Harry tumbled down among the debris and dust. He clawed at the air to grasp a hold of anything he could find. He landed several floors below. Around him the bodies (and parts) of Galbatorix's soldiers rained down. He struggled to get up to his feet. He knew Pandora was up above, still repelling the rest of the soldiers. He stumbled over his robes. Few soldiers stirred feebly. Harry immediately cursed them without a moment's hesitation.

With the ringing in his ears subsiding, he could hear the sounds of fighting and yells from the floors above. He looked down both the ends of the corridor. Knowing Pandora would need his help, he urged himself to carry on.

He ran down the corridor, looking for a way to unite with her and Eragon. He wondered if Eragon had recovered enough to be of any help to Pandora. Squinting through dimly lit corridor he realized he was heading towards a dead end. Upon closer look, it turned out to be a door.

Harry hesitated for a split second then pointed his wand at the lock and said "Alohomora!"

The door didn't budge. Harry pointed at the hinges and asserted, "Reducto!"

Seeing no effect, he stepped back and exclaimed "Bombardo Maxima!"

The door was unable to resist the force of the spell. It cracked at the edges and blasted inwards. Harry followed through the ruined doorway and stepped inside what appeared to be a chamber. As his eyes adjusted to the shadowy gloom of the room, he made out the silhouette of a table at the far end. He scanned the walls. To his despair, there were no signs of an exit. He swore out. He was about to leave, and probably would have left had he not let his eyes linger a second too long on the table. Barely visible in the darkness, were two dully gleaming objects that he had seen before. Infact, it was because of them that he had wound up in that place, in that predicament…

He walked up to the table and beheld two dragon eggs lying on the table.

His hands trembled as he collected the eggs. Pandora had taught him enough lore about dragon-kind for him to stand in open mouthed awe of what he had in his hands. One egg was emerald with malachite veins crisscrossing the skin and running deep inside. The other egg was red. Fiery red veins laced it.

Harry tucked them under his arm, pressing them against his body. The loss of the dragon eggs would hit Galbatorix squarely, and despite Harry's unwillingness to avoid biting off more than he can chew, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

He ran out of the room, his wand pointing ahead, determined to curse anyone who got in the way.

From the other end of the wrecked corridor more troops came. Harry sent off half a dozen stunners towards them when Pandora dropped down into the wreckage from the upper corridor, lending her magic in the fight.

Harry sped up to her, catching a reprieve as the rest of the soldiers finally fled from them, cowering under the might of them combined magic.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU CARRYING?" Pandora screeched when she finally realized what he had cradled in his arms.

Harry returned, exhilarated with his discovery, "Dragon eggs! I lost my way and ended up in a room with these. I see no reason to leave them behind."

"Merlin's saggy left-. Harry" Pandora replied weakly, "Galbatorix will have the entire country baying for our blood for this."

"The stairs are on this end of the corridor," Harry pointed ahead. "You wanna keep moving?"

"No need to. Levitate us out."

"What? No, it's too dangerous, what if we hit something or we fall down?"

Pandora brushed away his misgivings. "It's not terribly high from here. At any rate, we won't get hurt much if we fall."

"Ok …umm we need to be close together for this. Right."

Pandora wrapped her arms around Harry, her body pressed close against Harry's. Despite the tense situation, Harry could not help blushing as he felt the warmth of her skin on him. He pointed his wand at the feet and muttered "Wingardium Leviosa!"

They rose through the hole in the ceiling and fell to their feet on the upper floor.

"So the dragon's awake." thought Harry as they ran to the door that would lead to the hall. His stomach lurched unpleasantly as the recollections of his encounter with the Horntail came back. Then he suddenly remembered with a jolt that she was dead.

"Harry I think it's for the best if we hid the existence of the dragon from Eragon for the present." Pandora said. Harry felt surprised, and a tinge of uneasiness at the request but he nodded at her and wrapped the eggs in his invisibility cloak.

She pushed the door open to reveal the scenes of carnage that matched the ones underground. They jumped over the gore, blood and burnt bodies to the great doors and through them into the darkened courtyard where Saphira and her rider, Eragon battled the soldiers.

"Summon your broom now, Harry we need to leave!" cried Pandora.

"ACCIO FIREBOLT!" Harry thundered.

"Where is it?" Pandora asked expectantly after a couple of moments.

"Well, it has a fair bit of way to travel" Harry retorted defensively.

"Eragon, Harry and I will fly off first and try to draw their fire towards us and then, you and Saphira can make your escape. Keep flying and don't stop until you reach Adunac at the edge of Hadarac. If you feel too weak, stop as per your convenience. We will find you either way."

"Where's Brom?" asked Eragon. Pandora stopped abruptly. She suddenly seemed at a loss for words for a moment.

"Who are you talking about?"

"There were a couple of men I came here with. Jeod and Brom. Have you rescued them too? The last time I saw them Jeod was wounded…badly. We must get them back."

"There she is!" Harry shouted as he spotted the Firebolt speeding towards them. "C'mon Pandora!"

"I am not leaving without them!" declared Eragon hostilely.

Pandora looked at Harry, who shrugged back. The Firebolt screeched to a halt in front of him and he leapt upon it, carefully tucking the invisible dragon eggs under his arm, which was quite a precarious job, and taking care not to alert Eragon and Saphira to their presence.

Pandora took a step forward and said "Look at the state of Saphira. She's near the end of her tether. The only way to survive is to escape from here. If you are hoping to stay behind and fight and look for your comrades, you are walking to your own death."

