Well here's chapter 13, I'm still keeping with the new element I posted in chapter 10, I hope you enjoy it.
Pronunciation: Ellari: eh-lar-ee
Definition: Name used as a whole for the race of animal-men who were born naturally from magic essence.

Disclaimer: I do not own Eragon

Chapter 13

The wind was cold as Eragon and his friends flew threw the air. It had been several hours since they had gotten underway and Eragon was really starting to feel the strain of maintaining two simultaneous spells and his flight against the wind. Saphira had noticed his strain and had added her own strength to his own so that they could cover as much distance as possible before having to land. So it went on, fighting the currents, hold the spells, and flying ever onward. Eragon's scales started to become wet with sweat that immediately froze to his body as the strain started to become to much. "Saphira, I can't hold on much longer. We must land." He felt rather than heard her acknowledgment as she steered towards the ground. With several loud thuds the group landed in a small wooded area that had to be several miles away from where they started.

The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon and judging by the many yawns coming from everybody including Saphira, that this rest break was greatly needed. Roran was looking around at the three dragons in the clearing with an unsure expression and it took Eragon a few seconds before he remembered that Roran had not pack any camping gear. He walked over beside his cousin and nudged him gently, "Roran, you and Katrina can sleep beside me, a dragon's wing provides excellent protection from the elements." Roran nodded and helped Katrina off of Saphira's back. Saphira looked at Eragon wistfully and he knew why, she wanted to spend time alone with him. He admittedly wanted that too but right at the moment he didn't much have the strength from flying all day. She sighed and settled herself next to him, her tail seeking his own. After a few awkward moments of negotiation everyone was settled, Shruikan lay separate from everyone, Saphira beside Eragon with a wing wrapped around him, and Roran, Katrina, their son, and Arya under Eragon's left wing. Eragon was surprised that Arya hadn't yet woken up but wasn't too concerned with that.

He laid his head next to Saphira's and was asleep within minutes but his dreams were troubled. His mind seemed to slip through the world until once again he looked upon the curios form of the creature from his last dream, the exiled prince Arren. But why? This couldn't possibly be actually happening, this couldn't be like his earliest dreams of Arya, could it? This world that Eragon glimpsed in his dreams contained an impossibility, men with animal features. The prince seemed to be sitting at a table, where Eragon didn't know. He felt that to few this world as he had the first time, he had to succumb completely to sleep and allow his mind to wander. His curiosity got the better of him and his mind opened completely. The world around the wolven prince solidified into an environment that he recognized easily, a tavern. Despite the area, it was oddly quite, until Eragon realized that few people inhabited it. A stout barman, very much human in appearance approached the prince and asked, "So what can I get you?" Arren started a little and focused on the man before saying, "Some of your finest mead if you please." The barman nodded and headed back to the bar, returning a short while later with a flagon of a rich amber liquid and a platter of food. He set them in front of Arren and said, "Its on the house, you look like you've been through a lot, and don't worry about your room charges either, you just rest and relax."

Arren humbly thanked the man for his kindness and began to eat. The room was sparsely filled, an Ellari sat in the far corner, their features and form hidden by the shadows, a few men sat huddled by the fire and the bartender served drinks to three more men sitting at the bar. Arren didn't frequent taverns very often, mostly preferring the quite of an inn or his tent, but he felt that tonight that he should be here, in this smoke filled tavern. He drained the last few drops from his flagon and a waitress came over and filled it up for him, resting her hand lightly on his shoulder. He caught a scent of lilac on her and smiled, the woman's presence alone made his dismal mode elevate. Perhaps the company of this human woman was what called him here. He made to ask her to join him when she moved off toward the four men sitting at the table across from him. Judging by how she giggled at one of their comments she was obviously not a very pure woman. Even though he'd been exiled, his upbringing still was very much apart of his personality. He didn't want a whore, he wanted a decent woman, someone that wouldn't sleep with the first man to give her a good compliment about her body or offer coin. He continued to watch the woman and soon she headed upstairs, telling the barman that she was heading to bed. Sure enough, five minutes later the man who had made her laugh followed.

Arren cursed under his breath as he rested his head in his hands. The question of why he was there frequently flitted into his mind as he downed his mead quickly. All he wanted to do was go to bed and let this dismal day come to an end. In the three days since he'd left the capital, he'd been attacked five times by bandits, three times by magic constructs, and been caught in a blizzard that had lasted for six hours. He was sore, tired, and miserable. He heard the barman approach and waved him away idly before cupping his head in his hands again. The sound of the door opening again caught his attention and he looked up to see who had entered. Seven armed men walked in, three ellari and four humans. Being armed wasn't unusual, that they didn't take a seat at any of the tables or the bar was. They made their way purposefully across the room and stood in front the table directly behind Arren, the one occupied by the ellari that Arren hadn't identified. The lead among the group spoke in a whisper that was never the less heard, "You owe your last employer money, the target survived." Arren gleamed more from this sentence than he had from his glance over his shoulder. These men were hired muscle and the one they spoke to was an assassin. Arren was keenly aware of the danger with presenting ones back to an assassin and subconsciously fidgeted as he continued to listen to whats was going on behind him. He heard a clear feminine scoff from behind him, "He won't be for long, I injected him with a slow acting venom, it manifests as a heart attack. It'll make it appear that it was a tragic accident. I am not paying you anything."

