Fire and Ice: Murtagh's New Story Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Gate

“You’re a…a…?” he stuttered. It was odd to hear it coming from him; he wasn’t the type to be shocked by much.

“A what? A female or an elf?” She laughed. He thought about it for a second.

“Both!” he said, throwing his hands in the air smiling. Icenia laughed as she cleaned the blood from her blades with a cloth from her bag. She tossed it to him when she was done. He thanked her.

“That was incredible!” he said.

“Thanks. I’ve had a long time to prefect my skills.” she smiled as she slid her blades back into their sheaths.

“You being an elf, I can imagine.”

“We should go. Someone is waiting for us outside,” she said, replacing the blood soaked cloth in her bag. He nodded.

“Well he took that surprisingly well,” Aquasari noted.

“Aye. That shows he has real character.”

“Yes.”

She hadn’t noticed it before, but Murtagh was very attractive. He had a serious face that was ruggedly handsome and framed by his bangs that fell just past his eyes. Their ferocity, depth, and intensity were incredible; like someone captured and condensed ice-blue fire then made his eyes. She could loose herself in them forever.

To her, there are two kinds of attractiveness: pretty and rugged. Pretty was nice, they were nice to look at; but she liked rugged better. Murtagh was the very definition of rugged. She could see he was muscular, not a big blacksmith type, but more like a soldier. That only added to his rugged looks. He was in one word, sexy. The best-looking creature in Alagaësia.

“Uh? Are you alright?” Murtagh asked, giving her a quizzical look as she shook the thought out of her head.

“Aye, I’m fine. Just talking to someone,” she lied, tapping her temple with her finger. He nodded.

They walked over to the bale covering the trap door. Beating him to it, she grabbed two of the strings that held the bale together, picked it up and threw it onto another one. Shock crossed Murtagh’s face. Icenia flexed her arms and kissed her biceps jokingly. This made Murtagh laugh, his crooked smile made her feel like she was melting into a puddle on the floor. His deep voice was music to her ears. Icenia chuckled back. He pulled open the trap door, holding out his hand to help her down the small latter under it. She smiled sweetly at him.

“Thanks…” she jumped into the hole, not even bothering with the latter, “…but no thanks,” she said. He chuckled and came down the ladder.

“Coming?” she asked jokingly.

“Yes, just a little slower. I am a mere mortal, you know,” he replied, making her laugh.

After a bit of searching, Icenia pulled a torch out of her bag. Holding it in her left hand, she pulled the glove off her right, the one with the gedwëy ignasia on it. She held it to the torch and muttered, “Brisingr”. Aquamarine fire erupted from her palm and lit the torch, making Murtagh jump. After a few seconds, it turned its natural color. He looked at it from her.

“So where does this tunnel lead?” he asked. She pulled her glove back on and dug for the map in her bag. Finding it, she pulled it out and opened it.

“We are here.” She pointed to where they were on the map.

“So it leads to the gate? We should come out in an abandoned building near the gate,” he said, tracing the tunnel with his finger. She nodded and put it away. They went down the tunnel side by side. It was deadly silent.

“Why are you helping me?” he suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

“I shouldn’t be telling you this, but you can be a great help to the resistance. If you agree, of course. We were supposed to gain your trust before anything else so you’d feel obligated to help us if you weren’t already going to. I can’t tell you how yet, but I promise you’ll find out eventually.”

“So you were after me personally?”

“Aye.”

“How did you find out about me?”

“I can’t explain all of it, but one of our spies here identified you; the same one that’s waiting for us at the other end of the tunnel. I’ve known him for a long while, he’s a good man.” In the flickering light of the torch, his eyes flashed with humor.

“His name wouldn’t happen to be Tornac, would it?”

“Maybe.”

“So that’s how you found me and how you knew I was escaping. Then you built a plan around mine. Very clever, Lady Elf.”

“Thank you. Most elves are very formal and that title is good to use if you do not know our ways, but I, however, find such unnecessary niceties irksome. Please, call me Icenia,” she chuckled.

“Alright, Icenia,” he replied.

Then they walked in silence. Not far past the ¾ marker, she stopped suddenly. Murtagh opened his mouth to ask something, but she held up her hand for silence. Boot steps, lots of them, were above them. Galbatorix knew and he’d sent men to block the gate! Murtagh must have heard them too because his eyes became wide with realization.

“Barzûl!” she cursed as she pulled off her bow, which had been across her shoulders. Murtagh was fitting his quiver on his cloak so he could reach his arrows quickly. His long bow lay at his feet. Her dwarvish curse made him look momentarily from his work in surprise.

When he finished, they took off down the tunnel at a run. She had to go slow for him to keep up, but not as slow as she had expected. He ran fast for a human. They burst through the door at the end, bows nocked and ready Tornac stood in the corner. He was tall; his hair and beard were brown with hints of gray. He had a one-handed sword at his waist. He was about middle age and looked like he had seen many battles and lived to tell about them.

“Soldiers just came by. They were heading towards the gate. There were about twenty or so; I think we’ve been discovered,” he said.

“Aye, we heard them in the tunnel,” Icenia said.

“Be ready. When we get out we’ll have soldiers on our tail,” she told Aquasari.

“I already am,” was the reply.

“Is she ready?” Tornac asked.

