The Things Left Unsaid

by Firestar'sniece

Eragon and Murtagh often take things forgranted. They know that they'll be there for each other, but how many times do they actually say what's on they're minds? How many times do they actually say how much they care and worry, that they have brotherly love for each other? Still, they're brothers and best friends. But even familial relationships have their dynamics.

1. The Things Left Unsaid

I don't own Inheritance Cycle or Star Trek.

The Things Left Unsaid

(Eragon Point of View)

The view at the top of the building, looking out towards the horizon was splendid. It was a huge stone edifice that towered above the vast forest beneath them. The flat roof, where Eragon and Saphira were, was built for the dragons to land on. They were at least twice the size of Shruiken, and the made the huge trees look small in comparison.

As Eragon let a sigh of relief escape him, he leaned further back into Saphira's shoulder as she too stared off into the horizon. Many hundreds of feet below them in the thick green forest were whispers birds who chattered loud noises for something seemed to disturb their peace. Somewhere outside the forest there was a dock being built that ships from the vastly winding river could stop at.

All in all, the new home of the riders was splendid, and it had been a beautiful ten years of mostly rest since the war. Alagaesia was at peace, and the Riders and dragons were on a rise once more.

At one point there were a few skirmishes, and an almost uprising against Nasuada because of her oppression on the magicians. In fact, it almost led to war. Then there was one when they found out Murtagh had returned and taken his rightful place among the ranks of the Riders.

It took time, but those had been solved. Only after some major adjustments to the governing of the people, especially to Nasuada and her reign, there began to be peace again. And given time, people were able to learn the truth about what really happened with Murtagh. Some hard feelings still showed, but for the most part they were able to forgive him.

In many ways, it was almost a blessing, for people finally had a say in the government, which they didn't have after the war. After the war, things had been decided on for them. For many, it was a frustration that they had moved from one monarch to another without the people's voice in the matter and their involvement in the choice.

But when Nasuada was forced to abdicate her position as high queen, a few other things were amended to give the people more power. She was forced to give up all her vassals, forced never to take vassals and her descendants and heirs never to take vassals. Also she had to make an equal amount of male and female nobles and an equal amount of non magician and magician nobles.

Then they made changes in the governing to where she had to allow a parliament and council to be elected by the people. This parliament and council would consist of an equal number of men and women, magician and non magician to rule by constitution and bill of rights.

Now, the parliament and council were set up to move by the voice of the people, unlike the Varden's council. And the people could remove any individual from it at any time. Due to this, the citizens would hold the majority of the power. They had been reduced to a constitutional monarchy.

Nasuada hadn't been happy about it, but it was either that or lose her life. Now, even a monarch could be tried and executed for treason. But she had lost the confidence of the people after her oppression and regulations on magicians. Her agenda had turned people against her, even her own magicians. And some questioned her sanity.

The people were afraid of another Galbatorix. And so, Eragon asked Arya to step in. Due to training new riders he had been unable to leave. Plus, at that time he was still Nasuada's vassal, and that would only have aggravated the situation.

It didn't help that Nasuada had demanded of Eragon that he come and help her out. Eragon had politely refused with his prepared excuse of training dragon riders, but she had only become more harsh and demanding. At one point, she'd even accused him of betraying her. Eragon had been grateful that he was outside of Alagaesia and thus outside of her reach.

After talking with Arya and asking her to help Nasuada see some sense, Arya had agreed to help Eragon. And Eragon informed Nasuada that Arya was asked to help solve the situation. When Arya came, she was greeted with relief, as the people knew that a dragon rider would likely side with the people in order to keep the peace. Plus, they were more likely to trust her since they knew she and Eragon were in a relationship.

Arya came and compromised between the people and Nasuada. And after seeing the people's plight, she sided with them. Power was taken away from Nasuada and the majority of the power had been given to the people.

It was the only compromise the people would allow. And Nasuada was not willing to give up the remainder of her power they had allowed her to retain or the throne. So she was forced to accept this.

Eragon sighed. It was for the best. Roran had been keeping him informed of what was going on in Alagaesia, and he had to admit that he was concerned about what his former liege lord had been doing.

But now that her oppressive regime had been disbanded, there was tranquility once more. Nasuada had been bitter of it, and the people to this day were cautious of her perhaps annoyed because of King Galbatorix and King Palancar. But they were a bit more assured that they had say in their country now.

Though Eragon had to admit having his freedom back was good. Even Surda and Teirm were relieved to finally be free of her. King Orrin had regretted leaving Nasuada in control of the magicians, even in his country. And Roran, who had sided with the people. He had many magicians for friends and was friendly with both magicians and non magicians, so he had a lot of say and influence. After all, his cousins were dragon riders.

Being separated from his family had been hard for Eragon, and he was relieved when a few years later his brother had turned up. The red rider and his dragon had changed a lot since they had been gone, and now that Murtagh was ready to return, he still wanted to stay away from Alagaesia for a bit. And so, he stayed with his brother and the elves that were with him, as was his right.

Eragon had admittedly been elated and had welcomed him with open arms. After so long away from his family, he was eager to have at least one of them. And Murtagh being Murtagh was shocked that he had received such a friendly invitation. He was not expecting his half brother to forgive him or be kind towards him.

As Eragon basked in the sun, sitting next to Saphira, he reviewed the events of Murtagh's return in his mind.

Murtagh had stayed with him for a few years, and had become accustomed to people again. He was still a bit wary due to what he had experienced, and he was a bit nervous as to what to expect from others. But over time, when they saw that he meant no harm, the elves relaxed around him and so did he. Then they became friendly with each other.

And so, Murtagh and Thorn decided to stay and help rebuild the riders. But eventually their duties as dragon and rider prompted Eragon to send them to Alagaesia.

The people hadn't been too fond of that. It had taken Arya stepping in, on request of Eragon, particularly in the case of the dwarfs, to get them to relinquish their anger against him. And it had taken persuading Murtagh to open his mind to them to give them his account and feelings on the matter to get them to back down.

Murtagh hadn't liked it, but Eragon had pushed him to. Murtagh was upset about it for a while, but they worked things out eventually.

Afterwards, Murtagh and Thorn became the dragon and rider that were dispatched between the new nation of dragon riders and Alagaesia.

Eragon was startled as he heard the sound of flapping wings, and he heard Saphira chuckle in his mind. Looking up, he saw Thorn landing, Murtagh atop his back. When the dragon was finally settled down, he saw Murtagh jump off, using his elf like abilities to keep him from getting injured and to compensate for the height that he'd jumped from.

Bringing a hand to his face to shield it from the sun, he grinned up at his brother. "What's the news?" he asked Murtagh and Murtagh shrugged, loosening Thorn's saddle some.

"The ships are a good few hours away," he commented nonchalantly.

Eragon nodded. "Good," he observed, then went into deep thought again. "The new docks should be finished by then."

Today was the first time in ten years that he would see Roran and Katrina in person instead of through a mirror. And today was the first day that he would see Ismira in person since she was a baby. Somehow, seeing her in person would seem more real, because it seemed more like a fantasy and a dream watching her grow up through a mirror. That and he wanted to see how tall she really was.

She would tell him her height, and Murtagh would tell him from visiting with Roran and bringing his and Eragon's gifts for her, but it wasn't the same as seeing.

As he brought himself out of his reverie, he saw that his half brother had an amused grin on his face. "Thinking about someone?" he asked, and when Eragon realized who he was referring to, he blushed. Of course Murtagh would associate his daydreaming with him thinking about Arya.

"I wasn't thinking about her!" Eragon snapped, and Murtagh chuckled in disbelief.

"Uh, huh," he commented. Thorn was sitting down laughing as well, Eragon could tell. And Murtagh sat down and leaned against Thorn, observing the dragon and rider in amusement. "Then if your thoughts weren't on your girlfriend, who were they on?"

A groan escaped Eragon as his thoughts briefly went to the rest of the crew arriving. All the leaders of the nations were coming to visit him, plus many from Carvahall. This would be his first real contact with Alagaesia in ten years.

Among those coming would be his foster brother the dwarf king Orik, and of course the elven queen Arya. King Orrin would be there, as well as king Halfpaw, and of course Nasuada, now constitutional monarch and no longer high queen.

A grin split his face as he realized that he could turn this on his brother. "Mine was on our niece. I wanted to see in person how much she's grown. But you, who are you waiting for, brother?"

It was amusing to see Murtagh's eyes widen in horror when he saw the direction of the conversation. "No one!" Murtagh snapped, but his face was red giving him away.

Eragon leaned forward some. "Eager to see Nasuada?" he asked a bit too eagerly.

The red on Murtagh's face deepened, and he brought his knees to his chest. "Don't know what you're talking about," he tried to deny it, and both Saphira and Thorn paused the conversation they were in to chuckle. This only caused Murtagh to blush deeper.

"Well it's not like it would work out anyways!" Murtagh snapped, and tried to hide his face in his knees. "Figures. We were good friends before, and then I had to tell you that you were my little brother. Now you're behaving like a little brother towards me!"

Snickering, Eragon leaned back in delight. "Your fault, you know!" he cheerily replied, and Murtagh groaned. But then again, Murtagh had a point. They had come from being not just friends to best friends, but also brothers.

And they were brothers in every sense of the way, including getting on each others nerves sometimes. But they truly did enjoy each others' company, not that they would admit it, of course.

One thing the elves had noticed about the brothers is that they liked to take advantage of the fact that they were brothers, whether for calling on favors, to tease and annoy each other as siblings did, or to sometimes use each other as a scapegoat when a prank or advice went wrong.

And while the brothers appreciated and loved each other, for they had strong familial love, brotherly love being what helped them get through some difficult times together, they also tended to leave things unsaid. That was including some uncomfortable topics that neither wanted to broach.

Uncle Garrow's death was one of those topics, the topics of their fathers (though Eragon was eager to learn more about his mother even though Murtagh didn't have much to give him), and Murtagh's horrid stay in Uru'baen as a slave of Galbatorix. Murtagh was still affected by it, and he still had nightmares. But he trusted none but Thorn, Saphira, and Eragon to help him through it.

Not even Roran and Nasuada he trusted with that. So usually he would go to Eragon, primarily because Eragon was human (well mostly) and dragons didn't always understand human emotions and needs. Nasuada and he had become too far apart, being basic friends and not even best friends. However Eragon had extended the hand when Murtagh needed it the most.

Because of that and their shared experiences, Murtagh trusted Eragon the most, even the advice he gave. It was Eragon he would talk to sometimes.

The brothers remained in silence a bit longer, and then Murtagh got up. "I've got things that I've got to oversee before they arrive." And with that, he leaped in the saddle and the duo flew away. But Eragon knew the real reason. Murtagh didn't want to stick around and be teased by his younger brother.

'Well,' Eragon thought. 'He shouldn't have started it.'

'And you shouldn't have continued it,' Saphira lightly chastised him.

'Too true.' But he couldn't help smiling at that. 'Do you think that he'll speak to Nasuada while she's here?' he then inquired of Saphira. And he was met with silence.

-§-

It was night time by the time the ships docked, and everyone had stepped out. As delighted as Eragon was to see Arya, however, they were all exhausted, so Eragon had the younger riders show everyone to their quarters. But as he looked over, he saw Nasuada and Murtagh in deep discussion.

He flashed an amused and smug grin at his brother, and saw Murtagh's cheeks turn red. Murtagh deliberately turned away from Eragon.

"Come, Susanna will show you to your suite," Murtagh murmured towards Nasuada and then he shepherded her to a young female dragon rider whose white dragon was by her side. The dragon bent over and greeted Nasuada, and Nasuada greeted him in return.

With that, Eragon took his cue and led Arya over to Leona, the elf woman that would show Arya to her suite. "If you need anything, feel free to ask," he graciously informed Arya, and then they departed, but not before Arya cast a curious glance between Murtagh, Eragon, and Nasuada.

She gave Eragon a pointed look before saying, "Don't go causing trouble between the two of them." And then she started walking off, Firnen by her side.

"I would never!" Eragon called out after her, and Firnen snorted. Even Saphira rolled her eyes.

With that, Eragon retired to his suite, but Saphira went for a little night time flight. Eragon deeply suspected that Firnen would join her in the skies.

The next day, at breakfast as they all feasted, the elves having no meat at their table, Eragon stood up to make an announcement.

"My friends!" he called in a commanding voice, faking his confidence. He paused, looking around, hoping to buy time. That was when he realized, that he didn't really know what to say. Eragon had always hated giving speeches. He was never good at them. So he kept it short, hoping that they wouldn't see through his charade.

"And my family! It is good to see you after all this time. I deeply hope that you enjoy your stay here. While I know that you are here seeking audience with us because of the various things happening in Alagaesia, I want you to enjoy your time here as much as possible." And with that he sat down, keeping the fake smile on his face.

Roran, who was sitting on his left, nudged him. "It's good to see you again!" he said and Eragon smiled. He nodded. "Likewise," was his answer.

Murtagh, who was sitting on Eragon's right, being Eragon's second in command, was glaring at Nasuada's table in jealousy. One of Nasuada's earls appeared to be trying to get her attention.

"I think you would love to visit my summer palace. And think about it! If you married me, any heirs we had would be even more powerful in the next generation and would secure the confidence of the kingdom!" the earl was saying to the human queen.

It took Eragon's elf hearing to catch onto the conversation, but he had no wish to eavesdrop, not only because Nasuada was his former liege lord, but because she was his friend. But he knew that Murtagh, with his elf-spelled advanced hearing, could hear it. And he was glaring at the earl.

Eragon nudged his brother. "Let it go," he advised him, and Murtagh scowled.

"Well," Murtagh snapped back. "If I didn't have to sit next to you this whole time, then it wouldn't be an issue, would it? And why does Arya get to sit wherever she wants?"

"Because she's not second in command of the riders, you are," Eragon laid down the rules for him. But Murtagh merely slouched in his chair, a pouting look on his face. "Thorn hatched before Firnen, making you and Thorn senior in the order. As such you're the elder rider and it is your duty to be sitting here. If you don't like what you hear, don't listen."

"But Arya's third in command!" Murtagh complained, and Eragon sighed. He knew that Murtagh still had feelings for Nasuada, but neither of the two wanted to admit it.

"And she's also the elven queen. The duties for the second in command are not the requirements of the third in command. Plus, due to being queen, she has special exceptions."

"And I'm a nobleman," Murtagh gruffly commented.

"A nobleman is not head of state," Eragon pointed out. "Technically all dragon riders and children and descendants of dragon riders are nobles, so I would be in the same boat with you, as dragon rider and as Brom's son. But you don't see me complaining to sit with Arya."

"You're not the one whose hearing someone else proposing to the girl he likes!" the red rider seethed, and at that point, some silent conversation took place between Murtagh and Thorn, who was sitting at Saphira's right across the hall, conversing with other dragons.

But Eragon and Roran couldn't help the grins that split their faces. "So, you admit that you like her!" Roran teased him, and Murtagh blushed briefly.

Fortunately, Murtagh was saved further embarrassment when Katrina hit Roran on the arm. "That's enough! Leave him be!" she ordered her husband. "You're setting a bad example for Ismira!"

As Murtagh pushed his plate away and continued to glare at Nasuada's earl, Eragon rolled his eyes. Eragon had hoped that Murtagh would see that Nasuada's body language clearly indicated that she was uninterested in the other guy and was doing her best to ignore him while pretending to pay attention. But all Murtagh could seem to see was the other earl proposing to Nasuada.

"Stupid rules!" Murtagh continued to complain. At this point, Eragon thought it best to ignore him. But he was also wearied, for he knew his brother would be in a bad mood the rest of the day.

Because of this, Eragon was dreading when the meal ended, and he was worried about what Murtagh might do. It made him more nervous and his brain shut down as he was looking for words to say. So he decided to go with a rough draft of what he'd been taught to say, instead of giving elaborate extras in his speech. Thus, when he stood up to talk, as was required of him, he was a bit wary.

So he kept it short. "Well, that was an, umm, wonderful meal. Thank you for joining us." Keeping the fake smile, he sat down. Everyone seemed to give him a shocked and confused expression at his odd short speech, but then they got up and started leaving. And Eragon unfortunately witnessed Murtagh stalk off.

He knew where his brother was going, and he wondered if he should interfere. The last thing he needed was his brother's actions leading to a fight. In fact, he was about to stalk off when Roran held him back. "Let him go," Roran advised. "Do you not trust him to make the right decisions?"

