Chapter Fifteen: The King's Plan and a Talk About Shadows

A/N I have no words for how strange it feels to be taking this fic up again after such a long hiatus. I'm not going to offer you any explanations, because you probably don't care about them. You probably just want me to start writing, so you can savor this story. Well here you go! Have fun reading this.

Disclaimer: I am clearly not Rick Riordan or Christopher Paolini because if I was somehow both of them at the same time, I'd not only be immensely rich and famous, but you'd have to be paying for this.

Galbatorix had never felt such darkness in someone. He had felt despair from that foolish Rider's silly spell. He had felt darkness when he examined the minds of those he had broken. But this raw fury and pain was of the likes he had never seen before.

It had caused a mental backlash so powerful that he had retreated into his mind. Even the power of Skolir and Hefnd was not enough to break into his mind. The fact that he of all people could get a hatchling infuriated Galbatorix.

He determined that when he killed the boy that he would take the black and gold dragon. From the glimpse he had gotten of her mind, she was quite strange, filled with anger and bloodlust.

For now, he was going to build up his forces and face other matters. Octavian and Tantalus awaited his attention.

The ghostly king came up to him. He seemed like he was in a state of mild shock. When Galbatorix had managed to awaken the boy Nico's memories of Tartarus, his powers had gone wild, and he had filled all of the ghosts on the battlefield with darkness and the memories of the place.

"Did I not tell you to fight alongside the spirits?"

"Y-y-yes my liege."

"Did you?"

"No."

"I do not tolerate those who disobey me Tantalus."

Galbatorix then spoke Tantalus's true name. He shivered and said,

"I will fight with my men next time."

"Good. Now go and find Octavian and bring him to me."

Galbatorix surveyed the cavern as Tantalus bowed and scurried off. Now there was a large throne which the king sat upon. Across the room, he could see the strange sea creatures called telkhines forging swords out of a mix of steel and the metal they called Celestial Bronze. Nearby, a large Cyclops was taking finished swords and adding Seithr oil to them.

Several snake women were practicing dueling with some of Tantalus's ghosts. Most of his spirits had to be dismissed after the Nico boy's mind had left them crippled. At the other end of the cavern where huge openings carved into the rock that various creatures would pour out of. Octavian assured Galbatorix that they led directly into the pit of Tartarus. How he had done it, Galbatorix didn't care. He only cared that they would stay open and provide him with troops that would never truly die.

Octavian came around the corner, his purple robes and golden jewelry making him easy to spot.

Out of breath, the pale blonde boy spoke,

"You wanted to see me my liege?"

"I did," Galbatorix said, "I wanted to know a few things. I want an update on the progress you are making on my army."

"We have gotten several hundred coming through every hour. Soon, their pitiful group won't stand a shadow of a chance. We've gotten several useful assets, including some empousai, who have the ability to entrance people with their voice. Some of the elder telkhines have even managed to burst through and are now organizing the lesser ones."

"The telkhines are in fact the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. In my final battle before my death, my sword was lost and I did not take it with me to the Underworld. I want them to make me a sword, and use Skolir in the hilt."

"The eldunari?"

"Yes are you deaf? Talk to them, have them send me their finest workers. When we destroy these pitiful demigods, I will ride out myself."

[_]

Nico watched Eragon as he practiced magic. Bianca sat on his shoulder peeping happily. The Rider caused a large rock to rotate at immense speed. The great blue dragon Saphira lay in a patch of sunlight next to the green one of Arya.

Nico suddenly felt a pressure on his mind, which made him panic for a moment, until he realized it was Saphira.

Death Child, you seem troubled. What is the problem? she asked in her raspy dragon's voice.

All this magic is very new to me, he thought at her, I only know how to summon the undead and instant travel.

You can travel instantly?

Yeah, I did it a few times in the battle. I travel from shadow to shadow. The problem is that it becomes harder to do the more that comes with.

Still it sounds useful. Is it as tiring as our spell?

Do you have a similar spell?

Yes. It can travel anything instantly, but according to Oromis something as large as a dragon's egg would leave you too tired to move.

It's not like that, but shadow travel on my own required me to sleep for a while. It's a lot easier now that I have Bianca to help me though.

Nico wondered to himself if he could use a spell to make something like a door through the shadows.

A door would certainly be useful.

I forgot you were still listening.

Eragon had finally taken notice of Saphira and Nico's conversation. He tilted his head as he listened to Saphira describe what had taken place.

"What does this shadow-travel entail?"

"I dissolve into shadows. Since all shadows are technically one and the same, I can instantly be anywhere there is a shadow. It's more useful around the mountain, since it lays such a huge shadow."

"I think the elves and I can think up a spell for a shadow door to get ourselves some reinforcements. Hopefully I can talk Roran into coming our way."

Hopefully you liked this chapter! Sorry it took so long to write. I hope you liked it. Oh, and sorry about the last chapter being all coding. It's something weird with the copy-paste that I keep forgetting to check before I post a new chapter. It should be fixed now.

If you liked this, pop any reviews you want right onto this story and let me know.

See you soon!

-LordofNothing1