Walking out of the Varden was much easier this time, for Eragon did not have to hide himself, he just had to walk.

Reaching the woods, Arya and Eragon both extended their minds in all directions, searching for any signs of life, or any signs of magical concealment. Nothing. Eragon glances over at her and she says, "we still must look in case their enchantments are well concealed. Anyways, they will not expect us to go in on foot. Eragon, you and Roran go in over there, and I will over here."

"No, I don't like that. I came with to help protect you, not to split up. What if he sees you before you see him and he tries to kill you? I wouldn't be able to get there fast enough and even if I tried, I would then be leaving Roran alone. We shouldn't split up", Eragon says quickly.

"We will never be able to search all of the woods if we are together. Eragon, I will be fine. You needn't worry about me so much. I appreciate your concer, truly, but I can hold my own for a time being. I will see you soon Eragon", and with that she turns and strides into the forest.

Eragon closes his eyes and tries to calm his mind. He is going to need all of his concentration for this. He had to keep Roran safe at all costs. Arya was right, she can hold her own, but Roran, no matter how good of a fighter, would not stand a chance against Murtagh and his Eldunarí.

"Ok", he says when he is finished, "let's get started."

"Couldn't agree more", Roran replies, striding towards the forest with his hammer pulled out of his belt. Eragon, shaking his head, follows a few paces behind him.

~*~

After almost an hour searching, they still hadn't found anything. Not that Eragon was expecting to. Murtagh would have to be foolish to return here.

Finally coming to a field they had passed through at least 5 times now, Eragon and Roran decide to take a break and sit down. As they are sitting in the middle of the clearing, Eragon could not help but wonder where Murtagh and Thorn were now. No sooner than he thinks that does a voice scream in his head.

'ERAGON! It's Thorn, he's here! I need your help!', Arya's voice screams in his head. He springs off the ground where he was sitting and prepares to run to her, but then remembers Roran.

"Roran, I need you to stay here. Arya is confronting Thorn and I must go and save her. Just.... Stay put, I will be back."

"Wait!"

"What?", Eragon asks annoyed, the more time he spends here, the more time Arya is alone with Thorn.

"What if this is a trap, and Murtagh is just trying to get you alone? What if Arya isn't even in trouble at all?", Roran says standing as well.

"Now he, is smart. Is this the person you told me about Eragon? Roran isn't it?", says a sly familiar voice from behind Eragon. He whips around as fast as he can and stares directly into the face of Murtagh.

He was leaning against a tree, twirling Zar'roc round and round. Behind him stood Thorn his lips curled into a slight snarl. Roran lifts his hammer to a fighting stance and Murtagh gives a smirk to him.

"Hmm, he reminds me of you brother", Murtagh says, striding forward, "prepared to fight, even though he knows he is outmatched."

"Roran, get back", Eragon mumbles pulling out Brisingr. Roran glances sideways at him but does not move a muscle.

Murtagh starts to laugh, then says, "oh come brother! Let me see what he can do!" Eragon can see the fear in Roran's eyes as he prepares himself for battle.

"Roran", Eragon warns him quietly, then turns back to Murtagh and says, "this is between you and me Murtagh, leave Roran out of it!"

"Ah, but you didn't, by bringing him along. If you wanted to keep him out of it then why did you allow him to come?"

"I can speak for myself!", Roran says back to Murtagh, who continues to prowl closer and closer, "I came along because I wanted to, nothing more."

"Oh, then you wouldn't mind a quick spar would you?", Murtagh says in a deadly voice, then he looks at Eragon, who is glaring at him with fire in his eyes, Murtagh laughs coldly again before saying, "oh brother, do not worry, I will not kill or injure him.... You have my word as rider."

"I don't like it", Eragon says to Roran, but Roran brushes him off saying, "it is not your choice, I am going to do it."

"If you must, but be careful."

Eragon watches with a heavy heart as Roran strides forward towards Murtagh and the blood red dragon. Murtagh lifts his sword at the same time Roran lifts his hammer. They circle very slowly before Roran makes the first move. He charges forward and swings his hammer at Murtagh's head then quickly swithches and aims for his side. Murtagh blocks it with a twirl of his sword and then aims at Roran as well, going for his left side. Roran blocks him but not as easily. But he does block him. Eragon is impressed, watching his cousin fighting with Murtagh. He holds is own better than he expected, but he was sure Murtagh was going a little easily on him. And sure enough about ten minutes into the fight, Murtagh found his opening.

