Chapter Seventeen: The Vardens
Harry "Slipped" right in front of a fuming Brom, a worried Eragon and a wounded Saphira laying on the ground with her eyes closed. She had a wound on her right side where a massive arrow, probably from one of the siege engines had entered her side, tearing through her wing, breaking her nigh-indestructible scales and probably had punctured a lung. Saphira was alive, probably only thanks to her own magical power and Brom's immense knowledge of spell work. He neared Saphira's side immediately tuning out everything else, included the chatter that began among Murtagh, Brom and Eragon.
Using scanning spells he found that his assessment of her condition was correct and she only had an hour at most to live, that being said the situation wasn't exactly hopeless despite Dragons being one of the most magic resistant creatures in this Omni-verse. It took him three minutes to find the right spell, in the massive library called Harry Potter's mind, - for this occasion and then proceeded to cast it with the help of Worldshaper and soon the entire clearing was filled in a bright bluish white light and when the light receded within Harry's wand, Saphira was attempting to scratch the spot where once there the pit.
"Saphira don't scratch it" ordered Harry in his "bossy" mode.
"But it itches" complained Saphira so that everyone could hear it.
"Saphira" practically screamed Eragon as he crashed into her, giving her a hug and crying tears of happiness.
"Shh young one, there's no need to worry we're safe now" said Saphira.
"I though I lost you" responded Eragon.
"It will take more than that to get rid off her" said Harry patting Eragon on the shoulder and when he noticed the strange looks he got from both of them "What? You were broadcasting your thoughts to everybody in the clearing and a bit further I believe"
"Thank you, I'm forever in you debt" said Eragon with gratitude in his voice.
"As am I?" said Saphira.
"Pfff what are friends for?" replied Harry "either way you may want to sit down while I tell you what we did in Uru'baen" and he told them everything leaving Brom and Eragon wide-eyed at what he had done and a very grateful Saphira.
"So let me get this right, you go there to trip some alarms and possibly damage Uru'baen a bit and you end up stealing the two remaining Dragon Eggs, freeing hundreds of people from their oaths by changing their True Names through some uber-illusion and lit not just Galbatorix's palace but most Uru'baen on fire and leave with a few thousand people of which you are sure at least a thousand will come to reinforce the Vardens?" asked Brom.
"Yep, you also forgot to mention that I stole half of Galbatorix treasure and I totally messed up his throne" replied Harry with a shit-eating grin.
"What happened with the plan not that I am complaining?" asked Eragon with an amused smile.
"Well that usually happens with my plans and this was one of those whose deviations were miniscule" answered Harry.
"What the fuck do you call major deviations?" asked a gob smacked Brom.
"Well there was this time with a Dragon, an evil princess and a schmuck with this really big ass sword, that was some major deviation but also hilarious, remind me to tell you about it some time" replied Harry his grin getting even wider.
"No, please don't it will just give as a bigger headache" said Murtagh getting an approval nod from Brom and eliciting a fit of laughter from Eragon, Saphira and Harry.
"So what's up with sleping beauty over there?" asked Harry wiping tears of laughter from the corner of his eye
"Long story short she is poisoned and the only antidote can be found either with the Varden and in Ellesmera or in Galbatorix's cabinet which you have burned down" explained Eragon.
"Okay, I'm going to heal her now" said Harry and got up intending to heal but was stopped by the voice of Brom
"Stop, you don't know what poison it is" warned Brom
"And that's supposed to stop me?" asked Harry giving him a look that said "Seriously"
"Okay go ahead" said Brom throwing his hands up.
"Don't worry I won't kill Eragon's girlfriend" said Harry with a cheeky grin.
"She isn't my girlfriend" protested Eragon and this time it was Brom's and Murtagh's turn to laugh at his expense.
"But you'd wish she were" taunted Harry avoiding a stone thrown to him by Eragon "someone's blushing"
"Just hurry up and heal her up, will you" said a grumpy and totally embarrassed Eragon.
"Okay lover boy" said Harry dodging yet another stone.
