For Alagaesia: 18. Overcoming

Cool air surrounded them almost instantly as Lake Tudosten came into view. The sight before them was enticing with the beautiful Silverwood forest lining the shining Lake Tudosten under the bright late noon sun. But they weren't in any mood to stop to look at it. "Let us take a small break by the lake, Saphira", Arya said raising her voice over the howling wind. Saphira was in no mood to stop and so asked, 'What for?'

"To refresh ourselves before the final leg of our journey"

'I don't need any refreshments'

"That is not true. You haven't eaten in two days and you are tired."

'No I am not', Saphira snapped. "Look Saphira, if we are to succeed in this battle, we need to be fresh when we enter the field and I don't think you will be fresh after a day long flight", Arya said kindly.

'When Eragon is near death, what does this minor discomfort to me account for?', Saphira finally spoke of the real reason for which she refused comfort in a harsh tone. Arya's face hardened at this rebuke from Saphira and she stopped trying to persuade Saphira to land instead focusing on casting protective wards around Saphira.

Saphira felt bad for snapping at Arya in that way but she couldn't understand why Arya stopped speaking to her altogether. When she thought back Arya's reasoning for resting she found the impregnable logic behind it. 'If one has to win against a powerful opponent then the best chance they can give themselves is by being completely fresh of mind and body', Glaedr's old lessons came flooding into her mind. She cursed herself for being so intuitive and missing the glaringly obvious matters. She aligned herself in the downward direction and in minutes reached the banks of the Tudosten. 'I apologise, Arya for venting my anger on you. On whom can I vent my frustration if not on my best friend aside Eragon?', she said to Arya when Arya didn't react even for her landing. "I understand, Saphira.", she said and walked into the lake.

Saphira was relieved to hear those words from Arya. A deer bounded into the depths of the silverwood forest and one look at it made Saphira realise the ravenous hunger she had. 'I shall go hunt', she informed Arya who had dipped herself into the Lake. A wave of acknowledgement came from Arya and she took off searching for the deer.

The deer was cunning enough to hide itself under the large oak trees of the silverwood forest, but the bright sunlight meant that Saphira didn't have any difficulty in spotting it. She flapped her wings twice swiftly to catch up with the tree under which the deer was hiding and then folded her wings so as to allow herself to be pulled fast towards the ground. When she neared the tree-top, she noticed a herd of deer resting under the tree. 'Oh, poor thing. So you thought you will be safe with your friends', Saphira broadcast her words to the deer that she was chasing. It looked up and on noticing her, started to bound off from there notifying the other deers of the danger. Saphira though had made her picks already and swiftly dug her talons into the two deers she had picked for her meal and caught the first one by her mouth.

But when she sat down to eat her kill, thoughts of Eragon came back to her. He would probably be force-fed with drugs and even poison as was the case for Arya. But here she was eating to her stomach's fill. No. She shouldn't eat. But thoughts of what Arya had said just minutes ago came to the forefront of her mind soothing her to consider this food as a factor in fulfilling Eragon's wish: helping the Varden. Once she tasted the flesh though all her doubts were blown away by the taste of the meat and by the hunger she felt. So eating to her fill, she returned to the location where she had left Arya.

Arya was looking in a small pool of water, when Saphira reached the banks of the Lake Tudosten. Saphira went near Arya to see what she was watching so sincerely not even acknowledging Saphira's arrival.

"We are losing ground. The walls have been breached in two locations. We can't hold the empire soldiers much longer.", Nasuada's voice filled the air. Saphira became alert and peered into the water from behind Arya. Mild sounds of war reached the dark room in which three people: Nasuada, Jormundur and Roran were speaking.

"We will have to retreat to the castle soon", Jormundur said in his deep voice.

"And what? Wait for them to capture us? No. I think we should fight back.", Roran's angry voice said bitingly.

"Didn't you see the damage that red dragon has caused Stronghammer? We stand no chance against abnormalities like them. Even a few elves have died trying to stop that accursed rider", Jormundur spoke of practical realities. "What do you hope to achieve by hiding in the castle, Jormundur? Prolong our eventual defeat?", Roran wasn't giving up and Saphira felt he had a fair point.

