A/N: Hello hello! This is my second Memory Chapter. Chapter 4 was my first and I tried another one but failed miserably. So here is my second try at a Memory Chapter. This is not Eragon's dream mentioned at the end of Chapter 14, this is the actual battle.
'You tortured an innocent little girl; you broke her so bad that she couldn't sleep alone that night, and she still can't. You hurt my little one, and for that, you can rot in Hell for the rest of eternity.' – Eragon Shadeslayer. This quote gives me chills, and I made it up!
And by the Circle of Circles Treaty, I recommend that you read The Hidden God.
Disclaimer: *SPINNING* *falls down and dies* Not mine
E-R-A-G-O-N
"Eragon, come on!" Murtagh shouted. At that precise moment a blast of light smashed next to his half-brother, and several layers of the wall caved in. At that moment the two of them were on the northern wall of Ilirea attacking the Forsworn with magic.
"Where's King Angrenost?!" Eragon shouted over the sounds of battle. King Angrenost was king of the Broddring Kingdom, but it didn't look like he was going to stay king for long. When Galbatorix and the remaining of his Forsworn started riding to Ilirea, Murtagh and Eragon told their mother and sister to go to Varnalond, and the two brothers raced to Ilirea as fast as possible. Somehow they had reached Ilirea before the Forsworn got there, and they were able to warn the city. The troops were immediately prepared, and Eragon called his old friend Evandar and requested reinforcements.
Unluckily his mate was there at the time, and she was fully against helping the humans, saying they weak and pathetic. Evandar ignored her words and prepared the elven army; they would be in Ilirea within the next day. Eragon himself had already killed one of the Forsworn, and Murtagh had killed two. The battle had been going on for the past week and a half, and the soldiers couldn't fight much longer. However, the Forsworn were not tiring very much due to Galbatorix's massive hoard of eldunari. One of the only things driving Eragon and Murtagh on was revenge. Both of them had lost their dragons by the hand of Galbatorix at the Battle of Doru Araeba.
But that wasn't all of it. Somehow Galbatorix had gathered humans as well to fight with him. Whether they were fighting of their own free will or not was unknown to them. But nonetheless, they had to be killed.
"He's in the citadel, he's wounded!" Murtagh shouted back.
Dammit, Eragon thought. King Angrenost was a noble and valiant leader, and he inspired great morale within the army. They usually would've gone back and healed him, but the two were probably some of the best spell casters defending Ilirea.
"Kialandí's heading your way!" Murtagh shouted. Eragon looked up, and sure enough, a purple dragon and an elf were riding straight towards him. The elf's purple blade was emitting some sort of dark light, black magic no doubt. The traitorous elf shouted something and a beam of purple light shot it's towards him, and right when it almost hit him, Eragon retaliated.
Brisingr! Eragon cried within his mind. Holding his right palm forward, his Gedwey Ignasia glowed for only a hundredth of a second before a counter beam of blue fire hit the purple light. The two beams collided, and an explosion of colors between blue and purple came out where the magic met. The force of the magic pushed Eragon back and inch, and he was three feet away from the edge of the wall.
Kialandí however was not so lucky. Since he was on dragon back the force of the blast sent him reeling backwards through the air. The purple blade flew from the elf's hands and embedded itself in the ground below.
Aiming his right palm following where Kialandí was flying through the air, he used the area between his middle and ring finger as something of an aiming system. (Like the 'Live long and prosper' thing on Star Trek the original series.)
Shouting mentally and verbally, he cried, "BRISINGR!" And an enormous swirl of light shot from his hands and raced its way towards the evil elf. Even though Eragon had cast the spell himself, he couldn't help but be mesmerized by it. It was like a spring, yet of course it was entirely made of fire. It swirled through the air, burning anything in its path, which is to say air. When it reached Kialandí in half a second, it swirled around him forming a sphere, encasing him in the fire. All visibility was blocked within the sphere, and several thousand of men on both sides were staring at the ball.
It slowly began to get smaller, and smaller. And then it became even brighter than ever before, and Eragon had to shield his eyes. When the brightness faded and Eragon removed his arm from in front of his eyes, he saw that the sphere of fire was gone; instead, there was a hole that was black hovering right where the elf was. Eragon could see it clearly, but not because of the light, but because of the lack of light. It seemed as if it was sucking and drawing the light in. That wasn't the only thing. Men were beginning to slide unwillingly across the ground, and one man was even flung through the air and caught inside the black circle.
"Murtagh was is that thing?!" Eragon shouted. Just because people were being sucked towards the hole didn't mean nobody was fighting.
"I don't know, you created it!" Murtagh shouted back. Men all around were beginning to be brought off the ground and caught inside the hole. With a simple spell, most of their allies were able to resist the effects of the hole and stand their ground. Galbatorix took longer to find a spell, and it cost him another one of his Forsworn.
If I created it, then I need to destroy it.
