THEGATES OFDEATH
Eragon stared at the dark tower of stone wherein hid the monsters who had murdered his uncle,
Garrow.
He was lying on his belly behind the edge of a sandy hill dotted with sparse blades of grass, thornbushes,
and small, rosebudlike cactuses. The brittle stems of last year's foliage pricked his palms as he inched
forward to gain a better view of Helgrind, which loomed over the surrounding land like a black dagger
thrust out from the bowels of the earth.
The evening sun streaked the low hills with shadows long and narrow and-far in the west-illuminated
the surface of Leona Lake so that the horizon became a rippling bar of gold.
To his left, Eragon heard the steady breathing of his cousin, Roran, who was stretched out beside him.
The normally inaudible flow of air seemed preternaturally loud to Eragon with his heightened sense of
hearing, one of many such changes wrought by his experience during the Agaetí Blödhren, the elves'
Blood-oath Celebration.
He paid little attention to that now as he watched a column of people inch toward the base of Helgrind,
apparently having walked from the city of Dras-Leona, some miles away. A contingent of twenty-four
men and women, garbed in thick leather robes, occupied the head of the column. This group moved with
many strange and varied gaits-they limped and shuffled and humped and wriggled; they swung on
crutches or used arms to propel themselves forward on curiously short legs-contortions that were
necessary because, as Eragon realized, every one of the twenty-four lacked an arm or a leg or some
combination thereof. Their leader sat upright upon a litter borne by six oiled slaves, a pose Eragon
regarded as a rather amazing accomplishment, considering that the man or woman-he could not tell
which-consisted of nothing more than a torso and head, upon whose brow balanced an ornate leather
crest three feet high.
"The priests of Helgrind," he murmured to Roran.
"Can they use magic?"
"Possibly. I dare not explore Helgrind with my mind until they leave, for if anyare magicians, they will
sense my touch, however light, and our presence will be revealed."
Behind the priests trudged a double line of young men swathed in gold cloth. Each carried a rectangular
metal frame subdivided by twelve horizontal crossbars from which hung iron bells the size of winter
rutabagas. Half of the young men gave their frames a vigorous shake when they stepped forward with
their right foot, producing a dolorous cacophony of notes, while the other half shook their frames when
they advanced upon the left foot, causing iron tongues to crash against iron throats and emit a mournful
clamor that echoed over the hills. The acolytes accompanied the throbbing of the bells with their own