Kneeling beside Aria, Harry cast the usual scanning charms and then began flushing the poison from her system and patching any residual internal damage from the poison although like Brom she would be a bit sluggish for a few days or so as her case was less grave since they didn't want her to die to quickly while Brom's poison was a fast acting poison meant to kill him in a hour or two.
"Easy there, you'll be a bit sluggish for a day or two' said Harry as he put his hand on her shoulder to stop her from getting up and then she tried to push his hand away but failed "and you'll also be quite a bit weaker"
"Who are you people?" asked Aria as she eyed them before she stopped when she saw Eragon leaning into Saphira "So she hatched, good"
"Well I am Harry Potter, at your service ma'am" said Harry with an exaggerated bow"he is Murtagh, a friend of ours" he said pointing at Murtagh"you know Brom and the cute boy standing next to the big and not-so-scary Dragon is Eragon and the finally the oh-so Mighty Dragon is Saphira "said Harry enjoying the irritation of Eragon and Saphira showed while Aria laughed.
"You're very brave to talk to a Dragon like that" said Aria still laughing.
"Pff, I bested her a few months ago" said Harry with a dismissive wave of his arms.
"That wasn't fair, I was too young and you caught me by surprise" protested Saphira.
"Please if you call getting you by surprise, the fact that you tried to throw me across a clearing and I wrapped you in tickling vines then yes I got you by surprise" said Harry as he sat and took out a cup of Sage Tea.
"You defeated a Dragon by using tickling vines?" asked a shocked Aria.
"Yep, it was worth a good laugh too" said Harry "uhh I almost forgot, Murtagh take this" said Harry as he tossed him the red Dragon Egg and then he turned to face Aria and said "I guess this belongs to you" and handed her the green Dragon Egg.
"What?" asked simultaneously Murtagh and Aria.
"The Eggs are bound to you now" said Harry calmly sipping from his cup of tea.
"How?" asked Aria.
"Beats me, he told me the same for Eragon and he was right so I tend to believe him on such matters" said Brom with a shrug.
"No I mean how you got these?" asked Aria.
"Well get comfortable because its going to be a long history "said Eragon as Harry began to tell the story… again.
"So let me get this right, you go there to trip some alarms and possibly damage Uru'baen a bit and you end up stealing the two Dragon Eggs, freeing hundreds of people from their oaths by changing their True Names through some uber-illusion and lit not just Galbatorix's palace but most Uru'baen on fire and leave with a few thousand people of which you are sure at least a thousand will come to reinforce the Vardens?" asked a stupefied Aria.
""Yep, you also forgot to mention that I stole half of Galbatorix treasure and I totally messed up his throne" replied Harry with a shit-eating grin and then he added "You and Brom are so alike, he asked the same questions"
"Such a powerful idiot" said Aria.
"Hey, I'm not an idiot I'm a genius who could have done what I have?" asked Harry boasting.
"Nobody who isn't insane or has a death wish" replied Aria.
"Well insanity and genius always go hand in hand" replied Harry cheerfully "now everybody go to sleep I'll take the first watch, tomorrow we leave early because we need to be in Tronxheim in less than a week, on Dragon back"
"How do you plan on doing it" asked Aria.
"Did you have to ask" said an exasperated Brom clearly not having liked the experience with Feather-Light Charm.
"With the Feather-Light Charm of course" replied Harry
"The what?" asked Aria.
"I'll explain, please don't let him explain stuff he tends to start explaining everything about them and he used them in the past and that will scar you for life, believe me" said Eragon.
Harry took the first watch and even the other three watches as he mostly slept as his wards ensured perfect defense, not by unbreakable defense but through misdirection of enemies and manipulation of their senses which they weak form of Legilimens used in this world couldn't avoid, to do so would require someone in the same level of power as Galbatorrix and even if he came after them we would be informed and jolted awake at least fifteen minutes before he could get there. As the first rays of the sun rose he woke up the rest of the party and then ignoring their complains about not being woken up he urged them all to get on Saphira's back and cast the Feather Light Charm on them. Their belongings were all put within his bottomless pouch and their horses teleported in the plains between Daret and Gil'ead, being let free to roam, under protection from wards so no predator or human could find or attack them,-for the time it would take them to get to the Vardens and then they were going to be teleported there,
Saphira took off with mighty push of her wings, her wings shinning under the bright rays of the sun. Harry took off not long after her and quickly caught up with her and then began increasing his speed and so did Saphira, this having become a sort of activity they shared,- trying to outpace each other in speed despite the fact that Harry was always the fastest of the two, his smaller frame needing less power to be propelled at immense speed but Saphira always having the edge when it came to sheer flying instincts, as she was born to fly and was what was termed by Dragons from different worlds and dimension as a "True Daughter of the Sky".
