3-Brisingr-3 (100 page)

Glaedr regained his balance and looked for Thorn. The little-red-shrike-dragon was stronger and
faster than Glaedr had anticipated, due to Galbatorix’s meddling.

Thorn slammed into Glaedr’s left side, his weak side, where he had lost his foreleg. They spun
around each other, plummeting toward the hard-flat-wing-crushing-ground. Glaedr snapped and
tore and raked with his hind feet, trying to batter the smaller dragon into submission.

You will not best
me,
youngling,
he vowed to himself
. I was old before you were born.

White-dagger-claws scratched Glaedr along his ribs and underside. He flexed his tail and struck
snarling-long-fang-Thorn across one leg, stabbing him in the thigh with a spike on his tail. The
fighting had long since exhausted both of their invisible-spell-shields, leaving them vulnerable to
every sort of wound.

When the twirling ground was only a few thousand feet away, Glaedr inhaled and drew back his
head. He tightened his neck, clenched his belly, and drew forth the dense-liquid-of-fire from deep
within his gut. The liquid ignited as it combined with the air in his throat. He opened his jaws to
their full extent and sprayed the red dragon with fire, engulfing him in a blistering cocoon. The
torrent of hungry-grasping-writhing-flames tickled the inside of Glaedr’s cheeks.

He closed off his throat, terminating the flow of fire as he and the
squirming-squealing-slash-claw-dragon pulled away from each other. From on his back, Glaedr
heard Oromis say, “Their strength is fading; I can see it in their bearing. Another few minutes and
Murtagh’s concentration shall fail and I will be able to assume control over his thoughts. That or
we shall slay them with sword and fang.”

Glaedr growled in agreement, frustrated that he and Oromis dared not communicate with their
minds, as they usually did. Rising on warm-wind-from-tilled-earth, he turned toward Thorn, whose
limbs dripped with crimson blood, and roared and prepared to grapple with him once more.

Eragon stared at the ceiling, disoriented. He was lying on his back within the keep tower. Kneeling next to him was Arya, concern etched upon her face. She grasped him by an arm and helped him upright, steadying him as he wobbled. Across the room, Eragon saw Saphira shake her head, and he felt her own confusion.

The three magicians still stood with their arms outstretched, swaying and chanting in the ancient language.

The words of their spell rang with unusual force and lingered in the air long after they should have faded to silence. The man who sat at their feet gripped his knees, his entire body shuddering as he thrashed his head from side to side.

“What happened?” asked Arya in a strained undertone. She pulled Eragon closer and lowered her voice even further. “How can you know what Glaedr is thinking from so far away, and when his mind is closed even to Oromis? Forgive me for touching your thoughts without your permission, Eragon, but I was worried about your welfare. What sort of a bond do you and Saphira share with Glaedr?”

“Later,” he said, and squared his shoulders.

“Did Oromis give you an amulet or some other trinket that allows you to contact Glaedr?”

“It would take too long to explain. Later, I promise.”

Arya hesitated, then nodded and said, “I shall hold you to that.”

Together, Eragon, Saphira, and Arya advanced toward the magicians and struck at a separate one each.

A metallic peal filled the room as Brisingr glanced aside before it reached its intended target, wrenching Eragon’s shoulder. Likewise, Arya’s sword rebounded off a ward, as did Saphira’s right front paw. Her claws screeched against the stone floor.

“Concentrate on this one!” Eragon shouted, and pointed at the tallest spellcaster, a pale man with a snarled beard. “Hurry, before they manage to summon any spirits!” Eragon or Arya could have attempted to circumvent or deplete the spellcasters’ wards with spells of their own, but using magic against another magician was always a perilous proposition unless the magician’s mind was under your control. Neither Eragon nor Arya wanted to risk being killed by a ward they were as yet ignorant of.

