A/n: Sorry, sorry, and sorry! I know I said I would update quickly but homework has priority guys, but the chapter is up and since it is spring break, I should get the rescue scene up at record breaking pace, so enjoy and be patient!
Ch. 11
Eragon ducked back behind the wall before the Ra'zac caught his scent, he strained his ears to hear as the monsters began to speak.
"There wasss sssomeone sssussspiciouss here?" They hissed in unison.
The large innkeeper stared at them, not scared but wary that damage could be done to her inn. The captain to the empire soldiers stood up, distaste plain on his face.
"A young man, normal enough save for his sharp narrow features, they were…feline almost, and he had his hood pulled up indoors, he had a richly wrought sword on his belt, he was not a noble of the Empire so I thought perhaps he was an enemy."
"Did thisss sssword have a blue gem in the hilt?" one asked.
The captain thought for a moment, "Umm…Oh! Yes, I remember, it did."
The Ra'zac sprang into action; even Eragon's sharp ears barely caught the whisper of their feet leaving the ground as they darted for the staircases. Eragon pushed off from the steps he was crouched on and landed lithely across the room. He no longer cared if the magician soldier could sense his mind, he opened it wide
"Ra'zac! They are here! I need your assistance!" Eragon could kill them himself easily, but killing them would only make it harder to find Katrina, they needed to catch them. Eragon heard their beaks click together angrily as they saw him across the room.
"You!" They screeched. They lunged at him, drawing their swords, Eragon drawing his quickly and deflecting their blows. The Empire soldiers stood and drew their weapons, all looking sick with nervous anticipation. Just then the door slammed in, banging against the wall and Roran and Murtagh burst in their weapons drawn as well. The Ra'zac looked from Eragon to the other riders and leaped into a corner across the room.
"You win for now." They hissed disappearing out the back servant's door to quick for anyone but Eragon's eyes.
"Let's go!" He said beckoning for his brothers to follow, he flashed over to the door stopping only when he heard the clash of steel on steel. The soldiers had stepped in front of Roran and Murtagh.
"Malthinae!" Murtagh shouted and all the soldiers were suddenly frozen where they stood, bound by air. They ran past the stilled men and followed Eragon out the door.
A-----------------------------E
Aris watched with tired eyes as dried food was being packed into crates. It was time again, she heard Katrina shift next to her and sigh, she new that the routine they had adopted so Katrina could learn magic was tiring but it was necessary. Aris knew that on the long journey ahead, if Katrina was rescued by then, the slavers would become restless, and they often took it out on the girls of the camp, if Katrina wanted to stay whole for her fiancée then she needed to be able to push the minds of the men away from their dirty intentions.
"Aris?" Katrina's ever curious voice began next to her, "I have a question…well a few actually."
"Of course, you always do." was what Aris wanted to say instead her mouth said, "Yes?" it seemed her mouth no longer knew how to form words with emotion in them.
"Why is it that a slavers camp is permanent like this, don't they have to sell the people?" Katrina asked, her words sounding in Aris' left ear, Aris continuing to watch the slavers.
"Bryshaw stays in one place for three seasons, then, as the cold season falls upon us he transports all of us through the Hadarac and into the Empire to sell most of the slaves, the rest of the year he 'gathers' his 'merchandise'." Aris stated, her voice still flat. Before she had never really spoken but after Katrina had arrived she had heard her voice and realized that she sounded just as Katrina had said, dead. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Katrina nod her head thoughtfully. Aris turned her head as the afternoon sun caught the perfect copper color of Katrina's hair, Aris was envious of that color, black was very average among elves, she remembered wishing as a girl that she had gotten the silver hair other elves had.
Katrina looked up as Aris turned her head back to the camp activities before her. "Ok, next question,…" She cleared her throat, "You don't have to answer but…why haven't they sold you yet?" She asked in a whisper.
Aris cringed on the inside, her face not shifting, the wave of memory flooded her mind momentarily as she remembered her first encounter with Bryshaw. "Because, I made Bryshaw angry when I first was captured, he swore he would make me is personal slave, and that he would break my disobedience." she said her voice not giving away the pain she felt when she thought of her dismal future.
"Oh…" Katrina poorly hid the relief in her voice, "So I won't be left here alone." she sighed, "Ok last question, why don't you just take those metal rings in your ears off?" Katrina asked.
"I've tried, the metal is melted together, I can't simply remove them, I have to rip through the skin in my ears, Bryshaw caught me trying and made the magician, Menlor, to prevent me from touching them." Aris raised her hand tried to touch on of her earrings with a finger, but the finger was stopped an inch from the metal, "It isn't a strong spell, but I can't stop it nonetheless." Katrina nodded again and stood up, Aris joining her as they walked to deposit washed cloth on the drying lines.
A---------------------------E
Saphira circled the plateau below as she started to land. Inarkien and Rahzin were standing next to Murtagh and Roran all four of them staring up at her and Eragon. They had tried to follow the Ra'zac from the inn but they had already left the surrounding area. The three riders had asked the dragons to come, intending to take Helgrind, but as they dragons approached the city they had seen the Ra'zac take off eastward into the Hadarac. They had followed immediately, but they had lost them. Now they were gathering on the high cliff as dusk began to fall.
Saphira landed with a light thud, and Eragon jumped down easily, "nowhere." He stated simply. Roran loosed an angry yell and withdrew his hammer striking the cliff with it.
