Murtagh walked into the throne room. Sitting at the end was Galbatorix, snoring loudly with his head supported by his hand and his elbow on the arm of the black throne shaped like a dragon. Standing next to his throne was Nuanen, who had been staring off into space but turned to smile at Murtagh as he came in.

Galbatorix suddenly jerked awake and stared at Murtagh, then blinked and seemed to come fully awake. He greeted them. "Good afternoon, Murtagh! Do you find your room and the service to your liking?"

Murtagh bowed, then straightened up again. "They are excellent, Your Majesty," he said. He tried not to look at Nuanen, because whenever he did, his cheeks would go red and he would lose all his concentration.

"Good, good," the king muttered. He gestured at Nuanen and said, "Nuanen here tells me you have met already, and that the dragon is now called Talos."

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Murtagh carefully. Then, before he could stop himself, he blurted out, "I thought Dusk was the only human in Alagaesia with wings."

"Dusk?" asked Galbatorix. "The one with the black wings? Yes, so did we, until Nuanen here appeared in the throne room one day." He smiled rather fondly at the girl. "Do you know, Murtagh, how long it took for her to learn the ancient language?"

"No, Your Majesty."

"Two days!" Galbatorix crowed. "Two days, and she could speak it fluently on the third. Then she learned how to write it on the fourth." He shook his head. "I don't know how she does it. I'm teaching her the dwarf language now, and she has already grasped the pronunciation and the basic words and the sentence structures."

"Oh, it is not I, Your Majesty," Nuanen responded sweetly. "It is simply that you are a wonderful teacher."

Galbatorix gave a great booming laugh that made Murtagh wince. "I don't know how we thought that you were stupid on your first day with us. But, Murtagh, you didn't come here so we could discuss Nuanen," he said, turning back to the young Rider. "We are here today so that we may learn where your loyalties lie and act accordingly." Murtagh decided that Galbatorix was a moron, insulting Nuanen right in front of her, but he buried the thought deep in his mind.

"My loyalty is with you, Your Majesty," said Murtagh without hesitation. He had thought about it a lot since Nuanen had visited him the other day, and he had finally been forced to agree with the girl. After all, how could someone like Nuanen ever be wrong?

Galbatorix blinked, as if he hadn't been expecting Murtagh to give in so easily, then said, "Then, to prove your loyalty, you must swear an oath to us."

Nuanen asked, "Must Talos pledge himself to you as well, Sire?"

"Ye-" he began, but Shruikan snapped something, and he quickly corrected, "No, there won't be any need for that."

Murtagh hesitated, then repeated the oath after Galbatorix.

The king nodded. "Now that we have that sorted out, I will tell you your training schedule. Murtagh, you and Talos will learn the different languages from Nuanen in the morning. After lunch, Murtagh, you will train with me in magic and sword-fighting, and Talos will be taught by Shruikan. After dinner, you two will be left to do as you please in the castle."

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Murtagh respectfully. The schedule didn't seem all that bad, especially the part with Nuanen, he thought dreamily.

"You are dismissed. Your lessons begin tomorrow."

"Now I am good at guessing," I muttered, landing on the shore of Bone Guard or whatever the stupid island's called. It was morning, just like I had predicted. Alright, maybe it was bit dark, but it was still technically morning. Possibly one o'clock. Or two. Or three, or four, or five, or whatever.

The island was a sandy beach for maybe a mile, and then it turned into forest. In the air, I had seen that after the woods came a tundra/wasteland dotted with the occasional rocky hill, and after that, there had been your typical deserted ruins on your typical deserted island.

"Now, why'd I land again? Oh right, whenever you get to some weird island that's got its own defense mechanism, you're supposed to land. No, wait, I've got it wrong, you're supposed to get ship-wrecked and everybody is supposed to be dead except you and you're supposed to be starving and nearly insane and looking for fresh water. Eh, landing's the same thing as getting ship-wrecked, I suppose. And now I'm talking to myself, so that must mean I'm mad, so I've at least got one part of that thing right. Huzzah."

Just then, Fritos appeared out of nowhere.

"Gah!" I shouted, falling down. He pulled me back up.

"Hello, Dusk," he said cheerfully. Rillon materialized right next to me.

