Previously:

"You think that's Percy?" Selina questioned anxiously. They were running out of time.

"Yeah, and Saphira and the others are not too far from here."

"That's lucky." Selina said in surprise.

"Is it though?" Ethan said dubiously.

"Let's just go," Selina grabbed the arms of both of the boys with her and dragged them towards the guards. "We need to get Percy there before they kill Galabatorix otherwise he will feel left out."

My mother, Blackjack and I were brought out of our game of Go-Fish when we heard a loud smash against the doors of the treasury.

"Don't worry, Percy, we'll get you out of there!" Was that Ethan? "Just as soon as we-hey! Watch where you put that thing. You could poke someone's eye out!"

"Ethan, that's Percy's magic keeping the doors shut," I think that one was Silena.

"How would I know? I've never been too good at magical signatures, you know that!"

"Ethan, you are an idiot," Silena said. "You should know Percy's at least, you're a Chaos warrior assigned to him!"

"You're lack of faith is unappreciated." Ethan said.

"That's not how the quote goes." Beckendorf's unmistakeable voice wafted through the doors in an amused tone.

"Shut up, Beckendorf."

I opened the doors in time for a black guard to come flying through. Unfortunately, I didn't step aside in time. I fell to the ground in an undignified heap.

My mom laughed along with Blackjack as I groaned and pushed the heavy, dead load off.

"Sorry, Perce." Beckendorf said sheepishly.

"Never mind that, Eragon got in battle mode right now. We need to go." I rushed. I'd been tracking when Eragon and his friends got into battle mode through my domains. It has been helpful in knowing how close they were. The fights have been getting more frequent recently.

We snuck into the room in time to hear Galabatorix say, "Did you really believe that I was ignorant of your ability, child? Did you really think you could render me helpless with such a petty, transparent trick? Oh, I have no doubt your words could harm me, but only if I hear them." He laughed. "Such folly. This is the extent of your plan? A girl who cannot speak unless I grant her leave, a spear more suited for hanging on a wall than carrying into battle and a collection of Elundarí half out of their minds with age? Tut-tut, I had thought better of you, Arya and you, Glaedr but then I suppose your emotions have clouded your reason since I used Murtagh to slay Oromis."

"You forgot about me," I growled. The way he dismissed Eragon's group was expected but he used the death of Oromis in such a way that grated on my patience. I also didn't like how he just..forgot about me. Did he think I would stay in the treasury indefinitely? I mean, I could. Would I?

Maybe.

"Ah, yes, the mysterious Dragon Rider from a far off land," Galabatorix's eyed my group and now he was apprehensive. "Impressive how you were able to trap me in your own mind but as you can see, it didn't last." He opened his arms wide smugly. "And how you got Kílf to trust you... that is indeed a significant feat. But you still have no hope of defeating me."

He knew so much about Eragon and the Varden but his knowledge of me and everyone that came with me is lacking to put it simply. I found it funny. So funny, I laughed out loud.

It was quiet in response to my laughter. Although I saw Arya and Eragon smirk.

"I thought you would know more, Tori," I said once I calmed down. "It's not exactly like I was hiding things about myself."

Galabatorix's face clouded over with simmering rage. "Then what, pray tell, am I missing?"

"Now that would be telling." I tsked, shaking my head.

"Lord Percy, we do not have time for your games," Arya said, eyeing the king warily.

"Indeed, you've come to end the life of prosperity I can bring to Alagaësia." Galabatorix said in such a mournful tone, I could see Eragon shift uneasily. The king's voice had something to it that drew you in. Almost like charmspeak but not really because he didn't have that power. "But what can one expect when you listen to the minds of grieving dragons and dragons whose minds have deteriorated with isolation? Not to mention goddesses who have had limited interaction with living beings for hundreds of years."

That was uncalled for, I thought. Then I realized as Eragon, Arya, Saphira and my mother started for the dais he sat on that he was baiting them. Poor Glaedr. If he wasn't reacting on emotions before, he certainly was now. Glaedr yelled mentally in anger and a hoard of dragons attacked the king at once.

His smirk was the only warning I got before he rose from his throne and shouted the Word. The Name of the Ancient Language followed by a string of words almost too fast for me to understand.

The result had all of us frozen where we stood. Eragon almost mid stride. Only our eyes and mouths were able to move.

