Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the new characters.
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Special thanks to: Canadian-Girl14, Lady-Mystique, Rob-girl, summerlover1, Issylt, Nat-y2k2, jessicababii and Moonstar, for your kind words and support. I'm so sorry for taking so long to update, but hopefully you'll like this chapter.
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Chapter 8 – The big bad cat and the little stinky rat
One week after their first lesson, Kaila was improving positively both in writing and in reading; the young woman had proven to be a dedicated student and Murtagh a patient teacher. They devoted two hours every morning to the lessons, and due to the amount of time they now spent together, Kaila had finally got used to call him by his first name.
Their posture around each other was clearly more relaxed, and most of the initial awkwardness was now gone. Kaila still did not know how to react at Murtagh's teasing, though, which seemed to be increasing with each new day.
Kaila smiled interiorly as she gathered the food to take to the dragon rider, recalling the moment in which he had taken her hand in his to show her how to write one word; she had blushed slightly, and this fact did not go unnoticed by Murtagh's cunning eyes. His playful words echoed in her mind: 'If you blush when I hold your hand, you'll probably faint when I hug you for your brilliant performance this morning…'
Needless to say that those words were enough to break what little concentration she had left, and the young woman ended up leaving a confuse smudge of ink on the parchment.
Kaila snapped from her thoughts when the clicking of a walking stick reached her ears; she turned around to face Morcant with a smile playing on her lips. "Good morning, sir."
"Good morning", Morcant replied, sending her an inquiring look. "You look happy today…"
Kaila nodded. "I woke up in a good mood."
"I see. Well, go on then, the young rider must be waiting for his breakfast."
Kaila bowed obediently, picking up the tray and heading towards the kitchen's door. As she was almost reaching it, a blonde-haired girl passed her by in a hasty pace, almost knocking the tray off of Kaila's hands. "Watch your way!" she yelled at the girl, but the other barely glanced back at her. Shrugging, Kaila continued her way.
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Tristan stared around, his eyes searching for any possible threat and his ears alert to any suspicious sound. The forest seemed to be quiet, apart from the birds' chirps and the wind rustling through the leaves.
Reassured, the bald man jumped from the horse's saddle, and allowed it to drink from the creek while tying it to a thick tree. He then ensued to remove all of his clothes and jumping into the creek's cold water for bathing.
Tristan did not stay in the water for more than ten minutes, but when he came out an unexpected scene met his eyes: his clothes were gone, and a small dagger was thrust into the tree's bark, right above the place where he had tied the reigns.
Slowly coming out of the water (with his hands covering only his lower parts), the scared looking man approached the horse as silently as he could. 'This must have been the doing of some poor devils who seized the opportunity to take some profit… but why did they leave the horse behind? And the dagger…' Tristan's mind worked furiously to come up with a satisfying answer, but the more he thought about it, the more disturbed he felt. His fears proved to be right when he was close enough to distinguish the picture engraved on the dagger: a boar.
Tristan did not stop to think; he quickly untied the horse and climbed to the saddle, frowning in pain as his bare skin touched the hard leather. He rode off as fast as he could, unaware of the two figures hiding in tall grass by the creek.
"Mission accomplished, mate. Lord Art is going to be pleased…"
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Morcant clenched his fists when Lord Art entered the king's hall with a prideful strut; his very presence was enough to make the old man feel disgusted and ill on these days.
As usual, Galbatorix was sitting on his black throne, barely paying attention to what surrounded him; he was surely devising a new plan to attack the Varden, and Murtagh would most likely be his leverage once again.
Morcant spied Lord Art through the corner of his eye, and saw a young woman approaching him with the serving dish. To his astonishment and suspicion, Art gripped the girl's arm rather firmly and whispered something into her ear; she blushed slightly and bowed before continuing her way.
'This man is a menace to every girl inside this castle', Morcant thought, bowing politely as one of the noblemen passed him by. 'I will not rest until this menace is erased…'
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"I am impressed, Kaila! You are, without a doubt, the best student I have ever had", Murtagh commented, as he corked the ink bottle.
Kaila smiled faintly, before asking: "Have you ever had any student before me?"
Murtagh looked at her with an awkward expression, shrugging: "Well… no. However, I am pretty sure that if I had ever had one, he or she certainly wouldn't be as hard-working as you are."
Kaila bowed gratefully, putting the breakfast plates back on the tray.
Murtagh sat on the window-sill, staring at the endless forest that stretched before his eyes, and said: "I am glad Morcant put you at my service; all the other girls were…" he seemed to struggle to find the appropriate words, "… they did not have any personality." He paused, locking his blue eyes with her green ones.
They did not withdraw the eye contact for what seemed an eternity. At long last, Murtagh said: "Morcant is an honourable man."
"Yes, he is", the young girl agreed. "My grandfa-" Kaila trailed off, shocked with her own words. She dropped her gaze to the floor, unable to endure the rider's inquisitive stare.
"Grandfather?" Kaila did not utter a word, and Murtagh continued: "It makes perfect sense. The way he protects you… when you were missing, he was not able to hide the despair that was consuming his soul." He paused for a while, and then added: "Why do you keep this a secret?"
Eventually, Kaila raised her head, but her eyes stubbornly avoided the young man. "It was Morcant's decision… I never quite understood why he choose to keep it a secret, but he did so when I first set foot in Urû'baen." Feeling Murtagh's keen stare, Kaila finally looked him in the eye. "Murtagh, would you please keep this between us? I do not know why, but my grandfather told me that it is of great importance that no one knows about this."
The young man winked at her and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Kaila, this will be our little secret."
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"Interesting news you bring me… I told you it would be easy to track that animal down…"
"We did exactly as you told us, my Lord, and you should have seen his face when he saw the dagger! The stupid bastard climbed to the saddle wearing nothing but his own skin!" one of the soldiers replied, nudging his friend on the elbow and laughing like a maniac.
Despite their amusement, Lord Art kept a blank expression, even though a deadly gleam danced in his eyes.
"Forgive us, my Lord", the soldier replied, bowing. "So, what is it that you want us to do?"
Lord Art turned his back on them and said: "I think the little rat understood the message. If the fright did not kill him, he is probably cowering in that tiny hut of his; I will deal with him very soon. You are dismissed of your duties, soldiers. You earned your prize, so go on and spend it foolishly on ale and pleasurable company."
The two men exchanged eager looks and left Lord Art's accommodations, closing the door behind them. It was only then that the treacherous man turned around and hissed: "The big bad cat is going to pay a visit to the little stinky rat…"
To be continued…
