Okay, so straight up front I want to say that, as predicted, no one was able to guess correctly. Almost eighty percent guessed Elva. So, the immediate default winner is the one who guessed Elva first, which is Alice Prince. YEEEAAAHHH *APPLAUDE* Moving on, because it's ten o'clock and I want to get to sleep.
FlexManSteel: Accurate guess, up to a point. It's accurate because unlike a lot of people, you didn't guess Elva. I really don't like Elva all that much.
SeeKay0.o: Wow that has got to beat the record for my longest review. I know how you feel about the rambling. Thank you for the colorful adjectives used to describe my story. :) I will be adding more stuff, but only about five more characters and their mostly children of the main characters so I can hardly not aid them.
Caironater: Nope not Elva. I would have used her, it would have made it a bit more easy to write, but I just wouldn't enjoy it I'm not sure I could make it enjoyable for any of my readers.
logically psycho:
mmd8280: And you must have broken the record for most reviews in a short period of time. :) Since there are so many I'll just address the major points you made. First is your point about how Galbatorix's mind is, in one way or another, the same as everyone else's, despite the Eldunari. My only example to counter your plethora (love that word) of examples is in Brisingr when Arya told Eragon that she could speak to him on the gates of Vroengard as clearly as if she were right beside him. Next, the letter from Galbatorix, with his promise of Dras'Leona. In Eldest Oromis taught Eragon how to keep a spell dormant in an object, only to have it activate at a certain time. So it wasn't Galbatorix's writing, it was an actual spell that was binding him to his promise. Lastly: the rock is rook and horce is horse. :) I know, I suck at chess. My brother can beat me in, like, three turns.
Adurna Nightstar Evanshade: Just as a quick side note, incredibly creative name. :) Thank you. I gave myself a few months off and then reread the first five stories and I could suddenly see where all the people who said the characters were ridiculously ooc where coming from. :) I can't wait to write more.
Eragon stepped out into the clear air and immediately had to raise Brisingr to block the overhead swing of one of Galbatorix's solders. Following through with the momentum of the block, he spun around and slashed the man through his gut. When he lowered his sword, he kicked the man over. Three of the Varden ran up to him, panting and bloodstained.
"Shadeslayer," one said, "we've done away with Belatona's fortifications. All that is left now to do is to pick off the remaining men."
"Spare them if it can be done," Eragon barked. "They fight not for Galbatorix, but for the defense of their homes. If I get news that you slay without a just cause, I will have every last one of you reduced in rank to the point of sharpening arrows. Am I clear?"
"But, Shadeslayer, they are trying to kill us. Can we not fight back?"
"Fight them, but only when it is provoked. Many of these people have no desire to fight us. Now, tell me, do you know where my dragon is?"
I'm right here, she said as she pushed her way through an alleyway. Eragon examined her and saw blood streaming from a gash on her right front leg; blood dripped from her wings where three arrows embedded themselves in the soft membranes of her flight arms.
Are you alright?
I think I may have some internal bleeding, but it should be fine until we are done here.
Don't over exert yourself, he warned her.
Don't worry. These miserable little retches couldn't exert a small lizard.
Bounding from her foreleg up to her shoulder, Eragon sat in the saddle Oromis had given him.
Where's Glaedr? he asked when he noticed that the small leather pouch no longer sat on her back.
He went with the elves.
We better go report to Nasuada.
Raising her wings over head so that they almost touched, Saphira lunged into the air. From the elevated position, Eragon saw the forces of the Varden swarming through Belatona.
It's amazing how much easier it is to take Belatona than the battle on the Burning Plains or Farthen Dur.
The Varden outnumber the men of Belatona almost ten to one. Of course it is easy.
Small tendrils of smock drifted up from many houses, evidence of dropped lanterns or scattered fire. With a roar to announce her arrival, Saphira landed beside Nasuada. She covered her face to shield herself from the barrage of wind and dirt as Saphira aired out her wings. Eragon leapt down from her back.
"How does it look?" asked Nasuada.
"The Varden are quickly overrunning the people of Belatona. It shouldn't be much longer now."
"Good. I don't want many of the Varden killed or injured. What happened with the lord of Belatona? Has he surrendered?"
"Aye. Aesire should be seeing to him now. I feel a little uncomfortable about leaving him alone with the lord, though."
"Why?"
"It would take awhile to explain."
Nasuada's eyes narrowed with concern. "I am having a difficult enough time trusting this man as it is, Eragon. Knowing that there are things that would be hard to explain does little to aid that worry."
"I'm sorry, Lady Nasuada, but as a Rider, I can't reveal secrets that are not my own without good cause. Ask and I'm sure he'll tell you."
Nasuada's eyes furrowed even more. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it as a burly dwarf trotted up, bloody ax in hand. "Oriath," she said as the dwarf bowed. "Your report."
The dwarf stood and said, "Belatona has all but been crushed. The Lord of Belatona has ordered unconditional surrender to all who would obey him. The solders of the Empire continue to slow our progress. What are your orders for the handling of such hindrances?"
"Crush them without hesitation should they oppose you."
The dwarf bowed again. "Aye, my Lady," he said. He trotted off towards the battle.
