Eldest Chapter 15 & 16

These chapters are called ‘diamonds in the night’ and ‘under a darkling sky’.

Roran is a sad panda. With his world turned upside down he hasn’t any clue as to what to do. So basically nothing’s changed for the idiot. He wanders about and hears some wounded crying out. Don’t worry, it’s nobody with a name or anything. Chris can’t let main characters, or even secondary ones, get more than superficially wounded. And no, neither Brom nor Garrow count. They had to die for ‘dramatic’ effect.

Roran is tired, he walks around and meets up with some named NPCs having a chat. They’re not sure what to do about soldiers. They could run but the soldiers have the road blocked off. Really, the road’s blocked? I guess you’re as good as glued in place guys. ‘Okay, everything outside of the road is lava!’ ‘Hey, no fair! You can’t do that!’ ‘Yeah-huh. I’m like a master wizard sorcerer and I used my magic to make all the lava.’

There’s a little dissension among the townsfolk when one of them blames Roran for their troubles. This gets swept under the rug and forgotten quicker than the last winner of the Tour de France. Horst is going to make spearheads and some other guy is going to work on shields, and they needed a meeting to determine this? ‘Well, after the attack last night I’m not sure what to do.’ ‘We could try making things to fight off the next attack.’ ‘Now that’s pure madness, especially with all the canning I’ve yet to get to.’ ‘That might be less important than fighting off invaders.’ ‘You, clearly, have never tried my jellied turnips.’

Some good news for a change, they want to put Roran in charge of their defenses. Wait, that’s not good news. What’s the opposite? Oh yeah, it’s like putting a grenade in front of a raven who really, really wants that shiny thing holding it together. How did they decide that anyway?

‘We need someone to go around and inspect our defenses’ ‘Ah, but who do we trust enough for that?’ ‘There’s Chet the retired imperial soldier who was discharged after he spoke ill of the king, Marcus who served under the Varden until a knee injury forced him to retire, or Roran an eighteen year old angsty punk who’s first taste of combat was last night and who went scurrying under a table until the Ra’zac left.’ ‘Clearly Roran is the best choice.’ ‘I second the motion!’

Roran runs around, telling the men to go cut down some trees, saying they need sixty. Oh yeah, that can be done in no time. He also tells them to make sure the trees have branches on the lower trunk otherwise they won’t work. Yes, the better to make an impromptu ladder for the soldiers. He also has the women and children dig a trench around the town which they’ll fill with sharpened spikes.

It’s a good thing the Ra’zac are upright and honorable fighters. It is, after all, only fair that they give the townsfolk all day to prepare their defenses. I mean, who would want to attack the men who wandered into the forest to cut down trees? Only a savage beast and the Ra’zac are evil, not savages.

Roran Wakes: 3

Roran goes to sleep and is woken up by Katrina. He whines about killing men, showing infinitely more compassion that his cousin ever has, and she pats him on the head. Using that romantic gesture to soften the mood, he asks her to marry him and she accepts.

The next chapter opens with Roran being way too happy. He goes on about their love being huge and dwarfing everything. I guess he wasn’t able to feel things for her until he was sure he was getting laid.

There’s some stupid spat between people who went and scouted. It seems the soldiers are watching but not too closely as later Roran sees one crest a hill, take one look at the town and run off.

Less than a minute later, the disembodied voice of a Ra’zac slithered out of the mist: “By continuing to defend Carvahall, you proclaim your choice and ssseal your doom. You ssshall die!”

Hiss, hiss, hiss. Why even offer a choice if you’re than evil? Or are they supposed to be the overconfident bad guys who get their comeuppance at the hands of idiots? Why even attack being as they’re expecting it? Why not wait until just before dawn when they’re all tired from standing a long night watch plus the work of the previous day, then attack? Does everyone in this series drink wood alcohol by the barrelful?

Amazingly enough some soldiers attack and pull down some trees. They rush over and Roran and Sloan fight them off. The Ra’zac, while being stronger and more powerful than humans, sit this one out and watch the whole thing. The Ra’zac must figure that, though the ‘soldiers’ haven’t been successful yet, they’re bound to get a victory sooner or later.

They fix the trees and go over to where there’s a dead boy with a spear in his side. He only has a name because he died(his name is Robert Paulson) while his parents just sit there and stare. How they only managed to kill one boy who shouldn’t have even been out in the open in the first place is baffling.