Chapter Nine.

I worked hard, for your enjoyment... now please, devour my work with haste! :D

Lyroxia aproached more cautiously as the sounds grew louder. She carefully climbed her way up a stone stairway in the darkness, and continued on in the ajoining corridor.

She halted as she heard the echo of a huge beast yelling in pain. Another animal roared, then another. Lyroxia debated taking a few steps back. She didn't know what they were, but there were three of them. And if the sounds they made where anything to go by, they were huge. And powerful. And very deadly.

As if it wasn't enough, the din and clamour of fighting men was also audible.

She took a breath to steady her sudden apprehension, then crept forward towards the battle. She couldn't see much, but the passageway was lightening slightly. As Lyroxia passed the entrance to a chamber off the corridor, her alert ears picked up a much softer, quieter sound. The faint scratch of clacking claws, followed by a frightened squeak.

She gasped, and followed the noise, still clasping the spearhead in her fist. Within seconds, the dark corridor had widened, and Lyroxia soon caught a glimpse of silver scales ahead.

You said you'd wake me BEFORE they got here! Murtagh roared with his mind.

I would have, if I hadn't fallen asleep-

You FELL ASLEEP?

Yes, and I'm sorry, but I really think we should save this argument for some other time-

So this is your fault! You can tell that to Shruiken-

Murtagh, shut your stubborn face and move QUICKER!

Thorn and Murtagh were hurtling down one of Helgrind's larger cold stone passages, the sounds of vicious combat heavy in their ears.

They were running down a lethrblaka's passage to give Thorn space to move, but their route via the larger corridors was a lot longer. Despite this, it only took the two of them a few minutes to reach the cells. This chamber was much to small for Thorn to do more than shove his shoulders into, so Murtagh darted deftly around his companion and sprinted to Lyroxia's cell solo.

Before he got there, however, he saw the bar door slightly ajar. Without pausing to look inside, Murtagh cursed loudly and kicked the door shut, then sprinted back to Thorn.

Thorn growled in an annoyed sort of way as he read his rider's mind. We should have kept the child with us.

Murtagh swung himself swiftly up onto Thorn's shoulders, and didn't answer as the red dragon bolted down the passage, his features grimly set. He wanted Lyroxia to escape, didn't want her to suffer his fate, but he wasn't about to put his life on the line letting her do so. So for now, he was the girl's unwilling enemy.

She'll be after her dragon, Thorn said as he ran, so we'll head there.

A few moments later Thorn skidded to a stop outside the hatchling's chamber, only to discover that it too was empty. They both gave snorts of anger and annoyance, but turned back swiftly without a word and sprinted back up the draconian passages, intent on finding Lyroxia.

Lyroxia had her hatchling clutched safely in her arms as she walked through the near darkness. Their breathing was heavy, and eerily synchronised. They both drew in a hasty breath, then shuddered as they let the air go, at exactly the same time.

Blood from Lyroxia's wounded hand was smeared all over the dragon's pearlescent scales, but he didn't mind that now, not when the din of unknown beasts and men were echoing at them so loudly. His tail twitched with fear, curiosity and apprehension, as his rider carried him ever closer to the dull light at the end of the passage.

Lyroxia forced herself to keep putting one foot in front of the other through a failing determination. Every instinct and sense she possessed was screaming at her to turn tail, sprint away from the roars of defiance and pain from up ahead, and yet every ounce of logic she had was urging her onwards; If she knew what the fighting was and who was doing it, maybe she'd find some clues to where she was, and how to escape.

So the girl stuck to the shadowy walls as she falteringly, hesitantly, yet bravely stepped forwards.

Lyroxia's breath caught. Her hatchling let out his trademark squeak. They had reached the end of the passageway, and were hovering out of sight right beside the entrance to the cavern in which the fighting was taking place. They had just glimpsed inside: Three gargantuan, sinewy beasts writhed together, biting and screeching and scratching and kicking. Two were black and bat-like, with beaks and rippling muscles. The other, Lyroxia was sure, was a dragon. Surely the flying Sapphire, that had aroused all those rumours she had heard... The one that allied the Varden.

Before she could think anything else, she heard a voice that she recognised horribly as Murtagh's. "Nice try," it hissed, as hands enclosed around her mouth and waist, dragging her backwards, and then she was looking fearfully into Murtagh's triumphant smile.

