Prince of Madness 54: That is good to know.
Obliterator1519: :) I can't wait to tell you.
Antclift: Yeah, I had plans on it sometime in the attack on Uru'baen portion of the story.
JordanMathias: Good point(s). I will be explaining why at that time he obeyed Angela rather than going on his own instinct. (Cool profile pic, by the way)
Leonineus: :) Thank you. Your profile pic is pretty cool too.
logically psycho: Oh, that sucks. Ah well.
Adurna Nightstar Evanshade: :) Yes, I am extremely happy with how many readers I have.
Dwarf-Gimli: haha :) Always love energetic reviewers.
FlexManSteel: No, but that was a seed idea for it.
Eragon's entire body was sore. A continuous pulsing came from his head as if something was trying to kick its way out from the inside of his skull. He trudged alongside Roran on one side and Aesire and Hola on the other. Katrina rode much farther behind with the people who could not fight if they were attacked. The Varden were marching once again, with Nasuada deciding to strike forward into the Empire while it was still trying to draw back its forces from the Elven attack.
It had been months since Eragon had ridden a non-Elven horse and he had forgotten how sore and stiff it made him. He had decided not to ride on Saphira because of the frigid winds coming in from the seas. Roran tapped the sides of Snowfire to come up beside him.
"Katrina has been talking about the baby, again. I'm worried about her, Eragon. Each day she seems more agitated than the last."
"All the Varden's resources have and are being used to keep its women and children save."
"That's not exactly what I was talking about."
"You mean she's been talking about me speeding her arrival again?"
"Aye."
"That is something to worry about. When did you and she..." He trailed off, hoping Roran would perceive his meaning without him having to say it.
Roran's eyes grew thoughtful, as if he was trying to remember past the past months. "The night before the Ra'zac took her, I think. It was in Horst's house. She came into my room after the village had gone to sleep and went onto my bed and..."
"I think he gets it," Aesire said, noting Eragon apple red checks. Eragon cast him a quick glance of gratitude.
"So, how many months ago, would you say?"
"Well, considering the time it took to get to the Burning Plains and up until now, right around six or so months now."
"That is within the acceptable range for your spell, is it not," Hola's musical voice said from behind Aesire. Eragon did not even bother to ask how she knew about his offer to Katrina.
"More or less," Eragon said. "Likely leaning towards less. Frankly, I was hoping she would just forget about it."
"I am rather uneducated about human conception, but given my relatively narrow understanding of magic it seems very possible to complete an infant's creation with it."
"Most everything is possible with the use of magic," Eragon said, feeling like what he imagined Oromis must have felt like for hundreds of years. "However, just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be done. Even the smallest of spells carries some risk that it will go horribly wrong. Just lifting a stick could end in someone's death."
"The Elves sing entire homes out of living trees and yet you fear lifting a stick," Hola said.
"That's not what I meant. Magic, whether it is turning a grain of sand into water or lighting a fire with a bolt of lightning, always carries risk of acting differently than you had intended. Completing the creation of Katrina's child would be simple enough, but if I can't see something I have a hard time casting magic on it. And that small hindrance could turn into incurable blindness or a lack of limbs on the child's part, thus my reluctance."
"But it is still possible, yes?"
"Aye, it is."
They rode in silence. The landscape around them, with Leona Lake to their left and fast open land to their right, was quiet and alone. Not a creature stirred in the vicinity. Eragon was contemplating the back of Arya's head; she rode next to Nasuada in the front of the army, when a thought came to him. "Aesire. Can you use magic?"
It took Aesire a moment to respond. "Cannot anyone use magic?"
"You know what I mean." Aesire took a deep breath. Hola placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned up to whisper something in his ear.
"No," Aesire said. "I cannot use magic. And why would I want to anyway? Every power I would ever need resides in my right eye." Roran looked back at him.
"What does that mean, in your right eye?"
Aesire's eye shifted and took on the red circle inside a black diamond, though he did not speak. After a moment it returned to normal. "That is the outlet for my ability to command anyone I wish to do as I wish."
"Anyone?" Hola said. Aesire chuckled.
"Excluding you." Hola's wolf ears flicked and disappeared into her hair. She tucked her tail into her dress and looked, suddenly, completely human.
Nasuada glanced over at Arya who rode beside her. The tall elf sat high in her saddle, proud as an eagle or lion. Her long black hair lifted at its ends by the wind. "Arya," she said. "May I ask you something?"
The elf raised her right hand to pull back a thread of her hair that obscured her vision. "You just did, but yes."
"Is it worthwhile to fall in love?"
"For a human I really could not say. Elves are the long living and therefore love has been a mere facet of reality to us. It exists but we do not trouble ourselves with it at all possible times. Like the Dwarfs with cave bears. They know they exist and yet they go out of their way to avoid them. We do not practice marriage on account of our ever spanning lives because of this."
"Was it worth it for you?"
A small smile came to Arya's lips. "In one way or another it was. Why do you ask?"
"No reason," Nasuada said, quickly.
