"Get out you filthy urchin! Out!" Lady Aristna kicked Ria, who was already on the ground. "I don't want to see you in my quarters ever again. You hear me! Ever."
"My lady, I didn't mean-" Ria was desperately trying to clean up the mess she made.
"Out," She growled "Or I'll get the king to throw you in the dungeons."
Ria pulled herself off the floor, grimacing in pain, and then ran. She ran back to the kitchens, and into the servants quarters. She slammed the door when she got to her room, and threw herself onto her bed, facedown.
Life couldn't get any worse. She was working in one of the lowliest jobs in all the castle, and everyone seemed to hate her. It seemed, to Ria, that everything she did was wrong, it had been that way for a longtime. All she had to do was accidentally give them the food trey wrong, and they would light into her. She pounded the bed with her left fist, refusing to shed a tear over Lady Aristna. She was just a fat hog dressed in silk. All one had to do was think of a pig in a silk dress, and they had Lady Aristna. From her round face, to her moles and warts...it was an uncanny resemblance.
Ria laid like that for a long time, till a soft knocking on the door caught her attention and the hatch clicked open.
"Ria," It was Emma, her room mate,"Maggy needs you in the kitchen."
Ria rolled over to look at the skinny, black-haired girl. "Alright, tell her I'll be right there." she sat up on the side of the bed.
Emma gave her a worried look, but left without saying a word. Ria was thankful, Emma had enough to worry about without Ria burdening her troubles on her. She put her hair honey-brown hair in a tight bun, and straightened out her uniform.
"Here Ria," Maggy handed her a trey of food, "The King wants his food brought up to him this morning. You know that dreadful sickness is going on in the castle, and he wants to be extra careful not to catch it... Lord forbid if he already has." Maggy dipped her hands in some flour, and began kneading a lumpy piece of dough.
"But Maggy..." Ria pleaded. Her last run-in with the King wasn't too pleasant. He wasn't mean to her or anything, but something about him gave her the creeps.
"Hush now girl, you're the only one available to do it." She frowned "Now move along, and be quick. He doesn't like to wait."
Ria sighed, and she carried the tray out of the kitchen door. She had a long walk to the King's quarters. Ria had to constantly dodge Ladies and Lords who were going down for breakfast. Every now and then, a dirty look would be cast her way. They all treated her like dirt, she was only a thing to them. The only person who treated her the least bid decent was Murtagh, but he was gone, and he would never be welcomed back into the castle.
She remembered the last time she had talked to Murtagh, he didn't look so well. Ria brought him his noontime meal, but he wasn't in the study the he usually was. She quietly knocked on his door.
"Come in." Ria clicked open the hatch of the door, and she spotted Murtagh at his desk. He was bent over a book, and had a pained expression on his face. Ria curtsied deeply as a sign of great respect, and avoided his eyes as he turned around.
"Lord Murtagh, I've brought you your meal."
"Thank you Ria, please out it on the stand." He motioned to his bedside table. "You know, don't need to avoid my eyes Ria, I'm not going to yell at you. I don't know how many times I've told you that."
"I apologize, it is a force of habit."
Ria smiled and looked at him, but that smile soon faded. Murtagh had dark circles under his eyes, and his skin was deathly pale.
"Lord Murtagh, are you well? You don't look well."
He waved his hand, "I'm fine Ria, I just can't sleep."
"Are you sure? I could get Maggy to get you something to help you sleep." Ria had a feeling that it was more than just lack of sleep.
"No." He shook his head."I'm fine, thank you though."
"I know that look," She said remembering her father, "You're worried."
"Ria, I am worried, but I do not wish to trouble you with it."
He rubbed his eyes and turned around. She figured that it was her cue to leave.
"Well, good afternoon Murtagh."
She left without a sound. She couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen...and it did the very next day. Murtagh left, and Tornac was killed. She had grew very fond of the both of them. Murtagh was the only guy around her age that treated her with decency, and she had admired Tornac. He was an accomplished swordsman.
She reached the King's quarters, and knocked lightly on the door. She was instructed to come in. Ria kneeled as she did any other time, and she bowed her head, with the trey supported by her knee. Ria peered out of the corners of her eye.
A large desk, a few feet away, was situated directly in front of her, behind it sat King Galbatorix . To her left and right were countless books lining the walls, and against the left one, sat a molded dragon saddle. To her adjacent right was another door, which probably led to his chambers. Ria would have felt it welcoming, except for the feeling of dread that overcame her, twisting like a serpent inside of her stomach.
