Chapter Fifteen: Complications
Sorry for the last chapter lack of action so to make it up for you, here is Harry vs Durza. There will be no update for a while until i'm finished with the story completely or i'm so close i will feel comfortable to post it, i swear it will not take long to finish this story as my muse is finally back and i'm already at chapter twenty, though i'm a bit stuck at how to describe Eragon's and co stay in Elesmera but that is just a temporary delay, enjoy.
The next day they went to the Record chamber, again. As the previous day Harry sealed the chamber from the space-time continuum as his Prophet senses were practically screaming that something bad was going to happen, and considering his company, which were the biggest trouble magnets he had ever met surpassed only by himself, - well he had a reason to worry. Around midday they found what they were looking for, the Ra'zack lair was situated in Dras-Leona and after a bit they came to the conclusion that the lair must be found in Helgrind as it would have the perfect conditions for a Ra'zack lair and it was near enough to the city for them to find food (humans) easily.
When they went out of the room they were met by cries of terror and the small of smoke. They ran to the streets only to find the city under attack from a few dozen Urgals who had breached the city gates and had somehow bypassed all the guards of the city and had put to fire a number of houses and were in the process of killing people in the streets. As soon as they spotted them a few Urgals headed toward them swinging their weapons wildly. Eragon engaged two of them as Brom took the other three on. Harry slipping under a seriously improved version of the disillusionment Charm attacked the ones that hadn't attacked them.
It took Harry three spells to have the three dozen Urgals dead at his feet. With that done he turned around to see how his companions were doing against their opponents. Eragon's training had seemed to pay off as he weaved around the attacks of the two Urgals and repaid them with small cuts which in a under a minute became as numerous as to slightly hinder the two attackers. That was all Eragon need and with while dodging a swipe from one of the Urgals he rolled to the ground and stabbed the other Urgal, straight in the heart, killing him instantly and then he proceeded to cut the legs of the remaining Urgal from underneath him. With incredible speed Eragon got up and plunged his sword in the shocked Urgals heart thus killing his second opponent.
Brom's battle was a sight to behold. He weaved through the attacks of his opponents with a feline grace that should be impossible for one as old as him and yet he did. Unlike Eragon who risked himself to kill his opponents Brom relayed in his nigh-impenetrable defense to protect him and as soon as one of the Urgals overextended a bit, that Urgal lost his sword arm and a second later his head. The other two Urgals attacked with more fury and strength behind their blows but it proved futile as Brom didn't move not even an inch a few second latter one of the two remaining Urgals was bifurcated in a lightening fast swipe of the Za'rock. The last Urgal attacked with even more fury that his two dead comrades but he found himself against a Brom who had taken the offensive and didn't last more than twenty seconds before his head was separated from his shoulders.
"Nice swordplay both of you" commented Harry seeing as both had finished almost at the same time.
"Thanks, guess my training paid off" said Eragon with a grin not bothered in the least of killing Urgals.
"Well, it's good I kept my skill sharp" said Brom "let's leave before someone from the Empire comes here and recognizes us"
"Too late" said Harry as he pointed to a red haired man accompanied by a group of thirty or so soldiers of the Empire.
"Damn it, We'll have to use magic" said Brom
"Not an option, he is a Shade" said Harry.
"Okay, Eragon communicate with Saphira and tell her to met us in the docks" said Brom "in the meantime run and hope to survive"
They ran the hardest they could but they soon found themselves being circled by all sides by soldiers of the Empire and they had to constantly change their routes as they couldn't afford to deal with those that were blocking their path or the Shade could catch up with them. Somewhere during their attempt to run, archers joined their pursuers and soon enough hey found themselves forced to weave thought the arrows from the archers and thus the Shade and his accompanying company of soldiers gained ground.