Rillon frowned. "Jatiuhedthbg, you did not tell me Dusk was going to be here as well."

"I did not know she would get here so soon."

"You could have scryed."

"Rillon, you cannot scry this island," said Fritos patiently.

Rillon scowled, turned to the ocean, and shouted impressively, "Draumr kopa!" Nothing happened.

"So, what are you two doing here?" I asked, recovering from my shock.

"The same thing you are," said Fritos. He glanced over at the forest. "It will take us two days to walk to where we need to go."

I waved my hand at him dismissively. "It'll take me three hours. Toodles!" I was about to jump into the air when Fritos said, "Wait!"

"Great, what now?" I said.

"I said it would take us two days to walk," he said. "We do not need to walk. We- Ah, here it comes."

"What, is there supposed to be a jet or something around here?" I asked, half expecting to see a plane pop up in front of me.

"No," said Fritos. He stared intently at something that only he could see.

I sighed. "And here I was, thinking I was mad."

Rillon muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "You are."

Then there was the rather annoying feeling of being pulled inside out and being hammered repeatedly over the head by a drunk giant, and the next I knew, we were standing on a big, flat rock in the middle of the wasteland, halfway across the humongous island, with a city's crumbling ruins in front of us.

There was a long pause, then I broke it with a flat word: "Ow."

Seeing as things like appearing out of thin air on that island, two very very big detached free-floating red eyes suddenly coming into view didn't creep me out as much as you would think. And they appeared in the shadows of an ivy-covered — well, wall wasn't quite the right word, but whatever — not in the sunlight, so I wasn't too freaked out.

Something brushed away my permanent mental wall, and I recognized it as the same thing from Du Weldenvarden.

"What do you want?" I asked aloud.

Fritos hissed at me angrily, then sank into a respectful bow.

As was expected, Rillon and I both stared. From my experience, elves were rather arrogant little jerks(a bit like me, except without the sense of humor), so one bowing was one of the strangest things I'd ever seen.

The a white claw that was as long as my whole body materialized out of the shadows and made this weird flicking motion. Fritos rose up out of the bow, and the claw retreated back into the shadows.

You may leave us now, Trflisfnldfj, said the vaguely feminine voice, and Fritos inclined his head slightly, then vanished.

"You know, this is just creepy."

The red eyes turned to me and Rillon. Dusk, Rillon, said the weird voice, who I am just going to call Creepy for now because "the weird voice" is way too long. I have waited a long time to meet you.

"Right, that's jolly and wonderful and all that nice little stuff, but seriously, why do people keep vanishing and popping out of nowhere on this stupid island and who the hell are you?" I demanded.

Peace, Dusk, said Creepy. All shall be revealed.

"That's beautiful. So, is it gonna be revealed now or what?"

Creepy just kept on looking at me until I started fidgeting. Then she said, One of the reasons I chose you instead of Pigeon was because of your complete lack of respect. However, you would do well to guard your tongue in front of me.

I translated that into understandable English and figured out that she meant "Shut up or else". So I shut up.

Then she turned to Rillon. I didn't know what she said, since she wasn't projecting her thoughts to me, but Rillon said everything out loud, so I could piece together what she was saying pretty well. ...Alright, maybe not really. Their conversation was just too weird to understand if you couldn't hear what Creepy was saying.

"Who are you?" Rillon asked, slightly more politely that I had been.

Creepy said something. Rillon's mouth dropped open. Creepy said something else. Rillon pulled out his sword.

"You-" he began, getting ready to run at Creepy's approximate location while randomly swinging away with his sword, but Creepy must've said some more stuff, because Rillon dropped his sword and gaped at her. "No..." he whispered. "You are lying!"

Creepy choked on something. Then I figured out she was laughing. This time, she actually let me in on the conversation. No, Rillon. I do not lie.

I had a really strong urge to shout, "You just did!"

But that is not why I brought you here. I wish for you to join me. Both of you.

I thought about it. It sounded like a horrible deal. "What'll we get out of it?" I asked finally.

Dusk, I know that you find magic to be...annoying when it is used on you. I can protect you from all but the most creative of spells. I can ward you from all illness. I can heal you when you are injured, no matter the distance. Later on, if you have carried out your orders proficiently, there will be other benefits as well. Many others. The red eyes turned to Rillon. Creepy must've said something to him, because he hesitated, then nodded slowly.