Aria watched flabbergasted as a human flew at speeds rivaling those of a Dragon, granted it was a young Dragon but it was still a Dragon. She shrugged thinking that that was the man who had entered Uru'baen, undone wards created by Galbatorix's, which as much as she loathed she had to admit was perhaps the most skilled and most well versed creature, when it came to the magic arts, in the whole Alagaesia, - himself, proceeded to steal the remaining two Dragon eggs and then burnt half of Uru'baen before leaving with thousands of people. Furthermore he had been the formulator of a plan that fooled some of the keenest minds in Alagaesia and got away without a scratch. She believed that this young man would be a great asset in their war against Galbatorix, as he had already proved by recognizing two potential Dragon Rdiers in her and Murtagh and she somehow was inclined to believe him in these matters.
Harry was having fun as he soared threw the sky at breakneck speeds, the wind crashing aginst his body as he totally ignored it and flew even faster. Beside him stood Saphira, a mighty if a bit somewhat arrogant Dragon, whom were born to rule the skies or any other place that they wished for that matter, well except for the underground but that because they didn't like the dampness of the underground but preferred the freedom of the skies or the seas but he was sure that if they gave them a century or two they could produce a breed of Dragons capable of living in the seas. It was times like that, which kept him sane after everything that happened in his pretty erratic life.
As Harry had predicted they arrived in the nearby the Beor mountains in three days and by the fourth they were standing before the entrance to Tronxheim. They camped outside for the night under the protections of Harry's wards, they decided they would go inside when the son rose, as there was no point going in there exhausted as the Vardens would no doubt want explanations and they wouldn't have been in any shape to give them those explanations. The next morning the group entered the waterfall where the entrance to the Varden and the Dwarves stronghold was sittuated, - accompanied by the imposing Saphira.
As soon as they entered the dimly lit tunnel they found themselves surrounded by spears and swords. This action caused Harry to break down in laughter pointing at the then baffled men holding spears to their chest and throats. When Saphira growled the entire company got the meaning and joined in with a smile or a chuckle in the case of Murtagh. The armed men looked unsure of what to do, the persons whom they were currently keeping under their watch, with weapons trained at them, - were merely laughing in their faces that without counting the big blue Dragon that looked irritated at the weapons pointed in the directions of her companions. Soon enough their second in command and the Twins joined them with a great hurry to see the newcomers.
"So does anyone have even a bit of common sense in here?" asked Harry in an amused tone "you are pointing your weapons at a freaking Dragon, which can and has turn a great deal of a city to ashes"
"You have a sharp tongue newcomer but this is standard procedure" said the man who was the commander.
"Yeah, very encouraging for your allies to be welcomed at the point of a sword" replied Harry "especially one of your founders"
"Long time no see Jormundur, you were but a child when I was here for the last timebut I am glad to see you have risen to such a prominent position" said Brom stepping out of the shadows surprising Jormundur and making the Twins go slightly paler.
"Men lower the weapons, you wouldn't be capable of doing much against him either way" said Jormundur whispering the last part.
"The procedure remains the same for anyone, even someone like Brom" quipped one of the Twins.
"That is unfortunately true" said Jormundur and then continued addressing mainly Brom and Aria "I hope you take no offense in this"
"No, and I speak for all of us when I say that we won't take offense in this" said Brom
"Very well than we can proceed' said Jormundur gesturing at the Twins to come forward.
