Chapter 13

Time passed slowly for Brom and Eragon as they traveled to Gil'ead. Instead of any of the commonly used paths. They instead opted for goat paths and trekking through the thicker foliage.

This was due to the fact that the empires had all the main roads be patrolled by parties of soldiers. All with the task of looking for people that matched their description. And that was on the main road sometimes they'd almost run into random search parties.

And to add to it the search parties weren't always human. Urgals, usually traveling in a group of six, just like the first group they ran into. Unlike the human soldiers they had to kill the urgals due to their heightened senses helping track them.

And with Saphira it was virtually impossible to hide from such creatures that were extremely good at tracking. So they simply had to bloody their blades and get rid of them each time they ran into one.

"How many does it make now, twelve?" Brom asked absentmindedly as he stood over the corpse of one of the urgals of the scout party they'd killed.

"Fourteen groups to be exact and I doubt this will be the last of them." Eragon responded. With a flick of his wrist his sword cut off the horns of the dead urgals. "Is it me or are the urgal scout parties becoming more and more frequent the closer we get towards Gil'ead?"

Brom shook his head. "No, I've noticed it too. That and the fact that the empire has to know about the urgals roaming in its territory."

"Do you think Galbatorix maybe made an alliance with them?"

The old coot sighed. "If it was any other time I would say no, but with the evidence literally throwing itself at us I can't firmly say no, without feeling as if I'm trying to convince myself."

"Hmm, I'm just surprised there isn't more of a public outcry about having an alliance. I can still remember the stories when I was younger. Urgals were viewed as embodiments of evil. And even with the little world experience I have I see the same view pretty much permeates the general commonfolk."

"That's true but what if the common folk don't know and simply see the rising urgal problem as the empire being negligent."

"As sad as it sounds, I'm more inclined to believe that. And that makes me wonder if there will be urgals in Gil'ead."

Brom instantly disagreed to this point. "It's just there are civilians also in Gil'ead so that would run the risk of someone speaking and the news getting out causing more trouble than necessary."

"Hmm, I suppose you're right. But still even if there aren't any urgals IN Gil'ead there bound to be a good number lurking around the fortress, so we have to account for that also."

"That I agree with you on." Brom said before taking a puff from his pipe. "From the way you're talking it seems you're already been thinking up a strategy on how we're supposed to go about this."

"I wouldn't really call it that, more like a plan to assault Gil'ead."

These words seemed to startle Brom. "You're telling me you plan on assaulting a fortified city, with just the two of us? Even if we included Saphira into this it would still be suicide!"

Eragon held hands in the air defensively. "Calm down old man, let me explain what I mean before you think I've gone insane."

-x-x-x-x-x-

Gil'ead was a city built for war aside from the Empire's capital this was the second most fortified city. To conquer an entity such as the empire this was one of the points that needed to be captured to even take a solid step in the direction of the Urû'baen. While it had all the functions of a city, it was mainly there for soldiers and their families that resided within it.

It was currently night, making the city only be illuminated by the torches and bonfires lit throughout the fortress. But what was a normal night cycle turned abnormal.

Up on the walls guards were discussing the sudden change.

"Pat, are you still there?". Yelled a stout man to his left

The man only got a short, "aye" as he looked into the wall of fog.

"Hey Earl, whaddya think is causing this bloody fog? I can barely see my hand let alone you." Pat said, turning to the direction Earl's voice came from.

A moment later he saw the man in question walk into view. They were no more than ten feet apart originally but this abnormally thick fog had seemingly come out of nowhere making the short distance between them seem exponentially wider than it was.

"I would say an evil spirit but we've got one of those in the flesh."

"SHH! Are you crazy? What if he hears you? You know what happens to those that displease him."

"Bah! I doubt he hears me so far away. I doubt he'll randomly visit us on the walls, he's been staying around the prison mainly for a while now. Rumor has it a special prisoner has come through and he's been having "Fun" with them."

Pat shivered. "I pity the poor soul that falls into the hands of that shade."

From behind them a voice sounded out, startling the two men. "There's a shade in Gil'ead?"

Before the duo could turn around though they felt themselves falling as the world around them had turned dark.

'Hlaupa.'[1]

As their armor clad bodies hit the ground not a single sound was heard.

Shortly after the guards hit the ground Eragon and Brom strode through the fog looking down at the soldier on the ground.

"I would say smooth sailing so far but the news about there being a shade here is somewhat startling." Brom said, turning to his young companion.

"True, but it somewhat makes sense though. Capturing an elf can't be done by a human. So I assume the shade is the one that overpowered and captured her."