"I'm just worried because I know he can be a hot head at times," Eragon admitted, watching with worried eyes as Murtagh walked up to Nasuada and the fanatic earl who was now starting to yell at the queen and shove her.

"And you can't be?" Roran challenged. Eragon winced at this. He knew Roran was right. And he couldn't help but wince as he saw a little of Murtagh in himself as he saw his brother's body language indicating that he was getting angrier. And if the earl's red cheeks were anything to go by, Eragon could see where this was heading.

Nasuada tried stepping between the two of them, but this only seemed to escalate the argument. And when the earl made to grab Nasuada and pull her to his side, Eragon could see Murtagh's form shaking, even as Nasuada twisted out of the man's grasp.

"You heard Her Majesty!" Murtagh bellowed out. "Leave her be!" Eragon winced as the loud tone reached his ears. And seeing the situation, he decided to step in. But he didn't get there in time, for the earl seemed to say something softly and Murtagh lashed out, punching the earl with a right hook.

A lot of gasps rang out, and Eragon shook his head. As Eragon's second in command, this looked badly on him if Murtagh did anything. And right now he did.

"Murtagh!" Nasuada screeched and rounded on him, arguing with him. The earl was in a crumple on the floor, holding his broken nose, and the entire crowd was now staring at them.

"I take that back," Roran commented to Eragon, face white. "You know your brother a lot better than I know my cousin." And as he looked back he couldn't help but wince as he heard his daughter shout, "Go Uncle Murtagh!" And Katrina was glaring at Roran, as if he had encouraged their daughter's behavior. "She'll get me for this," Roran commented glancing at Katrina.

Eragon did his best to ignore the conversation as he approached Murtagh, but he couldn't help but wince when he heard Nasuada roar, "...so immature of you, Murtagh!"

"Immature?" Murtagh was demanding, his finger pointed at the other earl who was now backing away to take care of his bleeding nose. "You call me immature for being physical when he was being physically aggressive with you?! You think that I shouldn't have-" But he didn't get to finish for Eragon arrived and yanked him away from the conversation, getting ready to pull him out.

"Get off of me, Eragon!" Murtagh shouted and shook Eragon off.

But the younger wouldn't back down. "Get out of here now, Murtagh," he demanded, and Murtagh reddened more. He glanced at Nasuada.

"I can handle myself, Eragon," the red rider made to argue. "I won't-

"Get out of here!" Eragon shouted, pointing his finger to the door in theatrics, and Murtagh stared at him in shock. He looked around to everyone in the room, and when he saw their apprehensive expressions at him, he nodded and stormed off. Everyone heard the door bang when he slammed it.

A sigh escaped Eragon as he looked across the room and at everyone's expressions. He had a lot to clean up from Murtagh's argument, that was for sure. 'Lots of politics will be involved in this,' he realized. And he was not looking forward to it either.

Thorn chose that moment to pursue Murtagh.

-§-

Eragon was currently sitting in his study, his fingers drumming the ornate desk sung out of a tree that was in front of him. He was currently glaring at his half brother who was standing in front of the desk, Thorn behind him, looking not in the least repentant. As Murtagh's angry demeanor continued and he had his arms crossed, Saphira growled some.

"Well, what do you want, Eragon?" Murtagh finally snapped when Eragon continued to say nothing. He seemed to be tired of standing at attention. "I haven't got all day."

Anger seared through Eragon and he clenched his fists. But he kept his tone even as he demanded of Murtagh, "Care to explain that little situation earlier?"

Murtagh scoffed. "I think the situation speaks for itself."

"Your right," Eragon continued quietly, but intensely. "It does. A dragon rider, one of my dragon riders, broke Lord Davian's nose. Do you know how many complaints were launched against you? Many. And do you know who had to deal with that whole mess? Me."

As Eragon leaned back into his seat to glare at his brother more, Murtagh rolled his eyes. "I didn't ask you to get involved," he snapped back, and Eragon frowned. Murtagh's refusal to admit his wrong was starting to annoy Eragon. Apparently, waiting for fifteen minutes for Murtagh to say that he knew he was in the wrong had been a bad idea.

"You didn't have to," Eragon harshly retorted with steel in his voice. "As leader of the dragon riders I was automatically dragged into it. As such, I am responsible for you and your actions. As such, what you do reflects on me, and not just me but the dragon riders as well. I had to answer for your actions. Do you know how that makes me feel?"

"Oh, so this is about you?" Murtagh then challenged, and Eragon narrowed his eyes in pure frustration. Couldn't his half brother get it?

"It is not just about me!" was the response. "This is about all of us. As dragon riders, we're supposed to be solving problems, not causing them. And besides, you didn't have to get involved. You merely interfered out of jealousy!"

"Did you even see the way he was treating Nasuada!" hissed Murtagh and Thorn sent Murtagh a cautionary glance, and Eragon was sure that the dragon said something to him. But Murtagh didn't listen. "Oh, I know you did Eragon. But I am the one who decided to help out, not you!"

"Help?" Eragon incredulously responded. He couldn't believe what he was hearing! He mindlessly tightened his fingers around the wood, breaking some of it in outrage. "You call that help?! Murtagh, you assaulted one of Nasuada's earls, and you call that help? You made things worse! You made the situation spin out of control!"

"He was being rough with Nasuada!" Murtagh defended himself and her. Then he waved his arms, asking, "What was I supposed to do? Watch and do nothing?"

"I didn't say that!" Eragon snapped back quickly, irked at the assumptions made. "But resorting to violence wasn't the answer!" The blue rider pounded the arm rests on his chair a little too hard for the wood broke off the rest of the way, but he didn't notice. "Murtagh, what am I going to do with you? Do you know what it took to get the others to forgive you?"

"Stop bringing that up!" Murtagh growled, and even Thorn let out a cautionary growl but was stopped by a look from Saphira. Eragon relayed his thanks to the blue dragon.

"I will if I can't seem to get reason into your head!" the blue rider firmly responded. "You can't afford to go starting trouble, especially with your past. You need to be more careful!"

"I would risk anything if it meant protecting her!" was Murtagh's declaration.

"But you weren't protecting her, Murtagh, in case your little argument with her wasn't hint enough!" Eragon roared, standing up. "She was mad at you! Besides, it wasn't even your business. What happened between Lord Davian and Queen Nasuada was their business, not yours! You had no right to get involved, especially on mere jealousy!"

"He might have hurt her!" Murtagh stepped forward in anger.

"And queen Nasuada can defend herself. Besides, he was not your jurisdiction. As dragon riders we're meant to get involved in things, but we're not supposed to get involved in everything! You took things a step too far, Murtagh."

Murtagh scoffed once more. This was difficult for him, Eragon could see. "And what else was I supposed to do?" was his inquiry as he waved his hands dramatically. "Let him hit her?"

"Nasuada is his queen, not you!" Eragon furiously corrected Murtagh and he began pacing. "It was for Nasuada to correct him, and believe me, she would have. In fact, she was getting ready to until you stepped in and escalated the situation."

"I had to do something!" Murtagh roared. But this only set Eragon off.

"No, you didn't!" Eragon shouted back, flinging both his hands in fury as he rounded on Murtagh. "Who Nasuada courts is not your decision! You haven't been around in her life, Murtagh. You're not there every day! Maybe someone else is! What are you going to do if she decides to marry someone else? Huh? March in and interrupt the wedding? Cause more trouble?"

This seemed to shock Murtagh. "You don't know that she'll marry someone else!" Murtagh ground out. But he seemed to be trying to convince himself. "She may yet choose me!"

"That's not the point!" Eragon shouted back. "But you can't just go hitting potential spouses of hers! That's not right to her either! Do you really think that that will help her choose you?"

"And not protecting her will make her choose me?" the argument increased.

But Eragon had had it and he lost his cool at that point. "Forget her, Murtagh!" Eragon shouted and he walked up right into Murtagh's personal space. "Don't you get it? You can't be with her! You'll always be separated from her, no matter what! You're immortal, she's mortal! You will live forever and she will live a short life and then die of old age! It's the natural way of things!"

'Eragon,' Saphira cautiously warned him but he chose to ignore Saphira's advice.

Being so blunt about it only made Murtagh flinch and shake his head. "Find a different girl, Murtagh," Eragon advised in a softer voice. "You deserve better. You deserve someone who is immortal and can spend her entire life with you. Nasuada can't provide that for you. She deserves to be with someone mortal, like she is. Let her go and let her move on."

"NO!" Murtagh whispered, and his eyes shone fiercely, almost like he was holding back tears of anger. But Eragon knew that Murtagh recognized the truth of his words, even if they were blunt and harsh. However, he wasn't willing or ready to accept them.

"And what are you going to do when she dies?" Eragon continued, and he heard Saphira shift and come to stand next to him. "Huh? You would live an eternity without her then. Is it really that worth it, a short time of joy only to have an eternity of misery because you lost her?"

Murtagh's eyes gleamed. "I would die when she does!" he proudly announced, and Eragon sadly winced when he saw Thorn's expression for the dragon seemed too hurt to say anything to his rider.

"Really?" Eragon went back to his desk and leaned into it, folding his arms. "You're a dragon rider, Murtagh. This isn't just about you as it would be if you were only immortal and not bonded to anyone. This is about Thorn as well. Would you really be willing to do that to Thorn, all for a woman? Have you considered his feelings in the matter?"

Murtagh froze at this. Eragon could tell he hadn't really considered this before. He glanced at Thorn and a brief conversation seemed to take place between them.

It was then that Saphira chose to address him. 'Murtagh,' she thought to him and the red rider's gaze snapped away from Thorn to the blue dragoness. 'I know what Eragon said isn't what you wanted to hear, but he's right in this. It wouldn't be fair to Nasuada or Thorn.

'Even if you do choose her and she chooses you, and you decide to live an eternity without her once she dies, that still doesn't give you the right to interfere with Nasuada's choices until she chooses you. Even then, it doesn't give you the right to hit any of her earls. As their queen she is responsible for their well being.

'And you are a dragon rider and are supposed to be setting a good example. Even then, any decision should be made with Thorn.'

At her advice, Murtagh clenched his fists. Thorn turned and left, signaling that Murtagh didn't have much more to say and the conversation was coming to a close. "You need to apologize to the earl," Eragon eyed Murtagh but Murtagh wouldn't meet his gaze.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Murtagh snapped and he left, slamming the door behind him.

Eragon let out a huff of air as he heard his brother stalk off. As much as he loved his brother, the man sometimes drained his patience.

-§-

A short time later when Saphira was out flying with Firnen, Eragon stepped out of his study. He had stayed there in order to cool down after his not so friendly chat with his brother. Truth was, he was still frustrated from it. But he was cool enough to face Murtagh should they encounter each other.

It was as he rounded the corner that he walked by a woman knitting. "Hi, Eragon!" she cheerily called out and Eragon waved at her absentmindedly.

"Hi!" he ground out as he moved on. And then he froze, turning around in shock, staring at the woman. He did a double take when saw that the woman was actually Angela, and he thought back to things.

She hadn't arrived with the others, and he didn't recall sending her an invitation to visit, not that he minded. Still, her mysterious way of getting around and somehow knowing things she shouldn't know tended to creep him out sometimes. Today was no different.

'The elves respect her though,' he thought on things as he backtracked to where he was at. That was probably why he'd come to give her the time of day when she was around.

That and he found that despite her odd way of doing things, she gave sound advice (advice he often took for granted) and was very wise. There were times, after the dragon rider order had been reestablished, that she'd freely given him some advice, and he had yet to repay that debt.

He looked at the hat she was knitting. "What are you doing here?" he asked incredulously.

Angela glared at him. "Yes, it's nice to see you to!" she greeted him, and Eragon felt a bit embarrassed at that when he realized what his comment could mean.

"Sorry!" he ground out. "I didn't mean it like that! I was just surprised to see you."

"Ah," Angela commented, not taking her eyes off her knitting. And then, in a knowing way she told him, "He went that way." And with that, she pointed towards the hall on Eragon's left.

Eragon couldn't help but give her a puzzled look at that. "Huh?" he inquired the whole while wondering why she always had to be so mysterious. "Who?"

"Why Murtagh of course!" Angela answered him in a tone as if he should have known. "Who did you think I was referring to? Captain Jean Luc Picard?"

"Who?" Eragon asked again. He had to admit that his curiosity was growing. He'd suspected for some time that all her odd comments meant something, not that he knew what they meant.

"Oh, never mind!" Angela waved him off, impatient once more. For a while Eragon stood there in awkward silence. Then he began to make his way off again, only to be stopped by Angela's next comments. "You should apologize to him, you know. That was really harsh what you said. And you talk about having Murtagh do things in a more wise manner?" She chuckled a bit then.

Eragon froze. How she knew things that she wasn't supposed to know, he didn't know, but it surprised him each and every time. This time was no different. For one, that conversation between him and Murtagh had been held in private, and Eragon had used magic to make sure that no one could eavesdrop. So how could she know about it? He decided to go back to Angela.

"What did you hear?" he demanded after folding his arms sternly, and Angela's eyes widened in innocence.

"Oh, I didn't hear anything. But I can't help it if rumors fly around." The response was a little too innocent in Eragon's opinion. It was a relief that by now he knew she meant no harm. She was often helpful in the oddest of ways.

"And who's spreading these rumors?" Eragon demanded cautiously, careful not to offend. The last thing he wanted was to turn away free advice. He knew her well enough by now to know that she was beating around to bush of the real topic. Often, she'd use mysterious words that seemed to make no sense to avoid things. It was her way of being soft before hitting someone with the advice they didn't want to hear but needed.

Angela merely shrugged. "You'd have to be in the circle, so to speak, to find out." And that was all that Angela would say on that subject, leaving Eragon even more confused. He stood there in silence to see if she would say anymore. As expected when she finished a row in knitting she set it down, ready to give him her full attention.

"Listen," she began, her voice serious. And it was when she was less mysterious and her voice was more serious that Eragon knew that her advice had gravely deep meaning.

"You shouldn't be too harsh with each other. You and the elves fancy yourselves immortal, but the truth could be far from it. Yes, you'll live forever, in many ways, but you still face death. You don't know if someone's going to kill you tomorrow or if there will be some accident that takes your life. You live unaging until you die. But that's not true immortality. That's not really living forever."

Then she went back to her knitting. "Just take my advice. Don't take things for granted, especially people and family that you love. You could lose them in an instant, for all you know."

Eragon shivered at that. It was certainly true, and there were times when he had worried about his brother and Arya. Yes, they were "immortal", but they could still die, and had come close to it before. But Eragon also didn't want to think about that because he didn't want to live his life in fear.

"Are you saying that I'm going to lose someone close to me?" Eragon inquired, throat tight. He was remembering her previous prediction when he had first left Carvahall and how she had predicted Brom's death, Brom, who had turned out to be his father.

Angela shrugged, still knitting as if the advice she gave weren't at all grave. "It's just something to think about. When you've been around as long as I have, you run into many people grieving over the things they'd said to someone who has just died, or even the things they've left unsaid.

'It's a sad thing to think that you've taken someone so for granted that they can't hear what you've really wanted to say because they're now dead. It's not death that breaks people's hearts. It's those things."

The meaning of this dawned on Eragon and he took a quick look at his life and the people he loved. He'd already said the things he'd wanted to say to the people he cared about. Well, all people except one. Even Arya had heard from him that he loved her and that he would do anything for her, but Murtagh had yet to hear how much his younger brother really cared about him.

The whole time, Eragon had just assumed and believed that Murtagh knew. After all, he had helped Murtagh in ways that others couldn't, and it was to Eragon that Murtagh opened up to after the Uru'baen incident. But had he ever told his older brother how much he loved and cared about him? No.

Maybe it was because they were siblings that Eragon took it for granted. Or maybe it was because there was still some friction due to their past, some regrets that Eragon had and didn't want to voice. Perhaps that was also a reason he'd never told Murtagh how much his older brother meant to him. And being reminded of it by Angela ate away at him.

But he was still mad at Murtagh. "Yeah, I'll let him know," he told Angela and walked off.

"Don't sit on it!" Angela called out her advice. "The sooner the better!"

"Of course!" Eragon called back as he stalked away in annoyance. It was the last thing he wanted to hear right now. Angela's advice could wait until he was in a better mood to put up with his brother.

And so he walked down the hallway, thinking things through. It still disturbed him that Angela had made such comments. He had to wonder if she knew more than she was saying. And that only made him shudder. Who would die next? Roran? After all he was mortal.

But surely that comment couldn't apply to Roran since it was a give in that he'd die eventually?

