Eragon's point of view  

The next eveningBrom, Joed and I left for our mission. We bribed the castle guard claiming that we needed to go to Joed's office because I had left something valuable there. The guard had also been drinking heavily. Brom unlocked the records room door with magic and then we started reading the shipping records for the past five years.

Suddenly my neck prickled. I tried to ignore the feeling but it didn't go away, annoyed I looked up and was surprised to see a small boy crouched outside the window, but he didn't quite look like a normal boy. His eyes were slanted and a sprig of holly was woven into his black hair. I heard a voice in my head say, "do you need help?"

The voice sounded like Solembum. I asked, "Is that you?"

Solembum replied, "Am I someone else?"

I concentrated on my scroll and said: "if my eyes don't deceive me you are."

The boy smiled slightly and said, "what I look like doesn't change who I am. You don't think I am called a werecat for nothing, do you?"

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

The werecat tilted his head and considered whether the question was worth answering. Finally, he said, "that depends on what you are doing here. If you are reading those scrolls for entertainment I suppose there is no reason for my visit. But if what you are doing is unlawful and you don't want to be discovered I might be here to warn you that the guard you bribed has just told his replacement about you and this second official of the Empire has sent soldiers to search for you."

I said, "Thank you for telling me."

Solembum said, "told you something did I? I suppose I did. And I suggest you make use of it."

I tried to ask Solembum about the information that the werecat had given me during our last encounter about the Menoa tree and the Rock of Kuthian, but the werecat would only say, "exactly what I said."

Eventually, Solumbum left, so I announced: "there are soldiers searching for us."

Brom asked me how I knew. To avoid telling them about Solembum I just said that I had listened in on the guard and that his replacement had sent soldiers to look for us and that they had probably already discovered that Joed's office was empty.

Joed asked me, "are you sure?"

"Yes," I answered impatiently.

Brom said, "it doesn't matter now we have to finish this."

So we read the scrolls as quickly as we could and then we quickly put the last scroll back on the rack. Joed put his ink, quill, and parchment back in his pouch and I grabbed the torch we had taken from the wall. we hurried from the room and shut the door just as we heard the tramp of soldiers' boots at the end of the hall.

We were about to leave when Brom said, "damnation! It's not locked."

he put his hand against the door and the lock clicked just as we could see three armed soldiers coming toward us. One of the soldiers said, "hey! Get away from that door!"

Brom stepped back assuming a surprised expression. The soldiers marched up to us and the tallest one demanded: "why are you trying to get into the records?"

"I'm afraid we lost our way," Joed said nervously.

The soldier ordered one of his men to check the door when they found it locked the soldier said, "I don't know what you were up to but as long as the door is locked I guess you're free to go. Come on."

The soldiers surrounded us and marched us out of the castle. I thought to myself, I can't believe it, they are helping us get away. At the main gates, the soldier pointed and said, "now you walk through those and don't try anything we'll be watching. If you have to come back wait until morning."

"Of course," Joed promised.

We hurried away from the castle. when I heard the gates close behind us I grinned and jumped into the air. Brom shot me a look and growled: "walk back to the house normally you can celebrate there."

Chastised, I did what I was told but inside I still bubbled with energy.

When we got back to Joed's and entered the study I said: "we did it!"

Brom said, "yes but now we have to find out if it was worthwhile."

Joed took out a map of Alegasia and unrolled it on the desk. On the left side of the map, the ocean extended to the unknown West. Along the coast stretched the spine, an immense length of mountains. The Hadarac Desert filled the center of the map the East end was blank. Somewhere in that void hid the Varden.to the south was Surda a small country that had seceded from the Empire after the riders' fall. I had been told that Surda secretly supported the Varden. Near Surda's eastern border was a mountain range labeled Beor Mountains. I had heard of them in many stories, they were supposed to be ten times the height of the spine but I believed that to be exaggerating.

The map was empty to the east of the Beors. There were also seven islands off Alegasia's coast. Off the coast of Surda were, Nia, Parlim, Uden, Illium, and Beirland. Most of these islands were small but Beirland had a small town. Farther up near Teirm was a jagged island called Sharktooth. The last island far to the north I knew without even looking. It was Vroengard the former home of the Riders. I put my finger on Urû'baen and said: "the ra'zac are sure to have a hiding place here."

Brom said, "you had better hope that that isn't their only sanctuary; otherwise you won't get near them."

Joed took his parchment out of his pouch and said, "from what I saw in the records there have been shipments of Seithr oil to every major city in the Empire over the past five years. As far as I can tell, all of them might have been ordered by wealthy jewellers. I'm not sure how we can narrow down the list without more information."

Brom said, "I think we can eliminate some cities, the ra'zac have to travel wherever the king wants and I'm sure he keeps them busy. If they are expected to go anywhere at any time, the only reasonable place for them to stay is at a crossroads where they can reach every part of the country fairly easily."

He was excited now and paced the room. "This crossroads has to be large enough so the Ra'zac will be inconspicuous, it also has to have enough trade so any unusual requests like special food for their mounts, will go unnoticed."

Joed said, "that makes sense. Under those conditions, we can ignore most of the cities in the north. The only big ones are Teirm, Gil'ead, and Ceunon. I know they're not in Teirm and I doubt that the oil has been shipped farther up the coast to Narda-it's too small. Ceunon is too isolated...only Gil'ead remains."

Brom said, "the ra'zac might be there, it would have a certain irony."

"It would at that" Joed said in reply.

"What about southern cities," I asked.

"Well," Joed said, "there's obviously Urû'baen, but that's an unlikely destination. If someone were to die from seithr oil in Galbatorix's court, it would be all too easy for an earl or some other lord to discover that the Empire had been buying large amounts of it. That still leaves many others, any one of which could be the one we want."

"Yes," I said, "but the oil wasn't sent to all of them. The parchment only lists Kuasta, Dras-Leona, Aroughs, and Belatona. Kuasta wouldn't work because it's on the coast and surrounded by mountains. Aroughs is isolated like Ceunon, though it is a center of trade. That leaves Belatona and Dras-Leona, which are rather close together. Of the two, I think Dras-Leona is the likelier it's larger and better situated."

"And that's where all the goods of the Empire pass through at one time or another, including Teirm's," said Joed. "It would be a good place for the ra'zac to hide."

"So... Dras-Leona," said Brom as he sat down and lit his pipe, "What do the records show?"

Joed looked at the parchment. "Here it is. At the beginning of the year, three shipments of Seithr oil were sent to Dras-Leona. Each shipment was only two weeks apart, and the records say they were all transported by the same merchant. The same thing happened last year and the year before that. I doubt that any one jeweller, or even a group of them, has the money for so much oil."

"What about Gil'ead?" Brom asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It doesn't have the same access to the rest of the Empire. And," Joed tapped the parchment, "they've only received the oil twice in recent years." He thought for a moment, then said: "Besides, I think we forgot something- Helgrind."

Brom nodded and said, "Ah yes, the dark gates. It's been many years since I've thought of it. You're right, that would make Dras-Leona perfect for the ra'zac. I guess it's decided, then; that's where we'll go."

We all went to bed exhausted, but before I went to sleep I contacted Saphira to tell her the news. Earlier that day Brom had gone to the demigods' ship and given them money to purchase their horses and told them that they would probably be leaving the next day.