Brom nodded with a grave look on his face. "A shade makes our plan obsolete we'll have to change-"

Eragon turned and grabbed his mentor and looked him in the eyes before interrupting him. "Brom, do you trust me?"

"Of course I do Eragon."

"Then trust me when I saw this, when we eventually meet the shade tonight, I will be the one that distracts him while you focus on rescuing the elf."

Silence was the only response he got before he continued.

"I know it sounds crazy and suicidal, but look at the situation now. I made this fog using magic and with you tied to my back scaled these walls using the swords of the now dead servants of the King. I may not be the strongest but I keep making the seemingly impossible possible. So I'll say it again, do you trust me?"

Brom eventually sighed to himself, shaking his head in exasperation. "You're as stubborn as a mule, but I'll trust you. But you must promise me you won't die. I'd rather we turn and leave right now than let that happen."

Eragon smiled revealing a perfect set of pearly white teeth. He spoke with certainty in the ancient language.

"I promise you I'll come out alive in one piece."

Feeling slightly better about the situation now Brom and Eragon began making their way along rampart either avoiding or knocking whoever they came across until they found a way down into the city below.

Brom and Eragon had a map that the latter had drawn out. He was abv to do so by sketching out what the images the being had shown him. Using the map he and Brom were attempting to pinpoint exactly where the elf was being held and break her out.

Eragon was confident they could find her. With the map as a reference and his haki all he needed to do was be in the general area of her and she'd be found.

Up to this point they had done well at evading detection as Eragon was the one that cast the spell for this fog and while it hindered everyone else's vision didn't stop his haki. So while soldiers were wandering through the streets barely able to see on their patrols, the duo would simply walk around them as they got closer and closer to their intended target.

They eventually got to a street that instantly caught Eragon's attention. There was a guardhouse on the left in front of the guard house; the sidewalk had openings under them leading into what he assumed were cells.

Every cell was empty except one. There hung the elf that he'd be shown numerous times in his slumber. Internally he sighed in relief. Even though he could sense a strong being upstairs: most likely the shade he was to fight, he could finally stop feeding his energy into this spell.

Even though his internal reserves were abnormally large this spell ate through it at an abnormal rate. You would think making fog would be simple but when you cast it to be extremely thick and to cover a league of land continuously it became taxing to say the least. And for the upcoming fight he wanted to have all avenues of his strength available for use.

But now as they were at the end of the objective he stopped running the spell and started letting his reserves build back up.

Eragon silently signaled to Brom to stop as they were standing over the elf's cell. Unsheathing the twin leaf blades. They turned black as he stabbed into the stone below. He tightened his core as he twisted, taking a circular chunk out of the concrete.

He soon felt the area under him fall for a brief moment. Dust rose around him before he swiped the air in front of him creating a gust, clearing it up finally letting him lay eyes on the mysterious elf he came to save.

With a quick observation of her he could see that her condition wasn't good. While he knew she was being tortured he didn't know how long she had been. With his enhanced senses he could smell dried blood and a sickly sweet smell coming off her.

'She's been poisoned. Ah, sadly I can't even guess what she's poisoned with as I'm still too new to this world.'

While he was in his thoughts the elf began to stir from her slumber. She stared at the newcomer confused.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Arya had woken up as she felt her body shaking. With a considerate amount of she was able to open her eyes. She saw a man standing a few feet in front of her. She at first thought he was a soldier who had decided to try his chances with her.

As of late after her torture sessions with the shade, soldiers would come in her cell with the intentions of molesting her. Thankfully even though the poison had weakened her quite a bit, her mental strength was still enough to invade the minds of these soldiers and make them go away.

So she naturally tried to attack his mind with hers. She at first felt as if she'd hit an impenetrable wall. But the second time she was able to break through the wall and plunge straight into his mind.

That's when she realized the person in front of her wasn't normal. She immediately noticed how heavy and thick his mind felt. It was like walking through murky water. Then there was the unsettling feeling of her being slowly pulled deeper within it against her will.

But the cherry on top was the underlying influence it had on her. She could slowly feel her control over her emotions start to wear away. She couldn't describe it but she could feel herself getting mad.

She felt herself looking back over all the injustices that had been dealt to her as of late. The torture, the arguments with family, the fact NO one had rescued her by now. It was all so UNFA-

'WHAT is wrong with me.' She thought finally getting her mind back under control from the sudden burst of rage. She now focused on doing her best to escape from the human- no this creature's mind. It was like a poisoned wasteland; completely inhospitable to all forms of life.

And if on cue she found herself being pushed out of the inner regions of the man's mind to just the edges.

'My mind is a dangerous place to wander around in miss elf.'

'Hlaupa.'[1] Means silence in the ancient language