Free Riders

Author's Note: Eragon is not mine. Char, Blaster, and Saranya are. Comment as you see fit.

Chapter 51: The Battle for Farthen Dûr

There was nothing to do but wait for the Urgal army to approach. Orik took a whet stone and honed his blade, checking it every so often to ensure it was sharp enough for him. Char said something about moving to the archer's stand to set up her sniper rifle before the Urgals got there and walked away. With a gauntleted hand, Blaster sat down and began to think, holding his chin in thought. When that didn't help ease his mind, he went to Sara's saddle bags and made sure that his AK was at the ready when he needed it.

Several times, messengers rushed through the encampment, causing warriors to surge to their feet, only to be false alarms. The stress levels were increasing with each passing minute, but the worst part was the lack of a breeze. The air became warm, stifling, and smoke-filled, but they kept waiting.

Slowly, the soldiers began to fall asleep, resting for what some thought would be their last time before the inescapable rest of death fell upon them. Eragon, Murtagh, and Orik fell asleep quickly. Blaster, however, rested in his meditative sleep. He searched for the energies of the Urgals and waited for them to come within range.

He felt them minutes before a scout ran from one of the tunnels leading into Farthen Dûr. Char did too, so she adjusted her location and readied her rifle. Arya woke Eragon since the shouts from the scout roused Murtagh and Orik. After a few minutes of watching the tunnels, Eragon and Murtagh mounted up. Then, a man shouted, "I hear them!"

No one breathed nor moved a muscle as the Urgal shouts erupted from the tunnels. A command was given, and the boiling pitch was dumped into the mouth of the tunnel. Urgals began shouting and flailing in pain. A torch was dropped and the pitch turned into an orange conflagration, engulfing those unwise enough to run away. The other two tunnels looked exactly the same. Blaster retrieved his bow as Eragon sheathed Zar'roc and strung his bow. Both of them were uneasy by the form of death they had just witnessed.

More Urgals tamped the pitch down and climbed out of the tunnels, trampling their burned brethren. They clumped together creating a solid wall against the men and dwarves. Behind the barricade Orik helped build, the first line of archers, including Char, fired their arrows. Blaster added his to the mix, as did Eragon and Arya. Only four arrows were different from the rest, and two of them were radically different.

The Urgal line wavered, threatening to break, but they covered themselves with their shields and weathered the attack. The only two arrows to do major damage were the ones Char and Blaster fired, as they exploded, killing anything within a ten-foot radius. Another attack of arrows took out another dozen Urgals, but the regular arrows were not able to get through. Again, Blaster fired, but this time, as soon as the arrow was away, he dug into his explosives bag, pulled out a grenade, and lobbed it over the wall and into the midst of the Urgals. Two dozen more Urgals met their end that way.

Char moved to her sniper rifle. There were obviously too many for her to kill with that weapon, but she started picking off Urgals one by one. The line wavered again, but didn't break. Blaster looked on and saw that, out of all the warriors against them, not a single one was a soldier directly under Galbatorix. The odds were in their favor with that. What wasn't in their favor was that the Urgals were still very numerous, with tattered and sullen standards depicting which clan they were from on them. A war horn sounded and the Urgals charged en masse with savage cries.

The row of stakes held as the Urgals ran against them, in an attempt to cover them and make it easier for the rest of the Urgals to advance without killing themselves. A cloud of black arrows shot over the barrier at the crouched defenders. Eragon ducked behind his shield, Saphira and Sara covered their heads, but Blaster merely put his helmet back on. The arrows rattled harmlessly against the dragon armor and that of Blaster.

The Urgal horde milled with confusion, foiled by the pickets at the moment as the Varden regrouped. There was a pause, then a war cry as the Urgals surged forward again. This time, momentum carried them through the stakes, where lines of pikemen jabbed at them frantically in an attempt to repel them. They held, but only briefly as the tide of Urgals overwhelmed them.

Saphira jumped into the fray as the two forces collided for the first time. Blaster ran forward, his sword drawn. As he came upon his first Urgal, a Kull, his mind shut everything else out, and, in a matter of a handful of seconds, planned his attack.

