Empire
Aiedail Icestar
Ch. 1 – Assignment
The young woman was dropped roughly on the cold, marble floor before Kind Galbatorix. She was weary with fatigue and had many grievous wounds from the horrid treatment she got from the Ra'zac. She had been tortured relentlessly for the information about her parents and home. Seventeen years old, lonely and despairing, the young woman desperately wanted freedom from Uru'baen. The memory of the day the Ra'zac came and dragged her away in chains from her sobbing relatives swelled up and filled her heart with hate for the King, remembering the arduous years of waiting for an opening in the King's "buisy" schedule.
Galbatorix spoke,
"Ahh, here you are! Come child, you are tired, and sit by me." Really? She was tired? What would ever make him think that? The girl grunted with effort as she slowly tried to push herself up. The tallest Ra'zac pushed her, and her golden brown hair fell away to reveal pointed ears. She cursed them under her breath, and mustering the last of her strength, heaved herself up. She swayed dangerously as she stumbled up the onyx marble steps to the cursed throne. The King smiled sweetly, and put an arm around her. The girl tried not to flinch away from his touch.
"Now, I know you are very exhausted, but I have a special task for you. Can you help me?" His voice was like melting honey. The girl nodded slowly, aware that all eyes were trained on her. Galbatorix turned in his throne to face her more directly. "You see, I have this… stone, that I need you to take care of for me. Just… carry it around with you, and make sure no harm comes to it. All right? Can you do that for me?" The girl nodded again, intrigued. Galbatorix clapped his hands, and a beautiful glacier-blue stone was brought through the door. It was placed in the elf-girl's arms, and her eyes lit up with wonder. She spoke for the first time, her voice as pure as moonlight,
"It is beautiful! I shall do everything to protect it." She noticed then, it felt hollow. The girl shrugged and wobbled out of the room, skirting the Ra'zac widely.
As soon as she was gone, the fake smile melted off his face, replaced by a grim frown.
"You're sure the girl has the powers to be a Rider?" The Ra'zac bowed in unison, and stepped forward,
"Yess our King. She iss the one." Galbatorix sighed impatiently.
"Does she have a name?" The Ra'zac looked at eachother, and after exchanging a few hisses and clicks, said,
"Yess, we remember now. Her name iss Star."
Star ran quickly down the dim corridor, eager to be away from the dark congregation in the throne room.
He stinks of evil. She thought bitterly, sending a few curses at him. As she turned the corner, she ran into something tall and black, a man. She fell with a loud oof, curling around the stone. A strong voice of a young man erupted angrily above her,
"Where do you think you're going with that?" Star scrambled up, and glared defiantly at the young man.
"The King," she spat, "gave it to me to protect and take care of Mur-tagh," She drew out his name, acting stubborn. "He said to take the stone back to my house." Star emphasized 'house' by tapping the stone with her forefinger. A clear, high note rang out and filled the corridor. Star glanced down a the stone in confusion. A few seconds later, a faint squeak echoed around. Star looked up at Murtagh, plain confusion spread across her features.
"What the…"
"…It was my boots!" Murtagh interrupted her quickly, grinning as he shrugged. Star nodded slowly and walked past him out of the malicious palace entrance gates. She started walking, and soon came upon her house. It looked empty.
"Aunt Nera! Uncle Brak! Where are you?" the house was deserted. It was close to dusk, so she prepared a small meal of salad, bread, and mushroom leek soup as her welcome home dinner. When she finished, she put the stone on her bed, and gingerly got redressed into her night clothes, wincing when one of her many wounds was stressed. Desperately glad to be be out of captivity, Star quickly fell into the dream-like trance.
SQUEAK! Star's eyes shot open, and awareness flooded through her. She looked around the room, and saw the stone illuminated by a small shaft of moonlight.
SQUEAK!! Star slowly sat up, and stared apprehensively at the stone. A knot formed in her stomach.
SQUEAK!! Fear clawed its way down her spine and tingled with dread in her toes, and she jumped out of bed, retreating to the opposite wall. It was rocking violently side to side.
SQUEAK!! The stone rolled off of her desk, but remained whole, rocking violently back and forth. It stopped suddenly.
Crrrack! A large crack ran through it, then another, and another. A section of the stone popped off… no… an egg! An egg? Star thought franticly. Just then, the whole egg burst apart, revealing a beautiful glacier-blue dragon hatchling. The same color as the egg.
Star was frozen in surprise, speechless. It cooed and stumbled forward appraising her with its icy blue eyes. It lost interest in her, and hopped up on her bed, posing as if it ruled the world. Star slowly crawled over to it, sitting down on the bed. It turned toward her suddenly, and reached out its muzzle to her hand. Star shied away slightly, but plucking up her courage, reached forward with her left hand to pet it. The instant its muzzle touched her palm, searing fire shot up Star's arm, her skin prickled at the same time with a thousand needles of ice. Gasping in pain and shock, her vision flickered, and everything went black.
It was late morning when Star came to. Her thoughts were in a quagmire. She looked down at her elbow, and there it was. The wide-eyed glacier-blue dragon hatchling that had… Star glanced down at her palm. A silvery oval dominated the right middle of her palm.
"Aww, look what you did!" Star sighed and stood up. Walking to the kitchen was an ordeal. She was still wobbly from getting her gedwëy ignasia, and the fact that the dragon hatchling was constantly winding around her legs didn't help. She put together a small breakfast, and raised a perfect brow at the dragon when it growled and pounced on something. She craned her long, graceful neck to see better what it was that it killed. It was standing over a limp, bleeding mouse, a gloating look in its eyes. Star fought the revulsion at seeing the dead animal.
"Just because you can catch your own food at such a young age doesn't mean you're better than me." The dragon hummed deep in its throat, very much pleased with itself.
When Star finished her breakfast, she laid on the wooden floor, smoothed over by countless feet, pondering what to do. She'd heard about how Murtagh was forced into the King's service by pledging loyalty to him, and she definitely didn't want that same fate. Her only chance was escape, and to seek refuge with the Varden or the elves.
"What do you think little dragon? Should we go to Ellesméra? Or should we flee down to Surda, and the Varden? I prefer the elves because they are my brethren, but Surda is closer…" Star asked, smiling as the dragon wormed its way into her arms. It touched her ears with its muzzle, and Star laughed.
"Ellesméra it is then! You know, I'm the last tainted elf, that is, I wasn't born and bred with magic. In a way, I'm a pure elf, the last to come over the eastern seas from Alalea, the land of the elves. My mother, father, sister, and I came here ten years ago, so I was eight when we came here," Star glanced down at the dragon, it was staring at her intently, hanging on to her every word. She smiled, "You are the most beautiful blue, like ice. Do you like that name? I suppose you need one…"
Yes. Star glanced around, to see who spoke. She shrugged, and sighed. She missed her mother and father, wishing she knew where they disappeared to. As if it could feel how she felt, the dragon cooed softly and it soon fell asleep. Star smiled affectionately at the hatchling, and set it on her bed so it would be comfortable.
It suddenly occurred to her that she didn't know how she was going to escape. Thinking was one thing, doing was a whole other thing. Soldiers were sure to be posted, and given that the King gave her a dragon egg, she was sure that that security would not be light. Perhaps she could past the soldiers with magic of some sort, and pass as a hunter, with the dragon hidden in her pack. It was only as long as her forearm and hand included. Star started to pack together her things, along with a week's supply of food, clothes, and her bow. She made sure there was enough room to fit the small dragon. With a thrill, Star came to grips with what she was doing.
She was going to escape.