"Rise." The king commanded. Ria didn't look directly at him, but she could tell that he sat in a chair behind a great mahogany desk. He was turned towards her, and his head rested on one of his hands. He seemed to be dressed in black leggings and a tunic, and he had long black hair tied in a thong at the base of his neck. He was cleanly shaven, and Ria could sense the power that surrounded him. She rose and stood up straight.
"What is your name?" King Gilbatorix asked
"Ria, Your Highness."
"And where did you come from girl?"
"The kitchens, Your Highness."
"That is not what I meant," he said standing up,"Where did you come from before you worked here."
"I don't remember." It was a lie, and she knew that he knew it. She felt something pushing sharply against her consciousness, and she automatically threw her barrier up. Ria flinched as the probing attacked her, but she wouldn't give in. It finally ceased.
"You are more than everyone thinks you are, servant girl." She thought she saw him smile, but she dared not look directly at him. "If I really had the will, I could break through the barrier you have on your mind. But I won't...for now."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." She whispered.
"For me respecting that, I expect something in return." He talked smoothly. "I wish for honesty in the questions that I ask."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Ria's voice cracked. She felt like she was going to throw up, and her eyes were threatening to spill over. She clenched her jaw as he circled her like a vulture. She never made eye contact, and always looked straight ahead. He surpassed her in height by a few inches, and she only came up to his nose.
"Tell me then," he began once again, in his smooth voice. "Where do you come from?"
Ria hesitated, then answered stiffly, "Avalon...your majesty."
"Ahhhh," He stroked his chin and walked near a bookshelf to the left of his desk. "I thought I could pick out a foreign accent...Avalon would be just East of Surda then?...yes, that's right." Ria stole a look at him, and he seemed like he was pondering something extremely important. She only looked for a moment, then stared straight ahead once more.
"Do you have loyalty to this country?" He still faced the bookshelf, and traced his fingers along the spines of the book, searching for something.
"Your Majesty, if you could excuse me," Ria said slow and evenly, "Maggy will need me back at-"
"Silence girl," his voice finally showed a hint of harshness. "Answer the question."
"Your Highness, if this is about this morning," she stammered, "I am truly sorry about messing up Lady Aristna's gown...it was an accident, rea-"
"SILENCE!" He turned around sharply, but his face was soft once again. "This is not about this morning Ria," His voice was back to being smooth. "I could care less about Lady Aristna and her frivolous gowns." He waved his hand, and plopped back down in his chair with a book in his hand. "How do you feel about Lady Aristna, Ria? She makes you mad, does she not?"
"Yes, Your Highness..."
"But how does she make you feel? What do you think of her?" Ria could tell he was getting agitated, but she failed to see what the point of his questions were.
"She makes me feel angry, and low. She treats me like scum..." Ria kind of liked expressing her feelings out loud. "She's nothing but a fat, ugly pig on two legs. I'm twice the lady she could ever be," Ria scoffed, "She's the one who should be a filthy urchin servant, and kicked while down on the ground..." Ria finally gained her composure, and stopped herself from saying more. "I apologize Your Majesty, I got a little carried away."
Galbatorix just looked placidly back at her, his feet propped up on his desk. "Can you read?"
This sudden change of subject surprised her, but she prevented herself from quirking an eyebrow. She looked straight ahead and answered, "Yes."
"Who taught you?"
"My father."
"You obviously were also trained mentally, was that your father's doing as well?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, my father taught me everything I know." Ria clenched her jaw at the subject of her father.
"What about your mother?"
"I never knew my mother." She mumbled quietly.
"Why?"
Ria swallowed back her anger, she never liked to talk about the fact that she never knew her mother. "She died before I was even a year old."
"Where is your father?"
"Dead. Your Majesty."
"How did he die?"
"A man murdered him, Your Grace." She forced back the horrible memories of her father's murder. The murder of her soul.
"So you came here?"
"Not willingly, your Highness," She swallowed. "I was sold into slavery by the same group of people who killed my father, and I ended up here."
"Your not a slave anymore." He pointed out.
"My very last owner treated me kindly, and when she died, she set me free."
"But your in this castle on your own free will, correct?" He removed his feet from his desk.
"No, I'm only here because I have no other way to support myself."
He stood up again,"Do you like me as a ruler."
Ria swallowed, "No." She waited for the pain, or the yelling, she waited for something.
He seemed to frown, not in anger, but in thought. "Do you respect me as a ruler?"
"Yes."
He seemed at least a little pleased. "You are dismissed back to your duties."
Ria curtsied and turned towards the door, but not without catching a glimpse of a movement of black outside the window to the right of the desk.
She had a feeling that it was his dragon. A shiver ran down Ria's spine, and she hurriedly swept down the hall without turning back.