If it was created by fire, then it could be stopped by water. No, light couldn't even escape it's grasp. He cast the fire and it formed around Kialandí and it created a miniature sun. Wait… sun, that's it! The sun contains massive amounts of energy, and what he did must have created a miniature sun. And then when it collapsed in on itself all the energy was released and it somehow created this black hole. But how to counter it?
There couldn't be anything on the other side, or at least if there was you'd be dead before you got to it. From what Eragon saw was that when one of the men was sucked up, he was burned and his entire body was pulled and was shredded to pieces, and then those pieces were shredded. Then his entire being fell apart and turned into electrons and protons, so no going on the other side.
"Murtagh cover me!" Eragon shouted, and he turned around and delved deep into his own mind. The hole was created by a miniature sun caving in on itself, and then the energy expanded outwards to create this black hole. So what would happen if the black hole itself caved inwards…? "I got it!" Eragon shouted to Murtagh. His half-brother obviously what he meant, and Eragon went Blockhead. The black hole was getting bigger and bigger each time it sucked something in, and everything died right?
"Andrann du dath!" Eragon said while leaping towards the black hole. Age the hole! The only way to destroy a black hole is to let it die naturally, and of course magic was natural. It began to expand and expand, and all of this took place in the span of a tenth of a second. It reached dozens of miles high, and then Eragon could see it fade and flicker. It slowly, ever so slowly began to crumble in on itself, and it went from outside in. The outermost parts fell inward into the black hole, and so on and so on.
And finally so, the black hole caved in on itself, until it became a tiny speck of matter floating on the wind. Sighing in relief, he focused on the next problem. He was falling from the sky. The last time he had been in the sky like this was with her, but she had died and left him alone in the world, and now he lived for revenge. Right before he hit the ground he barked, "Letta!" He stopped an inch from the ground, his hair falling over his head and touching it.
Releasing the spell he dropped to the ground and stood up. Unsheathing his rider's sword Brisingr, he looked around for enemies. There were at least fifty thousand of the enemy, and seventy-five thousand of Ilirea. He began to run briskly, with his blade lightly dragged on the ground. Shouting a cry for revenge, he began to hack his way through the line of enemies.
Slash, duck, thrust, lean back, stab, spin, block, leap, stab. The motions went on and on. Eragon lost track of time, but then a booming voice echoed through out the air.
"Well done defenders of Ilirea, well done indeed. I honestly did not expect you to defend so well. And now as a reward, I offer you pity. I give you two days to treat your wounded, treat the sick, and rest. Two days." Galbatorix said with his magically amplified voice. And with his order, all of the enemy soldiers began to withdraw northwest, following the dragons in the sky. Reluctantly Galbatorix's two-legged followers followed after them, but much more slowly.
After the entire enemy army was half a mile away did the defenders of Ilirea begin to relax.
"Back to the city!" General Arnold shouted loud enough for enough to hear and repeat to the rest of the army. It took thirty minutes for the last of the army to retreat back inside the city, but Eragon remained. He stood watching the sun sink through the sky, and did not move until a hand rested on his shoulder.
Turning around he saw that it was Murtagh.
"Eragon, come on. Everyone's back inside the city." Murtagh told him. But Eragon didn't want to go back inside; he wanted revenge at the loss of his partner-of-mind-and-heart.
"Two days Murtagh," Eragon said.
"What?"
"Two days; I can't wait two days to get my revenge." Eragon said again.
"You are not going to provoke them into coming here! You will be risking the lives of thousands of men." Murtagh said forcefully.
"I'm not going to get them to come here; I just said I can't wait to get my revenge. Two days is far too long." Eragon replied.
"You don't have a choice brother, we have to wait, recuperate, and then defend again." Murtagh said.
Eragon scoffed, "What's the point, we aren't going to win this battle. Over a hundred dragon riders have already died defending Ilirea, and there are only twenty left. We are the only ones even on par with any of the Forsworn."
Murtagh shook his head, "You are right, we aren't going to win this battle, but I'm not going down without taking them with me."
Eragon smiled, "You and me both brother."
Two hours later
"They are outnumbered; they can't possibly hope to win!"
"Angrenost, with all –," Eragon began but was cut off.
"That's King Angrenost to you," the human king said.
Eragon narrowed his eyes. "I bow before no one, not even the king of the human nation."
King Angrenost growled but said nothing. Eragon continued, "Outnumbered they may be, but there are five of the Forsworn left, and then there's Galbatorix to add into factor. The Forsworn have already killed over a hundred of the dragon riders here, and there are only twenty left. The only ones who have killed a Forsworn are Murtagh and I."
"Eragon is right, whether you like it or not we need the help of the elves in this battle, and since we have been given a reprieve, which should allot them enough time to arrive. They should arrive tomorrow or the next day, and with the elves on our side, we will surely have a better chance at winning." Murtagh said.
King Angrenost nodded his head and with a wave of his hand, he dismissed them, not that he needed to anyway.
