Red Brick Commentary

[mara_dienne459]

The second plot line returns. In which they've arrived at their interim destination and now have to decide how they're going to proceed forward. 


Chapter Forty-Four: Narda

 

Hey! We’re back with Roran! And they’ve reached the seaside village of Narda. Roran describes the village to us, and how he’s fascinated by the water, and then he thinks of how they finally made it.

 

Leaving the promontory, Roran walked back to his makeshift tent, enjoying deep breaths of the salty air. They had camped high in the foothills of the Spine in order to avoid detection by anyone who might alert the Empire as to their whereabouts. 

 

That’s assuming, of course, anybody knows that they’ve abandoned their village. Or cares. Why would anyone care about this group of people arriving en masse somewhere, especially when it’s been established that there are attacks going on all over the country? All they have to do is say they fled an Urgal attack or escaped bandits on the road, or something of that nature. But no. They’re stupid about it.

 

As he strode among the clumps of villagers huddled beneath the trees, Roran surveyed their condition with sorrow and anger. The trek from Palancar Valley had left people sick, battered, and exhausted; their faces gaunt from lack of food; their clothes tattered. Most everyone wore rags tied around their hands to ward off frostbite during the frigid mountain nights. Weeks of carrying heavy packs had bowed once-proud shoulders. The worst sight was the children: thin and unnaturally still. 

 

Wait, what happened to the cows and sheep and chickens that people brought with them? Where did all their supplies go? Did they have no concept of rationing? Of course they didn’t, because they brought crap they didn’t need with them, like beer. Also, I thought it was spring? Therefore it should be warming up in the mountains, not getting colder. What the hell kind of weather system are they in? None of this makes any sense!

 

They deserve better, thought Roran. I’d be in the clutches of the Ra’zac right now if they hadn’t protected me. 

 

Goddamn, he’s just as bad as Eragon. He’s the one who put these people in danger in the first place! If he had just left instead of dicking around and pulling out his hair, in all likelihood, the village would’ve been spared and he would’ve been chased down. He could’ve avoided all of this if he’d just used his brain, but he didn’t. 

 

Roran is apparently very popular. Everyone comes up to him and wants nothing more than a touch or a word of comfort. Um... don’t people do this to cult leaders? Other people offer him food, which he refuses or gives to someone else. He tells us that some villagers even whisper behind his back, calling him mad and possessed and that not even the Ra’zac could beat him.

 

Crossing the Spine had been even harder than Roran expected. The only paths in the forest were game trails, which were too narrow, steep, and meandering for their group. As a result, the villagers were often forced to chop their way through the trees and underbrush, a painstaking task that everyone despised, not least because it made it easy for the Empire to track them. The one advantage to the situation was that the exercise restored Roran’s injured shoulder to its previous level of strength, although he still had trouble lifting his arm at certain angles. 

 

Again, tracking implies that the Empire knows they left, and in what direction they went. Which they don’t. And these are supposed to be experienced hunters and woodsmen, but apparently all those skill points got dumped into Eragon’s character sheet and none were left over for anybody else. I mean, this doesn’t make sense. They should be able to navigate their way through the forest rather easily, because there really wouldn’t be too much growth and detritus to hack through. 

 

Other hardships took their toll. A sudden storm trapped them on a bare pass high above the timberline. Three people froze in the snow: Hida, Brenna, and Nesbit, all of whom were quite old. That night was the first time Roran was convinced that the entire village would die because they had followed him. Soon after, a boy broke his arm in a fall, and then Southwell drowned in a glacier stream. Wolves and bears preyed upon their livestock on a regular basis, ignoring the watchfires that the villagers lit once they were concealed from Palancar Valley and Galbatorix’s hated soldiers. Hunger clung to them like a relentless parasite, gnawing at their bellies, devouring their strength, and sapping their will to continue. 

