Eragon was brought into the chamber outside his cell. The room as was grey and depressing as the metal table in front of him that was scratched and dented as if the table itself had suffered years of torture. To the right hand side of the table was a cage which also had chains in it seemingly for a relative or friend to watch. It looked strangely familiar to Eragon. Luckily, none of the Varden other than Lady Nasuada had been caught, but she was not there. Rumour had it that the Varden had fled to Ellesméra with the elves and gone into hiding, Saphira along with them, or at least that's what the twins had said. But they could have lied. To the left of him were shelved with various plants and chemicals stuffed into jars and pots. Underneath the shelves were cabinets filled to the brim with different tools, each one different to ensure it would cause more pain than the last.
Eragon composed his face into a hard cold mask so he didn't show the fear he felt inside. Inside he was screaming and fighting the urge to make a run for it, there was no point to this of course, he was in Urû'baen now. He wouldn't make it as far as the Ramr River without getting caught, that's if he managed to get out of the castle filled with guards, not to mention the king himself who was somewhere in the building. There was no way he could get out of this one. Not even if someone came to rescue him this very moment. I'll have to wait for the right moment he thought I'll act all nice and polite and go along with it, then the first chance I get, I'll escape.
"Before I start, I would like to introduce myself" She smiled sweetly "My name is Kyra and I will be your torturer today"
"Nice to meet you" Eragon replied offering her his hand. He was glad that both his voice and his hand did not shake. She took his hand and shook it looking strangely at him. Her hand was cold and surprisingly strong. It made Eragon feel weak knowing she could shatter his hand in seconds.
"I'm Drake" interrupted her brother and offered Eragon his hand. He was about to shake it when he thought of a better idea.
"Pleasure" He smiled and bowed slightly. At this the twins looked at each other than back at Eragon eying him suspiciously. There was a long pause, then Drake left the room shutting the door with a loud clang.
"Shall we get started then?" asked Kyra
Eragon shrugged and went towards the table and sat on the edge of it then asked "Which way would you like me to face?" he said as cheerfully as possible.
"On your front" she replied "and you'd better take your shirt of first" she said and turned her back on him. Eragon did as he was told, but watched her carefully. She was looking among the jars for something, but for what, Eragon could not tell. Finally a jar floated down from the shelf and landed carefully in her hand. She can use magic Eragon thought with surprised. Kyra returned with the jar in one hand and a paintbrush in the other and placed them on a smaller table near Eragon's head.
"Now" she asked herself aloud "what should I draw?" she continued thinking whilst locking and tightening the chains around Eragon's wrists and ankles. She pulled them tighter than they needed to be so that it rubbed against Eragon's skin uncomfortably. "I know, I'll draw you a new dragon to keep you company" she smiled to herself. She opened the jar to reveal a clear liquid. At first Eragon thought it was just water, but as she turned the jar around, he read the label that clearly read acid. Eragon suppressed a shudder and couldn't resist pulling on the chains slightly. He knew as soon as he did that they would hold.
Kyra, jumped up onto the table, and sat down on his lower back. She ran her cold hands up and down his spine until she felt him shiver with unease. She took the paintbrush and dipped it in the acid.
"Don't move around too much or you'll mess up my picture" she said in her sickly sweet voice which covered the hidden threat which made Eragon know did not want to find out what happened if her picture was messed up. He held his breath as she lowered the brush. It made contact. His skin tingled and burned furiously as the acid nibbled away at his flesh. He clenched his fists as it burned deeper and deeper into his body. Finally it stopped and left him with an itching sensation where the acid had burned him. "That wasn't so bad now was it?" Kyra stated smugly "But I'll assure you it will get a lot worse" she growled quietly as she lowered the brush again.
At first it wasn't so bad. But once she had painted, what Eragon assumed to be the outline of the so called dragon, she layered strokes on top of each other making deeper burns until every stroke was a brush of agony. Still Eragon refused to give in. He didn't scream once, or cry out for it to stop. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction. Instead he clenched his teeth together and dug his nails into his palm to ensure not the slightest sound left his lip. The agony went on for what seemed like hours, and when it was over Eragon was covered in sweat and had warm blood trickling down his back, his jaw aching profoundly.
"All done now" smiled Kyra cheerfully "This is one of the best dragons I've painted"
She clambered off Eragon pressing her hands painfully on his back and disappeared for a moment. When she returned she was holding a mirror which leant against the wall. She then released the chains binding Eragon and led him to the mirror by his hand.
"What do you think?" she asked
Eragon turned and stood there in horror. There on his back was a dragon burned into his flesh. The dragon's snout reached his right shoulder with the curled tail ending at his left hip. Its body curved in an S shape from its head to tail with one wings open on the left side of his back and the other partially open over the body. The dragon was young, almost a hatchling which shifted as if alive with Eragon's own movements. It was also shaded with accordance with how deep the burns were. The deeper areas were darker with crimson blood used for the outline and other more specific details and almost pink areas were used for the underdeveloped spikes on the hatchings head. As Eragon stared, the blood dripped further and further down his body and he knew he would be scarred for life.