"Enough. There is no use in us arguing if we should go into hiding or not. The city will fall soon if we don't get anymore aids. And Saphira isn't showing up. I think your wife's message didn't reach her.", Nasuada said the final part looking at Roran. Roran didn't respond and neither did Jormundur but the frustration showed on their faces. "What shall we do?", Nasuada asked after waiting for a while hoping to get a reply from either of them. "King Orik feels we should fight as much as we can. I feel the same. The breaches in the walls are not large. It will funnel the empire soldiers greatly and if we place a few elves at each point we can maintain our position.", Roran said.

"Then who will fight the rider in the absence of the elves?", Jormundur asked.

"I will lead the Kull against that traitor", Roran said. "No. You are not fighting him.", Nasuada refused resolutely. "Who else do you think can fight him if not the Kull, my lady. Maybe the Dwarves when led by their King or maybe the Varden when led by you. But Orik and you are more important than me. If Orik were to die then we will lose the dwarves support. If you were to die then the Varden will lose all hope", Roran said calmly.

"Who will answer Eragon when he returns to find his cousin dead?", Nasuada asked glaring at Roran.

"If he returns.", Roran said sadly. Arya ended the spell hastily and turned to look at Saphira. Both shared the terror behind the conversation they had just heard.

Arya checked Saphira's saddle bags to assure that they were indeed securely tied. She lifted the bag containing Glaedr's eldunari and strapped it onto her back. Then she belted her slender elven sword in its scabbard. 'Use Brisingr, Arya. However strong your sword may be, it isn't a match for Zar'roc. Further your fighting style is almost similar to Eragon's, so you won't have any problems with using it.', Saphira suggested. Arya stood thinking for a while and then removed Brisingr from Saphira's saddle bag. She stood in a battle ready pose with the sword and swung it twice in way of testing its suitability for her. Although the handle was a little larger for her hand, she still looked pleased with the sword and so removed her sword with its scabbard from the belt and tied Brisingr's scabbard to it. Without a word Arya climbed on Saphira's saddle and secured the straps around her legs. Saphira didn't wait for Arya to secure herself on the saddle, becoming airborne with a mighty thrust of her hind-legs and raising her altitude with three powerful and swift flaps of her wings. Soon they were headed towards Belatona.

It was late in the evening when Belatona finally came into view after two hours of non-stop flying from Lake Tudosten. Saphira was a little tired even though the distance they had covered was too little in comparison to the whole of their journey. But the sight of the city surrounded by empire soldiers pumped her up and every sense alert she flew as stealthily as she could. They surveyed the city from above and saw that the elves were indeed preventing the soldiers from entering the city through the breaches as Roran had suggested. That meant only one thing: Roran was fighting Murtagh. Arya extended her mind cautiously towards an elf who was fighting the soldiers at the breached part of the wall. The elf tried to put up barriers around her mind but Arya quickly announced, 'Stop, Esthira. It is I, Arya of Ellesmera' in the ancient language. After a brief hesitation the elf took down her mental defenses and asked, 'Drottningu. How come you are here? We heard you were in Ellesmera.'

'I will explain later. Now tell me, Where is Roran Stronghammer?'

'Stronghammer?...Eragon's cousin? He took Blodhgarm and five more of us and went to the western end of the city to confront the empire's rider.'

'Thank you, Esthira.', Arya said and withdrew from the elf's mind.

Saphira who was listening in flew towards the western part of the city. A current of bright flames was the first vision they got when they crossed the city to reach its western end. As they moved further in the westerly direction, the vision cleared and they registered the sight before them. It was a messy affair as was the whole war but there were clearly three separate fights going on: A group of Kull against a legion of empire soldiers, probably the painless ones as seen from the fatally-injured-yet-fighting soldiers, a group of five elves fighting or rather containing Thorn and Roran and Blodhgarm fighting Murtagh. Saphira assessed the whole fight for one brief moment and made her choice: she could easily defeat Thorn thus freeing five elves who could potentially confront Murtagh. She conveyed it to Arya who accepted her choice.

