Mysterious Girl X: I do not speak Spanish, but as soon as I have the energy I will put that into a translater.

9Valkyrie-chick: Always happy to have a new fan. :) Thank you for pointing the pray prey thing. I will make extra careful to watch out for that in the future.

mmd8280: I look forward to writing them. :)

FlexManSteel: Oh just you wait. I have a good plan for that. That question is addressed in this chapter.

EllenDraper: Thank you. :) You'll have to keep reading for that. As for the other characters; for the time being the will all be used extensively.

dominicthewise: No and no. The black clad man; that's like his nickname now, is in no some obscure enemy.

Antclift: All needed. :( trust me; this hurts me more than it hurts you. I spent a couple of weeks trying to think of some way around it but it didn't work. As for Zodion, he doesn't have either power. The chapter should explain. And then for the show. That wasn't exactly how it happened; but close.

Obliterate1519: :) Have every intention.

Prince of Madness 54: Yes, Geass was the seed idea for Lunarmist. In fact, Aesire is based off of Lelouch. Katelyn will hold hardly any roles in BloodFire at all, but will be a major charector in both the second and third.

Eragon looked at Zodion and then to Aesire. When he had seen the picture of Aesire's family in his house, it had never occurred to him that any of them were still alive.

"I was your brother." Zodion growled. "I ceased being so the day you traded me for that worthless wolf abomination!"

"That is not what happened and you know it!" Aesire bellowed.

"What does this mean, Aesire?" Eragon asked.

"Zodion and I are twin brothers, born less than a minute apart, and so our father had difficulty choosing which would inherit his fortune. So he sent us out for a year to test our prowess as salesmen and whoever came back with more would inherit it all."

"Except he had help," Zodion said with a voice of an enraged beast. "He had that little wolf whore to get money for him by sleeping with noblemen! I bet he didn't even leave..."

Aesire's form wavered and with a blast of air he appeared behind Zodiac, a knife held to his neck.

"Insult me as you freely wish. Call me a sell out, a cheater, a thief if it pleases you. But turn your tongue on Hola again, and I will put through such torture as is beyond your ability to comprehend. Do not so much as insult the texture of her hair."

"Always loved her more than anything, didn't you?"

"Do you honestly believe I am merely bluffing with you? If you dislike Hola, even hate her, I will not lift a finger against you. But with whatever gods may exist as my witnesses, I will kill you if you act on them and she suffers so much as a scratch. Your fight is with me and me alone, Zodion." He shoved him forward and returned to Hola's side.

"You did not have to do that," she said.

"I missed out ten years ago. I wasn't about to miss out now."

"He is your brother."

"Irrelevant," he said. "Tell me," he said to Zodion. "Are you that man covered in black clad man I talked with earlier?"

Eragon perked up. "Black clad man? I've had nightmares about something like that for weeks now."

"As have Nasuada and I imagine Arya. So out with it, Zodion. Are you this man?"

"Perhaps I am, perhaps I am not. What difference does it make? So you're working for the Varden now, are you?" he asked, changing the subject. "That's a conflict of interest."

"Those days are long behind me, Zodion, and you know that well."

"Still, to be brought up that high at the age of sixteen. And if I had been but a few wits smarter, it would have been me."

"But it wasn't." The door to the tavern opened once more and Nasuada and Jormundor walked in.

"Stop this," Nasuada said. "You," she said to Zodion. "Why are you here?"

"Been listening outside, have we? And who might this be to come barging in making demands for information?"

"I am Nasuada, leader of the Varden. This can be resolved peacefully."

"What are you doing?" Aesire asked, looking over his shoulder, then back at Zodion. His brother waved his hand in a careless motion.

"Go ahead; confer with her. I won't intervene. It would hardly be a satisfying ending if I attacked you while your back was turned."

Aesire and Eragon turned to Nasuada while Zodion sat back down and continued drinking.

"I must say, Aesire; your brother hardly seems to know how to take someone captive."

"That's not really his style," Aesire said. "He prefers to give off a feeling of safety and comfort and then take you out while you're distracted, rather than the more rough direct approach. Now then, Nasuada, how do you intend to 'settle this peacefully'? He spoke with steely monotone that betrayed no emotion.

"Why does he want to take Eragon?"

"I imagine Galbatorix put him up to it."

"And what did Galbatorix offer him in return for his services?"

"Money. It's always money with him. If he has a desire for some other item, he'll just take it by force."

"So then, the only reason he is here is for the money?"

"Is that not what I just said?"

"Then if we offer him more than we should able to win him over for the Varden."

"Nasuada," Eragon said. "The sums that would require..."

