CHAPTER 4

Time to introduce a new character. His name is Zakuta. He is vital to the rest of the story. Zakata was a 19-year-old boy who was cut off from the rest of the world. This is for a very good reason. When he was 9, he nearly burned down his village. You see, Zakuta is very special. All of his village was special, but Zakuta was even more special. The Inu-Kartakas are a race of people naturally gifted with special elemental powers. These included Earth, water, fire, light, air, plasma, gravity,and darkness. Zakuta was born with all of these powers. At first, everyone thought it was a blessing. But as the years went by, it turned into a curse. All of the powers in side of him had a lot of energy. Normally, that is no problem for a person with only power. But Zakuta had eight. All this power caused random bursts of his powers causing alot of damage. So when Zakua was seven, he was sent out to live on his own in the Haderac Desert traveling to town only to renew his supplies. This seems cruel for a seven year old. But Zakuta had another atribute that makes him vital to Artemis and his friends; he is incredibly smart. Smart enough that if had he been born in the 20th or 21st centry on Earth, he would be able to rival both Artemis and Foaly. Zakuta had spent the lat 12 years praticing control on his powers. He had become very good. Another three years and he will have mastered it.

Anyway, As Sapphira was flying the group towrds the capital. Zakuta saw the dragon and instantly used a combination of air and earth to attack the group. This seriously surprised them as the dragon looked smaller then his pinkie nail. Zakuta thought it was Galbatorix’s dragon. Sapphira twisted and dove toward Zakuta. He instantly brought up a wall of diamond around him. Eragon and the fairies jumped off as soon as Sapphira touched the ground.

“Brisingr!” cried Eragon, shooting a jet of flame at Zakuta. The flame hit him square in the chest, but Zakuta never even staggered.

“So, yer a Rider, eh? How much did Galbatorix pay you? Or are you his new apprentice?” said Zakuta.

“Letta!” shouted Eragon, binding Zakuta in his tracks.

“Oh, bad move, Dragon Boy,” said Zakuta, smiling. He closed his eyes, concentrating on the ground around Eragon and Sapphira.. A dome of solid diamond and then rock surrounded the two of them in an instant. Zakuta smiled. Eragon lost his consentration, releasing Zakuta from the spell. Zakuta turned toward Holly and the demons.

“So, it’s just a few mutant midgits?” But before Zakuta could do anything, Holly shot him square in the chest, knocking him out. This, unfortunatly, was bad. The reason Eragon’s flame didn’t hurt Zakuta is because he absorbed it and began to charge it up. But being unconsious, all this power was released in a torrent of flame and heat. Holly suffered the most, as the demons had armor plating. That’s not to say they were unharmed. All four fairies were knocked into a deep uncounsioness. Only Eragon and Sapphira were spared, being trapped in the rock. It would be several hours before either escaped.

* * *

In his cell, Butler was deep in thought. He obseved his surroundings for the millionth time. He could have escaped if he wanted to, but there were a few things keeping him from knocking down the door. One: he had no idea where exactly he, Artemis, or Foaly was. Two: there could be several soldiers ready to kill him the second he poked his nose around the door. Three: He was a little lucid after being unconsious for several hours. Butler sighed, got up, and went to the door. He listened for several sconds. After hearing nothing, he went to the opposite wall and ran into the door, sending across the hall. He looked around and saw no one, Never the less, he pulled out his Sig Sauer in case some poor soul tried to attack him. After about two minutes, he came to a thick, wooden door. After a moment’s listening, he heard a soft voice that definitly belonged to Foaly. With a quick kick, the door fell in, startling Foaly.

“C’mon. We gotta get out of here,” Butler told Foaly.

“Yessir,” said Foaly, not wanting to argue. He knew that Butler would pulverize anyone who got in his way.

As they made their way down the hall, they heard they clatter of soldiers. Their escape had been discovered. They ran harder. They turned a corner and entered a hallway full of doors. Butler began knocking down door after door, looking for his principal. Arrows began wizzing by Butler and Foaly. Butler knew that his Kevlar vest would ge no good against an arrow or sword. They turned another corner and saw some soldiers headed for them. Without hesitation, Butler raised his gun, killing ten soldiers and heavily wounding three more. The remaining soldiers were so scared that they turned on their tails and ran as fast as they could. Foaly was not surprised, as these people had never seen a gun. As they ran, looking for Artemis, the escapees began running toward the soldiers pursuing Butler and Foaly. Butler realized that these were captured freedom fighters. The soldiers may have weapons, but the prisoners had numbers. Soon, it was an all-out brawl. When they reached the end of the hall, Foaly noticed a reinforced door.

