AdurnaBrisingr: I'm not allowed to say. Sorry. :) Thank you very much.
logically psycho: 翻訳はとても楽しいものです:) Translate that.
Adurna Nightstar Evanshade: :) Not going to tell you. Is it appealing to you in general or to everyone?
mmd8280: For the better portion of the game it's based after chess. I did add a few details for myself, i.e. the fact that a piece has to be equally or more powerful than the one it's attacking in order to defeat it. :) I do love writing about Hola.
Antclift: :) Perceptive as always. Yes, indeed, that was the inspiration for her. I'm doing my best to make these stories more plot filled than the last.
Thegayperson: I'm not sure what plox means.
Obliterator1519: Ohhh. That was so not the reaction was hoping for. :) Oh well, still glad you enjoyed it.
Prince of Madness 54: He better not make it five books or people are going to be pissed. Yeah, not pointing fingers because of what I made for over a year, but there is some messed up stuff on this site.
Leonineus: Sort of crushed the update soon thing, huh? My beta may have made the switch between those two words. Not exactly positive.
Assassin Lord: Crushed the update soon. Sorry.
greenluva89: :) Thanks. Always love a new reader.
AdurnaBrisingr said I looked pretty in my profile pic so this chapter is dedicated to him and all my other hard core reviewers that have been with me since the start. (you know who you are) And basically to all you who read this story. I can honestly tell you that I am astonished at how good this story is doing.
Hola kept her eyes plastered to Solembum and his eyes did not waver from her. Aesire looked down at Hola. "Hola?"
Her eyes did not move. "You did not mention he was here," she growled. Aesire glanced over at Solembum.
"Glimin's son? You said the two of you had made up."
The left side of Hola's mouth twitched as Aesire said the name. "You were slightly misled on that point."
"Slightly?" Solembum hissed.
"Silence," said Hola in a commanding voice so strong even Eragon flinched back. "I attempted to 'make up' with him," she said to Aesire, "but death would take him before he would accept any apology." She looked up at Aesire. "I was going to tell you about it, but you tend to react negatively to such news."
"To what news?"
Hola's eyes drifted downward. "I may have...lethally injured him."
Solembum lowered down as if ready to jump on Hola. "Is that all you have to say for yourself?" Solembum's tail flicked once and he pounced at Hola.
"Stop!" Solembum skidded to a stop as Angela yelled to him. He looked across at her and pinned his ears back. She strode up beside him and said, "Honestly, Solembum, this is why I can't leave you alone. I go out looking for White Necromancy and you attack the first human woman with a tail that crosses your line of vision?"
Solembum looked back at Hola and then to Angela. "She is Hola," he said as if it justified everything.
"Of course she's Hola. How many other women with tails and ears can come trumping along life's long path?"
"She's the one who..."
"Yes, yes," Angela said, raising her hand. "I've heard this story one too many times. I know it all too well, Solembum, but how do you justify doing the same to her that she did to you? On top of that there is a Rider, a Dragon, and a rather formidable looking man to guard her. And then there is her as well. What, do you think, are your chances of so much as scratching her?"
Solembum glanced at Hola one last time and then sat, and as if nothing had bothered him since the day began, started licking his left front paw and running down his ears. He looked so much like a real cat to Eragon only his size would have made him look twice. Angela stepped up beside Eragon and said, "What did I miss?"
"Everything, mostly. To sum it all up the Varden have a werecat human couple in its ranks."
"I don't believe I've meet this man before, which is odd." He looked over at her. Her eyebrows were set close together over her eyes, which looked concerned. Her right hand continuously twinned a lock of her hair around her index finger.
"What's wrong?"
She examined Hola and Aesire as they made their way to the Varden's camp. "I'm not sure, Eragon. And I've not be unsure of something in a very long time."
That night Eragon sat among a dizzyingly bright celebration that included most of the Varden. The army had gathered outside its camp, away from the stifling confines of the tents, and into the open and danced and sang it's victories of the past weeks. An upbeat song was being played by a band of the twelve elves and thirteen humans. Bright flashes eliminated the sky with reds and blues. A crack followed each one. Fireflies, at the prompting of the elves music, flew in circles, flashing their small lights. They were so many, though, it looked like the stars in the sky were erupting.
