Chapter 4
Its Good To Be The King
Galbatorix sat in his throne room bored. His throne was built out of black marble. It was supported by dragon claws. The high back was the tallest thing in the room. The king sat on his throne thinking of what to do. He had just finished torturing Murtagh and Thorn for a while, but he could not do that for much longer because of Thorns injury. It would take time for him to get used to the new length on his tail and the only way he will be able to fly is if he is not in too much pain. Galbatorix needed Thorn as much as he hated to admit it, and he never did. He looked around the room. The room was much like his throne. Black, intimidating, and with many of his trophies which he had collected over the years, wether they be rider swords, skulls of his enemies, or other trinkets. There were various guards and servants stationed around the room doing this and that. All had one eye watching the king when they thought he wasn't looking at them. Their reason for this is they had noticed that the king was looking for something to do. He had a notorious reputation for taking out his boredom on the people around him. In most instances it involved a long and painful death. If the victim was lucky something of importance came up to save the persons life, or end it quickly, either way was a blessing. The king decided, like so many times before, to check on his personal stash of eldunari and the green egg. As he came to this decision the people in the room almost gave an audible sigh of relief, for one of them would not of lasted much longer.
The king then stood up and went on his way as he had so many times before. While he went down the numerous dark hallways. They all looked the same and if anyone even dared to try to steal this egg or his eldunari they would get lost in all the different hallways that all looked the same. The only people who knew the way was Galbatorix, of course, Durza, who was dead, and Murtagh. Murtagh... What a disgrace to his father. Morzan was my most trusted servant. In some instances he exceeded even myself in going out of his way to cause pain. Sometimes Morzan even surprised me with gifts of subjects to torture. Morzan did not try to weasel his way out of his oaths like Murtagh does. That boy has caused me nothing but trouble since he got to touch the remaining eggs. I still can't believe that a dragon hatched for a weakling like him. Murtagh is yet another example of why the dragon riders were corrupted and acts like the ones who denied me a second egg.
After that last train of thought Galbatorix found himself outside the door to his room of treasures and power. He said, "I am king of the empire" in the ancient language in order to make sure that the countless wards covering the door did not kill him. The only other person with access to this room is Murtagh and he would never betray me again. The last time he tried to escape I spent a week making sure he wouldn't think to do it again. Now that I think of it, I am surprised that he survived that week. Anyway it looks like all the Eldunari are here where I left them in mounds all over the room and there is the egg in the center of the room on a pedestal on top of the cushion. After assuring himself that everything was where it was supposed to be he closed the door and went to his meeting with the generals that were still in the city. Winding his way back to his throne room with a smile on his face as he reminisced the pain he had caused Murtagh and Thorn a few hours ago.
Back in his throne room he made his way back to his throne, not even caring to look at the people that have gathered and waited impatiently for his return. There were five generals standing in front of his throne. He had not cared enough about them to learn their names, for they were some of the few that served him willingly and believed the lies that he gave out on a daily basis. When Galbatorix needed to talk with them he just pointed and either asked a question or gave an order.
Galbatorix asked them what they needed to report.
The general on the Galbatorix's far left spoke. "Feinster has fallen a few days ago. Judging by the rebels' course they will head to Belatona then north to Dras Leona."
Galbatorix asked the general, "How many soldiers are in Belatona right now?"
The general responded, "I don't believe that we have enough soldiers there to withstand the rebels and that cursed blue dragon. There are 4,000 soldiers total and a quarter of them are soldiers without pain."
To this Galbatorix smiled. "Leave them there. Send everyone else to Dras Leona and here. I want to have one third of the remaining forces to Dras Leona and the rest I want here to defend the capital, should by some miracle they make it past Dras Leona. Everyone is dismissed."
The rest of the generals were not worried at all that they did not get to speak, for it was one less way that they could die at the kings hand by saying something wrong. The five generals left the throne room with haste. The king was back on his throne with nothing to do. He quickly chose one of the servants that he thought looked to be doing a half hearted job and started to torture him. The man screamed out and Galbatorix chuckled. The other servants and guards in the room were trying their best not to look at the man who was having every bone in his body broken with an audible snap throughout the room. The others knew better than to stop working and watch, or get the crazy notion that they were going to try to help or comfort the current victim of Galbatorix's boredom. It had not taken many multiple deaths and tortures for the entire castle to figure that out. The only reason people even worked in the castle was that it was one of the only ways to get a job in the city. Outside the castle in the city living conditions were terrible. Only the nobles and the king lived in comfort inside Uru'Baen.
Before the king retired for the day he extended his consciousness towards his treasure room to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be. Satisfied he drifted off to sleep.