"Don't you dare use me as your pawn." A voice growled inside all their minds. Harry jumped, later realizing it was Saphira who spoke.

The mention of Saphira's name seemed to have jolted Eragon back to reality. The truth of Pandora's words was undeniable. To stay there was to seal their doom, more importantly, Saphira's; or worse, affirm her inevitable bondage to the king if she were to be caught alive. His face was unreadable. After a moment, he jerked his head at her, looking like the decision cost every ounce of strength left in his body.

Pandora silently climbed behind Harry. He kicked off the ground rising so fast that he was several hundred metres off the courtyard in a matter of seconds.

"Harry we can't get away, we need to cover for them!" cautioned Pandora.

Harry banked left and dived towards a column of soldiers on the battlements. Pandora shouted; blue balls of fire shot out and struck them. Underneath them on the courtyard, Saphira was in the air.

Harry pulled out of the dive and careened towards a large wooden contraption on the walls, a ballista. He pointed his wand at it yelled "Bombardo"

"Good shooting Harry!" Pandora yelled enthusiastically, raining down spells on the soldiers below.

"Over there!" pointing where Saphira was flying sluggishly; arrows and rocks that the Firebolt was too deft for came dangerously close to hitting Eragon and her. Harry flew behind them deflecting any projectiles that were aimed for the two of them.

They were soon far out of reach of walls. The twilight swallowed them, hiding them from the sight of their enemies. Saphira soon expressed that she was too fatigued and wounded to make it all the way to the Hadarac and had to stop.

Harry flew forward, leading the way to their camp. As soon as they landed on the ground Saphira collapsed, spent with exhaustion and weakly breathing. Solembum came bounding to Pandora. He was in his human form in tattered clothes and grasping a dagger; and staring at Saphira with wide eyed astonishment.

Harry went close to her, watching with wonder and concern. Eragon was on his knees beside her, patting her snout with a concentrated look on his face. Saphira's eyes were closed, her torso heaving with every breath. The blood had just begun to dry on her wounds; there were dull slivers of red where the blood had dried among the pools of glistening fresh blood on her injuries. Harry had only a basic idea of healing spells. Pandora taught him as much as she could about them during his brief time in Alagaesia, but Harry himself knew it was inadequate.

Eragon was trying to heal Saphira's wounds by himself but it was evident he could barley muster the strength to keep himself upright. His hand (Harry was quick to notice the strange mark on his palm) was poised over her wounds and shining dully. She weakly lifted her head and nudged his hand away, as if to stop him from spending himself fully.

"Before we can attempt to repair her physical wounds, we must see to the magic that still affects her." Announced Pandora, "Luckily, her dragon hide combined with the ineptitude of the magicians who went after her prevented the worst."

"How can I help, Pandora?" asked Harry.

"There's not much you can do to help here. The few spells I taught you work only on humans. But you can secure this camp. Cast the protective enchantments around this. Don't stretch them too far keep them close, not further than half a dozen meters from us."

In an undertone, she told him, "Find a safe place to hide the dragon eggs. Be prepared to retrieve and flee with them if anything wrong were to happen tonight."

"Solembum, prepare a bed for Eragon." Pandora's eyes softened as she looked at him. It was the first time she had addressed him after arriving. She said "I need you to keep guard tonight. We can't let ourselves be found by Urubaen but if it comes to that, no matter what happens, Saphira and Eragon must be able to escape. There can be no reprieve or rest tonight, I am afraid."

"For you I will do it, friend." uttered Solembum and set himself to work.

Harry slowly walked around the perimeter of their camp, articulating the spells Pandora taught him.

"Salvio Hexia." Harry looked back at the three of them. Pandora was persuading a nearly semi-conscious Eragon to lie down while she tended to Saphira's wounds. She was getting out her pewter and ingredients to start making healing potions for Saphira. They all knew the risk it entailed to light a fire out in the open at night, but there was no other way to doctor the dragon to health. Nor could they spend more than a night there so close to the capitol. The only source of relief was the absence of the king and his gifted sorcerers who, no doubt, would have ferreted out their shoddily camouflaged location in minutes had they been not absent.

"Protego Totallis." He murmured, walking deliberately around the camp.

Eragon lay back on the makeshift bed that Solembum made for him. Despite being dog tired, with the after effects of the numbing spells and draughts the sorcerers force-fed him, he still fought to keep awake.

"So tell me, is Brom dead?" He asked quietly.

Pandora stopped working for a second and replied, "We don't know. They didn't take anyone else with you inside the castle. Besides, we did not find anyone else."

Eragon made no reply.

She continued hesitantly, "But I remember seeing a couple of bodies lying in the courtyard when they removed you from the carriage. You and Saphira were in a stupor so you were not aware. They were covered in bags and tied up."

She continued, "Eragon. I once knew Brom. He was a good man as you already know. I saw him several times while we were with the varden. I knew Jeod too though distantly. I am sure Brom would have wanted you to leave him behind in that situation. He would not have begrudged you and Saphira but instead would have insisted that you save yourselves. I knew him well enough to say that."

Eragon nodded his head. In the dim glow of the magical fire, Harry could see the glint of the tears that formed in his eyes and were beginning to flow down his face. "Not...not as well… as I did, I suppose."

He turned around, his shoulders shaking with each sob and his face hidden in his hands. Both Pandora and Harry were deathly quiet. Saphira shifted near him, expressing her grief in a low growl, and touched his body with hers. There was nothing either of them could do or offer, but work and wait silently as the young rider and his dragon lamented the death of their friends.