"One last thing if anyone tries to enter the portion of my mind where my magical knowledge resides you'll find yourself suffering from a severe case of damaged brain, fractured minds and possibly brain death" warned Harry with a smile that sent chills down the Twins spine "I hope that you listen to this warning its for your own mental health after all"
After that little warning that left everybody speechless, the Twins proceeded to search everybody's mind but left Harry for the last, seemingly the understood that he wasn't joking when he uttered the warning. When his turn came the Twins began searching his mind, well what they believed was his mind, because if they tried to enter his actual mental mindscape they'd go insane,- so he let them enter an isolated portion of his mind that offered no danger. When they began to search his memories, that he nicely modified and placed them there for them to find,- and their minds momentarily merged in order to see them , Harry sensed something strange with the Twins which he followed and what he found made him pretty angry. On the outside they people heard a cracking sound before the bodies of the Twins were thrown against the wall of the tunnel and Harry approached them his eyes shinning with an unearthly azure light. All the men in the tunnel moved but an invisible force looked them in place as Harry turned around to face Jormundur.
"Your security sucks" stated Harry as it was the most normal thing in the face of Alagaesia "your heads of security work for Galbatorix"
"You lie" said Jormundur although he was unnerved by this statement .
"Has anybody else controlled their minds?" asked Harry and when he Jormundur shocked his head to say no he added "that's why this two have had an easy time to sell information to Galbatorix especially on your agents in the Empire"
"And what guarantees me that you are telling me the truth?" asked Jormundur although he knew that what he said were quite possible, the Twins had always been power hungry.
"The fact that you and your men are still alive and that your mind is still yours" stated Harry releasing them from his telekinetic grasp. "a simple search by any magician of some skill would reveal everything although you might want to have them both probed at the same time as they can use their interconnected minds to fool their inspectors"
"You, go and summon Triana and tell her everything" ordered Jormundur "and the rest of you what are you waiting? Tie them up and put them in the speciall cells for magicians" barked Jormundur to the rest of them."You six follow me, though you may want Saphira to rest atop the Isidar Mithrim and don't worry you'll know what I'm speaking about when you see it" said Jormundur as he led them toward the hall where Ajihad was currently staying in.
The walk was quite because no one was in the mood to talk after the revelation of the Twins betrayal. During their walk many Dwarfs and humans gathered around them to see the new Dragon Rider and his Dragon. Needless to say Jormund had to summon an escort to open the way for them, during their trip Eragon got to bless a small child and ended up almost cursing her but was luckily corrected by Brom and then Saphira went and gave her the Gedwey ignasia, sparking a great deal of murmurs even among the magicians present. After thirty minutes of walking they found themselves before the doors of the halls where two guards were on duty. Jormundur said something to them and one of them entered inside and then he got out a few minutes after and notified them that they could enter. The hall unfortunately wasn't large enough so Saphira had to go and rest atop the gigantic sapphire, Isidar Mithril.
Upon entering Harry saw the visages of two people who he had seen in dozens of different timelines and always they were fighting against the tyranny of Galbatorix. One of them was a man of dark skin, athletic built that showed the man to still be an accomplished fighter,- he had dark eyes that seemed to pierce you very soul,- and long black hair, with steaks of grey through them,- that fell down to his shoulders. Besides him was sitting a dwarf, he was 160-165 cm tall, his hair was brown with streaks of white and grey hair, his beard was average for a dwarf having the same coloration of his hairs only that instead of brown his were black, his body was filled with muscles especially his arms and shoulder showing his preferences for heavy weapons and heavy armor, his grey eyes shined with intelligence and wisdom. Sitting next to them were seated four other people two males and two females but Harry totally ignored them as he knew the kind of people they were and he had no wish to deal with such people.
"Welcome back Brom, I see you brought back a Dragon Rider and the elves ambassador" said Ajihad "and yet I don't recognize the other two young men with you"
"Well, they are some of the finest people that I have had the pleasure to meet" said Brom" let me introduce to you Harry Potter and Murtagh Morzanson" and with the last name the entire hall exploded in murmurs and in the guards case they pointed their weapons in the direction of Murtagh.
"I seriously advise against that course of action, Ajihad unless you want to lose a future Dragon Rider and the support of another future one" said Eragon calmly, those politics lessons were really coming in handy "as for me it goes without saying that I myself will be leaving"
"And than you' have to deal with a very pissed of Dragon and myself" added Harry with an impassive face but is tone showed that if they even though about doing anything they were totally and royally screwed.
