Eldest Twenty Seven

Chapters An Unexpected Ally, Escape
==Summary==
Jeod recognized Roran and so, of course, Roran goes to kill him. Or as he says, knock unconscious. Jeod is not at all alarmed by the people suddenly drawing weapons. Instead he tells them that Brom and Eragon were there a few months ago. We then get a "Who is Saphira?" "What you don't know?" INFODUMP TIME! Roran tells Jeod what happened to him. Jeod tells him what happened with Eragon. Including how Brom died about Murtagh, and the fight with the Varden and how they left for Sudra. It's a sort of silly thing for the Varden to send to Jeod. After all, it contains vital information that is of a sensitive nature. And a letter could easily be intercepted. Especially since the Empire obviously knows that Jeod is involved with the Varden somehow. It wouldn't surprise me if they intercepted all his messages. At least, that's what I would do if I were in charge of such things. Apparently the Empire doesn't think like that, because Jeod did get the message. Roran has a hard time believing this, but eventually does, because of Katrina's sake. He gets angry at Eragon for a few sentences but it goes away. Jeod's wife also makes an appearance to verbally abuse her husband.
Apparently, also, there is only one person named Gertrude in the world. The name Gertrude is what connected Roran to who he really was in Jeod's mind. He somehow made the mental leap from Stronghammer to Roran, despite the beard that hid most of Roran's face, because he figured that the Gertrude that was mentioned was the same Gertrude that Brom mentioned all those months ago. This is an astounding leap of logic to make by Jeod. He had no evidence beforehand to support the idea that they were at all related to Gertrude of Carvahall, or that Stronghammer was really Roran. Yet he was still able to make this connection. The only way this could be is that there is only one Gertrude in the world. Of course we know this is impossible, so then this epiphany was forced upon Jeod so that he and Roran could be come co-conspirators, as opposed to him discovering who Roran is by some other means.
Of course Jeod offers to help Roran and the villagers. And he has a plan, too. Remember that boat that was so lovingly described several chapters ago, the Dragon Wing? Well apparently it is the finest ship ever built and it belongs to the Empire... which apparently needs fronts for businesses. After all, it's the Empire. It runs the place. It shouldn't need to hide its existence from anyone. In any case, they're going to steal it.
This plan finalized, Jeod goes and tells his wife who he really is and Roran and Birgit have a talk. Birgit being Quimby's husband who died all those chapters ago (who Roran said he'd either have to placate or kill). Birgit apparently wants to know if Roran hates Eragon. Roran is undecided. Birgit reminds him that he still owes her for her husband.
Roran then talks to Mandal and gives him a "you need to straighten out" speech. It's very inspiring. He then tells Mandal to go down to the camp -killing anyone who follows him- Roran is getting very paranoid, thinking that everyone is going after him. It's very unlikely that someone will think that Mandal has anything to do with Roran and will follow him. So, now Roran is a cold-blooded, insane, paranoid future king. Wonderful.
They go and steal the boat. When they do this, they meet up with five of Jeod's men who are going to help them steal the ship. One of them protests the presence of women, Birgit in particular. So Roran, much to the astonishment of all assembled, kicks a guy in the nuts and grabs another putting a knife at his throat. Everyone is suitably impressed.
The guy who got kicked in the nuts is then fine. I think Paolini has never been kicked in the nuts. In fact, the guy is able to go swimming without any problems. They board the boat, Roran and the kicked Sailor, from the water and don't kill anyone. In fact they knock people out. I'm very proud of Roran containing his blood lust. The entire scene is vaguely reminiscent of the scene where Jack Sparrow and Will Turner steal the boat in the Curse of the Black Pearl.
In any case, they get the boat ready. Jeod's wife, Helen shows up, apparently deciding to go with him and not stay behind. And then the village shows up. Which is when the guards notice and start firing at the the incoming villagers. So the people on the boat set the wharf on fire. The villagers get onto the boat, with no one dying in the stampede and people firing arrows at him. These villagers are insanely lucky.
As they set sail, Roran muses about how many more did he just kill. And then to stave off guilt he tells himself it's better than being in the Empire's clutches in prison.
So, they sail and sail, and then the Ra'zac show up again. The Ra'zac always seem to show up when it's dramatic for them to show up. They haven't been seen since Narda, but now all of a sudden they're in Teirm and they know that Roran and the villagers have stolen the boat, when there's no real way for them to know, or which way they've gone. Unless the Ra'zac have like some sort of tracking device... a GPS unit that's able to track the villagers. Maybe they're scrying on him. But if they could do that, then they just need to wait for him to stop running and show up and grab him.
The Ra'zac are there, or at least one of them is, and they're not getting to close to the water. They shoot an arrow at the Ra'zac and it makes the million to one shot, grazing the flying beast. The creatures screams really loudly and painfully... and then flies off.
People are happy, but then Roran is all, "But now the Empire knows where we are."
First of all, the Empire apparently knew where they were all along. After all the Ra'zac found them. Second of all, they're on a boat. In the ocean. There's a whole bunch of places they could go. Third of all, they're fleeing the Empire, where else would they go but Sudra? If anyone had any intelligence, they would know this. They would have known this as soon as the village had fled. Roran's statement should hardly be news, but everyone takes it as such.
And that's where the chapter ends. I feel like most of what I did here was summary, but there really wasn't anything to look at. It was just "and stuff happened".
Category:Eldest
Category:Inheritance Cycle