Freoh struggled against the leather bands that bound his wrists, trying to ignore the pounding in his head and throbbing in his chest where he was sure a rib was broken. He tried to curse through the gag that had been stuffed in his mouth. His green eyes were wide and pained and wet with tears that he hadn't allowed himself to cry. He felt pathetic, tied up and vulnerable like a dog on a chain. He had rubbed his wrists raw from kicking and tugging and thrashing about so much.
He heard the stairs to the room he was being kept in creak with the approaching of someone. The hair on the back of his neck stood up angrily.
The door he was tied to face opened with a squeak. It was an old, rickety door on an even older, ricketier frame and hinges. A figure came through it, leading a huge, coarsely furred dog. The creature pricked its ears at Freoh, then snarled.
"Hush," the figure commanded it. It listened, quieting. The person wore a heavy cloak that concealed everything, but the voice was male – strong and young and dangerous sounding. He motioned to the dog at Freoh, and the animal moved towards him. It sniffed the prostrate boy, nosing his face, his stomach, the blood on his wrists, getting the full scent of him.
The figure kneeled beside Freoh then, pushing the dog out of the way. It slunk to a corner and curled up.
Freoh struggled again, trying to wiggle free. He couldn't help but think of Eth – poor Eth, she wouldn't know where he was. All of her daily rituals would be thrown off, all of the things she counted on would be confused and scattered and strained. He glared at the man in the room, wishing he could hate like Eth.
The hood slipped from the man's face, revealing a pair of blue eyes staring out from pale skin beneath silvery hair that hung to a pair of narrow, almost girlish shoulders. The eyes widened slightly, and a pair of thin, fair lips parted in surprise.
The boy in front of Freoh couldn't have been much different from Freoh's own age, but his features looked almost womanishly fair. He was beautiful, from the exotic silvery hair like moonlight on water, to the ocean blue eyes with feminine, curling lashes.
Almost as soon as it had fallen, he pulled the hood back up, grasped the dog, and left the room, closing the door with another loud squeak.
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
Luné was awoken by screaming outside her window. She got out of bed hurriedly, not bothering to throw a dress over her linen shift. After glancing at herself in the mirror, she ran from the room barefoot. The screaming continued.
She met Leon in the hall. He glanced at her as they ran.
"What's going on?" she gasped, taking the steps down to the courtyard two by two.
Leon shook his head, not knowing.
When they reached the source of the screams, both met a sight they hadn't expected. Eth stood, stricken, against the wall, screaming as tears ran down her face. She was bleeding from a scratch on her face, and several on her hands. A large dog lay at her feet.
Leon darted to her side. He clasped her shoulders tightly, drawing her to his chest. She didn't protest, sobbing into the old stained tunic he wore to bed. Luné knelt beside the dog.
She touched its chest, felt nothing, and put her hand by its nose. There was no breath in it. The girl pursed her lips.
"I didn't mean to!" Eth was crying. "I didn't! It was an accident!" Her little face was red from screaming, and her thin, frail body shivered and shook violently. "It was my eyes," she sobbed. "They did it. It is their fault, I promise."
"Hush," Leon soothed gently. He touched her face, then rubbed his hands across her small back. "It's alright. Don't wake up Rune and Eragon, then we'll catch it. It's okay."
"This isn't one of our dogs," Luné said, looking up at Leon. "It's too big. This type of dog is bred for fighting. We don't keep them." She fingered the rope around its neck, then untied it. A scrap of paper was curled around the rope.
"What's going on here?"
All three turned, startled, like children caught at something naughty. Ieran was watching them through his wine colored eyes, looking somewhat worried and quite disapproving.
Eth ran to him, throwing her arms around his waist. "My eyes did it again," she blubbered. She continued to cry.
Luné slipped the paper subtly into her sleeve, before standing up in one motion.
"The dog is dead," she confirmed. Her straight golden hair fell in front of her eyes for a moment, and she tucked it behind an ear. "It's not Eth's fault – it isn't our dog. A violent stray, or something." She glanced at Leon, and her twin nodded. He too had noticed the paper.
Ieran pulled Eth away from him and held her at arm's length.
"Let us go inside," he urged quietly. "Things will be alright. Leon, will you take care of the animal?"
oooooooooooooooooooooo
Ieran sat on Eth's bed, watching the child sleep. She moaned and muttered, caught in a bad dream. Her brow was wet and fitful.
