Eragon was busy teaching some young dragon riders when he heard that Murtagh and thorn had come to the island. The elf worriedly told him he didn't know if it was for a visit or to stay. Eragon quickly finished up the lesson and hurried to where thorn had already landed.
"Murtagh!" said Eragon, "I'm so glad to see you."
Murtagh smirked, "hi brother, did you miss me?"
"Didn't even notice you were gone." Teased Eragon," Seriously though, how you been?"
"Much better," replied Murtagh, "I've never felt so free."
Eragon looked toward the sun. It was pretty late, but he still thought he ask "Did you want some supper, or have you already eaten?"
"No I've had something. Thorn hasn't though. He's been flying since lunch" Murtagh looked up at his dragon.
Eragon had only ever really seen the dragon up close once before though he had fought him many times.
"Hello, Thorn." He said, "If you want to go down to the dragon hold, Saphira has some leftover deers from lunch, if you don't mind eating leftovers. You can also go hunt if you want."
Thorn sent Eragon his gratitude and flew over to the dragon hold. Murtagh and Eragon went to Eragon's tree house to sit and talk.
They sat up talking about what had happened since galbatorix's death. Eragon told Murtagh about the dragons that had hatched the new riders, the town that had been built, the ships that came in and the magical boundaries he had set up. He also told him about nasuada being queen. "She still misses you." Eragon stated.
Murtagh sighed. "I could never be with her. I still love her, but it just wouldn't work."
"I think she's come to realize that," said Eragon, "this may be a bit of a shock, but she's getting married."
Murtagh's face was emotionless. "That's good. I hoped she would."
"Arya's queen of the elves now" sighed Eragon.
"Still head over heels, aren't you?" asked Murtagh.
Eragon looked bashful and Murtagh laughed at him
Murtagh didn't have much to tell, except for showing Eragon a map he had made of the country up north. At about midnight, Murtagh decided to go to the room Eragon had given him, to get some sleep. Eragon wished him goodnight and went to his own room.
Eragon couldn't sleep. Roran was coming tomorrow for a visit. Eragon hadn't seen him all the five years since he had been here. It made him nervous. Eragon read for a bit and then finally decided to just walk around. Walking past murtagh's door, he heard someone moving around. He went in. Murtagh was having a nightmare. Eragon could tell by the way he was jerking in his sleep. He touched his arm intending to wake him. Suddenly he was pulled into murtagh's dream.
He was chained to a hard cold wall by his arms. Galbatorix stood behind him with a whip. His back burned with pain. He moved slightly but stopped when it caused all the lashes on his back to bring on waves of agony.
"You have brought this punishment on yourself," said Galbatorix, striking Murtagh again, "give into me and you can be free of pain…." Galbatorix gestured to two guards and they undid the chains on murtagh's arms letting him drop to the floor. Galbatorix walked over to where Murtagh lay panting on the floor. Galbatorix set his hand on murtagh's head trying to get though the mental barriers around murtagh's mind. A guard opened the door at that moment, followed by another carrying two round objects. Murtagh squinted at the guard trying to see though his pain.
"Here Murtagh," said Galbatorix," I'd like you to see my dragon eggs." Murtagh vainly tried to push himself off the floor. A loud groan made its way through his clenched teeth. Galbatorix chanted a phrase in the ancient language and Murtagh was dragged toward the eggs and held swaying in place on his knees. "Touch them." Galbatorix's voice was sinister. Murtagh reluctantly took the red egg in his hands. Immediately it started to crack, the pieces of red shell falling on the floor by Murtagh's knees. "No….." Murtagh gasped, "Don't…" a sharp pain went through Murtagh's right hand and he nearly dropped the little red dragon that had emerged from the egg. Murtagh would be a dragon rider.
Murtagh could just hear Galbatorix cackling "Now, my red rider, you will open you mind to me," he went and snatched the little red squirming thing out of murtagh's arms, "or," he continued, "I will tear you dragon apart. Say you will be mine, swear it!"