Attacking in turns, Eragon, Saphira, and Arya cut, stabbed, and battered at the bearded spellcaster for nearly a minute. None of their blows touched the man. Then, at last, after only the slightest hint of resistance, Eragon felt something give way beneath Brisingr, and the sword continued on its way and lopped off the spellcaster’s head. The air in front of Eragon shimmered. At the same instant, he felt a sudden drain on his strength as his wards defended him from an unknown spell. The assault ceased after a few seconds, leaving him dizzy and light-headed. His stomach rumbled. He grimaced and fortified himself with energy from the belt of Beloth the Wise.

The only response the other two magicians evinced at the death of their companion was to increase the speed of their invocation. Yellow foam encrusted the corners of their mouths, and spittle flew from their lips, and the whites of their eyes showed, but still they made no attempt to flee or to attack.

Continuing on to the next spellcaster—a corpulent man with rings on his thumbs—Eragon, Saphira, and Arya repeated the process they had used on the first magician: alternating blows until they succeeded in wearing down his wards. It was Saphira who slew the man, knocking him through the air with a swipe of her claws. He hit the side of the staircase and cracked open his skull on the corner of a step. This time there was no magical retaliation.

As Eragon moved toward the female spellcaster, a cluster of multicolored lights hurtled into the room through the broken shutters and converged upon the man seated on the floor. The glowing spirits flashed with angry virulence as they whirled around the man, forming an impenetrable wall. He threw up his arms as if to shield himself and screamed. The air hummed and crackled with the energy that radiated from the flickering orbs. A sour, ironlike taste coated Eragon’s tongue, and his skin prickled. The hair on the female spellcaster’s head was standing on end. Across from her, Saphira hissed and arched her back, every muscle in her body rigid.

A bolt of fear shot through Eragon.
No!
he thought, feeling sick.
Not now. Not after all we’ve gone
through
. He was stronger than he had been when he faced Durza in Tronjheim, but if anything, he was even more aware of just how dangerous a Shade could be. Only three warriors had ever survived the killing of a Shade: Laetrí the Elf, Irnstad the Rider, and himself—and he had no confidence he could duplicate the feat.
Blödhgarm, where are you?
Eragon shouted with his mind.
We need your help!

And then everything around Eragon winked out of existence, and in its place he beheld:
Whiteness. Blank whiteness. The cold-soft-sky-water was soothing against Glaedr’s limbs after
the stifling heat of combat. He lapped at the air, welcoming the thin coat of moisture that
accumulated on his dry-sticky-tongue.

He flapped once more and the sky-water parted before him, revealing the glaring-scorchback-sun
and the hazy-green-brown-earth
. Where is he?
Glaedr wondered. He swung his head, looking for
Thorn. The little-red-shrike-dragon had fled high above Gil’ead, higher than any bird normally
flew, where the air was thin and one’s breath water-smoked.

“Glaedr, behind us!” Oromis shouted.

Glaedr twisted, but he was too slow. The red dragon crashed into his right shoulder, knocking
him tumbling. Snarling, Glaedr wrapped his single remaining foreleg around the
nipping-scratching-ferocious-hatchling and strove to crush the life out of Thorn’s squirming body.

The red dragon bellowed and climbed halfway out of Glaedr’s embrace, digging his claws into
Glaedr’s chest. Glaedr arched his neck and sank his teeth into Thorn’s left hind leg and, with it,
held him in place, although the red dragon writhed and kicked like a pinned wildcat.

Hot-salty-blood filled Glaedr’s mouth.

As they plummeted downward, Glaedr heard the sound of swords striking shields as Oromis and
Murtagh exchanged a flurry of blows. Thorn convulsed, and Glaedr glimpsed
Morzan-son-Murtagh. Glaedr thought the human appeared frightened, but he was not entirely
sure. Even after so long bonded with Oromis, he still had difficulty deciphering the expressions of
two-legs-no-horns, what with their soft, flat faces and their lack of tails.

The clanging of metal ceased, and Murtagh shouted, “Curse you for not showing yourself sooner!

