Refer to the last chapter to catch up. Brace yourself, it's a long one.
Kai ground her teeth in anger and turned around abruptly to face the left over image of the Rider and rope bound Nasuada. The image rippled before quickly vanishing under her angry glare as her magic flared in response to her emotions. Kai's hands were killing her, Nasuada had been successfully kidnapped, and Suoh was no longer answering her. Her anger never subsided into worry when Suoh didn't answer because Kai could still feel him behind her mind silently comforting her, but refusing to say a word as the distance between them grew larger. Kai was forced to calm down when she gasped in pain from her hands; a jolt had jumped up her arms crackling in her muscles and then recoiled back into her wrists. Her condition was steadily getting worse.
Kai's arms involuntarily twitched painfully in remembrance of the electric jolt. What was this magic the King had created just for her? Would Kai be able to reverse the effects and get the use of her hands back? Was this permanent? She fiercely frowned at her limp hands worried of what would become of them. She was slowly becoming useless. What would anyone want of her is she was utterly useless?
"Kai!"
She turned at the sound of her name and faced the breathless Eragon standing in the door frame. She needn't say a word to the Rider for he knew what happened just by noting the absence of their Varden leader and Kai's abandoned sword lying near his feet. Eragon frowned deeper when he noticed Kai was upset. He shouldn't have depended on Kai so much when he knew she was injured. He should have arrived quicker to help. He should have dealt with the possessed night guard faster. He should have done many more things than he had, but Nasuada was gone and Kai's hands were limp time bombs waiting for the chance to completely kill the nerves under her skin. Worst of all in the mixed up priorities of Eragon's mind was the fact that he wasn't sure if he could heal Kai this time. The fact that Kai's health took precedence over the missing leader of the rebel forces worried Eragon very much. He had promised his life to Nasuada, he had no right to worry about another woman.
"Let me see them." He said rather than mention anything about what happened. Eragon was surprised to see apprehension in Kai's eyes. Maybe she was afraid he wouldn't be able to help either. She took a calculated step forward and then two more when her feet felt steadier. The pain was distracting her even from walking properly. Kai slowly raised her hands palms down with her fingers dangling useless for Eragon to see. Eragon took both of her hands as gently as he could, but when he looked at her face she was biting the corner of her lip trying to stay silent. "Sorry," He mumbled automatically and tried to be more delicate. He examined with quick eyes and released tentative amounts of magic with hushed words to test the extent of Kai's injuries. The simple healing words Eragon used for every other injury he'd encountered did little to nothing to ease Kai's pain.
"He told me the King created this just for me." Kai said quietly. It was difficult to focus on speaking with her mind consumed by the foreign pain. All of her other senses were slowly being blocked out from the pain in her hands. It was at this moment that Kai came to fully believe how terrible of a man the King was.
"He..? –oh." Eragon said glancing up from her hands. He had barely been listening as the task of healing her injuries was looking more and more difficult by the moment. Eragon hadn't noticed how frail Kai was without a sword in her hand until this moment. An odd kind of strength usually took over her when she was in battle, but now he couldn't even properly imagine her in any kind of fight. She was completely transformed into someone he couldn't recognize. "How does he know you well enough to create this spell that only attacks you?" Eragon asked after reciting a stronger spell. "I can't heal it nor take it upon myself." Kai viciously dragged her hands away cutting off a hiss of pain but still glaring at Eragon. She had not liked the words Eragon has spoken at all. For that moment of anger, Eragon saw the Kai he knew.
"You can try all you like to heal this monstrosity, but I won't see you take the curse onto yourself." Kai said firmly despite her fragile state. Eragon stared for a few seconds shocked by her determined tone, but he ended up nodding numbly in the end unable to speak a word against her. He hadn't predicted that she would be so opposed to allowing him to ease some of her pain. This 'curse', as she had called it, must've been unbearable. "And I don't know how he trained this curse solely onto me." Kai added looking away from Eragon. He would have to say she sounded a bit bitter. "I wouldn't wish this upon even my greatest enemy." Kai mumbled.
