Disclaimer: Do I really need one? I'm not Paolini, so I own nothing from him.

A/N: Hey! For all of you who celebrated, I hope you had a great Fourth of July!!!! Anyway, thanks for all of your reviews. I now have over one hundred, which makes me very happy! They are all very much appreciated! For this chapter, I am trying to stick as close to the book as possible, so just bear with me. There's not much action and it's a lot of dialogue, but hang in there! Thanks, and I hope you enjoy it!

Reminder: Murtagh is my favorite character. Would I really kill him off?

Ch. 11: A Strange Promise

Eragon stared at the woman in shock. She was Brom's sister?! He had never known…

"I know you must be surprised to hear that, Eragon. He would not have mentioned me." Agatha said quietly. "Years ago when we were still both Riders, we had an argument that I knew neither of us would forget."

"You were a Rider too?" Eragon asked. "What happened between you two?"

The old woman sighed as she shifted to a more comfortable position while she leaned on her cane. "While Brom and I were training to be Riders, I first got my interest in the art of healing and herbology." Agatha explained. "I was so absorbed in it that I soon learned some ancient spells, one of which I used on Murtagh earlier to revive him, that I had never heard of before. They were spells that the even the elves did not know of at the time since they were decreed forbidden.

"Brom was not pleased that I was studying these forbidden spells. He feared for my safety if someone in high power like the king discovered that I knew them. I brushed aside his concerns. I tried to show him my view of the situation; the benefits of learning these dangerous spells. I told him that I could easily heal the deadliest wound or disease… and even bring back a loved one.

"But he ignored me. He said that any one of them could easily go wrong or even end the life of the user, which was I. I was younger, and my safety meant everything to him. But I did not listen to him. I continued to study these spells behind his back, even though I told him that I would not. He discovered me reading about them one night, and he was enraged. That is what tore us apart. We haven't spoken to each other in decades.

"Then, the unexpected happened. A few days before he died, I received a message from him. It said that he feared that he did not have much time left and that he could never express how sorry he was for the argument that we had had decades before. He said how much he wished that he could see me one last time, but he did not think that it would be possible. But then, he also said that he had found a young farm boy from Carvahall who had become a Dragon Rider who would be best suited to inherit the Rider's legacy."

Eragon remembered Saphira telling him that Brom had said the same thing to her, but the impact that the words had still aroused great sadness inside of him. He also remembered a time when he was training under the storyteller that Brom had been writing a message to someone. When he had inquired about it, the old man had merely turned away from him and said nothing. Now, he knew that it had been to his younger sister. Eragon looked at the shopkeeper and was shocked to see that there were tears shimmering in her eyes.

"Then, he finished the message off by saying that if anything happened to him and something happened where your training with the elves was interrupted, I should find you and guide you back onto the right track in the battle against Galbatorix." Agatha concluded, trying to keep her tears back without success. "And now, here you are…"

The young Rider sighed and walked forward, allowing the woman to cry into his shoulder. Though he despised the feeling, he felt slight resentment toward Agatha. She had revived Murtagh after his heart had stopped, and she could have done the same for the old storyteller. But because of the argument that the two siblings had had, Brom was gone forever.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Aianna looked nervously down on Murtagh who was stirring and muttering incoherently in his sleep as a nightmare plagued his mind. The elf placed her hand on his damp forehead, trying to wake him. "Murtagh!" Aianna said anxiously. "Please wake up! It's all right. You're safe now!"

After a few more minutes, Murtagh took a deep breath and opened his eyes. "Aianna?" he asked quietly as he tried to settle his breathing.

The elf gave him a warm smile as she watched him slowly sit up and lean back against the headboard. "Yes, I'm here, Murtagh." Aianna replied as she sat down on the bed by his side. "What did you see when you dreamed?"

The Rider's face darkened as he tried to recall what his nightmare had shown him. "I was back in Morzan's castle where I grew up for the first part of my life." Murtagh told her quietly. "I was my current age, which was odd. My mother was there, but she was not surprised to see me the way I was. Then, my father entered the room. He had Zar'roc, and he threw it in my direction. I was trying to run from it, but I couldn't escape it. But then, something else happened. Before the blade hit me, Morzan was replaced with Sarin and Zar'roc was replaced with his claws. They went down my back like my father's blade had done, and that is when I woke up..."

Then, the Rider gasped when a thought suddenly occurred to him. "Aianna, Sarin-!"