"Are well within our pockets," Jormundor said. "We received word an hour ago that King Orik has opened the dwarfs' riches to us. He had to argue with the other clan chiefs, but he finally got them to concede to the idea; provided we instruct the histories and legends to give great emphases on the dwarf's participation in this war. We can afford this man several times over."

Eragon was surprised. The dwarfs valued their treasures over all else, for it was what made them stand out amongst the other races.

"That depends on his price," Aesire said. "For all we know, Galbatorix offered him enough to buy Du Weldenvarden, which, if I know my brother, he wouldn't pass down."

"There is only one way to find out," Nasuada said and stepped forward to address Zodion. "Why are you here to capture Eragon?"

Zodion took his time emptying his mug. Then he gestured to the serving woman, who went to fetch him another. "You answered your own question. I'm here to capture Eragon."

"Why?"

"King Galbatorix is paying a handsome total for his capture. Aesire and Hola as well; but their amounts aren't that incredible. Their amounts combined and doubled aren't even a fraction of Eragon's."

"And what is Eragon's amount?"

"You ask a lot of questions," Zodion said, handing the serving woman ten coins. "Seven for a tip," he said to her, then took a long draft on his drink. "If you don't know how to read posters the amount has gone from an earldom to two million crowns."

Eragon staggered. That was enough to buy out every lord, noblemen and working man of every city in the Empire and pay them grossly high wages for nearly a decade.

Even Nasuada had to swallow before she could continue. "And if the Varden could double that sum?"

Zodion's eyebrows lifted nearly an inch as he sipped from his mug. "Why would you pay me so much? True, I would stop chasing your Rider, but four million would easily be enough to buy out all the soldiers that serve Galbatorix."

"Galbatorix will obliterate us without Eragon, regardless of our numbers."

"And so I would work for the Varden?"

"Aye."

Zodion shook his head. "No matter how much you offer me I will not work with Aesire and or Hola."

"Very well. You would act as my personal bodyguard."

"My Lady," Jormundor said. "What about representing all the races that serve under you?"

"The Nighthawks will remain in service; but just as when I had Elva as a last resort I will use Zodion as a last resort. Now what say you," Nasuada said to Zodion.

Zodion narrowed his eyes as he thought. "Hmmm. Four million." He set his mug down and crossed his arms. "Your personal bodyguard for four million crows? Are there that many people after you?"

"I doubt it. I want your protection when we reach Uru'baen."

The side of Zodion's mouth perked up in a smile. "Very well then. I like to get paid in advance, however."

"I am giving you four million crowns. The time you get paid is for me to decide."

"Fair enough. Then I can take this off," he undid the ties that held the shard of the floating crystal and stored it in a sealed pouch. "It's very uncomfortable." He went to Nasuada's side and patted Eragon's shoulder, saying, "No hard feelings, Rider." With Zodion behind her, Nasuada exited the tavern. Before she went, Nasuada turned her head back towards Eragon, face grave but with a fire of determination.

"Ready Saphira, Eragon. Tomorrow we march to Uru'baen. The Elves are doing likewise and we will meet at the capitol's front gates in less than a week."

That night, Eragon lay beside Arya in a dark room in Aesire's house, staring up at the ceiling with a feeling of falling. Am I ready to fight Galbatorix? Can I defeat him? Saphira?

Yes, little one?

Do you think I can do this?

You can never defeat Galbatorix on your own, little one. Fortunately, you have me and Arya and Aesire. Do not let fear of the future cloud your vision of the present, Eragon. Galbatorix has but his one citadel left as a stronghold and when we arrive at Uru'baen, half or more of the King's armies will obliterate themselves with Aesire's trap. And who knows what else Aesire will do. No, little one. You cannot do this; but we can.

Eragon's trepidations wavered as Saphira reassured him.

We will be one in the days to come, yes?

We will be one, not just in the days to come but for the rest of time. Now sleep, little one. Sleep.

The whole of the Varden milled in the streets of Dras'Leona, amassing in all their numbers to march on their last foe. Through the night, Nasuada had set to work every one of the Varden that could call themselves a smith to forging swords, arrows, spears and other weapons.

Eragon stood on top of a building just beyond the outer exit, watching the many hundreds of people file out of the city.

"So this is our final stand," Aesire said from behind him.

Eragon placed a hand over his temple. "I feel something, Aesire. A deep foreboding that a dark fate awaits us and the road we travel."

Aesire's long hair lifted and floated in the, encouraged by a gentle breeze. "Just as a diamond cannot be polished without friction a man cannot grow more powerful without opposition."

"As usual, you make little to no sense. So, are you going to tell me what it is you want now that we're marching on Uru'baen?"

"Not yet, Eragon. In the very near future, however."

"Why are you so secretive of it?"

