Leora roars as the lithe elf jumps off of her back onto the fallen stone of the wall. A strange sense of came out of her during battle. A fierce need to protect Eragon, of course, but a bloodlust like she had never know before.

Leaping into the square below, she swipes her claws at several soldiers, taking immense satisfaction to feel them hit flesh and bone. Turning her head to the left, Leora let's loose a long stream of purple fire, tinged with blue, onto the unsuspecting group of soldiers approaching her left flank. They fry in a burning inferno, their bloodcurdling screams echoing throughout the city. She catches sight of Eragon, fighting from Saphira's side, and she glimpses the elf called Arya a few times, weaving through the ranks of men slashing left and right. With each stroke of her sword, another soldier dies. Leora admires her power and grace in battle, but has little time to ponder this as she turns back to the battle in front of her.

Taking flight, Leora lands behind the largest mass of men in the square and starts to attack them from behind. By the time they are able to turn, a look of terror is the only this they are able to produce before Leora makes the death blow. She starts to cut down person after person, while Eragon works on the other side. Before they know it, they meet in the middle and kill off the last few stragglers together. Blood covers her claws and Leora resists the temptation to lick her teeth. There were bigger things to focus on at the moment.

Slowly the Varden starts to make their way forwards. Leora and Saphira keep to the bigger streets and fight off the larger groups of soldiers, unable to fit into the small winding side streets. Eventually they both lose sight of Eragon as he and Arya get pulled deeper into the fighting in the alleyways.

As the dragons pushed deeper into the city, they started to notice their claws were not making immediate contact with the soldiers. Someone had placed wards on these men, but who was powerful enough to do that? Whoever it was had to be close. Was it Murtagh perhaps? Thinking of Murtagh and Thorn caused a strange feeling to rise up in her blood. She didn't know what to feel.

She turns her focus back to slashing the soldiers to pieces. With a quick snap of her jaw, she kills a soldier who turned his back to her. His scream is cut short as she quickly shakes her jaw and breaks his spine. As she goes to move to the next soldier, she notices the amount of soldiers beginning to pile into the street. Apparently they thought if they could out number the two of them, they would have a chance of beating them.

Leora growls as several begin to surround her, trying to split her away from Saphira. She swipes out at two soldiers, but they step back in time. Another soldier tries to charge her from behind, but with a single swipe of her tail, she sends him flying while also impaling him with a spike at the same time.

They continue their little maneuver of charging her and backing away until Leora becomes increasingly frustrated. So, instead of trying to hit them physically, she let's loose a torrent of purple flames, attempting to roast them where they stand. She bathes a large group of them in her fire, and for a few seconds it just passes harmlessly around them. But, then their wards wear down and they are burnt on the spot, their screams launching into the sky.

Once again, the thought crosses her mind of who would be granting the soldiers there wards. Whoever it was must have been spread fairly thin for Leora had broke through this group of soldiers wards easily.

Turning to the remaining soldiers, she snarls and most of them scatter, realizing that they did not stand a chance now that their circle was broken. The last few who do stay are quickly disposed of by Leora's sharp claws. It's as she finishes off the last soldier that it happens.

Crouching low to the ground, a piercing pain tries to penetrate into her mind. This would have been of little importance to her if she knew how to properly block her mind. Leora had never had proper training in battling someone else with her mind. All she knew was how to prevent someone from gaining access to her mind, for a limited time being.

A moaning growl escapes her lips as the pain intensifies and threatens to break her weak barriers. There was no way to call out to Saphira for that would risk exposing her mind. Instead she stayed stock still, hoping the older dragon would understand her plight.

But Saphira was involved in her own battles, soldiers were still pouring into the street attempting to take on the two dragons. For the first time of the siege, pure fear started to overflow in her mind as a group of soldiers noticed her vulnerability and were preparing to strike. Leora was an open target and would either have to be hurt physically or taken over mentally. And both would be fatal.