Eragon didn't know, and he pushed the thoughts aside for now. And as he walked through the hallways, to his surprise he saw Thorn, Nasuada, and Murtagh in a large chamber, chatting up a storm. Some of Nasuada's servants were a little ways off, giving them some privacy.

Nasuada was smiling and she laughed a little. In fact the conversation seemed to take years off of her age, even visibly. And Eragon couldn't help but to stop and observe them even though he knew that he shouldn't have.

Technically, he should have given them privacy, but it was nice to see his best friend and brother finally getting to enjoy some time with the queen he loved, even though this chat would be small compared to the eternity that spread out in front of him.

The blue rider was torn as a new dilemma entered his life. Deep down he knew the fate that awaited his brother should he and Nasuada be together, and yet he couldn't deny them the temporary happiness that they experienced when in each others presence. Eragon cared for his brother more than he'd admit to, and what hurt Murtagh hurt him. Warring emotions raged inside of him, pulling him in both directions.

Because of that, part of Eragon didn't want Murtagh and Nasuada to be together because it would only hurt his best friend in the long run. But Eragon also wanted Murtagh to be happy, and if Nasuada was the woman who made him happy, how could he deny him?

Perhaps, as the leader of the Dragon Riders, he might get a say in who his brother married. But he highly doubted that. And it wasn't just because he was the younger brother.

Carvahall and Palancar valley seemed to be the only place where it was customary to ask one's parents to be married or engaged, something even Roran had broken. And one of the first things that Roran had done upon becoming earl was change that rule and ban it.

Now one could marry anyone they wished to without they're parents' permission as long as they were adults. And parents could not marry their children off.

Eragon sighed as he watched his brother laugh lightly at something Nasuada said. 'It's heartbreak in the long run,' he thought to himself. As much as he loved his brother and as much as Nasuada was also his friend, it was still hard for him.

'After all,' Eragon thought. 'Who's going to have to be there to comfort Murtagh when he loses his wife? And who is going to have to pick up the broken threads and bind him back together and make him emotionally sound again? Me. I'll have to be the one to do it since I understand Murtagh the most.'

It would be a human that Murtagh would need to help him through that grief. Elves may experience the same emotions, but they did not always understand human emotions or human customs. And it was the same thing with dragons.

Roran probably wouldn't be around to help Murtagh with his grief as he would probably be dead by that time. Even if he weren't, as much as Murtagh and Roran were friends, Murtagh wasn't close enough to Roran yet to be able to draw comfort from him.

Murtagh was rather shy as a human, as hard as it was to believe. Because he was reserved, people didn't often know when he was in pain. Part of it was people didn't pay attention to him anyways. Many times, he was overlooked.

Murtagh's past experience also made it difficult for him to ask for help, partly because in the past, asking for help usually made him look weak to others. He'd been bullied because of that, and from it he'd learned to never express his emotions and never show his true feelings. It was an emotional protection to him, but it made it hard for him to get close to others.

These experiences made it hard for others to comfort him. To Murtagh, opening up his heart had always meant further pain and betrayal was in the future. And so, when others would come who truly meant well to him and wanted to help him, Murtagh still had difficulty learning to trust and finding the courage to open up to them.

It wasn't truly his fault, after all he had gone through a lot of difficult things in life. But it made it to where Murtagh wasn't that close to very many, even if he ended up friends with many.

Murtagh was closest to Eragon and trusted him the most. As much as the elves had tried to heal him emotionally, only Eragon had succeeded in helping Murtagh out after his traumatic ordeal in Uru'baen. Eragon was really the only one who had figured Murtagh out and read him like an open book, even when Murtagh had been forced to give his memories to others. And Eragon was the only one who understood Murtagh.

Eragon felt guilty he had judged Murtagh before and considered him an enemy in the war. In reality, Murtagh had been a victim. But that was then and this was now. Murtagh still struggled emotionally with the past, but not as bad as before. He was still scarred, but he was healed enough to function and be a very good dragon rider.

But would Murtagh break when he lost Nasuada? That wasn't something Eragon wanted to think about. He knew his brother cared about her and was attached to her, and that would only make the hurt more pronounced and difficult the closer he got to her.

Eragon knew this by experience. It was because he was so attached to Murtagh as a friend that he had taken it hard when Murtagh had "betrayed" him. And that had caused Eragon a lot of grief. So he knew in a sense what Murtagh was up against.

Maybe Murtagh knew from losing Tornac, but he was still mortal then, whereas Eragon had been immortal when he had learned that lesson. And it had affected him differently and a lot worse than it would a mortal. Immortal emotions are stronger.

He wanted to save his brother from the heartache that was bound to happen, but he wasn't sure how to do it. After all, if he interfered, it might only make things turn sour between them. That, and it would hurt Murtagh in the process, which wasn't his intention. So, he decided to let it go for now.

Now that their conversation was finished, Nasuada exited. "Eragon," she greeted him as she passed, and Eragon acknowledged her with a nod to the head.

"Queen Nasuada," he greeted politely, and watched her walk off in sadness. As he turned around he found himself face to face with his brother and Thorn, Murtagh with a little frown on his face.

An awkward silence followed. "I apologized to her, you know," Murtagh finally broke the silence, fidgeting somewhat. "And to Lord Davian as well."

Eragon nodded awkwardly in approval. "Good, good." And then they were both silent again.

It was Thorn who broke the silence. 'When shall the leaders meet with us about the troubles that they've been having?' And Eragon sent silent thanks to Thorn for breaking the awkward tension.

"Um, in a couple of hours, actually," Eragon replied. He looked for a way to keep the conversation, but he couldn't find anything to talk about. He even considered Angela's advice, but he just couldn't bring himself to say it. He snorted in his mind.

'And what should I say, Angela? "Oh, by the way, Murtagh, you should know that I care about you and love you like a brother should?" Things are awkward enough between us as it is due to Murtagh's past and the incident with Lord Davian. I don't need to go making things any more awkward!'

However, Murtagh seemed to be more in tune with the situation, for he seemed to sense that there was something on Eragon's mind. "Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked his younger brother with pure concern etched on his face.

Things seemed even more awkward for Eragon. "Uh, no," Eragon lied, and he saw Thorn roll his eyes in disbelief. The dragon was perceptive, he gave Thorn that much. Running his hand through his hair, he looked away in awkwardness. Then he sighed.

"Sorry about earlier," he apologized uncomfortably, and Murtagh shrugged. "I meant what I said, well, most of it, but I shouldn't have been so harsh about it with you. Even Saphira warned me. That can't have been easy hearing about it from my hands." And he gave a small smile sheepishly.

It was Murtagh's turn to be awkward. "Yes, well, you hit it right on the nail," he replied avoiding Eragon's eyes. Silence reined once again as both brothers waited for the other to start the conversation back up again. But neither seemed to be willing to go first.

Murtagh was the one to break the silence. "So, see you at the audience room?" he asked oddly.

"Yes," Eragon nodded, eager to be off. He waved goodbye and then ran off, eager to leave the awkward tension behind. And he thought he heard Angela chuckling as he passed her again.

(Later that Evening)

Eragon had a headache. He was currently seated in his chair, Murtagh seated on his seat on the right as in the second in command chair, and Arya seated on her seat on Eragon's left third in command chair. The dragons sat behind their riders, being taller, and they listened with interest in the conversation that followed, or more like racket as Eragon heard it.

The young rider was holding his head in his hands as he listened to the various heads of state argue. Right now he couldn't make heads or tails of the conversation because they were all talking over each other. And it was hurting Eragon's sensitive ears.

"I sent you seven trains of gold!" King Orrin was shouting at king Orik.

"The price of everything was worth at least eight!" King Orik shouted back pointing his fingers in frustration at the human king. "You're just trying to rip my people off and take advantage of us!"

"Stop fighting!" Nasuada was shouting. "Can't you see that we have bigger issues to worry about than a mere train of gold missing in payment? You both are behaving like children so maybe I should call you boys, not men!"

But the two ignored Nasuada. "Give me my merchandise!" King Orrin shouted at the dwarf king and at this moment Eragon had had enough of the arguing.

"All right! All right!" Eragon conceded, putting his hand in the air to stop the arguing. But when they still continued to argue he stood up from his seat and bellowed, "SILENCE!" Saphira roared.

It took Saphira's roar to quiet them down, and when they did, Eragon was relieved. 'Honestly,' Saphira addressed them. 'You came to us to solve a contract dispute? That's not what the dragon riders are for! If this is all you came for, then we may as well send you on your way!'

The arguing started back up again, this time aimed at Eragon and Murtagh, demanding that they side with them in their dispute. Eragon winced at the volume of the noise.

'Enough!' Thorn mentally yelled causing all that weren't dragon riders to flinch. Even the elves present flinched. 'Why don't you tell us why you're really here?'

Silence ensued, blessed silence. Eragon sat up taller, staring each leader in the eye.

It was an elf that stepped forward, Vanir. "There has been a disturbance in the sea, the likes of which we've never seen before. Already both Surda and Nasuada's empire have lost many ships. Many set sail and never returned. Even we tried to investigate the doings only for many of our own not to return."

Eragon sighed. But he'd rather hear this than the petty arguments from the monarchs.

"Has anyone gotten a look at what's causing the disappearance?" he inquired.

They all shook their heads. And it was Arya who answered, "No one who has seen whatever it is that has caused it has lived to tell the tale."

"So we have no witnesses," Eragon frowned. That would only make things much harder. Then he turned to Arya. "And what did your investigations turn up?"

"Nothing," Arya admitted. "Whatever it is, it won't appear for me. But this thing is also disturbing the lakes of the Beor Mountains and Du Weldenvarden. Even my people have been taken within the safe haven deep within our forests."

"That's an awful ways from the ocean," Murtagh commented, intrigued by this. They all were.

"And you can be sure it's the same thing?" Eragon asked.

Arya nodded, as did king Orik. "Whatever it is, it's leaving the same injuries on it's victims. We figure it may be able to fly. Or it's capable of moving very fast."

"It also seems to be following a distinct pattern," Orrin added. "People only seem to go missing certain times during the month. The rest of the time is peace."

Eragon leaned forward in his seat. Now that was interesting. He'd never heard of anything like that before.

"Because of this," King Orrin continued. "We ground all caravans certain times during the month. This seemed to help somewhat, but then the attacks moved on various settlements. They are on the small villages, and it seems that the people who go missing are the homeless."

"And when did you start noticing these disappearances?" Murtagh asked, puzzlement in his face as well. He tapped his chair gently with his fingers, considering everything that was said.

King Orrin, king Orik, and queen Nasuada looked at each other in slight dread.

"We didn't at first," Nasuada admitted. "Apparently the people being taken were people whom others wouldn't notice missing. People like trappers that have no family to go back to, no one to report them if they're missing. Homeless people was another one. But eventually the numbers grew to where it was noticeable, and sometimes an old body would show up. So how long this has been going on for, we have no idea."

This surprised Eragon and the dragons. That meant that whatever was doing this was intelligent. "And what are the injuries like?" Eragon decided to ask, intrigued all the more.

They all glanced at each other, and even Arya paled. Shock spread through Eragon. He knew of nothing that could frighten Arya. In fact, nothing scared Arya.

"Horrid injuries," King Orik responded, though he had an odd look on his face, like he was lost in thought in something else. Eragon could tell this sparked Saphira's curiosity.

"It's a monster that's doing this!" King Orrin demanded. "My citizen's are frightened! The victims are torn apart brutally, like an animal attack! Ribs broken, arms and spine torn asunder! Large bite marks on the victims, indicating a jaw at least as big as a dragons! And that's on the better victims! Most come back in tiny, unrecognizable pieces like they've been brutally torn apart!"

The shock already in Eragon spread. He'd heard of nothing like this, and king Orik looked worried and he peered past Eragon like he was seeing far away.

"And the boats?" Eragon inquired. "These boats went missing when?"

"At the same time that the attacks on the villages became more obvious," Nasuada told him. "This creature is vicious, but the dead only disappear at night. That, and it attacks on the week of full moon, the week of the new moon, and the days that it's a pure half moon. The tides of the water also behave oddly on these days. Whatever this is, it may have power over water."

"Huh," Murtagh commented. The tale was odd but only seemed to get stranger and stranger as time went on. And suddenly Eragon felt Murtagh trying to communicate with him mind to mind. Eragon let him in. 'Do you think that Angela might know something about this?' was his thought.

Angela. That woman seemed to know anything and everything that was interesting. 'It's certainly possible,' Eragon concluded. After all, why turn up to the riders now? She had to know something. 'We should ask her,' Eragon decided, and Murtagh left his mind.

Angela was beginning to give Eragon a headache. Normally, she would turn up for a meeting like this. So why hadn't she? Eragon wasn't aware of anything that should be more important at the moment.

Sitting up straighter, he did his best to look confident which was hard considering he didn't even know what he was up against. "We'll find a way to stop this," he promised them. Right after they located Angela, anyways.

The meeting then ended and everyone left.

(The next day)

Locating Angela had been incredibly difficult, but it felt good to be on a mission with his brother again. The last time they had truly worked together was when they were running through the Hadarac desert for their lives, and Eragon appreciated the companionship. He could tell that Murtagh liked it too. It gave both of them a sense of unity and a sense of fulfillment.

They were currently wandering through the corridors, they and their dragons walking side by side. "Where is that woman?" Eragon ground out under his breath and Murtagh couldn't help but laugh at him. As Eragon turned to glare at him, his frustration getting to him, his brother shrugged.

"What?" Murtagh asked in light mockery. "The great dragon rider who defeated Galbatorix can cast a large spell, but he can't have any patience? Particularly since you've worked with her before?"

"She knows something," Eragon searched another room and shut the door when he didn't find her. "All of a sudden she shows up here, uninvited, yet right when I try to find her so that I can ask some questions, she's gone!" He threw his hands up in the air. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Maybe she's gone because she knows how you're behaving now," Murtagh commented, and Thorn was laughing at this. "Do you really think she's going to show up when you're in a bad mood?"

Eragon glared at his brother again, but when Saphira commented to all of them, 'Wise words,' Eragon carefully reconsidered what his brother was saying. Who would want to put up with someone that was in a bad mood? It would make him no better than Sloan.

And so, he took a few deep breaths. "Fine!" he exclaimed. "Maybe you're right in this."

"And maybe your elder brother has more wisdom than you know, so you should listen to him more."

Eragon whipped around as he heard the voice. Walking up to him while knitting was Angela, and he saw her counting the stitches quietly, her lips moving. Then she stopped and looked up at him. "Though, in all honesty, I can see the family resemblance. You're frustrated now, and Murtagh was dead furious last night. Funny how some traits seem to run in families."

Both Murtagh and Eragon rolled their eyes at the same time, causing Angela to chuckle. "Yep. Definitely brothers." And she went on as if she were about to walk past them.

But Murtagh blocked the way. Neither of the brothers liked hearing how much they were like each other. "What do you know about all of this?" Murtagh inquired and Eragon added immediately afterwards, "I know you know something, Angela. You always seem to know something."

At this, a sigh escaped the woman and she turned around, dead serious this time. There was still an air of mystery to her, and her answer didn't make any sense. "Hydra. Chimera."

The two brothers froze in confusion. Dead silence reigned for a bit and even the dragons blinked as they didn't understand a thing she was talking about. It was Eragon who resumed the conversation. "What?" he asked, and Saphira reared her head back some.

"Hydra, Chimera," Angela repeated. "The beast doing this has to be one of those two. That's the only explanation for all the phenomenon going on, and those two creatures are the only two that fit the bill explaining everything that has been happening." She waited for them to say something.

Both riders were even more confused now. They were too confused to talk.

It was Saphira who started the conversation back up again. 'Whatever this is that could escape Firnen shall not escape for much longer.'

Angela merely raised an unimpressive eyebrow. "And with three heads verses how many?"

That only stumped the dragons more as the comment didn't seem to make any sense to them. What did she mean about heads verses heads? And Thorn growled some. 'There are more dragons now than there were ten years ago,' he challenged, and Angela shook her head.

"Even one of them could outdo ten of you." She started walking away again. And her voice rang out as she started knitting again, "Oh, I'd rather take a hydra than a chimera." And suddenly she turned around again. "By the way, fire won't work with these. Oh, and don't behead them."

Eragon was puzzled at this. "Why?" he asked, but Angela merely called out, "Don't doubt their intelligence!" And the woman disappeared around the corner, leaving them standing there, stumped.