So Saphira descended as fast and as stealthily as possible for her and when they were about thirty feet from the ground Arya who had already released the saddle straps from her legs jumped to the ground and rolled to reduce the jarring impact. Saphira flared her wings open to slow down her descend and let out a loud roar- a war cry -inviting Thorn to fight her. Only then did the warriors notice the new arrivals. The news of Saphira's arrival must have spread through the city like wild fire for the whole city roared out their welcome just seconds after Saphira's roar.

As they had expected Thorn took off from the ground towards Saphira and the elves were freed of their duty to fight off the dragon. Saphira who was relatively fresh than Thorn from the vitality that Arya transferred into her from Brisingr's pommel just seconds before their descend on the battle ground, flew higher inviting Thorn to join her. Glaedr sent a mental thread towards her and she opened up a little space in her defenses to let him in. He acted like a bridge between Arya and her and hence both were able to tap into his vast resources of energy.

Through Glaedr Saphira felt the sudden panic that Arya felt. So she listened in carefully and heard her thoughts.

'No. I have to stop him. He will kill Roran' Arya ran towards Murtagh who had just defeated Blodhgarm and was turning his attention towards Roran. Roran was smart enough to evade two swipes from Murtagh. The third time, though Roran put his shield in the way of Zar'roc and the accursed rider's sword cut through the shield and injured Roran's hand. "So you are my cousin. I am under direct orders from the King himself to kill you. You have been such a head-ache to him. But I don't understand how you managed to annoy the king this much. You are hardly an equal to me or Eragon", Murtagh's voice reached Arya. She loathed people who considered others to be of lower make than them just because they were powerful of body than the others. 'This man is just the same. A perfect member of the Wyrdfell', She thought. Roran looked angered. He was putting in great force into his attacks. She had heard of Eragon's cousin's heroics before but seeing them in real was chilling. 'If only he had an elf's ability, he could easily be the best warrior in the whole of this land', she mused to herself.

Thorn was too foolish, Saphira thought to follow her without Murtagh protecting him. 'Beware, Saphira. He is now more experienced in battle than ever.', Glaedr warned. 'Complacency can end up in defeat'

'I know master. But this red runt is no match for us having spent his entire life as a slave to that usurper', Saphira said anger flaring in her.

However strong Roran's blows were, he was losing his energy fast. He had somehow already figured that Zar'roc was to be avoided at all costs. So he was evading every blow from Zar'roc. Arya was impressed by his show but she knew that it was just a matter of seconds now before Murtagh went for the kill. She could see it in his eyes. Eyes!! Yes... That is one area where Galbatorix misses to cast wards. And Eragon had described her the exact words he used to blind the Lethrblaka, "Garjzla, letta", she said just when Murtagh had pushed Roran down and raised his sword to stab him. Murtagh was blinded momentarily as she had expected and in the opening he had, Roran rolled out of the way. Arya was now mere meters away from the fighting figures. She removed Brisingr from its sheath and held it aloft in battle-ready pose even as she was running. And when Murtagh raised raised his sword next to kill Roran, her blade met Murtagh's in mid air. "Get away, Roran", she shouted.

Saphira was relieved that Roran was out of trouble. If he had died then she knew Eragon would be broken down completely. Now that he was safe, she could concentrate on Thorn. The red-scale-runt was trying to get to her side so that he could slam his bulk on her wings. 'Oh! You are too slow to attempt that, fool', thought Saphira and with one mighty flap of her wings moved higher than Thorn's altitude. Thorn lost balance as he had expected to slam into Saphira with all his speed and tumbled down rapidly. Saphira seeing the oppurtunity dived down to dig her talons into the soft part below Thorn's neck. He shouted in agony and quickly rolled over and started flying away from Saphira. Thorn bled badly from her attack. But in seconds his wounds were mended and Saphira felt from Arya who was fighting Murtagh, the sudden sag in Murtagh's demeanor. She got a quick idea and she said to Glaedr, 'I will take Thorn far from here. When Murtagh has to mend his injuries from afar, he is bound to lose his reserves of strength from the eldunari'

'See to it that you don't get hurt when you are far away from us. We won't be able to mend your injuries and live', Glaedr replied. Saphira growled in indignation and started putting her plan into action.

