Sja Fram [Inheritance Cycle | Eragon Fanfiction]

Chapter XXVIII: Escaping Gil'ead

Chapter XXVIII: Escaping Gil'ead

I'm in the prison now, nearing Eragon's cell, Murtagh murmured to me.

I relayed the message to Saphira, whose mind wasn't quite focused. She seemed to register my message a minute later. Eragon has just contacted me! I believe he has attempted to escape his cell.

I swore and quickly sent a feeling of urgency to Murtagh's mind, Eragon's on the move. Murtagh replied with a bunch of mumbled swears and a feeling of worry and anger. I'll start the distraction, I continued.

I turned my attention outwards, focusing on the minds of the horses around. It was easy to give them the image of a dragon and set it to the forefront of their minds. The horses started kicking up a fuss, and their individual fear increased the overall fear, creating more fear. Earlier, I had loosened all the locks on the horses' stalls. One horse managed to escape, kicking open the stall door, snorting and neighing. Soon after, multiple other horses had managed to flee their stalls, creating chaos in the courtyard.

I nudged Istal's mind, who had been hiding in the shadows of one of the stalls. Istal burst out with a whinny, taking charge of the herd of horses and leading them out of the city. A bunch of guards burst out, shouting at stablehands, and chasing after the horses on foot.

Found Eragon, we're getting an elf, Eragon can talk to Saphira, focus on getting yourself out. Murtagh said, I'll let you know if anything important happens.

They have no horses, and the guards' eyes will be down here, but you might want to hurry anyway, I responded. I then left the safety of the stable and walked out into the courtyard. I suddenly gasped and pointed to one of the clouds in the air, "Dragon!" Everyone ducked and ran for cover, and someone screamed. It was instant chaos, and moments later more guards were pouring out into the courtyard, bows ready and pointed at the sky.

"Where did it go?" Someone shouted.

"It landed behind the city!" Another person shouted, and I had to stifle my laughter at how people had taken to thinking there really was a dragon around.

Shade, there's a Shade around! Go now Umaroth, Murtagh said, voice worried and with an undertone of urgency.

You had better stay safe, all of you, I replied in a grave tone, before going over to a steel grey horse who had stayed behind, unable to escape her stall. The mare threw her head as I put a bridle on her. I brought the mare out of her stall and mounted bareback.

The mare shifted uneasily but didn't try to run, with a little encouragement she shot off into the courtyard, before I guided her out into the streets of Gil'ead. I could hear the shouts fading from my hearing.

I reached where Saphira, Eragon, Murtagh, and the horses were when the moon was high in the sky. I hiked up the hill on foot, having let the mare go when Ihad spotted the rest of the horses that I'd released earlier.

Everyone was waiting there impatiently when I got to the crest of the hill. I rubbed my eyes tiredly and pulled out a slice of bread that I'd cut earlier. Murtagh was on watch duty, but I could see the tiredness in his posture. Eragon was half-asleep, leaning against Saphira who had a pained expression on her face.

Murtagh moved to saddle Tornac while I quickly saddled Istal, Saphira woke Eragon who got to work saddling Snowfire. Seconds later, we were galloping off. Eragon told me about the elf he had found and about the Shade Murtagh had managed to kill. Although something didn't sound right, but I let my thoughts fade to the back of my mind, focusing on staying awake as we galloped through the night.