"Unfortunately, the King doesn't think as you do." Eragon said just as quietly. Eragon frowned reaching down and gently taking her hands back into his. He would have to take a different approach. Kai gave him a look. "I won't try to transfer the curse without your permission." Eragon swore trying to pacify her. "Promise." He added in the ancient language. He knew Kai was unfamiliar with the language but she noticed the significance of his usage and nodded accordingly.
"What will we say when everyone wakes up?" Kai asked closing her eyes momentarily as her hands pulsed. "What are we going to do?" Eragon was positive he didn't like the tone of voice she'd used. It wasn't like Kai to speak frailly. She couldn't help it either. Kai couldn't think deeply on anything at the moment. All she could manage was a constant observation of her current surroundings, nothing deeper.
"Just tell the truth." Eragon said simply. "This was obviously a planned attack, and we had no prior knowledge to properly counter the attack." He shrugged blowing on her hands as he whispered something else. Her fingers twitched and both of them peered intently at her hands. That was the first they'd moved since Eragon had started observing her hands.
"What did you do?" Kai asked curiously. "You got my fingers to move, and it wasn't unbearably painful." She said looking Eragon in the eye hopefully. Eragon frowned looking back at her hands unable to think properly and look at her face at the same time. Why did she have to have this odd effect on him and at such a time as well?
"I'm not sure." He said quietly. "At first I tried to reduce the magic that holds your hands, but that did nothing…" Kai stayed obediently quiet to allow Eragon to think uninterrupted. "I think I said something about the dark mist." He finally looked back up at Kai and he noticed that she had never looked away. Eragon momentarily blushed ever so slightly when he realized she'd been watching him. This was hardly the time for such childish thoughts, he scolded himself.
Kai figured that as she referred to the odd spell as a simple "darkness", Eragon had translated it into the "dark mist" instead. And obviously that translation was working in their favor. "Gatha un reisa rakr." Eragon mumbled, but it did little else than his first spell.
"What does that mean?" Kai asked quietly. It was the first time she'd actually heard all of what Eragon said during his spell-casting. She was very curious about his strange language despite the tight pain threatening her hands and wrists. Her magic required no spoken language and the fact that Eragon's did was mystifying.
"I asked the mist to unite and rise, hoping the dark mist would leave your hands." He said frowning again, it didn't work that time. He opened one of his hands with his fingers stretched and managed to fit both of her hands onto his one. With his free hand he pushed his hair out of his eyes ready to concentrate on his task. Her hands were so much smaller than his, he noticed still looking down at their conjoined hands. It was truly unthinkable to imagine Kai in battle with small slim hands such as hers.
"Do you remember all that you said that got my fingers to move again?" Kai asked softly hoping her question did not interfere with his magic. Magic was very strange to Kai, even though she possessed it herself, she knew next to nothing about it. She didn't know what exactly to do with it and had never known an entire language was devoted to magic. Eragon's talent and knowledge had her completely engrossed with his every word.
Unfortunately, the more attention Kai gave Eragon, the less he could focus. And Kai was nearly spellbound with Eragon. He was so fascinating, she couldn't help but stare. Eragon could barely speak let alone remember what he'd told the dark mist in her hands to do. Kai interpreted his silence as a loss of memory, and not that he couldn't speak when she paid so much attention to him.
"I remember you blew on my hands." Kai provided hoping to jog his memory. She looked down at her hands and thought about what she caught him say at the time when her fingers had twitched. "Had that been significant?" By looking down Kai missed Eragon blushing again, he hadn't realized she saw him blow on her hands. "And you mentioned something like… aduna?" She frowned convinced her pronunciation wasn't right.