 

None of this makes any fucking sense! It doesn’t! It’s fucking spring heading into summer. If anything that sudden storm would be rain not fucking snow. The Spine isn’t as big as the Beor, so they shouldn’t have snow on them year round. Paolini isn’t keeping to his own timeline! He’s changing the weather as he sees fit, so he can have this shit happen! Second of all, a wolf pack and bears (read: multiple bears) wouldn’t fucking attack this group because of the presence of the humans! They don’t smell right and they would make enough noise and fight with enough fierceness that they would decide that it wasn’t worth it, and sheep, cows, goats, and chickens aren’t the animals’ natural prey! They’re prey of opportunity! The animals wouldn’t risk being killed just to get an easy meal. Also, if the animals are preying on the livestock, they’re going to attempt to take human prey too. The old and very young. They wouldn’t differentiate between two legs and four. If it was easy to take, they’ll take it. The old people shouldn’t have froze, especially with all the blankets and tablecloth and whatever else Elain brought with her to keep people warm. And the fact that they’re starving is bullshit, because they should’ve been eating their livestock! And they should have brought supplies to survive, not grandma’s fucking candlesticks because you didn’t want the soldiers stealing them!

 

Despite all this adversity, they still somehow manage to survive and make it through. Anyway, everyone’s happy they made it to Narda. They don’t know what’s going to happen next, but they’re just happy they made it this far. Roran thinks that they won’t be safe from the Empire until they reach Surda, and Roran takes it upon himself to ensure their safety for this trip. He says he accepts this responsibility because it kills two birds with one stone: it allows him to protect the villagers and go find Katrina. He has a pessimistic thought about how it’s been so long since her capture (it’s been a month?) and surely she’s dead. But he pushes that thought away before he really is driven mad. Anyway, at dawn, Roran takes a party with him down to Narda. In this party are Horst, Baldor, Loring’s three sons (who aren’t named here), and Gertrude. There’s an interesting line of Roran feeling like he’s unable to breathe because the air is so thick in the lowlands. They reach the gates of Narda, where they’re stopped by the guards.

 

“Where’d you be from?” asked the man on the right. He could not have been older than twenty-five, but his hair was already pure white. 

 

Why is his hair white? What’s the point of this? There’s not one. It’s just a stupid flavor text. It doesn’t mean anything. This guy actually gets killed later, and that’s his only significance. Other than that, this description doesn’t do anything for the story. But hey, at least Paolini isn’t giving one-appearance wonders names.

 

Horst lies and says they’re from Teirm. The usual questions and answers are given - why are you here, to trade, blah blah blah - and then the guards point at Roran and asks what he’s about. Roran, the idiot, says he does pottery. The guards don’t believe him. One even asks why he has a hammer. Roran answers:

 

“How do you think the glaze on a bottle or jar gets cracked? It doesn’t happen by itself, you know. You have to hit it.” Roran returned the white-haired man’s stare of disbelief with a blank expression, daring him to challenge the statement. 

 

I think this exchange was meant to be amusing. It might even have been, in any other circumstance. Instead, Roran sounds snotty and it’s obvious he’s lying. He has a hammer. What other profession comes to mind? Carpentry! Narda is a coastal town! He could be a shipwright! He could use that as a lie. That would be more believable than him being a ceramicist. This just makes Roran look like a dick. Everyone else has stories that are legitimate, but this asshole comes up with the most stupid story ever.

 

The soldier starts to call the villagers’ bluffs, saying they’re like no merchants he’s ever seen. Gertrude says they ran into problems on the road, the soldier asks where their horses are, some dude says they left them back at camp and points in the opposite direction of the actual camp, and the soldier laughs about them being too poor to stay in town. But he lets them in and tells them not to cause trouble. So they go through and Horst snaps at Roran for being an idiot. Gertrude stops him mid-tirade and has them look at a giant message board. Besides the usual stuff there, there’s a picture of Roran without his beard.

 

Startled, Roran glanced around to make sure that no one in the street was close enough to compare his face to the illustration, then devoted his attention to the poster. He had expected the Empire to pursue them, but it was still a shock to encounter proof of it. Galbatorix must be expending an enormous amount of resources trying to catch us. When they were in the Spine, it was easy to forget that the outside world existed. I bet posters of me are nailed up throughout the Empire. He grinned, glad that he had stopped shaving and that he and the others had agreed to use false names while in Narda. 

