow hit him in the arm. It pierced his armor. He removed the shaft and remounted his horse. Another Foresworn descended upon him.

The elves were being attacked the most ferociously. Two Foresworn had been sent to fight Oromis and Glaedr. He had killed only one so far. The other was still fighting with them. Oromis was losing. The other elves were too preoccupied with the huge onslaught of troops upon them. They may have been superior in strength, but they were vastly outnumbered.

Luce fought with the Foresworn above her. This one was more powerful than the other. She had been forced to use magic, and she felt her strength waning. She ducked as Iormungr swung his tail at the creature. It flew up to avoid the blow. It was only partially successful; the tail caught it around the feet. It shot towards Luce, blade drawn. She deflected it with her sword.

Nasuada surveyed the carnage around her. The troops attacking them were one and a third that of the Varden's. to that of the Varden. Nar Garzvhog and his Urgals were fighting the rest of their kind who were still loyal to Galbatorix. Luce was fighting the other Foresworn above her. Nasuada couldn't tell if who was winning. A knot clenched in her stomach as she saw another Foresworn shooting towards Jörmundur. Luce couldn't fight this one.

"Jörmundur!" she screamed. The Varden couldn't afford to lose one of its commanders. She urged her charger through the ranks. Jörmundur barely managed to avoid the first blow to his neck. Nasuada's horse leapt so high that it hit thing in the back. It rolled over and flew at her, knocking her off her horse. Even with its injured back, it was still stronger. Jörmundur's sword fell upon the thing's neck. Nasuada managed to pull herself out from under it.

Ardis knew at least one of her fingers had been broken. She had had to kill at least three mages who had attacked the dwarves. Kazul, who had been fighting alongside her, had had her wings had pierced multiple times. Eragon and Murtagh had to get there soon. She uttered a spell that would kill the soldier fighting her and mounted Kazul again as another Foresworn began to attack the dwarves. She had barely defeated the last one; she didn't know what would happen with this one.

Every single army was outnumbered and barely holding its own. None of them knew how Galbatorix had raised such a significant force. Three of the Foresworn were fighting the armies, and none of the riders could deal with them. That was when Eragon, Murtagh, and the spirits from the Vault of Souls arrived.

Luce only managed to block her Foreworn's blow partially this time. Its blade cut into her arm. It flicked her weapon aside with ease. Iormungr caught the sword and tried to reach her. He couldn't. The Foresworn put its blade against her throat.

"Galbatorix will be very pleased with your death," the thing whispered. It choked as a long red blade went through its gut.

Ardis felt the Foresworn's spell. It was slowly killing her by cutting off her airways. It was affecting Kazul as well. The purple dragon couldn't fight the spell anymore than she could. The Foresworn was out of the reach of her tail.

A transparent rider and dragon suddenly shot through the sky. They stopped the Foresworn's spell and killed the newly resurrected renegade.

"Ardis-vodhira, I am Anurin. I see you have born my sword well," the rider said.

Ardis was too stunned to speak. The rider healed her wounds and said, "Let us fight." Ardis grinned and nodded.

Oromis felt his illness acting up. He couldn't win this. He just couldn't. He had fought so often before this. He could've beaten this opponent before the Foresworn captured him. Now, after having used so much of himself to kill one, he could not kill the other.

"Ebrithil!" a voice yelled.

Oromis turned to see Eragon. The boy rider fell upon the weakened Foresworn and killed it.

"Thank you," the elf said.

Galbatorix's armies didn't stand a chance against the spirit riders. They could not kill them, nor could they defend themselves against them. The living riders had regained some of their strength from their previous battles. The battle was won, but the war was not over. Galbatorix still lived. Even as the spirit riders returned to the Vault as they had to do, Galbatorix mounted Shruikan and flew to Surda. He would take on these weakened riders. He knew Oromis had been so badly injured he could not fight again. Vrael had been forced to go back to the Vault with them. He had stayed in control of Siloa too long to stay. The old leader had killed three Foresworn and many of the king's soldier. Galbatorix didn't care. He would have his revenge soon. He would take Saphira or Kazul, and that female would mate with Shruikan. Perhaps he would take both. Luce and Murtagh had been given a chance to serve him, and they had betrayed. They would pay with death.

Okay, this fic only has two or three more chapters left. Two seems more likely right now. I'll probably eventually write a sequel, but there are some other fics I want to finish first.

I'm so happy I got ten reviews. It was a nice birthday present. I also got to see The Producers on Broadway. It was hilarious. I still have Springtime for Hitler stuck in my head. How do nine reviews sound? The update should come by next weekend. Maybe I'll update twice next week and be done. That would be good. Three fics at once is too many. Of course, knowing me, I'll probably post this other fic I've been thinking about or make a one-shot I wrote a chapter fic. Here are the review responses.

Inyellel: I'm glad you like. I've noticed some typos after I've posted. I hate when that happens. Oh well. I hope you manage to come up with a fic soon.

Mertor2050: What did you do? Oh well. I'm glad you like it. I tried to make it as believable as I could and keep my characters from becoming Mary Sues. I hope that succeeded.

DragonRider2000: They showed up near the end and saved everyone else. I'm glad the last chapter explained everything.

Prettyella: Thanks. I hope the update came soon enough.

Princessbob: It was supposed to be a little obscure about what was going to happen until it actually happened. I'm glad everyone understood "Bringer, Walker, Opener" after it happened.

Vixen Hood: Yep. My birthday. Thanks and I hope the update came soon enough.

Frosted-Pink: Thanks. It's Morzan.

Matt: LOL. I thought you were a guy, but I didn't want to offend anyone. Sorry I asked you all those weird questions. I'm glad you liked Why Galbatorix Is Lame. I'm going to post chapter 32 as soon as the movie comes out. Brom's chapter was written out of sugar high. It was so much fun to right.

Amantine: Happy birthday. (I think it's late by now.) Oh well. Enjoy being seventeen. I'm glad you liked the chapter, and I hoped the update came soon enough. I'm in project season. Now, I've gotta read Act 3, scenes 3 and 4 of Othello. At least I'm done the powerpoint on politics under Elizabeth and James.