She attempted to make a noise that was halfway between a snarl and a muffled scream, but Murtagh silenced her with a foreign word, and she couldn't utter a sound. Her dragon wriggled out of her grasp. The hatchling tried to glide away, though there was no escaping from Thorn; His razor white claws knocked the baby dragon off course, then pinned him to the ground.

Murtagh began hissing in a language unknown to Lyroxia. The girl wasn't listening, too busy writhing and struggling as hard as she could to break Murtagh's grasp. It was in vain; her captor's grip was like iron. She stopped her futile struggling, and concentrated her efforts on bending her arm around her so she could thrust her spearhead into Murtagh's side.

Murtagh didn't notice her change of tactics. Only when the keen, serrated stone raked against his ribs did he stop muttering his spell, and began swearing and cursing as he thrust Lyroxia behind him. Clutching at his side, Murtagh continued to gasp out the ancient language, trying to ignore the seething scrape.

Lyroxia barrelled into the wall hard. Dazed, she sank to her knees, clutching the back of her head, and gritted her teeth as she waited for the throbbing of her skull, and the little lights that had popped in front of her eyes, to fade away.

Murtagh abrubtly stopped using the ancient language. "Now..." He said drowsily, "That should stop them seeing us, at least... Of course, they couldn't sense us to begin with, but... " He paused, then grimaced at his bloodstained shirt.

Thorn grunted and looked anxiously at his rider, who replied with a dismissive nod. He passed a hand over his side for a few moments, and it seemed to mend. Lyroxia didn't notice. She was struggling to remain conscious, and her eyesight kept slipping out of focus.

Murtagh and Thorn returned their attention to the sounds of battle from the cavern ahead. The fighting was much quieter now, Murtagh realised with some alarm. He couldn't hear any dragon roaring, or lethrblaka screeching - just the din of fighting men, which soon stopped.

Thorn and his rider tensed. Then, lumbering out of the shadows, the Ra'zac passed them in the passage. The shorter one was supporting the taller, who seemed to be unconscious, and their robes were ripped and soaked with red.

Despite the fact that Murtagh's spell only prevented the Ra'zac from seeing them, the Ra'zac were too distracted and injured to detect them by smell or sound. As they rounded the corner, the shorter Ra'zac gave a mysterious hiss, and the little light that was in the cavern was extinguished as quickly as a candle in the wind.

Thorn?

Here.

I didn't know they could do that. So much for my spell. Eragon won't be far behind them, though...

I hope you're not afraid of the dark.

Ha Ha. Where is she?

Thorn only knew where Lyroxia was by her smell, so he simply estimated. About three strides behind you.

Murtagh touched Lyroxia with his mind. She was conscious, but passive, unresponding. I'd make it about four strides, actually.

Whatever.

The hatchling began to struggle under Thorn's claws. He scratching and biting at his ankles, and letting out high-pitched growls. He was clearly frightened by the sudden lack of light.

"Maela," Murtagh whispered, as quietly as he could. The hatchling's growls stopped immediately, but he continued to writhe.

Let him go, Murtagh said to Thorn.

No - too much of a risk.

He's scared; all he wants is his rider.

Reluctantly, Thorn released the younger dragon, who immediately stumbled in Lyroxia's direction.

Mutagh and Thorn could hear Lyroxia stir as her dragon clambered into her lap. They were sat in an alcove in the passageway. Thorn shuffled over, and crouched in front of it, so that the pair would have to climb over his bulk if they were to try and escape. Murtagh placed himself next to his dragon's shoulders.

Don't move. Someone's approaching... Thorn warned.

"Maybe you're different, but I can't fight in the dark." The quiet voice floated through the passage. Murtagh didn't recognise it, so he assumed it was Eragon's cousin's.

"If I make a light, the Ra'zac won't come near us, not when I now a spell that works on them. They'll just hide until we leave. We have to kill them while we have the chance." Murtagh held his breath. They were Eragon's words...

"What am I supposed to do? I'm more likely to run into a wall and break my nose than I am to find those two beetles... They could sneak around behind us and stab us in the back."

"Ssh... Hold on to my belt, follow me, and be ready to duck..."

The voices faded as Eragon and Roran progressed deeper down the tunnel, and they eventually became silence.

That was close. They must have passed within two meters of us.

Come on. We need to get out of here, and we need to hurry up about it.

A/N. There you have it. Hope you enjoyed reading it, I certainly loved writing it. I should apologize, though - It's been months since i last updated this.

EDIT; Please note once more that I'll never update this again, if you want to read more of this story, (and a much better written version) please read the work-in-progress rewrite, A Glimpse of Silver. ~