When Thron attacked her again, she evaded him but did not counter-attack. She did the same thing over and over again: evading Thorn's attacks. Her move had the desired effect: Thorn was visibly frustrated and started bellowing and sending out bouts of fire unnecessarily. When she was sure that he was mad with anger, she flew away from the battle-field. The frenzied red dragon flew chasing her.

As she flew, she listened in on Arya's fight against Murtagh through Glaedr. Murtagh tried to stab Zar'roc into Arya's ribs. But Arya was too quick for him and brought Brisingr's flat side in the way of Zar'roc. Arya recovered soon from Murtagh's offensive and swiped Brisingr aiming Murtagh's neck. He ducked under her swipe just in time to save his neck.

When only a wisp of Thought connected her with Glaedr, she turned towards Thorn. He growled at her and sent a stream of fire on her. It split in two harmlessly before Saphira and went away. The red dragon flew straight towards her and Saphira having known him in all their previous fights waited for him to reach near her. When he came near her she swooped down a tiny bit just about managing to evade his teeth. She recovered soon from her descent which had comprised of folding her wings and bit down on Thorn's tail which was exposed to her beacuse he had gone ahead crossing the position she had occupied seconds ago. He roared in pain and twisted himself to free his tail from Saphira. That cost him a little more as a small part of his tail was torn off him. The waves of agony he felt reached even Saphira and for a moment she felt sorry for him.

'That was dangerous, Saphira. He could have sunk his talons into your back', Glaedr scolded her.

'He doesn't know such tricks, master'

'Don't. Underestimate. Your. Foe', Glaedr shouted. 'Sorry, Master.', Saphira said. Thorn tried to fly back towards the battle field but Saphira blocked his way. He was furious and she saw the truth behind one of the advices Garrow often gave Eragon 'A wounded animal is dangerous'. He tried his best to slash at her with his injured tail or push her out of the way by crashing into her. His desperate attempts were rewarded with a small cut to Saphira's neck scales but Saphira was too resolute to budge to such small injuries. Finally, he gave up and got into fighting position again and as before his wounds were mended from afar by Murtagh.

'Let me heal your wound too, Saphira', Arya offered. 'No. It is just a scratch and I can manage with it.', Saphira was not ready to allow Arya to lose her strength by trying to mend a wound from afar. 'Murtagh is weakening. I can see it in his bearing', Arya said to Saphira through Glaedr.

'Good. Saphira continue what you are doing. I think Murtagh doesn't know the limits of the strength he has. He was foolish to try to heal Thorn from such a distance.', Glaedr said thoughtfully.

This time, Thorn's attack was too furious and Saphira figured that he was giving his all and that what he was putting in was his best. Many times she had to be content with a small bruise or a cut in place of what would have been a serious injury. Her only focus being injuring Thorn seriously yet again. He was not giving much opening though and so she decided to play the wait-and-attack game. She waited for him to get tired but it didn't seem he would be tired at all. 'The eldunari perhaps', She thought.

Even as she was fighting seriously she listened in on Glaedr's thoughts about the fight between Arya and Murtagh. Arya was frustrated with the fighting. Even though Murtagh didn't have her speed, he always managed to evade her blows. He was as good as her technically and with his speed that was a wee bit slower than hers, she couldn't achieve much more than a cut on his left arm.

Saphira knew that Arya would soon be tired just as she herself was becoming and making Murtagh tired rested solely on her shoulders. She had to injure Thorn if she were to make Murtagh tired. So she decided to risk her safety. She took into her energy from Glaedr's vast resources and closed her mind off to him because she knew he wouldn't allow her to do this.

