She caught a Kull between her talons and carried the screaming creature aloft, tearing at him with her fangs. They tried to scatter but were trapped against the mountainside. Saphira dived at the Urgals, bellowing fiercely. With an agonizing effort, he tore his gaze from her and plunged forward, wrenching Zar’roc from its sheath. “No!” cried Eragon, shouting with his mind,Come back! but she continued, heedless to his pleas. Saphira took off without warning and wheeled back toward the Urgals. “Run!” barked Murtagh, drawing his sword and slapping the horses on their flanks. The narrow shore forced the bulky Kull to march single file.

Immediately the horde split and started around both sides of the lake, leaving Eragon and Murtagh without an escape route. One of them gestured at Saphira guttural words drifted over the water. By the shore of Kóstha-mérna, where they had been only minutes before, hulking figures streamed out of the forest. They were halfway to the waterfall when Murtagh warned, “Urgals!”Įragon whirled around, rocks spraying from under his heel. There was barely enough room for Saphira between the sheer valley wall and the lake she had to walk with two feet in the water. The pebbles underfoot were damp and slime covered. “Yes.” Eragon took the lead and picked his way along the lake’s left side. “Do we go to the falls?” asked Murtagh tightly. At the lake’s far end, a broad sheet of water tumbled down a black cliff into boiling mounds of froth. The mountain walls restricted passage around Kóstha-mérna to a thin strip of shore on either side of the lake, both no more than a few steps wide. The water gleamed with flickering starlight. The deep lake Kóstha-mérna filled the valley, blocking their way. They were on a pebble beach directly to the left of the mouth of the Beartooth River.

The forest ended, and Murtagh pulled the horses to a stop. The waterfall throbbed dully ahead of them, drowning out the sounds of the night. Eragon glanced over his shoulder, expecting Urgals to rush out of the darkness. I’ll do my best,she said as she shouldered her way between two trees, scraping off slabs of bark. He may do something foolish, and I don’t want him killed by accident. The waterfall was growing louder.I want you to watch Murtagh closely when we get to the Varden. Her tail swished over his head.If he wanted to harm you, he could have done it long ago.Ī branch whipped Eragon’s neck, causing a line of blood to appear on his skin.

“Maybe you’re an assassin,” stated Eragon flatly.

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