Murtagh had a bewildered expression on his face. And he shook himself before replying, "Well, that was an utter waste of time." And he shook his head in disbelief.

However, Eragon could only shrug. "I don't know that it was," he admitted. There times when things Angela had said, as mysterious as it was originally, had saved his life later.

Rounding on his brother, Murtagh had an incredulous look. "You actually believe that?" he jabbed his finger in the direction of Angela.

And the younger held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Truth be told, I don't know," he admitted. After all, sometimes Angela would say the most ridiculous things that betrayed common sense. For example, her comments on toads and frogs had always been a mystery to Eragon.

That, and he wasn't quite sure what a chimera or a hydra was. And he'd read tons of books about the riders and the mysterious things they had encountered. Never once had a chimera or a hydra been mentioned.

So could Angela's comments be relied upon? Or were they utter nonsense this time?

"I guess we'll find out," Eragon resigned, and as Saphira beckoned her head, he followed her. "We'll leave in the morning to search," he called out over his shoulder, and Murtagh nodded his head.

(The next day)

They'd spent a long flight traveling, and seeing as today would be the full moon, they decided that it would be a perfect time to examine such things. They were currently by the border between Alagaesia and the lands Eragon had traveled through upon leaving.

Following the river that Eragon had taken by boat the first time, they noticed the disturbance on the water that the others had mentioned.

Arya had stayed behind with Firnen to help address some other issues, mainly the argument between king Orik and king Orrin. She'd also stayed behind with the other riders, all of them too young to be trusted on this mission. Smaller things, like solving disturbances in Alagaesia, yes, but neither Eragon, Murtagh, or Arya felt ready to have them take on a mantle like this yet.

Plus, it was too dangerous in their opinion, though many had complained, wanting to come. That was another reason why Arya had stayed behind: to make sure that none of the younger riders left without permission.

And so, Eragon's only traveling companion was Saphira, Thorn, and Murtagh. But he didn't mind. He'd never gone on a mission with Thorn before, and he was eager to see how the red dragon would perform. Plus, it had been a while since he had been in danger with Murtagh as his brother in arms.

He was looking forward to working together as a team with his brother again. His chain mail rattled as he moved around, and even Murtagh's plated armor creaked silently in the wind.

Both had chosen to forgo their helmets in hopes that they would have greater visibility than what a helmet could provide them, what with it's limited vision and tendency to get in the way. They wanted to be able to have better maneuverability in battle.

'And to think that last time when you worked together on the same side with Murtagh, the two of you didn't know that you were brothers,' Saphira commented, and Eragon smiled, thinking back on memories. He particularly thought about the escape from Gil'ead where Murtagh had saved his life.

'Did you know?' he'd asked Saphira, wondering if his father, Brom, had mentioned anything about his half brother to Saphira. Saphira mentally told him no. And Eragon was a bit disappointed.

That was one of the mysteries he was sure that he would never solve. After all, Brom had to have known about Murtagh, so why not mention something to Saphira in the memory that he'd left him?

'Well, team is relative,' Eragon had then corrected. 'Back then, he always seemed to be saving me.' And guilt flooded him once again. He'd never really returned the same amount of a favor to Murtagh. While he deeply cared about his brother, but his pride got in the way of confessing this. He was above admitting such sentimentality, especially when it was implied.

Sure, he'd shielded his brother with magic when Galbatorix had exploded himself, but what was that compared to infiltrating Gil'ead to come get him? Or what was that compared to Murtagh's loyalty in going with him to the Varden when the elder had known what would await him should he encounter the Varden?

But Eragon was still too prideful to confess it. He'd rather move on in life and focus on the good things that he and his brother had accomplished together. Granted, most of them took place back where they'd raised the dragons. After all, Eragon didn't go on missions, he merely sent others, and that included his brother.

Thus they hadn't really experienced danger together as brothers before, just as friends. And with that thought, he cast a silent glance at his brother, who also seemed to be deep in thought. And when Murtagh caught him staring, he returned the gesture.

"What?" Murtagh asked, raising an eyebrow, and Thorn grunted.

Eragon shrugged. "Just thinking on some things," he commented, looking away.

"Like what?" was the inquiry, and though Eragon wasn't in the mood to answer, due to wanting to think, not talk, he decided to answer out of courtesy anyways.

"I was thinking on how this is our first mission together as brothers and riders." He let the comment hang in the air, and awkward silence followed as Murtagh seemed to understand what Eragon wasn't saying. They both stared ahead, avoiding looking at each other.

"Well," Murtagh finally brought things up after a bit in awkwardness, running his hand through his hair. "Just don't go being reckless to where I have to save you again."

Sudden anger suddenly seared through Eragon as his pride was hurt. How dare he?! What did Murtagh dare imply?! And with sudden snappiness Eragon backfired, "Well don't go getting yourself kidnapped again by a monster!" And Saphira sent caution to Eragon as Thorn growled.

"What!" Murtagh exclaimed as his temper rose, rounding on Eragon. "What are you saying?"

"What do you think I'm saying?" Eragon countered in annoyance, and Murtagh glared at him.

"How dare you!" Murtagh accused, his hair going wild in the wind despite it being cut shorter. And it only made the image of him shouting at Eragon look funny. "Are you saying that I wanted to be kidnapped? Are you saying that I wanted to be made a slave to a crazy king?"

"Oh I don't know!" Eragon sarcastically retorted. "Maybe you like gaining pity from others!"

'Eragon!' Saphira sharply corrected as Murtagh clenched his fists in anger.

"At least I know how to survive!" Murtagh growled, and he turned away, madly looking at the horizon. And Eragon snorted in derision at this.

"Oh, please! You call that surviving? That's your sorry excuse for not wanting to die!"

"Says the man who tried to kill me!" Murtagh whipped his comment back. "Or dare I say boy!"

"Hey!" Eragon shouted at this point, and both Thorn and Saphira casted wary glances at each other as they felt their riders' emotions storm within them. "I'm not a boy! I'm a man!"

"Then behave like one!" Murtagh shouted at him.

"After you behave like one!" Eragon yelled.

'BOYS!' both Thorn and Saphira yelled, having had it with their riders and the little fight that ensued.

Strong silence followed as both riders angrily turned away from each other. Both refused to acknowledge each other, and the air was tense for several minutes before the environment calmed down. During this time, the brothers would look at anything but each other, keeping track of the water that was getting more and more turbulent even.

Finally, Eragon had calmed down enough to consider the fight and what he'd said. And guilt crept within him as he realized that he had probably overreacted. Perhaps his older brother had only been indirectly hinting how much he cared for him and his safety, and how much Eragon worried him sometimes. And, of course, Eragon had gone and blown up in his face with a rather hurtful comment.

On an off note, Eragon wondered why Murtagh had a hard time admitting bluntly that he cared about Eragon and his safety. But as he remembered Angela saying how similar they wore, Eragon found himself pushing the thought aside. The last thing he wanted was to admit that he was similar to his brother, for in his eyes he was a unique person.

Eragon didn't like being compared to someone, especially someone older than him. Brom was okay, because Brom was his father. But his half brother who was only three years older than him? What could the son of Morzan possibly have in common with him? No, they most certainly weren't similar.

Murtagh had made his choices, and Eragon had made his. Even that proved how different they were. And he most certainly did not need looking after.

Though, Murtagh's words echoed in his head at that, stating how he had never had a choice in the actions that he had done, and that that wasn't what he would have decided if he could have. And once more he felt guilty at what he had said to his brother.

Glancing sideways at Murtagh, he saw that the elder brother's face was set in stone, and his lips had a hard edge to them. Whether or not Murtagh was ready to talk, he didn't know, but he knew that he had to try.

Angela's words on people taking their closest friends and family for granted, as well as being harsh with them echoed in his mind. And though he wasn't deign to express his feelings, the least he could do was apologize to his brother and lessen the tension.

So he took a deep breath. "Um, Murtagh?" he called out. Murtagh continued looking forward like he didn't hear Eragon, but the younger knew that the elder had heard. He would have. And, suddenly, Murtagh turned his head barely a fraction of an inch towards him, and Eragon knew that Murtagh was listening. So he decided to continue. He took another deep breath and said, "I'm sorry."

In that instant Murtagh completely deflated and he returned Eragon's look. His expression was completely different as he gazed in sorrow at his brother. "Yeah, me too," he confessed. "I guess I should have been more careful in how I said things." And it appeared hard also for Murtagh to confess that far.

Silence ensued in which an entire conversation seemed to occur. It seemed the things left unsaid that neither wanted to admit to and say aloud, like how much they cared and worried for each other, was spoken without words and voices.

It was broken by Eragon. "Yeah, you could have," he agreed with Murtagh and the older brother gave him an angry glare briefly, a look of annoyance on his face.

"And you could have not brought the past," Murtagh chirped up, rolling his eyes.

"And you brought up the past," Eragon pointed out, once more irked.

"Yes, well you accused me of liking to work for a mad king!" Murtagh raised his voice.

"And you-" Eragon began, but they were both cut off by the roars of their dragons.

'BOYS!' Saphira and Thorn mentally shouted again, preventing another fight from breaking out.

'Honestly,' Saphira continued. 'You accused each other of being boys, and you both were quite accurate about it. Now behave like men before we dump you into the river!'

Eragon cast a nervous glance at the tumultuous river, and laughed sheepishly. "Sorry," he told Murtagh, and Murtagh shrugged it off.

"Sorry to."

Neither said anything for a while, not wanting to risk another argument after having barely apologized, and so they cast their minds out, hoping to find the creature. But they avoided contacting each other, the situation too embarrassing to do so.

Finally, Murtagh located a point along the river where they could set down hopefully without getting wet. The river was bubbling so much that they had to make sure that they stayed well away from it, or they might get caught up in the current of the river and drown.

"There," Murtagh pointed out, and when Eragon located it with his eyes and approved of it, he asked Saphira's opinion. Upon her approval, they glided and set down on the ground, making sure there was enough room for Thorn to land to where he'd be away from the river.

Both Murtagh and Eragon jumped out of their saddles, eager to be out of them and finally have a chance to walk again. Slowly approaching the river and yet making sure that he was a safe distance away, he breathed in the fresh air which strangely smelled of sea salt.

Murtagh was mesmerized by the river, Eragon could tell. It was truly an interesting sight, seeing the river go up and down in waves as if it were the ocean instead. So high were the waves that they were taller than Saphira or Thorn if they stood on their hind legs. Eragon had to wonder how the water then didn't leave the banks of the river, the way it was behaving.

"It certainly is quite something," Eragon commented, and Murtagh nodded, his eyes hard in the distance. "I mean, how are we supposed to see anything that might come out of the water then?"

Murtagh shrugged. "Don't know." Then he frowned. He turned to his brother. "You don't think that whatever it is that's killing people is causing this do you?" And he jabbed his finger at the river.

Eragon considered for a moment. "Maybe," he admitted, and it was a disturbing thought. How could whatever it was have that much power to affect not only an entire ocean but the rivers as well?

"We need a plan," he finally concluded, not wanting to be caught unawares without a way out of the situation should they find themselves in nasty circumstances. And it would most certainly be dangerous. But anything to minimize the peril was welcome.

And his elder brother turned to him. "What did you have in mind?" he asked, causing Eragon to think deeply. Surely this creature had a weakness? Land? But it seemed to go on land as well.

Regardless, it would be suicide to fight it near the river where it could have an advantage, and Saphira agreed. "Lure it out of the river," was Eragon's suggestion, and Murtagh looked thoughtful.

"But how?" the red rider asked. "Not even Arya could find it, even with casting her conscience out. So how are we supposed to find it, let alone fight it?"

"Get lucky?" Eragon suggested as he didn't have anything else to say.

At that moment, something crashed out of the waves of the water and Eragon was too shocked to pull Brisingr out of it's sheath. In front of him stood a giant serpentine and dragon like creature, but instead of having just one head, it had three heads, all looking delighted at the four of them with a grin.

"Or get unlucky," Murtagh commented, pulling Eragon back, who was still in shock and hadn't moved. And then he pulled Zar'roc from its sheath, while Thorn growled at the creature and curled protectively around Murtagh. The thing radiated pure power, and even Thorn and Saphira were nervous, especially with the way its three heads were grinning at them and their riders.

As the three headed creature bellowed, Saphira grasped the chain mail on Eragon and pulled him further away in a protective gesture. The roar the thing produced sent shudders down all of their spines, including that of the dragons, and as it emerged out of the water both Saphira and Thorn widened their eyes in fear.

The thing was massive, it could easily tower above the water and each one of it's head was significantly bigger than Shruiken was. How were they supposed to kill the thing?

"WHO DARES TO CHALLENGE THE GREAT HYDRA?" the creature roared out, using it's vocal chords and mind. The thing had a rich accent to it, obviously not used to using an Alagaesian tongue, and it spoke as if it had come from elsewhere. It's mind oppressed theirs as it spoke with it's voice and mind. And so the question on what exactly the creature was was answered.

Eragon trembled. Angela had said that she'd rather face a hydra than a chimera.

If this hydra was super sized and monstrous and surely a challenge for even a shade or dragon rider to fight, he'd hate to think what a chimera looked like, how big it was, let alone how difficult it would be to fight it. Right now, he had no idea how they were even going to face the hydra. Even Thorn, Murtagh, and Saphira were trembling in fear at the presence of the thing.

'Eragon!' Saphira warned. 'This thing is not natural!' And though he had no idea what Saphira meant by that, he didn't comment. His mind was too focused on other things.

The shear size of its maw explained why many went missing never to be found again, as well as the strange injuries. Any of its heads could swallow a person in a single gulp. It was a wonder that any body was found, and he wondered in the back of his head if the hydra sometimes disgorged a person later. A disturbing thought.

But how on earth had this massive thing gotten around unnoticed?

The spikes on its head were almost like a dragon's though it wasn't as sharp. And its neck was also crusted with spikes, though they were smaller than that on a dragon, especially for its size. That made Eragon wonder. Was this thing a baby, then? Spikes grew larger and harder on dragons the older they got. And if this thing was a baby, then how much bigger was an adult hydra?

And to Eragon's surprise as he looked at the hydra's eyes, they had the eyes of both humans or and elves, only it's irises came in more shades than would be found on a human or an elf. The eyes also seemed to be giant whirlpools or storms, the colors turbulently churning round and round like smoke in the irises.

It took a lot for both Eragon and Murtagh to snap out of it. Stepping away from the creature and backing into their dragons, they both replied at the same time shakily, "I do." And it was then that Eragon tapped on Murtagh's mind with his own. In a desperate attempt to stay calm, Murtagh connected with his brother and their minds met.

'We need a plan,' Eragon whispered into his head. 'I say we lure it out of the water, then have Thorn and Saphira pin it down while we stab at it.'

Eragon could tell that Murtagh wanted to give him a look like he was crazy, and then he bounded off, jumping into Thorn's saddle and flying at the creature.

"Face me!" Murtagh yelled, going to jab at one of the heads. But the hydra merely acted annoyed, and snapped insincerely at the two of them, almost swallowing Thorn and Murtagh whole. Its head was significantly bigger than both Thorn and Murtagh, and could have swallowed Shruiken in a single gulp.

Both Thorn and Murtagh barely got out of the way in time. And this only angered Eragon upon seeing them disregard his advice and leadership.

"Murtagh!" Eragon yelled in fury, and he too, with a look at Saphira, mounted his dragon and rose up into the air.

The three hydra heads were now laughing at the four of them, amused at their attacks which did nothing to it's thick hide. Even when Thorn breathed fire at it, the hydra was unharmed, just as Angela had warned them.

Thorn, who was bigger than Saphira, could barely get a teeth hold on its hide, and even when he did, the red dragon's sharp teeth couldn't puncture it. And Zar'roc wasn't even doing anything to the hide, it was merely bouncing off of it.

"What are you doing?" Eragon demanded.

"Unlike you, I'm doing something!" Murtagh shouted back, and the hydra continued to laugh.

"FOOLS!" the hydra boomed like thunder. Its voice even shook the ground and the river responded to it. "YOU COULD NOT POSSIBLY CHALLENGE THE GREAT HYDRA!"

Suddenly, it went invisible, and not even a shadow could be seen. Now Eragon could understand how the hydra could get around unnoticed. And something whacked him and Saphira, causing them to crash to ground. Even then, Eragon knew that the hydra hadn't even used a fraction of its strength.

"I AM THE GREAT HYDRA!" the invisible creature roared.

"This is ridiculous!" Eragon shouted, and Saphira roared out.