Seeing no option Harry used a pretty simple spell to light some of them on fire but in doing so he fell behind his companions and before he could catch up with them a house collapsed in front of him and the debris blocked his path. Turning around he saw a grinning Shade approach him with the sadistic pleasure of an animal that has caught its prey in a corner and is about to play a bit with it.
"Guys, leave, now" said Harry blocking some arrows from impaling them, through the use of his psionic powers.
"We can't leave you, he'll kill you" said Eragon.
"Leave now and met Saphira and then come and get me, I'll keep this upstart magician occupied till then" said Harry grinning and dodging a red bolt of energy from Durza.
"So secure of yourself and so brave, I wonder what your heart taste will like, I guess I'll find out" said Durza as he spoke a few words in the ancient language and a tile flew toward him with great speed.
"Dream on" said Harry as with a thought twenty five soldiers following Brom and Eragon fell down to the ground with their neck snapped and the tile shattered against an invisible telekinetic barrier.
Durza snarled a bit and then tried to attack him mentally but all of his power failed against the impenetrable mental walls that Harry possessed. Snarling Durza sent yet another beam of red light which was countered by raising a piece of ruble, on impact the piece of rubble exploded in a shower of rocky shrapnel. Harry was totally unaffected as he defended himself with another barrier and then he unsheathed Willbreaker and the Shade flinched under the Authority of the sword but was otherwise unaffected, while some of the surrounding soldiers fainted under the pressure.
"Where did you get such a powerful artifact" snarled Durza as he took out his own sword.
"I earned it" said Harry as he closed the distance between the two and tried to stab Durza on the heart.
"Well, it will be mine, as soon as I kill you" said Durza blocking the attack and countering with a flurry of stabs and swipes.
Harry was forced backwards by the sheer speed and strength behind those attacks, it wasn't that Durza lacked skill but he wasn't on par with someone like Harry and only his superior speed and strength gave him an edge. Cursing his own plan for having to hide his full powers until the time was right he avoided another swipe, this one meant to cleave him in two,- and with a lightening fast swipe managed to graze Durza's right foot. Durza said a few words and a sphere of compressed air threw Harry against one of the walls of the surrounding houses. Harry recovered in time to avoid another tile aiming for his head and got up.
Putting Willbreaker within his personal pocket dimension he used his psionic power to propel a few pieces of rubble against Durza who simply side stepped them and with a grin spoke another word and a stream of red light came out of his hand and headed toward harry. Harry raised a psionic barrier and once it absorbed the beam of light he answered with an azure beam of compressed psionic energy. Durza answered by simply snuffing it out by sending another red beam of light, this one way more powerful than the previous beam,- which almost took Harry's head off.
Grinning Durza whispered a few words in the Ancient Language and the rubble around Harry immediately speeded toward him and Harry was left with no choice but to use his Psionic power to teleport in a flash of azure light. Appearing behind Durza he immediately used a blade of wind intending to cut him in two but was disappointed when a shield of compressed air blocked his air blade. Durza retaliated with a stream of fire which Harry countered with a torrent of sub zero cold air.
"You're powerful join me and my master and you shall receive more than you have ever dreamed of" said Durza pushing more power in is spell making the flames become a deeper shade of crimson.
"No, thanks I have never dreamt of power" answered Harry increasing the potency of his own spell in return causing ice to cover the stones that made up the road.
"Of course you have, you just won't admit it" taunted Durza as he drew more power from is apparently bottomless well of power.
"Nope I'm pretty sure I haven't, though that might have had something to do with the fact I had all the power I could ever want and then some more" said Harry adding so much power to his spell that it caused an explosion when the two magically empowered elemental streams met, magic was unstable like that.
"It means more power for me when I consume your heart" said Durza recovering from the explosion that had thrown him a few dozen feet away from where he stood and formed a small crater.
"All bark and no bite" said Harry dodging a beam of red light.
"We'll see" answered Durza increasing the amount of the beams of light he sent toward Harry.
