Hi. This is my first fan fic, so I'm sorry if some parts don't make sense or don't flow as well as they should. Hope you enjoy :)
I do not own Eragon or any of its characters, Mr. Paolini does.
Zyana sighed happily as she fell onto her bed, finally relieving her feet of her weight. The sun was shining through her window and the warm rays caressed her cheeks as she pulled her hands under her head and closed her eyes smiling to herself. She rarely enjoyed moments of blissful happiness like this that where she could just relax and be herself.
She had been a maid in King Galbatorix's castle ever since she had arrived with her guardian Nyzala when she was little more than a child of seven years of age. Her guardian, who was her mother's midwife, was a kindly old lady with smiling eyes and grey hair that was pulled back into a neat bun who Zyana saw as a second mother. About a year after their arrival in the Empire, Nyzala was forced to leave the Empire, leaving a distraught Zyana behind with so many questions that have been left unanswered haunting her.
Every day she wondered what had become of her old friend, but had learnt not to dwell on it, lest she have attention drawn to herself, and she desperately wanted to keep a low profile. Rolling over, she banished all thoughts of her guardian from her mind, saying that such thoughts should be left to the days where the sun was banished behind the clouds and rain fell in bucket loads.
Once again, she took a look out the window at the blue sky when a flash of red flew passed. It happened so quickly, she blinked several times and ran to the window to see a red dragon performing loops and spirals in the sky with an elated rider screaming with pleasure from his back. Zyana smiled. Even Thorn and Murtagh were having the time of their lives, it seemed impossible to find any sort of pleasure at all in these dark times, but the second the sun comes out, the world changes. It becomes... happy.
Suddenly, the sound of booming voices giving orders filled the castle. Guards and knights reluctantly left their posts to find out what was going on. Thorn and Murtagh looked at them innocently, after orders were given to them to recapture the pair. A smile appeared on Murtagh's handsome face and a small red flame erupted from the dragon's mouth as a warning. The guards stepped back nervously, Murtagh laughing as the dragon flew off into the distance until the only trace of him was a small red dot in the distance.
Galbatorix stormed out of the castle with a look of absolute fury on his face. He headed towards the dragon hold yelling curses and threats to the guards for letting them get away. As he entered the dragon hold, a mighty roar could be heard from within and yet more cursing from Galbatorix. He stormed out even angrier then before if it was even possible, and entered the castle slamming the doors behind him with a force that shook the castle, and yelling to all that he passed to get back to work else he would deal with them to release some of his anger. Bustle filled the castle as everyone returned to their posts, desperately trying to look busy.
Zyana smiled even wider, for what just happened, she realized was that Murtagh and Thorn's True Names had just changed and they were free from Galbatorix's power. They were going to free Alagaƫsia from all the injustice Galbatorix had created and build a new and more peaceful land full of prosperity.
"Good luck to you both," she whispered before hurrying out of the room towards the throne room, which was next on her list of rooms to clean.
After walking for a few minutes, she came across a pair of large double doors that could easily fit a dragon which were, as always, heavily guarded with some of the Kings finest men. They quickly looked at her as she approached, but then almost as quickly, turned back to their original positions, bored. To them, she was just a servant who was lower than dirt who didn't even deserve to clean up after the King's pigs. She quickly averted her eyes, but not before catching a glimpse of the look of absolute loathing on the guards faces.
After entering the room, she quickly closed the door behind her with a low thud and sighed with relief. She looked around her, and once again, admired the magnificent room she was standing in. The walls were coloured a regal red with pictures of Galbatorix and Shruikan plastered all over them. Looking into the face of the King, she suppressed a shudder at the look of such malevolence and wickedness that dominated his features, but to look at the giant black dragon was absolutely heart wrenching. The look in the giant dragon's eye was that of absolute despair and desolation that Zyana wanted more than anything to get the poor creature away from Galbatorix and his evil ways. But what could she do? She was just a lowly servant who was nothing special in any way.
Turning her gaze away from the pictures, she looked out the window at the great view of the kingdom beneath her and the garden that she had always loved to play in during better times. Once again, she smiled at the sun and wished she could be out there just enjoying what little amount of freedom could get, but then reality struck again as she realized where she was. Her gaze wandered towards two giant, golden dragon statues with ruby eyes that seemed to follow her every move. But it wasn't the two statues that she was interested in. It was the green rock that lay cushioned between them. The green dragon egg that lay between them.
"Hello, little one," she began. She always spoke to the baby dragon inside as she cleaned not only to make the time pass quicker, but also because she knew the baby dragon could hear her. She never got any response, but this didn't surprise her.
"Well, I won't be able to keep calling you that after you finally hatch. You are going to grow into a great, magnificent dragon that will put fear into your enemies heads and hearts." She chuckled to herself at the thought, and prayed that it would be one of the Varden that would become the rider. She began scrubbing the floor and started talking again.
"You probably haven't heard yet, but Thorn and Murtagh both changed their true names earlier today and have escaped back to the Varden. This is great news for those who are sided with the Varden, because another Dragon Rider would be most welcome, but dreadful for the Empire. This may just be their undoing. Galbatorix's face was absolutely comical when he found out. I've never seen it before."
She could hear footsteps approaching, and she sighed at being interrupted. The large doors opened to reveal one of the head guards. He glared down at her with disinterest then strode casually over to the large table that sat next to the window and began moving it to the centre of the room.
"There is an important meeting about to take place, so you are dismissed for the next hour." The guard said gruffly. Zyana flinched at his voice, more out of habit rather than fear, but he didn't need to know that. He smiled at her reaction and continued about his business, not taking his eyes off her as if he thought she was going to steal something. She stared at him blankly waiting for another order to be given.