"No need for aggression Ajihad he helped us infiltrate Uru'baen and retrieve the eggs and thus in helping in Aria's liberation" said Brom "I vouch for him in addition to the fact that he is going to become a Dragon Rider once one of the Dragon eggs hatch"
"Lower your weapons, he is not his father, he's father has been dead for quite sometimes" said Hrothgar, the Dwarf King with such authority that even the human soldiers lowered their weapons.
"Good now we can speak like civilized people" said Harry while sitting in a conjured chair sipping tea.
"Now Brom why don't you tell everything about you adventures in all this time, we all are very curious to this new news especially how did you infiltrate Uru'baen and then burned it down" said Ajihad.
"Indeed" said the Dwarf king rubbing his beard.
"Well it all started a few months ago when Saphira's egg appeared in the Spire…" Brom started thus to explain their entire story to Ajihad, Hrothgar and the council, minus the part in which Harry came from another world.
"Well that's indeed an interesting story had anyone that wasn't you told me this story I'd tell them off as crazy and yet here you are claiming to have crippled the Empires main cities with four people and one Dragon and that all this happened only five days ago" summarized Ajihad.
"Yes things got a bit crazy" said Brom.
"And you young man, such power and cunning, are you perhaps interested in becoming the head of Du Vrangr Gata, now that the Twins are gone?" asked Ajihad.
"No thanks I prefer to be free of such duties, I'm not that good at plotting and backstabbing" answered Harry calmly "I'd prefer to live to an old, ripe age"
"The boy is smart" said Hrothgar laughing loudly.
"What if I told you that either you become part of Du Vrangr Gata or you are to leave this place?" asked Ajihad clearly testing the boy.
"Good luck from making me leave Eragon's side then" said Harry clearly unfazed.
"Well my conclusion, I like you boy, Hrothgar seems to like you too, so welcome to the Varden" said Ajihad.
"You seem to misinterpret me, I won't have anything to do with the Vardens, Dwarfs, Elves or the Empire, the only persons I will follow are Eragon, Murtagh and Aria" said Harry making everybody in there look like he had grown another head.
"You do realize that counts as treason?" asked one of the females in the council.
"For it to be treason it would imply that I am a part of the Varden and don't think I exposed the Twins in order to help you, I did so because they were going to harm my friends by their actions and in the moment you will even attempt to do such a thing that will be the moment you will find me as an enemy" declared Harry not for one moment raising his voice, yet everyone in the room could swear that for one moment he had been more imposing that a fully grown Dragon.
"Enough with this nonsense, he will be neutral like Angela, I don't remember you pressuring her like that" said Ajihad. "you will be assigned quarters, I suppose you'd like quarters near each other"
"Distance doesn't matter to me" said Harry calmly and yet nobody missed the underlying threat" harm them and there won't be a place in the whole world where you will be safe"
"Its good to know however we need Aria to do something for us before she leaves" said Ajihad.
"You need to know whether I can contact the elves despite their wards?" asked Aria and when she got a affirmative nod she continued "I'm sorry but even I can't do such a thing, those wards are to powerful and carefully crafted for me to slip even the tines message in"
"Then we will have to deal with these new trial ahead of us without their help, the only thing that can give us an advantage would be the help that Harry here has supplied us by convincing the Empires Soldiers to join our cause" said Ajihad.
"Have you tried to ask a bird to carry it to the Elves Queen' said Harry getting strange looks from everybody in the room "if you speak to animals in the Ancient Language they help you most of the time and it doesn't count as an enchantment so the wards won't stop"
"No but you'd have to find a pretty resilient bird to make it to even our nearest outpost and that's if it doesn't get eaten by any predators in its way" said Aria.
"I can protect it with wards so no predator will even notice it and make sure those wards dissolve as soon as it gets within ten feet of the Elven wards" suggested Harry after a while.
"That could work however even the fastest bird would take two to three days to get there and I would be another week before the Queen gets the message and with that time it could take some months to mobilize the army" explained Aria to Ajihad.
