The "Joys" of Traveling

They had been traveling along the edge of the Hadarac Desert for three days. Eragon rode along on Snowfire. Saphira flew overhead with Kazul. The blue dragon had begun to feel like an older sister to the purple and silver one. Kazul was learning to fly quite well. Ardis rode along beside him. She was grimacing. He knew he was wearing a similar expression. They were both trying to ignore Roran and Shaheen's incessant bickering. So far, they were both failing abysmally.

"I don't see why you won't learn to use a sword. Honestly that hammer will get you killed," the former slave was saying.

"You don't get it. This hammer has done me a great deal of good. It's really none of your business what weapon I use. What would a human woman know about these things anyway?" Roran asked incredulously.

"I'm sure the hammer has done you a great deal of good, and it will undoubtedly do me a great deal of good by bringing about your death in a battle, Stronghammer."

"Have you ever been in a battle?"

"My tribe was often attacked."

"And you said you were how old? Twelve?"

"You weren't hunting when you were twelve?"

"I didn't need a sword when I hunted."

"Did you hit them on the head with a hammer?"

"I shot them, shrew. When you tried to shoot that rabbit, you missed the mark by about ten feet. You have much to learn."

"At least I'm not adamantly opposed to learning. And it was more like five feet."

"I still say ten."

"Well, your eyesight isn't that good."

"Shut up!"

Shaheen smiled. Eragon and Ardis looked at each other.

"Do you think they're done?" the latter whispered.

"Let's hope so," Eragon whispered back. They weren't; the two began to argue again.

Why Shaheen and Roran fight? Kazul asked Ardis.

I wish I knew, the rider replied.

It's annoying, the dragon remarked.

Yes, it is, Ardis agreed.

After another hour of riding and bickering, Eragon snapped. He turned and yelled, "Shut up! You two have been at each other for the past three days of traveling," at the top of his lungs. Shaheen and Roran looked up, embarrassed. They did not resume the argument for a whole half hour. Ardis took matter into her own hands and cast a spell to silence them both. Shaheen and Roran had to content themselves with contemptuous glares.

"That certainly makes a nice change, doesn't it, Shadeslayer?" Ardis asked playfully.

"Yes, it does," he agreed. They both laughed, and Shaheen and Roran both threw glares at them. She did not lift the spell until they made camp. Shaheen and Roran didn't even bother to start an argument. They were all eating in silence.

Ardis noticed Eragon biting his lip and asked, "What's wrong?"

"How do you know magic?" he asked.

Ardis looked terrified. "Galbatorix had his magicians teach Luce and I."

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"He-he-he thought we might have an aptitude for it," she stuttered almost inaudibly.

"What made him thinks so?" Eragon asked.

"Our sire had a great gift," she replied. Her black eyes wouldn't meet his brown ones. She was avoiding the subject. Eragon was reminded of the way Murtagh had avoided the subject of his own parentage. The latter had, of course, used different methods than the former, but it still bothered him.

"Who exactly was your sire?" he questioned.

Ardis looked away. She didn't answer. Shaheen looked at her friend suspiciously. Neither Ardis nor her sister nor the red rider had said anything about a dubious parentage, but the more Shaheen thought about it, the more likely it seemed that Ardis' sire was less than desirable. She snuck a sideways glance at Roran and saw a similar expression on his face.

So, she thought wickedly, old Stronghammer and I can agree on something.

Eragon saw Ardis' look of fear and walked over to her. He murmured gently, "Was he really that bad? If he's dead, it doesn't matter, does it?"

Ardis looked at him. She had to tell someone the truth. Kazul's eyes widened.

Ardis, no, the dragon warned.

"Eragon, when I said that the man I called father was dead, I did not lie. Galbatorix ceased to be worthy of the title father when he sentenced my mother to be burned. He lost that right even more so when he hit me for stumbling upon the egg chamber when I was eight. I didn't tell you because I knew the Varden would not shelter one such as me if they knew. Shaheen was unaware of my parentage," Ardis whispered almost inaudibly.

Shaheen and Roran both looked shocked. Eragon only stared.

"I suspected something like that," the rider stated.

"Do you hate me now?" she asked bitterly. Oh, gods, I sound like Luce, she thought.

I thought you liked your sister, Kazul said.

I do. She's just…

…very bitter? Kazul suggested.

Yes, the dragon replied. Kazul turned to face Eragon.

Do not fault my rider for her parentage when you yourself are the son of Morzan, she told him.

"Kazul, I do not mean to fault her," the rider stated. "I just had to know," he added sheepishly. Ardis smiled in spite of herself.

The dragon wasn't finished yet. Do you two have any problems with that? she demanded of Shaheen and Roran.

"Eragon trusts her, and she hasn't done anything yet," the latter replied.

"I traveled with Ardis. She only left Uru'baen to escape Galbatorix. I trust her," the former slave stated.

Are you satisfied, sister? Saphira asked Kazul.

For now, the purple and silver female answered.

All the camp laughed, and the two dragons even snorted.

"We should reach Du Weldenvarden by tomorrow," Eragon told them. "Now get some sleep. We're going to do some hard traveling tomorrow." Humans and dragon nodded their agreement. Then, they all went to sleep.

Uru'baen

Luce leaned her ear against the keyhole. She was listening to a conversation between Marcus Tabor and the advisor he had brought with him.

"I don't like this, Milord," the advisor told his master.

"What's there not to like about it, Garrett?" Tabor asked coolly.

"I have my suspicions about the king allowing such things to take place."

"'Allowing them to take place'? Garrett, he was the one who suggested such a course in the first place."

"That is exactly why this concerns me, Milord," the man called Garrett told the foolish governor.