'The children of the sky shall not submit!' her mind bellowed, and the hydra's laugh was heard again. Thorn roared in unison with her, and then Thorn was slapped out of the air, crashing near Eragon. Both were grateful that their wards were holding, but they were being depleted quickly due to the sheer strength of the powerful creature.

"Its hide is impenetrable!" Murtagh shouted at him. "Even with Zar'roc's enchanted blade, I can't pierce it, even though it's sitting still and letting me whack it! And fire won't harm it. The hide must be fireproof, or it's powers prevent it from working!"

'It's playing with us!' Thorn added. 'Just like a dragon or cat will play with it's meal before eating. That's what it's doing to us!' And sudden fear crept on them all as they saw that they could all end up a meal to the 'great hydra'. Then it splashed river water at them, causing them to lose their footing and be flushed downstream.

Eragon and Saphira screeched as they heard the thing swimming after them, taking its sweet little old time. Thorn was right. It was playing with them. But what happened when it was done playing with them?

Saphira did her best to fly into the air, and even though they did, the hydra made itself visible, and lunged after them, the middle head purposefully snapping it's jaws only an inch away from Saphira's tail, causing her to shriek in alarm. And the hydra then laughed, like it was a fun game.

"YOU COULD NOT POSSIBLY MATCH THE GREAT HYDRA!"

"This is your fault!" Eragon shouted at Murtagh after his near death experience.

"My fault?!" Murtagh yelled from far below, and then Thorn and he were spiraling up into the air again, desperate to gain distance and altitude from the thing.

"Yes, your fault!" Eragon ground out. "I had a plan, and you had to go ruin it by practically running at the thing and begging it to eat us!"

"I did not 'beg for it to eat us'!" Murtagh waved Zar'roc in anger, pointing it at his brother. And when the hydra launched itself at them again, they all yelled, even as its maws only let itself close a half inch away from them this time.

"THE GREAT HYDRA WILL EAT YOU! COWER BENEATH THE GREAT HYDRA!"

"Your plan was ridiculous!" Murtagh shouted over the noise of the water and as the hydra splashed down again and as the water continued to churn. "You were going to get us killed!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"BOYS!" the dragons shouted, all the while climbing up higher and higher into the air, trying to get away from the thing. The thing was monstrous and could tower into the sky it seemed. In fact, it reminded Eragon of the stories the dwarfs had of monsters and gods fighting. Could this be one of those monsters possibly? If so, what kind of power did it possess?

"FEEL THE WRATH OF THE GREAT HYDRA!" the hydra roared, and with a screech, they were all devoured in a single gulp by one of the creature's heads, now in it's grand mouth, thankfully whole. All was silent as the four of them went into a state of shock, unable to register for a minute what had happened and that they were in the mouth of one of the heads.

All was darkness, and it took Eragon a minute to register that it had not swallowed them. Was it going to chew on them? He shuddered to think. And he looked around, trying to get his bearings.

"Ugh!" a voice yelled from the other side, and as Eragon looked to his right, despite the darkness, he saw the outline of Thorn and Murtagh there. And as Murtagh was flicking his arms and stuff was flinging off, Eragon realized that his brother was trying to get the monster's saliva off of him.

Looking down, Eragon realized that he wasn't much better off. He and Saphira were gooey all over, and as he looked further down, he realized that they were resting on the creature's tongue.

Dread settled on him, and Murtagh yelled, "Eragon! Snap out of it!" Shaking himself, Eragon did as he was directed. He had never been in a situation quite like this before.

"Istalri!" he murmured urgently holding his hand up to provide some light hopefully, but the magic behaved oddly. Instead, sparks seemed to come from his hand, and the fire went in and out again and again, never quite forming, like the magic didn't quite know how it should behave. "Istalri!" he spake again more urgently, but the magic continued its odd behavior like the others.

He sighed, annoyed. 'What was that about?' Saphira asked him, and Eragon shrugged.

'I don't know,' he admitted, and he shouted to his brother, "Magic isn't working!"

"I figured that out already!" Murtagh snapped back, obviously still irked about earlier. So much for their comments about being excited to be a team again. And it appeared that Murtagh was still attempting to get saliva off him, something pointless seeing as it kept dripping onto them from above.

"Murtagh, quite worrying about your clothes!" Eragon shouted, and Murtagh growled a little.

"I'm not worried about my clothes!"

"Yes you are! I see you trying to get the slime off!"

Murtagh then rounded on him, but before he could set off a whole new argument, both dragons yelled, 'Boys!' and Thorn then said into their minds, begging them, 'Can't you two get along for just a brief moment so that we can all get out of this alive?'

"I will if Eragon's plans aren't so ridiculous to get us all killed!" Murtagh grumbled folding his arms in distaste like he was pouting almost.

Eragon clenched his fists. "What happened to teamwork?" he yelled, and both dragons growled.

Immediately, both brothers quieted, not wanting to anger their dragons further. And it was then that Murtagh's mind none to gently pounded against his. Sighing, Eragon opened his mind up. 'We combine magic,' Murtagh suggested, and Eragon seethed.

'I'm the leader of the riders, I should be making the call, not you!' Eragon sneered back.

'And I'm the eldest!' Murtagh snapped back. 'Besides, your plans don't work!'

'And yours do?' Eragon objected. 'Challenging the hydra?'

'BOYS!' the dragons roared in upset, and immediately they felt the strength and power of their dragons flowing into them. 'Be quick about it!' Thorn warned. 'We won't be able to sustain whatever magic you do for very long.'

The stress of the situation was getting to the riders, and both Murtagh and Eragon exchanged a look with each other, a single plan in mind. For once they worked in unison, speaking the ancient language, and as the tongue started moving, the hydra getting ready to swallow them, they said the last phrases. Light blinded them, and they felt like they were twisting and tumbling.

The magic still worked funny, erratically, but thankfully it did what they wanted, and they all tumbled out onto the beach again in a bright yellow light, the riders toppling out of the saddles.

The hydra didn't miss them though. Immediately its heads whipped around to them, and it bellowed, "YOU FOOLS! YOU THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE THE GREAT HYDRA?!"

Both brothers yelled as the hydra launched itself at them, and their dragons picked them up, flying away as fast as they could. They barely made it and the jaws of the hydra nearly snapped around the four of them, but they made it. However the hydra made another leap at them.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" the two humans screamed, and all the while Eragon thought, 'Maybe now that we're out of it's gullet, magic will work!'

And so, Eragon extended his hand. "Eragon, what are you doing!" Murtagh shouted in warning.

But Eragon ignored him. "Jierda!" he yelled drawing power from Saphira and strangely enough, he couldn't draw power from the hydra. The magic acted funny again, but thankfully it acted better than in the gullet, and the three heads snapped off it's neck, successfully beheading it.

The baby hydra fell down with a mighty thump, going still, clearly dead, and upon seeing this, the dragons set their riders down and landed in exhaustion. "Yes!" Eragon shouted, whooping for joy. He was exhausted and close to death from using all that magic, but at least he could say he killed the monstrous creature.

Murtagh, however, was not pleased. He marched up to Eragon in anger. "You idiot!" he yelled at Eragon. "What did you do?"

Eragon whipped around in fury. "I killed they hydra!" he shouted back.

"No, you just showed off because you wanted to!" Murtagh hissed, jabbing a finger into Eragon's chest. And then he shook his head, head in his right hand in stress. "Eragon, Angela for whatever reason, told us specifically not to behead the creature."

Upon hearing this, Eragon froze. He'd completely forgotten. "Oh," was all he could say.

Suddenly there was movement to their right, and all four heads snapped in the direction of the hydra body. The hydra was standing upright again, and suddenly two heads emerged from each stump where the heads snapped off. Eragon's eyes widened. The thing now had six heads.

"I'm guessing that's why Angela told us not to behead it!" Murtagh grimly put out as the riders got back into their saddles. They had very little magic left to deal with the creature, but they had no choice but to use magic, for they couldn't harm it any other way. And the thing's hide was fireproof, as Murtagh and Thorn had found out the hard way when trying to attack it.

The two middle heads breathed fire into the air in fury, and the hydra roared, sending a shiver down their spines. "YOU SHALL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO THE GREAT HYDRA!"

Once more the hydra lunged after themselves. One of the heads was about to swallow both Eragon and Saphira when Eragon heard someone yell out, "Thrysta Vindr!" They were pushed aside with a wave of wind, and as Eragon looked over, he saw Murtagh's hand extended. His brother had just saved his life. But a hydra head was coming up behind Murtagh.

"Thrysta Vindr!" Eragon yelled, repeating the gesture. Murtagh and Thorn flew out of the way of the hydra head, being slammed by air before gaining control of their flight again. He had just saved his brother and returned the favor.

Now both magicians and their dragons were seriously low on power. 'I can't keep this up much longer!' Murtagh yelled into his mind, both their barriers down so that they could communicate. The hydra had not attempted to invade their heads, but whether it was because it couldn't or it viewed itself too powerful to need to worry about mind attacks, they didn't know.

Thinking quickly, Eragon tried to run through their options. That beheading had worked until it grew more heads. But more than anything, physical attacks didn't seem to work on it.

"FEEL THE WRATH OF THE GREAT HYDRA!" the hydra shouted again, and both pairs barely missed the next attack that the hydra launched at them. The hydra was now on land, and its tiny legs and feet were fast. Its massive heads soared into the clouds, but it was still fast enough to keep up with a flying dragon, making both dragons nervous.

The thing was gigantic, certainly towering into the heavens. No matter at what altitude the dragons flew, they would still encounter the hydra for its snapping heads reached into the uppermost parts of the heavens. In fact, the whole situation seemed too much like fantasy to be real.

In the back of his mind, Eragon began wondering if he had imagined the whole thing up. He wondered if he had begun sleeping at the council, and this was a by product of not paying attention like he should. But then the hydra would snap at him and he would realize it was real and happening.

'We need to transport something into it!' Murtagh suggested. 'Something that will harm it!'

'But where?' Eragon asked. 'That thing is too massive!'

'Into its stomach!' Murtagh suggested.

'And you know where it's stomach is?' the blue rider challenged.

'Eragon!' Murtagh snapped. Then, even as he flew, Murtagh dipped into his saddle bag, pulling something out. It was wrapped in cloth, and when Murtagh let the cloth dropped, Eragon saw a large metal sphere.

'I've been saving this for a special occasion,' Murtagh grinned at him. 'I've been wanting to try this, but magic is working funny, plus I'm low on energy. I'll need your help to do this.'

As Murtagh relayed his plan to Eragon, Eragon felt wary. 'Murtagh, I'm not really sure,' he ground out, and Murtagh rolled his eyes.

'Well, it beats any of your plans!' Murtagh accused, causing Eragon to clench his fists.

'Does not!' Eragon argued.

'Does too!'

'Does not!'

'Does too!'

'Does not!'

'Does too!'

'BOYS!' the dragons shouted, and Eragon sighed, rubbing his hands together and getting ready to work magic. He grumbled a bit, and Murtagh grinned.

'So you concede to do this?' Murtagh asked, wincing when one of the jaws nearly devoured him and Thorn. Eragon merely glared at the red rider.

'This is the most ridiculous plan I've ever heard of, even if we had our full energy! It'll probably kill us! I'll do it, but it looks like we're going to die today!'

And with that, both he and Murtagh began whispering in the ancient language, drawing power from their dragons. Murtagh was holding the bowling ball sized metal sphere, both drawing from the life in the earth below them in an attempt to survive the day with their dragons. The sphere glowed red and then it disappeared.

Immediately, they all fell to the ground, the dragons desperately trying to stop their fall, even as the hydra stopped and began choking. Before Eragon blacked out, he saw the hydra's body incinerate as the hydra gave a great roar, finally dying. Then he was unconscious.

(Unknown amount of time passing)

How much time had passed, Eragon didn't know, but finally he came to. And when he came to, he immediately noticed that his half brother was already awake, and he had a fire started.

Both were still covered in goo, and he seemed to think that they would probably only get it out once they showered and bathed.

Murtagh cast a look at Eragon and the younger could tell that he was still mad about everything. But first, Eragon had questions.

"What was that you had?" he asked his brother, and Thorn, who was on the opposite side of the fire growled some.

Murtagh turned to him, arms folded. "What, no thanks?" he demanded, and Eragon got up angrily, fists clenched, glaring at him.

"What for?" Eragon demanded. "In case you hadn't noticed, we worked together to defeat the thing. And I asked a question that I want answered."

"It was a project that Blodhgarm and I were working together on," was all Murtagh would say on the subject. "And for the record, I was the one who came up with the plan to defeat the thing, instead of your stupid plan which almost got us killed!"

"Oh, I almost got us killed?" Eragon argued. "Well what was that when you launched yourself at the hydra practically begging it to eat you?"

"I was not begging it to eat me!" Murtagh shouted back, flinging a stick into the fire. The fire crackled and popped a bit, and Murtagh got up angrily. "Face it, Eragon. My plan was the one that was most reasonable. You're the one who wasn't thinking clearly! You beheaded the hydra despite Angela's warnings, and look what became of that! You made things worse!"

"Forget it!" Eragon shouted, throwing up his hands in fury. "We have a long way back, and we should leave and tell the others that its dead!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Murtagh snapped, but none the less he obeyed, getting into Thorn's saddle, as both dragons heaved sighs at their riders' behavior.

They both flew back in angry silence.

(A few hours later)

As two dragons were seen in the distance, king Orik yelled, "They're back! They've finally made it back!" With that there were lots of cheers and everyone began gathering on the grass outside one of the massive buildings to welcome the two dragon riders home. It took a few minutes, but they finally landed, the sticky goo still all over them. The riders collapsed onto the ground.

The clothes of both men barely boys was ripped, and they both had scowls on their faces, refusing to look at each other as they slowly and shakily stood up. In fact, they were pointedly ignoring each other, while the dragons panted from exhaustion. Saphira and Thorn then collapsed on the grass.

Arya was looking at Eragon in concern while Nasuada was staring in shock at the state Murtagh was in. Firnen came closer to nudge Saphira. "So," Nasuada asked in her commanding voice. "How was it? Did you find out what was doing this? Did you get rid of whatever is attacking our citizens?"

At the queen's comments, the two boys nodded. "It's dead," they both grumbled, and everyone looked relieved. Despite that, they could all feel tension in the air.

"And what was it that was causing this?" King Orrin asked calmly.

But perhaps he should not have for immediately both brothers turned on each other and began arguing. "You have got to learn how to follow orders!" Eragon shouted.

"Me?" Murtagh rounded on Eragon. "How can you expect me to follow your orders when your giving stupid decisions that will likely kill us?!"

"My decisions are not stupid!" Eragon shouted, clenching his fists.

"Really? Who's idea was it to behead the hydra after specifically being warned not to?!"

"I forgot about that bit of instruction! Besides, how was I supposed to know that it would regrow its heads?"

"Regrow it's heads?! You made things worse! It grew double the amount of heads!"

"And whose idea was it to challenge the hydra right off the bat while waiting?"

"At least I was doing something while you were standing there in shock!"

"I was not in shock!"

"Yes you were! I was the one who acted!"

"I acted to! I saved your life in many occasions!"

"I saved you more times, you ungrateful brat!"

"Ungrateful? Who was it that asked my help to complete your spell when there was no certainty it would work?" Eragon demanded, and all the while the people's heads were whipping back and forth as Murtagh and Eragon argued it out, completely confused as to what the conversation was even about.

"And yet you still refuse to acknowledge the things that you did that almost led to us getting killed!" Murtagh hissed in response.

But the younger had had it. "You know what? Fine! If your demands weren't so petty and for once you would listen, maybe we could get along!" And Eragon began storming off, without Saphira who was still exhausted, laying down on the grass.

"Fine!" Murtagh shouted after Eragon. "At least I know how to be responsible and make good decisions!" With that, Murtagh stormed off in the opposite direction also, ignoring the crowd and the looks he and his brother who was now in the distance were getting.

Both Saphira and Thorn clearly wanted to shake their heads, but they were too exhausted to do so. But they heaved a sigh, frustrated at the actions of the two brothers, and after a moment they too got up and went shakily after their respective riders.

The crowd, especially Arya, was taken aback by what happened.

"Oh boy," Roran whispered.

(Time elapse)

Throughout the week following, both Murtagh and Eragon found it increasingly difficult to be around each other and would break out into arguments in the most inauspicious times.

Because of this, the leaders found it hard getting out of the both of them what it was that had been terrorizing their citizens and what exactly had happened. The brothers would break into argument whenever they were around each other, thus interrupting the flow of the conversation.