 

Well, he’s trying to catch you. He could care less about the other villagers. And really, I don’t think he’s spending a lot to hunt Roran down. Honestly, I don’t understand why Roran’s so important. Galby is sitting pretty on his throne, waiting for Eragon to come to him, and he’s powerful enough to force Eragon to bend the knee. He doesn’t really need Roran. Also, that false name thing? Roran throws that out the window by using “Stronghammer” to identify himself. Granted, no one really knows about his title... except Sloan and Katrina. The Ra’zac are the ones who could supply that information. Although, I’m pretty sure that all the information that’s disseminated about Roran and Eragon comes from the Twins. It isn’t outright stated that they’re the ones, but it feels heavily implied. 

 

A reward was inked at the bottom of the poster. Garrow never taught Roran and Eragon to read, but he did teach them their figures because, as he said, “You have to know how much you own, what it’s worth, and what you’re paid for it so you don’t get rooked by some two-faced knave.” Thus, Roran could see that the Empire had offered ten thousand crowns for him, enough to live in comfort for several decades. In a perverse way, the size of the reward pleased him, giving him a sense of importance. 

 

I love that Garrow never taught the boys to read, but taught them their figures. Doing math means you kinda need to know how to read. Also, if you have a deed to prove that you own something, or someone presents you with a piece of paper showing a contract, you need to know how to read it, especially if it involves money. None of this makes any sense. 

 

Roran then notices another poster. It’s Eragon. Roran has an anxiety attack and is relieved that Eragon’s alive, but then he immediately gets angry over Eragon’s role in everything that’s happened thus far. Eragon doesn’t get a reward; rather there’s just a line of runes beneath his picture. Roran asks Gertrude to read for him, and she says both Roran and Eragon have been charged with treason and that whoever captures Eragon gets an earldom. But be careful because he’s extremely dangerous.  Roran’s shocked about Eragon being described as “extremely dangerous” but then Roran thinks about it and decides it could be true because he and Eragon share blood and Eragon probably has done more than Roran. Baldor wonders what could make you worth an earldom, someone helpfully suggests that “buggering the king himself” would be the only thing, which is disgusting on all counts, and Horst says shut up everyone and don’t say another word. He also tells Roran not to draw attention to himself. Then they split up to do what they all came to do. However, we stay with Roran, Horst and Baldor.

 

These guys head toward the docks, because their mission is to find a ship to ferry the villagers to Surda. Or Teirm. They’ll take Teirm. When they reach the docks, Roran stops to admire the ocean, and there’s a conversation between the three of them about how they feel about the ocean. Apparently Horst’s seen it before, which is news to Roran, so he asks about that experience, all the while describing an odd bird he’s looking at. It’s a pelican. Horst launches into story time.

 

“Bartram, the smith who came before me,” said Horst, “died when I was fifteen, a year before the end of my apprenticeship. I had to find a smith who was willing to finish another man’s work, so I traveled to Ceunon, which is built along the North Sea. There I met Kelton, a vile old man but good at what he did. He agreed to teach me.” Horst laughed. “By the time we were done, I wasn’t sure if I should thank him or curse him.” 

 

So... the fact that the city of Ceunon being built along the North Sea is false. It’s a complete lie. On the map, Ceunon is built next to a lake. In fact, it’s between the forest and the Anora River, which empties into a fucking lake. It’s a huge lake, but it’s still a goddamned lake. This is also the city where the elves attack because the humans went too deep into the forest for their liking. Pine forests do not grow near seas. They can’t survive in salty environments. Paolini ignored his own map, apparently.

 

Baldor says thank the old coot because he wouldn’t exist otherwise. Anyway, Roran gets a little irritated because there aren’t a lot of ships. He has no experience with ships, of course, but he tells us that of those he observes here at the dock, none seem big enough to be able to carry three hundred people and whatever they’ve got left of their flocks. The trio go from ship to ship but are out of luck. The ships are otherwise engaged. A dockworker tells Horst they’re too early and they’re too late. Everyone’s off doing other things now. The spring ships came three weeks ago, in another month the big storms will blow in and all the people out hunting seals will come back, and then they’ll get more ships to take the seal meat, hides, and oil to Teirm. At that point, they might get lucky, but right now, they’re out of luck. Roran gets desperate and asks if there’s no other way. The man answers:

 

“Well,” said the man, hefting the box on his shoulder, “if it doesn’t have to be fast an’ you’re only going to Teirm, then you might try Clovis over there.” He pointed to a line of sheds that floated between two piers where boats could be stored. “He owns some barges that he ships grain on in the fall. The rest of the year, Clovis fishes for a living, like most everybody in Narda.” Then he frowned. “What kind of goods do you have? The sheep have already been shorn, an’ no crops are in as of yet.” 

