A/N: Well sorry for the long update I truly am. I had finals during last weeks of school so I had no time at all to do any fan fic. But it is finally here! This is a very sad chapter just a warning and review once your done please!
"No! I will not have you do that! I will just cremate him myself then!" Gelmir yelled at Nasuada as Eragon followed behind him, angry as well.
"Gelmir, wait. Perhaps we could cremate him, but I will refused to have Murtagh cremated." Eragon was ready to slap Nasuada across the face, but he knew that it would be inappropriate behavior.
"Nasuada, I have told you that he is the reason why we have won. Without him sacrificing his life we would still be fighting the same bloody war right now. Please have some honor for him! For God's sakes he's my brother!" Nasuada held her head high and said,
"Do it yourself then. I would never honor the man who betrayed us." After one quick glare she swiftly turned to her room and closed the doors loudly.
"What a cold hearted bitch." Gelmir spat out as he turned hardly on his heel. Eragon was just in shock that Nasuada did not even care that Murtagh had killed Galbatorix. But his heart lit up a little as he saw Leona at the end of the hall with Oromis and Orik.
"Well what did she say?" Leona said curiously. Eragon was about to say something but Gelmir then said,
"She wanted to have Luthien to be cremated with fifty other soldiers! Can you believe that? And she didn't even want Murtagh to be cremated! After what he has done she wants him to rot outside and let the beasts and insects feed on him! But she will let us bury him so that's good I guess, but she will not even let there be a ceremony for the hero! What has this world come to?" Eragon could see anger form in Leona's face as Oromis and Orik went on about Nasuada and how she was not as great as her father. But Eragon was getting more and more worried about Leona for her face was stern. Eragon lightly brushed her cheek and said,
"Leona, are you alright?" Leona looked at him and then walked hardly down the hall to Nasuada's room as she muttered heavily,
"I'll show her how to deal with honor that conniving little . . . "
"No! Leona, don't you dare, you'll get put in the dungeon!" Eragon said as he grabbed her hand. This seemed to calm her down and Eragon dragged her close to his body and lightly grabbed her face as he said calmly,
"Now, there must be much more that is bothering you . . . "
"Of course there is! Luthien is dead! Murtagh is dead! And the way that Nasuada handles things, I'm just not used to it! I swear if she thinks that she able to be the next ruler of Alagaesia then she must be mad!" Leona buried her face into Eragon's chest and sighed.
"I know, I know, just don't ever assault her like you were going to. Sure she might be the ruler here but there is a meeting coming soon to discuss the new king or queen and I am sure that she will not be chosen. Many people think the same as we do." Gelmir calmed down a bit and rubbed Leona's back and said,
"Yes, I will make sure that she is not the queen . . . or should I say king." Gelmir laughed and everybody gave out a slight, quiet chuckle but Gelmir was looking for something more. Luthien's laugh. Luthien would be laughing the most and then would probably say something even funnier than that. Gelmir was about to tear up but he brushed it away as he said to everybody,
"Let's get the hell out of here." They walked down the hall to Leona's room to see how Adlana was and to tell her the horrible news. When they got to the door Leona gently opened it and said silently,
"Mom?" Adlana quickly turned her head away from the window and made her way to Leona and crashed in her arms as she said,
"Oh thank the heavens that you are alright!" Then Gelmir came in and Adlana dragged him in her embrace. Gelmir couldn't help to smile but when Adlana looked to him and saw that his face was sore with tears she asked,
"Gelmir, what ails you? Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Gelmir just started to tear up again and he could not hold it in anymore. He was glad that his mother was here, he had longed to finally have a mother to care for him and to tell him that everything was alright. He sobbed on her shoulder as he cried out,
"Luthien's gone, mom. He fell on Galbatorix's blade. He's dead." Adlana gently rubbed his back as tears as well fell from her eyes. He told her what Luthien had said to him, to make the world right again but he did not know how. And somehow this caused everyone to tear up as well, but they would quickly cover it up especially Orik and Oromis. When his cries had settled down Adlana grabbed his face that was wet with tears and said,
"You listen to him, Gelmir, for I know that sometimes he may not say things that make sense but I know this time it came from his heart. So don't you ever live it down. You are an amazing man, just like your father, and you will make the world right again. Sure you may not know how but you will know once it comes to you. Just wait." Gelmir nodded and hugged his mother tightly again.