"I've ordered a marshalling force of a five thousand men and dwarfs to head off to Dras'Leona. If Galbatorix's word proves false, we should be able to take it by force." Nasuada led him to a propped up board that was being used for a mobile desk. On it was a large map depicting the layout of Dras'Leona, Belatona, Gil'ead and Uru'baen. Nasuada tapped on Dras'Leona. "When we secure this city, we have little more to do until the Elves reach us, and then we march on Uru'baen. Joed believes he has found mention of a hidden tunnel that leads under the black gates of Uru'baen and that it's large enough to accommodate many men at once. He says that in the days when the Elves occupied the city, it was used as a last resort escape. I believe that to be our way in."
"That's not wise," Aesire said, walking up behind Eragon. Eragon turned and looked at him. The man's armor was besmirched with filth and blood, his hair a tangled mess. As near as Eragon could tell, however, all the blood on him was not his own.
"Why do you say this?" Nasuada asked, her voice the same as when she addressed one of the members of the Counsel of Elders.
"I've been to this tunnel before. It would be a superb way in, if it could be used thusly. At its tallest point, the tunnel is twenty yards high and at its widest, it is nearly a hundred yards wide. But think about it. The tunnel is Elven in origin, so there's little worry of it collapsing because of the ware of time. That is its advantage as well as its weakness. The Elves made it to be an escape, not an entrance."
"Then what would you suggest?" asked Nasuada coldly. Aesire stepped up to the map and pointed at the front gate.
"That is its true weakest point."
"How is the place that will be guarded the most a weak point?"
"It's the weak point because it will be guarded so well. Galbatorix will not risk flying out onto us without his Eldunari close at hand, else he would risk defeat at the hands of Eragon. He will wait in his citadel for Eragon to come to him. What's more, he will marshal every man needed to hold the Varden until he can defeated Eragon without distraction. Put yourself in his mind set. The armies of three fourths of Alagesia are marching to destroy you. The best place to stop their advance, is where? The main gate where they will inevitably attempt entrance. Using this line of logic there will not be hundreds waiting at the front gate. There will be thousands."
"This still does not answer the question of how it is the weakest spot," Nasuada asserted.
"This is not a difficult concept to grasp, Lady Nasuada. Thousands of men will be waiting for us to break our way into the city so that they can hold us off until Galbatorix is able to overwhelm Eragon. Thousands of men wait just beyond the gate, unknowingly standing three feet over a twenty yard hole."
"Collapse the hole and do away with a better portion of Galbatorix's forces without losing a single man," Eragon said, completing the thought.
"Exactly," Aesire said, standing up right again.
Nasuada looked up at him for a long moment. "My best advisors could not have come up with that plan."
"I am no simple advisor. I am Aesire, Lord of House Nandiall and I am among the three best strategists in the world."
Nasuada straightened herself and crossed her arms, the white bandages covered by gauntlets. "If we go through with this plan, how will our own men get into the city?"
"Your fatal flay, Lady. You plan for a future battle with what resources you have now. The future can not plan the past."
"What do you mean?"
"By the time we reach Uru'baen, the mighty Elves would have joined us. With their magical arts, we can easily reform the ground to allow our own men in."
Nasuada's eyes focused on Aesire so intensely Eragon wondered if Arya had taught her how to intimidate someone. "Why are you doing this? Why are you helping the Varden with not a single thing in it benefit to you?"
In response to Nasuada's gaze, the left side of Aesire's mouth twitched up into a smile as if she were a child playing at his feet. "I told Eragon I can maneuver my way out of any situation and I meant it."
"That explains how. I want to know why."
The rest of Aesire's mouth quirked up into a smile. "Lady Nasuada, the reasons for my actions are far beyond my ability to explain. I have spent many years planning my actions, and I will not throw that away merely to sate your curiosity."
"You know a major weak point in the capitol city of the Empire. You say you have been there. You were found in Dras'Leona, the Empire's barracks. You have not asked for a single thing and you refuse to tell me why that is. And yet you want me to trust you? You must have a condition of some sort."
"Not trust," Aesire said. "Just belief. I have no conditions. Well," he said, tilting his head to the side as he thought. "I guess I do have one. I will serve the Varden, and I will even defer to you. My entire prowess as a war advisor will be at your disposal. My power to command any to do as I wish will be used at your discretion. And I will swear this in the Ancient Language, so long as my one desire is fulfilled."
"And that one desire is?"
"Simply this: Not a single scratch, scar, bruise or cut will mark my dear companion for the duration of this war."
"And who is your companion?"
Aesire chuckled. "That information you have not yet earned."
"And what about this arrangement you made with Eragon?"
"I will serve the Varden under this one condition and I will serve Eragon under that one condition. The two will not intersect negatively with each other."
"And what if Eragon defects from the Varden?"
"Impossible. He has sworn loyalty to you, the leader of the Varden. Thusly, the two cannot disagree. He will do what you, the Varden, do."
That couple of weeks off were fun. My little sister got her first cell phone (me) and some vintage doll that she has wanted forever (parents), even though she has like five billion. We went to the beach and I got an INCREDIBLY painful sunburn on my back. And now my little sister has learned of the awesome power of burning ants with a magnifying glass. Just thought I'd tell you how my life is going and that I'm happy to be back.
Just (another) little side note, BloodFire now has 90 reviews, equaling that of Rage( my previous highest) with five chapters less than Rage.