Chapter Nineteen: Shadows
The Shade landed in front of the Varden army, quickly locating a magician and killing him and then with three words he killed an entire garrison of Varden and dwarf warriors sowing more fear among their ranks. Taking his sword out he began to kill every soldier that got in his way, deciding not to waste his magical power with the totally worthless cannon fodder. He felt his target approach and licking his lips the Shade hurried toward the only person in this worthless place capable of giving him a challenge.
Harry run toward the location where the Shade was, it wasn't that hard to locate as there was an empty space around him/her as anyone who got close to him died. In a few moments he found himself face to face with the Shade. The Shade was a man in his late thirties, with blond hair, an athletic body, wearing leather armor, - with the usual blood red eyes and was now holding a bloody broadsword with a single hand like it didn't weight anything. As the Shade saw Harry its grin got even wider but secury in its superiority over Harry, the Shade advanced slowly as if Harry wasn't even there. Harry on the other hand was thinking of a way to deal with the Shade without collapsing the mountain and tried to stall for time to think.
"So Glabatorix sends another of its lap dogs" said Harry Willbreaker twirling in his hands.
"We aren't anyones laps dogs, we serve him because it is convenient to us" replied the Shade its voice distorted as if it was the amalgam of many voices.
"Well you sure look like lap dogs, I mean he creates you and you serve him" said Harry nonchalantly although he was worried as he sensed Eragon use magic against the Shade.
"You think we can't break from this mortal shell if we so wanted" said the Shade with a mocking tone.
"No, you can't and I know it, your races power comes with a sacrifice, if the summoner's will is to weak you must enter its body, in the process absorbing the summoner's negative energy and multiplying it a thousand times and you can't get out of there until you are killed permanently" said Harry matter-of-factly which made the Shades face contort in rage.
"You know, Galbatorix wanted you and the Dragon Rider alive but I think that if I cripple you a bit he won't mind… much" said the Shade as he run toward Harry.
"Wow touched a nerve there" said Harry with a grin as he parried the strikes of the Shade.
Enhancing his body with magic he dodged a series of swipes meant to cut his arms off and countered with a stab meant to pierce the Shades heart but he Shade parried that with the flat of his blade. Grinning the Shade resumed his attack and Harry had to admit that he was very, very good but the problem stood in the fact that he was dealing with someone on the level of Harry who could force it into a stalemate with no body enhancement and seeing as Harry had body enhancement spells working on improving Harry's physical abilities till he could go toe-to-toe with this Shade on steroids.
For ten minutes Harry had pretended to be slowly pushed back while he drew the Shade depper into the Urgal territory, in which Harry could fight the Shade without any fear about hurting his allies in the process. As soon as Harry felt they were deep enough, he took the offensive and started getting too close to the Shades heart for the Shades comfort. The Shade decided that he needed to switch to a magical battle as he was apparently good enough to defeat him in swordsmanship. Dropping his blade the Shade muttered two words before an orb of compressed air threw Harry a few dozen meters away.
Landing on hard rock Harry cursed for not blocking it in time and got up just in time to avoid a beam of sickly yellow, the color risng the hairs on Harry's neck. The Shade not giving him respite sent another beam of light but this one was intercepted by a dome of azure, psionic energy. Harry sent out a column of white fire from his outstretched hand, in which he had the ring where he kept Worldshaper, - the Shade, caught unprepared, - was forced to dive to the side in order to avoid getting roasted. Ignoring the screams of pain coming from the Urgals behind him, their protection apparently failing to protect them from Harry's flames,- the Shade got back in his feet and sent a stream of electricity toward Harry and when he dodged the slow moving stream of electricity,- he sent a barrage of pebbles meant to immobilize Harry.
The pebbles crashed against an azure dome of energy and became little more than dust upon impact. From behind his shield Harry muttered a spell and a bright beam of red energy headed toward the Shade who dodged it but found his feet stuck in a mini-swamp created by Harry with a smart application of his capacity to cast multiple spells at once. Harry continued by enchanting the ground of the swamp to produce vines to restrin the Shade and its power but before the vines could touch him and thus restrain the Shades magical power,- the Shade unleashed a wave of heat that incenerated the plants and caused the mud around him to harden enough for him to break it away with his inhuman strength.
Creating an invisible wall of energy to stop the small rocks Harry sent his way, hoping they would pierce his heart, - the Shade got out of the mini-swamp and launched a constant beam of sickly yellow energy that collieded against one of Harry's azure domes. Harry smiled as he saw his plan come into frutuition as the Shade threw all he had againt his Psionic dome, not that he would ever be capable of bringing it down as the dome could resist the equivalent of nuclear bombs before failing,- and proceeded with the spell to summon Spirits.
