Eragon spun away from the guard, missing the blade by mere inches. As he spun, he swung the sword he borrowed from a dead soldier, to kill the one before him. The blade lopped off the man's head mercilessly. Beside him, Murtagh was busy with another guard. Eragon stepped forward into the room the men were protecting and raised his hand. With a short incantation, the door swung open to reveal none other than the woman with raven black hair.
Eragon was glad he found the maiden, however, his heart still sank as he hoped to find Lena instead. Still he entered the room and as he approached her, he noticed that she did look very exotic! Elves, as he was told, often were very beautiful, and the woman before him, though quite bruised and battered, was no exception. Soon Murtagh joined him at the unconscious elf and stated what was also on Eragon's mind, "She's beautiful!" However, his thoughts did not linger long on the elf woman as he drifted back to Lena.
"Aye, she is, but let us hurry and help her and keep looking for Lena," Eragon was becoming desperate as their time to finish their plan drew near. Eragon had stopped eating and drinking enough to gain more clarity and in that clarity, he was able to contact Saphira. He was thrilled to learn that she had broken free of their captors and was with Murtagh outside of Gil'ead where they were currently held prisoner. Well, no longer for Eragon. He had used magic he was finally able to remember, with help from Saphira, to unlock his cell door.
He had planned to meet up with Murtagh and take out as many guards as they needed to look for Lena, but they only had less than an hour before they had to leave the prison for a dining hall where the roof was thin enough for Saphira to claw through and rescue them. Now, with an elf, their task became increasingly difficult, expressed by Murtagh as he let out a groan.
"Must you always complicate things, Eragon?"
Eragon simply grinned in response, to which Murtagh rolled his eyes and picked up the woman after Eragon untied her. "You know, I will not be able to fight like this, right?" Murtagh asked, even though it was unnecessary.
"I should be able to fend them off. Though, you could set her down and help if I become swamped."
"Perhaps," Murtagh replied as they made their way out of the room. "But keep in mind that we will have to run at a slower pace as I now have all this extra weight. Though, she is light, she weighs me down still," he grimaced.
"Oh, that's true." Eragon frowned, as he pondered another option, then said suddenly, "Why don't you go to the dining hall while I continue on? That way we can also cover more ground as I still expect you to look in the rooms you pass by," he stated.
Murtagh's face crinkled as he thought deeply about Eragon's plan. "Very well," he finally said."We can go separate ways, but just be careful!"
"You as well." He waved his hand ready to depart. "If I am not there by the time Saphira enters, please leave me and come back after you make another plan."
Murtagh stopped in his tracks and turned around, "No, Eragon, I cannot do that."
"You must. I cannot have Saphira captured. Now go, we are wasting time arguing about this. Do what I say and that's final!" After, he turned on his heel and ran out of the room.
Murtagh cursed Eragon after his breath, but did as he was told and headed towards the dining hall with the elf.
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Lena become bored with the scroll she was reading. She was locked in a decent sized bedroom located several floors above the prison below. Her bed was not eloquent, but it was large, at least a king size by her standards, and very soft as it had feather blankets and pillows. However, she found it hard to sleep at night knowing Eragon was probably in a cold, dank, cell.
As if to keep her occupied, the room was full of shelves with scrolls and at the end of her bed was a basket of goodies from needle and thread to puzzles. She almost thought this was once a little girl's room by the pink tones to the room-pink tapestries and flowers decorated the walls and tops of dressers-and that left her feeling quite uncomfortable too. She was no child, yet perhaps it was a metaphor for her new-ness to Alageasia.
She sighed and pushed the scroll off the bed, too lazy to put it away. She moved from laying on her stomach facing the end of the bed to lying on her back with her head on her pillows at the front. There, she simply started at the stone ceiling and daydreamed. She found herself doing that the most, despite the comforts the man with maroon hair gave her.
At the thought of him, she wondered when he would see her again. She had been in the room for two days and no word from him at all. Lena was glad for his lack of approach, but her nerves were shot for she knew he would come eventually, and the longer he was gone, the more anxious she became for she knew naught what he may be up to. She prayed he had not paid Eragon a visit, yet she had a feeling in her heart that he did. She was no fool, simply a dreamer.
Eventually she dozed off having nothing to do once more. This time she dreamt about Tany and her mother, wondering how worried sick they must be. She could see police at their houses asking them questions and doing a full search and rescue in the woods where she disappeared. She could remember the wolves howling over and over. The howling continued to grow louder and soon that's all she could hear, but then the howling became screams and everything went black and she saw fangs before her, bloodied.
Lena awoke with tears streaming down her face. She was shaking uncontrollably as she tried to gain consciousness to know that it was only a nightmare. When she could see the pink decorated room stuffed with scrolls, she began to breath easier. She knew she was not safe from the man with maroon hair, but she'd rather take him than the wolves at this rate. At least with him she was able to bluff her way into not being tortured, though the pleasant room left her baffled.
If she were a prisoner, she would rather be treated as such, not mocked and treated like a child. She knew she was special, and so was Eragon, yet she had the feeling he was not in nice accomodations. In fact, he probably would have been braver with the man than she was. She hoped once more he did not visit him. She shuddered at the thought. Still better than a wolf, she tried to convince herself once more to calm herself down.
