Disclaimer: Hey Fanfiction people! This is my first story, hope you like it. I just want to say that I don't own the whole Inheritance cycle thing, the characters the plot, or anything really. Except for Nisha. Hands off her Christopher Paolini!
I will start at the beginning. This is a strange tale, of how a teenage girl met the rider and herbalist Angela accompanied by a boy and a weircat. Ever since the war began, Galbatorix has been recruiting anyone that contains a speck of magic. The story starts in a tiny village near Kuasta, which went by the name of Juston. It was one of those small places where everyone knew everything you did, no matter how small it was. A good story could be the highlight of your day. Therefore, the people here have a nasty habit of sticking their nose into business they had no right to be tampering with. This trait, combined with a gigantic reward from Galbatorix for the whereabouts of any magic user, was the reason for the start of Nisha's journey.
"Control Nisha! Control! I am outliving my stay in this world already, and when I'm gone, I can't be cleaning up your mess all the time!" screeched the dragon man in Nisha's ear.
"You crazy old coot! I had that one! It was your fault! You didn't give me enough Rosemary! How can we keep their minds slow enough to capture if we don't have enough Rosemary?" demanded Nisha.
"You may blame me, but who was too lazy to go to the market to get that Rosemary yesterday? Hmm? Oh that's right, little Nisha here. Get some Rosemary why don't you? Try it again! You're still not going to get them if you can't control them!" taunted the dragon man.
"Mark my words old man! I'll be back with more Rosemary, and when I'm back I'll get that spirit! And when I do, you'd better hope I don't make it take your chair again!"
Nisha stormed out of the shack. She smiled to herself at the thought of their little chair mishap. Nisha's mentor, the dragon man, as was his title to most, was strangely attached to a certain chair of his. He had spirits guard it all day, and refused to sit anywhere but on that chair. Nisha had never known what was so special about that chair. That lunatic would never answer her when she asked. Once, a rouge spirit had gotten past the dragon man. In its last moments before he banished it, it stole his chair, and took it to the otherworlds. It took him two days to call that spirit back to get the chair, but until he got that chair, he refused to eat, drink, or sleep. He came up with some very creative curses directed at that spirit. Nisha almost felt sorry for it, even though it had no emotions of its own.
Her smile vanished. The people had hexed their property again. Nisha sighed. Magic was frightening to almost everyone in Alagaesia these days. When people found out she was tampering in those arts, they became most unkind towards her. She lost all of her friends, and her family members abandoned her. Not that she had many to lose to begin with.
Nisha became the psychological outlaw of the town. Most people would cross the street if they saw her coming. The brave ones would spit in her path or draw hex marks on the dragon man's property. Sorcerer. That was who she was. The word was like a poison. If you really truly hated somebody you could call them a sorcerer nowadays. This wouldn't even bother her anymore but storeowners closed up their shops if she wanted to do business with them. It made it nearly impossible to buy supplies unless she hiked ten miles over to the next town where people didn't know her. Her failure at the ritual, and the new symbols that people thought were hex marks drawn on the walls of their shack made Nisha's day miserable already. Her day got a whole lot worse when a pack of five soldiers and a skinny man with a hood stepped out of the woods behind her.
"Meeses Gordener?" The man with the most lines drawn on the arm of his coat asked. "By orders of de king, ye be required to be a meetin' with him." What Nisha guessed was the captian stated in a heavy northern accent.
"I'm sorry, but I must politely turn down his highness' offer," said Nisha rigidly.
"Me sorry too lass, but ees not optional."
"I'm sure you can understand sir, I'm very busy. I must visit a sick uncle who needs comforting in his passing." Nisha hoped this would make them leave her alone. Maybe they too had been in a similar situation.
"To put it plainly Miss Gordener," The hooded man piped up, "We have reason to believe you possess magic. I am a trained magician. I can force you to come if I have to."