Trying her best to concentrate, Leora makes a last ditch effort to catch Saphira's attention. Taking a deep breath, she lets out the loudest roar she can, but keeps it short to hold her attention to the her mental barriers.

It works as the deep blue dragon whips her head around and locks eyes with we where she crouches on the ground. She wastes no time as she launches into the air to Leora's side. And she wasn't a second too soon as the soldiers attempt to strike out at Leora's sides. Saphira quickly blocks their blows and then kills the soldiers with a protective relish. She continues picking off soldiers until the street is completely empty. Saphira then turns to Leora and joins minds with her.

The feeling of Saphira's power was like a drink of cold water as the experienced dragon took the bulk of the fighting into her own hands, or claws.

It wasn't long before the other mind was subdued. With one final shove Saphira enters his mind and locates him. Finally, a scream is heard from above their heads as a small explosion goes off in the building to there right.

'Thank you', Leora breathes in relief, 'but what did you do to him?'

Saphira blinks with a sharp click before responding, 'I entered his mind and forced him to commit suicide. That explosion was caused by him.'

Leora cannot help smiling a toothy grin at the mans fate. 'You will have to teach me how to properly defend myself later.'

'Indeed, later.'

And with that, the two dragons focus once more on the end of the street where it was, for once, blissfully empty. They both begin to head that way when Leora hears a faint buzzing in her mind that seemed to rattle her whole skull. She knew that feeling.

Taking off immediately, she leaves Saphira far below her before calling to her, 'Eragon's in trouble!'

Even from the air, Leora could here the snarl from Saphira and the bone jarring thud as she took off from the ground. A part of Leora knew Saphira was envious that she did not have the sense to know when her rider was in danger. And it was understandable, of course she would want to know when her partner of heart and soul was in danger.

Leora looked back and forth over the streets, honing in on Eragon's location. Of course, she found him in the largest mass of fighting bodies. Spiraling to her left, she dives down aiming for the edge of the group. As soon as her claws hit the stone, every eye turns towards her. She couldn't help feeling a bit proud, even in the middle of a fight. But then her attention is gone as Saphira lands on the opposite side and let's loose a roar that would cause even the bravest man to quake.

Almost as quickly as it stopped, the fighting begins again as the masses of bodies begin to hack at each other with make-shift claws, since the humans barely had any. Leora spots Eragon almost immediately, his blue weapon slicing through men with no resistance. She didn't know what would cause him harm, but she knew that it would be in this area.

With no time to waste, she takes off and pushes above the large group of people. She hones in on Eragon and angles downward to take him out of the danger. Suddenly, her plan is thrown off course slightly as the subtle twang of bow strings can be heard. Five of the piercing arrows puncture her wings, causing a searing pain to spread across her wing muscles. The rest bounce harmlessly off of her armored belly, and even though her wounds pained her dearly, she continued to head towards Eragon, her claws outstretched and ready to grab him.

Right before she wraps her claws around him, he looks up and notices her swooping down. He doesn't have a second to be surprised at her sudden appearance before she locks her claws around him, taking care not to impale him on her sharp talons.

He let's out a short, quick shout as she carries him to the far side of the courtyard, away from the mass of fighting figures and away from where Saphira sat taking out Empire soldiers with apparent ease.

"Leora!", Eragon shouts as she sets him down, "what are you doing!?"

She narrows her eyes at him slightly, 'You would be in danger if I left you there.'

'What danger?', he asks back with his mind this time.

'I don't know.'

He groans and looks back at the group, 'I need to fight Leora, I can't leave them-'

Eragon does not finish his sentence as the doors to castle boom open and a thick plume of smoke billows out. Those closest to the doors begin to cough as a horse and rider stride out from the smoke. In the mans hand, Leora noticed a strange weapon. It appeared to be a normal lance, the only thing that made Leora nervous was the strange green color the glowed around it, revealing its magical nature.