Glaedr tried to reconnect with her but she resolutely pushed him away. Then she set into action. 'The desperate move', Glaedr had told her while teaching her this move. 'Use this only when the rival dragon is threatening your rider's life seriously.', Glaedr had advised her after teaching her this move. 'Eragon wouldn't be himself if either Arya or Roran were to die. So I am just following your advise master.', she said to Glaedr even though she knew Glaedr wouldn't be able to hear her. And how can I let Arya be defeated when I know I can help her? What kind of a friend would I be to her, the one who had never cared about her own life when it came to mine and Eragon's safety?', she asked herself. 'No. I am doing the right thing here', she said to herself again as if to assure herself that her choice was indeed the right one.

Having made up her mind she glowered at Thorn who had been circling her to attack. She rushed forward towards the unsuspecting red dragon who moved back astonished by the speed with which she was coming at him. She rushed above him with even faster wing-beats in the last moment before crashing headlong into him. When she reached above him, she dug the talons on her hind-legs into the thin wing membranes of Thorn. He howled in pain and reflexively pulled his wings closer to his body in a bid to reduce the pain he was feeling. Saphira who had expected this to occur, took one of legs out of the wing membrane as fast as she could and before Thorn could flare that wing open, she dug her talon again pinning his wing to his body.

She caught his tail with her forelegs and raised it vertically upward making him tumble down to the earth in full speed. Thorn in his agony twisted his head and caught Saphira's tail in his mouth biting it hard trying to loosen her hold on him. But she had already made up her mind and didn't care about the pain that came flooding into her instead she focused on tearing the wing membrane off of Thorn's body and she too bit down on Thorn's tail with her mouth. Now both dragons entangled with each other were headed towards the unforgiving earth in a tumble. Saphira was relieved that her wings were still free and flapped them whenever it seemed that their positions:Saphira on top of Thorn would interchange.

Soon the ground came into view and Thorn's terrified roars reached deafening heights. Saphira maintained dignified silence although fear gnawed at her mind too. In a matter of seconds the two dragons hit the hard earth in a loud thump and Thorn who was sandwiched between the ground and Saphira was the most injured. He let out a pained whimper and fell out of conscience. Saphira too was in no better condition. She felt a few broken bones on her back and saw that one of her forelegs nearly dangled from its position. Glaedr rushed into Saphira's mind and she let him in this time, 'What did you do, hatchling?', he yelled at her.

Even as Saphira was trying to explain what she had done, she noticed Thorn's wounds being healed. 'I hope the energy needed for this healing will rip Murtagh out of his reserves. Else we are doomed.', she thought to herself although she knew Glaedr was listening in to her. She resolutely hid her pain from Glaedr because she knew that Arya was now relying on his reserves to fight Murtagh.

In about a minute Thorn was completely healed and he returned to consciousness. But all Saphira could do was watch; she was too injured to move much less attack Thorn. When he woke, Thorn glared at Saphira who laid near him broken. 'Oh, you pitiful excuse for a dragon, what are you looking at?', Saphira asked to Thorn though his mind was closed and he was unable to hear her. But soon fear started building up in her; she didn't have Eragon to save her this time from capture. Thorn made to move towards Saphira but then stopped in his tracks almost instantly and bellowed a pained roar and took off from there.

Saphira was puzzled by this behaviour of the red-runt-who-is-thorn and peered into Glaedr's mind to find anything unusual with the situation of Arya.

Murtagh was trying desperately to hold Arya's blows. He was fighting with all his might when he uttered a pained howl that followed a unnaturally eerie bellow of a dragon and all of a sudden much of his speed had gone and Arya found it easy to deliver a few cuts to his ribs and a deep wound on his legs. Just when she thought she could kill him and raised Brisingr for the killing blow, Thorn descended swiftly on her and pushed her away; picked Murtagh by his legs and flew away from the city.

Saphira let out a breath in relief that she didn't know she had held up till then. But the pain that came exploding in her ribs when she breathed reminded her of her state: broken. She couldn't hide her pain from Glaedr any longer and she didn't find the need to do so too. So she let her pain show through the link connecting Glaedr and her. 'Saphira!!? What happened?', Both Glaedr and Arya asked her simultaneously. 'I will explain later.' Saphira said and sent the image of the tree covered area where she was lying and asked them to go there.

