Awake, Mellary. Embrald's voice pulled her from sleep.
They had been walking through the tunnels for what had felt like hours. The monotonous walls had been hypnotic as they appeared a few feet ahead and slid by before vanishing into the impenetrable darkness. After a while Embrald had suggest she ride so she could get a few hours of sleep. The ceiling was actually tall enough for her dragon to hold his head higher than his shoulder blades, tall enough for Mellary to sit up on his back. She had leaned back, leaning gently against the spikes. She let go of the light and slipped into sleep as she felt Embrald speed up into a rhythmic lope.
Now she sat up, yawning. She opened her eyes, and saw pitch black. She blinked, then lit a bright white light on her palm with a word.
What happened? She asked as she stretched. Her muscles were slightly stiff, and there was a series of pricks down her back, where she had been leaning against Embralds neck spikes.
They're slowing down. I can here sounds up ahead that are not Urgal sounds. You may want to get ready.
Mellary slid off his back and opened her pack, which was strapped to his back behind where she normally sat. She tugged off her coat and pulled out a shirt of fine elfin chain mail. It was sturdy, flexible, and as light as cotton.
Embrald's twisted his head so he could eye the rippling metal links. You had that the whole time? No wonder you weighed so much for such a short half-elf.
Because you had so much trouble carrying me. Mellary retorted. She dug around for some food to nibble on. She wasn't very hungry, but she knew she needed food. The light around them flickered as her glowing hand disappeared under the leather.
Mellary walked next to her dragon as they cautiously moved forward. Unconsciously she flexed her fingers, stretching and loosening her muscles as they slunk forward soundlessly. She strapped her twin swords around her waist and warmed up her bow. A thin quiver of arrows, no more than ten, was strapped across her back. Mellary tested the bowstring, not having shot in a few weeks. Nice and tight. She checked the daggers in each boot top and the longer knife on her belt.
Finally Embrald stopped. The army's just ahead. Mellary let go of the light. Darkness collapsed around them, just as a crispy smell drifted into Mellary's sensitive nose.
Ugh. Burnt Urgal, along with pitch and fire. Where's the army?
Most of it's out of the tunnel. It branches up ahead. There's a few hundred still close by.
Take me to them. You can see better than I can. Embrald rumbled softly at the compliment. Mellary placed a hand at his side and let him walk her forward. She heard the hollow ring of moving bodies echo on both sides as they passed the branch of the tunnel.
They're just ahead. He said. Mellary could feel his unspoken question and the soft probe.
The Varden started it. I'm just expanding on the idea. She walked out in front and set her feet, taking a deep breath.
Mellary held out her hands, both palm up in front of her. She faced the blackness and closed her eyes. Magic rose to a crescendo within her mind.
"Fire storm." The words had barely left her lip when a harsh bright white flame bloomed in the air between her hands. It grew and flew down the tunnel with a roar. Hot air scorched her cheeks and tugged at her tightly bound hair.
The blaze incinerated the Urgals still in the tunnel in a split second. Mellary, still connected by the energy to sustain the flames, felt it shoot out of the tunnel and high into the air, a geyser of white fire. It splashed to the ground.
Mellary released the magic, feeling the energy drain out of her. She stumbled a step and swayed as she climbed onto Embrald's back and took a deep drink for her water skin.
Ready? He asked as he bound forward and sprang up the pile of rubble, out onto a massive plain surrounding a city, hidden in the heart of a vast mountain.
Mellary didn't spare a glance at the city. Her attention was caught in her immediate surroundings.
They were standing in the middle of a third of the army she had seen gathered. A circle around the tunnel exit was charred and clear of life. Small white fires, rapidly turning red as they burned off the last of magical energy, were scattered around the circumference of the circle. Many of the Urgals had nasty burns on their limbs that had been closest to the tunnel.
Do I have a choice? Mellary wondered as she drew her sword.
Eragon was climbing onto Saphira's back to respond to a call for help when the battlefield in front of him, deep in the heart of the mass of Urgals, erupted in white flame. He was forced to shield his eyes against the bright light. The fire fell to the ground and the smell of charred flesh intensified.
Saphira surged into the air, almost throwing him out of the saddle. They got over the heads of the Urgals in time to see a green dragon lunge out of the tunnel entrance. Eragon could only stare. Another dragon. But there had been no rumors, no sightings.
It was like the beast had appeared out of no where. He thought his eyes were deceiving him, that the heat of battle had overcome his mind. Then Saphira's astonishment and happiness came through their link and he knew he was not imagining the dragon.