"Unfortunately we don't have that luxury, we have two weeks at most before the Urgals are upon us' said Ajihad capturing Harry's interest.
"In two weeks she can still send a group of magicians that could travel to the edges of your wards and from there I can teleport them in here" said Harry.
"If you can do such a thing and the elves are willing than that would help us a great deal against them" said Ajihad.
"That could work but won't it drain you to perform such a feat of magic?" asked Aria surprised at the idea.
"My type of magic is different from yours and teleportation is way easier for me" explained Harry "how did you think I'd get the people that would side with us, here?"
"I'd always thought you'd get them the resources to travel here through the desert" said Aria.
"Which brings another problem up, we are running low when it comes to food so maintaining them would put a severe strain on us" said Axhiha "I'd ask you if you can teleport to Surda and ask King Orrin to lend as resources and then bring them back"
"I can do better" said Harry "just show me where you cultivate your crops"
"Why?" asked both Ajihad and Horthgar at the same time.
"Because I know a nifty little spell that can make plants grow fully within one night or more exactly within nine hours, without any side effects on their nutritive values or their taste" explained Harry surprising everyone except for Eragon and Brom as they had already been warned by Harry of being capable of such feats.
"That could change everything, it would solve a whole lot of problems, without food as a problem we could allocate more of our resources elsewhere and while I'm sorry to say such thing, it would certainly please the clans that have problems with us Dwarfs sharing our crops with you" said King Hrothgar clearly excited at this new development.
"No, problem old friend its perfectly understandable" said Ajihad "if there is any way I can repay such a favor towards the Varden the you just have to ask"
"Well if you could find a space where I can built a small laboratory, I would be grateful" replied Harry.
"If it wasn't for the additions to our forces that will be arriving, I would have given one of the halls that the Dwarfs have borrowed to us during our stay here but as it is the only place that will be free would be a room in the upper portions of the mountain" said Ajihad "and that would be dangerous because the rooms are small and they are built in such a great height that they overlook everything and even Dwarfs that stay there normally tie themselves with ropes and don't stay there more than their shift of Dragon watching entails"
"No, problem, I'm used to heights in addition that I would be clearly more adapted to watch for any Dragons that can get near the mountain due to my magic" said Harry.
"That would be appreciated" said Hrothgar "and as such I don't see any reason why not to give you such a place as your laboratory but I would ask you not to jeopardize the structural integrity of the mountain"
"Don't worry, I won't" said Harry "so is somebody going to show me to your crops field"
"Right now?" asked Ajihad.
"Of course the spell makes sure that the plants grow despite weather conditions so yes right now" replied Harry.
"You go get Nasuada and send her here immediately" Ajihad ordered one of the guards.
"Your own daughter, you must have a lot of faith in me" said Harry and when he saw the questioning look from Ajihad he added "Brom debriefed us about the chain of command of the Varden and their relatives"
'Ahh, I see you still have people spying for you within this organization" said Ajihad with a grin and the added "I expected nothing less from you"
"Of course, I will always watch over the Vardens till the day I die" answered Brom with a smile of his own.
At that moment the door of the hall opened and the guard that was sent previously entered inside accompanied by a girl with the same dark skin as Ajihad, brown hair, brown eyes that bordered on black, she was an inch or two shorter that Harry himself. She bowed to the people in the room although he noticed the slight hostility against the council although she hid it perfectly.
"Father you summoned me" said the girl eyeing the new people in the room clearly informed of the new arrivals.
"Yes, I want you to escort this young man to our crop fields, he has something to do there" said Ajihad.
"If I may ask why?" asked Nasuada.
"He will help with our shortage of food" replied Ajihad "Do you need anything else to help you in your enterprise?"
"Only permission to teleport some of the grain and other vegetables to use as seeds and people ready by tomorrow morning to harvest the food before we repeat the process" said Harry.
"That shall be done" said Ajihad scribbling something in a scroll and then sealing it with his personal seal before handing it to Harry "here you have, if anybody tries to stop you just show him this"
"Thank you, my lady shall we" said Harry offering his arm to Nasuada.
"Why, yes of course" replied Nasuad with a small smile at his antics.