Harry found himself hard pressed to resist the onslaught that Durza had sent against him without revealing more of his immense power and that was something he couldn't do least Eragon and the wpit Alaegasia became dependant on him to solve their problems and thus become a source of greater pain for them in the future. Dodging yet another one of the red beams of energy from Durza, Harry heard the distinct roar of a Dragon and felt the sickening presence of the Lethrbraka and their offspring's and he couldn't do anything least he destroy half the city to get to them.
As Harry sent them away and killed the guards nearest to them, Brom dragged Eragon toward the coast where Saphira was supposed to meet them. Eragon wanted to stay and help his friend although he knew he wasn't a match for a Shade and he would be hard pressed to survive even against the normal soldiers and magicians of the Empire. Saphira sensing the distress of her Rider quickened her pace toward the city in order to help her rider and if she could help even his friend, the mysterious human pup who felt even older than Brom, whose power eluded her natural comprehension as a Dragon, - even though she knew that se could yet breath fire and without it her claws and teeth would be useless against a Shade, the natural enemy of her kind. In doing so she didn't notice two flying creatures in the horizon, heading toward the city or the small wisp of flame she produced unconsciously.
Brom slashed at yet another guard of the city, they had come to supplement the already dead garrison of the Empires soldiers sent to capture or in his particular case, kill him. The boy couldn't have been more than fifteen winters old and yet his life had ended against Brom's blade. Shaking off his guilt at killing another human being especially one so young, the guilt he felt never having become any less even after years of fighting and killing,- he dragged the distraught Eragon toward the dock, now within their line of sight. They were but a hundred meters from it when a line of fifteen soldiers blocked their way.
"Holy shit, Brom the Crimson Blur" shouted one of the soldiers, obviously a veteran as he recalled Brom old nickname, earned after killing fifty men singlehandedly before killing Morzan and claiming his sword, Za'rock.
"Clear the path and nobody has to die" said Brom hoping that his reputation would spare him the need to kill them all but it was in vain as with a shout the entire fifteen soldiers launched themselves against him.
As Brom parried the soldiers attack he got separated from Eragon who was stuck with three opponents as the rest ganged up on him, hoping to overcome him with their sheer numbers. Cursing his luck for having to fight so many soldiers after he had spent a great deal of energy dealing with the rest of their pursuers he parried another thrust meant to impale through the heart he drew some energy from the ring on his hand and then with a lightening fast swipe the soldier who tried to impale him found himself a limb short. With a roar of frustration, Brom threw himself at the soldiers and with another swipe a soldier found himself a head shorter, the rest broken from their initial assault and now frightened from the sight of an old man cutting through them like a hot knife through butter, they tried to retreat but were unable as Brom took advantage o this to kill them all.
Eragon was so distraught that he only recovered when his swordsman instincts kicked in time to save him from a swipe from a soldier intending to cut his head off. Eragon managed to dodge the attack albeit partially as he felt blood running down his left arm and he saw a cut running down his shoulder to his elbow. In that moment something broke inside Eragon, under the pressure of Saphira's anger, his own anger at himself for not being capable of helping his friend and the anger at the soldiers for delaying Harry enough for the Shade to get to him, - and instead of lashing out in anger he remained composed even more so then before,- and proceeded to systematically demolish the three soldiers around him. It was only the voice of Brom that reminded him that the soldiers were already dead that stopped him from further striking at the downed corpses of the Empires soldiers, well at least what remained of them,- and let him realize that he had just killed a human for the first time.
Saphira felt Eragon snap and she hurried and within minutes she was hovering above her Rider she felt excruciating pain in her left wing and she fell to the ground, managing to lessen the pain from the impact before she felt a vile presence, the presence of minds so warped that most humans couldn't even feel their presence and in some ways they were lucky as they didn't have to bear feeling such a foul, warped presence with their minds. She tried to get up but her legs gave out on her as she felt poison paralyze her. Normally that wouldn't have been a problem with the high concentration of magic in her blood but this poison was too potent and would paralyze her for some time but she would eventually get rid of it but the question was whether she could get rid of it in time to help her Rider and his other companion to survive the foul creatures.