“Look over there!” Butler put a new clip in his gun a fired a single shot, blasting off the large padlock. Artemis was inside.

“Butler! Foaly! We must depart,” he said.

“No, really?” said Foaly in a sarcastic tone.

As they ran towards another door, the entire building shook as if there was an earthquake. It was fallowed by a gigantic roar. “It must be Sapphira,” said Artemis. As they ran up a flight of stairs, the noise of soldiers shouting reached them. They ran through another door and found themselves on top of a tower with no way down except the way they came. Butler paused to the front, ready to face the oncoming assult. But the door slamed shut seemingly of its own accord. The trio turned to see Eragon and Sapphira in front of them.

“Climb on! Hurry!” Eragon called. Butler amd Artemis climbed onto Sapphira’s back while Foaly was forced to ride in Sapphira’s claws. As they flew back to the campsite, Eragon began to explain things. “Some person attacked us, trapped us in a dome of diamond. It took us an enternity to escape. And when we did, Holly and the demons were unconsious. He’s tied up now and the fairies are fine. So tell me, how did you escape?”

“Well, lets just say that their isn’t much that can keep Butler contained for very long,” said Artemis. Butler smiled with pride, which doesn’t happen often.

When they reached the campsite, Artemis saw Holly sitting on a rock with her rifle pointed at the person Artemis quessed to be the attacker. He was still unconsious. Artemis surveyed the surroundings. The ground was scorched and there were remains of two hallow rocks. Artemis’s eye for precious jewels noticed that the rocks were lined with diamond. The diamond was scorched on the larger rock. this must have been where Eragon and Sapphira were imprisoned be the person who was now bound with thick rope.

The person began to stir. Taking advantage of his lucidness, Eragon sat on his torso and began asking questions. “Who are you?” Eragon asked. “What are you doing here? Who are you working for? Answer me!”

“Eragon,” said Sapphira, “Calm down. I doubt he’s working for any one.”

“How can you tell?” asked Eragon, confused.

“I looked into his mind just know. All I saw was him training to control his powers. Then he woke up,” said Sapphira.

“What kind of powers?” asked Eragon.

“I’m not sure. But I think he may be an Inu-Kartaka,” said Sapphira.

“A what?” asked Holly.

“Inu-Kartaka. Glaedr told me about them once when we were discussing the inhabitants of Alegasia. Each of them has an elemental power, such as fire, water or earth. Each one is increadibly powerful, but he seems to have more than one. Eragon, he has all eight.”

“And what exactly are these powers?” asked Artemis.

“Most likely the three Sapphira just said and air, but what else?”said No.1.

“Gravity, plasma, light, and darkness,” said Qwan.

Eragon was surprised at the demon’s knowlge of the elements. “Are you sure?” he asked.

“Not for sure, but could probably ask Sapphira,” replied Qwan, Looking at Sapphira for confirmation.

“He is right,” she said aloud. “These demons are really smart. Holly, too,” Sapphira said to Eragon only. “Where ever they come from, it is centuries ahead of us. And if they can get here, they must be able to get back somehow. It’s possible to ask them to send supplies back when they get home.”

Zakuta groaned and Eragon turned his attention back to his captive. “What’s your name?” Eragon asked him, but in a slightly softer tone.

“Zakuta,” he said. “You’re Eragon, aren’t you. I recgonize you from your wanted posters in town. Sorry about earlier. I thought you might be that other Rider.”

Eragon got off Zakuta and pulled his sword to cut him loose.

“There’s no need for that,” said Zakuta, burning through the thick ropes in an instant. He rose up and turned to the others. “Sorry about earlier,” he said again to the fairies. “I’m Zakuta. “Pleased to meet you. Who are you?”

“Hi,” said Holly, “I’m Holly Short. This is Qwan, Qweffor, and No.1,” she said pointing to each Demon on turn. “The centaur’s name is Foaly.”

“Hi,” said Foaly.

“The big man over there,” added Holly, “is Butler.” Butler just nodded.

“And I am Artemis Fowl II. I hear you attacked my friends.”

Zakuta realized the Foaly, Butler, and Artemis weren’t here when he had attacked the group on Sapphira. “Where were you when I attacked?” asked Zakuta.

“We were in in Galgatorix’s prison,” said Artemis, “I still don’t know why we were captured and imprisoned.”

“I have theory,” said Qweffor. “It’s possible Galbatorix sensed disruption when we got here. And Eragon said he could look into your mind without you knowing. He may have seen that Artemis and Foaly were extremely smart, especially for this day and age, and saw it fit to capture you to use your wits to destroy the Varden once and for all.”

This seemed very likely, as it was true, even if they didn’t know it at the time.

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