“Yes, I just spoke with her.”

“Good.” Murtagh looked confused during this conversation.

“Let’s go,” Tornac said as they drew their swords. They crept out of the door. They sneaked around the deserted buildings until they reached the gate.

“Here we go,” Icenia whispered as they peaked around the last building. She could see the gate and the soldiers. “There’s about twenty-eight of them,” she said as she turned back to Murtagh and Tornac. They both cursed.

“Is there anyway for you to fly in and pick us up?” Icenia asked.

“No, I’ll be spotted by archers on the wall, and they aren’t even the biggest concern. I’m worried more worried about Galbatorix’s flying out to stop us. We are powerful, but fighting him would be suicide.”

“Yes,” Icenia sighed.

“Be safe, but do not fear. You were selected for this mission for a reason. Your skill with a blade is legend, even among our people. Show these fools and Galbatorix what happens when they cross us! Just don’t get hurt.”

“Twenty-eight against three,” Icenia chuckled, “now things are becoming a bit more even.”

“Be aware of any tricks.”

“I will.”

“Good luck.”

“You too.” She looked back at the two men and chuckled. “Twenty-eight against three, now things are becoming a bit more even.”

Tornac rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded like “crazy ass elf”. Murtagh just gave her a look like she had gone mad, and then shrugged. She chuckled again.

“Ready?” she asked. Tornac sighed.

“As ready as we’re going to get,” he said.

They leapt out from behind the building and stood before the soldiers. One man stood in front of the others, the commander; he was short, stocky and had an arrogant sneer.

“That’s a dangerous sword you got there, girly. Give it to me and maybe the king will show some mercy. Maybe he’ll even give you to me,” he grinned maliciously. A quiet growl came from her throat. “Come on little girly, what do you say?” This set her over the edge.

“Who are you calling little, ya damn pup?” she snarled. Tornac and Murtagh stared at her wide-eyed. “I was kicking asses like yours since before you were draggin’ on your mama’s tit!”

“Hey, watch it you little…”

“Or what?” she interrupted. “What are you going to do puny human? Boy, I’m an elf! I can rip your head off and shove it up your ass before you can even lay a hand on your sword hilt!”

A vicious yell erupted from his throat and he charged at her, sword in hand. She held her hand out to the others to stay back. When he reached her, she stabbed him in the gut with Regaris. She spun around and slashed him left shoulder to right hip across his front. He fell, landing on his back. Completely covered in blood, he lay there gasping like a fish on the dock. She walked over, looking down on him.

“Told ya so, bitch,” she said. Then she took mercy on him and killed him; putting him out of his misery. Eyes blazing, she walked back to the others. She looked at all the soldiers. “Alright, who’s next?” she asked in a dangerous voice.

The soldiers looked at the three of them for a moment and then charged. Swords clanged and the metallic scent of blood filled the air. Icenia cut down any soldier in reach. Moving fluidly, she killed one and went to the next. She was too fast for them to do much of anything.

One of them was coming up behind Murtagh, who was busy, sword raised and ready. Icenia spotted him. With a flick of her tail, she sent Skulblaka flying. It buried itself deep into his back and he collapsed. She pulled it out of the corpse with her tail and yelled at Murtagh, “Back to back.” They stood back to back, swords blazing in the light of the full moon. Her face pulled into a feral snarl.

The ground was littered with bodies. The scent of death and gore was thick and almost made her gag. They cut down the last two soldiers. She had gotten a cut on her right shoulder but that was her only injury. Murtagh and Tornac had some cuts and bruises but that was it. They pulled out their rags to clean their blades. Murtagh went over to Tornac to use his cleaning rag.

Suddenly, Tornac pushed Murtagh away from him. An arrow was protruding from his chest. Icenia pulled her bow out of her quiver. She nocked an arrow and shot the archer on the wall. It hit him in the forehead. Murtagh called Tornac’s name as he lowered the man to the ground gently. Icenia was at his side in a moment. The light was already gone from his eyes.

“No,” Murtagh whispered.

Icenia stood up and blasted open the huge metal gates. Putting her hand on Murtagh’s shoulder, she said quietly, “We have to go. I can hear soldiers coming.” they were coming fast. He stood up slowly, sheathing his sword and dagger.

She grabbed his hand and they ran out of the gates. They ran into the forest, going as fast as Murtagh could. They reached a clearing. Standing there, glittering in the moonlight was Aquasari. Murtagh stopped and looked at her in awe.

“She won’t harm you, I’m her rider. We are going to fly out of here,” Icenia said, grabbing his hand again and running up to her. Aquasari crouched down and stretched her leg out for them to use as a ramp. Icenia ran up and jumped into the front part of the double saddle, slipping her feet into the leg straps. She helped Murtagh into the back part of it.

Angry yells came from the direction of Urûbaen. Quickly securing themselves to the saddle, Icenia’s thin fingers moved quickly.

“Alright, go!” she said to Aquasari. The dragon crouched down, building power in her powerful hind legs. “Hold on,” she tells Murtagh. He quickly wraps his arms around her waist. Then Aquasari sprung into the air, throwing them back. With a few strong wing beats, they are high above the forest and gaining height. Aquasari flew fast with quick and powerful wing strokes. Soon they had left Urûbaen far behind them.