Brom cursed his bad luck for meting such formidable enemies in such conditions, not only had he to protect the shocked Eragon but he had to fight two of them accompanied by their parents. Turning to them he used Brisingr hoping to separate them but they dodged simultaneously not allowing themselves to be separated and attacked with inhuman speed, to the point where they were just blurs and Brom was just barely capable of blocking their swords from tearing him in two. He backpedaled hoping to draw them out of the shade offered by the building s in the dock and thus allow the light of the sun to distract them enough but was stopped by the Lethrbaraka who tried to bite his arms off.
Dodging the attack from the Lethrbraka he tried to cut one of their heads but was stopped by the twin blurs of their younglings, the Ra'zack. With a few words he unleashed a wave of force which threw the deformed imitations of human exoskeletons and turned around and swiped at one of the parents, failing to cut its head but taking a part of its beak off. Screeching in pain, the Lethrbraka broke formation and tried to claw at him but Brom rolled underneath it and slashed at its midsection earning another pained screech. The other Lethrbraka tried to claw at him but found itself covered in bright blue flames, courtesy of Brom.
While his attention was dedicated to his spell, the two Ra'zack returned and attacked him before he could complete his spell and leave the Lethrbraka but a charred husk. Cursing Brom turned around and with a small spell caused a nearby pebble to enter the right foot of one of the Ra'zack breaking their cohesion and allowing him to stab the other Ra'zack in the right shoulder. In exchange he got a punch to the ribs from the Ra'zack that was wounded in his leg. Clutching his side and spitting blood Brom backpedaled a bit and them with a massive shit-eating grin he used a fairly simple spell to cause the roof of the nearby warehouse to collapse and thus allowed the rays of sunshine to penetrate in the corner where they were fighting.
Frightened by this turn of events the Lethrbrak and their younglings retreated to the shadows and tried to kidnap Eragon on their way. Brom seeing this rushed at the top of his capacity forgetting his fractured ribs and slashed at one of them but since he was in an unfavorable position the Ra'zack dodged and stuck his blade in Brom's left lung. With a gurgling sound Brom fell to the ground and the Ra'zack that had wounded him tried to finish what he started only for a massive force that distorted the air around them with an unearthly azure glow threw it off to the sea, where he drowned. The rest of their party got off easier as the Lethrbraka could fly and the other Ra'zack was mounted in the unburned Lethrbraka and thus didn't fall into the sea. Panicking about their proximity to deep water they flew away in panic forgetting about their prey, Eragon, - which the unknown force had ripped from their hands.
Eragon having come back to his senses run to his mentor and tried to heal him with the healing spells he had been taught in those months but found himself unable to heal the wound on Brom. So focused was Eragon on attempting to heal Brom that he didn't notice the thirty soldiers of the Empire that surrounded them not that he needed to worry about them as Saphira showed them why it was unwise to surround a Dragon, a wounded one nonetheless,- as she roasted them with a majestic column of magically enhanced flames. Noticing this Eragon got up and using magic, as he didn't trust his shaky hands, - tried to levitate the body of Brom atop Saphira and then he climbed too. With that he directed her to fly toward the place where Harry and the Shade were fighting and didn't hurt that she roasted every soldier of the Empire that they came across with extreme prejudice.
Harry was sweating as he dodged those beams of red light, unable to help his friends but the moment he felt Brom get stabbed he unleashed two massive burst of Psionic energy, one that threw Durza a good one hundred feet away and the other to help his friends. With that done, Harry attacked Durza mentally, shredding through his mental defenses and pounding on his consciousness with every bit of his anger and will. Such a thing would have destroyed anyone's mind but then again Durza wasn't anyone as he had five minds instead of one, although from now on he would be a mind shorter.
