Disclaimer – Paolini owns Inheritance, I just keep on coming up with creative genius I just have to write it down, for the good of Inheritance fans.
Thanks for my reviewers and alert subscribers please continue R&R.
Chapter 2 – Never
After Galbatorix had left Murtagh in the hand of his lunatic assistant; Murtagh took the brief interlude to examine his torturer. Alexus was tall and thin more like a sorcerer than soldier. He installed fear into the eyes of all the guards and his viscous demeanour was starting to get to Murtagh. He was lecturing the guards, probably about how slippery the prisoner was, that thought brought a smile to Murtagh's lips. Once he had finished talking to them, he turned to where Murtagh was tied up. "Lights out," he laughed and smacked Murtagh over the head with a metal rod. Within seconds he was out cold.
Murtagh woke up and his head was pounding. As he looked around, the world spun viciously around him until he could bear it no more. He screwed his eyes shut and waited for the spinning and the throbbing head ache to die down. It wasn't long until his vision returned to normal. When he opened his eyes, the gravity of the situation finally sunk in. He was in the back courtyard of Uru'baen's castle, suspended in the air. He was locked in a human body shaped cage that fit Murtagh's body with a small amount of room to spare. He was hung 7 metres up in the air and was wearing only shorts. He tried to move his arms but they were chained securely in place. The iron bars were digging into the soles of his feet, cutting into them. It was blazing sunshine heating up the bars and chains that were binding Murtagh and he guessed that soon they would start to burn. Murtagh just stood there, closed his eyes and stood there breathing through the pain in his wrists and feet. He was suspended there for hours with just his own thoughts for company. In the late afternoon, Alexus came out to check on his victim. Murtagh was trying to remain composed and hold his head high but the heat and dehydration were getting to him and all his muscles were going limp. "Do you want some water?" Alexus asked mocking him. All thoughts of remaining proud left at the mention of sweet water. He nodded his head as vigorously as he could manage without throwing up what was left in his stomach. Suddenly Murtagh's whole body was covered with water as Alexus threw it up with magic he gulped down as much as he could before it fall back down to earth. His tongue was slightly less like sandpaper but the water he had managed to get wouldn't be enough for long. The water cooled him down but Murtagh was concerned about what would happen at nightfall. He was right to be concerned. They temperature plummeted as soon as the sun sunk under the horizon. Murtagh was shaking with cold all night long but due to the restraints he couldn't do anything to warm himself up. The lack of food, rest and most importantly water was starting to get to him and he drifted in and out of unconsciousness all night long.
Murtagh was suspended like that for three solid days and was starting to feel as if death was coming for him. Murtagh wasn't afraid of death; death comes for everyone. He just didn't want to give up on life easily. Shouting woke up Murtagh out of a bout of unconsciousness. Galbatorix and Alexus were stood on the floor shouting at each other. Murtagh tried to listen in but could only here a few words from Galbatorix and Alexus. "I thought I explained … you were to torture … why would I want to kill … get him … look at him … like my son … see him like this," Galbatorix shouted. Murtagh could hear even less of Alexus' response as he was drifting into unconsciousness.
"I didn't … going to … not dead … I was never … that long … gave him water," Alexus complained. Galbatorix sent to guards to lower the cage. The jerky movement caused Murtagh to throw up the remains of what was left in his stomach. He drifted off into unconsciousness as the cage was opened. The last thing he heard was "If he is dead, you will be soon!"
