Chapter 18

Eragon's eye lids fluttered. He glared at the tree. Then he propped himself up on his elbows and looked to the side. Arya was sitting on a nearby stone watching him. When they met eyes she raised her eyebrows.

"be quiet," Eragon moaned and stood up. Arya let out a slim smile.

"Come on then wise farm boy" She murmured teasingly.

Eragon looked down at his feet. Please stop being so nice. He made sure his shields were there just before the thought slipped into his mind. Even with his walls reinforced Arya seemed to feel it in the air.

"Anyway, that was a foolish thing to do; in fact this whole situation is rather doomed,"

Eragon saw her face stiffen. Her mask was back.

He felt disappointment slowly rise through his blood. All his determination and blood thirst left him. "I know," Why was he trembling?

He started walking, this time watching carefully for trees. Farm boy. A farm boy he was. A powerful, strong and well informed farm boy, but he was a one all the same.

~O~

"for our future, for our freedom, for our country,!" the crowd screamed.

With my life, with your lives, with his life…

"For Our Future, For Our Freedom, For Our Country!"

With difficulty, pain and a lot of suffering…

"FOR OUR FUTURE…"

Nasuada was standing on the podium once more in front of thousands war-ready warriors who were chanting the last few words she had said. They were fighting for their future, for their freedom, for their country as well as for Eragon and his troop.

A young boy stepped onto the podium, straight passed the guards and next to her. He beckoned Nasuada to lean forwards, since he was a rather short boy. The boy cupped his hands around her ear and whispered.

"The elves have arrived my lady" It took her a while to realise what he was saying. For the first time in what seemed an age, she smiled. "Why that's brilliant!" she cried unbelievably loudly. The startled crowd stopped chanting immediately. "my friends, my family, my people, we were calling for help, and now, my fighters, that help has come!"

~O~

Roran had not re-joined the crowd around Nasuada's stage. He had lost all hope already, none of Nasuada's words could change that. He had wanted Katrina to come with him and talk, but he had not found her after the untimely visit from Thorn and Murtagh.

There he stood at the edge of the camp facing the horizon. A horizon he would be closer too than he liked to be in just a few hours. He could see the towers from a castle behind the large collection of houses that formed Urû'baen. Was Eragon there now? Creeping up to the tunnels? or was he crawling through wet black mud in an attempt to get into the cursed palace of the insane king?

Roran wandered around the tents until he was facing the eastern horizon. He noticed a spot that broke through the flat landscape. A hill? Perhaps a little forest? No, it was…it was…Roran rubbed his eyes and pinched himself. The spot was moving! Or growing, or…

It was coming closer, at inhuman speed. Gradually it became clear. The black spot became a white blur which in return transformed into…into…

A boy tottered passed Roran, he grabbed him by the shirt. "B…b…boy, go, go tell Nasuada, go tell her that…"

The boy looked at the moving blobs. "Who are they?"

"Elves!" Roran hissed "RUN!" he cried and the boy sprinted away as fast as his tiny legs would take him.

~O~

Little and green

~O~

Eragon had his chin leaning against the red stone wall and his head cocked back so that he could see the sky and the top of the wall of Galbatorix castle.

"Can I have the map?" he more commanded than asked Arya.

He studied the map and tried to find out where he was. "If my guess is correct, the tunnel should be right…here" He side-stepped two metres to the left and rapped on the wall. "hmm…"

He stepped back.

"may I?" Arya demanded more than requested. Eragon handed her the map.

She examined it, "Well, I'd…Eragon?" Arya's eyes were wide with surprise. Eragon had vanished! She stretched out her hand just in case he had managed to turn himself invisible, but there was nothing there. All of a sudden Eragon's head appeared out of the ground. He remembered what Jeod had looked like with nothing but a head. Arya's mask fell away she gave one of her disapproving but amused smiles and told him to move. She dropped down into the hole that appeared once Eragon's head had been pulled away.

The tunnel beneath it was dark, narrow and dark but it was dry which was more than she could say about other places she had been in. She summoned light, but kept it floating above her palm. A family of rats scuttled away and up ahead she heard bats flapping. At least she hoped it was bats.

Then it was silent again and the only noise was Eragon's shallow breathing as he tried to ignore the disgusting stench of faeces.

The further they advanced into the tunnel, the thinner it got until even Arya had to squeeze to get through the gaps. Yet they were slowly leaving the rough natural walls of the tunnel and entering man made chambers and halls with stairs and ladders, there were even tiles on the floor, a steady black and white pattern out of thousands and thousands of tiny squares. There were candles one the walls so Arya put out her palm-light.

The candles were an oddity. Ever burning, but never melting. The stairs were not quite right either, they were wooden steps floating in the air and rocked when stepped on. Never the less, they followed the map and clambered up them.

They spiralled and Arya counted at least 300 maybe even 350 steps before they finally reached a door. A door? That was also a little unexpected. Eragon turned the handle and pushed.

They were in a passageway with wall paintings from bottom to bottom in the arched room, climbing plants with thorns, crawling around bleeding or suffocating innocent men from a village which was burning on the right side of the wall.

She shut the door behind her and found that it was practically invisible, hidden in a wooden panel also covered in the gruesome art work.

At the very bottom of the left wall, there was a shadow of a man watching the terror of the village. Arya heard laughing. Was that coming from the wall or her head? She shuddered.

"The man is quite the joker," Eragon commented. His thumb was covering a bleeding man's face and when he removed it, Arya saw an unbelievably detailed portrait of Eragon on the wall.

avoir du plaisir! which means as much as 'have fun' which pretty much means enjoy! err...yeah...ive had a long day ok? don't mock it. Anyways, happy to see my sadisticly soled friends/reviewers enjoyed Eragon walking into a tree, which, if it is anything like walking into a lamp post i can tell you HURTS. Anyways, thank you for reviewing! no need for answers this time, keep it up and follow the oddly spaced out arrows!

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