Durza got back on his feet with a mix of fear and anger at the boy who had done such a thing to him/them. With a string of words hastily spoken he raised a massive amount of rubble and even took material from the houses surrounding and threw them at the pest. Harry was so pissed that when he saw the massive pile of rock and wood headed toward him he didn't dodge instead he summoned over twenty spirits to do his biding. The spirits compelled by their magic's inherent nature, tried to take him over but they found Harry's will to be unbreakable and thus receded to do his bidding. Durza was immensely surprised when he found out the boy was a sorcerer and quite a powerful one judging by the fact that he summoned over twenty of his/their former brethren and didn't fall to them. He was forced to fight a losing battle against twenty of his/their former brethren as he knew he just didn't have enough power to keep the rubble from crushing him so he teleported.
With a crack and a crimson flash of light Durza teleported himself behind Harry's back only to find Harry waiting for him with twenty orbs of golden light. With a few words in the ancient language the twenty orbs of lights launched a beam of golden light toward Durza who avoided it only for it to hit the rubble that blocked Harry's path and for it to explode in a shower of shrapnel that bit into every part of his body except for his head as he protected that with his hands. He quickly got back on his feet readying every bit of his power for this confrontation although he was almost certain that he would lose until he felt a tendril of energy entering him.
Harry saw as Durza stood at the edge of the crater formed by the spell he used earlier and then start smiling and as he said a string of words he felt his hold on the Spirits start to fade, with a few words he tried to counter but it was to late as Durza had gathered more than fifteen of the twenty five he had summoned. "This is the end of the road for you boy" said Durza with a snarl as he prepared to order the spirits to unleash a spell against Harry as he had less Spirits on his side. In his rage Durza overlooked one tiny detail…. The pissed off Dragon standing above him which unleashed a roaring inferno upon him. Losing his concentration he let the spirits go and protected himself with the first spell he could muster albeit half his face was ruined by the Dragon fire.
With a jump Harry found himself sitting in the saddle that Brom had made for Eragon, alongside a tearful Eragon and an unconscious Brom. When he looked behind him he saw that a part of the city was on flames, courtesy of Saphira roasting every soldier of the Empire she could see and she could see a lot. The Shade was alive but he would always carry with him a remainder of this encounter. Saphira speed towards the tree line and away from the city on flames. As soon as they got down Harry cast a diagnostic spell on Brom and as soon as he received an answer he started using a myriad of healing spell that stopped Brom's internal hemorrhage and healed everything else down to the bruises he got during the fight.
"How is he?" asked a tired Eragon.
"He is very well, although I recommend taking it easy for the next week or so as the Ra'zack blade was poisoned and while I flushed it out of his body, he will need at least a week to repair the damage already done to him" explained Harry as he to slumped into a nearby tree stump.
"Is here anything I can do for him?" asked a worried Eragon.
"No, he will need just time to get back in shape" assured Harry "and know this it wasn't your fault, things like this happen all the time in a real battle"
"If I hadn't frozen…" started to say Eragon but was cut off from Harry.
"He would have gotten injured some other way" said Harry "He handled himself admirably but fighting against two Ra'zack and their mounts and getting out unscathed it's a nigh-impossible task"
"Nigh-impossible not impossible" said Eragon.
"True it would have been possible for a fully trained Dragon Rider accompanied by a fully mature Dragon but for a former Dragon Rider without his Dragon, no matter how cunning and smart he is its impossible save for a minor miracle"
"He was winning" countered Eragon.
"True but also they weren't going all out for fear of injuring you in the process, so your presence helped more than hindered him " explained Harry "and in the end what matters is the fact that he is fine but there is something else isn't it?"
"I killed another human being today and it makes me feel so…" said Eragon but stopped not finding the proper word.
"Guilty, dirty I know, I have been there, the first man I killed. Well he was less than a man at the time but still" confessed Harry "He was a megalomaniac, a very cruel, twisted and evil person and yet it felt wrong to take his life although he wouldn't even think twice before taking mine"
"How did you deal with it? How do you stop it from eating you from the inside?" asked Eragon.
