Disclaimer: I don't own Eragon or related characters.

A.N. Thanks go to whose review inspired part of this chapter. If anyone else has suggestions or ideas on what they'd like to see happen, feel free to let me know.

Wow! Ten chapters in just over a week. Don't you all just love me? Can I go to sleep now, Plleeeaaasse.

Chapter 10

Bree stretched, every muscle was tight and sore. What on earth did I do yesterday? she wondered, looking at the rock above her. Then she remembered. Sitting up she looked around the cave, her eyes resting on the sleeping forms of Brom and Eragon, and Saphira by the cave's mouth, stopping at the stranger by the fire. "Good morning," she said, moving to check on Brom. She thought he might have a slight temperature, but other than that he seemed to be doing fine.

"Good morning," came the reply. "Would you like some breakfast? We left before you had anything to eat last night." He said looking somewhat guilty.

"Breakfast sounds great. And don't worry about it; with the way I felt, poor Maybell would have had it all over her back a few minutes into riding. It was bad enough with an empty stomach"

He nodded, handing her a bowl. "My name is Murtagh, by the way."

"Bree." She smiled at him, and Murtagh had to admit she had a beautiful smile. "And I know who you are."

"I suppose Eragon told you last night."

"No," she said, pausing. "But maybe I should have told him."

"I don't think I'm following you."

"I know who you are Murtagh," she glanced at Saphira to be sure she was still sleeping, slipping quickly into her thoughts; the others wouldn't hear from this distance. She lowered her voice. "Son of Morzan."

He froze, averting his eyes. "How did you find out?"

"You have your secrets, I have mine." She shrugged. "It doesn't bother me, Murtagh." She reached out and lifted his chin, so he was looking back at her face. "You didn't choose your father. I only mentioned it to you now because I know Brom will mind." She smiled fondly, saying, "He's old and set in his ways. But we love him."

"And Eragon?"

They both looked to where the boy lay sleeping; an arm wrapped around his sword like it was a favourite teddy bear. Bree had to grin at how adorable he looked; sometimes she forgot just how young Eragon really was. "He won't mind," she assured Murtagh. "He'll be wary at first, but he needs to be if he's going to survive this, we all do."

They sat in silence for a moment, then, "I think the old man's waking up." Murtagh got to feet and walked over to check on him, Bree following behind.

Indeed Brom's eyes were flickering open. He stared at Murtagh, who was hovered over him checking the graze on his head, in open confusion. Bree leaned in so he could see her too. "How do feel?" she asked, taking his hand in her own. His eyes moved to hers, then back to the stranger who had finished his inspection and rocked back on his heels.

"Who?" Brom's voice was raspy, and he coughed. Trying again he managed, speaking to Bree "Who is that and where are we?" He tried to look around, concern showing on face. "Where's Eragon?"

"Shh. He's alright, he's sleeping. It's been a long night." She gently pushed him back down when he endeavoured to sit. "You to a blow to the head from a Ra'zac, you need to rest."

"Where are they, I thought they would have killed us."

"Don't worry they're gone. We're safe," Bree soothed, stroking his hair off his forehead.

"They'll come back, bringing soldiers this time." Murtagh warned her. She shot him a 'you're not helping' look.

Brom struggled to sit, ignoring Bree's protests that he should be lying down, and repeated his earlier question. "Who are you?" He looked Murtagh in the eyes. "You look familiar, but I cannot place you."

Bree shot Murtagh a nervous glance. "This is Murtagh." Realisation dawned across Brom's face as he reached to his side for sword, finding it was not there, he made to pull Bree behind him.

Bree took her chance and, while Brom was off balance, she gently pushed him back down, holding her hand to his chest when he tried to rise. "We can talk more, but only if your head does not leave that blanket." She told him sternly, keeping a firm pressure against his chest.

"Bree, he's dangerous, he's the son of a foresworn." She nodded, Murtagh avoiding their gazes and moving to stand closer to fire.

"I know, shh, you'll wake Eragon." she stopped him from interrupting. "I know who he is, and I'll explain when Eragon wakes up. And no, I'm not waking him up. We should all be getting some rest, you and him especially." Brom pushed her hand away, pulled off the blankets that covered him and shakily got to his feet, putting himself between the two.

"You don't understand; he's Morzan's son."

"I know Brom," she said exasperatedly. "He saved us Brom, saved you." She looked into his eyes, saying pointedly so only he could hear, "he's in the book."