After many frustrations, they soon found that it was better to ask the brothers when they were apart. But both were still mad and though they tried to civil with the leaders, their anger still made it to where they had a hard time discussing the details of what happened with the leaders.

The brothers, even alone, tended to start talking insults to their siblings when the mission was brought up, proudly exclaiming the faults of the other party and why they were in the right.

This made others weary of them, and when the leaders struggled to get the story out of them, they grew mad. Plus, they had other issues that the leaders wanted them to solve. Mainly King Orik and King Orrin were demanding that they solve their merchandise issue as Arya was unable to reach an agreement between the two.

Part of it may have been because she was the elven queen, and both representatives were eager to have an impartial judge who was not leader of any Alagaesian nation, which they thought both brothers could provide. King Orik thought Eragon would side with him while King Orrin was sure he could get Murtagh on his side, due to the fact that Murtagh was a human nobleman.

But Eragon and Murtagh were in no mood to work with each other. And their arguments increased, interrupting training for even the riders. And they began arguing over every little thing, nitpicking at each other.

Eventually it reached its height when the monarchs demanded an audience to solve their disputes and wouldn't take no for an answer, despite Arya's advice that now was not the best time. In fact, they told them they would not leave their abode until their issue was solved satisfactorily.

"Honestly!" Arya told Eragon when she told him the demands of the leaders. Eragon refused to work with them if Murtagh had to be involved, and so Arya started to chastise him. "You're the leader of the riders! Solving disputes is part of what you do."

"Not when it's with Murtagh!" Eragon folded his arms angrily. "I'll do it if he's not involved."

"They have demanded his presence to even the odds," Arya huffed. "Face it, you're a member of Durgrimst Ingeitum. King Orrin thinks he has the disadvantage if it's only you. Plus you're half elf now. He would feel much better having a human representative, especially one who has lived in high status all of his life. Murtagh has a far greater chance of understanding his position than you would."

This only caused Eragon to scoff. "Are you saying that they doubt my advice?"

Arya frowned. "The way you and Murtagh argue, I'm beginning to doubt you and your half brother's advice." With that she left, leaving Eragon grumbling the whole while. But he finally acquiesed, and both he and Murtagh agreed that they would jointly meet with the kings, but that was the only time the brothers were going to work together and talk together.

And so now they were the audience room, sitting in their chair as elders of the order, and Murtagh and Eragon were pointedly ignoring each other. Though they were listening to what the monarchs were saying.

Arya was sitting once more to Eragon's left, and though she was not involved in the decision making, she was there to observe. But whether it was to observe the arguments king Orik and king Orrin had with each other, or to observe and babysit the bickering brothers, no one knew.

The leaders were dressed in all their royal glory, and king Orik was saying, "I specifically told Orrin that the merchandise would cost at least eight trains, and even then that's on the cheaper side than what it should have cost! In return, some of my dwarfs would bring the merchandise to them when the demands were met.

"We even signed it in contract. But no! King Orrin only sent seven trains, so of course I'm not going to send merchandise!"

But king Orrin wouldn't hear this. "We specifically bargained it down to seven trains, especially when I said I would be sending my own company to bring the merchandise to Surda!"

"We never bargained it down any!" King Orik rounded on the taller man, hands on hips.

"We did to!" King Orrin argued, and Eragon was worn out at this point. They had been arguing the exact same points over and over again for about three hours now.

Even Murtagh was worn out and had his head in his hands. Both Thorn and Saphira were bored at this and gone to snooze in separate corners about an hour and half ago. So far, the kings had been arguing, but neither the dragons, nor Murtagh and Eragon could get a word in edge wise. Instead they were forced to listen to the arguing, and it was wearing both of their patience thin.

"Well!" both kings demanded, bringing both brothers back to the moment, as they had begun to snooze off some. Both sat up with start, and were grateful that they would get to talk for once.

"Well," Eragon sighed, worn out now. "Bring the contract so that we can see it."

King Orrin visibly froze, and king Orik frowned. "I did not bring the contract," King Orrin shifted uncomfortably, and Murtagh folded his arms in frustration.

"You expect us to solve this problem on mere word only when a contract was mentioned? Even then, how would you expect us to solve a contract issue on mere word only? Witnesses from each side would support each of you, thus we would be unable to tell who was right and who was wrong," said Murtagh, and Eragon did not want to admit that he agreed with his brother, but he did.

However, king Orik had stepped away temporarily and was conversing with some of his dwarfs. Eragon listened in, having learned dwarfish by now, and he could tell that king Orik was commanding his copy of the contract to be brought. Finally, one of the dwarfs hustled in.

"Ha, ha!" Orik triumphantly announced when his underling delivered it to him. He waved a piece of parchment in the air like a flag. "But we brought our copy of the contract with us!" Orrin turned in outrage. And there was also suspicion in his gaze.

"What!" King Orrin demanded. "And how do you expect me to believe that you haven't altered the contract in any manner to gain you the advantage?" This accusation brought out far more argumentation from the monarchs and neither of the brothers were able to successfully interrupt them.

Finally, Thorn bellowed, 'Bring the contract to the riders!'

The kings jumped, and Orik obeyed, hustling up to deliver it to Murtagh first, as he was closest. It was also probably delivered to him first because Eragon was the least human of them, and Murtagh was the most human. Eragon was also a member of Orik's clan whereas Murtagh wasn't, thus if he could get Murtagh on his side, things would more than likely go in his favor.

Plus, the things between Murtagh and the dwarfs had been solved, so there were no hard feelings. And Eragon had been able to work things out between Murtagh and Orik, though it had taken a few years and a lot of effort.

Murtagh graciously received the contract and read it over. It was done in the ancient language, as the tongue had become more common for interactions between merchants and nations. Plus it had the benefit where you couldn't lie in the language if it was read aloud. That was if it was read aloud.

As the red rider sighed, he handed it to Eragon. Eragon read it over and was surprised by the details that the monarchs had gone through to ensure that the terms they had wanted were met exactly.

And to Eragon's surprise, though indeed eight trains of payment of a specified size and weight and made up of a certain amount of gold, jewels and silver had been agreed upon, it was also agreed upon that Orrin's men would be transporting the merchandise back. Both monarchs were right and wrong.

The date also of the contract had been made over a year ago, and some modifications to the contract had been made (though whether they were agreed upon by each other and were official, he didn't know). But mostly the modifications had been that Orik's dwarfs would transport the merchandise to a certain point and then Orrin's humans would take the merchandise from there.

The number transporting the goods had also been altered to accommodate circumstances.

Seeing this, Eragon could understand how the monarchs had become mixed up in things. But what the monarchs were arguing had nothing to do with any of the modifications that had been made. Also, enough time had passed that the details might have become sketchy in the minds of the kings, and they were going off of memory of what they thought had been agreement.

Eragon raised an eyebrow. "Did any of you recheck the contracts?" he asked.

"NO!" both of them adamantly demanded. "You don't seriously expect me to trust that this human king hasn't altered his contract?" Orik demanded of Eragon while Orrin added, "And you haven't?" Eragon sighed, it was pointless when they didn't trust each other.

"The contract is clear," Murtagh was firm. "It was specified eight trains of payment, and in return the dwarfs would bring it to Belatona. In return, the humans would take it back to Surda from there." Eragon nodded his head. That was what he had read.

"I can also see that there had been some minor modifications made to the contract, but nothing that would affect delivery and payment," Eragon added.

King Orrin seemed to get angry at this point. Pointing at the dwarf he accused, "He's altered his contract to make it so that it fits his agenda!"

"How dare you accuse me of such dishonesty!" King Orik shouted back, and Arya sighed, rubbing the temples of her head. She was getting a headache, Eragon could see.

Eragon was getting headache as well as the monarchs argued again. Finally Orrin accused Orik, "You never follow plans! You do your own thing! You never follow plans!"

"That's because your plan was ridiculous! You expect me to transport it down that path when a train of such size would have put my dwarfs in danger? Besides, who are you tell us what to do on dwarf land? My plans were at least sound and would have secured our safety!"

"Huh!" Murtagh scoffed as he watched them argue, nodding in approval at Orik. "Sounds like someone I know!" he implied, and Eragon, whose head was in his hands, looked up in outrage, cheeks burning red.

"Well, I can understand being frustrated about plan breakers!" Eragon hissed, rounding on Murtagh. And with that, Murtagh turned to him in outrage.

"Face it, Eragon! Your plans need serious reconsideration! You almost got us killed!"

"I did not!" Eragon snapped back. "Your plans almost got us killed as well!"

"You froze and I went to do something!"

"Froze? I was the one who came up with the plan to lure it out of the water! You disobeyed it!"

"That's because you love playing hero!"

"And you don't?" Eragon challenged his brother. At this point the monarchs had stopped arguing and were looking at the brothers in shock. It was amazing to see them picking up their own argument again after they'd had a fairly peaceful conference with the monarchs, at least when it came to each other.

"Well?" Eragon continued. "What was that when you charged at the hydra, challenging it?"

"And what was this when you got us swallowed by it?"

"I did not get us swallowed by it!"

The siblings continued arguing for a good thirty minutes, and the dragons awoke and decided to step in. But despite the redirection and correction from their reptile partners, they continued to argue as if they hadn't heard them causing all the dragons, including Firnen, to groan in frustration.

The monarchs stood there in shock, listening in, their heads whipping back in forth as the arguing commenced. But it finally reached a peak that it never had before as the brothers brought up things from the past that had nothing to do with present argument.

However, it was Eragon that went too far this time. "You love playing the villain and yet still pretending that you're a good person!" he accused Murtagh bitterly, in pure rage, nothing withholding.

Eragon took it one step further. "How many people did you murder in the war? Huh? I bet that you loved being Galbatorix's play thing! I bet you loved the missions he sent you on! I bet you loved the pain you caused others! I bet you loved being Morzan's son! Murtagh MORZANSSON!"

Murtagh froze in shock and went pale white. He was silent for a minute. "Eragon!" he finally whispered, trembling in emotional pain. "I can't believe you said that! You know that's not true!" His eyes shined, and he was purposefully holding back his tears.

But Eragon harped on him more. "Oh? Really? Like when you wanted to take me to that mad king? Like when you killed my teacher and master? Like when you interrupted Roran and Katrina's wedding? What family would do that to each other? In fact, are you even family? Roran and I grew up together! We grew up with uncle Garrow! Where were you? Are you even my brother?"

"You know we are!" Murtagh declared fiercely, and there was a fierceness in his gaze that everyone else could tell was a ruse in order to shield himself emotionally from the onslaught.

"Maybe we share blood, but I don't care!" Eragon screamed, letting his past emotions out. Finally, he was dumping some of the things that had been with him for several years, and he was vicious about it.

"Family doesn't kill their brother's teachers and try to harm their cousins! Family doesn't interrupt their cousin's wedding with an army! Family doesn't kill their foster father and adoptive king! You may have been born of Selena, but as far as I see it, you're not her son! She abandoned you, whereas me she protected and left with family! We may share blood, but we're not siblings! You're not my brother!"

The room went still, even the dragons, as it was processed what Eragon had said. Even Saphira was surprised. Murtagh was frozen in horrid shock and the pure pain was evident on his face. But when he came to, he quickly put a calm mask on his face. "Fine," he replied calmly, getting up out of his chair. "If I'm not family, then I don't have to be here!"

And with that, he got up, and Thorn went by his side. Together, they made to leave. "Where are you going?" Eragon shouted at him, getting up from his seat.

Murtagh whipped around, fury on his face. But it was a mask, everyone knew. "If I'm not family, then I don't have to obey you anymore!"

"Yes you do!" Eragon yelled back. "I'm leader of the dragon riders, and I still have the authority to demand that you stay."

"Absolutely not!" Murtagh shouted. "In fact, I'm not helping you with anything anymore!"

"GET BACK HERE!" Eragon demanded. "I did not give you leave!"

"AND I'M NOT HELPING ANYMORE!" Murtagh roared back. "YOU WOULDN'T BE GRATEFUL FOR MY HELP ANYWAYS! I'M NOT HELPING UNTIL YOU GIVE ME A PROPER APOLOGY!" And with that he whipped around and left.

"MURTAGH!" Eragon yelled, running out the door after Murtagh, and that ended that meeting.

(Time lapse)

The next couple of days that followed were the worse between the siblings. Never, in the history of things, had they had this big an argument before. They stayed away from each other, Murtagh bitter about things, and Eragon absolutely refused to apologize.

As such everyone was affected. The dispute between king Orrin and king Orik was not solved, and thus Arya did her best to solve the argument, but to no avail. The riders weren't being trained and due to the fact that both Murtagh and Eragon were neglecting their duties, it fell upon Arya to assume their duties. And she was frustrated with both of them for this.

Many times, the brothers were approached by people one on one, begging them to solve their disputes, and at each of these instances, they both refused to have anything to do with each other.

"Eragon," Arya ground out in frustration at one point. "You need to apologize to him! You know that those things in the war were not his fault. Besides, isn't it in the past now?"

"I'll apologize when Murtagh stops acting like a jerk!" Eragon snapped.

The elf queen sighed. "You are the one in the wrong this time, Eragon. Those were some pretty harsh things you said." But Eragon started walking away rudely.

"I won't apologize!" he called back.

And so, Nasuada had gone to Murtagh. Murtagh was currently in his study, reading some archaic material, and Thorn was off flying when she came in. But his face showed his anger and exhaustion, and as she looked at him, she saw that his eyes weren't really following the text that fast, as if he were struggling to read.

When Nasuada came in, Murtagh looked up from what he was doing and placed a marker in the book so that he could pretend that he was deeply engrossed in the text. But he didn't close the book, showing that he was only vaguely aware of what he was reading. It was more to distract him from everything, a curious habit in Nasuada's mind.

She stood a little ways away until Murtagh beckoned her in. "Queen Nasuada," he greeted her and she smiled at him. "Was there something you needed from me."

Nasuada was hesitant. The last she wanted was to turn Murtagh off. But how to get him to listen? "Yes," she carefully admitted, and she smoothed her elaborate silk dress. When Murtagh raised an eyebrow urging her to continue, she explained, "I want you to try to work things out with Eragon."

Murtagh tensed up at this, anger taking over his features. Then he scoffed. "You expect me to apologize to him when not only he accused me of liking to hurt people and liking to be enslaved to a mad king, but he disowned me as well?" His features were one of pure outrage. "Absolutely not!"

A sigh escaped the woman and Nasuada sat down. "I'm not expecting you to apologize," she admitted. "The truth is, Eragon should be. But I am asking you to try and talk to him. Maybe if you're calm with him, he'll be more reasonable and apologize to you."

"Not likely," Murtagh clenched his fists and stared out the window, watching his dragon soar in the distance. "Eragon would never apologize to me. And I have nothing to say to him."

"Even though you said some mean things to him also?" Nasuada challenged.

But Murtagh rounded on her angrily. "He disowned me, Nasuada! He accused me of liking to follow in the footsteps of my father! My father, whom I despise!"

At this point, Nasuada desperately joined his side. "And maybe he was just upset over things! He probably didn't mean them! The stress of the situation was just getting to him!"

Murtagh scoffed. "Don't ask me to apologize or speak to him again. I will have nothing to do with him until he apologizes to me!"

And with that, Nasuada left angrily.

The human queen's audience with Eragon didn't turn up any results either, even though Eragon decided to see her in his study.

"You're expecting me to apologize to him?" Eragon inquired in outrage.

"He's your brother!" Nasuada pled with him further, only causing Eragon to scoff.

"What brother?" he then challenged. "I have no brother! I'm an only child!" Nasuada seethed.

The queen sighed. "You said some pretty mean and harsh things to him."

"And they were true!" was the blue rider's defense. Nasuada sat down, frustrated.

"Some of them were true!" Nasuada emphasized the 'some' part, frowning afterwards. "But accusing him of liking his actions? And accusing him of admiring Galbatorix and following in the footsteps of his father? You know that's not true. He hated being a slave to Galbatorix and he despised what his father did. And really? Disowning him? How does that help things?"

"It puts him in his place," Eragon ground out, frustrated. "Maybe for once he'll follow instructions." And he folded his arms in defiance.

Silence reigned for a moment. Then Nasuada stood up, getting ready to leave. "Well," she replied, walking to the door. "Good luck with him then. Because I seriously doubt he will listen to you now." And with that she left.

Eragon angrily slammed his fists on his desk when the door shut.