The Shade understood something was wrong when he felt the familiar pressure accompanying the coming of Spirits to the mortal plane and since he knew the power that the boy possessed in that particular field he let the constant stream of energy fail and started muttering he words that would allow him to gain control over the Spirits the boy was about to summon. Harry felt the same spell as the one Durza used to take control over his Spirits during the encounter in Teirm but he would be damned before he fell for the same trick twice and muttered a spell he designed to fight off the spell the Shade was using at that moment. Feeling his spell being interrupted the Shade put more power into the spell and once he understood that his control over the Spirits was slipping he started using another spell, smirking at the though of wipping the arrogance of the human who though that he could deny him control over his former kin.
Harry's smile became even wider as the Shade started to use a new spell to gain control over the Spirits he had summoned. Knowing he didn't havea counter to that particular spell didn't bother Harry as he had Moody analyze the spell, while he himself disappeared in a burst of inhumn speed, temporarily breaking the sound barrier with a loud sound similar to thunder, - and appeared before the unfocused Shade as he plunged Willbreaker into its chest, killing it instantly and releasing the Spirits trapped within. The released Spirits got ouside the body in the form of a majestic bird with golden and violet feather and quicly flew out of the valley dissolving into a shower of golden particles once they were high enough in the sky.
Harry turned around intent of aiding Eragon in his battle but his path was blocked by twenty Urgals, intent on killing him. Scoffing at the Urgals sloppy stance he attacked them his sword becoming a blur as he cut through the twenty Urgas as if they weren't even there. Once he finished them off another group of Urgals appeared before him and Harry realized that Durza must be desperate to keep him away from his battle with Eragon, desperate enough to send these pieces of meat that didn't even have their original combat skills and hopping that they would delay him enough forh im to take Eragon away. Harry relaxed when he saw that Aria had already passed through the soldiers of the Empire that were blocking the entrance to the inner part of the mountain and was running toward where Eragon was fighting Durza,- and proceeded to pick whatever Urgal crossed his path,- apart becoming a literal bur as he cut a swath into their ranks.
Less that a minute latter he felt the combined might of Saphira's and Aria's magic flare for a moment before he felt the release of the Spirits inside Durza. A bird colored black and red flew out of the caverns inside and flew in the sky, singing a sad song, signifying the end of whatever spell it had been sustaining until the moment they were released from their mortal shell. Flying higher into the sky the bird dissolved into a shower of red and black particles, like the bird before it had done. The effect of Durza's death was noticed immedialty on the battle as the Urgals were freed from the spell that had forced them to collaborate and began to fight between themselves.
The Vardens and Dwarfs took advantage of this and began slaughtering the Urgals in droves. Harry took out his hammer, Lazarus, - and began swinging it wildly immersed himself in the now confused Urgals, - killing them in groups as with each hit of his war hammer groups of Urgals flew in the air and hit the rocky walls of the valley with enough strength to break every bone in their body, not that it mattered as they were already dead once the power of his hammer sent them flying. While he cut a large swath in the Urgal army, he cast some very powerful scanning spells and left Moody in charge of finding where the enemy magicians were and then reporting back to him, - while he took care of them in a more crude way.
It took a few minutes before Moody reported back and by that time Harry was surrounded by piles of Urgals that he had killed. Once he got the report Harry got to work defending himself in one of his azure domes, as he started killing the enemy magicians and then exterminating those Urgals that were defensless. Harry had to refrain himself from killing the entire army of Urgals but that didn't mean that he didn't kill a great number of them, just to be sure they wouldn't get any idea to go against them any time soon. After twenty minutes all the Urgals had escaped from the valley and had escaped through the tunnels, to survive the slaughter that the Varden and the Dwarfs had done.
The soldiers of the Empire had already been defeated by the quick reaction of Hrothgar and his dwarves but small pockets of resistance still existed but after the defeat of the Urgal army they had surrendered themselves. The army had gathered around their leaders who were giving orders on what to do. Murtagh was standing besides Ajihad and Hrothgar and those near him were relaxed in his presence, unlike the way they stood near him before the battle, - his left shoulder was bleeding from a wound caused probably by an arrow, nothing life threatening but Harry knew firsthand what a pain in the ass those kind of wounds were and with a spell Harry healed his shoulder from a distance. His eyes widening in surprise at the sudden disappearance of pain he looked to Harry who simply smiled to him, letting him known that he had healed it.