"Because it is beyond your current ability to grant it. So I won't ask it of you."

Eragon grunted. "What happened between Nasuada and you? She was acting strangely towards you."

Aesire's arm stiffened. "Nothing that cannot be circumvented." And he jumped off the roof to the ground below, making two stops in between.

Nasuada was riding on Battlestorm beside Zodion, contemplating how very similar the brothers were, when she felt it. The very small but powerful sense that someone's eyes were boring into her. She cast her eyes down a side street and her heart skipped a beat as she saw Hola leaning against the wall. Zodion must have caught the feeling as well.

"Want me to take care of her?"

Nasuada shook her head. You wouldn't stand a chance, she thought. "No," she said, hoping her fear would not outplay in her voice. "I will deal with her."

"Pity," he said. "Take this, then." He tossed her a vial of blue water. "That will guard your mind from hers."

This looks exactly like the vial had when Aesire and I... She trailed off. The man that gave me that vial looked nothing like Zodion. Could it have been magic? She tapped Battlestorm's sides and he pranced over to the alleyway. Nasuada dismounted and turned to Hola. Her tail and ears were hidden, her eyes veiled with her long hair.

"Aesire informed me of all that went on while I was deep underground. He said that you went quiet a distance to deceive him into thinking you were me. Do you deny this?"

"No," Nasuada said, softly. She had committed a horrible wrong. But it was not entirely her fault. Aesire said that someone had been plaguing her thoughts.

"And yet you come before me even after what I told you? Why?"

"Because I wish for your forgiveness."

"Forgiveness," she said, almost as a laugh. "Why would I give you something like that?"

"Because I..." Before Nasuada could finish her sentence Hola pushed herself off the wall, turned to Nasuada, gripped her under her neck and threw her against the wall. When Nasuada recovered, she saw something she had never thought she would ever see. Lines of tears ran down Hola's face.

"Be silent," she said, her voice for the first time even making a small indication of her emotion. She shook her head, appearing angered just by the fact that she was crying. Her grip was unbelievably strong. The strength in her hand rivaled that of a Kull's. She fixed her eyes onto her and Nasuada shriveled from the wrath that dwelled within them. "I am servant to no one; I answer to no thing. The rule of my actions is mine alone. What, then, makes you think that I will not simply suffocate the life out of you?"

As she held her against the wall it occurred to Nasuada how closely similar it was to when Aesire had held her against the wall of his room. They would both kill anything without hesitation that stepped in between them, she thought.

"Speak!" Hola said, harshly.

"It was not entirely my fault," Nasuada said.

Hola scoffed. "'Not entirely your fault?' Even if someone told you to do this, you are still the doer of the action! What matters that someone told you to do it?" She pulled back on Nasuada's neck and slammed her into the wall again, and then as her tears intensified she crumbled down and wrapped her tail around herself. Nasuada knelt down beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Do not touch me," Hola weakly said.

"Hola," she said gently. "Know that I am deeply sorry for what I did and that it shall never happen again."

"It never should have happened to begin with," she said.

"I know, and I am sorry."

Hola scoffed once more, only this time to herself. "Look at me- crumbled down sobbing." She stood and threw her hair back, drying her eyes with her tail. "Know this, human. This day you have lost all credibility, as well as trust that you may have had in me. Whether or not you regain that is up to you."

"So then, Aesire and you are alright?"

Hola's eyes softened as she looked up at the skies. "But, of course. Our love runs deeper than the deepest ocean. You," she said, looking almost disgustedly at Nasuada, "are no more than a tadpole out of place." With that she walked away, tail and ears now on full display.

Nasuada swallowed and returned to Battlestorm. She went back to Zodion's side and said, "Why didn't you help me when she attacked me?"

"You said you wanted to handle it yourself; so I let you. Out of sheer and simple curiosity, not that it surprises me, but why does that malformed abomination dislike you?"

"I did something horrible to her," she replied softly.

Zodion uttered a bark of laughter. "Good. Wonderful." Nasuada looked over at him. He seemed genuinely happy.

"Why does that please you?"

"Because whatever you did, it hurt her and pleased you and those two combined pleases me."

Nasuada's blood quickened and her face flushed. He is very much like Aesire, she thought.

So long update because I've been juggling a lot of new shtuff. Getting a driver's lisence, woo! for that and everything. If it makes you feel any better I'm a good way down with the next chapter. OMG I got that Airsoft gun I mentioned a while back and it is AWESOME!

Why does Yu-Gi-Oh sound so much like You-Gay-Hoe; PDF file sounds like pedophile; I think Sarah Pailen( didn't spell that right) completely killed her chances of being president and lastly I've changed my mind. IT IS PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!