Luminescent (Inheritance Cycle and Beyond)

Chapter Forty-Seven: Brilliant

The sound of crashing masonry caused Eragon and I to pause and look back. Between the peaks of two distant houses, I saw an empty space where the sharp spire of the cathedral used to be. In its place, a column of dust billowed toward the clouds above, like a pillar of white smoke.

"Good riddance." I murmured through my facial scarf as Eragon smiled. We then resumed trotting down the dark, winding cobblestone street, along with Arya, Angela, and Solembum. There were several people already in the streets: merchants going to open their shops, night watchmen on their way to bed, drunk noblemen just emerging from their revels, vagrants sleeping in doorways, as well as soldiers running pell-mell toward the city walls.

All of the people, even those who were running, kept looking in the direction of the cathedral as the noise of the three dragons fighting rumbled through the city. Everyone—from the sore-ridden beggars to the hardened soldiers to the richly dressed nobles—appeared terrified, and none of them gave us so much as a second glance.

All Saphira and Alethea had to do was keep Murtagh and Thorn busy for another few minutes, and then it would be too late for either of them to stop the Varden. However, minutes could be like hours during a battle, and I was acutely aware of how fast the balance of power could change.

A hundred feet ahead, the street we had chosen took a sharp turn and opened onto the square that lay before Dras-Leona's southern gate. We skidded to a stop. Damn it.

Hundreds of soldiers stood gathered before the gate. The men milled about in seeming confusion as they donned weapons and armor, and their commanders bellowed orders at them. The golden thread stitched onto the soldiers' crimson tunics glittered as they rushed to and fro.

One of the soldiers stopped and pointed at us. Double damn it! Alethea jumped down from the rooftops and let out a roar.

"Rebels!" Eragon tore Brisingr from its scabbard as I drew Islingr and sprang forward. Eragon sprang after me with a shout, and the others soon followed us. Alethea dove down from the sky and tore into the soldiers viciously, shaking her head when she caught them and spitting them out. Flights of arrows arced down into the square from the bowmen stationed on the parapet. A handful of the shafts bounced off Eragon and I's wards. The rest killed or injured the Empire's own men.

Despite how fast we were, we couldn't block all the swords and spears poking at us. Our strength was decreasing as our magic repelled the attacks. Some point soon, Eragon and I would be exhausted if we didn't do something now.

I leaped over several heads and spun in a circle, whipping Islingr around and cutting through anything that got in its way. Flashes of red flew into the air as the men unfortunate enough to be near me sank to the cobblestone ground.

I started dancing through the crowd of men, dispatching all that were close enough. After clearing a large group, a gust of wind pushed me down as Saphira barreled past with Thorn hot on the tail.

Thorn followed Saphira closely, teeth bared, flames boiling in his open maw. The two dragons hurtled a half-mile beyond Dras-Leona's yellow mud wall; then they looped around and began to race back. Keep up the distraction Saphira.

Eragon and I looked at each other as a loud cheer was heard. I heard Eragon hiss and turned to see a splotch of red on his arm.

"Eragon?" He glanced at me.

"Dragon blood, can't tell who it's from though."

A soldier with a battle-ax stepped in front of Eragon and started to swing at him. I ran towards the soldier and flipped over his head, swinging Islingr as I went. When I landed, there was a thump behind me. Decapitation complete.