Murtagh looked at his little dragon. It stared at him as if thinking, 'what did I do?' the poor thing looked so brokenhearted. He could feel its fear and hurt in his mind. "What are the words?" he growled, his voice was scratchy sounding. Talking made his voice sore. Galbatorix, looking very pleased, said them, Murtagh repeated after him. Galbatorix let the hatchling go and it immediately scurried over to Murtagh.
"Good, "said Galbatorix, then addressed the guards saying, "Take the dragon to the dragon hold and take this," he pointed at Murtagh, "to the dungeons."
"Eragon will still come for me…" Murtagh began. Galbatorix yelled, "Get it out of you head that he is coming. You're mine now! He thinks you're dead." Galbatorix kicked Murtagh in the stomach till he was unconscious.
Eragon let go of murtagh's arm, just as Murtagh woke up. Murtagh, seeing someone beside him, grabbed for the knife under his pillows. "Wait!" cried Eragon, "it's me!
Murtagh relaxed somewhat when he saw it was Eragon. "What are you doing in here?" he asked,
"I couldn't sleep and I heard you moving around in here. I just came to see if you were up..." Eragon grabbed a chair and sat down in it. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Said Murtagh rather grumpily, "It's just a dream now."
"Do you always have dreams like that?" Eragon asked hesitatingly
Murtagh looked at him. "You saw my dream? What if didn't I want you to see that?" He was not happy in the slightest.
"Sorry," Eragon said looking contrite. Murtagh sat up with a huff and looked at his hands. "It's ok. The dreams will go away eventually."
"Did he do that to you?" asked Eragon. Murtagh gave Eragon a quick death glare. "Yeah."
"I would have come, I just….. I thought..." began Eragon.
"Shut up." Murtagh huffed, "it's in the past now, besides you would have got yourself killed."
The two sat in awkward silence for a minute. "Oh, I never told you yet," Eragon said trying to lighten the mood. "Roran, Katrina and ismira are coming here tomorrow! You can finally meet your cousin."
Murtagh looked up. "My cousin... I hadn't thought about him being my cousin. Tell me" he asked with a smile, bad mood disappearing, "you don't have any more decent relatives of mine hiding somewhere do you? It would have been nice to have had some family that acts like family"
"Ha-ha," snorted Eragon, "I'm going to get some sleep." He left the room.
The next morning Eragon woke up to one of the elves shouting about a ship in the harbor.
"Roran!" thought Eragon. "Let's go meet them," said Saphira, "I wish to see Roran's daughter Izmir."
Eragon threw a light saddle on Saphira and then the two took off for the harbor.
"Oh," thought Eragon to Saphira, "do you know where Murtagh is?"
"Him and thorn were down by the water." Saphira sent Eragon a mental picture of thorn splashing her with a huge wave of water. "I had to teach thorn who is the boss is this morning." She sniffed. Eragon laughed.
Landing by the dock he saw Murtagh lounging lazily in the sun on the sand with a scroll in hand. His shirt lay on the grass behind him a ways. Eragon felt a slight flush of jealous over Murtagh's good looks. Thorn was still splashing water all over the place.
Saphira sniffed indignantly "what a Hatchling. I would never behave like that."
"What about…" Eragon started then left off, shaking his head. 'Dragons'
"Hey Murtagh, get a shirt on" shouted Eragon. Murtagh looked up at Eragon. "Roran's here." He pointed at the ship that was still a ways off. Murtagh got up, grabbed his shirt, told Thorn and went over to Eragon and Saphira and the four waited for the ship to arrive.
When the ship landed, Roran got off with a big bear hug for Eragon, and then he shook hands with Murtagh. The two eyed each other for a minute, each sizing up the other.
Roran smiled, "Nice to finally meet you, Murtagh."
"You too."
Katrina stepped off the ship with the five year old Ismira tagging along behind and a baby boy on her hip. Katrina also had a hug for Eragon, and she surprised them all by giving Murtagh a hug as well. Murtagh accepted the hug hesitantly... Ismira seemed more interested with the dragons then either of her two relatives. "Hey Saphira!" she shouted. Saphira chuckled scaring Ismira. "Hello, little one." she said surprising Eragon.
"Well," said Eragon," Let's go eat some breakfast, shall we?"
The family walked off together. The two dragons playful sniped at each other behind.
Eragon smiled.