Luminescent (Inheritance Cycle and Beyond)

Chapter Fifty: Brilliant

Saphira snorted and swung her head around until she was looking at the rest of the room, and then she uttered a roar that shook the dust from the ceiling.

"How?! How could you have escaped Galbatorix? We dragons do not hide when we fight. We are not cowards to run from danger. Explain yourselves!"

"Not so loudly, Bjartskular, or you will upset the younglings in their eggs." Umaroth chided.

"Then speak, old one, and tell us how this can be." For a moment, Umaroth seemed amused at Saphira's temper.

"You are correct: we are not cowards, and we do not hide when we fight, but even dragons may lie in wait so as to catch their prey by surprise. Would you not agree, Saphira?" Saphira snorted again and lashed her tail from side to side. Alethea huffed and head-butted her on the side.

"And we are not like the Fanghur or the lesser vipers who abandon their young to live or die according to the whims of fate. Had we joined the battle for Doru Araeba, we would only have been destroyed. Galbatorix's victory would have been absolute—as indeed he believes it was—and our kind would have passed forever from the face of the earth."

"Once the true extent of Galbatorix's power and ambition became evident and once we realized that he and the traitors with him intended to attack Vroengard, then Vrael, Umaroth, Oromis, and I, and a few others, decided that it would be best to hide the eggs of our race, as well as a number of the Eldunarí. It was easy to convince the wild dragons; Galbatorix had been hunting them, and they had no defense against his magic. They came here, and they gave charge of their unhatched offspring to Vrael, and those who could lay eggs when otherwise they would have waited, for we knew that the survival of our race was threatened. Our precautions, it seems, were well thought of." Glaedr finished for Umaroth.

"We have watched you for many years now. We have watched you grow from hatchlings to mighty warriors, and we are proud of all you have accomplished. You, Eragon, have been all we hoped for in a new Rider. And you, Saphira, have proven yourself worthy of being counted among the greatest members of our race." Umarth said before focusing on Alethea.

"You, Khensamel, have become what he should have been. And you, Alethea, as I said to Saphira, have proven yourself worthy of being counted among the greatest members of our race. Now that you have found us, our days of hiding are over; we would go with you to Urû'baen and fight alongside you to kill Galbatorix."

"The time has come for us to leave our den and once and for all confront that traitorous eggbreaker. Without us, he would be able to pry open your minds as easily as did we, for he has many Eldunarí at his command."

"I don't think Saphira and Alethea will be able to carry all of you," I said, looking at some of the massive Eldunarí.

"You shall not have to," Umaroth replied. "Five of us will stay to watch over the eggs, along with Cuaroc. In the event we should fail to defeat Galbatorix, they will tamper no more with the skeins of energy but will content themselves with waiting until it is again safe for dragons to venture forth in Alagaësia. But you need not worry; we shall not be a burden to you, for we will provide the strength to move our weight."

"How many of you are there?" Eragon asked, gazing around the room. There was a daunting number of Eldunarí placed throughout the room.

"One hundred and thirty-six. But do not think we will be able to best the Eldunarí Galbatorix has enslaved. We are too few, and those who were chosen to be placed within this vault were either too old and too valuable to risk in the fighting or too young and too inexperienced to participate in the battle. That is why I elected to join them; I provide a bridge between the groups, a point of common understanding that otherwise would be lacking. Those who are older are wise and powerful, indeed, but their minds wander down strange paths, and it is often hard to convince them to concentrate upon anything outside of their dreams. Those who are younger are more unfortunate: they parted from their bodies before they should have; thus their minds remain limited by the size of their Eldunarí, which can never grow or expand once it leaves the flesh. Let that be a lesson to you, Saphira, Alethea, not to disgorge your Eldunarí unless you have reached a respectable size or face the direst of emergencies."

"So we are still outmatched," Eragon said grimly.

"Yes, Shadeslayer. But now Galbatorix cannot force you to your knees the moment he sees you. We may not be able to best them, but we will be able to hold off his Eldunarí long enough for you and Saphira to do what you must. And have hope; we know many things, many secrets, about war and magic and the workings of the world. We will teach you what we can, and it may be that some piece of our knowledge will allow you to slay the king."

With those last words, the metal man began to take the Eldunarí down from their alcoves. When all that was coming of us where gathered Eragon and I started to draw upon the energy.

"Once you leave the vault," Umaroth said. "The entrance to this pocket of space will remain at a fixed distance above and behind you at all times, save when you are in a confined area or when a person's body should happen to pass through that space. The entrance is no larger than a pinprick, but it is more deadly than any sword; it would cut right through your flesh were you to touch it."

"There is one more thing you need to know. The moment you pass through the great arch behind you—the Gate of Vergathos—you will begin to forget about Cuaroc and the eggs hidden here, and by the time you reach the stone doors at the end of the tunnel, all memory of them will have vanished from your minds. Even we Eldunarí will forget about the eggs. If we succeed in killing Galbatorix, the gate will restore our memories, but until then, we must remain ignorant of them. It is ... unpleasant, I know, but we cannot allow Galbatorix to learn of the

eggs."

"Thank you for telling us. Farewell." The five staying behind whispered their farewells back, and we departed the Vault of Souls.

Eragon frowned as we stepped out of the tunnel into the early-afternoon sunlight that bathed the clearing before the Rock of Kuthian.

"Do you feel like you've forgotten something?" I looked at Eragon and nodded.

"I do, but we need to get back to the Varden."

"Come," Umaroth said. "Let us be away. The day grows long, and many leagues lie between here and Urû'baen. I vaulted onto Alethea as Eragon did the same and strapped his legs in. Saphira and Alethea rose in the air and turned east, setting off for the mainland and Urû'baen, leaving behind the remains of the Riders' once-glorious stronghold.