I thought about it again. It didn't sound all that bad anymore. There was still a problem, though. A few, actually. "Alright, first, what is joining you supposed to mean and why don't you ally with the Varden and who are you anyways?"

Becoming my vassals will mean that you will carry out my orders. I do not wish to control every aspect of your lives, but when I call upon you, you shall obey. I do not ally myself with the Varden because we are not on the same side. Does that answer your questions?

I noticed that she ignored my third question, but I decided to let her go on that. The part where she wasn't on the same side as the Varden was definitely strange, though. If she wasn't with the Varden, then she had to be with Gabriel. Except Fritos worked for Creepy, and he didn't exactly like Shrew Can all that much. Unless she controlled her own faction? I didn't really want to get stuck on the wrong side of a three way war, because that was what it was starting to sound like, but that offer of protection against magic didn't sound too bad either...

I shrugged. "Let's get thing over with then. So, I need to say something, right?"

Creepy's eyes gleamed. I really did hope that I wouldn't regret this decision.

I stumbled and quickly spread out my wings for balance. My right one hit Rillon, who had also been staggering around the place, and knocked him down. Only Fritos didn't seem bothered at all at being teleported from some random island out in the middle of nowhere to the mainland coast a long way away.

Rillon jumped back up and I folded my wings. I just noticed Eragon and Saphira and Pigeon then, gawking at us. Smirking, I asked innocently, "What?" At least, I tried innocent, but I don't think it worked.

"First that wind blew us back and let you pass, and now you three just pop out of thin air? What was on that island?" demanded Pigeon.

I yawned. "Santa Claus."

"Who?" asked Saphira, Eragon, Rillon, Fritos, and Pigeon simultaneously, except the first four asked curiously while with Pigeon it was more disbelievingly.

"Right, so, intros again," I continued, ignoring all of them. "The glow-in-the-dark elf's Rillon and the other one's Fritos and the dragon's Saphira and that little dimwit standing next to her's Eragon. Oh, and you all know me and Pigeon. You had better, anyways. So, now that that's over with, we need to get to...Strudel, was it?"

"Surda," Eragon muttered.

"You're going a bit fast," Pigeon said. He turned to the two elves. "What were you two doing on Vroengard?"

"Err," began Rillon, but Fritos cut him off.

"Exploring," he said shortly. Then he said a long string of gibberish to Saphira, and Rillon followed suite. Saphira's gaze softened a lot when she heard that, while Eragon just looked bemused.

"You're elves, right?" he questioned suspiciously.

"Obviously," I answered for them.

Fritos said, "We are well met, Shur'tugal. This is Rillon, and I am *insert unpronounceable word here*, although Dusk prefers to call me Fritos."

"Which is also a brand of chips," Pigeon muttered darkly. We all ignored him.

Eragon frowned. "Trhghchhh- Kforjh- Lefih- Zszyg-"

"*insert unpronounceable word here*," Fritos corrected unhelpfully.

"You know, Fritos is easier to pronounce."

"Isn't it?" I said smugly.

"Umm, Hghhhzszchgf, can I call you Fritos as well?" asked Eragon.

"It's fine." And then, quietly and probably to himself, he added, "I should consider changing my name to something more pronounceable."

"You really should," I agreed. Then, "We need to get to Surda."

"Why Surda?" asked Eragon, looking about as confused as anyone possibly could.

"The Varden have mobilized," said Fritos. "They are marching to Surda as we speak."

"Wait, what?" asked Pigeon. "What's the Varden?"

"It's this big group of midgets and random peeps," I explained. "So, yeah, Sudra's over, err, that way! West-north-south!" I pointed in a random direction.

How do you know they are going to Surda, and why would Ajihad do that? Saphira asked.

"I know," said Fritos. The unspoken "And that's all you need to know" was pretty obvious.

Saphira and Eragon had a little discussion, then they agreed to go to Surda to check it out, and Rillon and Fritos and Eragon got on Saphira while Pigeon and I flew.

Galbatorix summoned Murtagh, Talos, Nuanen, Shruikan, and all of the commanders present in Uru'baen at that moment with his mind.