Not ten minutes later, Angela came to see him. She merely chuckled at his actions.

"The two of you are acting like children," she chided him, and Eragon ignored him. "But in the end, you care about him. You just don't like to admit it. Like so many people who hold off, but when their family members die, they regret not saying how much they truly cared. You care. So why are you acting like you don't?"

The blue rider got up fiercely, finally reaching his breaking point. "Get out!" he demanded.

Angela took her sweet little old time leaving. When she reached the door she turned around and said, "Are you sure you won't live to regret this?"

"OUT!" Eragon bellowed.

Angela left.

(A day later)

Numerous appeals came to him that day. Even Saphira got after him. 'Eragon, he's really hurt about what you said,' she cautioned him. But Eragon ignored her. He was still furious with Murtagh. And he was not about to admit his faults in all this. His pride wouldn't let him.

Due to the consistent nagging from others, he began spending time in his room, refusing to come out, even for meals. He did not want another apology reminder.

Saphira flew in through the dragon sized window and landed. 'It's really sunny today,' she urged him. Eragon ignored her. 'Maybe a quick stroll through the forest will help clear your mind?'

And Eragon glared at her. 'No,' was his one worded simple answer. This caused his dragon to sigh. And Eragon, who was sitting at his desk went over and collapsed on his bed.

Saphira rolled her eyes. 'Are you really going to become a hermit living in your room?'

'Until everyone stops nagging me to give an apology I have no intention of giving.'

'You're being ridiculous about this, little one. This could all be solved between the two of you so easily if you would just listen to our advice.'

'Nothing is ever easy,' Eragon bitterly responded, turning over and shutting his eyes as if he could shut Saphira's presence in his mind out as well.

'Maybe,' was her confession. 'But I think this one would be. Eragon, they're just concerned about the two of you. And were those things really necessary to say to him?'

'Not you too!' Eragon complained. He did his best to shut his mind to her, but to no avail.

'Don't say that I didn't tell you so,' she cautioned and Eragon snorted in derision.

'I have nothing to say to Murtagh,' was his last line of the conversation, then they were both silent for a few minutes. Neither saying anything, just appreciating their bond. Saphira didn't try anymore to correct him and Eragon opened his mind to her again.

About ten minutes later, there was persistent knocking the door. "Master!" one of his students called out to him, and Eragon ignored them. More knocking was heard. "Master!" they called out again, and Eragon groaned in annoyance.

'Aren't you going to go get that?' Saphira inquired and Eragon shook his head.

'I specifically told them not to bother me. It's probably another person begging me to apologize.'

"Master!" the student called out again, pounding the door. Then he tried out another avenue. "Ebrithil!" he called out, the pounding on the door hurting Eragon's ears.

Eragon grew frustrated. "Go away!" he snapped to the student. "I told you to leave me be!"

'Eragon!' Saphira corrected indignantly. 'What has become of you! You never do things like this! You always make time for your students no matter what!'

'Exactly! Then they can wait,' was the rider's irritable response, and Saphira huffed in anger.

But the student persisted. "Ebrithil! It's urgent!" he yelled out more, knocking on the door. And as much as Eragon wanted to ignore it, he was tired of the knocking the door. So, sighing, he got up and yanked the door open, glaring at the young student. But the student didn't flinch.

"What?" he irritably demanded, and the human male, about ten years old, looked him straight in the eye, shock on his face. He was in a yellow cloak as if he had just come from the outside.

"You're needed in the courtyard!" the young student informed him. "Come quick!"

Eragon looked away, mad. "Let Arya take care of it!" he demanded and made to shut the door.

But the apprentice wouldn't let him close it. He slammed his foot in the doorway, and it was a good thing that Eragon hadn't slammed the door shut. He would have hurt the student unintentionally, otherwise. And as mad as Eragon was, he had no intention of harming his students.

"You don't understand!" the student continued, and at the urgency of his voice, Saphira stood up and went to Eragon's side. Eragon left the door partially open, not really listening.

"There's been an accident," the student explained, and he pointed to the courtyard. "This morning, Master Murtagh made it clear that as long as your leader, he doesn't want anything to do with the riders. So he left with Thorn. Mistress Arya went after him to try to reason with him, and while she was there, they were attacked by something they've never seen before.

"Queen Arya's all right, but we received word back on the way that Murtagh was critically injured! It sounded really bad!"

Eragon froze, face paling, and dread settled on him. He opened the door wide, and then he demanded of his student, "What happened? What exactly happened?"

The student shook his head. "That's all I know," he replied, and Eragon's eyes widened in horror. He sprinted to his wardrobe and grabbed his cloak, then he made his way to the courtyard, Saphira flying out the window. In an instant, he was beyond his student who was also running after him.

As Eragon reached the courtyard, he saw Arya and Firnen there, scratches on them. His eyes widened in horror, and he saw that some of them may have been deep, but had been healed. Others were in the courtyard, and many elves were surrounding her, talking to her. She glanced at Eragon briefly, but her face was in shock, then it went into a mask.

Others were there, gossiping in the courtyard, but Eragon ignored them. Instead he looked around for Murtagh and Thorn, but when he didn't see them, he immediately started walking towards Arya to get some answers. But he was held back by a pair of hands.

"Eragon, don't," someone cautioned him, and he turned around to see Roran there, eyes sad.

"I have to find out what happened!" Eragon shook his hands off. "I need to find out where Murtagh and Thorn are."

He started walking away but was stopped by Roran's forlorn voice. "Eragon," he trailed off.

Eragon turned around slowly and this time he took a good look at his cousin/brother. Roran had been shedding some tears. Something pulled on Eragon's heartstrings and he felt himself going in shock. It wasn't... it couldn't be... "No!" Eragon whispered.

Roran walked up to him slowly. "I'm sorry," he whispered sadly, softly.

Trembling, Eragon backed up some, and he felt Saphira walk up to him. "No, I have to find him!" Eragon shook and tears began coming in his eyes. "I have to save him!"

Roran shook his head. "It's too late, Eragon. I'm sorry. Murtagh's dead!"

(About five hours later)

The whole world had turned upside down in an instant. What happened in those ten minutes after Roran's declaration, Eragon didn't know. He couldn't remember it. But it was a couple hours later that he learned from others what had happened.

He had gone into shock and wouldn't move. When Roran went to shake him gently, and called his name, Eragon stepped out of his grasp and collapsed into Saphira, weeping bitterly for the loss of his brother. Saphira had then curled around him to comfort him.

It had taken an hour to calm him down, and he was somewhat hysteric. But when he was calm enough, Arya had led him back to his quarters. She waited outside the door and Saphira had led him the rest of the way. Then he had collapsed onto his bed, crying bitterly.

He had woken up a couple hours later with a memory gap. How he had gotten to his room, he didn't remember. He'd only remembered Roran's news and then waking up in his room. Later, others had come to him privately in his room and explained what happened, but Eragon was in such shock that he felt emotionless. He heard what they were saying, and yet it was as if he couldn't hear them.

Roran had been the one to tell him what happened. Saphira listened a little ways off and was sending constant comfort to her rider who needed it.

"They were attacked by something," he gently broke the news to Eragon. "When Arya had come to reason with Murtagh, they argued. They'd finally calm down some, and Arya had agreed to let Murtagh leave for a week to give him some space, when something appeared out of nowhere and attacked. It was something about wanting revenge for the death of the hydra."

Eragon had begun sobbing at this point, sitting on the edge of the bed, knees to his chest. As he placed his head on his knees, Roran got up from the fancy cushioned guest seat and had come to sit by Eragon on the bed. He placed a gentle arm around his shoulders.

After Eragon had calmed down some, Roran continued. "Arya and Murtagh did their best to fight the thing, but it was powerful. They finally did manage to kill it, but Murtagh was gravely injured in the process. Arya and the dragons did their best to save him, but it wasn't enough."

Eragon stopped sobbing for a minute to look up in fear. "Was he in pain?" he asked Roran, concerned about his brother's final moments. "He didn't suffer, did he?"

A sad sigh escaped Roran. "No, I think he passed quickly, thank goodness." And he looked away some. He glanced sideways. "From what I heard, he fought bravely to protect Queen Arya. She was annoyed at the time, but she was grateful in the end. Because of Murtagh's actions, she survived. She was still injured, but her magic managed to save her."

"And Thorn?" Eragon choked. It was a lot for him to take in and hear. Saphira nudged his mind with her own then, wrapping his mind securely in hers with love and tenderness. 'Little one,' she murmured softly, and in many ways Eragon felt like a child again with her comfort.

Roran looked away sadly when Thorn was mentioned. "When his rider died, he was in grief. He flew away, and not even Firnen was able to go after him. Such was his escape. We haven't seen him since, and he hasn't returned since. Arya doesn't think that he'll ever come back."

Eragon burst into tears again. It was all wrong. "No, no, no!" he cried. "This wasn't supposed to happen!" he cried more, and he leaned into Roran for support.

Roran looked down at him as he held him. "They have Murtagh's body. The elves are in the process of healing his body so that when we hold the memorial service and bury him, he doesn't look gruesome. They wanted to have him look his best so that we can give him the best honors as a rider."

Nodding in agreement, Eragon silently cried. Then when he was able to he replied, "Let me do it."

When Roran looked up at him in confusion, Eragon clarified, "Let me plan the funeral. I want to be the one in charge. It's only befitting. I'm his closest relative, and his closest friend and family. I knew him the best out of everyone. Besides, it's the least I could do for him after all the things I said."

To his relief, Roran seemed to acknowledge this. "I think he'd like that," he admitted, and then the tears were pouring down Eragon's face again. Roran continued to comfort him. But finally he asked if anything out of curiosity, turning to him, "Eragon, why didn't you apologize to him?"

"Roran!" Eragon gently chastised, exhausted from everything. "I just lost my brother and you bring that up now? Why not just let me be and let me grieve?"

Sighing, Roran got up and went to the door. "So many regrets," he murmured softly and left, perhaps thinking that Eragon couldn't hear him. But Eragon did, and this only caused him to weep even more bitterly. In fact, when Saphira came up to nudge him gently, he pushed her away.

"What a terrible brother I am," he cried and Saphira let him be so he could mourn.

(The next day)

When Eragon came out of his room a little later on the day later, people gave him his space, which he was grateful for. He did not have the energy to deal with everyone, and he was drained by his grief. But to his surprise and further gratitude, Roran must have told the people his intentions, for they immediately followed his direction as he planned for the funeral.

Eragon left a lot of work on his hands, the things he reserved for himself because he didn't want anyone else to be the ones to do it. And so he journeyed around the land to find the perfect place to bury his brother. When they found an apple tree, he marked it off and declared it off limits so that the land could be used to dig his grave.

Immediately, he assigned people to work on the area, and they obeyed quickly and immediately, which he was grateful for. They even worked to beautify the apple tree.

Tons and tons of flowers were ordered, and many of the elves sang them out of the ground. Some even went over and sang flowers out of the ground near the apple tree, which Eragon thanked them for. Then he picked out which flowers he wanted placed in the casket with his brother. Eragon chose red flowers for he thought it was fitting since Murtagh was the rider of a red dragon.

It was shortly after that that some people came up and asked if he wanted to help prepare his brother's body for burial. Chocking up, Eragon shook his head. "I can't," he murmured. He was nowhere near ready to face his brother again. "I think I won't be able to handle it."

The elves who had asked this nodded. "We figured as much," Vanir admitted. His face was one of pity as he looked at Eragon, and Eragon was grateful to have Vanir as a friend. Since the days in Ellesmera and after the war, they had worked out their differences and become friends. In fact, Eragon asked Vanir's advice sometimes, especially in regards to elven affairs.

"But we realized that we should still ask, especially since you had specified that you wanted to be the one to plan the funeral," Vanir continued

And Eragon was grateful for the support he was getting from everyone, and how everyone had come together to honor his brother. "Thank you," he whispered, and they departed.

That night, Eragon was unable to sleep, just as much as the previous night. Despite Saphira's comforts, he found himself crying the nights away, mostly with regret, and rising up with the sun. He was exhausted because of this, for without his waking dreams he was having a hard time functioning.

Despite that, he couldn't help but remember Angela's words to him. "Don't hold off," she had warned him, but Eragon hadn't listened. What a fool he was! And now he was one of those burying a loved one with regrets in his heart. If only he had listened to her words!

'And now Murtagh will never know how much I care about him,' Eragon grieved. 'He died thinking that I hated him! If he was to die, I didn't want it to be like that! If he was to die, I would have wanted it to be with him knowing that he had the love and support of all his family and friends.'

Tears poured down his face as he thought those words. He was currently laying on his four poster bed on his side, and he brought his knees up to his chest in comfort, mourning. 'And now, because of me, he will never know that. In fact, he probably died because my actions drove him out. If I hadn't been so mean and harsh with him, he never would have left.'

Sobs escaped him at this point, and he did his best to calm down, but he just couldn't. His dragon stirred outside of the curtains, and Saphira's mind touched his. 'Eragon? Are you all right?'

Eragon shook his head. 'No, Saphira,' he thought to her. 'Murtagh is dead because of me, and now I have a lot of regrets laying on my chest. If only I could have told him! And if only I had swallowed my pride and apologized, then he wouldn't have left because he thought no one cared about him. I drove him to this! He died because of me!'

'Little one,' she murmured, and Saphira took his mind in hers, offering a mental hug. This time, Eragon did not resist her, but allowed her to comfort him.

Despite not sleeping any, he still got up to help with the funeral arrangements. Today was the day to pick out Murtagh's coffin, and Eragon wanted to make sure that his elder brother got the best. 'He deserves the best,' he thought to Saphira and Saphira gave a mental nod.

'That he does, little one,' she thought to her Rider in agreement, and Eragon put his hand on her side for comfort. They were walking side by side to the streets.

The elves had sung some coffins out of the trees, and they were waiting for him to pick which one he liked. When he reached there, to his disappointment, Arya wasn't there. She must be occupied elsewhere, for surely she was healed now.

The first two coffins were beautiful, carved with flowers. The elves loved flowers. But they just didn't seem to fit Murtagh, as pretty as they were. And so it was the last coffin that caught Eragon's attention.

This one was carved with dragons soaring, flying, and roaring in their glory. Immediately, Eragon was drawn to it, and he knew that this was the coffin that his brother should be laid to rest in.

Nodding to elves, he pointed to the dragon coffin. "This one fits him the best," he explained and they gave their approval. It must have seemed a fitting coffin to them as well.

"Then we shall paint it and decorate it," they informed him, and Eragon thanked them.

"In red please," Eragon begged them. "He was the rider of a red dragon, so red would be a fitting color to be buried in."

"Most certainly," they agreed, rather impressed with him, and they took it away. Now Eragon needed to find a fitting headstone that would honor his brother for thousands of years to come. He was considering making one, similar to how he had made Brom's grave, but at that moment King Orrin had decided to show up with his royal retinue.

"Lord Rider Eragon," King Orrin addressed them, and Eragon turned tiredly to the king. "Do you mind if we have a quick word? It will only take a minute."

"About what?" Eragon tiredly asked. He began walking away with the king, Saphira at his side.

"About the contract," King Orrin explained. "You see, King Orik and I have yet to have our dispute solved. Arya has been unable to come up with a suitable arrangement between us."

Eragon froze in shock and anger. Saphira growled. Then Eragon rounded on the king in anger. "Excuse me?" he spat, a demanding tone in his voice, and the crowd grew silent, turning towards the source of the noise to see what was going on.

"You bring that up now?!" Eragon shouted in outrage. "I just lost my brother! I am in grief and mourning! I'm in the middle of planning a funeral and you have the discourtesy of asking me to solve a mere merchandise dispute now of all times?!"

With that, Eragon stalked off, seething in anger. Saphira then growled at the king, and she cautioned him with her thoughts broadcast for all to hear, 'Choose wisely, King Orrin. Do not bother us again unless it is a life or death situation, or you come to bring honors to Murtagh's funeral.'

Then the great dragon bounded after her rider. Orrin did not bother them after that.

Eragon spent the time in his room after that, seething in anger, but he did come out after a little while. He still had yet to choose a headstone.

After much deliberation, Eragon decided to make it himself. So he carved it out of a rock with magic, and decorated it with red dragons. They were in various poises, roaring with wings spread, in flight with a rider (Murtagh) atop them, and even sitting down beside the rider who it was for.

Eragon thought he had done a good job depicting both Thorn and Murtagh on the headstone. He was pleased with it, and so he took it down to where the casket lay, that way it could be taken to the graveside. And with a sigh, he took the rest of the day off resting.