"Adurna?" Eragon supplied easily now that she wasn't looking at him. Kai nodded an affirmative; she did remember him saying something that sounded like adurna. "Water?" He translated skeptically. But Kai had gasped looking down at her hands again. Simply mentioning the word had done something to the dark mist again. "But adurna is used to manipulate water." Eragon said quietly and watched as Kai moved her hands again. Then she hissed in pain and froze as her arms refused to move them.
"It doesn't work for very long." Kai finally said and bit her lip. Eragon couldn't help it as his gaze strayed to her mouth. It was hardly the time to be noticing such things, but Eragon's mind didn't seem to consider timing. Eragon jumped surprised when the door to Nasuada's bed chamber was suddenly kicked open. Kai sucked in her breath through clenched teeth as he dropped her injured hands. Eragon was about to return to Kai's aid when he realized who had slammed open the door. The new guest was one of Nasuada's personal guardsmen. During the attack he'd been possessed by the Empire's mist and Eragon had to fight past him to get to Kai in the first place. Although, by the look on the guard's face he didn't seem to remember being controlled by the mist and attacking Eragon.
"Dragon Riders," The guard gasped surprised. "What are you doing in Lady Nasuada's bed chambers?" He glanced around keeping a sidelong eye on them. "Where is the Lady?"
The other guards seemed to have awoken as well and were congregating in the private room of the Varden leader. Kai allowed her hands to fall at her side and she and Eragon both faced the six warriors with the worst of news.
"Nasuada has been taken by Murtagh, the Empire Rider." Eragon said. "And Kai has a serious injury." The guards had little interest in Kai once they heard their beloved leader had been abducted. All guards at once began voicing their outrage. Some were furious with themselves, and others restraining themselves from becoming physical with Eragon as if it was his fault their lady was gone. Though Kai managed to notice the two Urgal guardsmen standing eerily still in the doorway and looking hopelessly depressed. But it was clear all six agreed on one thing: they intended to get her back.
"What are you two doing just standing here?" One of the human guardsmen asked of Eragon and Kai. "Why are you not chasing the enemy Rider? You are two against one, you are guaranteed victory!" He criticized.
Eragon froze. He never even thought to chase after his brother. Kai had been hurt and that was all he'd been able to think about. Oh no, he thought frowning. Kai's effect on him had become more than distracting. He was ignoring his duty as the Varden's Rider to attend to Kai. This was terrible. What could he say, there were no excuses. He'd made a huge mistake.
"I asked Suoh to follow Lady Nasuada on his own when it became clear I was in no shape to pursue." Kai said as a frown pulled the corners of her lips. "I do not wish for Suoh to engage in battle alone against the enemy Rider and dragon, but he has promised to do all he can to slow their progress so that we may build a suitable rescue plan." She reported standing eerily still. It was clear to Eragon that even when in terrible pain, Kai was as sharp (if not more) than she usually was. In all the chaos, she had managed to completely take charge of the situation. Better yet, the guardsmen had calmed down considerably. It seemed Kai's rational and thorough assessment of their emergency had momentarily appeased their anger. "I believe now would be a good time to construct that plan." Kai urged making eye contact throughout the room. "Time is of the essence, as they say. Gather the necessary people and we'll convene in the war room in five minutes, yes?" Kai ordered. Eragon managed a tiny smile as Kai masked her command as a question. She was rather good at leading people, he realized.
All the guardsmen nodded agreeing with Kai's plan. Eragon had noticed that while Kai phrased what she said as a suggestion, she didn't exactly leave any room for arguing or others opinions. She was sneaky and underhanded in the best of sense. Besides, their situation needed quick decisive actions in order to accomplish their task. As Kai had said, time was of the essence.
In no time flat the room was void of anyone but Eragon and Kai again. Kai sighed tilting back her head and desperately wanted to drag a hand down her face. This was a complete disaster. How could she have let Nasuada be kidnapped right under her nose like that? Eragon watched as a general frown took over Kai's features. She was blaming herself, yet he thought she should be blaming him. Eragon felt he was the one that had messed everything up. Though he secretly did blame Kai for having such a strong and odd effect on him that made all logical thought and rational action absolutely impossible; therefore leading to Eragon messing everything up and letting Lady Nasuada be kidnapped. Eragon indulged in his own sigh of self pity.