Ten minutes later, everybody was assembled in the big secret room, with Shruikan poking his head through the door. But, seeing as the room lead off of a hidden door in the back of the king's study, it really didn't matter that the door was open, since nobody ever went into Galbatorix's study without permission unless they were trying to commit suicide.

Only seven of the twenty chairs around the oval wooden table were filled, Galbatorix's included. Talos sat curled up next to Murtagh. The red dragon was large enough to ride already, and, because of how much food he was being fed each day, quite chubby and almost as large as Saphira, despite the two's age difference. What had the cooks been putting in that meat anyways? Hormones?

"Good, we're all here," said King Galbatorix, trying to ignore all the empty chairs. "Lark, is there any news from the Varden?"

A tall blonde man winced. "Sire, we haven't had any news from the Twins for the last few...weeks, was it? So we have no information on the dwarves or the Varden."

"And you, Sutozok?" Galbatorix asked. "Is there any news from the rebels?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," a moderately tall brown-eyed black-haired man said, flashing a sneer in Lark's direction that almost immediately vanished. "My informants in the Black Hand have sent word that Surda is playing host to the Varden. It seems that Ajihad has moved the entire Varden to King Orrin's country."

"My informants," growled a rather short man with a red beard that stretched nearly to his waist, "have told me that the Varden are on the march to Furnost. Sir." He added that last word mockingly.

Sutozok grinned nastily. "Ah, but Dork, are you the Spy Master? No, you are not, which means that it is my job to inform you that your news is terribly outdated. That was the Varden's decoy plan. The actual plan is Surda."

The dwarf, Dolk, was about to say something highly inappropriate to that when Nuanen interrupted. At the sound of her voice, all present stopped what they were doing and gazed at her. Even Galbatorix had to work hard not to jerk his head up. Shruikan was the only one he wasn't affected.

"If they are in Surda," she said thoughtfully, "then that means they have mobilized and are preparing an offensive on our southern front. If unchecked, they will be able to conquer not just Furnost, but also all cities near Surda, and they will also have King Orrin's help in doing so. Success in that maneuver will give them a part of the Empire and will also give confidence to the dwarves and elves, who will follow the Varden and Surda's example, and we will then be trapped in a war on three fronts."

Silence followed this little speech. Galbatorix could swear that was drool sliding down Murtagh's and Lark's chins.

Then the king cleared his throat, which brought everyone back to attention. "Yes, beautifully summarized, Nuanen," he said. Said winged kid blushed modestly. "We cannot allow this to happen. Marc," the remaining man nodded to show that he was listening, "you must cripple the Varden before they can begin their attacks. I am giving you command of-" He hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out what number would be large enough to completely mess up the Varden, and settled on, "One hundred thousand soldiers and magicians. Oh, and I am also giving you access to three hundred cavalry. I would give you more, except with the hundred thousand gone Uru'baen is already vulnerable and I will not risk any more. Lead them well and do not fail me." Marc stood, bowed to Galbatorix, then strode briskly out of the room. Shruikan shifted to give the man room to pass. "Nuanen, Murtagh, Talos, the three of you shall be accompanying him. But not now," he added, when they made to rise. "It will take a few hours at least to assemble the army-"

Not to mention the supply lines, added Shruikan.

"-and I must show you something before you leave. Dolk," the dwarf clasped his hands on the table, "tell Marc that you will be going with him on the battle. And be warned, Dolk, if I hear any more...suspicious reports, you will have more than being demoted to contend with." Dolk shrugged nonchalantly and limped out of the room, his permanently injured leg slowing him down. He didn't fight anymore. He was better at strategy anyways, so that was no loss. "Master Sutozok, Lark, you may continue with your duties. Also, figure out what's happened to the Twins, Sutozok, and Lark, try to put some more of your people in the Varden's ranks. If they're in Surda, then they won't be able to monitor everyone who joins." The two men stood, one sneering contemptuously and the other glaring with enough hatred to vaporise diamond, and bank out of the room, their eyes never leaving the opponent's face. Galbatorix would have to make sure to keep them away from each other until they settled their differences. "Come with us," he said, standing as well and beckoning to Nuanen, Murtagh and Talos.