"When one asks of clouds and the rain it is meaningless chatter. When one asks about love it is a question driven by the heart." Nasuada cleared her throat and pulled on her stallion's reins, eager to escape Arya's piercing gaze. She sat there as the Varden advanced past her until Eragon came into sight. As his horse trotted past her she tapped her heels into her horse's sides.
"My Lady," Eragon said, dipping his head. "What are you doing back here?"
"I wanted to escape the effort of maintaining a royal decorum for a little while," Nasuada said, evasively. Her gaze drifted past Roran to Eragon and then to Aesire, where she saw Hola sitting behind him. "Who is that?"
"It is quite unkind, when attempting to learn someone's name, to not direct such desire's of knowledge to the person of its origin. If you have a question of who I am I would be most honored if you chose to direct them to me."
"Forgive me," Nasuada said. Something about the woman picked at her. Perhaps it was the way she talked. "What is your name?"
The woman tilted her head away from Nasuada and said, "You have yet to earn the name of someone as noble as I." Nasuada narrowed her eyes at the golden eyed woman who was casting a sidelong glance at her, as if to see how she would respond.
"This is my companion," Aesire said, abruptly, shaking Nasuada out her examination of the woman. "The one I mentioned when you were making plans of the attack on Uru'baen."
"And her name is..." Nasuada said, waving her right hand in a small circle. Aesire shrugged.
"She doesn't want you to know it, so I will not dishonor that wish. When she wants you to know it, she will tell you. Not before. She didn't properly introduce herself for nearly a week when I first met her. Although, the circumstances where far different than the current ones."
The woman forsook her sidelong staring at Nasuada to transfer her gaze to Aesire. She playfully said, "As I do recall you failed to do so either."
"You were traveling with me," Aesire said, with equal playfulness. "Why should I have been the instigator of that transaction of titles?"
"A gentleman," the woman said, laying a hand on his head, "is always the instigator of such pleasantries. You were the one to offer transportation by means of that extremely uncomfortable wagon." Then she returned her golden eyes to Nasuada. Something about those orbs made Nasuada uncomfortable. They seemed to stare right into her; through her almost. She looked away, thinking, This is hardly better than Arya. Nasuada looked back at the woman to see if she was still looking and nearly feel off of her horse. A pair of wolf ears had appeared on her head.
"I hear something." She stood up in the saddle and pinned her ears up. They twitched occasionally but other than that she did not move. For nearly a minute she stood like this.
"Are you sure it wasn't just your imagination?" asked Aesire. She looked down at him with an indignant expression. "Right. Your ears are set far away from your imagination."
"She's right," Eragon said. He could hear it now too. A rhythmic vibration through the air, each pulse separated by a perfect second.
Eragon, the over power thought from Saphira came down on them like a blanket of rain. The Empire's soldiers are coming in from the north!
"How many," Eragon said with his mind and voice.
A few thousand.
"Nasuada," Eragon said.
"I heard. Jormundur!" She called. The battle hardened man looked back from his place ahead. Then he pulled on his stead's reins and pulled back to her.
"Yes, my Lady?"
"Sound the alarm. The Empire's attacking."
"What will you do?"
"I will fight!"
"But, Lady Nasuada, your arms..."
"Will be fine," Nasuada said, cutting him off. She pulled out her sword from her horse's side and said, "Now sound the alarm!" Jormundur took out a red and white horn, lifted it to his lips, and winded it three times. Chaos ensued. Though the Varden were well trained on what to do in this situation, there was much confusion. Twenty of Jormundur's captain's began herding the women and children to higher ground. Men and older boys took out their swords and bows, readying for an attack. In the fray Nasuada lost her grip on her sword as a man ran past her and slammed into Battle-storm's flank. She staggered off the stallion and fell onto her hands and knees. Flames of pain erupted in her arms as the old scars collided with the ground. She picked up her sword and stood, just as a spin tingling howl rose up behind her. She turned her head and looked back to see Aesire's companion leap off of the saddle, a wolf's tail coming from the bottom of her dress, teeth pointed like fangs and eyes sparkling with bloody glee. Who is she? It was her last thought before the soldiers attacked.
They came like a tidal wave, fast and as unexpected as a blizzard. As Saphira had indicated there were nearly three thousand of them by Nasuada's brief glimpse. They paled in numbers in comparison with the Varden, but the attack had happened so quickly and unexpectedly that a good number of men lay dying on the grounds in front of her. It had been weeks since Nasuada had partook in any sword fighting with persons that meant for nothing less than to kill her and it took her awhile to readapt to the raw feeling of senses where even allies were briefly looked upon as enemies before the rational part of her brain recognized them.
The soldiers' attack was fast and well calculated. With the Varden pressed up against the side of Leona Lake and the soldiers with the forward momentum they had gained from the high hill they were able to hack down many of her men. Nasuada was dimly aware of Saphira flying over the attacking soldiers and setting fire to half their ranks. An hour passed and the battle still raged. Nasuada's arms throbbed with each blow she landed. As the daughter of the Varden's leader she had been well trained in the arts of combat. Thusly she was able to hold her own before the onslaught of enemies.
