A/N: Twin2: Twin1 is making me put up two chapters at once to make up for the cliffhanger last time. Sulk. No artistic vision, honestly…
Twin1: It's blatant torture, not an art form. We've had this argument.
Twin2: Which I won!
Twin1: Only because you used really long words that I couldn't understand…
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Chapter Thirty-Seven: Busted
"So, there were two dragons in that one egg?"
"Uh-huh."
-And it was very crowded, I must say.-
Keira, Murtagh, Thorn and Razi padded along together. They were walking, not to anywhere in particular, but just talking. Keira had told the whole story of finding the dragon egg and what happened thereafter, this time not omitting anything. Razi added his own thoughts or corrected her when she made a mistake.
It was the morning after they had freed Murtagh. He felt as though he had woken from a deep sleep, and couldn't help but smile at the bright young girl and her green dragon. Tria had yet to return, but Keira had said not to worry; that she'd come back when she was sure she had missed the sappy reunion. She never could stand romance.
He and Keira had made an unspoken agreement that their dragons must approve, and it seemed that each liked the other's human immensely, but had reserved judgement on the dragon.
There was the sound of great flapping wings above and all four walkers looked up to see Tria and Daine. They landed a little way ahead with a heavy thump.
"Is it safe to come back?" Tria called. Keira grinned and tugged her hand out of Murtagh's, trotting towards her sister.
"It's safe," she said, "We got all the icky stuff out of the way last night, in case you wanted to come back and sleep."
"Who needs sleep?" asked Tria, smiling.
"Me, according to Razi. He insisted I go to bed and kept a very close watch on me all the time I was sleeping, I must say."
Tria nodded as if she approved greatly of this plan, shooting Murtagh a suspicious look. Keira chuckled.
"Nobody trusts you, Murtagh," she said as Murtagh and the dragons reached them.
"Well, he is Eragon's brother," Tria pointed out, dismounting and moving over to stand next to said brother. "But you can't judge for that, I guess. I mean, you and I are identical, and we're as different as night and day."
Keira laughed, then smiled at the pair of them standing together. Then she shook her head.
"I'm going to find some breakfast," she said, "Are you coming?"
"In a minute," said Tria, with a look that told Murtagh he was staying put or else.
"Okay," Keira replied, noticing nothing, "Why don't the dragons all go hunting together?"
"Good idea!" said Tria enthusiastically, "Go on, all of you."
Tria smiled as Keira walked away and the dragons took off, but the moment they were gone, Tria wheeled and grabbed Murtagh's collar, even though he was taller and stronger than she was.
"Listen," she growled, "I've gone along with this because of how miserable Keira was without you, and because you seem like a nice enough guy, but if you even think about hurting her in any way, I swear on my dragon's sharp, pointy teeth, I will end you, and it won't be pretty. Understand?"
"Yes," said Murtagh, a little confused and thinking that he would never want to cross swords with this feisty girl. She was certainly much more aggressive than her twin, which might explain why she was always looking out for her. "Tria, I have no intention of ever hurting Keira."
Tria scowled at him, searching his eyes carefully, before saying, "Okay, that made me feel better. Of course, if you were a liar and a cheat you'd say that anyway, so I'll still watch you like a hawk."
"I'd expect nothing less."
Tria squinted at him for a moment longer, then she released him and sighed.
"What are we going to tell Eragon?"
"How about the truth?" suggested Murtagh. Tria paused, as if the idea hadn't occurred to her before.
"Hey, yeah! Just say 'we broke the spells on Murtagh so he's on our side again'! Shocking, but easy to stick to. Great! Eragon will be furious!" Tria sounded unaccountably happy at the thought of seriously peeving off her mentor.
"Aren't you worried you'll get in trouble?" Murtagh asked, wondering how much authority his brother held. Tria shook her head and shrugged.
"He does punish us, giving us extra chores and stuff, but he'd never hit us, which makes him much less scary than… say… our mother, so we feel free to annoy and disobey, and just take the consequences as they come."
That stopped Murtagh short. "Your mother hits you?" he asked. Tria sighed again.
"It's her way of saying 'I love you'. No, wait, sorry. It's her way of saying 'I hate you, you brat! You screwed up my life!'"
"You are joking, right?" Murtagh said, but Tria only shrugged and began to move towards the camp.
"I'm hungry. Are you?" she called over her shoulder. Murtagh stared after her, then smiled and shook his head. He did like this odd family, dragons and all.
"Hey, Murtagh. Has Tria finished threatening your life?" asked Keira as he arrived in the camp. She was bending over a pile of sticks, struggling to turn it into a fire. Without a word, Murtagh took her flint and had one started in seconds.
"Thanks," she said. "But I can light one on my own."
"I know," he replied, "I just thought I'd be a gentleman."
Tria made a noise somewhere between a cough and a gag and Keira giggled.
"That's Tria's noise for 'Don't forget I'm still here. Lay off on the goo-goo eyes!'" she laughed. Then she turned to mock-seriousness. "Tria, you haven't been scaring Murtagh while I was out of earshot, have you?"