Curse you! You could have helped us! You could have—” Murtagh seemed to choke on his tongue
for a moment.

Glaedr grunted as an unseen force brought their fall to an abrupt halt, nearly shaking him loose
from Thorn’s leg, and then lifted the four of them up through the sky, higher and higher, until the
broken-anthill-city was only a faint blotch below and even Glaedr had difficulty breathing in the
rarefied air.

What is the youngling doing?
Glaedr wondered, concerned.
Is he trying to kill himself?

Then Murtagh resumed speaking, and when he did, his voice was richer and deeper than before,
and it echoed as if he were standing in an empty hall. Glaedr felt the scales on his shoulders crawl
as he recognized the voice of their ancient foe.

“So you survived, Oromis, Glaedr,” said Galbatorix. His words were round and smooth, like
those of a practiced orator, and their tone was deceptively friendly. “Long have I thought that the
elves might be hiding a dragon or a Rider from my sight. It is gratifying to have my suspicions
confirmed.”

“Begone, foul oath-breaker!” cried Oromis. “You shall not have any satisfaction from us!”

Galbatorix chuckled. “Such a harsh greeting. For shame, Oromis-elda. Have the elves forgotten
their fabled courtesy over the past century?”

“You deserve no more courtesy than a rabid wolf.”

“Tut-tut, Oromis. Remember what you said to me when I stood before you and the other Elders:

‘Anger is a poison. You must purge it from your mind or else it will corrupt your better nature.’

You should heed your own advice.”

“You cannot confuse me with your snake’s tongue, Galbatorix. You are an abomination, and we
shall see to it that you are eliminated, even if it costs us our lives.”

“But why should it, Oromis? Why should you pit yourself against me? It saddens me that you
have allowed your hate to distort your wisdom, for you were wise once, Oromis, perhaps the
wisest member of our entire order. You were the first to recognize the madness eating away at my
soul, and it was you who convinced the other Elders to deny my request for another dragon egg.

That was very wise of you, Oromis. Futile, but wise. And somehow you managed to escape from
Kialandí and Formora, even after they had broken you, and then you hid until all but one of your
enemies had died. That too was wise of you, elf.”

A brief pause marked Galbatorix’s speech. “There is no need to continue fighting me. I freely
admit that I committed terrible crimes in my youth, but those days are long past, and when I
reflect upon the blood I have shed, it torments my conscience. Still, what would you have of me? I
cannot undo my deeds. Now, my greatest concern is ensuring the peace and prosperity of the
empire over which I find myself lord and master. Cannot you see that I have lost my thirst for
vengeance? The rage that drove me for so many years has burned itself to ashes. Ask yourself
this, Oromis: who is responsible for the war that has swept across Alagaësia? Not I. The Varden
were the ones who provoked this conflict. I would have been content to rule my people and leave
the elves and the dwarves and the Surdans to their own devices. But the Varden could not leave
well enough alone. It was they who chose to steal Saphira’s egg, and they who cover the earth
with mountains of corpses. Not I. You were wise once before, Oromis, and you can become wise
once again. Give up your hatred and join me in Ilirea. With you by my side, we can bring an end
to this conflict and usher in an era of peace that will endure for a thousand years or more.”

Glaedr was not persuaded. He tightened his crushing-piercing-jaws, causing Thorn to yowl. The
pain-noise seemed incredibly loud after Galbatorix’s speech.

In clear, ringing tones, Oromis said, “No. You cannot make us forget your atrocities with a balm
of honeyed lies. Release us! You have not the means to hold us here much longer, and I refuse to
exchange pointless banter with a traitor like yourself.”

“Bah! You are a senile old fool,” said Galbatorix, and his voice acquired a harsh, angry cast.

“You should have accepted my offer; you would have been first and foremost among my slaves. I
will make you regret your mindless devotion to your so-called justice. And you are wrong. I can
keep you thus as long as I want, for I have become as powerful as a god, and there are none who
can stop me!”