We didn’t run through the forest for long.

The trees fairly quickly gave way to a deep lake settled in between high mountainous walls that glittered in the starlight. Our only way forward were two narrow ‘beaches’ made of worn down pebbles on each side of the lake and beyond them was a roaring waterfall. The sight of it caused all of us, Murtagh, myself, and the young man I deduced was Eragon, to pause slightly.

“Do we head for the falls?” Murtagh asked tightly.

“Yes.” was Eragon’s similarly strained response.

Both of them started down the lake’s left side with Eragon taking the lead and Murtagh following close behind. A short growl and a puff of smoke had me walking behind them and in front of the slightly pissed off dragon. I guess Saphira had no intentions of trusting me just yet.

Speaking of, the dragon was having the hardest time walking out of all of us. The ‘beach’ was incredibly slippery, the stones either wet or covered in slime. But that wasn’t what made it hard for Saphira. It was the fact that she was simply too big to fit on the path, two legs constantly dipping about a foot in the water at all times because of her size. Despite that every time I got too close or far to the other two, she would lightly growl until the distance satisfied her again.

Halfway around the lake Murtagh looked back and called out a warning.

“Urgals!”

I risked getting growled at again to check behind us. True to his word, the shore had begun to fill up with the army that had been chasing the two of them. And to say they weren’t a little intimidating would be a lie. Rationally I knew that any of my previous opponents would wipe the floor with dozens of these creature with almost no effort, but it was still somewhat scary to see hundreds of muscular, grey-skinned people with horns, all around eight feet tall, heavily armed, and ready to kill you.

Saphira took to the air and started to harass the Urgals chasing after us. Considering they were large enough that they were forced to move single file meant she did a pretty good job of it until the Urgals started to drive her off with a bunch of archers on the far shore where we had come from, all while even more of them circled the far bank of the lake.

With so many archers focused on her, Saphira dove into the water and did a pretty good impression of a sea serpent, which forced the Urgals to slow down even more as they eyed the dark water nervously. The dragon even managed to snag a couple before enough spears were pointed at the lake as a deterrent. Not one to just let an enemy advance comfortably, I took advantage of their distracted state to fire off a few arrows. While these arrows didn’t have any kind of enchantment otr the like on them, they still went exactly where I wanted.

Two of the horned Kull dropped without a sound as arrows went through their eyes. Three more stumbled and fell either into the water or back against their comrades as more arrows struck them in the throat, the knee, or the heart. Unfortunately I overestimated how concerned the Urgals would be about their injured friends. Dead or alive, the struck Urgals were tossed into the water or trampled underfoot by the ones behind them as they continued to advance.

Up ahead of me, Eragon and Murtagh had made it to the base of the waterfall and were doing something, but I could barely hear them over the sound of roaring water. Eragon began smashing a rock into the cliff face and shouting something but nothing appeared to be happening. While I was distracted, one of the Urgals managed to get a lucky hit on Saphira when she burst out of the water a bit further back than where I was shooting, his spear managing to score a long graze in her flank.

The dragon quickly retreated back underwater with a pained roar and the Urgals started to surge forward, taking advantage of her retreat. The first one caught an arrow in the throat, the second was smarter by using his muscular arms to guard his vitals. It didn’t stop my next arrow from shattering his knee and forcing him into the water.

The implicit threat of being shot forced the Urgals to advance slowly again and I picked my shots so they either killed or crippled every time, but it was only a matter of time before they caught up and I had seen shields further back. Things would get dicey if those made it to the front.

Saphira burst out of the water and landed back by the horses. There was still no sign of whatever Eragon had been calling for happening and despite my sniping, the Urgals were getting closer.

“What’s the hold up?!” I called back at the group, releasing another arrow and bringing down another enemy.

“We’re on the wrong side of the lake!” Eragon called back. “We need to go through the waterfall!”

Through the waterfall? Was he serious? I eyed the ten foot wide curtain of water. No way was everyone making it through that.

“We’ll never get the horses through there, even if we can hold our own footing.” Murtagh cried as arrows from the more distant Urgals started to fall around us. Saphira quickly used her scaled sides as cover for all of us but it was clear the arrows were doing damage as she violently twitched with every hit.

“I’ll convince them to follow us.” Eragon snapped. “And Saphira can carry Arya.”

Murtagh looked between the waterfall and the Urgals and shrugged. “Better than being hacked to death.” He said as he moved to help Eragon with the injured elf.

“You’re both insane!” I swung around Saphira’s flank and fired several more arrows into the approaching hoard.

Both of them ignored me and went about securing the elf onto Saphira’s back. The second they were done the dragon took to the air, drawing angry shouts and more arrows from the Urgals. Murtagh was the first in the water, followed shortly by Eragon after the boy said something to the horses. An act that jogged my memory on how magic actually worked here. The use of the body’s energy molded through intense concentration or by using a specific language to shape their spells. This ‘Ancient Language’ was unique from other languages as it was impossible to tell direct lies while speaking it and promises were binding.

I would need to take a close look at how it worked later because the possibility of learning how to declare my intent to people like Mogwai sounded like a really freaking useful ability. But that would also mean getting caught up with the Varden and their war.