Eragon, the far reaching voice of Glaedr said from the Eldunari beside him.
Master?
Why do you not join in, Eragon?
It took Eragon a moment to find words to explain. I feel as though every step I take towards Galbatorix is another three I take away from what is right and just.
A man has been reunited with the woman he loves today. Why do you mourn this?
I have so much blood on my hands it's beginning to drag me down.
Eragon. When you made the choice to flee Carvahall with your father, you chose to leave behind every possible avenue of escape from the life you now lead. Choose now to look not at all that is bad and evil but all that is good and wonderful. Triumph is ours and the Empire that killed your father and uncle is falling! You are bonded with the woman you love and with a mighty Dragon that loves you more than can be fathomed. You are surrounded by all whom you hold dear in victory. Why do you allow such evil thoughts to bedevil such joyous events as these?
I am worried, Master.
Oromis' promises to you are mine as well. Ask and it shall be answered.
Is it...alright?
Is what alright?
To be afraid of the future to come.
In your position, Eragon, it would be alarming if you were not. Then Glaedr's mind reseeded into itself and he fell into what could be called sleep, if sleep were needed. Eragon looked up from the grass at his feet to see Arya dancing with her kin and Saphira waving her head and humming to the music. And for the first time since he was traveling in Du Weldenvarden, he allowed himself to feel joy at all that he had in life. Out of the hundreds of thousands of people in the world, Saphira had chosen to bond with him and him alone. And Arya, who was to be Queen of the highest race in Alagaesia, had chosen to lower her stature in front of her race to be with him. He stood and for many hours danced with Arya and Saphira until late in the night.
The resonation of a thunderclap jarred Eragon. He opened his eyes to find that he lay in a patch of wet grass beside a stream bed. Dark thunderclouds hung low in the skies. He surreptitiously reached for Brisingr, recognizing the familiar symbols of his past dreams.
"Such weapons are hardly needed in this realm," a low purr said from behind him. Eragon spun around, expecting an attack, but lowered his sword when he saw the dark grey werecat that had foretold his future curled up under a large leaf to ward it against the rain.
"You," he said, somewhat surprised. He had not expected to see the werecat again.
"Me," he said bluntly.
"Why are you here," he asked.
The werecat's tail flicked. "You are the one that has come here, if you do not recall, with your sword brandished as if a band of Urgals were banging down your front door." He stood and shook his right front paw. "Youare here so that I may show you something."
"At the behest of the King Dragon, again?"
"No, someone else has requested I show you this." Eragon followed as the werecat trotted over a valley that was so large Eragon could not guess at its length. The sun was peaking over the horizon when the werecat stopped at the base of a hill. "Go up this hill and look over it, but do not allow yourself to be seen." Eragon picked his way up the hill, which was very steep, and to the top. He looked back down and saw that the werecat was gone. He looked with his enhanced eyes for any sign of him, but could not even see a foot print. Shrugging, he crawled up the rest of the hill and looked over the edge a bolder, and gasped at what he saw. The sun split through the clouds and shone down on a rift between two mountains.
A city, that looked to be made of gold, lay between the giant monoliths. Harmonious music drifted to him from the city that had no fortifications, as if it had no enemies. A waterfall a mile high, twice as high as Igualda Falls, ran down the left mountain and into the city and out the other side. Just by the virtue of his ordinary human eyes he could see thirteen full grown dragons and forty or more younger ones, just old enough to fly. He could hear happy shouts of Dwarfs, Elves, Humans and Urgals from the city. He looked up the hill and jumped onto a tree and climbed up to its highest branch. Looking down into the city with his eyes of an eagle he saw the four races living together in complete harmony.
"Where are we," he said to no one in particular.
"We are here," the werecat's voice said. "A Rider should know that."
"Where is here?"
"Across the seas, over mountains and valleys, past the devils of the heavens and earth does this city dwell. Remember it well, Shadeslayer. Do not allow this sight to waver from your mind, for this is the second path that stands before you. You have seen them both, now decide which one you will travel down and live according to that decision."
I'm trying really hard to make these stories have a plot. Can you tell?
BloodFire is kicking the other stories butts! In the same amount of chapters as Rage, my now second best. Awesome!