Eragon was woken up by a shout from outside. He sat up, put on his clothes, which were stacked in a corner of the cave, and walked over to the entrance. Saphira, wake up.
Saphira sleepily raised her head behind him and yawned. What?
I don't know, Eragon answered. Looking down at the floor of the dragonhold, the great gem Isidar Mithrim, he saw Brom standing there, staring up at him. Brom, he told Saphira. Then he called down to the old man twenty feet below, "Good morning, Brom. What is it?"
"Ajihad's called a meeting," Brom yelled back.
"Alright, we're coming," said Eragon. Turning back, he told Saphira, "Hurry up."
The dragoness yawned again and stood up. Eragon clambered onto her back, and she dropped down onto the gem.
Eragon, Saphira, and Brom walked into the meeting room. The stone doors slammed shut behind them.
A sky blue dome sparkling with constellations was the ceiling. A round marble table, inlaid with a design of an upright hammer ringed by twelve stars, the crest of the dwarf clan Durgrimst Ingeitum, stood in the middle. Seated around it on padded wooden chairs were three men, three women, Ajihad, Arya, Murtagh, the dwarf king Hrothgar, Orik, and Roran. Brom and Eragon sat down at two empty chairs. Saphira lay down behind Eragon's chair.
Ajihad nodded at the three of them, then began. "For those of you who have not heard, Galbatorix has done a few odd things recently. They're obviously part of some evil plan of his. One of these things concerns taxes."
"More taxes?" asked a tall man, sounding bored.
"No, Umerth," Ajihad said. "In fact, the tyrant has lowered taxes."
What? Eragon asked Saphira incredulously as everybody around the table stirred in surprise.
Let us hear what Ajihad has to say first, Saphira answered.
"And," Ajihad continued, once everyone had settled down, "slavery has been outlawed."
There was a pause, then Roran voiced what everybody was thinking. "Has Galbatorix gone mad?"
Brom chuckled dryly. "And Eragon, Saphira, the elves, the Varden, and the dwarves are welcome in all lands controlled by the Empire. Galbatorix himself promised not to harm or capture any of the mentioned people and races, physically or mentally."
"Where did you hear this?" a fat man asked. "Is the source reliable?"
"King Orrin of Surda sent a messenger pigeon. It arrived two hours ago," said Ajihad calmly.
"Then what is the point of this war?" a woman with a crow's nest of grey hair on her head and a homely face said.
"That's exactly what Galbatorix wants you to think," a man with wiry arms snapped. "The moment any one of us sets foot on his land, he will kill us all."
Arya spoke for the first time. "In what language did he speak this promise?"
"English," answered Brom. "He could break it at any moment. But nearly all of the populace only speaks English, and so saying it in the ancient language wouldn't be practical."
"One of our suppliers from Teirm," said Ajihad, cutting across everybody else, "died on the same day that Galbatorix said these. Jeod, his wife, and his butler all perished when the house burned down."
Brom let out a cry of shock, as did Eragon.
"His house was made of stone!" Eragon said in disbelief. "How could it have burned down?"
"Exactly," agreed Ajihad. "I suspect he was murdered."
A lady with the same sable skin as Ajihad spoke up. "The herbalist that lived next to him, Angela, has already told us that the house exploded. Someone destroyed it on purpose."
"Did she see who did it?" Brom spat angrily.
"No. It happened in the middle of the night," the lady replied.
"Maybe his stove blew up," Orik said innocently. Everyone looked at him, and he shut up.
"What about what happened in Uru'baen three days ago?" asked a tall, skinny man.
"Ah, yes, that," said Ajihad.
"I heard that it was something to do with Shruikan leaving Galbatorix's castle, but I didn't manage to get the details. What happened there?" said Murtagh.
"A girl escaped from Shruikan in Uru'baen," Ajihad said.
"Why would Galbatorix want a girl?" asked the man with wiry arms. "And why would he send a dragon?"
Ajihad hesitated, then answered, "The people of Uru'baen are saying that the girl had black wings."
"Dusk?" Murtagh asked.
Ajihad started. "The girl who came with Saphira?"
"You didn't know that she has wings?" Eragon said.
"None of us ever noticed anything strange about her during her stay here," said the dark-skinned lady, "besides her complete disregard for authority and her decision to sleep in the dragonhold."
She told us she was going to Uru'baen, Saphira mused. It might have been her. Although I wonder she escaped from Shruikan.
"Eragon?" said Roran.
"What? Oh, umm," Eragon stuttered, unsure of what had just been said.
"Ajihad was asking if you and Saphira could go and check on Vroengard," Roran said, sparing Ajihad the need of repeating the question.
"Vroengard? Why Vroengard?" asked Eragon, confused.
"There are tales," said Orik, his hands clasped in front of him. "It is said that dark beasts inhabit the island these days."
Ajihad nodded. "Indeed, Orik. I have heard that the ships Galbatorix sends there never come back, even when enchanted by the tyrant himself. There must be something powerful there."
"And you want us to investigate?" the Rider said.
"Under normal circumstances, I would not have allowed you to leave the Beors, but now that Galbatorix seems to be idle, I believe we can risk it," Ajihad said.
"I'm coming with you, boy," Brom growled. "I might even be able to find the bastards who murdered Jeod. I have a score to settle with them." His tone left no place for argument.
"Very well, Brom," said Ajihad, slightly hesitantly. "We will make the arrangements. Be at the dragonhold in an hour."