"Eth?" he whispered, seeing if he might rouse her. He set a large hand on her shoulder.
The child whimpered as she awoke, opening her eyes and catching sight of Ieran there.
"Ieran?" she mewed. "I had a bad dream. Thank you." She sat up, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders. She blinked up at him, a small frown creasing her features.
Ieran was silent. He sighed, as if regretfully, and drew a hand over his face sorrowfully.
"You…" Eth looked down, at her hands. "You did not come tonight to wake me up from a nightmare, did you?"
Ieran glanced at her, then away. His eyes had a sad sort of glaze over them. "No, Eth."
Eth's eyes widened slightly. She tugged on his hand. "Ieran, why can't you look at me? Why won't you meet my eyes?"
Ieran glanced at her, his eyes meeting hers for a moment, before darting away. He was shamefaced. He could not make himself meet her eyes for more than an instant. There was fear in him, and Eth could tell. She swallowed, feeling her throat get tight and itchy, like she was going to cry.
"Ieran, what is going on?"
The man stood up, and sighed. "Eth, it is time that something is done about your…wayward gift."
Eth's lips parted a bit, then she closed them into a tight line. "I…"
"Come with me."
It was not a request, and Eth was too shocked and hurt to disobey.
Leaving the blanket around her shoulders behind, she followed Ieran out of the room. Luné had not gone to bed yet, and it was just the two of them in sight. The halls were quiet, echoing only with the sound of Ieran's boots and the patter of Eth's bare feet. Normally Eth would have reached for Ieran's hand, but now she did not.
It shocked her that Ieran could act this way. He was her rock, her steady, strong, father figure who had always been there and always would be. And now he could not even meet her eyes. He was afraid of her.
It made her want to cry, and scream, and throw a fit like she had when she was little, but she was too shocked to do anything but follow silently. Her eyes were glassy and dead, and she felt cold.
She followed Ieran through the familiar halls as if she was a stranger to them. Nothing seemed to matter. Freoh was gone, and now Ieran was lost to her. The only people who had ever really cared for her…
Eth was working up the courage to speak, when Ieran stopped in front of a door. It was the door to the library, one of Eth's very favorite places. He opened it quietly, directed her in, and then entered and closed it behind him.
Eth shivered with fear and cold and confusion.
"You are willing to do anything, aren't you?" Ieran asked, softly.
"For you," Eth answered, "I am. Why can't you look at me? Do you think you will die too, like the man and the dog?" The words came out a little bit like a hiss. "Do you think I will kill you, Ieran?"
"You cannot control what you do," he said, seemingly ashamed.
Eth tightened her hands into fists. Her eyes burned a little.
Her heart stopped beating for a moment.
I am doing it again, she thought, startled and frightened. She was hating. The fear that wrapped around her heart made all the hate vanish. "Anything," she said, quickly. "Anything at all. Just do it fast, Ieran." She closed her eyes tightly. "Do it before I hate someone else."
"Anything?"
Eth nodded, keeping her eyes closed. "Anything. Even a scary thing. Is it a scary thing?"
"Only if you are terribly frightened of the dark. You aren't frightened of the dark, are you?"
Eth shook her head.
With her eyes closed, she couldn't tell what it was that Ieran did next. She only felt the warmth of his hands on her face, felt his hands sliding something over her head, and adjusting it.
When she opened her eyes, all there was was blackness.
"I can't see anything," she said, quietly.
"If you cannot see, your eyes cannot hate," Ieran returned. He touched her shoulder, and she flinched, because she had not known he was going to.
"I suppose." The blindfold was silky and comfortable, but still it was unfamiliar, and she wanted it off. "Do I have to keep it on all the time, then?"
"I will not order you to," Ieran spoke softly in her ear. "But I believe it would be best."
"How am I to do things?" she asked, "If I cannot see what I am doing?"
Ieran waited a moment before responding. To eyes that had nothing else to keep them occupied, the moment felt like an eternity. "There are plenty of people in the kingdom who are sightless," he said. "They can do things."
"But I am not sightless," Eth said, somewhat pleadingly. "I have never done things like this before."
"Could you not turn it into one of your games?"
