Sorry about the wait for this chapter! I know that was a...less than happy note to end a chapter on last time. Sorry, y'all, I feel really mean! On that note, this will probably be my last update until early summer, since I have a lot of real-world stuff to do and really should have been working on that instead of writing this chapter. That being said, any feedback, constructive criticism or suggestions are greatly appreciated! And again, thanks to Restrained Freedom for your kind reviews, and sorry that last chapter was so rough! You'll just have to keep reading to see what happens next!

Chapter 7

When Corliss opened her eyes, it was pitch black.

She blinked a few times, her eyes slowly noticing a weak ray of light in the room. It was trickling from a high barred window on her right, illuminating nothing but the thin, scratchy mat she was laying on. "Where am I?" she muttered out loud, her voice sounding loud and unnatural in the thick, dark air. "Where is…"

Suddenly her memories came rushing back to her—walking through the hills with a metallic dragon on her shoulder, seeing the flickering lights of Bullridge, soldiers pouring onto the street, a flash of copper wings, clanging swords, Setta roaring, an explosion of pain—

"SETTA!"

Corliss leapt to her feet, blood turning cold. "Setta, where are you? Setta!" She stumbled through the dim light until she reached a heavy iron door. She pounded on it viciously.

"Let me out!" Corliss roared, attacking the door with her heavy fists. It didn't budge. She rammed it with her broad shoulders, yelling through the dim little window in the door.

It was too high for her to see through, though doubtless a tall human would be able to peer through the bars easily. Not for the first time, she cursed her height, letting a stream of dwarvish curses echo through the cell.

She continued to pound on the door until her hands were numb.

Stop it, Corliss. Stop and think.

Forcing herself to back away from the door and take deep breaths, Corliss sat back down on her mat. Analyze the situation. You can't just punch your problems until they go away…

What was her situation, then? She was obviously in Uru'baen, most likely in the king's castle—there were no other high-security prisons in the area, and after all, it only made sense he would want to keep her here once he'd caught her. What else? Come on, think. It was daytime, that much was obvious from the weak light streaming in from the high window. Probably dusk or dawn, though, judging by its orangey quality.

More importantly, there were wards around the door, window, and walls of her cell—faintly visible to her trained eyes—preventing escape by both magical and physical means. She blushed faintly—pounding at the door like that had been a complete waste of time.

She couldn't perform magic either, Corliss noticed after a moment of concentration. The Ancient Language still came to mind, but she couldn't give the words any power…probably due to a drug or spell she'd been given while unconscious. Great.

So then: how to get out? How to get to Setta? Where would a dragon be kept in a prison, anyway? She was small enough to be kept in a cell like Corliss's, after all, so perhaps she wasn't too far away. And hopefully her injuries had been attended to, the girl thought desperately. Surely the king wouldn't just leave a hatchling to suffer or die in a cell, surely…he would want Setta alive, after all.

Corliss hugged her knees to her chest, shaking. Setta, where are you?

The separation was already making her head pound, as though parts of her mental barrier had fallen down and her thoughts were echoing around the vast emptiness of her skull, no longer able to make the journey to Setta's mind. But maybe…a dark, cruel thought slithered into her brain. Maybe it feels that painful, that empty, because the connection has already been lost permanently…maybe it's because Setta's already d-

"No!" Corliss leapt to her feet, determined to push the thoughts away. There was only one thing to do. If she couldn't escape from her cell, then she would get answers to her questions. She would find out just what she was dealing with!

The girl marched up to the heavy door and began to pound on it again, harder than ever. "Hey! Let me out! Guards! I know you can hear me! Hey! Get over here and tell me what's going on!" With each word her fists slammed into the door, and she could hear the sounds of it echoing down the hall.

Anger building, she kept shouting: "You heard me, get over here and let me out, you pathetic weaklings, you cowards, barzuln jok!" Her words started to slip into Dwarvish, as they always did when she was furious: "Menotho, clan-less sheilven, let me out! Jok menknurlan, jok Helzvog-garzul, Morgothal-forsaken sons of—"

She barely had any warning before the cell door burst open.

Corliss scrambled back from the door, heart still pounding from her outburst, as a tall, red-clad figure strode into her cell.

They stared at one another for a moment, Corliss's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"You're Murtagh," she said accusingly.

"You're the new rider? The egg thief?" he said after a moment of shock, doubt obvious in his voice. He was looking at her in confusion, eyebrows slightly raised.

Oh, Corliss had received that look before. She jutted her chin out defiantly and held up her silver-marked palm as proof. "Did you expect someone taller?" she snapped.

The flash of guilt in Murtagh's gray eyes told her that yes, he had. "For how loudly you were shouting, I admit I was," he said finally. "What were you thinking, provoking the guards like that? I had to stop them from barging into your cell to 'teach you proper manners,' as they put it."

"I could have handled them," Corliss said impatiently. "Besides, they clearly didn't understand half of what I was saying, or they really would have barged in here. But what are you doing here?"

Murtagh sighed, and there was an air of reluctance in his voice. "Now that the guards know you're awake, you're to be taken to see the king."

Galbatorix. Corliss shuddered involuntarily, then took a deep breath. Squaring her shoulders, she met Murtagh's eyes. "Good," the girl said with forced bravado. "Maybe he can answer some of my questions."

Murtagh's eyebrows shot up even further at her response. "You don't know much about the king, do you?"

"Enough to know that if he wants to question me or torture me, there's not much I can do about it," she retorted. Might as well put on a brave face while you can, she thought, though her blood felt like ice in her veins. "Besides, now I can find out what he's done with my dragon."

"What?" Murtagh exclaimed, taking a step back.

"My dragon," Corliss looked up at him in confusion. "Has she been imprisoned, or is he keeping her-"

"You mean you don't know where she is?"

"Of course not! I got knocked out, all I remember is fighting with the soldiers in Bullridge! I…wait, are you telling me the king doesn't know where she is either?"

"I think he was hoping you would provide him with that information…" his look was almost sympathetic now. "He won't like hearing that."

"So she got away?" Corliss breathed, her heart lightening so dramatically that her head started to spin. She sat down on her mat in the corner, letting out a shaky laugh. "She got away…" She resisted the urge to get up and hug the red rider. Setta got away!

"We need to go," Murtagh said hurriedly, pressing a hand to his forehead. "The king wants to see you as quickly as possible."

Had the king been speaking to Murtagh mentally? Corliss got up, still in a bit of a daze. Setta got away! Somehow, somehow she managed to avoid the Empire… "Fine." She wouldn't be sorry to leave her cell behind, at least for a while. Unless…the dark, slithering voice crept back into her thoughts. Unless they can't find her because she was hurt too badly at Bullridge…Corliss's breathing hitched. And they can't find her because there's nothing left to find, because she's d-

"No!" Corliss hissed to herself, stomping out the thought with all her might, as Murtagh raised an eyebrow at her. "Let's just go," she said. "We wouldn't want to make the king angry, would we?"

"Of course not," the red rider replied evenly.

They exited the dusty cell, Murtagh leading the way down the dark corridor. He hadn't put a new spell on her, and her hands weren't cuffed or tied, but Corliss knew, as well as Murtagh did, that she wouldn't be able to escape if she tried. She'd been lucky enough to have escaped from under the king's nose once; she doubted she would manage it again. Shaking involuntarily, she forced herself to match Murtagh's brisk pace through the halls of the castle, hoping that wherever Setta was, she was safe, free, and flying as fast as her wings could take her in the opposite direction of the Empire.

Don't forget to review! I'm trying to make my chapters longer now, but I wanted y'all to have an update since you had to deal with last chapter's ending...so let me know what you think!