The two brothers walked through the palace, Brisingr at Eragon's side, and Arucane at Murtagh's. (Arucane – Living Fire; I was not going to make Murtagh's sword mean 'Misery', I mean come on!) All around you could hear the sounds of war; the grinding sound of blades sharpening, spears clanking against the ground, and the lack of men throughout the halls.
In silent consent, the two agreed to talk with the Elder Dragon, the oldest dragon alive to that day. Looking around to make sure no one was in sight, Eragon began to climb up one of the pillars in the servant's hall. No one but some of the oldest of dragon riders knew of this place, and even if they did, they had to be able to get up there of course.
Grabbing on to the invisible hand holds, he hauled himself up on the invisible platform. He waited for Murtagh to stand beside him before open the stone door that lay on the ceiling. Pulling it open, he ducked out of the way so it wouldn't knock him off, as that had happened to him once. When the door was finally open, he jumped up and grabbed onto the ledges that stood there for people to climb up. Using all of his upper body strength, he pulled himself up and rolled onto the floor above the ceiling.
Murtagh followed soon after, and they both stood up and approached the platform that held the largest eldunari in existence. It was a pure white, with absolutely no flaws in it, and it was beautiful. They both looked to each other and nodded their heads.
At the same time, they put their full palms on the stark white eldunari, and called for the dragon. This dragon's essence was not one of grief and sorrow like one who had lost their riders. It was more over of acceptance and knowledge about the world.
When the white dragon finally touched their conscious, he began to speak. Murtagh and Eragon, lovely to speak with you again. Tell me, why have you called for me?
Eragon smiled, he was always one for jokes. We need help. You know Galbatorix and the rest of his Forsworn are attacking Ilirea?
Yes I do, the dragon responded.
Eragon and I fear that we cannot win the battle, even with the help of the elves. They may be large in power, but they are small in number. Murtagh said.
The ancient dragon sighed, you will lose this battle, but… you have to fight in it. Even if you try to escape, you will fight in the battle. Do not surrender, they will fight you anyway.
Eragon snorted, we figured as much.
Anyway, the Elder Dragon said ignoring Eragon's comment. Thousands will die, but many more lives will be saved if you lose this battle. I know it is strange, but you must fight. The elves will arrive soon, and they shall help you.
Thank you, Eragon and Murtagh said.
Go hatchlings, and fight for Alagaesia. He said.
We will Bid'Daum, do not worry. Eragon assured.
And one last thing, you must hide me. Galbatorix will win this battle, and he will find me if you do not hide me. But I fear that that may be impossible.
What do you mean? Murtagh asked.
You must destroy me. I have lived far too long, longer than any dragon or rider. It has been too long since I have seen Eragon, so destroy me. Bid'Daum commanded.
Murtagh and Eragon looked at each other. They needed his intelligence, but they couldn't deny Bid'Daum his wish. They knew all to well what it was like to be separated from your dragon or rider, and Bid'Daum had been separated for thousands of years. They knew what they had to do.
Replacing both of their palms over the eldunari, they spoke. "Jierda!"
It cracked, and cracked, and cracked. Soon, the entire eldunari was covered in cracks, and they heard Bid'Daum speak his last words. Thank you, half-breeds should not be treated the way they are today. They should not… And the eldunari shattered into thousands of pieces, yet none hit the two half-elves.
In the span of half a second, all of the shards were on the floor. Even though they were destroyed, it looked as if the entire room was a diamond mine.
"We can't just leave pieces of an eldunari for Galbatorix to steal, what do we do?" Murtagh asked.
"We gather them up." Eragon replied. Speaking the necessary words, all of the shards and dust of the eldunari flowed into the bag Murtagh was holding. It took a rough thirty seconds for all of the pieces to fall within the bag, and Murtagh pulled the drawstrings shut. The two immediately began to wards on the bag, strings, inside the bag, and on the pieces of the eldunari within the bag. After over a thousand words were put on it, and their voices raw, did they begin the descent to the hall.
In unspoken consent did the two begin to walk towards their temporary rooms. Eragon and Murtagh really didn't need rooms, as they hadn't slept a wink since their dragons were killed. And not once had Eragon even thought his dragon's name. On the inside, it felt like his soul was torn to pieces and then stomped on twenty times. Every time he saw something blue he couldn't help but see his dragon as well. He even couldn't even kill Enduriel's dragon which was a blue color. He had thanked Murtagh many a time when he managed to kill it, as its gender was eradicated during Du Namar Aurboda, or the Banishing of Names. You could easily tell how devastated the riders of the stupid dragons were at the loss of their dragon's minds. Eragon heard tell that it was worse than your dragon dying, but he didn't believe that. At least their dragon was alive, living and breathing, while his was rotting on Vroengard.
A shoulder on his hand brought him out of his reverie, "Relax Eragon, we need to go."
Eragon nodded dazedly and followed his brother to their room.
The Battle for Ilirea was far from over.
A/N: This is Part 1 of the Battle for Ilirea! The chapter after this may or may not be Part 2, but I'm leaning towards it being part 2. And don't forget to read The Hidden God. *Breaks out in Lion Kings spoof song*