"We'll have to hurry." Kai said suddenly. "Suoh informs me that our enemy's pace suggests they do not intend to take any stops between here and the capital city." Kai said gathering her stony expression back into place. "It is a difficult pace, but not impossible to maintain." This was no time to fall apart. While her hands made her physically useless, she would have to utilize all her mental power to do all she could for this unfortunate situation. The Varden may be lost if they did not succeed in a rescue mission, and fast. Their enemy was getting farther and farther away from them with every passing second.
"You can still contact Suoh even from this far away?" Eragon asked surprised as he bent down toward the floor and retrieved Kai's abandoned sword. When he stood again with the magnificent weapon he noticed Kai was looking at him oddly.
"Well, yes." She answered Eragon tilting her head slightly. "Is it unusual?" Eragon just shook his head dropping the subject. Kai wasn't even aware of how special she was. Of course it was unusual to be able to maintain mental contact over an increasingly large distance.
"We should get going. I'm eager to hear your plan to get Lady Nasuada back." Eragon said sliding Kai's sword back into its sheath against her hip. Kai bit her lip as her arms crackled with pain even more than was becoming usual.
"I don't claim to have all the answers, Argetlam." Kai said trying her best to ignore the pain crawling up her forearms. "But I'm afraid you won't be joining me in the war room." Eragon paused confused. "I've considered all the possibilities, and our best chance at retrieving Nasuada is if Saphira and you make chase as soon as possible."
"Wait." Eragon said. Kai blinked surprised and looked Eragon in the face. His voice had become very serious suddenly. "I'll go." Eragon clarified when Kai looked at him so surprised. "My Lady has been kidnapped and it's my duty to get her back. I agree that without an extra rider like Murtagh has; Saphira and I will be able to catch him. And with Suoh's help I'm positive we can win against him. But what if it's a trap and more than Murtagh is waiting for Saphira and I? Can you manage the council alone? And what if the trap is to get me and the dragons away from the Varden leaving you to battle here in Surda? And your hands, Kai." Eragon said looking at her limp hands. "Are they any better?"
"Worse." Kai said honestly. "We can worry about me once Nasuada has been returned to her people." Kai cut Eragon off when he had all the intentions to talk about her injury more. "For now nothing else is your concern. Get her back, Eragon. We can talk after that."
"No," Eragon disagreed. "If I'm leaving you with this whole mess at least keep in contact with me." He said stubbornly. "I already know you can maintain a mental contact for long distances', so keep me informed while I'm gone." Eragon was adamant on the issue, and Kai saw no way out of it.
"Fine." She agreed. "Come, make a connection." Kai invited Eragon. "Make it quick." Eragon nodded in triumph and moved toward Kai until their boots nearly touched. Eragon placed his hand on the side of her face and Kai closed her eyes. Focus, he urged himself and closed his own eyes.
Go, Eragon. There isn't much time. Kai's voice was like a whisper across his conscience. He shivered removing his hand from her face and took a step back. He'd been through Kai's memories before, but it was nothing compared to the connection he'd just created with her. Her magic was mystifying; he couldn't make head nor ails from it. Although, however foreign and beautiful her magic was there was no disregarding how intimidating and enormous her power was. Eragon had no clue how special she really was. It was the first time Eragon had been truthfully scared of what Kai was capable of.
Eragon must have been starring at her for ten seconds before he registered what Kai had said. "Yes," He simply said and walked out of the room. Saphira was to meet him in the courtyard below and together they'd rescue their fearless leader…if Eragon could gather himself back together, of course. Was it weird that he felt even more attracted to Kai now that he knew she could easily take him in a fight?
Review por favor
-BS