"Percy," my mom growled as she struggled against the spell.

I knew what she wanted. Almost smirking, I opened my mouth to speak the Word as well but I was interrupted.

"Percy, wait." Beckendorf's voice caught my attention and my eyes focused on him. He was staring at some device in his hands, frowning in concentration.

"What is it?" I asked. Eragon and the others, I could tell, were fighting Galabatorix in his mind. They kept him distracted enough for Beckendorf and I to have our conversation.

"He's got hostages," he fiddled some more as I glanced around the room. "But why are the signatures so small?" He muttered the last bit quietly, confused.

My heart dropped and I felt an overwhelming sense of rage. "Children."

Beckendorf's head shot up with horror. "No. He wouldn't."

I nodded gravely. He must have planned to use them to manipulate Eragon and his friends when they started doing things that weren't in his playbook. "Where are the signatures?"

He pointed.

Willing the magic to work in my favor, I started in the direction he indicated, distracting everyone in the room. Galabatorix's mouth hung open, gapping like a fish. Too soon, it was clamped shut, as if he'd realized what he was doin.

"Percy? How?" Mom watched, astounded.

I ignored her for now. Instead, I reached through the wards and gently pulled out two kids. One boy and one girl. The girl was the youngest, she clung to the older boy, hiding behind him.

"It's alright now," I said, putting a little soothing power in my words. "He can't hurt you anymore. I've got you."

"Mama?" The little girl asked fearfully. She clenched her brother's shirt with one hand and in the other, she gripped a worn, dirty doll.

I suppressed the urge to turn to Galabatorix and throttle him. "We will find your Mama in a while, little one. Right now, we need to make sure the king cannot hurt anyone else."

I had my back to the king at the moment and if it weren't for Blackjack being able to warn me of danger, it would have been a very stupid thing to do.

The young boy peeked around me, glaring daggers at the tyrant. "Can I help?"

There was no helping the small chuckle that escaped me. "I will let you know when you can step in," I told him. "What are your names?"

"Jack Erickson." The boy answered, puffing out his chest. "This is my sister, Jessie."

"Well, you and Jessie head over to that black dragon and the pretty lady over there. They will be able to keep you safe when we start fighting the king." I pointed at Blackjack and Silena.

"So sure of conflict, Lord Percy?" Galabatorix's voice remained confident and smooth but I saw the truth. I took his main bargaining chip from him. He's going to be anything but happy.

I turned and looked at him incredulously. "Did you honestly see this going any other way?" I demanded.

"Sadly, no," he did not look sad in the slightest to me but I could tell he'd become the master at not only word play but how to manipulate your feelings. "But you continue to do things you should not be able to. Why is that? Who are you?"

Finally, he was curious. If a little intimidated. "You wish to know who I am?" I smirked. "I am offended you do not know already with your spies in the Varden. Did they think me unimportant?"

"No, Percy, your sisters made it so any one not allied with the Varden forgot any pertinent information about you until you told him yourself." Silena said from the other side of the room.

My eyebrows rose even as Galabatorix's face flushed with red anger. "Really?" I laughed. "The all powerful king, thwarted by a forgetting spell?" I laughed some more since it seemed to be making him more and more mad. "Very well, Tori, I will tell you."

And since I wanted to impress upon him the enormity of who was messing with, I unfurled my golden wings to their full length and released some of my power. Sparks played at my finger and wing tips. "I am Perseus, son of Chaos, the Ancient One, brother to the Fates." I glowered at him. "You have made the Fates angry and they have sent me to deal with you."

"Son of the Ancient One?" Galabatorix seemed to finally be giving me the trepidation I deserved from him. He knew normal spells would be fruitless against me. I could see his wheels turning. Despite the previous stated fact, he thought he still had an edge against me with the Word.

"This explains...so much." He said thoughtfully. "No matter. I know how to subdue you. You are young. You will be a challenge, yes, but one I can overcome. It has been a while since I've had such a challenge." Then he had the nerve to speak the Word again and I was frozen once more in an illusion of a trap.

I tried physically escaping just to humor him. This made Eragon yell in frustration.

"How is it you can do this?" He shouted, staining every muscle in his body.

"I would like to know this as well." Arya didn't bother struggling against the invisible bonds.

"Can you not guess, elfling?" Galabatorix smirked.

