Chapter 6
Durik called for a group meeting the next morning. He asked, "Has anyone recruited anyone yet? Remember, we'll stand a better chance with greater numbers."
An agent named Liam said, "Yes, sir! I have recruited one of my closest friends. He has always wanted to be in some kind of special military unit, but he has been suspended indefinitely from his unit. Rest assured though, the reason he was suspended wasn't because he was either a troublemaker or an inadequate agent. It's just that in that division, people are too power hungry, and people try to make each other look bad in front of the boss. My friend Steve was unfortunately framed for a crime by his colleague."
"That's very good, Liam. Good work," Durik flashed him a proud smile. "Does anyone have any new recruits?"
Caroline piped up, "Yes, sir. I have brought in a friend. His name is Damon Salvatore and he is also a vampire like me. I believe that his healing blood, as well as his fighting abilities, will benefit the Gard."
Durik praised her and listened as six other agents told him of their new recruits. He warmly praised every single one of them.
Two hours later, all of the new recruits were brought in to the Gard Headquarters, and Durik called a meeting where he addressed every one of them and introduced everyone to the new recruits.
He then asked two of the older members to orient the new members to the headquarters, and to show them their rooms.
Charlotte saw that this Damon Salvatore had a very bad boy look, and he was very handsome. Devilishly handsome. However, he seemed to be a decent person, from what she had heard from Caroline's friends. He was very cool and she felt the desire to strike up a friendship with him. "We'd probably have really good bromance," Charlotte thought.
A few hours later, Durik called another meeting. When everyone gathered to the centre of the room, he announced, "There has been a big change to our plan… I have just received new intel from the Varden. Eragon has requested to the leader of the Varden that Murtagh not be killed, but merely captured instead." Durik looked extremely displeased in delivering this information. "However," he continued, "We are to interrogate him about Galbatorix's plans, and if he does not comply, we have permission to use torture methods on him." Durik wore a sick expression of twisted satisfaction at that for a brief second, but it did not last long, as he composed himself instantly.
His expression slightly scared Charlotte. She had not seen that side of Durik before.
Damon spoke up, "Do you have a personal grudge against this Murtagh? You seem very annoyed."
Durik raised an eyebrow and said, "Yes… my brother died by Murtagh's hand." He looked as though he was putting great effort into controlling his emotions as a leader, but he didn't look far from getting a knife and plunging it into Murtagh's heart, or at least a dummy until they found the real Murtagh.
Damon was more sympathetic than Charlotte expected, and he said, "Then let's torture the hell out of this bitch."
Durik glanced at Damon with an amused glint in his eye, giving him a genuine smile. "That's what I'm talking about."
That night, Charlotte had another dream. She was not in the field today. Instead, she was sitting under the biggest tree she had ever seen. The roots looked like they stretched for miles and miles. The abundant vegetation on the trees provided cool shade for miles.
"Hello, it's nice to see you again," Eragon spoke from behind her. Charlotte turned and said, "Hey! Eragon, I'm happy to see you too! This is a beautiful tree, by the way."
"It is, isn't it?" Eragon beamed.
"Yeah, it's epic."
Eragon said, "I know you might think me strange for doing this, but I named the tree."
"You named a tree?"
"Yeah," he said. "I named it not because I wanted to state that I had some kind of ownership over it or anything. I did it just so that I could refer to it, instead of having to describe its qualities every time I speak of it."
Charlotte said, "I get that. It's not weird at all actually, now that I think about it." She loved how he had so much respect for the tree. It was rare to find people who had such reverence for something that most would simply overlook.
Eragon said, "Whenever I see this tree, I have so much respect for it, the way it survived all these years without dying. It must have had plenty of strength, fortitude, perseverance, luck, and even charm to overcome the great feat of enduring this long. I love this tree. I named it Arla."
"Arla? That's an interesting, unique name. I like it!" she said with a warm grin.
"Thank you," Eragon said.
They spent the rest of the dream lying at the base of the tree and exchanging stories about their childhood.