Nasuada had just knocked a soldier on the head with the pummel of her sword and, intending to slash his neck, had spun around in a quick flurry. As she did, however, a soldier had come up from behind her and pushed her in the small of her back, sending her falling forward. She pushed herself up, fighting back tears as the pain from her arms became almost unbearable. She forced herself to turn around and saw three soldiers standing over her. One of them, the one she had been trying to kill had his bloody sword raised high for the final blow. She closed her eyes as the sword descended and she waited to hear the slice of human flesh. Instead of that gruesome sound she heard a clang as the sword was deflected. She opened her eyes and saw a sword of magnificent make held out to block the attack. She followed the sword to its wielder and saw Aesire. His long brown hair was strewn across his face and fierce look of determination blazed in his eyes as if were possessed by a spirit of war.
One of the other soldiers raised his sword to attack Aesire. Just as the razor sharp steel was about to hack him he spun to the right and beat both of the swords the soldiers aside, throwing the soldiers with them. As they fell the third soldier attacked with a slash aimed at Aesire's abdomen. Aesire jumped back, missing the blade by inches, stepped forward, gripped the man's shoulders and thrust his knee into the man's neck while pulling him forward. The man staggered back, vomiting. By this time, the other two soldiers had picked themselves off the ground and had launched themselves variously at Aesire.
The first one attempted to stab Aesire with a hunting knife; his sword was bent from the force of Aesire's blow. Aesire did not dodge the blow. Instead he twisted to the side and grabbed the man's wrist as he the soldier staggered forward, took the knife and threw at the second attacking soldier, wounding him in the leg. Then he gripped the back of the soldier's neck and, taking out his own knife, cut the man's neck with a forward slash and continued the blow to throw his knife at the third soldier, catching his neck just above the major vein. Aesire stepped up to the man he had kicked in the neck, knelt, took out the man's knife and said, "I'll make this as quick and painless as possible."
When he was done he stood flipped his head so his hair went out of his face. Then he turned and looked at Nasuada. Just as he did the sun broke through the clouds of mist and ignited a halo around Aesire's face, casting in such perfection Nasuada thought it to be some trick of magic. Nasuada's heart began to beat faster. "Are you alright?" he asked, his voice was a clear as the chirping of a bird. Nasuada could only dimly nod. He walked up beside her and said, "You're hurt." He pointed to her arm's, where the scars had ripped open and were now bleeding freely. He kneeled down beside her and his eye twitched and his hand went to his ribs where a line of his shirt had been cut open and was bleeding out ruby tears.
"As are you," Nasuada said, astonished that she could find words. One of Du Vrangr Gata ran up beside her and said, "Lady Nasuada, I must stop this bleeding immediately."
"No," she said. "See to him first." The healer looked at Aesire.
"He is not as badly injured as you."
"See to him first," she said in a commanding tone.
A warm look of affection came to Aesire's eyes. He looked at the healer and his right eye morphed into some odd design. "Take care of Lady Nasuada first, then go and take care of the rest of the wounded, excluding me. It looks like the soldiers have been destroyed, so as soon as all who have been injured are cared for I relinquish control over you. Now, do as you have been told." As he stopped talking a brief look of fatigue gripped his features.
The healer's eyes grew dull and distant and he said, "At once, sir." And he began seeing to Nasuada's wounds. Nasuada stared up at Aesire the entire time and felt no pain as the healer rapped bandages around her arms. He's not a fraud, she thought.
"Did you think I was," Aesire said, with a hint of amusement. Nasuada did not even think to wonder how he had heard her thoughts. When the healer had finished he stood and said, "I will go and see to the others now." Aesire sat beside her for a moment and then stood and held out a hand.
"Would you like to get up?" She nodded dimly and took his hand. When their skin came into contact Nasuada's heart began to beat even faster and she thought, What is wrong with me? With an extreme lack of effort he pulled her up. When she could stand on her own Aesire bowed and said, "If you will excuse me I must go extinguish the fires of fear these soldier's attack has ignited in the hearts of the innocent. May the rest of your day be more pleasing than these past hours." And then he swept away, pausing only to pick up his knife and sword.
Nasuada watched him go and her heart began to ache as he left. She laid a hand on her chest and thought, I think he has more charm than even Blodhgarm. Then she became aware of someone watching her. She turned and looked at the source of this feeling and saw the woman who had been traveling with Aesire. Her dress was a ruined mockery of its former appeal. The last two feet of a wolf's tail waved back and forth slowly from the confines of her ragged dress. Her ears were pinned back ever so slightly and her golden eyes bore into Nasuada as if she were an enemy. As the wolf human looked at her Nasuada felt, suddenly, more endangered then when she was lying helpless at the soldiers' feet.
Reader: Well, well, well. Nasuada, huh? I smell another serial adultery in the making.
Me: Okay, I have already made it abundantly clear that I do not like the past five stories, so does it make much sense that I would do it all over again? As far as I can see you have two options. A: You can stop nagging about nothing and read the story. Or B: You can stop reading the story all together, and stop nagging.
Reader: Okay...in my defense all our conversations are is a feeble attempt to make things that aren't plausible to make in the chapter apparent before people email you complaining about it.