Their advantage: Their size with respect to their army and physical capabilities, he thought. Our advantage: Two Riders and two aliens, with one overlapping with each. In his mind, he charged the Urgal who attempted to bring his sword down. Block downward enemy strike. Use momentum to counter. The mind Blaster blocked the sword to the right and returned with a strike to the neck. Decapitation equals instant death. The blade of Cratona easily slices through the Kull's neck. Deflect enemy blow, duck under sword swing. Another Urgal runs up and swings at Blaster, only for him to use Cratona to deflect it to the left. He ducks and a Varden sword cuts into and mortally wounds the Urgal. Draw pistol. Fire at enemy attempting a stealth attack on an ally. Murtagh is saved by Blaster drawing his pistol and firing twice, killing the Urgal attempting to stab him in the back. Duck under dragon's attack. Both Saphira and Sara jab their necks into the fray, tearing through Urgals. Eragon swings at an Urgal attempting to weaken Saphira's wings. Blaster continued this thought for another few minutes in his mind's battle time. The result was that at least a hundred Urgals met their end either directly or indirectly thanks to his actions.

When Blaster came out of his thoughts, he charged at the Kull in front if him, blocking the Urgal's sword to the right as it brought the sword down. He then countered and decapitated the Urgal in the same swing. He blocked another Urgal sword and ducked to allow a Varden soldier to mortally wound the enemy. He drew his pistol and saved Murtagh from getting back-stabbed, then ducked as both Saphira and Sara jumped over him, killing many Urgals. Eragon killed an Urgal attempting to crush Saphira's wings, and Sara would never let any Urgal near her to even attempt it.

Again, Blaster rushed into the fray, slicing by several Urgals with such speed that he hit them 21 times before they could even react. Almost two dozen Urgals met their end in the attack, and Blaster was smack dab in the middle of a group of Urgals. Char emerged from the air, jumping into the fray in her grey armor. The two stood back to back, swords at the ready. Just as the circle of Urgals ran in to attack, Blaster and Char lashed out, their blades a blur of blue and grey. Dozens of Urgal bodies fell to the ground. As soon as they had a big enough body count, they forged their way through the armies, Blaster towards Sara, who was becoming overwhelmed, Char to help out Murtagh and Orik.

Sara was caught by a dozen Urgals, each with spears. Her wings had been pricked, but not badly. Whenever she advanced with her neck, they bunched together and jabbed at her eyes. When she tried to sweep the spears away with her talons, the Urgals jumped back, out of her reach. The fact that she was being attacked in such a manner was enough to make Blaster's blood boil. From his bag, he pulled a grenade, pulled the pin, and tossed it at the feet of the twelve spearmen as they retreated from another swipe. One of them shouted for them to advance again when the grenade went off, killing all twelve and giving Sara a well-needed reprieve.

Blaster swung into the saddle and, with unspoken consent, Sara took flight in hopes of leaving the madness of the battle, if only for a few moments. From here, Blaster dropped more grenades on the hordes of Urgals. From this high up, even as prime targets for the archers, Blaster was able to make sure Sara was out of range.

Bank left 2-0 degrees, Blaster ordered. We're going to pull a u-ie and come at their archers from behind.

Saphira, who had joined them in the air, and just as bloodied up as Sara, did the same as Sara when she came up behind the archers, low and fast. Seven Urgals were disemboweled and another four decapitated before the two dragons and their Riders retreated out of the range of the arrows. They continued on different flanks, taking Urgals by surprise since they were coming in low and fast, making their next attack unpredictable. Eragon ran out of arrows quickly when Saphira was in the air, but Blaster had whipped out his AK and was shooting over Sara's side whenever he had the chance to.

The battle continued to rage below them, with three separate fights at each of the open tunnels. The Urgals were at a disadvantage by having to disperse their forces and try to get their army out of the tunnels all at once. However, the massive amount of Urgals were driving the Varden back towards Tronjheim slowly. There didn't seem to be an end to the Urgal forces.

Remembering Ajihad's orders, Blaster contacted one of the Twins and started relaying information. He had realized that the Urgals were organizing themselves around several clan standards, but the clans paid no attention to each other as if receiving orders from elsewhere. That general was no where to be seen. As soon as he relayed the information, he received orders, which were smooth but brief.