They stopped before the door to the dragonhold and Galbatorix rolled the stone door to the side. He and Shruikan led the other three to Shruikan's shadowy corner and the black dragon shifted the bedding to the side. He tapped a brick with his claw, and the entire hollow that Shruikan normally slept in completely vanished. All the bricks just faded away as if they had never even been there.

Shruikan dived into the hole, and Galbatorix jumped in after him. Talos, Nuanen, and Murtagh followed close behind. It was a short drop, and at the bottom of the hole was a very thick covering of surprisingly clean cotton. Terrible waste, really. Cotton was like gold when it came to prices on the market. Possible even more valuable.

The five were in a huge circular room. It was completely unadorned, without even lanterns or candles or torches. The only light sources were huge piles of glowing different-colored jewels that varied greatly in size. They completely filled the whole room (except for the part with the cotton) and the tallest parts of the enormous piles nearly reached the tall ceiling.

"Woah," Murtagh gasped. Talos involuntarily gave an angry snarl and a whine of delight at the same time. Nuanen looked more than just a little intrigued.

You are gazing now upon the greatest treasure hoard of this world, Shruikan said. This room currently contains all of the last living dragons except one. Two, actually. Or three. It depends on whether an egg counts as a living dragon. Oh, and a few more, too, but you don't need to worry about them.

What do you mean, Shruikan-elda? asked Talos, staring hungrily at the Eldunarya.

Galbatorix looked up, saw the still-open pit, waved a hand at it, and the bricks rematerialized so that they were shut in. "Each of those gems," said the king, "contains — is — a dragon."

Murtagh's mouth fell open. Even Nuanen had to work very hard to stop hers from doing the same.

Indeed, agreed Shruikan. Talos, have you ever before felt your heart-of-hearts?

Yes, but what does that have to do with anything? the young dragon asked.

Your heart-of-hearts, your Eldunari, essentially is you. Normally, this would be told to you only after you and Murtagh had bonded more, but the circumstances deem that this information must be passed on sooner than we had wished. Damn Varden.

"I don't understand," said Murtagh, Talos' confusion winding itself into his words.

We did not expect you to, Shruikan said, snorting a small puff of smoke from his nostrils. His voice seemed to be intertwined with thousands of others.

Hatchlings, growled a low female voice, listen well, for this is a secret only the dragons and the Riders know, and now, a winged human as well. But she doesn't matter.

Two sentences.

A deep male voice cut in. Our consciousnesses do not reside entirely in our skulls. No, inside of each of us lies a stone-

-one that we may live on in even when our flesh doth die, someone else said, in a failed attempt at old English. They sounded like they were jostling each other. A white rock actually managed to somehow kick a brown pink-flecked one off the pile, and Shruikan had to put it back, deliberately jostling the white one and shooting it an angry glare that made the immobile object tremble and shrink back.

When a dragon dies, our heart-of-hearts, a clear, colorless stone, shall decay with the body, continued another.

But we may expel it whilst we live, and when we choose to do so, that stone will gain the color of the dragon's scales. I was a brilliant lavender before my body died, and now, even in this form, I wear the same shade as that of my former scales.

Stop hogging the spotlight, one of the others muttered. That was two sentences!

"Why would a dragon want to expel their Eldunari?" Nuanen asked curiously.

Because, human, thrummed all the voices, still sounding like they were trying to kill each other, there are great benefits that may come with it.

One picked up where they had left off. Through an Eldunari, a dragon might communicate with their Rider even when one stands in the Dwarven Realms and the other in the great city of Doru Araeba, on opposite ends of this land.

An Eldunari is a dragon's consciousness, a female dragon interrupted. Because of this, we work now just as our minds did before, and we may speak through them and do all that we could with our consciousnesses just as we could before they switched to another place.

Two sentences, the one from before hissed darkly.

But with this benefit comes great sacrifice.

An Eldunari falling into the wrong hands is a dragon with a doomed existence, for whoever holds us holds a dragon's very soul in their hands.

A horrible fate indeed, another agreed. Unless we may convince another to break the stone for us, we are helpless.

Two-

Shut up, someone else snapped.