Harry was moving toward the place where the leaders were gathered with a smile adorning his features as he saw a battered and bruised Brom approaching Ajihad, apparently fighting Kulls was something that not even Brom could do without getting any wound at all. Getting through the many soldiers who after seeing his face and the war hammer hanging at his hip,began opeing the way whispering about his feats in the battle, especially the dwarves who had seen him fling multiple fully grown Kulls with but a swing of his war hammer. Once he was standing in front of Ajihad and Hrothgar, both of them moved forward to clap his forearm in a manly hug.
"So it seems that you're a hero now" said Ajihad smiing.
"It seems that you found a brother in arms in Murtagh" replied Harry with a mischeviou smirk.
"Indeed, I did, he saved my life by taking an arrow for me, I would ask if you could heal him seeing as the rest are already busy healing the soldiers down there in the field" said Ajihad.
"Already did, he is my friend after all" replied Harry.
"Damn boy I have yet to see someone throw Kulls around like broken dolls, like you just did and you don't even look so strong" said Hrothgar with a cheery tone.
"It is because the war hammer was enchanted to multiply the strength behind the swing… by a lot" explained Harry causing Hrothgar's eyes to wander to the war hammer that was currently hanging in his hip.
"Aye and does such a beautiful hammer have a name?" asked Hrothgar stupefied by the design of the hammer.
"It has, in the place where I got it from they alled it Lazarus, The Incarnation of Titans" answered Harry.
"A great name for a great hammer" said Hrothgar " but let us not annoy you anymore with mindless chatter, we will have plenty of time latter for that but have some rest now, I imagine you must be tired after defeating a Shade and fighting for so long"
"No, not really, I'll see what I can do to heal those who have been wounded in this battle" replied Harry with a shrug as he walked away.
"He never ceases to amase me" said Ajihad looking at the figure of Hary moving through the piles of bodies.
"That he does" said Hrothgar.
Harry sent a pulse of magic to sense who was still alive and in need of immediate help. The first one was a male of the Varden army, he had lost one of his leg and was bleeding on the rocky floor of the valley. Grabbing the severed limb he used a spell to reattach it to the rest of the boy's body and then he took out a vial of blood replenishing potion and gave it to him. He moved to a dwarf that had his intestines hanging out of his belly and healed him too before moving on to another dwarf this one with two arrows stuck in his stomach and so on he continued for two hours before he decided that he had done enough for the day and went to meet Eragon.
He moved quickly throught he crowded streets of Tronxheim and was forced to use his intagibility spell from time to time to move through places that were overly packed with wounded and nurses moving about the place in order to help them. The potions he had previously given to them being put to good use, as dozens of people were saved from dying because of the potions. When he arrived near to the chambers of Eragon he saw the Isidar Mithril shattered on the ground and a group of Dwarfs pulling their beards as they saw their greates masterpiece destroyed. That worried Harry and he took to flying to go where he sensed Eragon was currently, besides him he sensed Aria, Saphira, two other elfs and a few human healers and magicians. That totally freaked out Harry which made him increase his speed even more.
As soon as his feet touched ground Aria came toward him, clearly tired from casting magic,- her eyes tired and what he could swear was a bit of hurt, she and Eragon had grown a bit closer during those two weeks and a half waiting for her egg to hatch.
"Harry I'm glad you came he was wounded by the Shade and the wound is cursed by something we can't undo" said Aria in her ever stoic voice although Harry recognized the genuine worry for Eragon in there "I was hoping you could help"
"Of course just clear the room and tell them to stop using magic on him least they make things worse" said Harry.
"Of course, that shall be done" said Aria as she turned around to tell them that.
She was of course beaten to it by Saphira that practically shoved tem out with her tail and with a growl warned them not to enter the room. Harry hurried to Eragon's head and began scanning the wound, what he found made him curse. The wound was filled with pure Dark Magic that acted as a corroding acid, slowly sapping the strength that Eragon possessed and tainting any magic that tried to heal the wound. That wouldn't have been noticed by normal magician. Their spell were not advanced enough and the fact that the Dark Magic took the same wavelength as Eragon's own magic made it undetectable thus ony being of the caliber of very, very old Dragons could notice that and do something about it.
Luckily for Eragon he was on a whole new level when it came to disperse curses, than everyone and everything in Alegasia. In the next half an hour Harry cast powerful spells, meant to disperse the Dark Magic, - on Eragon's wound and with a content sigh he sat down in a corner and gestured for Saphira that it was okay to let other peple in. The healer and magicians rushed in to deal with the flesh wound as the magic stopping it from healing was gone, at most Eragon woul have a faint scar. He walked outside of the room to meet Saphira as she had wanted to talk to him.