Charging forward, the man hefts the weapon and aims right for Saphira. Eragon looks at the scene with horror as the realization hits that he would not be able to make it in time to stop the man. He would have been able to reach her had Leora not lifted him away, though.

Leora glares at the rider as he draws closer to where Saphira sat. She would attack him with her mind but she did not know how. So, instead she did the only thing she would know how to do. She attacked.

Launching into the sky, she leaves Eragon below her before angling towards the horse and rider. Leora pins her wings to her sides and barrels towards the rider as fast as she possibly can. With her mind, she could sense Eragon sprinting towards Saphira at full speed as well. Leora narrowed in on the horse, hoping to aim for a larger target. But, it was too late.

Saphira rears up on her hind legs and bares her teeth at the oncoming rider. Moments before Leora makes contact with the body of the horse, the man brings back his hand and throws the weapon with all his might. Leora does not see what happened next as she collides with the horse. The pathetic animal let's out a scream of terror as her claws pierces its hide. Unfortunately the man jumps off of the horse before Leora could sink her teeth into him as well. At the same moment, Leora's scales bristled at the sound that escaped Saphira's mouth.

Leaving the horse bleeding on the stones as she turns her large head to survey the scene before her. The blue-furred elf had pounced on the rider, and had sunk his teeth into his neck, causing his body to go limp. Almost immediately after that, an explosion identical to the one before goes off in the window above them. But, the thing that caught Leora's attention the most was the group of elves gathered around Saphira.

The weapon had gotten past Saphira's wards and pierced her in the chest, burying itself in her muscles. Eragon finally catches up and looks up at Saphira in worry and fear. As she watched on, Leora felt completely helpless. She had taken out the horse, but it hadn't done any good. Now Saphira was hurt, and she couldn't do a thing about it except watch.

Slowly, a melody lifted into the air, a relaxing song of healing and regrowth. Leora found herself feeling fresh and ready for battle just listening to the words. Looking at the elves again, she realized that they had begun to sing. Leora starts walking towards the group, hoping to find something she could be of help with. Instead, she saw a sight only accomplishable with magic.

The strange weapon slowly begins to slide out of Saphira's chest. She shudders, but attempts to keep still as the elves continue to sing the lance out of her clenched muscles. Finally with the last note, the weapon falls to the ground. When it makes impact, it does not sound like metal, but more like pottery. Leora cautiously sticks her head forward and sniffs the strange piece. Immediately she jumps back, hissing in distaste. Whatever it was, it caused her scales to lift and malice to settle in her heart. That weapon was dangerous and should be destroyed. It reeked of despair, as though it's glow held the souls of all it had killed.

Eragon glances back at where she stands, her back arched and still glaring at the weapon. He then looks back to Arya and the other elves and asks, "Is this Galbatorix's handiwork? Maybe he's decided he'd rather just kill Saphira and I rather than take us in alive?"

Leora contemplates his words. Now that Saphira was not the last female dragon, perhaps Eragon was right in suggesting that Saphira was no longer necessary to Galbatorix. The thought made her shiver, for she did not know if Galbatorix would spare herself, for her abilities, or Saphira, to still keep alive the slim chance that Eragon would join him. It was a big question, for each choice had its advantages and downfalls. Leora knew that she would sacrifice herself in an instant to save Saphira. If Saphira were to die, it would do damage beyond repair to Eragon, her charge. She had to protect Eragon from that at all costs. Even if it meant her losing her own life.

She focuses back in on the conversation at the sound of Arya's voice, "alas, it is not the work of Galbatorix, but instead it is ours."

Blank shock radiated off of Eragon, and Leora was also puzzled by her words, why would an elf make such a thing. Eragon voiced her question seconds later.

"An elf would never consent to helping Galbatorix! They would rather die than to-"

"Galbatorix had nothing to do with this", Arya says locking eyes with the young rider, "he would never give this weapon to someone so unable to guard it well. Of all the weapons in Alagaësia, this is the one he would least want us to have."