He had only a second to worry about the dragon's allegiance before the great green head snaked out and snagged an Urgal by the middle. The dragon sank its fangs in with a growl and whipped its head back and forth. Eragon could imagine the crack as the Urgal's spine broke. The dragon tossed the dead Urgal into two of its fellows.
As it moved Eragon could see a fire-haired Rider. The slim figure jumped off the dragon as an Urgal rushed up, sword raise. The Rider speared it with a flashing sword.
Saphira banked away from the green dragon and toward the dwarves. Eragon could see the buckling lines as they fought. She angled down into the battle and Eragon braced himself for another fight.
Mellary pulled her sword from the Urgal's lifeless body and swung with her second, almost decapitating another. She danced back toward Embrald, who was in the process of gutting a Kull, as an axe thudded into the dirt near her foot. She lunged in and killed the owner.
The circle of Urgals around them closed in, over the initial surprise of suddenly having a ferocious dragon appear in their midst. They charged with a roar, the diameter of the circle shrinking in seconds. Embrald swung his great tail, flinging Urgals into the air to die on the upraised spears of their companions. Mellary jumped the tail as it swung toward her, parrying the swing of a sword and striking with the other.
Embrald used his long, shining talons and gleaming fangs to destroy the Urgals around them while Mellary danced around him, defending his vulnerable wings and sides. For hours they continued, wreaking havoc in the middle of the horde.
Finally the Urgals turned a squad of arches on them, ringing the pair with bows. The circle was several yards away, protected from the swords and claws by layers of underling, shoved forward to be sacrificed. The Urgal archers drew back their strings with sneers on their faces.
A deep, guttural shout came from somewhere Mellary couldn't see. It stirred something deep in her mind, a dark memory she had locked away long ago. It flooded her vision with red, and she saw her mother lying on a bed of thick, green moss at the forest's edge, her dark eyes wide and empty, blood running down her pale, fair face and mingling with the thick curls she had passed onto her daughter. Saw the black sword, its jagged tip buried deep in her mothers chest, and the spear with a tattered pennant shoved into her mother's body by a laughing, snarling Urgal chief as he stood over the dead elf while Mellary looked down from above.
MELLARY! Her dragon's shout tugged her from the past as she heard the twang of bowstrings and saw the back arrows arcing through the air towards them.
Rage filled her, washing her vision red. It shattered he barrier between her and her power, which had increased exponentially since that fateful day. The magic flooded her veins.
Mellary swung her sword in an arc through the air in front of her, shouting. The arrows, which had reached the peak of their arc, suddenly reversed paths, falling toward the archers who had released them. Screams rose as the flight struck home.
Over Embralds neck she saw the pennant from her past. An Urgal swung an axe, aimed at the dragon's neck. Mellary grabbed the knife off her belt and threw it into the Urgals throat. Embrald's head struck over her, snagging an Urgal which had come up behind her with a drawn sword.
Mellary darted forward toward the pennant, tugging the knife out of the Urgal's throat as she passed. She carved a path toward the chief, killing as she went. Rage consumed her thoughts as she raced forward. She didn't see Embrald jump over the heads of several Kull and charge after her, or catching the blows meant for her back on his talons. All she could see was the tall, decorated horns of the chief who had murdered her mother next to his pennant.
The guards around the chief obviously heard the screams of her victims as she charged toward them. They turned to face her, weapons rising. Mellary killed them all with a word and a flash of white light. She ignored the drain of energy. Vengeance fueled her.
She leapt over the bodies of the guards… and threw herself to the side as the spiked head of a mace thudded into the ground where she had been. Mellary rolled to her feet and brought her swords up. The chief grimaced at her, laughing. He tugged on a metal handle, which had a length of chain on the end that was connected to the spiked ball. The ball flew backward and landed on the ground near his feet.
She felt a blow to her back, and heard the rasp of metal sliding off the links of chain mail. She whirled as the Urgal pulled the sword back.
Right before he was about to strike he disappeared under a moving mass of green scales. Mellary saw the blood leak out from under Embrald's claws.
Duck. He said. Mellary dropped to the ground, and felt the air above her part as the chief swung his mace at where her head had been.
Mellary turned again, sheathing one of her blades and pulled out one of her boot top daggers. It flew through the air and straight into the brain of another Urgal charging toward her.
The chief barked an order and the surrounding Urgals backed off, forming a circle around her and the chief. Embrald crouched behind her, his growls discouraging the Urgals from attacking. Mellary noticed abstractly they were near the front lines; some of the Varden defenders had paused to watch. Mellary armed herself with her long knife to replace her dagger.