"What do you want to talk about?" asked Harry as he landed in one of the many ledges of the mountain.
"Eragon's mind, the Shade had broken through his defenses during their fight and his mind was being overrun by the Shades memories and that's why we did the whole shattering of the Isidar Mithril" explained Saphira.
"There weren't any signs of such thing on Eragon's psyche when I felt it in the room, it had changed but it was to be expected after fighting in a real battle for the first time" said Harry his mind with different scenarios of what might have happened.
"Are you sure?" asked Saphira.
"Yes, I have a doubt on what happened but it isn't my secret to reveal even if such a thing was true" replied Harry.
"I understand" said Saphira "so it seems we are more in indebted to you than before"
"I already told you that you mustn't feel indebted to me for helping, you'd do the same thing for me if you were in my position" said Harry with a slightly reproaching tone toward Saphira.
"But the fact remains that you did help us when we were helpless" replied Saphira.
"Saphira if I hear you say something like this one more time, and then may the Creator help you because I'm going to tickle you to insanity" said Harry partly joking and partly serious.
"Somehow I don't think that is possible" replied Saphira in the Dragons equivalent of a laugh.
"Do you want to put me to the test" said Harry calmly.
"No, of course not, I'm leaving now, I somehow doubt I'm a welcome sight for the dwarfs" said Saphira nodding toward a group of dwarfs who were giving Saphira dark looks.
"Just because you broke a damned sapphire, one you could fix by tomorrow morning" said Harry with a scoff.
"You're sure I can do that?" asked Saphira doubting for the first time in her life, - in her abilities.
"Of course you have more energy and raw power than hundreds of elves and that's now that you're young, imagine what it will be like when you're a year, a decade or a century old" said Harry " albeit you can't fully control such a power but you can learn to do so and I can help"
"And what would you get from this" asked Saphira.
"Nothing… okay whom am I kidding, I'll earn the picture of a Dragon trying to meditate" said Harry with a small chuckle.
"And what's so funny about it?" asked Saphira.
"Dragons aren't meant to be immobile so meditating for them is nigh-impossible but the rewards are immense so…" Harry trailed off "Eragon is waking we should return" said Harry before he took off toward Eragon's chamber with Spahira in tow.
When they arrived there they found a clearly confused Eragon trying to get up but his legs didn't support him. The human healer and magicians rushed to him trying to make him lay down in his bed but it was only when Saphira pocked her head through the small window in Eragon's wondow, - then he sat and zoomed out as Saphira told him everything had happened while he was unconscious. Harry really needed to break him out of the habit of zooming out when he was meditating, it would get him killed sooner or later. When Saphira was finished Eragon shot Harry and Aria a grateful look before slumping back into sleep, his body still tired after his battle with the improved Durza.
Harry walked outside of the room and took to flying, after he reminded her to meet him tomorrow to start their course on Dragon meditation. He didn't get back to his room instead he flew outside, passed over the valley where the Vardens and the Dwarfs had made their stand and looked own upon the death and carnage caused down there. As the Master of Death, he could literally see the spirits of the deads leaving their bodies, there were less now, just peope that were beyond saving by any type of healing be it magical or herbal. Flying higher among the clouds Harry turned around he direction Uru'baen stood, no doubt rebuild if what their spies reported them were to be believed,- and focused his gaze vowing to end this war the quickest he could.
With a nonverbal spell he hardened a nearby cloud, enough that he could sit there,- and slumped down tired, not physically the magic running in his vein making that highly improbable but mentally exhausted,- from the battle below and his role in killing so many. Previously his warrior instincts and adrenaline coursing through his veins had allowed him to take his mind from the number of lives he had taken and he rembered each and every one of them. A side effect of his position being the fact that every life taken by him was forever engraved in his limitless memory, - to never be forgotten for all eternity.
Harry stayed in that position for hours, the cold not even bothering him,- until the dawn came and Harry saw the sun rise from his makeshift throne of clouds and decided it would be time to return and help with the rebuilding. As he flew toward his laboratory he heard the wailing of wives mourning husbands, sisters mourning brothers, fathers cursing at the heavens for taking their children and leaving them alive and once again he was remaindered of the horrors of muggle warfare, at least magic warfare was less bloody and brutal. Wondering what would Eragon think after this battle, him not being the naïve boy he had been in his visions of alternative timelines,- but a future Dragon Rider who had been taught a lot by his two mentors although this one he had to witness on his own to believe. Casting these thoughts off he flew toward the peak were Saphira was waiting for him to start their lessons.