Bringing his sword up he places it on Roran's neck. Eragon springs up, lifting Brisingr up, prepared to attack if necessary. But, Murtagh keeps his word and lowers his sword as he turns and walks back towards Thorn a little ways. He stops when he is not too close to Roran. Eragon walks out towards his cousin and grasps his arm to lift him to his feet. As soon as he was standing, he turns to face Murtagh.

"Now Murtagh, why are you here? Why did you want me alone? You didn't come here for no reason", Eragon asks.

"Isn't it obvious? To capture you. Galbatorix still wants you alive, and Saphira too. Just because there are now two females doesn't mean he doesn't want you alive anymore. Oh no, quite the opposite. Now there are two female dragons, and two male dragons, not including Shruiken."

"You know I won't come with you", Eragon says in the most threatening voice he can muster, Murtagh just smiles, As he says, "I wasn't asking."

Charging forward, Murtagh lifts Zar'roc and aims for his hip. Pushing Roran away before Murtagh reaches him, Eragon barely has enough time to lift Brisingr and block Murtagh. Countering back quickly to give him much less time to think, Eragon brings Brisingr up and aims for Murtagh's ribs, he is blocked easily. The next blow Murtagh aims at him, Eragon blocks much easier than the first. The fighting seems to go on and on, never ending. Neither could gain a real advantage. Until there is a loud snarl from Thorn.

Arya is dashing onto the field, a wild look in her eyes as she holds her sword out, ready to attack. As Eragon gazes at her, he feels no hope rise up inside of him, but that hope is extinguished as he feels a sharp, cold pain slice into his lower ribs. It is not long after that he sees a blur of purple speed towards Murtagh.

Leora had come out of no where and attacked Murtagh full on in the face. Looking down, Eragon sees Murtagh withdraw Zar'roc from his body and he falls to his knees, clutching his wound as spots begin to appear in his vision.

"Eragon! ERAGON! Stay with me Eragon, can you hear me?", Arya's voice comes from over him. He looks up and sees her hair falling around her face. As midnight black as the spots growing in his eyes.

Then a bone jarring *THUD, THUD, THUD* hits his ears as he tilts his head farther back to the sky and sees Saphira hurtling towards him. She lands right next to him and turns towards Thorn as he jumps out of the woods, preparing to attack. But she does not run towards Thorn. No, she runs towards Murtagh, where he has his sword pointed at Leora, blood streaming down his face in multiple places. Thorn sees what she is doing and also dashes to his rider to try and protect him.

Eragon could not take it any longer. His head was pounding. He could barely see. And the pain in his side had now reached an unbearable level. Falling back into the grass, he blacks out.

~*~

As Saphira glances back at her partner-of-heart-and-mind, she feels a burst of anger rise within her. Murtagh did this. When she has the chance she glances back again and sees Arya over Eragon, her hands placed on his wound and speaking very quickly in the ancient language. Through her link with Eragon she could feel it working. But, because he was unconscious, his mind was blank. It did not feel right to feel his presence, but to feel and hear nothing else. This did nothing but push her anger further.

Dashing at the red-shrike-dragon-Thorn, and more importantly, at his rider, she takes her claws up and slashes out at Murtagh with all her might. His wards block the most of the blow leaving him with no cuts, but with her massive strength, she feels most of his wards break away as he goes flying through the air.

Thorn roars out in rage, a loud scream that would make her cringe had it not been Thorn's rider she hit. But with him, she must not show weakness.

Turning to face the blood red dragon, she feels him slam into her side. Saphira had been so preoccupied with attacking Murtagh, Thorn had closed in the distance between them and caught her off guard.

She could feel his teeth biting for her neck, and his claws digging into her side. He was in such a rage she had no doubt that if she gave him the chance, he would kill her, no matter his orders from Galbatorix.

Finally finding his mark, his teeth come into contact with where her shoulder meets her neck. Saphira screams in pain, her roar echoing into the forest. With her mental link with Eragon she feels him awake when he senses her pain. But for once she paid him no mind as she had to try and shake Thorn off of her before he does serious damage.

Swinging her head around Saphira clamps her mouth shut onto his wing joint. She could easily rip it off but something held her back. Even though he was aiming to kill, she could not do this to one of the last of her race. Thorn tightens his grip on Saphira's neck and more blood gushes down her side as she tries to squirm out of his grip.

"Saphira!", she hears Eragon scream through their mental link and out loud. Saphira can feel his pain at watching this happen to her. She feels herself get slammed into a tree as the red dragon pushes her back with the force of the two fighting.

"Thorn!", she hears the voice of Murtagh scream out loud as well. Something must have gone on between Thorn and Murtagh for a few seconds later, Thorn let her go.