--
Gelmir placed a white rose over Luthien's motionless body along with a tear. Leona gently rubbed his back as she started to form tears as well as Adlana joined. The dragons did not cry but they bowed to him the whole time as the six placed a rose on his still body. There was a long silence until Gelmir said almost angrily,
"Well somebody say something." Orik was the first to step up. He scuffed his boots a bit in the dirt as he thought about what to say. Then he finally said,
"Luthien was a trouble maker, but you could never hate him. He would always know the right thing to cheer you up, he could make anyone happy, that's why I never killed him when I had the chance to." Everyone laughed as well as Gelmir who had tears running down his face, enjoying the memories that Orik gave forth.
"And no matter what Gelmir and Luthien were together. You could never separate them which was good and bad because it was double the mischief. But, he had one hell of a spirit and its sad to see that go . . . That's all I have to say." Orik stopped here because he started to cry and could not go on. Oromis was the next to step up and he had a slight smile on his face as he said,
"I knew Luthien ever since he became friends with Gelmir which was about the age of, what four?" Gelmir faintly smiled and nodded.
"Well, he was like the son I never had. I would always have to watch you two like a hawk, especially Luthien. He was bound to get into trouble and I found it to be my job to stop him. I remember that I would pick him up by his shirt right before he was about to put a frog in someone's pants." Everyone laughed at this and Gelmir's eyes lit up a bit remembering how they would do that all the time.
"And, even though he was very mischievous he made me happy. I remember he would curl up next to Glaedr and fall asleep next to his warm belly, not scared of him at all. Luthien was always up for an adventure and I am sure he is having an adventure up in the heavens. He always seems to have an adventure no matter where he goes." Everyone smiled as Oromis stepped back as Eragon stepped forward. He wiped a few tears off of his face and cleared his throat. He ran his fingers through his dark brunette hair as he said,
"There are so many things to say about Luthien. First of all, I only knew him for a few weeks but in those few weeks I could write a book about him. When I first saw him he was the wildest man I have ever met along with Gelmir. I remember one day when they made Orik angry and they just ran with the biggest smiles on their faces even though Orik was swinging that axe around." Orik chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. Eragon continued,
"And they brought me and Leona running from him as well. Every day he would live like he would die that day. I think we should have a bit of Luthien in us. We all need to loosen up and actually breathe. We need to be a little reckless sometimes to just have fun because we only have one life. I'm sure Luthien would like to see us live it." As Eragon stepped back Gelmir pulled him close to him and put his arm around him. Eragon looked up to Gelmir to find a smile on but tears constantly flowed out from his eyes. Eragon just smiled back. Then he felt Leona's head on his shoulder as she cried quietly. Eragon lightly kissed the top of her head and wrapped his right arm around her waist. Adlana stepped forward and held a strong gaze. Tears flowed peacefully down her face but it did not affect her beauty at all.
"Luthien made Gelmir happy as a child. And because he made him happy he made me happy. He would always make me laugh with his curiosity with everything. He was so fascinated with life he could never get bored with it. And it's sad to see a man love life so much die. But his spirit did not die. In fact he's here, right now. I can feel it and so can all of you, but it is your decision if you want to feel it. Just take in deep breaths and I'm sure just like Eragon said that a bit of him will flow through you." Just then everyone took in a deep breath and as they exhaled they all smiled because they could feel his spirit roaming through them. Gelmir felt it the most which made him laugh as if Luthien told him a joke. But his eyes were still filled with continuous tears. Adlana smiled and raised her hand over Luthien's body and said,
"Sé gulia, mor'ranr, une esterní skölir onr fra rauthr, zar'roc, une baen eom onr nel lif." Then a stream of green magic flowed from her hand to Luthien's chest. Everyone's eyes went to the magic as it flowed out of her hand. When she was finished Gelmir asked quietly,
"What did you say?" Adlana turned to him with a smile and said,
"May luck, peace, and good fortune shield you from misfortune, misery, and sorrow to your new life. . . It is now your turn, Leona."
Leona got out of Eragon's grasp and stepped forward as tears spilled down to the earth.