Wake up, Eragon. He tried to ignore the voice and return to sleep, but found the low murmuring harder to ignore. As he listened he noticed it was the sound of hushed, yet angry, voices. Sitting up he rubbed at his eyes. Looking around the cave he found the source of the disturbance. Three figures were standing around the fire gesturing at each other. He got up and limped slowly over. Murtagh, the only one to notice him, took a step forward to help, hesitated, then stepped back against the wall.

"Have something to say about all of this, do you?" Brom's voice was getting louder; ringing through Eragon's already pounding head.

"What's going on, why are you arguing?"

"You didn't tell him?" Brom rounded on Bree.

"I was waiting for you to wake up." She told him.

"You have put all our lives in danger. Did anyone even keep watch last night?"

"Tell me what?" came Eragon's confused voice.

"I took the first watch, then Murtagh took over when I could barely keep my eyes open and Saphira's been awake on and off all night too. I thought you trusted me more than this." she said, looking hurt.

"You I trust, it's the boy that's the threat."

Bree turned to Murtagh, "Perhaps you'd better wait outside for a minute." She smiled apologetically. "I wouldn't want you to lose any necessary body parts." She joked, pushing him gently toward the opening of the cave. It'll be fine," she assured him.

Murtagh grabbed his sword and quickly left the cave. "You're going to apologise to him when he comes back inside." Bree poked her teacher in the chest. "Now sit down before you fall." She noticed Eragon was also looking pale. "Both of you." She held Eragon's arm as he lowered himself painfully to sit next to the fire, propped against a saddlebag. Seeing Eragon wince had concerned Brom and Bree was able to direct him to the ground as well.

"You're hurt." He stated, concern showing in his eyes.

"We'd best those healed. Shirt off please," instructed Bree. After a few hours of rest, she felt much better and was ready to begin tackling some of the others' injuries. She heard Brom's intake of breath as she helped Eragon removed his shirt and the blanket that bound hid chest; the discoloured skin appeared even worse today. It had gone from yellow to purple, with green and brown smudges. There were also spots of dried blood from where the skin had broken. Bree gingerly put her hands over the bruise, muttering "Waíse heill." Once the discolouration had faded, Bree dropped back onto her bottom. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, trying not to fall over completely, as the pull from the magic drained her strength.

"Feeling better?" Eragon nodded, but winced again as his broken ribs moved. "Brom will have to fix those for you later. I know they hurt but we'll need to leave soon and I don't think Brom will be up to doing that and riding just yet."

"Now tell me what happened, I can remember very little."

"Eragon, can you go and get Murtagh for me? He should be just outside." As Eragon was leaving she called out, "And keep your mind in touch with Saphira's. Just in case."

"You're being awfully cautious after proclaiming your trust the boy." Brom noted.

"It's not Murtagh I'm worried about." She said softly. "Last night, Eragon saw the Ra'zac but dismissed their movement as a bird. If anything happens to him, we've got Saphira to let us know."

"Bree," said Brom, rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand. "Murtagh is the son of Morzan. The first and last of the Foresworn. He's dangerous."

"He is not his father, Brom." She sighed, "How can I make you understand. He's a much his father as Eragon and I are ours." She looked at Brom, "We make enough of our own mistakes without having to carry the burden of theirs."

There was a pause while Brom thought about what she had said. "The people we were raised by and what they taught us affect our future actions. He has been raised around Morzan and the king."

"I won't disagree with you on that Brom, but what Murtagh learnt was to fear and hate his father. The man threw Zar'roc at him when he was three years old. He has a scar across half his body to remind him every day of what his childhood was like."

"He showed you this." She shook her head. "Then you read it. I'm sorry Bree, but I can't put as much trust in these books as you do, especially now you are here, things have changed. Your arrival may have caused a domino effect. You can't rely on them all the time."

"I've realised that Brom, for a moment I thought-" she stopped as two figures appeared in the entrance way. She reached for her sword then sat back again when Saphira failed to growl at them as she would at the Ra'zac. "Once we tell you everything that happened, you will apologise," she told him sternly.

As the boys approached, Eragon sitting down beside Brom, Bree patted the ground next to her. Murtagh hesitated, looking cautiously at Brom who would not look him in the eyes, then slowly sat down. She reached over and took one of his hands in her own, gently rubbing small circles across its back.

Bree looked to the group. "How much do you remember?" she asked Brom.