"What are you staring at you stupid girl? I said you are dismissed! Now go!" He yelled at her. Taking a last look at the egg, she left the room and turned the corner to go to her room, but then thought of another idea. She quickly changed directions and turned into a small room next to the throne room which only the servants knew about, so as she expected, it was deserted.
Locking the door behind her with magic, she strode over to the wall separating this room from the throne room and said a few words in the Ancient Language before a small gap appeared leading into a small hidden compartment. She entered and adjusted herself so she had a prefect view of the throne room and was within hearing distance of the table where the meeting would take place. She couldn't believe her luck when she noticed the meeting was about to start when several of Galbatorix's most trusted and loyal followers assembled and sat down around the table talking amongst themselves about why such an urgent meeting was called.
The babble died down as the massive doors flew open and a very flustered Galbatorix entered the room, glaring at everyone he laid his black eyes on. The attendants of the meeting quickly jumped to their feet, their heads bowed and waited for the king to tell them to resume their original seated positions. The signal was given with a quick nod of his head and the attendants of the meeting quickly sat down in anticipation. The King said a few words in the ancient language to keep the room safe from all on the outside who might find it interesting to eavesdrop. Zyana sighed and thanked the Gods for her luck that she could hear the meeting.
Galbatorix was the last to sit, and looked around the room at all his men intently as if he were searching their features to find if they were hiding something. When he was satisfied, he looked over to the dragon egg. "Do you know why I have called you here today?" He started, looking at his men again, waiting for an answer. When none came, he continued.
"You have been called here to discuss some important matters including our Dragon Rider and his dragon." More silence. "As you may already have heard, there was a slight disturbance earlier today which involved the two of them. It seems that I no longer have power over them, leaving them free to join the Varden as they so wish. This is indeed a terrible blow to the empire. The Varden will now have two dragons and their riders at their disposal. Shruikan and I can still take care of the brats, but victory will not come so easily now. We need another rider, and that is another reason you have come here today." He stood and walked over to the egg, lifting it and cradling it in his arms gently, bringing it back to the table. "You will all be tested by the dragon on the inside of this egg to determine if any of you will assist in this war. If the egg does hatch for one of you, the chance of victory will once again be in our favour. Now I want each of you to touch the egg. Nothing will happen yet, but if luck is on our side, we will have a new rider within a few weeks."
Zyana watched as the men passed around the beautiful green egg, some with fear, and others with egotistic confidence, and prayed that the dragon would see sense not to hatch for any of these stupid, brainless hoons whose only ambition was to climb in their social circle. As the last man handed the egg back to Galbatorix, the evil King smiled. He placed the egg back in between the statues and continued speaking.
"Very good my men, but this meeting is not yet concluded. You see, I am in need of your assistance again, but before I say more, you need to say in the Ancient Language that you will not repeat any of the information heard in this meeting to anyone. Not even each other after leaving this room. We will conduct another meeting later this week to discuss further, but until then, nothing shall be said. Now repeat these words." He said a few sentences in the Ancient Language and his subjects repeated them faithfully. The fact that she was not bound to such an oath pleased Zyana, and she wondered what it was that made the King take such precautions.
After the oaths were taken, Galbatorix smiled wryly and continued. "Good. Now let us proceed. You see, the reason I needed you to repeat what I said was because I'm afraid I haven't been absolutely truthful to you, and what I am about to say can and will cause the Empire great damage should this information fall into the wrong hands." Zyana leaned in closer curious as to what could be so incriminating to the King that such precautions needed to be taken. She thought there was nothing that could frighten the old King.
The entire room was listening intently as Galbatorix proceeded. "This dragon egg," He turned his gaze to the egg. "Although all of you will think that this is the last dragon egg, I can tell you that this is indeed untrue." There was a flurry of excitement about the room, and Galbatorix raised an arm calming the room down to its original state of silence. "As I was saying, there is yet one more dragon egg left. However, this dragon egg is nothing like any other. It is unique and carries many untold secrets."The men leaned in further intently anticipating more information.
"The dragon it contains is what I like to call an elemental dragon. It has abilities that no other dragon possesses. Not only can it breathe fire like any usual dragon, it has the other elements at its disposal as well; wind, earth and water." The King then went on to describe the dragon in question in further detail, elaborating on how each element works, and the changes that the chosen Rider will undergo. Zyana's eyes widened with every sentence. How had she never heard of such a thing before? Not even in the stories of old has anything like this been mentioned. He must be lying, she thought. He is just a crazy old man. Only an ignorant buffoon would believe a word HE says.
But what if he's not lying, a voice in her head argued. Don't you at least owe it to the Varden to find out more? And if what he says is indeed true, you could be giving the Varden a chance at getting rid of this old man! The King's voice interrupted her thoughts once again.
"Now we have lost Murtagh and Thorn, our best chance at survival in this war is to get this egg to hatch. We will conduct another meeting later in the week to discuss further how we will go about this and to whom it is most likely to hatch for. You are dismissed for now." Galbatorix undid the spell around the room and exited quickly. All that his men could do was stare at each other excitedly because of the words that they had said in the ancient language, and gradually, one by one left the room until only Zyana remained still in her hiding place. She made no attempt to move, she was absorbing the information she had just learned. This was terrible news to the Varden. She made a mental note to herself to do everything in her power to get the remaining dragon eggs out of the empire and to the Varden. It would be easy enough with the green egg, but she had to find the elemental egg. She would attend the next meeting and see what other information she can find out.
So... What did you think?? Write a review and let me know!!! No flames please. :)
