*SLAP* The sound rang out through the clearing as the queen expressed her anger.
"He's dead! Your job was to protect him, now we are without our king!" Islanzadi's raging voice shouted. The black haired elf at her feet winced as she looked at her matriarch. Her bangs sliding aside to show one green eye and one blue eye , the eyes of a seer. A ragged scar ran down her left cheek along with her tears.
"Mother, please I didn't see th..." she was cut of at her mother hit her once again, splitting her lip with the force of her angered blow.
"Do not disgrace me with that title girl, you lost that right when you allowed your father to be killed!" Islanzadi said in a restrained voice.
The elf, princess and heir to the throne, looked down again as her mother renounced her.
"Your punishment will be merciful," Islanzadi started in a cold voice, "you are as of now banished from the elfin kingdom." Gasp rang out through the clearing, a banishment in this time of war was a death sentence. No elf could step outside the forest alone and live.
The elfin girls head whipped up as her eyes pierced her mother's. Anger showed brightly before dimming into sadness.
"You are a fool Islanzadi, to think you will survived this war without me. Hundreds of thousands will die because of your decision today, and the riders will fall along with the dragon species'. I will go, and I will suffer through the fighting, but in the end all is lost. Galbitorix will rule, for how long I can not say, and he will gain strength and knowledge that should have never been his to take. A young rider will come though, when no one knows, but he will fight and find he is strong. Strong enough to kill a shade, strong enough to kill the raz'ac, strong enough to aid your cause. But he will not be strong enough to defeat Galbatorix, and he will seek aid, and find someone who you never thought you'd see again.
There was a pause as the young elf took a deep breath.
"You have chosen the hard path, and I can not see the outcome of this tragedy. I hope we will meet again, mother." she whispered as she stood and walked away her white dragon following. Neither to be seen again for a long time to come. And only to be heard of as a spy told them of their capture.
20 years later
A young Arya sat next to her mother as she sang for the lords.
'Sound the bugle now play it just for me,
as the seasons change remember how I use to be,
now I can't go on, I can't even start.
I've got nothing left, just an empty heart.
I'm a soldier, wounded so I must give up the fight,
there's nothin more for me,
lead me away.
Or leave me lyin here.
sound the bugle now, tell them I don't care.
There's not a road I know, that leads to anywhere.
Without a light, I fear that I will stumble in the dark,
Lay right down and decide, not to go on.
Then from on high, somewhere in the distance
there's a voice that calls, remember who you are
If you lose yourself, your courage soon will follow
So be strong tonight
Remember who you are
Yeah, you're a soldier now,
Fighting in a battle
to be free once more
Yeah, that's worth fightin' for!'
Her mother's raspy voice ended as the music died down.
"Mother, that song was beautiful, did you write it yourself?" Arya asked.
Her mother's eye's dimmed as they only did when thinking about her sister.
"No child, your sister wrote that song a week before she left." her mother whispered. Arya didn't press, she knew how much her mother regretted banishing her sister, she had only been three at the time and all that was left were vague memories of a smiling face and musical voice. That song though, it sparked something in her, the will to fight, to be free, to run outside the forest. And she made her decision then, she would be apart of this war in any way she could.
47 years later
"Who will carry the egg to and from the Varden?" her mother questioned. She drew in a deep breath as she rose and stepped forward.
"I will." she stated, relived her voice didn't shake. This was her chance, and she wasn't going to mess it up.
Her mother eyes widened in shock and anger.
"Absolutely not! I will not allow this!" her mother said.
"That is not your decision my queen and you can not deny me. The law states any to step forward for a mission has a right unless they are not fit." Arya stated calmly.
"You aren't fit, you are next in line to the throne!" Islanzadi said grasping at straws.
"The ruler of our people is bound to serve and protect them, this is my chance to do so." Arya quipped back.
"My Queen, you do not have a choice. It is the law." Ornimus said quietly.
Islanzadi turned on her heel and walked away quickly as Ornimus put a comforting hand on Arya's shoulder.
"Give her time she will understand." he said quietly.
"I fear she won't." was the only response.
Ok, so Islanzadi is not evil. She was blinded by pain and anger and wasn't thinking straight. She had lost her husband and struck out at the one person she could blame, his guard. Please review, I really don't like continuing stories if hardly anyone reads them.