"Up until fighting a Ra'zac. You used a spell as it tried to sneak up on me."

"Right, I wasn't all there for a few minutes, I was just trying not to black out. You were hit on the side of the head and collapsed. The Ra'zac put its sword to Eragon's throat when Saphira tried to go for the one holding me. They bound our arms and took the swords. I blacked out for a minute or two and when I woke up, they were forcing some sort of liquid down our throats, it burned like you wouldn't believe and suddenly I couldn't think straight. I knew I could use magic but I couldn't remember how. I passed out again soon after that; they'd started putting chains over Saphira." She looked between Murtagh and Eragon, gesturing for one of them go next.

"I must have woken up just after, they had Saphira's wings pinioned to her sides and were putting a muzzle over her. I tried to use magic too, but everything was fuzzy, I couldn't even contact Saphira. They went through our bags, one called you a lady as he went through your bags," Eragon smiled at Bree, Murtagh looking up from his contemplation of his hand in hers.

"Yes I heard that. One had Zar'roc, I said something about them liking shiny things, I think." She frowned in thought. "They dragged me closer to Eragon. I could feel the drug starting to wear off and I kept trying to find Eragon's thoughts. They were mocking Eragon and then started screeching and hissing. They said he'd serve their master well, then," she looked at Eragon, "you started threatening them."

"At least I wasn't mocking them." He turned to face Brom. "They had said we were disposable and she started saying how they couldn't have been as valuable as they thought they were because Galbatorix was obviously keeping things from them. She told them that he'd be really angry if they killed me because Saphira would die."

"Saphira's the last female dragon left in Alagaësia. The last two eggs are male." Bree added. "Then you started to move Brom, and they were debating whether to kill you or me. They settled on killing you because I was younger and, what did they say, oh yeah, my mind would be easier to break or something." The three shared a smile at that. "But I'd finally gotten through to Eragon and was trying to get him to stall."

"Yes, you kept yelling at me to stall, I had no clue what you were talking about. When a Ra'zac put a knife to your throat Brom, she threw a stone at him. He dropped you and grabbed her, then arrows started flying everywhere. You got up and stumbled over to where I was, as the Ra'zac took cover behind some boulders. When arrows started coming from behind them, they fled, but they threw a knife at us first. You went to jump in front of me, and then something pulled both of us out of the way. Murtagh had said it was Bree using magic. I lost consciousness after that."

Everyone turned expectantly toward Murtagh, "I arrived to hear the Ra'zac screeching, it was how I found your camp. Once I was in a safe position I realised that you were indeed mocking them," he seemed torn between shock and concern. "Unfortunately there was always someone between my arrow and the Ra'zac, I couldn't get a clear shot until they stopped to kill you, I'm sorry I didn't get my shot off quick enough to spare you getting cut."

Brom interrupted, "You were injured?"

"Yes, the Ra'zac had already made to slit my throat for insulting him one too many times, but Eragon healed that soon after." She gestured for Murtagh to continue.

"It didn't take long to move through the trees until I was behind the Ra'zac and after another few shots they fled, but not before throwing a knife directly at the two of you. I saw you," he raised his eyes to Brom, "jump in front of Eragon and the knife would have gone into your chest if Bree hadn't pulled you out of the way. That was some really impressive magic; I didn't even hear you say any words of power you were so quick."

"Actually I don't think I said anything, I just felt something twist as I watched that blade get closer, knowing what would happen and that I couldn't do anything from where I was."

"You were unconscious by the time I reached you. Once I'd checked and seen that the cut was shallow I moved to release your dragon. She tried to squash me until I told her I was there to help."

I was under immense stress. And who knew who this strange boy could have been. Saphira defended herself through Eragon, giving a snort that sent a cloud of smoke rolling over them. Brom gave Bree a satisfied smirk which she chose to ignore.

"Once the dragon-"

"Saphira" Eragon corrected.

"Once Saphira was lose," Murtagh amended, "she went to stand over Eragon. I had honestly thought the injured girl was the Rider from the intensity of the magic she'd used and was surprised when the dr…When Saphira didn't rush to her. She wouldn't let me look at either of you and kept you almost completely hidden from view under her wings. I patched up Bree as best I could and when Eragon was conscious again he healed her cut."

"You both used magic when you were already exhausted?" Brom said, voice full of disapproval. "And you just performed magic again on Eragon." He'd turned to Bree, frowning.