That's when Lena heard a lot of commotion coming from below her, and even outside. Shouts of "Get them" along with stomping feet rang through the halls and out the window she now ran towards. There she noticed archers taking aim at something in the sky. She followed their path until her eyes landed on a large blue dragon.
"Saphira!" Lena was excited more than shocked to see the dragon. As she looked at her, she noticed only one rider upon her back and he was all in black. Murtagh and Saphira must be rescuing Eragon! Yet as she looked closer, she saw another figure laying across Saphira's back on their stomach. The figure was in black as well and had long black hair from what Lena could tell. The sight confused her and left her to wonder once more what was going on.
She watched as Saphira veered away from the archers on the building and fly towards the woods. What's going on?! Lena could not believe her eyes as Saphira got farther away from the stone building with only Murtagh upon her back.
"Get away from the window!" The familiar voice came from behind and was very loud and sharp, startling Lena with a yelp.
She whirled around to face the man with maroon hair and those pale piercing eyes. He was the angriest she had ever seen him and that made her heart quicken. Before she could even ask what was going on, guards marched around the man and grabbed her by the arms and began to lead her out of the pink room.
They squeezed hard, hurting her, but she did not wince in pain as she was distracted by the man with the red hair. He was leading them down the hall and then down several flights of stairs before going down another long corridor. All the while Lena wondered what was going on. What did he want from her? Her heart raced as she was let forward by the brutes.
Soon she could hear sounds of what seems to be a battle. Clangs of metal upon metal and the padding of feet dancing upon the floor made her have the chills as she knew nothing good came from being led towards a fight. Suddenly, she heard another familiar voice, saw a bright light, the collapse of men on the floor, followed by silence.
The man with man with maroon hair led them around a corner and through a large oak doorway where Lena saw a dining hall, much like the cafeteria at her school, except larger and with wooden tables and chairs. The room was dimly lit with a few chandeliers for light aside from a large gash in the ceiling. That confused Lena, but her main focus was the man at the end of the room, panting heavily.
He looked up when he heard more men enter the room and gasped. "Lena?!"
At the sound of her name, Lena became giddy, but the emotion was short lived when the maroon haired man shushed her.
"Leave her be, Durza. Your fight is with me at the moment."
Durza! So that's his name Lena thought. She listened as Durza laughed menacingly like you would expect a villain to laugh, his anger suddenly dissipated. The sound sent her another round of chills. "You know I cannot do that, Eragon." He said Eragon's name in a mocking tone, treating him like a child much like he did with Lena. "I have brought her here in order to bargain with you, young rider."He might as well have said 'young pipsqueak' as he continued with the mocking tone. He was toying with him and was thoroughly enjoying the task.
Anger flashed in Eragon's eyes and watched as the guards brought her forward. The sight of her next to Durza, an evil Shade, made Eragon sick to his stomach as he knew nothing good would come next. "Look at her," Durza said while patting Lena's golden hair and running his fingers through them, "isn't she just a gem. A rare beauty. A flower that is blossoming. What a shame if anything happened to her, am I right?"
"What do you want?" Eragon asked, desperate for the games to end. Deep in his gut, his stomach churned for he feared Durza meant to hurt Lena to get him to abide to Durza's will. He knew he could not, so he started to rack his brain for a way out of the messy situation.
"It's not a matter of want, it's a need. I need you to join with me and train with the King, the greatest Rider that ever lived." Durza said that with great excitement.
"That's all, just join you; you who will hurt the innocent to get what you want. You know I cannot do that for my morals are higher than yours," Eragon stated with as much authority as he could muster. Inside, he was very afraid, especially when he had sent Murtagh and Saphira away. Though somehow he knew they would disobey him and find a way to help him, and Lena, and that he craved for more than anything at that moment.
"Hurt the innocent? Look who's talking. Look around at all the innocent men you killed who were only obeying orders. Their blood is on your hands, Dragon Rider." Durza sneered.
"Stop trying to make me look bad when you know what I am referring to and your's was an entirely different situation."
"Perhaps," Durza laughed "You are right for once." After, he grabbed Lena and held her in front of her. He then held out his hand where one of the soldiers gave him a dagger. Durza placed the dagger on Lena's neck. "I learned from my master, the King, that I have no need of Lena and am free to dispose of her anyway I chose, and well," he laughed some more, "I chose now. Either join me and I will spare her life for your sake, or you shall watch her perish and I take you captive and force you to submit. The choice is yours."
Eragon gazed at Lena helplessly and cursed himself silently for always endangering her. He also regretted never telling her how he felt about her and now he suffered watching the one he loved in the hands of his enemy with a blade to her throat. Still desperate for a way to stop Durza without submitting, he tried to keep Durza talking as he kept thinking. "I don't understand, she's from Earth and qualifies her as part of an ancient prophecy...surely you would not kill someone that important?!"
This time Durza's smile widened so broad that Eragon was certain he had to have used magic to make his lips stretch so far across his menacing visage. "That's where you are wrong, Eragon. You see, the king's librarian was able to find an ancient text that explained this prophecy further. There are two women from Earth, yet one was not originally born there; one was to return back to the place of her birth and become a Guardian of the land. We have yet to determine what this Guardian is supposed to do, however, we could determine which two women was born in Alagaesia and raised on Earth, and that is Lena, and therefore, we do not need her anymore"