But he couldn't fall into his waking dreams. And so he was even more exhausted when he 'woke up' the next day. Going several days with absolutely no rest was taking it's toll on him. And so Saphira encouraged him to stay behind and get some rest. But he did not want to.

"I have more to plan," he told Saphira. "After all, I have today to plan and tell others how the funeral and memorial service is going to proceed. They're waiting for me." So he shaved with magic, got dressed, and went down to the meeting.

They were very respectful to him and took his wishes into consideration, which he was grateful for. But they also made some suggestions, which he thought was valid, and so he accepted the advice.

Roran was there, Katrina to, and they offered his support. They had left with Ismira with a friend of theirs, they told him, so they could attend. Eragon was grateful for that, and he made sure that if he ever found out who was babysitting Ismira, to thank them. That was, if he remembered to. Right now he was in so much grief he was having troubles keeping track of small details.

"Ismira is complaining," Katrina told him. "She's ten years old and wants to be involved, but we said no. We told her the planning was for the adults."

"Perhaps," Eragon agreed. "But Murtagh was her uncle. She should come to the memorial service and funeral so that she can honor his life and good deeds."

"Indeed," Roran agreed, and they continued the rest of the meeting smoothly.

By the time the meeting was done, Eragon was sure that they had come up with a funeral and a memorial service that was fit for a king. Murtagh would be getting the best, he was sure, and he was briefly comforted. But then he was reminded by the situation that Murtagh was no longer there and that his brother was really gone. Then he would sob and grieve.

That night, the night before the memorial service, was the most disturbing night for him. He had nightmares during his waking dreams of flying with his brother. His brother would laugh and tease with him, then a giant hydra would appear out of nowhere and swallow him.

He would hear his brother screaming out, "Why didn't you come for me?" And sometimes his brother would cry out, "Do you really hate me?"

"No!" Eragon would yell. "I never hated you! I never meant anything that I said!"

The same nightmares continued through the night again and again and again and each time he would wake up screaming. Finally it reached the point where he woke up screaming and was sobbing in hysterics! "I'm sorry!" he chanted to himself. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Saphira stirred and came over to him. 'Eragon, all you all right?' she asked him.

Eragon was crying so hard it took him a while to answer. Finally he had to answer with his mind for he was crying so hard. 'No, Saphira,' he told her. 'I'm not all right, and I'll never be all right.'

'You don't know that,' Saphira told him. 'It might seem hard now, but give it some time.'

'Murtagh is dead because of me,' Eragon grieved further. 'I can never forgive myself. I will always hold myself accountable for this and blame myself for not being rational earlier.'

'Eragon, please let it go!' Saphira begged him, but Eragon shook his head, refusing to, even when Saphira nudged him. 'You're giving him a great funeral, are you not?'

'But a funeral doesn't bring him back,' Eragon told her. 'And it doesn't bring Thorn back. Thorn, what am I supposed to tell him? Not that I'll ever get the chance. But he surely blames me for this.'

'You don't know that,' Saphira comforted him and Eragon shook his head.

'I do. I would blame me if I were in Thorn's position. And he would be right about it.'

'Little one,' Saphira crooned, and she rested her head on his bed, while Eragon held her snout, crying into her. She let him stay that way until the first rays of dawn were seen. But then Eragon did his best to compose himself. Today was the day for the memorial service and he needed to be there.

Today was the last time he would ever be able to gaze at his brother.

-§-

Eragon dressed in his best, doing his best to look presentable. But despite that, it was hard to wash away the tear tracks that were on his face, especially as he would keep sobbing. Every time he would wash it away, more tears would come, and he would have to wash himself again.

Finally, he determined that this was the best he was going to look. 'It's all right to cry,' Saphira reassured him. 'He is your brother after all. Crying shows compassion and that you care for him.'

'If only he knew that before he died,' Eragon grieved, and Saphira nudged him gently. Eragon moved over to put the saddle on her, and she stayed perfectly still.

'You don't know that,' she corrected him gently. 'He may have been mad, but perhaps in the end he knew that you did care for him.'

'If he knew that, he wouldn't have run away,' Eragon pointed out, and he was tightening the straps on the saddle at this point. But as he said this, he broke down crying again, and he leaned into her. She was silent, and she turned her head to watch him sadly.

After a few moments, Eragon resumed adjusting the saddle with shaky hands, and then with a trembling form, he mounted the saddle.

They were silent as they flew off to the grounds and where the memorial service would be. Sitting in the chairs on the front row, Eragon waited there. Others filled in behind him as they showed up, and soon they had a large crowd.

A little ways away, King Orrin sat down, and he called out to Eragon in a whisper, "Arya was able to solve the merchandise dispute between King Orik and I. We're both pleased with it."

In return, Eragon glared at him for bringing it up at such a time as this. In his eyes, it was hardly appropriate. But then King Orik sat down. But not before coming over to Eragon to offer his condolences. "I am truly sorry," he told Eragon, and Eragon nodded silently in gratitude.

As Orik sat down, Arya went to sit beside him. She gazed at Eragon in concern as they waited for the casket and body to arrive. "How are you?" she inquired of Eragon, and tears once more went down Eragon's face. Silent sobs escaped him and he shook his head.

"Not good," he admitted mournfully. Then he gazed tenderly at Arya. "What I wouldn't give for a second chance!" he begged her. "I would do anything to take back the words that I said! In fact, I would do anything to change history and make it to where he didn't suffer through his life like he did!"

Eragon was silent for a moment as he thought things through and processed his grief. "Angela was right," he finally continued. "I should have been up front and honest with him. I should have admitted to him how much I appreciated him. But I took him for granted, and now it's to late."

Arya raised a lone eyebrow in surprise. "Angela said this?" she inquired.

Eragon turned to her in puzzlement. "Yes, why?" And he was curious then, despite his grief.

A sigh escaped Arya, and she was somewhat thoughtful. "She's been saying the same things to me," the elven queen then admitted. And Arya was choking up then.

"I-I know that I don't often say this as much as I should, even though you freely express your feelings for me, but I really do care about you Eragon. Like you, I have neglected saying the things of my heart towards those I'm closest to. And Angela has been getting after me because of that. The truth is, I love you."

"And I you," Eragon murmured. They stared silently at each other for moment, caught up in the understanding that though they were immortal, it didn't mean that they had eternity with each other.

As they gazed deep into each others eyes, they were broken up as they heard the sound of many people approaching. Eragon looked behind him and saw people bearing the casket, his brother no doubt in it. And they all stood, silently awaiting the people to reach the top of the isle.

The Urgals who were bearing it put the casket down with gentleness that one wouldn't associate with urgals. And solemnly, they opened the casket, then they silently sat down.

The casket was deep, and so Eragon couldn't see his brother. But Roran, who Eragon had asked to conduct the meeting, then stood up and gave a long speech and memorial about Murtagh. "He was a good cousin," Roran choked, and tears poured down his face. "He will be greatly missed."

Then people began coming up to the coffins to give their final wishes of farewell. Each had a red rose with them that they placed in the casket, and when they were done with their words, they stepped away, solemn faced and tear streaked.

The leaders of the nations then stepped forward to give their memorial, and a few elves even sang for him. Then Arya stepped forward to give her farewell.

Eragon, though he had the capability to hear, chose to ignore the comments for he was already having troubles maintaining his composure. Already he was crying, and it was his duty to go last so that he could give the final speech to the audience before the casket was closed.

As Eragon dreaded going up there to give his speech, for it was acknowledging that he would never see his brother again, and it was his only chance to say good bye, he sobbed. But his time finally came. And so, he walked slowly up to the casket and gazed down in grief at his brother.

Murtagh was pale as death and though his wounds were healed, he looked oddly sad. This only made Eragon's heart clench more as he saw that even in death Murtagh did not have peace.

The red rider was dressed in his finest, and the roses were placed carefully about him. His red cloak was about his shoulders and spread out elegantly in the coffin. His red sword, Zar'roc, was also beside him in the coffin, and as Eragon stared at it, then the rider, he cried harder.

He placed his own rose on top of Murtagh's chest, and then he knelt down and cried for a bit. "Oh, Murtagh," he finally began when he was able to speak some.

"This is not what I would have wanted for you! If only you had stayed behind, then you wouldn't have died!" And with that, he grieved more, sobbing into his brother's chest, hands rested on the casket. He didn't care if he looked odd or if he was making a fool of himself. Right now he needed closure.

And then he was reminiscing. "I remember when I first met you," he choked. "You rescued me. You drove the Ra'zac off, and it was because of you I lived that day. They were contemplating killing me, despite Galbatorix's orders to bring me to him alive. And then you were by my side as we journeyed to Gil'ead. There you risked your life to rescue me.

"I never did thank you for that," Eragon mourned. "Throughout my life, I have never thanked you for the things you did for me, the things you sacrificed for me. I never did thank you for the pain you went through on my behalf. But I am grateful and will always be grateful for that."

Eragon laughed some while sobbing. "I even remember our first duel. And I remember our journey through Farthen Dur together through the Hadarac desert. Such good times, now that I think back on it. I never really did appreciate my time with you, did I? I thought that we'd have forever." The blue rider cried a little more.

"I was so happy when you returned to me after the war. I didn't tell you then, but I missed you greatly. And I wanted to know more about you, who you were. You were my brother, and I was concerned for you. I was worried about what you might be facing on your own, and I was afraid for your life. I was relieved when you returned and I found you were safe."

"All these things I never said! Angela did warn me, but I never took her advice seriously. I never told you how much I cared about you. I took you for granted. I procrastinated, thinking that there was always another day and that I would have time to tell you later.

"I became the kind of person she warned about, mourning posthumously over the things left unsaid. She said that such people always grieved the most. She was right. And then I went and was mean to you."

Tears flowed down Eragon's cheeks, staining Murtagh's perfect shirt. He felt guilty about it, but he didn't care in the end. He loved his brother, and now his brother would never know.

"I'm sorry!" Eragon sobbed, as he looked into the casket. "I never meant anything I said! If only I had known that it would drive you there, I wouldn't have said it. I take it back! I was an idiot. I was in the wrong and I acknowledge it! I love you too much, you know. You're my best friend and my elder brother. I'm sorry that you died because of my stupidity and the things that I said!"

With that he took a step back from the casket, crying openly in public for all to see for the first time. Usually he cried in private or amongst a small group of friends. But he couldn't help it this time. It was his fault, all his fault. He was to blame for this.

Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore, and as he turned away from the casket, weeping still, Arya came up to pat him on the shoulders before giving him some space. It was time to begin his memorial speech, and he wanted everyone to know who his brother really was.

Announcing to everyone, he said, "My memorial for him is this: he's the best brother anyone can ask for. If I could do things over, I would have chased him after he was abducted from Farthen Dur. He did the best he could under the situations he faced. He's one of the best dragon riders there are, and I'm proud to call him my best friend and my brother. May Murtagh find peace wherever he is!"

After that he stepped forward to sit down on some of the chairs provided, but he froze when he heard a sarcastic voice say, "Really? It took me dying to get you to apologize?"

A shiver of shock ran down Eragon's spine and he whipped around in surprise, staring at the casket. Suddenly, up sat Murtagh, an interesting and annoyed look on his face, arms crossed over his tear stained shirt. He still looked pale, and at first Eragon thought he was hallucinating.

Eragon's eyes widened. He knew that his face betrayed his shock, and he was almost ready to faint. It was too good to be true. "H-how!" he stammered. Murtagh was alive?

Murtagh gave a rather uninterested shrug. "Does it really matter?" he asked dryly. His face was somewhat annoyed, but there was also amusement there.

Then Murtagh went and addressed everyone, "Oh, and nice memorial service by the way. I enjoyed the funeral! There were a lot of nice things said about me. I don't often get nice compliments." And he proceeded to swing his legs over the edge of the casket and stood up, looking very much alive. He flashed an amused and smug grin at Eragon.

But Eragon was still shocked. Murtagh was moving. Murtagh was breathing. Murtagh had just been laying down still in a casket not a minute ago, and yet he was doing things, such as moving, that a dead person shouldn't have been able to do.

"I-I don't understand..." Eragon trailed off, at a loss for words. Murtagh was alive? And he'd just apologized to his brother in a belated post death apology, when all along he was alive?

And Murtagh rolled his eyes. "Well, after we got into that big argument, and you wouldn't apologize, it was causing everyone problems. We're dragon riders. We're supposed to be solving problems, not causing them. Needless to say, the family drama was getting to everyone.

"And since you were the one in the wrong, not me, and since I demanded an apology before doing anything, they set this whole thing up so that I could get that which was rightfully due to me. And it worked."

As Eragon stood still in shock, he saw Murtagh fold his arms and glare at him briefly. Then the red rider turned to King Orik and King Orrin, addressing them separately.

"Thanks for your contribution! That make up was probably some of the best I've seen if it was able to realistically make me look dead to where it could fool even Eragon. Though I got to say, staying still for that long was probably one of the hardest things I've done."

He then turned to Angela, who Eragon saw was clearly grinning now and addressed her.

"I've got to say, I don't think I would have been able to lay still that whole while if it hadn't it been for your contribution of the death sleeping potion, so thanks. And yes, I was completely aware the whole time, despite being paralyzed. Nice timing too! It kept me paralyzed until about ten minutes into Eragon's grieving words to me."

He laughed a bit before continuing to the herbalist, "The rest of the time was hard to lay through, though it was amusing to hear Eragon reminiscing about the past." And he flashed another smug smile Eragon.

Murtagh turned to Vanir next. "Thanks for delivering the vial to me! That potion of Angela's worked perfectly! It guess it really did mimic death! He actually believed it! And thanks for the nice funeral arrangement!" He waved his hands to everyone, addressing everyone in the last statements.

And Eragon was even more staggered to say the least. Had everyone been involved in pulling this whole ruse on him without his knowing? And the lengths they went to to pull it off...

But another emotion was quickly taking control as the shock wore off. They were all in on it. They did all this just to get him to apologize?! They made him go through all this regret and grief, just for something so tiny that was demanded?! This was an outrage! And he quickly began shaking in rage, especially towards a special someone who had pretended to be dead.

"You mean," Eragon demanded, his face turning red and pointing a finger in accusation at his half-brother. "You mean, you did all this, you put me through all this, thinking you were dead, putting me through grief, making me go through mourning, just so that you could get a stupid apology?!"

Eragon had no idea what his face looked like, how his rage was portrayed, but apparently it was frightening enough because the crowd started edging away from him and his half brother was starting to look nervous, to the point where even he was edging away and itching to flee.

"Now Eragon," Murtagh began in the most placating tone he could manage, a pleading and desperate look on his face as he non verbally appealed to the others. But they had no intention of giving it to him while Eragon was in this state.

"Don't be mad at me, Eragon. In all reality, it is your fault. They knew that we wouldn't make back up until you apologized. And it wasn't my idea anyways. It was your girlfriend, Arya's!" And he began backing up even faster as Eragon's rage only got more visible.

"Do you have any idea what I've been through this past week? Any idea at all? Do you have any idea what it was like arranging the funeral all the while being in a state of grief over your best friend and brother? Do you have any idea how many nights I went without sleep?" Eragon gave in a low menacing whisper, and Murtagh paled visibly and grew even more nervous.

"Well," Murtagh began. "I think I can understand. After all, if I were in your position-"

"MURTAGH, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Eragon launched himself at Murtagh, but Murtagh had managed to pick up the subtle body hints before hand, and so he was ready to flee at a moment's notice. As Murtagh leaped over the coffin and nearly tripped and fell in the process, he screeched when he saw that Eragon was nearly upon him.

The crowd watched as the younger brother chased the elder brother and as they almost disappeared into the distance, the younger brother's voice was heard booming, "I'M GOING TO RIP YOU TO SHREDS AND MAKE SURE THAT YOU'RE REALLY DEAD THIS TIME!"

"Eragon! I didn't mean it! It was just a joke!" Murtagh's softer reply was barely heard from the distance they were at, and though they all knew it was more like payback than a joke, no one commented. After all, Murtagh didn't have to go along with the charade. He could have said no.

The outline of a red dragon was seen flying in the distance.

After a minute of watching the horizon after the two brothers disappeared, King Orik turned to Arya and asked, "So, how long do you think it will take Eragon to forgive Murtagh this time?"

Arya shrugged.

"A very long while."

And so they're back to square one.

I really hoped you enjoyed that as much as I loved writing it!

Sincerely,

Firestar'sniece