Eth blinked, but he could not see it. She thought about it for a moment, trying to quell the fear in her chest. Then she nodded. "I suppose," she said. "I suppose I could, if I had to. But…it is not for forever, is it?"
Ieran shook his head, realized that she could not see him, and then answered, "No." He paused. "With any luck, it is not for forever."
Eth smiled. "Then I think I could bear it, being sightless. If it was not, indeed, for forever. Because the thought of never seeing Freoh's face again is simply far too much to bear. I think I would die."
"I would not want that."
"I will try, Ieran," Eth said. "It will not be easy, but I will try."
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
Luné sat on her bed, finishing the last seam of the dress she had been working on. She held it up to inspect it, squinting, before glancing at the girl who sat on the bed across the room.
Eth had the Shadow Ballad music box open, and was listening to it play over and over again. Luné pitied the girl – stuck alone in darkness, all of a sudden. She searched her mind for something to say.
"What is it like?" she asked, finally.
Eth's face moved her way, the equivalent of looking at her. She pondered it for a moment. "I don't really know," she said finally. "I haven't decided yet."
"Oh."
The silence settled over the two sisters like a blanket. Luné bit her lip, unsure how to go on. Eth was such a mystery to her. She had no idea what went on in that head of hers. Sometimes she wished Shadow hadn't have died – even though her mother would probably be married to him, rather than with Eragon. Rune used to tell her how Súndavar had been especially fond of her over Leon.
"So did you find Freoh?" she asked finally, although she knew the answer. No one had seen Freoh at all. And there was the little matter of the…
Eth shook her head. She closed the music box in her lap, and there was silence. She pursed her lips a little bit, before beginning to hum.
"I can't stand silence," she told Luné, pausing in her humming. "It feels very alone, when there is no sound and no light. Like I'm the only person in the world."
"I suppose it would be like, if there wasn't anything to see and keep your mind busy," Luné speculated.
"But it's different," Eth murmured. "It's like…" she sighed, then shrugged. "I don't know."
"You're so strange," Luné said fondly. "I never understand you."
"I…don't understand you either," Eth admitted.
Luné blinked. That was surprising…she couldn't see anything about her that was particularly mysterious or puzzling. "What about me?"
Eth shrugged her thin shoulders for what seemed like the tenth time. "I don't know. Mostly just…you don't care about things that matter any more."
"I care about things that matter!" Luné cried. Eth flinched at her tone. She adjusted it before speaking. "I care about Alagäesia, and the people. Those things matter."
"But you don't talk about them," Eth said. "You talk about the castle squires, and about clothes."
Luné said nothing.
"And…I suppose I cannot understand why you care so very much for Freoh when he thinks nothing of you."
The words stung, a bit, to Luné, but they hadn't been spoken in malice. Eth had simply stated the truth. But it had never been told so plainly to Luné's face.
"Does he really hate me?" she asked. Her voice wavered a tiny bit.
Eth shook her head, laughing. "No," she said simply. "Hate would be…hate would mean he felt something for you. He doesn't. There is just…nothing."
Luné bit her lip. She was glad Eth couldn't see the tears that were beginning to well in her eyes.
She was trying to find something to say in reply, when she realized Eth wasn't done yet. "Sometimes I think he might," she said. "Feel something for you, that is. But it's just…sadness." She rubbed one of her eyes through the blindfold. "Sometimes he will look at you, and look…disappointed, maybe. That you've become such a twit."
"He called me that?"
Eth pursed her lips, but said nothing. There was a moment of silence, before Eth sat up and folded her legs beneath her. "You sound all chokey," she said. "I'm sorry if I've upset you."
Luné shook her head. "No," she said. It was certainly going to take some getting used to – not being able to nod and smile and wink to get her point across.
There was a light knock at the door, and Eth turned to the sound. "Is that the door?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Come in!" Eth called.
The door opened, and Leon poked his head through. He met Luné's eyes, and she read the meaning.
"It's Leon, Eth," Leon said.
Eth nodded. "Hello."
Lune stared intently at Eth, willing her to understand. "Eth…we have something to show you."
Luné took the slip of paper off the vanity, putting it in Eth's hands. The girl felt it in confusion.
Luné took it back then, and read it aloud. She didn't need to, however – she had it memorized.
"Midnight. Fairway Tavern. Freoh."