 

Wait... if the sheep have already been shorn, then it’s mid-spring or early summer, as sheep need about six weeks to grow enough wool to keep them warm in the winter. Sheep are shorn prior to lambing, usually, so early spring to the end of summer, or early fall. This way, sheep don’t overheat in the spring, but also won’t freeze in the winter. The timeline is completely messed up. It really is terrible when an author has to manipulate the time in their own story to make stuff happen and to create tension and emotion.

 

Horst bribes the guy and the guy goes off, and the three go to find this Clovis guy. He’s not at the docks, so they get directions to his house. They find him there, planting iris bulbs. How Roran knows they’re definitely iris bulbs, I don’t know, but he does. We get a description of this guy and they talk for an hour before they convince him to take them to his barges. The barges then get described and Clovis tells the three men more information about the barges, and also warns them about late afternoon thunderstorms. Roran doesn’t care, he just asks if there are crews for all three. Clovis says they’re all off seal hunting. Roran says if they replace the crews, how much would it cost to take them to Teirm. 

 

“That depends,” said Clovis. “The sailors earn fifteen coppers per day, plus as much good food as they can eat and a dram of whisky besides. What your men earn be your own business. I won’t put them on my payroll. Normally, we also hire guards for each barge, but they’re—” 

 

Well, the good food part is bullshit, because “good food” wouldn’t last for a long voyage. It would have to be dried meat, preserved stuff, dry food like flour, oats, beans, and stuff that wouldn’t rot easily. So they aren’t going to be eating porterhouse steaks or racks of lamb with mint jelly. Also, the whisky and food came out of the captain’s pocket, so he wasn’t about to buy good stuff anyway, except for maybe himself. And everything was rationed anyway. This isn’t a modern day fishing boat or barge where they have refrigeration. This is a medieval boat, where you were lucky not to catch dysentery or scurvy. Also, fifteen coppers a day is pretty expensive, considering a medieval sailor often earned 5-55 shillings a month. A shilling is twelve pennies, so that equals to about 660 dollars. Now, granted we don’t know how much a copper comes out to in this book, or what a crown equals, but 15 coppers a day seems extremely pricy. And I get it. The guy doesn’t want to make the trip and he wants it to make it worth his while and the worth the time of the crew he has to hire, but Roran doesn’t even bother to negotiate. He just accepts the bargain as it is because he’s “desperate”. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing for him to be desperate about. Nobody knows where they’ve gone, if they’ve gone, and nobody is looking for them. This is complete bullshit.

 

Roranus Interruptus says the guards are off hunting, yeah, we’ll throw in some guards too. Clovis gets nervous but he keeps bulling ahead because why not, and says in addition to the crew’s wages (which I’m wondering now if he’d end up paying the villagers who are also crewing his barges, and therefore the villagers would just get their money back) he charges two hundred crowns plus damages plus twelve percent of the total profit of the sale of the cargo. Which totally seems like gouging to me, and I’d be like bye, we’ll walk. But not Roran. Roran says this:

 

“Our trip will have no profit.” 

 

Stupid. Why would you say that? The easiest thing to do would be to not mention this at all, because all it’s going to do is draw attention to you.

 

That makes Clovis really nervous. He tacks on another four hundred crowns upon completion. He then asks what Roran intends to transfer. Roran has a thought of how they make Clovis nervous (no shit, Sherlock) and then says he plans to transport livestock. Clovis presses for some answers but Roran evades. He then asks Clovis if he would consider sailing past Teirm. Clovis says fuck no. When will he be ready to go? Clovis says five or six days, no, no, a week. He has to get his affairs in order. Roran says they’ll give him another ten crowns to leave the day after tomorrow. Clovis balks. Roran says:

 

“Twelve crowns.” 

 

I like how free Roran is with everyone’s money. It’s not his money; it’s the villagers’ money. But Roran just throws it around like it belongs to him and he can do whatever he wants with it. 