"Luthien gave me so much. I remember the first time I saw him. I was just a little girl and lost but he showed me the way to my room along with Gelmir. When I told him what had happened he just held me even though he barely knew who I was. He always gave me happiness. Whenever I saw his smile I cant help but to smile as well. He gave such a warm feeling whenever you saw him. You could never catch him sad. And then Luthien stole Galron, my dragon, from the king. He said that he had a feeling that the dragon inside was drawn to me. He gave me one of the greatest gifts. But he also gave me another unforgettable gift. His friendship. . . I'm sorry that's all I can say." Leona started to cry harder so she stepped back and got back into Eragon's grasp and wept in his chest as tears softly rolled down his cheek as well. Gelmir stepped forward strongly after he lightly stroked Leona's hair for comfort. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. The he finally said,
"When I first met Luthien it was by the pond. We were both trying to catch the same fish and we bumped our heads which caused us to fight," he laughed a bit along with everyone else. "But we were both unaware that this was the beginning of our friendship or the better word for that is probably brotherhood. Luthien was always there for me, he never let me down. Even when I decided to run away from home he came with me. He was a true friend and no one can ever replace him. No matter where we go we would make an adventure of it. Even though in almost every journey we would experience a near death experience. But we would always get out of it that's how crazy we are, but this time it only happened for one of us." Gelmir stopped a bit to take another deep breath and then continued,
"Whenever something bad or sad happened he would just cheer me up no matter what. Especially when I heard the news that my father and mother had died he knew what to say. I guess you could say that he was half of me but now that he is gone I don't know what to do with that other half. It feels like part of me went with him. And I won't lie, I feel dead without him. Even though we had won the war and Galbatorix is defeated it seems like the world still grows dark around me. But I will listen to Luthien. He said that 'I will always be with you, Gelmir, you may not know it but I will be.' But let me tell you, I know it. He is right here next to me." Gelmir chuckled a bit but more and more tears crumbled out. He finally took another deep breath and continued,
"He said for me to make the world right again. He said that we can build a whole new world after the war is over. And I will stick to the command he has given me, and I will make it happen. I still don't know how but I wont let that request die. He also said to me to live my life to the fullest and don't hold back. Well Luthien if you can hear me I am telling you this: I will live my life the fullest but I don't know how I will do it without you but I will find a way just like you told me to. And I will make the world right again. . . You watch me, just watch me." Then Gelmir broke down into tears again and stepped back as Leona got out of Eragon's grip and went to Gelmir's side and hugged him tightly as he leaned his head on top of hers. They all stood in silence as they watched Luthien peacefully until Orik said quietly,
"Just give me the word and we can start." Gelmir looked down at Luthien for a while and then finally said,
"Alright, go ahead." Then Orik picked up the bowl of oil as everyone grabbed a handful of oil and sprinkled it over Luthien's body. Oromis chuckled as he sprinkled the oil over his body and said,
"It was just a few nights ago when Luthien and Gelmir were teaching me to be badass by spilling oil all of the floor so people could slip and fall." Everyone chuckled at Oromis's memory and Gelmir who remembered this. Once the bowl was empty and Luthien was fully covered with oil they took another moment of silence as they saw the oil glisten in the sunlight. Then after a few minutes Gelmir nodded his head to Glaedr and Saphira. They nodded back and both blew a steady flame over Luthien's body. Galron still could not sustain a flame yet but he watched intently. They all watched quietly until Luthien's body became no more than ash. Once the fire died down Gelmir gently picked up a beautiful golden container that was perfect for holding Luthien's ashes. Leona marveled over it and said,
"Luthien where did you get that?" Gelmir looked at it and smiled and said,
"We got this from an adventure we had not too long ago." He smiled and remembered Elmora and their adventure there as he started to scoop the ashes into the golden container.
--
They all started to walk back to Murtagh's body to start to cremate in but once they reached him they all saw dwarves placing sticks on the ground for Murtagh's and Thorn's bed for cremation. Eragon smiled and looked to Orik and said,
"What's all this?" Orik smiled slightly and said,
"Well I called in a few of my friends to help out. I wasn't gunna let you do this all by yourself, it would take a few days to find a good amount of branches now wouldn't it?" Eragon smiled as he patted Orik on the back. Then Eragon felt Leona take his arm gently to pull him close to her as she leaned her head against his arm. Eragon smiled as they continued down to get a closer look. Murtagh's bed was already made and he was on it, lightly sprinkled with oil and blood colored rose pedals. Thorn's bed was almost finished and Eragon realized that dwarves work awfully fast. Then one of the dwarves with a thick black beard and baldhead ran up to Eragon saying,
"Eragon, we will need you to lift Thorn up with your magic he will be too heavy to lift with just us. Could you do it?" Eragon slightly smiled and said,
"Yes, just tell me when." The dwarf then ran back and got back to work quickly. Once the dwarves were ready to have Thorn lifted they signaled Eragon and Eragon chanted the spell as Thorn lifted slightly off the ground and onto the bed of branches. Once he was placed Eragon felt much weaker than before, but Leona held him up a bit. Oromis came to him and patted his back and said,
"I have trained you well. It takes a lot of strength to lift a dragon and you have done it. I'm proud of you." Eragon nodded as he breathed heavily on Leona's head. Then he closed his eyes a bit for he felt extremely tired but he did not go to sleep. He felt a tug on his tunic and he opened his eyes and looked down to the same dwarf who he had spoken to before.