"So maybe healing Eragon right away wasn't the smartest of moves but we may need to leave quickly and it won't help matters if Eragon can barely move. Did the Ra'zac see you?" she asked Murtagh.

"Not that I'm aware. But the whole Empire will be out for the three of you." He turned a glare on Brom. "You really shouldn't have allowed Bree to accompany you this far, constantly being on the run is no life for a lady."

Eragon tried to hide an amused snort, while Bree asked, "Just what makes you think I'm a lady?"

Murtagh seemed confused at her question. "Your clothing is of excellent quality though it is a little plain, your speech isn't that of country peasant, nor are the items you've been unpacking, perhaps the sword, and you seem to know a lot about things only someone living in the palace would know, though I must admit I can't recall ever seeing your face in court."

"That would be because I've never been to your court. I haven't even been to Urủ'baen before; just from the Spine to here." Murtagh looked surprised to hear this. "And I'll have you know I am perfectly capable of defending myself," she sniffed, removing her hand from his and crossing her arms dramatically, looking away to the side.

"Which is why, the first time I saw you, you had the dagger of a Ra'zac against your throat."

"That was only because I was actively insulting and goading them."

Murtagh crossed his own arms. "And that is always a good idea. Incite the enemy's anger."

"If you must know, I was stalling until you got there."

He gave a derisive snort, "Because you knew someone was coming; a knight in shining armour that would come to your rescue?"

"Correction, I knew you were coming." She poked him in the chest for emphasis. "Which, might I add, you took your sweet time doing."

"How could you know that, I didn't even know you were there until I heard the Ra'zac screeching.'

Bree sighed and then explained her story to him. "So you see, you had already come to their rescue and would theoretically come to ours. Though I was terrified for a moment there when they had a knife at Brom's throat and you still a no-show." She looked sadly at Brom. "In the book the dagger doesn't hit a tree, it hits you. You didn't live long Brom. Eragon, Saphira and Murtagh buried you up there" she pointed to the ceiling of their cave.

"So we now know that you can definitely make changes. We also can't put as much faith in the books when dealing with future developments," said Brom.

"I know."

There was a brief silence in which Bree kept looking pointedly at Brom then flicking her eyes over to Murtagh. He cleared his throat. "It seems I owe you my thanks for helping the children and myself," both 'children bristled at being described thus, "but you should continue on your own journey. You will not be welcome where we are heading."

"We're going to the Varden," Bree clarified and watched as his seemed to turn to stone. "But you're sticking with us until then."

"I will not go to the Varden, I'd probably be safer heading back to Urủ'baen." Bree had to agree with him on that.

"Still, it would be nice to have you along. You don't really have anything better to do anyway."

"I was hunting the Ra'zac."

"Pfft. They'll probably show up near us eventually." She nodded, "It's settled then, you're coming with us."

Eragon leant forward as far as his ribs would allow, asking Bree, "Now, what was it you were going to tell me?"

"Murtagh and Brom both have something they need to tell you," she said, looking at the two. "I'm giving you until this time tomorrow. I was going to wait until we got closer to the Varden, because it'll all come out then anyway, but Eragon needs to know now so there won't be any nasty shocks later."

"And if I do not wish to tell him?"

"Then Brom or I will whether you continue with us or not. I'm sorry Murtagh but bad things might happen if he doesn't trust you at certain points. He's the only one of us who doesn't know this about you." She gave him a one armed hug. "And I think you're the only one here who's really bothered by your secret; the only one who really cares about who you knew."

They spent the rest of the day resting. The cave was safe enough for now and they could leave at first light. Bree fell asleep, leaning against Murtagh, while they discussed everything that had happened to them recently. Murtagh told them about how he'd been taken to the castle in Urủ'baen after shortly after his mother had died, and how, after a disturbing conversation with the King, he'd left. Making his escape under the cover of darkness, he'd gone to hunt the Ra'zac. He didn't give many details but Brom seemed appeased. Eventually they all returned to their bedrolls; tomorrow would be a long day.

That night, Eragon dreamed of the imprisoned woman again.

He could tell that something was wrong with her. Her breathing was irregular, and she shook – whether from cold or pain, he did not know. In the semidarkness of the cell, the only thing clearly illuminated was her hand, which hung over the edge of the cot. A dark liquid dripped from the tips of her fingers. Eragon knew it was blood.

A.N. A little more Bree time in this chapter. Let me know what you think.