"BLOOD AND ASHES!" he shouted hoarsely, drawing up for another blow. Eragon caught his arms and Murtagh kept his eyes trained on the ground.
"Stop, don't give up yet." Eragon snapped, "We almost have the advantage now."
"How's that?" Roran snarled ripping his arms from Eragon's grip, belting his hammer however.
"Take a second and think, she obviously isn't in the Empire, they would never have left, when we saw them leaving the Beors they must have placed her somewhere over there." Eragon explained methodically, trying to calm Roran, "Now, they will lead us right to her."
"WE. CAN'T. FIND. THEM!" Roran spat each word separately.
"I can scry them, then we can search either places we have been or places we haven't." Eragon said rubbing his temples with his forefinger and thumb.
"Fine do it." Roran challenged collapsing to the ground in a stubborn position.
Eragon removed his hand from his head and walked over to his pack taking out a waterskin and a small bowl. He poured the liquid then said the scrying words over it. The Ra'zac's image materialized in front of them, clearly flying over a mountain range.
"They have just entered the Beors, we will find them." Eragon stated letting the magic drain from him, he felt tired, not physically but his mind was tired of working.
"So, in the morning we pursue?" Roran asked eyeing a very sleepy Inarkien.
"In the morning." Eragon yawned, drifting over to Saphira to unsaddle and unpack.
A----------------------------E
That night as Aris and Katrina walked to their tent, a horrible stench descended upon the camp. Aris flared her nostrils in sickening familiarity the same time as Katrina gasped and went weak in the knees.
"Aris! They came back for me!" She whispered panicked at the familiar smell.
"They won't take you with me alive." Aris reassured the girl.
Aris watched as they landed in the middle of the camp and the Ra'zac slid off of their skinless white mounts.
"Lisssten to usss, thisss camp isss under our control." they hissed to the already silent camp, "There will be no disssobedience, all ssslavesss will ssstay inssside their tentsss and ssslaversss will run a watch, no one will enter or leave thisss camp." Bryshaw marched up to the Ra'zac and began to whisper in hushed urgent tones, Aris was standing too far away to hear it. Then he stood up with a sick look on his face, a look of fear, Aris assumed that the Ra'zac had threatened him, or told him what was coming.
"D-do as they say, all my men, report to the weapons tent to gather arms. Slaves, go to your tents and stay there. There will be rations distributed in the morning and all those who disobey will be beheaded." Bryshaw spoke in nervous tones and gave a futile attempt as making it sound as if he was in charge.
Aris tugged Katrina along behind her, "Come along, I think I know what's happening." she whispered. They made it to their tent and hurriedly ducked inside. "Your fiancée must be coming." Aris said as they sat down facing each other.
"Why do you say that?" Katrina asked, her fear making it impossible for her to think coherently, she was wringing her hands and looking nervously at the tents opening.
"Stop." Aris quieted her tones, as a slaver marched through the cluster of tents, "I will hear the Ra'zac if they come for you, remember I possess the heightened senses of elves." she placed her own small hands on Katrina's thin ones. "Now, think, if the Ra'zac are here, then they must be worried that…his name was Roran correct?…yes, Roran must be coming for you."
Katrina's eyes widened as she processed what Aris had said, Aris listened carefully to the outside of their tent. "Then…then why don't they just take me away?" Katrina asked her after a moment.
"Huh…why don't they…" Aris thought, it would make more sense for them to take her and run instead of sitting and staying where they could be found. Just then another slaver trudged by and it hit her, "Because the slavers are a buffer." Aris said, her voice dead despite the enlightenment in her mind, "If they are alone, and your Roran catches them with his cousin, the one that might be a rider, then the Ra'zac could be killed. A rider can easily defeat them. But, if they are here then…then they are hoping that the slavers will provide a distraction allowing them to escape." she finished, feeling that what she had said was true.
Katrina looked sick and hopeful at the same time, "Roran is coming…" her voice was saturated with joy, then her voice turned nauseous, "But the Ra'zac mean to kill everyone to save themselves…"
"The slavers deserve it." Aris shrugged, annoyed that bitterness could be heard in her voice when joy could not.
"…perhaps some of them…but the rest of the slaves…." Katrina whispered laying down and curling into a tight ball.
"I know…but there is nothing we can do…" Aris reasoned with both her and Katrina's consciousnesses. She too lay back but she lay her hands on her stomach. She felt the bones of her ribs stick through her pale, almost translucent, skin. Even her gentlest prod spiked pain from her tender bruising, she couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for the slavers, in fact she wanted to kill Bryshaw herself.
A--------------------------------------E
Roran lay under Inarkien's silver wing, staring at the vein filled papery skin as the moonlight shone through it. His hands rested folded beneath his head and his head ached painfully. "I'm coming Katrina, I'm coming for you, I know you're out there and I will find you. I wish you could hear me say this, I love you Katrina." he thought sadly to himself before crossing his arms over his chest and rolling to his side in uncomfortable lonely sleep.
A--------------------------------------E
A/n: The rescue scene is on it's way I promise, I have already written most of it, and am just deciding the final details, I am slightly worried though, you guys won't stop reading after it right? It's only the beginning of the story even though the story is already longer than I ever saw it being. So anyways review please and I'll update soon!