K'eray walked beside a brown and white specked werecat who walked along the trail of Kroger's foot prints. Every few paces she would stop
and sniff at the ground. Then the werecat would examine some tiny detail of the foot print that K'eray could not even begin to understand.
Finally after half an hour they reached the Jiet River. Kroger's foot prints led to it and K'eray could see them on the other bank. The werecat sat
and started to lick a forepaw. "Well I have three explanations for this, each more likely the one prior to it. First: he was heading back to
Ellesmera and lost his way. This is very unlikely as he was to stay with the Varden. Second: He's heading towards Arya and Eragon. This has
about a 60% chance of being the solution. Third, and most likely: he's heading for the Empire and Arya and Eragon. This is likely due to his steps
leading in the direction of Gilead. Also, he was carrying a sheath. If you look closely you can see a tiny line weaving back and forth in between
his foot prints. This indicates the remains of the tip of a sheathed sword sliding through the ground." K'eray was both surprised and happy with
the werecat's immense store of knowledge. "So do you think he'll find Arya and Eragon?" Another werecat walked forward, this one light brown
color. "I'll be the judge of that." He smelled the air for a moment and then closed his eyes. They flashed open, then went into a more calm
expression. "It looks like he's heading to Gailbatorix's main city. I'm almost positive that he'll stop in Gilead and-" He paused and looked up at
K'eray. "-pick up your mentor." Olam looked down at the trail and nodded. "Arvindr. He was carrying a sword." K'eray kneeled and looked at the
ground. How had he found that out? "How do you know?" Olam pointed with one paw at a section of ground a few feet away. "See those
specks of ice? It's nowhere near time for the ground to start freezing over. No, he came through here and for some reason activated Arvindr's
power. He has Arvindr and-" A look of concern and knowing crossed the old cat's face, "-that is not good." K'eray cast a side-long glance at him.
"Why?" The werecat's eyes shimmered silver. He looked up at the sky for a moment then back at her. "Because now the Carrier has the tools
he will need to freeze her."
**********
Eragon crept up the low hill, every part of his body filled with excitement. They were less then a half mile away from Brom. They just had to top
this hill and they would be able to see him. Soon he would tell Brom to live and he would live again. Arya crawled behind him, quick and light as
a mountain lion. Gridor flew slowly above them and Thorn had stayed in there camp. As Arya nearly fell over a concealed rock she whispered,
"Eragon slow down." Eragon commanded his legs to move slower but they refused to obey his orders. "We need to get out of here, soon." Arya
jumped in front of him. Laying a hand on his shoulder she used here immensely powerful strength to stop him. "We will. But it does us no good
to harm ourselves by going to fast." He raised a hand to push her arm away, then stopped. She was right. "Fine." He slowed his pace and it
took them a good ten minutes to make it over the hill. Eragon ran to the top and looked down onto the diamond tomb of his father. Brom lay
completely visible through the translucent stone, a powerful shield that protected him from the rain and snow. Eragon ran down to him and
slide the last few feet, as a result of putting on leg down wrong on a persistent shrub. Arya and Gridor quickly arrived and sat beside him.
"Alright we don't want to awaken him while he's still in there. So who do we get him out?" Gridor flapped his wings and rose above the tomb.
Opening his mouth Eragon saw lightning gathering in his mouth. He barely had time to jump at the Mecch and say, "What are you thinking?
You'll hit him!" Gridor sat up from where Eragon had knocked him out of the sky. He shook his head and dust billowed around him. "Isn't that
the point?" Eragon ground his teeth. "No! We want to his the diamond, not the person in the diamond!" Gridor thought and said, "Couldn't you
just break it with magic." Eragon thought that over. "Maybe, but by now the cells in his body may have combined with the gem and if we
destroy it then it'll destroy him." Gridor stood and looked down at Brom. "Revive him now, and that will separate his cells from those of the
crystal and we could break it. Do that though and he'll likely have a heart attack. It's better then destroying him completely." Eragon nodded.
