Curse of the Phoenix

Ch.71 -Ilirea

Iara~

The capitol was in sight by sunset, the light orange rays dancing among the towers. And then there was the overhang.

"Everything looks different.." I said, gazing at the city. Many of the older parts had been demolished and rebuilt, the old elven towers restored to their former glory. Even things like the giant wall lining the city...had it always been there?

"Since when was that wall there?" I asked.

"Nobody really knows..it was built sometime during your father's reign." Murtagh said.

"It was.....ten years after the fall, when the building of the wall started." Dru said quietly. Murtagh glanced back at him.

"How did you know that?" He asked.

"Father told me. Boasting, like usual."

Murtagh hesitated before deciding to remain silent. To think about it, Father had never been a topic, not even among my siblings and I. The only time he had ever been talked about was when Eragon recounted tales of that day in the throne room.

I guess it was for a good reason. I knew that my father had been a man of ambition..but he only believed he was doing right.

Dwelling on this took up the next few minutes, until we were able to land outside of the city. There was a small group of people waiting for us.

A woman, a small group of guards, and a girl who looked to be about my age.

Angela was the first one on the ground, and she greeted the woman with a happy composure.

"Nasuada, it's been a long time!" She nodded at the girl. Eragon got down from Saphira and went to them. Saphira even bent her head down to greet the party. I remained on top of Grimm, along with a few of my siblings. Murtagh and Arya walked over as well, while we remained with the dragons.

Eragon motioned to us, and with a smile meant for us to come over. I got down off of Grimm, and then walked over. Dru walked slightly ahead of me, but we all sort of walked together until Luke ran ahead of everyone.

Now that i was closer to the people I could get a better look at them. The woman was dressed in fine attire, and in her hand she held a golden crown. Her skin was dark, even more so than my father's had been. So this was the queen...

The group of people behind her seemed to be a personal guard, as they were armored and even had broadswords belted at the waist.

The last person was the girl. She seemed to only be around fifteen or sixteen, and she had dark hair that hung down to her shoulders. She was unnaturally pale, at least I could get tan. The last thing I noticed were her eyes, they were a light purple unlike any color i had ever seen.

She stared at me for a moment, before nodding slightly and then returning her gaze to Eragon.

"Shadeslayer." She said. And her voice..it sounded like the voice of an elderly woman. Surprising coming from her, but not entirely impossible. She could be an older woman, who merely made her body appear younger.

"Elva. It's nice to see you again. You as well, my lady."

"Eragon, Nasuada is fine...now, I think you owe us an introduction."

"I do. Dru, Luke and Mikael." They each bowed in turn. "Alice and Luna." Alice smiled, and Luna nodded. "Then, we have Iara and Marumen." I smiled, and Marumen gave his normal idiotic grin.

Nasuada smiled and nodded at us.

"Though, I do have one question." She said.

"What is it?" Eragon asked.

"Well, why is it that every rider except for you has black hair?" Luke coughed and put a hand over his mouth.

"I so totally called dibs that someone would notice." Mikael whispered, making Luke jerk forward and start laughing even harder.

I put a hand to cover my eyes. Gosh...they are embarrassing!

Nasuada cracked a smile.

"Oh, it's fine, go ahead and laugh!" With that Luke took his hand away and began to crack up.

"If you don't calm down..you won't be able to breathe.." Elva warned. Luke just blinked at her.

"What?" He did stop breathing so hard, and after that Elva explained what she could do. It was actually quite amazing.

It began to get dark, so everybody went into the city. There was a rather huge gate in front of the palace, even the dragons were able to fit through.

I gazed around, recognizing most of the halls and corridors.

"Marumen...that's where you tripped and hit your head, remember?" I said, pointing to a small hallway.

"Yeah..oh man....and then remember..you hid behind the banners that used to hang there, all the time."

Mostly everyone else was quiet, and just watched or listened to us. Nasuada was leading us down the hallway, and we came to a set of double doors..They were decorated with a map of Alagaesia, done in gold. The names of the notable towns and cities were in silver, with gems to mark the cities.

"Nasuada...you had the doors redone?" Eragon asked.

"I did. The other design was beautiful...but it wasn't right. The other doors are fixed up and inside the treasury room." With that, two people at the doors opened them, and we saw the throne room.

It was only a quick glimpse before they were shut again, but it was enough.

"Get a good night's sleep, everyone. A servant will come and fetch you, to bring you here for tomorrow." Nasuada said.

Eragon nodded, and I just stared at the doors.

With that, Nasuada walked into the throne room as the doors opened again, leaving us to her servants.