The chief swung his mace again, sweeping it through the air towards her middle. Mellary jumped back, the spikes passing within inches of her stomach. The swing had unbalanced the chief. Mellary darted forward, striking with her sword. It caught on the ornate body armor he was wearing. The chief shoved her with a shield, catching her across the chest with the blow. Mellary staggered backward and felt a tearing pain in her arm.
The front of the shield had a spike on it. The spike had caught her arm and she stumbled, opening a gash in it. The chain mail tunic she was wearing ended in the middle of her upper arm. The cut was right below.
Mellary gritted her teeth and ignored the pain, and the warm blood running down her arm. The surrounding Urgals raised a howl as the blood soaked her sleeve. Mellary jumped to the side as the chief swung the mace overhead and into the dirt where she had been. Mellary pulled her wounded arm back and hurled the knife toward a chink in his armor. The move sent spikes of pain up her arm.
The chief moved to avoid the flying knife, but not fast enough. The knife sank deep into the crack between the two plates at the elbow, on the arm he was using to swing the mace.
The Urgal chief roared in pain. He bared his teeth at Mellary as she lunged forward. He caught her sword on the shield and shoved it way. The move tugged her forward and Mellary drew her other sword. The blade crossed her body, slicing into the chief's stomach.
He roared again and swung the shield like a ram. It crashed into Mellary's side, and she heard a dim crack. He drew a dagger and placed it against her neck. Something made him pause.
"I know you." He growled. "I killed your mother." He leered and leaned in closer "And you know what? She didn't even struggle. So easy to kill, so…fragile. Useless. And now you're going to end up just like her. Dead. You fail her."
Mellary let out a wordless cry. She pulled her arm back, reversing her grip on the hilt. The blade began to glow white hot, and Mellary brought it down. It passed straight through the Urgals thick chest plate and straight into his heart.
There was an explosion of white light that knocked her backward. She landed on the dirt with a thud, spots dancing in her eyes. Her side burned where he had crushed her rib. Mellary ground out the words of healing as she waved her hand through the air. Her fingers met cool scales and she leaned against Embrald's side, drained of energy. When her vision cleared, she looked toward the chief's body. Or rather, where it should have been. Instead there was a charred mark on the ground, and her sword sticking up out of the ground. Mellary walked over and tugged it out of the ground. All around her Urgals were picking themselves up off the ground.
Mellary limped around Embrald and pulled herself up onto his back, thankful he hadn't had time to grow that tall. Her bow was close at hand, her quiver luckily unbroken on her back.
An Urgal charged as Embrald was crouching to take off. Mellary put an arrow in his skull before he had come within five yards. Then they were flying, free of the ground and away from the Urgals. In the dark distance, Mellary saw a dark shape moving through the gloom. She squinted, borrowing Embrald's vision and saw a blue dragon flying back toward the city with two figures on its back. Another dragon. Another time she would have fallen off Embrald's back in surprise, but now she was too tired and hurt to care. The healing on her arm had been sloppy, half done.
Ready for a pass? Embrald asked.
I'm hanging on. Mellary responded. Embrald folded his wings and dove, shooting along the line where the Urgal's met the Varden. As they dropped closer, Mellary could see a tall figure standing in the front lines. From the way he carried himself and the way the soldiers around him were fighting so ferociously, Mellary guessed he was the leader.
A gap opened as they dropped even closer and a Kull charged through, straight toward the leader. Mellary pulled her string back and shot an arrow as Embrald snapped open his wings. They shot forward, barely a foot overhead of the Kull. Embrald was dragging his claws along the line, slicing at the heads and torsos of the front line of Urgals. Mellary released the arrow as they passed, slaying the Kull just as he raised an axe.
She could hear cries of astonishment as they rose into the darkness. They repeated the move, combing across the lines of all three fronts. Mellary had exhausted her quiver of arrows when the shadows flew out of the city, passing over the army.
What was that? Mellary and Embrald asked each other at the same time. They looked down just as the Urgals paused. Mellary looked through Embrald's eyes. They watched in amazement as a Kull they were looking at turned to the Urgal next to it and smashed it with a spiked club with a roar.
Mellary laughed out loud with relief as the tribes turned against one another. For some reason, the sight of the army destroying itself filled her with energy.
If I had to guess, I'd say the shade was just killed. Mellary said. Down below the Varden charged with a roar, the line of fighters smashing into the mass of Urgals and plowing through.
I think we can help.