"I know." Aianna interrupted, giving him a slight smile to cover up her true emotions. "Agatha told me about what Sarin has become and that he has gone mad with his hate for the Empire. Is that why he… you know…" Her hand moved to her back.

"No." Murtagh said darkly as he shook his head. "He arrived when I was fighting with some of Morzan's creatures, and he killed them. That's when he said that he didn't want me to die from them when he could kill me himself. I guess when he got bitten by the wolf and gained its powers, he figured that he could go through with his threat."

Aianna sighed sadly and looked down as she thought about her brother. Then, she looked back up at the Rider, and she saw something that she had never noticed before. "What's that?" she asked, her eyes on the silver chain that hung around his neck. "It's beautiful…"

Murtagh looked down on it, and his dark eyes faltered. "This?" he answered. "This is one of the only gifts that I have ever gotten from my mother. She gave this one to me to represent part of her heart so that she would always be with me."

"Your mother sounds like she was a wonderful person." Aianna muttered. "I can tell that she loved you very much."

The Rider smiled as he nodded. "I wish that it could have been her that was revived instead of Morzan." Murtagh replied, looking down away from her. "I don't even know where she went after she left Eragon with his uncle or if she even really did die. The sad part is that she could even still be out there somewhere and we don't know where. I just don't know…"

Aianna sighed and placed her hand on the side of Murtagh's face and gently turned his head so that he was facing her. "Even if she really did die, she will still be with you. She gave you that chain for a reason. She gave you that chain to represent the part of her heart that you resided in so that she would be able to stay with you; so that you would remember her. Even if she really did die, she is alive within your own heart."

Murtagh smiled a little as the elf lowered her hand. "Thank you, Aianna…"

Then, they both looked up when the door to the room opened and Eragon and Agatha entered. The young Rider's face brightened up when he saw his brother. "Murtagh, you're awake!" he exclaimed.

Murtagh nodded to Eragon and smiled. "Good to see you too, Eragon."

The old woman hobbled over to the bed and placed her hand on Murtagh's shoulder. "I have some good news for you, Rider." Agatha told him. "I have found a spell that can combat the curse that your father has put on you."

The Rider brightened up at her words. "You mean that the curse will be broken?" Murtagh asked. Aianna also looked hopeful.

A smile appeared on Agatha's lined face as she nodded. "Yes, if I can use it correctly."

Murtagh sighed with relief as Aianna and Eragon laughed, all imagining the expression on Morzan's face when he found out that the curse could not be completed.

"But you are too weak in the state that you are in now for the spell to be done. The effects could kill you." Agatha cautioned. "We will have to do it tomorrow. Is that all right?"

"Yes." Murtagh replied, the smile still lighting up his features. "As long as it will be done."

Agatha smiled as she walked to the door and opened it. Then, she looked back at them. "Get some rest. Tomorrow will be a long day. Aianna, will you come with me, child? I have two smaller mattresses that you and Eragon could use."

Aianna stood up and left the room with the old woman to help her bring in the two mattresses. Murtagh made sure that she was gone and then turned to his brother, the smile no longer on his face.

The younger Rider looked back at him, sensing that something was on his mind. "Murtagh, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly. "Are you all right?"

"Listen to me, Eragon. Even though the curse in my scar will be lifted, you know as well as I do that Morzan will try a different method to get me to be like him." Murtagh answered quietly. "This will not stop him."

"I do know that." Eragon confirmed with a nod. "But do you really think that he would-!"

"Eragon, I want you to make me a promise. I need you to do this for me since I know that Aianna will not have the strength to do it." Murtagh interrupted heavily. "If Morzan does somehow succeed and I become like my father… I want you to kill me."

The words pierced Eragon's heart like a knife. "What?!" he exclaimed. "No, Murtagh! I could never do that!"

"Please, Eragon!" Murtagh pressed, his expression strained as his desperateness came through in his voice. "If Morzan succeeds, I know that I will hurt someone that I love, and I could never live with myself if that happened. Please, Eragon! It's the only way! Promise me!"

The younger Rider looked at his brother sadly. Kill Murtagh? He knew that he could never do a thing like that. But something deep in the back of his mind made Eragon know that his brother spoke the truth and that it was the only way.

"All right. I promise."

A/N: I'm sorry that it really wasn't action-packed, but there was only so much that I could do with this chapter. I hope you liked it, and every one of your reviews mean a lot to me! Thanks for reading! Talk to ya' later!