"Alright then, wake him now it is." Arya and Gridor stood back and Eragon raised his hands over the tomb. His palm shimmered with power and
he said, "Rise, Brom Halcombson." Wind from all around arose and seemed to flow all at once to Brom. The old man gasped and his eyes
opened. Eragon looked down at him and sent thoughts to him. Don't move Brom. You're trapped but we'll soon have you out. Brom looked
bewildered and thought back, What happened. You look like an elf. Eragon shook his head. Later. Brom lay still. Eragon stood up. "Gridor." The
Mecch walked forward and very slowly he breath white hot flames on the diamond until it melted. He repeated the process until he got to Brom.
At that point Eragon lifted the rest of him out with magic.
Again Gridor breathed fire on the diamond that still held Brom, until only a small bit of it still held him in place. Eragon pointed at it. "Destroy."
The crystal around Brom shattered. Brom fell on the ground and Eragon embraced him. Brom looked up at him, then at Arya, then at Gridor. He
looked back at Eragon, "How did you bring me back from the dead?" Eragon stood and opened his hand. His shinning gedwey ignasia casting
shadows in the dying light. "I have complete control over magic. I'll explain it once we get back to camp." They all left and went back to a
sleeping Thorn in the camp. Brom looked at Thorn with surprise. "Saphira?" Thorn lifted his head and looked around, then snorted and went
back to sleep. "No, this is Thorn, Dragon of Murtagh son of Morzan." Brom tightened his grip on his staff. "Eragon, I-" He stopped as Eragon laid
a hand on his shoulder. "No need to be standing." He led Brom to the ground beside Thorn and they all sat against the dragon's body. "Now,
Brom, before you start talking you should know that I am aware that you are my father." To his surprise Brom didn't seem to wonder about that
at all. "I know. Now, who is that strange Dragon?" Eragon smiled as Gridor snorted and flames burst from his nose. "That is Gridor. He is a
Mecch, or Elite Dragon." Over the next hour and a half he told his father about all the things that had happened to him after his death. He
ended by saying, "And so right as we were leaving by using Kecra's shadow Megan said these words. 'Gailbatorix is your-' Later the werecat,
Olam, told me that my hated enemy is not all to me then I think he is. Please, do you know what they meant?" Brom relaxed his head against
Thorn's side, sighing and there by sending smoke through his pipe which he had light a little after Eragon began. "I never should have hidden
this from you." A cold line of fear crawled down Eragon's spine. "Brom. What are you talking about?" Brom looked at him. "Gailbatorix, as I told
you in the tale at Carvahall, was born in the provenance of Inzilbeth, which was in the city of Kuasta." Eragon gulped past the lump in his
throat. "Gailbatorix and I are........twin brothers." Eragon's eyes flashed open and he crawled away in horror. He could not believe his ears. He
was the nephew of that raving king? "That-That's impossible!" Brom sighed and whispered, "I only wish that were true." Eragon shook his head
in dismay. He had just barely shaken off the thought of having one evil relative, Morzan, and now he found that he was related closely to the
Bane of the Riders. "Why didn't you tell me?" Brom looked at him sadly. "Would you have believed me?" Eragon looked at the pool of water
beside him and for an instant his reflection transformed into a laughing man with a blood stained sword. The man looked back at Eragon and
mouthed, "We're the same." Eragon spun and punched the water sending the image in every direction. To his horror the defragmented parts
moved away and morphed into more of them. He drew Brisingr and started to lunge at the water, when he felt warm hands rapped around him.
Arya was kneeling next to him, hugging him. "Don't worry. You're nothing like him, no matter that you are related. I'm here Eragon. You don't
need to worry about anything. I'm here, Eragon." She repeated the last line over and over and Eragon's breathing slowed and calmed. He
looked at their group and said, "Let's get some sleep." They all laid beside Thorn and slept.