What concerns you though? Murtagh asked. He was leaning next to her or against her rather, and she was relaying what was being said back to him. Luce felt his breath against her neck and his hand against her elbow. It felt strange, yet wonderful.

They haven't said yet, she told him.

"What are you suggesting, Garrett?" Marcus Tabor inquired coolly of his advisor.

"Only that the king's moods change. He has reprimanded you in the past, and…"

"And all is forgiven. As you say, it is in the past," Tabor finished. He sounded as though he was rather annoyed.

"But will all stay forgiven? One can never tell."

"You're beginning to sound treasonous, Garrett."

"I am only concerned for Milord's welfare," Garrett explained. He sounded earnest.

"If you are so concerned, then you should stop criticizing the king in his own palace. That will get us all killed before anything else will," Tabor told him. His voice seemed to say that the meeting was adjourned.

"Milord…" Garrett continued weakly.

Tabor must have given him a look or a gesture that cut him off, for the advisor stopped speaking. Luce heard a long sigh that seemed to come from the advisor.

"I am going to see how Lenori is doing. If she has an episode here, well…the king might change his mind about her. It would be considered weak blood," Tabor explained. Murtagh and Luce pressed themselves against the wall as Tabor strode out, followed by a small, sallow-skinned man with black hair and watery grey eyes.

"What do you make of that, Luce?" Murtagh asked.

"I don't know. It was a waste listening though," she told him. She threw her hands in the air and ran them through her hair. "Gods, I wish I knew," she muttered. With that, the female rider walked off. "I have to go," she added. "Belinda will be wondering where I am if not at my lessons."

"Belinda is the slave who spies?" Murtagh asked.

"Not a slave anymore," she told him. "She's been freed. Her mark is gone."

"Well, maybe she won't notice," he told her.

"And cows will take over the world."

"You must admit, they would be better ruler than the current one." Luce laughed and rounded the corner.

As Luce walked away, Murtagh thought, quite insipidly in his opinion, that the meeting had not been an entire waste. He had felt strange while he leaned against Luce. He shook his head and stalked off in the opposite direction.

Luce made her way through the corridors. In the three days since the raven dream, she had mastered as new spell and beaten Murtagh three out of eight times. Her record was getting better. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even think to ask Iormungr his opinion on Galbatorix's plan. She happened to look down and saw something terrible.

A frail-looking girl with blond hair was lying on the ground, convulsing. Luce quickly performed a spell to keep her from hurting herself. She did as Tornac had done many years ago and stuffed a piece of cloth into her mouth. The girl stopped flailing.

"Who are you?" the girl asked nervously. Her blue eyes were wide open. She was beautiful in an ethereal way. She looked more like a phantom than a living, breathing girl.

"Luce," she said simply.

"Oh," the girl said. Luce could tell from her tone that she thought her a servant. The girl's tone became desperate. "Please don't tell anyone what happened. My father does not wish for the king to know of my…affliction." When the girl said the last word, her head dropped.

Luce looked at her carefully. She was beginning to figure out who this girl was.
"Excuse me for asking, but are you Lenori Tabor, daughter of the Earl Marcus of Dras Leona?" Luce asked innocently.

"Lady Lenori," the girl emphasized. Luce was beginning to find her rather annoying, but she needed the information Lenori could give.

"Of course, Milady," Luce replied respectfully. Lenori appeared mollified. Luce took the bait. "Would you mind telling me why you are here? Your coming has caused a great stir among the palace servants."

Lenori paused for a moment. "I shall tell you, but please don't tell your friends about this. The king wishes that I become the bride of the red rider."

Luce's mouth almost dropped open in shock. She closed it before Lenori noticed. The girl continued, dropping her voice even lower. "I've heard he's terribly handsome, but I'm afraid. I don't know much about…you know. The only woman I could ask is my stepmother, and she's well…you know." Luce knew. Solaera was considered to be little better than a prostitute by most.

Lenori looked around before continuing a second time. "His majesty also wishes that my brother Mort marry the green rider. My father's advisor Garrett finds it suspicious that Galbatorix didn't marry her to my older brother Claudius. My oldest brother is already married, of course."

And hardly faithful to her, Luce thought cynically.

"I have to go," Lenori told her. The girl got to her feet and walked off very primly. Luce stayed sitting. The idea of marrying this girl to Murtagh was absurd. She might be sixteen, but she was a mere child. Surely Murtagh would find the idea repulsive.

Do you think he would? She's beautiful, you know, a small voice inside her head whispered. Luce got up. She was sure Mort would be as bad as Lenori. She didn't like the idea of marrying him. She had met Mort around the time Morgana had married Galbatorix. He had taunted her and Murtagh for being bastards of royalty. They had beaten him up. He may have been two years older than they were, but he was a stick even then. The thought of marrying him was repulsive. She went off to find Murtagh and tell him of their dilemma. She only hoped he would find the idea of marrying Lenori as repulsive as she found the idea of marrying Mort.

It's not jealousy, she told herself. It's not.

So, how did you like this chapter? If you read this story, please review. I've seen this story on the favorites lists of people who haven't reviewed. P.S. You will be pleased to know that I have the pairing figured out. I hope you like them. See you soon, I hope.

Elemir: I'm glad you like it.

Amantine: Kazul is the name of a female dragon in these books I read when I was in sixth grade. They were Dealing with Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, and Talking to Dragons. They kinda made fun of fairytales. They were quite funny. I'm glad you thought last chapter was interesting.

Teenchic2004: I'm glad you liked last chapter. I understand what you think. I think I know who you it is, but I'm not gonna guess in case I get it wrong.