When Destiny Burns, Ep. 1: A Halo and Inheritance Cycle Crossover

Chapter 7. 4 Poison pt. 1

Four hours later, on the fields outside Farthen Dûr.

For several hours straight, the Spartan had used his newly acquired magical abilities to collapse all the entries into the city-mountain of Tronjheim. He had found that it was possible for Aeraleth to grant him additional energy when needed, which would be very handy in the coming fight. In having learned the new magical word 'Thrysta', which meant push, the two of them had collapsed over a dozen tunnels together in the span of two hours, after which the Spartan had moved on to the three major tunnels where the urgals would be coming from.

But now, all that remained was waiting for the battle to commence. Which was a grievous abuse of time, as he could easily dart into the tunnels to perform hit-and-run tactics on the enemy armies.

'This will be our second fight against the urgals,' Aeraleth told him as she rested beside him. 'I long to tear my foes apart with my teeth and talons, but I am also worried.'

'For what?' He asked. The mass evacuation of noncombatants was streaming out of Tronjheim, with a small group of warriors sent to escort them/ But most of the activity was at the base of the city-mountain, where the army of the Varden was being divided into three battalions. Most of the men were already waiting for the signal to be given, armed with simple plating and spears and swords. Eragon and his dragon were sitting between the second and first battalion, a small group of dwarves was heading out to meet them.

'For you. The last time you faced those grey-skinned walkers, you nearly severed the bond between us just to block me out. And then the only thing that was left was an aggression rivalled only by the wildest of dragons.'

The Spartan nodded, remembering the battle where he had lost control over himself. His aggressive tendencies were slowly becoming obvious and there was pretty much nothing he could do to block them out. Emotions, pain and pain alike could be banished from his mind without a second thought. But that...animalistic need to kill would take control over him.

He needed to work harder. He couldn't allow himself to slip and harm allies during the fight. 'I'll make sure that there won't be anyone friendly around.'

Aeraleth hummed with pleasure as she watched a few dwarves approach her as well, holding a large plate of dried meat. 'I will make sure that I am around you.'

He watched as the dwarves near Eragon revealed a large bundle of yellow-orange armour to the boy. The armour was too large and complicated to be for a human, so it had to be meant for the dragon.

'Have you talked to Eragon yet?' Aeraleth asked him.

'Negative.' Maine had been working near the kid the whole time, but he had felt zero need to initiate contact with him. He had watched Aeraleth and the blue dragon –Saphira- work together on several occasions, but such things were below him.

Or well above him. Whatever.

After a few minutes, during which Eragon and Saphira were getting armoured and the men had readied themselves, the three divisions of soldier started to march.

Closing in on one of the collapsed tunnels, the Spartan noticed that the entrance had been decorated with lanterns, trenches and sharpened stakes. The rubble inside of the tunnel had been positioned that it would be easy for soldiers to climb out, for some reason.

He frowned when he saw the sloppy work. There were a dozen ways that could be employed to kill the urgals; collapsing the tunnels on top the humanoids, for example.

While he and Aeraleth watched the men stream towards the battlefield, he spotted a man and a horse approaching Eragon while Ajihad lagged behind. The dark-skinned man wore a breastplate and a pale sword, but not much more.