Leora reaches out and touches both the elves mind and asks, 'Why?'

Blödhgarm looks up at her and points to the weapon before saying, "Because Véurr, this is a Dauthdaert."

"Niernen the orchid, to be exact", Arya says tracing one finger down the stylized glyphs on the weapon.

'I'm afraid I still do not understand', Leora says sticking her nose out to the weapon once more, still greatly unsettled by this "Dauthdaert".

"Niernen is a very old weapon, constructed out of fear and hate during the last years of our war with the dragons. The Dauthdaertya were created by our best spellcasters with materials we no longer understand, and words long forgotten. They were named, all twelve of them, after the most beautiful flowers. A horrible mismatch for they were anything but beautiful. They were created with only one purpose in mind", Arya says ominously, "to kill dragons."

Leora hisses violently again, arching her neck back as her eyes narrow at the weapon. Her feelings of malice now made sense. This weapon was made to kill her kind. It was made to kill her, or Saphira. Or Shruiken. Revelation overtook her mind as she realized why Galbatorix would be furious if he knew they had this weapon.

"And, did they kill dragons?", Eragon asks, a look of horror on his face.

Arya looked down solemnly before answering, "those who were present said the dragons' blood rained from the sky like a summer downpour."

Leora forgets her realization as she takes the time to growl and throw another glare at the glowing Dauthdaert on the ground.

"We thought that all the Dauthdaertya were destroyed. Obviously we were mistaken. It seems that Niernen passed down through the Waldgrave family. Once we breached the wall, I am guessing it was taken out to stop us out of fear. No doubt Galbatorix would be enraged if he discovered Bradburn tried to kill you and Saphira."

"I still do not understand something. What makes Niernen any more dangerous than that spear over there, or Bris- my sword?", Eragon asks not taking his eyes off of the Dauthdaert.

"Because", Arya says, "Niernen cannot be broken by any normal means, and it is impervious to most magic, as you just saw. The Dauthdaertya were designed to be unaffected by whatever spells the dragons might work and it was made to protect it's wielded from the same. A daunting prospect seeing as the unexpected nature of a dragons magic. Galbatorix may have wrapped himself and Shruiken in more wards than anyone else in Alagaësia, but there is a chance Niernen could pass through their defenses as if they didn't even exist."

Eragon finally understand and elation was visible in his eyes, "so that means-"

He is cut off by a strangled squeezing sound. Looking up, Leora sees the cracks splitting apart as stones slide past one another. The sound caused her to paw at her ears in discomfort, trying in vain to block the earsplitting noise. It seemed to be piercing her head itself. A whine escaped her throat against her will as even humans with regular hearing covered their head to block the sounds.

"Look!", Eragon says pointing to where the cracks were slowly widening. Arya nods her head in understanding.

And then the sound stops.

People lower their hands tentatively, waiting for the sound to return. And just as they do, the crack jerks open several feet wider and races down the wall like lightening. Slowly, the front of the keep started to lean inward.

"Run!", Eragon shouts needlessly as the Varden already starts to scramble away from the precarious wall. Eragon stops forward, his eyes dancing left and right through the ranks of men scattering out if the courtyard, until finally the lock on to something.

Men still stood crowded around the wall, trying desperately to flee, but find themselves unable to. The wall drops several more inches, pelting the men below with rocks.

Eragon's eyes go wide as a final crack can be heard through the city, causing the wall to the keep to go tumbling down.

"No!"

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AN: HEY GUYS, I CANT TELL YOU HOW SORRY I AM ABOUT TAKING SO LONG.... I HAD A LOT GOING ON LATELY SO THIS TOOK ME A WHILE. WITH POTTERINK, DRAGONINK, AND SCHOOL GOING ON, IM JUST PUSHED TO THE MAX. SO PLEASE FORGIVE ME! And enjoy the update :) OH AND OF COURSE PLEASE....

READ/COMMENT/VOTE

THANKA YOUUU

~Bert