"Honestly you don't, it never fades, like losing someone important to you but with time it becomes easier to ignore" answered Harry "though if a time comes when you no longer feel guilt from taking a life, at that time you will cease to be you and you will become a monster that only barely resembles you"
"I don't feel guilty because I killed soldiers, am I a monster?" asked Saphira.
"No, because you aren't a human, you're a Dragon but think what would you feel if you killed another Dragon even if there plently other Dragons?" asked Harry answering Saphira.
"I don't look forward to it" answered Saphira.
"And there is your answer" concluded Harry.
"I'm going to take the first shift, you can take the second one" said Eragon.
"I would normally be against it but right now you'll need sometime to yourself" said Harry as he laid down on one of the blankets they had.
Harry entered his sleep-like state and started to wonder what had given them away to the Shade and left Eragon to sift things out with help from Saphira. He "woke up" just before the second shift started and had to practically force Eragon to bed and then use a spell that caused a deep and dreamless sleep, so that Eragon could get some rest. One hour before dawn came he felt a presence enter the perimeter of his wards, that being said the perimeter of his wards was three hundred meters and if he wanted to harm or betray them he would have never been capable of passing through the perimeters but would have been instead redirected.
After a quarter hour the stranger came within his line of sight, well physical line of sight. From his look, he looked like a noble escaping from his household, judging by how little he had with himself, he was also a great swordsman according to the calluses in his hands and the way he carried himself and he doubted the bow he was currently holding was for show so all in all he liked him even without looking at his crimson aura that radiated confidence and strength of mind and spirit but also a need to be loved and acknowledged.
"Come out of the bushes boy, I won't hurt you" spoke Harry in a very casual tone.
"You're the Dragon Rider, you know I imagined you a bit taller" said the boy quickly recovering from the surprise of being spotted.
"I'm not short" said a mildly amused Harry " and I'm not the Dragon Rider"
"Oh, that explains why you re so short than" said the boy with such innocence that it could have fooled almost anyone, that he wasn't doing it on purpose.
"If you don't stop right now, I'll show you that Brisingr" said Harry stopping for effect as a white flame sprung on the palm of his left hand "can be used for a wpit lot more than start campfires"
"You're too young to be Brom and I haven't heard of any spell that can keep someone young" said the boy clearly not afraid of the show of power that he made before.
"I'm an old friend of the Dragon Rider that decided this quest would be fun so he joined them" said Harry nonchalantly.
"I haven't heard of the Dragon Rider having company" said the boy narrowing his eyes upon him.
"Of course you haven't I joined but two months ago and I haven't shown myself much, well except from engaging a Shade and coming out alive" said Harry in his ever nonchalant tone.
"You fought Durza and you're alive either you're the greatest magician besides Galbatorix himself or you're just full of shit" said the boy with awe in his voice.
"So that's the Scarface's name good to know' said Harry "by the way what's yours?"
"It is polite to tell your name first then ask for the other parties' name" replied the boy.
"That would have been the case hadn't you intruded in my territory and placed yourself at the mercy of myself and my companions" replied Harry "that being said my name is Harry potter, the Dragon Riders name is Eragon Garrowson and the grumpy old man sleeping over there is called Brom though I don't know his last name"
"In that case my name is Murtagh… Murtagh Morzanson" answered the now named Murtagh hesitating a bit before revealing his last name.
"You don't have to fear nobody's going to judge you for your heritage here, except for Grumpy over there, he killed your dad" said Hary.
"Good, now I know who to thank for killing that monster that gave birth to me" answered Murtagh.
"That's harsh" commented Harry as he felt his companions stir "Things are going to be a bit hectic with these guys and their dysfunctional families, and I though I was the one with the screwed up family relationships" though Harry as he prepared himself for the incoming debate.