Great. A magician. With the spirits she had bound to her person for protection, she could probably kill them all and run away. Unfortunately, the king would no doubt be noting her absence if she didn't show, and if she weren't there they would assume she overpowered the magician. If she could do that, and defeat five soldiers while doing it, the king would no doubt hunt her down for service in the war. She weighed the positives and negatives of escape.
So far, it seemed they didn't know she was a sorcerer. If she met with Galbatorix, she might be left to go if she could conceal her power. Then again, this was Galbatorix, the most dangerous, thoroughly insane rider in history, she was considering meeting with.
"If you do not come with us right now, I will use force, Nisha."
Great, now they know my first name, thought Nisha. She fingered her necklace. All she needed to do was tap it three times to call her most trusted ally to help her. If only the consequences wouldn't be so severe for retaliation. She bit her lip in frustration. If only—
The hooded man spoke quickly in the ancient language, and before Nisha could defend herself, she collapsed on the ground.
"I told you to comply right now. You'll be staying with us on the road to Uru'baen, so I suggest you start getting used to taking orders quickly, and without hesitation. As it is, you must learn that refusal of our orders has painful consequences. I'm not a big fan of forgiveness. Learn quickly." The man told her in a frigid, hate-filled voice.
He stooped down, and put a hand on Nisha, muttering something in the ancient language. Nisha wasn't unconscious exactly. She couldn't move anything, even her eyes, which stared blankly at a tree in the woods. Her body still functioned though, as she could still breathe, and could still see that tree. She could still hear the man's horrible voice.
The worst part was that she could still feel the liquid fire the man sent coursing through her body. It was completely and perfectly horrible. The pain was the worst she had ever experienced in her life. She had once burned her hand on a teapot she took out of the oven. It had fallen and pinned her hand under it, so she couldn't free her hand from the burning metal until the dragon man had intervened. What was happening right now felt like that, except everywhere in her body at once, magnified ten times over. It was downright effective too, because it rendered her completely helpless, while still able to perceive the pain. She couldn't even call out for help. Nisha had never before been unable to scream when she was hurt. Now that she couldn't it felt like that little satisfaction that you got through screaming stayed trapped, making her pain even more unbearable.
"That's what I call a disciplinary session. Get up and behave, or you'll have another." The man warned her in a low voice. He said something in the ancient language again, and Nisha found that the pain was gone, and her muscles now functioned again.
"Come." Barked the hooded man, and Nisha obeyed, as did the soldiers. "We'll get a good start on the journey today. At sundown, we eat, and then sleep. Let's get moving!"
Their small party started walking towards the edge of town. She noted that the hooded man was having trouble keeping up with the brisk pace they were setting. He looked like those spells he had performed earlier had tired him out. Good. Thought Nisha. At least he's not too strong. As they got to the populated part of the village, the usual happened for Nisha. People ran to the other side of the street and gave her nervous glances. Luckily, none were brave enough to spit in the paths of Nisha and the soldiers. Whether it was out of genuine pity for her or fear of the soldiers, she couldn't say for sure. She suspected it was the latter.
As they were just about to leave the town, they stopped at a barn. They walked inside and a man ushered them towards seven horses.
"Kept 'em nice 'n cozy while you were gone eh?" said the barn owner. "They's been eatin' good for sure."
No one said anything, but the hooded man held out a meager amount of coins.
"Sorry man, but is not enough! Their's food alone cost more than that!" Stated the outraged barn owner.
"Consider yourself lucky you got anything at all. Operatives of the king deserve better than to deal with scum like you," said the hooded man icily.
The barn owner scowled, and took the coins anyway.
"Fine! Take the beasts! But don't ye be expecting for them to be stayin' here anymore!" The barn owner cut the horses' ropes off their tethers and led them over toward their group of soldiers. They all mounted, while Nisha noticed that the hooded man had trouble getting himself on. As they rode out of the barn into the midday sun, Nisha smiled. She would find his weaknesses. And when she did, she didn't plan on staying any longer than it took to kill him.