"Who, me?" said Tria, turning wide, innocent eyes on her sister, "Never! Besides, he's bigger than me. How could I scare him?"
"All too easily. You inherited Mother's ability to make herself ten feet tall when she's mad."
"Whatever. What's for breakfast?"
"Whatever you find in the bag," replied Keira easily. "Go have a look."
"I have some food, too," Murtagh chipped in, "Would you like me to fetch it?"
"Why not?" said Tria, rummaging through her bag. Murtagh moved to where he had left Thorn's saddle and rooted through the saddle bags.
"We may as well eat what we have," said Keira, adding sticks to the fire, "Eragon will be here soon, and he won't be happy. Either way, we'll be heading back to civilisation. So eat until you're not hungry; never mind about rationing."
"My favourite sentence," smiled Tria, coming back to her twin laden down with meat, apples, a few loaves of bread and two flasks of water. In short, everything they'd snitched from the kitchen when they left. Murtagh soon joined them with a large meat pie, half-a-dozen sugar buns and two flasks. He dumped the lot in Tria's lap, on top of the girls' supplies. Tria smiled.
"This is totally 'Nobleman's food'," she said, examining a sugar bun. Murtagh nodded.
"Straight from the king's table. Enjoy it."
Tria tossed her sister a bun and broke off a part of the pie, not bothering with a knife.
Soon the three of them were all eating, talking and laughing happily. The dragons joined them after an hour or so, and the whole group just lounged around, talking and sharing news.
Suddenly, Tria sat up. "Eragon should be along soon," she commented, glancing at the sun. Keira nodded.
"It always takes him about this long to find us when we run away," she agreed. Without another word, both girls set about tidying their stuff, packing everything up and saddling the dragons. Murtagh followed suit, a bemused expression on his face. When you run away? When everything was away, Keira took his arm and drew close to him, ignoring Tria's very exaggerated turning away.
"And three… two… one…" she whispered in his ear. She pointed to the horizon, where a blue speck appeared. Both twins grinned triumphantly.
"So predictable," sighed Tria.
The girls waited calmly and Murtagh waited not-so-calmly for the blue dragon to reach them.
"Listen," said the red rider, "Maybe I should back off a bit and let you explain what happened before I turn up. It's just, my brother isn't going to be too happy to see me."
"Good idea," said Tria instantly. "You and Thorn disappear. Stay away for about ten minutes, then come back. That should give us enough time, don't you think, Keira?"
"Uh… yes, I think so," said Keira, knowing that Tria was planning to explain about the same amount as the warning she gave to Eragon before rescuing Keira from the king.
Murtagh was atop Thorn in a heartbeat, and the red dragon took off quickly, rising quickly above the clouds and out of sight of the far-off Saphira. The twins sat side-by-side next to their fire, waiting as the blue speck gradually became bigger and bigger, and eventually grew into the dragon they knew as Saphira. Eragon was astride her, as expected, and looking angry.
-Bus-ted,- sang Saphira, setting down next to the twin dragons, sounding more amused than annoyed. The same could not be said for her Rider. Eragon leapt off his dragon the moment she landed.
-What the hell were you doing?- he demanded, furious.
Keira glanced sideways at her twin, who was standing idly and tapping her foot. Evidently she was going to wait for Eragon to finish ranting before trying to say anything… or at the very least wait until she got bored. Probably the latter.
-Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in?!-
"I've got a fair idea," Tria muttered, not looking the least unhappy at the thought.
"So you four can look forward to every tedious, repetitive, pointless task I can find until I think of a suitable punishment for you!"
Keira winced a little: he'd swapped to verbal shouting, and although that caused less of a headache, it was hard on one's ears. And the headaches you did get were generally long-lasting and more than difficult to get rid of.
-Eragon, Tria has something to tell you,- said Razi. Eragon ignored him.
"I think we'll start with dishes. Do you have any idea how many dishes an army dirties? You will soon!"
Daine considering speaking up to give her Rider something to work from, but decided against it, knowing Eragon wouldn't listen in the slightest.
A shadow dipped overhead, cutting off Eragon's rant. Looking up, Keira saw a huge red dragon wheeling towards them and smiled. It was Murtagh. A little early, but hey, it shut Eragon up.
"Girls, get behind me," said Eragon urgently. Neither twin obeyed, of course. Keira was watching the dragon with an emotion he couldn't place shining in her eyes; Tria was looking on in… amusement?
"Now! Tria! Keira! Get back!" he cried. He knew in his heart why his brother was here, and had to get the twins out of the line of direct fire. When neither twin moved, he hoisted them out of the way with magic. They were thrown over to Razi on the side of the clearing. Tria shouted something vaguely rude. Daine, he pushed into the trees, hoping to keep her existence a secret.
Thorn landed with a thump and Murtagh leapt off him. His eyes flicked towards Keira, and Eragon saw him smile softly. He strode forward, reaching the twins and said something into Keira's ear. Then he turned and faced his brother.