"The preparations are complete, my lord. We can start whenever you like." Eragon smiled down on him and walked down to the memorial but realized that there were many more people there. He asked the dwarf,
"Excuse me? Who are all these people?" The dwarf simply answered,
"Just soldiers who want to pay their gratitude to our hero, that's all." Eragon smiled for as he stepped closer and closer he saw more and more soldiers. He looked down to Leona who was tightly gripping his hand and smiled down on her too. When they finally got there they all stepped down to the crowd but as Eragon entered Leona pushed him away and said,
"Eragon, you need to make the speech, you're the only one who knows him that much." Eragon nodded blankly and went up between Thorn and Murtagh's bed and cleared his throat loudly hoping that would get everyone to quiet down. But it did not work. There were still many people talking until Orik yelled out,
"SILENCE!" There was no noise at all. Eragon nervously laughed and took a deep breath. He felt tears coming onto him as he looked at Murtagh's motionless body but he took another deep breath and finally said,
"Now I know a lot of you aren't friends with of Murtagh. In fact, we fought against him. But look, we are all here today to honor him for he has found the good in him. It was there all along but it was disguised by the evil that he did not want to discover." Eragon finally looked to the crowd and saw that they had their eyes attached to him. Tears came down his face and hit the earth and Eragon could have sworn he heard it splash against the dirt, that is how quiet it was.
"Earlier this morning he came to me to tell me that he was here to kill me. But he ended up giving in to his good side. He said he wanted to be free, but we were not thinking the same thing. As he was running toward Galbatorix with his sword, he knew what he was doing." He looked to Leona and he saw tears in her eyes which made him cry even more.
"I have to say that he was and still is my brother by blood. Not many of you know this but it is true. And it is hard to see my brother die especially after doing a true heroic deed. I do appreciate all of you coming out here today. I know you think that he was a rotten man who followed Galbatorix but you are still here today to honor him in doing what is right. I thank you for that. But now I must do what Murtagh asked right before he died. He asked me to tell people of his story. He wanted to let everyone know that he wasn't his father. So um, here it goes . . . " Eragon looked down and scuffed his boots in the dirt and let another tear drop. Then he looked up, took a deep breath and said,
"When I saw that Murtagh had joined forces with Galbatorix I did not want to believe it. He was such a good man who had hated everything the king has done and now there he was doing his work for him. But one thing I did not know was the pain and misery that Murtagh faced every night. Whatever he did wrong he would get his head bashed against the wall or kicked until he spat out blood. But he could not escape it, he had sworn to the king eternal allegiance. He did not want to do any of the things he did, he was forced to. Murtagh had the courage like no other man, he killed himself for the freedom of Alagaesia. And I honestly don't think it maters of what he has done in the past, he killed the king and won back Alagaesia's freedom with all of your help and we should honor him, no matter what he has done. He saved many people's live especially Gelmir. Just as Galbatorix was going to strike him down Murtagh came in and saved his life." He looked to Gelmir whose eyes were watered but then he looked around everyone else as well.
"I just think that a hero like him who has dealt through suffering almost all his life and comes through with something like this needs to be treated like a hero instead of being left out for the animals to feast on, which I will have you know that is was Nasuada intended on doing. But he was a good man, and my brother and even though he is dead he will walk with my heart." Eragon walked looked down and let his tears roll off his ace as he made his way back to the audience. Once he reached Leona he reached for and started to cry on her shoulder as she cried in his chest. There was a long moment of silence and all you could hear was sniffling and cries form other people in the audience. Then the same dwarf came to Eragon and tugged on his tunic again. Eragon turned around and looked down at the dwarf who had looked like he had been crying too.
"When shall we begin?" Eragon looked at Murtagh one last time and nodded his head to the dwarf and said,
"Now."
A/N: Alright sad funerals and sorry if the Murtagh speech seemed a bit awkward I didn't know what to write and Eragon needed to say a lot of stuff, so um yea. PLEASE REVIEW! REVIEW!