And when a Rider dies whilst their companion resides in their heart-of-hearts-

-the dragon is trapped, unable to join his partner or even to give him a proper dragon's funeral. It is a tortured existence, and after all these years, I still regret that my body is dead and that I cannot join my Lithene in the next world as I so wish.

Two-

Shut up!

I will say this if it kills me! the first one snarled. Two sentences!

There was an extremely long pause, then Shruikan said, Talos, I forbid you to expel your Eldunari until you are at least thirty years old. And Gramal, do shut up.

Talos made no objection to this. He was too busy staring at a large orange Eldunari up at the top of the pile.

Galbatorix said, "Nuanen, Murtagh, each of you will take three Eldunarya with you on your mission." He handed each of them a very big drawstring pouch. "Respect them, and make sure the terrorists do not get their hands on them."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the two said simultaneously. Murtagh suddenly blushed a furious red and turned away.

Murtagh, do you see the orange Eldunari up there? Can we take her? Talos asked Murtagh privately.

Sure, Talos, said the Rider, puzzled, but why do you want her?

Talos growled at him, and Murtagh took a step back. The two were good friends (or as good as they could get in the span of a few days, which wasn't very impressive), and the red dragon had never growled at Murtagh since the day he had learned to speak (that was yesterday, though, so it wasn't saying much).

Shruikan noticed what was going on and followed Talos' gaze up to the Eldunari he wanted to take. He said to Murtagh, Do as he wants, Murtagh-finiarel.

Yes, Shruikan-elda, Murtagh said, sounding confused. He put the orange Eldunari in his bag.

"Your Majesty, why do you want us to take these Eldunarya?" asked Nuanen.

"Neither of you would be able to defeat the blue Rider and the dragon in a fight. However, the Eldunarya will lend you strength for your spells."

Once the five of them had left the Eldunari Room and Nuanen, Talos, and Murtagh had gone off to join Marc, Shruikan curled up on his nest in the dragonhold and Galbatorix took a little trip down to the dungeons. He ignored all the other prisoners and stopped in front of Brom's cell. The old man was sleeping on the cot.

"Brom," said Galbatorix loudly. Brom jolted upright, looking wildly around the cell, then he saw Galbatorix standing outside.

"What do you want?" he asked, sounding annoyed.

The king shrugged. "You eat too much." And, indeed, Brom's stomach was starting to bulge a bit.

"Well, you do give me three full meals a day with all the courses," Brom pointed out. "And what do your cooks put in there anyways?"

Galbatorix pretended not to have heard. In truth, he had no idea either, but Brom didn't need to know that. "I hear you're trying to stir up the other prisoners."

"What? Where did you hear that?" he said guiltily.

"We've decided that since if we don't get you out of here all of you are going to break out eventually, we're going to let you go."

"Did I hear you right?" Brom asked incredulously.

"No, not like that, you fool. What we meant is that during the day, you get to go anywhere you want in Uru'baen, but at night, you have to come back here. If you escape the city or fail to come back by midnight, then we will have you recaptured and kept in here until you rot. Without all the food," he added.

Brom kept staring. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. If you would rather stay in here..."

"No, no, I'll go outside," said Brom quickly, getting up from the cot.

Galbatorix beckoned to a conveniently located soldier and whispered something in his ear. The soldier nodded vigorously and charged up the stairs into the main castle. A minute later, he came zooming back down, this time holding a cup of water. The king unlocked the cell door without using the key and handed Brom the cup.

"Drink," he commanded.

Brom drank.

"You haven't swallowed," Galbatorix said, glaring at him.

"Mriow 'oo oi knew ee no' poisoon?" Brom asked, some of the water dribbling down his chin as he spoke.

"It's not," said Galbatorix. "If we wanted you dead, we could have just stabbed you, couldn't we?"

Brom swallowed.

"There was something in there," he said, glaring suspiciously at Galbatorix.

"Obviously. It was that magic-stoppering drug. Now, get out."

Sorry about the slow updates recently, but I've been occupied with other things (like making up lame excuses).

Anyways. Thanks to everyone who reviewed so far, and I've got a question. Which one's plural and which one's singular out of Eldunarya and Eldunari? I keep getting them mixed up, and I think I've gotten it wrong way too many times in this chapter.