When Arya and Glaedr indicated their approval and started moving, she deliberately started to hold her breath for every time she breathed severe pain raked through her body. But she couldn't hold her breath for more than four minutes and breathed two three times before she again held her breath. After about seven minutes since informing Arya to reach her lair, Arya showed up and let out a mild scream at seeing Saphira's state.

"How did this....", Arya started but left her sentence midway and set about healing the grievous wounds Saphira's had suffered. After healing as much as Glaedr's reserves permitted, Arya sagged on the ground and asked, "What happened Saphira?" Saphira explained her taking down of Thorn to Glaedr and Arya shortly. 'You risked your life for this, Saphira? Your choice was wrong.', Glaedr said with barely controlled anger.

'I won't accept that I was wrong. I did what Eragon would have wanted me to.'

"Will he have wanted you to die?", Arya too was angry at her.

'He wouldn't want you to die either', Saphira snapped but soon realised her fault: she had implied Eragon's love for Arya and Arya had clearly noticed it. 'I am sorry, Arya. I didn't mean to hurt you.', Saphira apologised profusely. Arya didn't accept her apology neither did she look Saphira on the face when she said, "We have to help in the battle" Saphira felt that it wasn't the right time to pursue Arya's forgiveness so she left the matter as such and said, 'Aye. We have to. Climb on me'

"You are not fighting in this state", Arya said. Not wanting to contradict Arya yet again, Saphira said, 'We have to win the war'

"We can win it from here without your assistance. What you have done has more or less secured our victory"

'But..' Saphira was harshly cut-off by Glaedr, 'What Arya says is right. As your ebrithil, I order you to not take part further in this war' Saphira dipped her head in defeat.

"Fly straight to the castle, Saphira. I will send somebody to tend to your remaining wounds", Arya said. Saphira finding no other choice obliged.

When she arrived at the castle, Angela was waiting for her. 'Did Arya inform you?', Saphira asked her. "No. I have my sources", Angela answered. Saphira knew as well as her own flight capacity that she won't get to know who the source was. So she laid down and let Angela check her wounds. Angela had some green paste with her which she rubbed on Saphira's wounds. The wounds started burning. Saphira writhed and almost knocked down Angela off her feet. "Oi!!", Angela said.

'You should have told me that it will burn like fire'

"Ah!! Nice words from one who has fire in the belly always", Angela went back to her witty ways.

'Nobody can win you in a war of words. Can they?', Saphira was amused.

"Not even your rider's cousin", Angela said and laughed. "But if there was somebody then I think it would be you. Saphira. Solembum has said that about you"

'Hmmm....maybe.', Saphira replied. Blue-fur-wolf-elf-Blodhgarm and four more elves came running to where Saphira and Angela were.

"Now, now. You are late", Angela said to them.

The elves just had to heal minor wounds on Saphira because Angela had medicated all the larger ones that Arya had left. In about fifteen minutes, they finished their work. Angela in the meanwhile had gone; to where? nobody knew. Saphira searched for Glaedr's mind in the battlefield. It took her about half-an-hour to locate him and once she did she asked, 'What is the status of the war, master?'

'Nothing to worry, Saphira. The empire soldiers have started retreating.'

'How fared Orik and Nasuada?', Saphira asked.

'They are fine. They have led from the front like real warriors and were the real reason for victory in this war apart from the part you played in defeating Murtagh' Saphira felt relieved that the war was finally won. She knew well that it would take atleast another month for Galbatorix to gather an army this large again. 'Eragon, I have done it. I helped them as you asked.', she said facing east where she knew was Uru'baen, the lair of the dark king where the-partner-of-her-mind-and-heart Eragon was imprisoned.

Author's Note:

Sorry about Thorn being a 'incapable' dragon. That is what he will be, I think though: being a slave, forced to grow and all. And how was the part where Saphira mentions Eragon's love for Arya? I loved it. Absolutely loved it even as I wrote it.