Chapter Eleven
Sareh's encounter with Durza had left her unconscious for days. Her family waited at her bedside, unsure if she would wake. When her eyes opened blearily, Sareh's mother was sitting beside her, head lolling against her chest, having tirelessly cared for her ailing daughter. As Sareh's foggy vision began to clear she tried to shift, her stiff joints arguing with her about the intelligence of moving. As she did she realized there was a lump in the crook of her arm. Twisting her neck slightly she realized that the Manoush rabbit she had made for her sister was snuggled against her.
She gave a weak smile and made to move her arm only to find it was too sore to do it. She gave a soft cry as the pain shot through her arm. The sound woke her mother, her head snapping up from her chest, her eyes focusing on her daughter.
"Sareh!" She rushed to the bedside, checking her daughter's vitals, pressing her hand against forehead and rubbing sore joints. She smiled down at her daughter as she did so.
"Oh Sareh, you had us all so worried."
"I'm sorry Mama." Her mother made a tutting sound to keep her quiet.
"Just rest darling." As her mother hovered around her trying to make her more comfortable Sareh tried to make sense of what had happened. She remembered the vision she had had in great detail; the man with crimson hair and maroon eyes, his sharp teeth glinting in a fire created in her mind. She remembered the horrible pain of him tearing through her mind, looking for something.
Looking for what?
Though she still didn't understand what he had been looking for, she knew who he was. She knew that he wasn't normal, his body felt inhabited, at least three presences outside of his own had been screaming at her in her mind. He felt powerful and she knew if she faced him unprepared again, she would lose.
She hadn't been entirely defenseless, not only had she discovered his name and what he was planning with the man Brom had told her about.
Galbatorix.
She didn't know it involved her.
Sareh tried to reach out to Saphira with her mind only to find that either she was too weak to do such an act or Saphira was too far away.
Which meant until she was well she wouldn't know what was causing her issues.
Brom and Saphira had joined the search party, meeting up with Morzan along the way. Morzan was keeping a fairly good humor about the whole thing, being a bachelor and having no ties to any family, he felt this was an adventure. Of course having to find one of their own, who might have possibly lost his mind, was a disappointment to the Riders, but at least a change was in order.
Brom couldn't agree. The further he and Saphira got from Sareh, the more concerned her grew and the more he wished he were with her. Morzan wouldn't understand this until he found his own life suddenly swept into the beauty of love.
He and Saphira had tried valiantly over the days they were searching to reach Sareh to see if she were all right but she wasn't responding. His concern was already at a peak but his orders were withstanding. Until he and his fellow Riders located Galbatorix he would have to wait with bated breath to see if the woman he loved was well.
So far, the search had been fruitless. They had hunted, what seemed like all of Alagaësía only to turn up empty-handed.
It would be months before Brom would see Sareh again. Galbatorix would continue to stay out of reach for so long that the Council would grow confident he was no longer a threat, calling off the search. But, for those few months, Brom and Sareh would endure a separation that would end most relationships.
They endured until several months had passed allowing Brom to return to Sareh.
What she had to tell him was unsettling.