One of the humans of the group knocked over a chair and put his hands threateningly on the table and said, "Well that's too bad, because we've been instructed to take back the money, from your lifeless body if necessary." Another man chimed in with, "Well, after we're through playing that is." Arren knew enough from that tone what these men had in mind and he wasn't going to allow it. He gripped the hilts of his twin blades tightly and waited to see if this would escalate. It did, three of the men grabbed her and tried to pull her from her chair. She snapped up from her chair alright, out of it and straight over the table onto the shoulder of the ellari directly across from her. She gave a sharp twist that filled the air with a horrendous snap and used the momentum to spin around and throw three throwing knives at one of the men who had grabbed her. Two bodies thudded to the floor as she stood there in the full light. She was a panthress, her fur black and smooth as she stood there eying the five remaining men, She took a hold of the clasps of her cloak and undid them, her cloak falling to the ground to reveal truly magnificent armor that glinted in the light. Arren knew this armor and apparently so did the men, it belong to an assassin's order that was among the most prodigious and also told of her rank, a master. She took one of the throwing knives off a sheath on her arm and said, "I hope you know what your getting in to before you try and attack me again." The men apparently did but were obviously more scarred of their master than they were of her. They looked at each other and then rushed her all at the same time. She smiled and threw the knife at the man to her left before stabbing a hidden wrist blade into the throat of the guy behind her.

She grabbed another man by the hair, using his own sword to cleave another of the men's head in half before snapping his neck. The fifth man sprinted straight past her to the door. She flipped the blade in her hand over and threw it across the room. It whistled through the air before thudding into the escaping man's back. He crumpled to the ground and moved no more. She turned back toward her table and moved one of the corpses off of it before sitting back down as if nothing had happened. Arren was impressed with this woman's skill. She had taken out seven men with little effort. Arren headed off the barman who was heading angrily to the panthress and handed him a pouch of gold as compensation for the bodies and state of the bar. The barman nodded and proceeded to remove the corpses from the bar. Arren walked over toward the woman who looked up at him cautiously but said nothing. Arren sat down across from her and cleared his throat before politely introducing himself, "I am Arren, its nice to met you miss?" She didn't answer immediately, either from caution or confusion. Eventually she smiled and said, "I am Mena."
Arren smiled back, he'd been so forward with his introduction, mainly to get it over with, that he hadn't considered what he'd do if she responded aggressively. Mena seemed to be sizing him up as her eyes roved over him, taking note of his mythril plate mail and twin blades. She eventually asked, "You are the exiled prince are you not?" Arren was taken aback by this, his exile had been private, only the King and his village knew of it. He didn't ask how she knew this but nodded none the less. "I had expected you to habit a more respectful place then this, what brings you here?" Mena was obviously a sharp woman, something that Arren found refreshing, he sighed and said, "I'm on an important mission, from the king, something just told me I needed to come here." The assassin frowned and said, "Odd, something called me here as well, perhaps we were to meet. What quest is this?" Arren smiled as he explained, having help on this mission, especially from a Master Assassin would be a great boon.

Eragon jolted awake when a loud cry pierced his sleep.
Eragon was still confused as he looked blearily around and saw Arya, wide awake at last, trying to back up into a tree, brandishing Brisingr at Shruikan who was sitting there with an amused look on his face. "Shruikan, stop scarring Arya!" Shruikan's laughter entered into Eragon's mind as he responded, "I can't help it rider, my appearance alone is causing it." Saphira looked over at Arya with an annoyed look and said irritably, "Eragon, make that elf be silent." Eragon, slightly surprised by Saphira's irritation moved over to Arya and contacted her mind. Arya was so afraid that her mind was like a fortress of chaos but he somehow managed to break through and said, "Arya, be calm, Shruikan is on our side now." Arya's eyes went wider than before when this new dragon spoke with Eragon's voice. After a few moment of stunned silence she finally lowered the blade and hesitantly asked, "Eragon, you are a dragon?" Eragon dipped his head in acknowledgment and said, "It would take a while to explain, so if you'd please calm down a little more, I'll tell you the whole story."

Arya glanced back at Shruikan and slowly nodded. Eragon sighed huffily to himself and proceeded to tell Arya of all that had happened, from the journey too the spirit plane, to the return of Galbatorix, to the flight from Ellesméra. It took over an hour to tell the whole story and Arya listened without interruption. Finally Arya looked at Eragon and asked, "Did any others make it out of Du Weldenvarden?" Eragon knew what she meant and sadly shook his head, "I'm afraid not, you are the only elf that is free of Galbatorix." Arya nodded in understanding and walked over to Eragon, proceeding to pat his neck and thank him for his honesty. When Arya put her hand on Eragon's neck Saphira let out a menacing growl the like of which Eragon had rarely heard. Arya was taken aback by this and quickly removed her hand from Eragon's scaled neck, looking curiously at Saphira. After looking from Saphira to Eragon and back again, she understood what it was. She bowed to Saphira and said, "Saphira, I've no intention to take Eragon from you, He and I are friends alone, nothing more I promise you."

Saphira eyed Arya for a moment before nudging her gently and saying, "I believe you but for now, we should continue to rest, we've barely been asleep an hour." Arya nodded and took shelter under Saphira's wing while Eragon returned to Saphira's side. As Eragon settled next to his mate she nudge him and asked, "So, who were those creatures from your dream?" Eragon wasn't surprised that she knew and said, "Not now Saphira, I'll tell you what I know after we sleep." Saphira nodded and curled up next to Eragon and within a few minutes, both were fast asleep.

Well there you are, I hope you enjoyed it.