I rolled my eyes as Arya responded with, "I would prefer an answer to a guess."

"He knows the name of the Ancient Language." I said, grinning as I saw Tori go red in the face again because I ruined his fun. "Yes, you are so clever, can we get to the part where this gets interesting?"

"Percy, let him have his moment," Ethan scolded.

"I agree with Percy," Kílf grumbled, still unable to move. She sent me a glare that I pretended not to see.

"With this Word, I can reshape spells as easily as another magician might command the elements. All spells will be subject to me but I am subject to none, except for those of my choosing."

I was getting incredibly bored of this and was looking around the room to find some form of entertainment. What looked like leathery cutains behind Galabatorix was Shruikan's wings. I knew Blackjack would have the best chance against him, being almost two times the size of Saphira. He'd grown quite a bit now that I see him next to the blue dragon. I let Galabatorix continue monologuing as I planned ways to attack.

Eragon's sense of rekindling hope made it's way to my distracted mind. This was good. He found something he could exploit. At one point, another Rider and a red dragon entered the room. I was still distracted by thinking of ways to get Shruikan to heal somewhat but I registered it enough to note that Galabatorix had a hold on the Rider that was weakening.

I was broken out of my reverie when Eragon started challenging the king.

"Why won't you fight me? Are you a coward? Or are you too weak to match yourself against me? Is that why you hide behind these children like a frightened old woman?"

Grinning, I looked to Tori to see his response. This was more up my ally.

The king frowned. "I am not the only one who brought a child here today."

"There is a difference: Elva agreed to come. But you didn't answer the question. Why won't you fight? Is it that you've spent so long on your throne and eating sweats that you have forgotten how to swing a sword?"

"You would not want to fight me, young one." Growled Galabatorix.

"He might not." With a metallic ring, I brought out my sword. "But I certainly do."

Riptide came to meet Galabatorix's jagged white blade with a crash.

Murtagh, the other rider, rushed to help Galabatorix but the king shouted, "No! I've got this young one. He will be gone soon then we'll deal with the rest for his displeasing actions."

"What makes you so certain that I am so young?" I asked. "You know better than anyone that appearances are deceiving."

He growled again and struck hard at my ribs only to be blocked by my glowing bronze sword.

Fighting him was like fighting the Minotaur. It was as if I expected him to come up with something different every time we met but the only thing he changed was his appearance and maybe his weapon. Galabatorix attempted fighting mentally but it had about the same affect as last time he tried.

That is to say, none.

It was so easy, I started talking to Murtagh in the Ancient Language.

"So you are Eragon's half brother," I stated, glancing at him momentarily. "Pleasure to meet you." Pausing to combat one of the king's moves with a pretty complex move of mine, (just to keep it interesting) I grinned to see from the corner of my eye that he was shocked from my statement.

"I wouldn't worry about Galabatorix for too long, he's running out of time." I finished.

"No!" Galabatorix shouted angrily then shouted the Word again. Again, I was frozen and I huffed. I was getting tired of playing his game. The words I'd just spoken null and void, the oath made by my statement in the Ancient Language no longer sealed. "This is getting annoying."

"Do something, already, Percy!" Mom growled. She's getting impatient.

I shrugged. "I don't know what though. He doesn't understand the impact of his actions. There's nothing really that I could do besides killing him, but Atropos wanted something worse than that."

"Like what?" Ethan asked, morbidly curious.

I grinned, making several people shudder and Ethan smile.

Suddenly, I felt a tug from Eragon. He was reaching for energy from the Eldunarí and Saphira. I saw his intent and grinned even more. I sent some energy his way and changed the magic around him a little so it would go through Tori's wards if the loophole didn't work.

What he was trying to do was getting him t0 understand. To completely know the wrongness of his actions. Since it was an attempt to communicate, it shouldn't be blocked by his wards but incase it was, I fixed it.

The lights dimmed. Lines on Galabatorix's face deepened. "What have you done?" His voice was hollow and strained. "What have you done?"

Eragon grinned tiredly. "Made you understand."

Galabatorix looked at him with horror. His body was shaking, face contorting. "You will not get the better of me, boy. You...will...not..."

My eyes widened. The magic was gathering around him and his dragon. I knew he was going to blow himself up but Atropos would kill me if I let him to that. So I did the first thing that came to my mind.