4th Outside Reading Post up to pg. 413

After starving himself for days, escaping a huge city Gil'ead, and shooting a shade in the head with his arrow....... Eragon still has conflicts. Its hard to believe how much Eragon is going through, its just incomprehensible. After escaping Gil'ead with the help of Murtagh they have decided to head to the Hadarac desert. Now think of all of the land Eragon has covered already. Months of travel. Now imagine this, searing heat, no water besides the few oasises guarded by bandits, and 4 times that distance. Thats about the size of the Hadarac. Luckily for Eragon he can use magic to bring water up through the sand, and both him and Murtagh are only crossing a small section of the desert which should take around a month. Oh yeah, I forgot their being constantly chased by Imperial Guards and the Ra'zzac. The last thing Eragon and Murtagh need right now is internal conflict between themselves. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens, " "Of course. Murtagh the pack animal. Murtagh the horse leader..." "Whats wrong with you? I'm grateful for what you did..... Don't touch me," he growled. "I said, don't touch me!" Murtagh doubled over, swearing. Then he yelled and launched himself at Eragon" (342). Murtagh had actually been upset because Eragon wanted to go to the Varden. Murtagh later tells Eragon why he does not want to go there, "He paused, then said with a tortured voice, "You have a right to know. I... I am the son of Morzan, first and last of the Forsworn." Eragon was extremely surprised and utterly speechless. However, Murtagh explained that he hated his father, and the Empire and was on Eragon's side. He didn't want to go the Varden though, since they would not be so convinced. When they headed to the Varden from what the elf had told them, and they encountered kull. Kull are the elite of the Urgals, atleast eight feet tall and have the strength of five men. It seemed like they were heading to the Varden to start a war with them and now they are following Eragon and Murtagh. They both barely reach the Varden and escape the kull. When they reach it they meet the Varden's leader and Murtagh's true heritage is discovered and he is put in the jail cell. Eragon has learned through these experiences to be more calm in his thinking and to expect anything. He has also toughened himself even more through his rigorous experiences.

As I have said many times now... sigh... this book is similar to all of the books we have read because of the struggles. Murtagh and Eragon's conflict against eachother also relates to ELIC's conflict between Oskar and his mother. Nothing else to say...