When Murtagh finally woke up, he was in his original cell chained to the table. He felt surprisingly well compared to his spell in the cage. He was still burned and bruised all over but he felt better, fuller and wasn't dehydrated any more. He thought back to his time in the cage and laughed at Galbatorix's last comment. He wished he had seen Alexus' face after that comment. It was a few hours before Alexus returned to his cell. "I am not finished with you yet. I will not stop until you swear the oath," Alexus hissed at Murtagh. A guard walked out from behind Murtagh and injected something into his arm. Within minutes Murtagh was unconscious and would be for a day at least. Murtagh woke up in the afternoon of the next day. When he opened his eyes, the world spun around again and everything was fuzzy as his senses returned. When he returned to normal he was tied to a chair on the bank of the lake behind the castle. There was a guard on either side of the chair obviously waiting for him to wake up. When they realised he was awake and aware of his surroundings, one of the guards left and the other gave him a drink and hand fed him some soup like liquid. It would be a push to call it soup but Murtagh was too hungry to care. Before long, Alexus turned up and sat down on a throne like chair on a platform near where Murtagh was tied. "Seen as though the cage method didn't work, I've had to think of some other way to torture you into submission. I have had some trouble working out something as I am not allowed to kill you," Alexus grumbled and then began manically laughing. "So to begin with, will you swear the oath to follow Galbatorix?" Alexus asked. Murtagh shook his head and braced himself. The chair rose up to about 2 metres high and swung precariously backwards and forwards. It swung over the lake and stopped. Even though the movement of the arm had stopped the chair was still swinging violently. "Will you swear?" shouted Alexus. Murtagh shook his head again. The chair plummeted into the lake and the last thing her heard before shooting into the ice depths was Alexus' insane laughter.
He hurriedly gasped a last mouthful of air before splashing into the icy water. The chair continued sinking but after only a few feet he came to a sudden stop, jarring his bones. He tried to get out of the chair but the straps round his wrists were too tight to break off. He began to run out of air and his futile attempts at freeing himself became weaker and weaker as he felt the last of the precious air filter through his lips, the chair was yanked out of the water and Murtagh immediately gasped for air. While he was hurriedly gasping, in what he presumed to be a brief interlude, Alexus shouted up to Murtagh. "Ready to submit yet?" he laughed. Murtagh shook his head and gasped expecting another dunking. He was right. The water shocked him as the coldness returned and he almost let go of the lifesaving air before sense was knocked into him. He tried again on the straps and found his attempts useless again. Then it came to him. If he pretended to be dying then Alexus would stop for fear of Galbatorix. Some that's what he did. He breathed out most of his stored air and closed his eyes waiting. It wasn't long before Alexus jerked the chair out of the water and shouted at Murtagh. "Wake up, boy! I know you are just pretending, to get out of this. Wake up!" He yelled, insanely laughing at random points. Murtagh kept his eyes shut and he body limp. They lowered the chair down and set it gently on the floor. Murtagh forced himself to stay still so the only movement was his chest slowly rising and falling to the rate of his shallow breathing. Alexus stormed over to the chair and smacked Murtagh across the face. It took all his self-control to go limp and not respond. Alexus continued to beat Murtagh with his bare fists, brutally battering him laughing for him the wake up. Staying limp was becoming more natural than forced, the more Alexus hit him. On one very violent punch, Murtagh's eyes snapped open and he struggled to get away from Alexus. Murtagh's defiance had sent him insane and he was taking it out on Murtagh. He tried to get out of the chair to get away from his insane attacker but the straps were still holding tight. And then he realised, the straps were leather not metal. He frantically looked around and spotted a small knife on Alexus' belt. While Alexus was in his mad rage, Murtagh slid the knife out of his belt and slid it up his tattered sleeve. Alexus' rage slowly died down and his blows weakened. Suddenly he stopped punching and straightened up. "If you will not swear then we will resume tomorrow," All but one of the guards and Alexus left him by the lake. As soon as they were alone Murtagh began to quietly saw away at the tie round his left wrist. It took until the early hours of the morning to saw through the tie. One he had done, he set off frantically on the other tie. That one was a lot quicker to cut through and he was done within an hour. The foot straps were even quicker and he was done pretty fast. The guard stood up as he was on the last strap to see what was happening. He shouted and ran back to the castle yelling for help. Murtagh hurried through the last one and just as he had finished he heard footsteps running towards him. He jumped out of the chair, put the knife in his belt and turned around. There were loads of guards sprinting towards him with Alexus and the head. He was shouting, screaming even and hastened his pace as Murtagh walked away from the chair. Murtagh dived into the lake and swum as hard as he could under the water, for as long as he could. As he resurfaced a fair way away from the bank and turned to see a group of guards dive into the water after him. He took one last look at the castle and swum as hard as he could away from it.