"Eragon," he said calmly, "It's been a while."
"Not long enough," Eragon growled. "Get away from them!"
"Eragon, calm down and shut up, or I'll tie you up," said Tria, loudly, loud enough to actually get his attention, because while Tria was rude, brash, difficult and aggressive, she didn't threaten him. Usually, anyway.
"Tria, you have no idea what you're doing!" Eragon roared at her, now very irritated that she chose now to be the most annoying creature in all of Alagaësia, and fixing her with a glare that promised a violent and painful death.
"I know exactly what I'm doing!" Tria yelled back, not in the least intimidated. "You may not know what I'm doing, but I know perfectly well what's going on and I am in complete control, before you ask!"
"YOU ARE FIFTEEN! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON!"
"JUST BECAUSE YOU WERE A MORON WHEN YOU WERE FIFTEEN DOES NOT MEAN I AM AS WELL!" Tria bellowed. Somehow, during the shouting match, the distance between them had closed to a few metres, so she was getting the full effect of his returning bellow.
Murtagh, off to the side, whispered to Keira, "Will your sister be alright? If looks could kill…"
Keira giggled. "If looks could kill Eragon'd be dead quicker than you could blink. Tria'll be fine. She just likes arguing with him."
"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT WHILST STANDING CALMLY NEXT TO A KILLER WHO HAS SWORN YOUR SISTER OVER TO THE KING?!"
"Or maybe she just has a death wish. I really don't know."
"IF YOU WOULD SHUT UP FOR FOUR SECONDS I'D EXPLAIN!! BESIDES, MURTAGH DIDN'T PROMISE KEIRA TO THE KING, THE KING PROMISED KEIRA TO MURTAGH, SO HA!"
"Not the best thing to say, Tria," muttered Keira. She sensed Murtagh wince as Eragon shot him a look that was part horrified and part furious and drew closer to him. He put an arm around her shoulders almost automatically, and Razi rolled his eyes.
Eragon turned on his brother, drawing his sword quickly. "Let her go," he said in a deadly voice. Beside him, Tria sighed.
"Eragon, you idiot," she said, "Leave him alone. If Keira doesn't mind, neither should you."
Eragon's face was unreadable as he observed his student and brother standing close together, Razi standing by unconcernedly.
"Traitor," he said quietly. Tria's eyes widened. She hadn't anticipated this reaction. "Traitor!" he repeated, "You are on his side! Get out of here, and never return!"
Hurt covered Keira's face as her mentor spat these words at her, and Murtagh pulled her closer instinctively. Tria's face went red slowly.
"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT TO HER?!" she screamed, absolutely furious. "MY SISTER IS NO TRAITOR! AND, AS YOU WOULD KNOW IF YOU ACTUALLY LISTENED TO ME FOR A SECOND, MURTAGH IS ON OUR SIDE NOW, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!!!"
"And on who's word am I taking this?" Eragon asked coldly. Tria narrowed her eyes.
"Don't make me hurt you."
"It's true, Eragon," Murtagh spoke up in the ancient language as Keira nudged him. "The girls freed me from my oaths using a very clever spell, and now both Thorn and I are untethered. I mean no-one here harm. I never wanted to betray you, brother, or Keira."
"Keira?" repeated Eragon, "Why Keira specifically?"
Everyone, including Saphira, groaned.
-Little one,- she chided, -Everyone but you has noticed that Keira and Murtagh became… close… during her imprisonment.-
"Close?" repeated Eragon. He sounded lost. Tria slapped her forehead with her palm.
"They're in love!" she snapped.
There was a pause. "I'm not sure I wanted to know that," Eragon admitted.
"Obviously, from your continued ignoring of the obvious over the last month," Tria replied scathingly. Keira flushed with embarrassment as Eragon turned to scrutinise her again and eased herself away from Murtagh, breaking the contact.
"So, are you calm enough not to kill Murtagh if I turn my back now?" she asked. Eragon shrugged.
"I want a full account of what happened from you and then from him in the ancient language before I'm convinced, as well as the right to examine his mind and yours, but I won't try to kill him, no."
"Good enough," Keira replied, turning her back to him to fiddle with Razi's girth. Murtagh grinned at her back fondly. She was cute when she was embarrassed. Eragon and Tria both gave an embarrassed cough at the same time and turned hurriedly back to their own dragons. Thorn lumbered forward from where he had been standing quietly on the edge of the clearing.
-Hello,- he said to Saphira, -We've never been properly introduced. I'm Thorn.-
-Saphira,- said Saphira, sniffing his nose friendlily and ignoring Eragon's mistrustful gaze. -It's nice to meet you properly.-
-It is,- agreed Thorn. Murtagh joined them just then, so Thorn turned his attention to his rider, answering his queries about whether his saddle needed adjusting with good humour.
In the short pause that followed, Tria touched her mind to her sister's, Daine and Razi, linking the four of them.
-Mission accomplished,- she said calmly, making the other three laugh.