 

Clovis says good enough. He’ll be ready. Roran asks him to leave so he can talk with his “associates”. Clovis does but asks Roran’s name first, and Roran drops “Stronghammer” on him. As soon as Clovis leaves, Baldor is like we can’t afford this. Roran says they have to. It’s still too expensive. Duh, Roran didn’t bother to negotiate. That’s why he was taken for everything he was worth. He’s “desperate”. Roran, of course, has answers to allay Baldor and Horst’s worries. He says they’ll pay the initial fee but once they reach Teirm, they’ll just steal the barges or they’ll incapacitate Clovis and the crew and escape another way. That way they avoid paying anything. Horst doesn’t like that idea. Roran says he doesn’t either (so why did you think of it in the first place and say it without so much as a hesitation?) but there’s no alternative. They blah blah a little longer but eventually they agree to Roran’s stupid plan.

 

Time skip, and we’re back with the village. Everyone is told what happened down in Narda, including the wanted posters. Horst then explains Roran’s idea of taking barges. This pisses off everyone in the village. Nobody wants to ride on barges, so they start arguing about it like children.

 

“Everyone, be quiet!” said Delwin. “We’ll be heard if we keep this up.” When the crackling fire was the loudest noise, he continued at a slower pace: “I agree with Loring. Barges are unacceptable. They’re slow and vulnerable. And we’d be crammed together with a complete lack of privacy and no shelter to speak of for who knows how long. Horst, Elain is six months pregnant. You can’t expect her and others who are sick and infirm to sit under the blazing sun for weeks on end.” 

 

Goddamn, what do these people want? Princess Cruise Lines? You’re on the run and are fugitives. You don’t get a choice! You take what you can get or you walk. Do you really think the Empire is going to think you got on a barge to sail your way down the coastline, what with the terrible weather and uncertain seas? Or are they going to think you took an easy way out and look for you all over the countryside? These people are fucking high-maintenance! Also, Elain is six months pregnant now? There’s no way she could be! It was the beginning of fucking spring when Roran’s chapters started, and she was five months pregnant then. You’re telling me that it’s only been a single month since then and now? They’ve been occupied by the soldiers, fought them, fled, and have been wandering the forest for a single month? Seriously? That’s such bullshit I can’t even begin to fathom it! She can’t be just six months. Seven, maybe almost eight. Because if they’ve been occupied for “weeks”, as it’s described, then it’s either two or more, and a month is four weeks. What kind of time dilation are these people experiencing? Does time flow differently in Palancar Valley than the rest of Alagaesia?

 

Birgit brings up the truth about their financial status. They’re pretty much screwed unless they turn to piracy or banditry. Horst brushes her off by saying they just need to get to Teirm and then they can worry about what comes next. Loring (you remember him, the psycho who laughed when he was killing people) says he doesn’t want to ride in barges. He wants a cruise. He wants comfort. He goes on like this for fifteen minutes, we’re told, before two other guys argue the same thing. Aren’t you fugitives? Aren’t you on the lam and trying to avoid being noticed? You were willing to march through death in order to be free, but now that you might have to ride on barges, that’s too much? You need to get your priorities straight.

 

The conversation halted as Roran unfolded his legs and rose to his full height, silencing the villagers through his presence. They waited, breathless, hoping for another of his visionary speeches. “It’s this or walk,” he said. 

 

And his lordship has spoken. Seriously, though, I agree with Roran. You have two choices - walk or take what’s available. You can’t wait for a ship that might never come when you have the opportunity to take what’s there. You want bunks and comfort? What do you think you’re heading towards? The Varden. An army. Who’s barely better supplied than you are. Did you really think this was going to be a pleasure cruise? That you were just going to suffer for a little while and then be treated like a king? Like I would expect this from a child, not an adult. Also, do you not think a ship is going to be even more expensive than what you have now? These people are awful and selfish. 

 

The chapter ends with Roran going to bed.

Comments

[epistler]

Roran seriously needs to get over himself. And I need to get back to work on Sword and Shadow V so I can do something horrible to Loring. The jackass has it coming.

[oblakom]

shrieks in the void

I FORGOT that Narda appeared in the books. Jesus fucking Christ how did I forgot that this fucking village appears in the books. Maybe because by this point I was already skipping parts of Roran's chapters because he was already annoying me. Yes, that must be it.

Also, Roran is a fucking choosingbeggar.