My only practical options were to either go along with Eragon, at least until we made it inside the mountain city, or start showing off more of my powers no matter how badly injured I was and fight through the Urgal army. I could probably do it with only a few new injuries at worst, but then I would be mostly back to where I started. Alone in the mountains, far from any friendly settlements, and with almost no way of getting the metals I needed.

I scowled.

Looks like I will have to play nice with the Varden for at least a little while. I doubt they would just let me go if I suddenly showed I could smash armies by myself anyway. That thought in mind, I threw my bow over my head to maintain the illusion I actually needed the thing and jumped into the water.

The waterfall itself was a pain as it did it’s best to crush me into the lakebed, but the worst part of the whole experience was the freezing temperature of the water. I did my best to swim/walk along the bottom of the waterfall, kicking upwards to snag a breath of air when needed, before I eventually dragged myself onto the opposite shore.

To say the situation I arrived at was tense would be an understatement.

Saphira and Murtagh were being ringed by a group of rather grim looking men, while the tallest, a bald, beardless man in purple held a dagger to Murtagh’s throat. Eragon was shivering like a leaf and looking half drowned while a very short man with a large beard stood at his side. A dwarf, I realised after a second.

A part of me smirked as I realised that within an hour of meeting the locals I had come across humans, Urgals, an elf, a dwarf, and a dragon. If I wasn’t forgetting something, that was the all major races in this world. I bet not many people could say that.

Speaking of Urgals, I looked to the side to see the grey-skinned army being decimated by sustained arrow fire coming out of hidden murder holes in the cliffs. With no way of fighting back the Urgals could only die as they were turned into pincushions. Satisfied that, that threat was handled for now I turned my attention to the man in purple.

Already he had stopped Eragon from attempting to speak or use magic by pressing his dagger harder up against Murtugh’s throat. “None of that! If you say or do anything I do not tell you to, he will die. Now, everyone inside.” He backed into a tunnel that had appeared on the cliff face and dragged Murtagh along with him.

The rest of us followed in after him and were guided through a couple quick turns once the doors were closed behind us. Eragon made an attempt to speak up but was quickly silenced by the man in purple. “Do not speak! It must wait until you have been tested.” He shoved Murtagh to one of the other humans, who quickly returned a blade to his throat.

What followed was honestly an abysmal first impression for the organisation dedicated to bringing down a tyrant.

We were all forced to disarm, although I got the sense that no one in the room seemed to take me as a serious threat for some reason, and Eragon was forced away from the group. He finally convinced the group to take a look at Arya, who somehow had been missed by the entire group escorting us despite being very visible on top of Saphira... When most of them were staring cautiously at the dragon to begin with…

Then we got to enjoy some posturing between purple man and the dwarf, Orik, hanging around Eragon about actually getting the elf help and making sure Eragon wasn’t harmed during the questioning. The man in purple immediately went to harming the boy in what seemed like incredibly painful mental torture. Painful to the extent that Eragon nearly collapsed after it ended. Orik berated the man in purple for it but he didn’t seem to care. To the surrounding warriors’ relief, Eragon was declared trustworthy, but that was when other troubles appeared.

The bald man turned from Eragon and looked at Murtagh. “It’s your turn now.”

“No.”

That one word caused everyone to tense up as the bald man grew angry.

“You will not be protected here if you refuse.”

“Eragon has been declared trustworthy, so you cannot threaten to kill him to influence me. Since you can’t do that, nothing you say or do will convince me to open my mind.”

“What of your own life or your other companion’s? I can still threaten those.”

“For the record, I’m not actually one of their companions.” I spoke up for the first time. “We just met a couple hours ago before we were all chased by the Urgals. Threatening my life won’t make a difference for him.”

“And if I say I will have you killed unless he cooperates anyway?”

I shrugged. “Then I fight you. I’m not expecting someone I just met to do something that large for me.”

The bald man looked infuriated and maybe half a second from ordering me killed out of spite. He managed to get a hold of his emotions and turned back to Murtagh, waiting on his decision.

To his credit, Murtagh did seem a bit troubled that they would threaten my life just to force him to submit, but it didn’t change his decision. He refused again and that seemed to be the last straw for the purple man’s self control as he roughly grabbed Murtagh’s head and started forcing himself into his mind. I was actually starting to get concerned Murtagh would have a stroke from the effort he was putting into his defences when Orik the dwarf interrupted again. “That is enough!” he cried, and physically separated the two.

The bald man rounded on the dwarf angrily, “How dare you!” he shouted at the dwarf. “You questioned my leadership, opened the gates without permission, and now this! You’ve shown nothing but insolence and treachery. Do you think your king will protect you now?”

Orik bristled. “You would have let them die! If I waited any longer the Urgals would have killed them.” he pointed a finger at Murtagh, who was still breathing heavily from his interrogation. We don’t have the right to torture him for information! Ajihad won’t sanction it. Not after you’ve examined the Rider and found him free of fault. And they’ve brought us Arya.”

The bald man looked like he wanted to rip Orik to pieces where he stood. With anger practically pouring off of his frame, he turned to me. “Then we will deal with him after you are examined.”

My own blue eyes met his rage filled ones. I smiled and answered him.

“I refuse.”