You are ordered to assist Arya, one of the Twins said. The fight goes badly for her. Also, Ajihad is aware of your status as General and wants you to assume command of a small battalion on the east side, just before the line.

Acknowledged, Blaster groaned. He cut the connection. Sara, bank to vector 1-4-0. Let's give some assistance.

Eragon and Blaster banked away from each other, Saphira flying towards Hrothgar, who was also in need of aid. As Sara flew overhead, she and Blaster looked down at Arya as she swung her sword with swings that were at least on par with what Blaster and Char exhibited during their sparring match the previous day. The men behind her had dwarves mixed in and killing any Urgals who were able to get by Arya. Once a clearing large enough for them to land opened up, Blaster made his move.

The Urgals were shaken as the young dragon landed, facing them. The distraction allowed the dwarves to advance. While she was protected by dwarves and men on her right flank, her opposite flank was facing the enemy. Blaster sheathed his sword and started weaving his hands in a complex pattern. The Urgals began to charge, but Blaster thrust his hands into the air in a final symbol.

"BOLT!" the alien cried. Lightning forked through the skies, accompanied by a small ball of electricity. Even though the lightning struck in the midst of the fight, not a single ally was hit in the attack. However, most of the Urgals were killed, the rest stunned for long enough for a dwarf or man to kill it. A spear zipped by Arya's ear, seemingly diverting in mid-air harmlessly into a trench nearby.

Arya herself wasn't bad either, given the fact she was still recuperating from the poison. Even though she may have been a little weaker than her norm, every swish of her blade came in contact with either blade, shield, or flesh and bone. She was able to jump up and over a Kull, slicing once to decapitate the Urgal Elite.

Another Kull was about to swing its massive battleaxe in hopes of killing Arya in retaliation for her recent kill, but he was skewered by a blade that poked out of his chest. Angela appeared behind the Kull as he fell over. Her armor was outlandish, flanged, and enameled black and green, as well as a long red cape. In her hands was a strange two-handed weapon that was just a long wooden shaft with a sword blade attached to each end. It reminded Blaster of a similar dual-bladed weapon, but he was unable to place where he remembered seeing it. Angela winked mischievously and dashed away, spinning her staff-sword like a dervish. Solembum was close behind her in his shaggy-haired boy form. He held a small black dagger, and his sharp teeth were bared in a feral snarl.

Blaster slowly exhausted all his other magic, using his sword as a wand in one spell to kill enemies in a green flash of light, then pointing it in the air to call forth more lightning. Just as he sheathed his sword, the Urgals began to advance, but retreated when he started to move his fingers in another complex pattern. This time, his hands thrust forward when he landed on the final symbol, and he shouted "FREEZE!" The resulting ice storm killed another half-dozen Urgals. He aimed another spell at another group of Urgals, killing them instantly by removing their souls from their bodies by summoning what appeared to be the grim reaper. "Ok, men, you are now under my command. I am General Clarkson; Argetlam. Your orders are to hold this line without killing yourselves. If it becomes impossible, kill as many as you can, then fall back and regroup. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir!" the men chanted. The dwarves nodded, but only because they were asked to take Blaster's orders as if they were delivered by Hrothgar himself.

The two dragons took to the skies again after their assists, Blaster dropping grenades like bombs, each explosion killing another small group of Urgals. All the battles were going badly, the Riders thought. There were simply too many Urgals to hold back. Blaster kept downing his energy-restoring elixers, but at the rate he was using his magic, it was soon becoming tougher to use some of the higher level spells he knew.

The fight continued for hours, but with each passing minute, the Varden and the dwarves were succumbing to exhaustion while the Urgals remained fresh with reinforcements. Twice, Blaster let his power increase and he stole a sword from a fallen enemy to attack with higher strength, but even using his high-strength super form, there were too many Urgals to kill. Once, Char, who was with him, suggested using the final form available to them, but that would have made the battle a little too easy in Blaster's mind, and the window of opportunity to use that form had already passed.

Just as Blaster and Char killed another Urgal, they felt a presence in the Urgal force. A magical presence, and one that was extremely familiar to them, though more familiar for Char than Blaster. The two looked at each other, knowing what the other was thinking.

Durza was joining the battle.

(cue dramatic music) With Durza in the battle now, will the Varden survive? Find out next time in this special 5-part finale.