~*~

As Eragon opens his eyes, the first thing he hears is Saphira, the other half of himself, screaming out in pain. The roar seemed to go straight down to his core and become his own as he starts to feel where it hurts on her too. He could remember when she had a fight with Glaedr and he felt her pain, but this is worse. His whole shoulder ached and it felt like it was going to just fall off.

Looking around he sees Arya still standing next to him, along with Roran and Leora now, looking down at him with concern. Just past them he could see Murtagh slowly getting up off the ground. And finally, the thing that put him into a rage.

The two dragons were fighting off to the left of the field. Thorn had a death grip on Saphira's neck and Saphira had a grip on his wing, but she did nothing. He could not stand here just watching. Dashing away from the people surrounding him, he heads straight towards the two dragons. Across the field from him, Eragon sees Murtagh do the same.

All that was in Eragon's head was getting to Saphira before Thorn did serious damage. "Saphira!", Eragon shouts out loud and through their mental link. Saphira glances towards him but she is more focused on trying to get out of this alive.

"Thorn!", Murtagh shouts. Less then a desperate yell like Eragon's and more of a warning. What was Thorn planning to do?

Whatever it was, Thorn listened to Murtagh, for he let go of Saphira moments later. Saphira backs up the moment she is free and sits in a crouched stance preparing for another attack. Thorn does not move but instead stares at her with his lips curled back over his teeth. Not caring about the danger he is running into, Eragon sprints over to Saphira and places his hands over her wound.

'Little one', Saphira says, daring to open her mind to him, 'leave it, I wil be fine.'

'Do not lie Saphira', Eragon says in a voice shaking with rage. He has to clench his teeth as he gazes upon the wound. Each one of the places where Thorn's teeth had dug in had melded together leaving a huge gash that he could almost stick his whole arm into it was so deep.

After mumbling the healing words needed in the ancient language, he turns, almost shaking, towards Thorn and Murtagh. Murtagh was at his wing, healing the bite Saphira had made on it.

'I hope it pains him greatly', Eragon says to Saphira. She doesn't respond.

Still angry at what had happened, Eragon cannot help but get revenge for what has happened. Staring directly at Thorn, Eragon bashes out with all of his might at the red dragon, hoping to catch him off guard. For a moment, Eragon touches his mind but then the Eldunarí jump in and begin to hold him back. There are only 3 with Murtagh this time for which Eragon is grateful. Saphira jumps into the fray moments later, along with Arya and Leora. Murtagh, sensing what is going on, begins to fight against them along with Thorn. The battle is long and very difficult with neither really gaining side. Eragon's revenge burning inside of him was the only thing that kept him going for as long as he did. Finally after 15 minutes that felt like hours, Murtagh pulls away from the ongoing battle and yells, "stop!"

The Eldunarí and Thorn stop their attacks immediately, though they keep their guards up. Arya, Leora, and Saphira also stop, but Saphira has to hold Eragon back in his rage.

'Little one! Calm yourself before you get us all killed!', Saphira's voice broke through his jumbled thoughts, 'forget your anger, I am fine. What would Oromis want you to do? What would Brom say?!'

That hit him like nothing else. Oromis would tell him to let his anger go and Brom, well Brom would probably tan his hide if he knew what Eragon had in mind. Sighing he turns to Saphira and says, 'alright, but if I get the chance I am taking it.'

'I would expect nothing less.'

Turning back to Murtagh and Thorn, all Eragon could do was just glare. He had no clue what they were going to do now. Glancing at Arya, Eragon cautiously extends his mind to hers but she shakes her head.

Feeling a presence by his leg, he looks down and sees Leora sitting there and staring up at him. He feels her mind pressing against his so he quickly lets her in. She speaks immediately.

'Eragon, do you trust me?'

'Of course, why?', he asks cautiously, then adds, 'Leora what are you planning?'

'Eragon, you must tell Arya, Roran, and Saphira to leave. Only then will my full abilities kick in. If they are here then it might not work.'

'Leora?'

'Eragon, you must allow yourself to be captured by Murtagh.'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

AN: UGH OK SO I REALLY SUCK AT WRITING IN SAPHIRA'S POV SO IM SORRY FOR THAT!!!! I HAD TO GET SOMETHING IN THERE FOR WHEN ERAGON WAS BLACKED OUT! BUT ANYWAYS HOPE YOU LIKE THE CLIFFHANGER!!! I LOVED IT :) SO GIVE ME SOME MORE COMMENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANKA YOUUU

~Bert