The lids of Talim's eyes gradually parted. Something maroon greeted them, but Talim was too tired to hold them open. Taking a shaky breath, Talim's head lurched to the side, her neck not strong enough to support it. She shook her head and gathered her remaining strength to open her eyes. A set of evil maroon eyes came into view, "Durza!" Talim gasped, and jerked back. She lost her balance and went all the way to the floor. Struggling, Talim realized that she was tied to a chair. The shade, seeming to be entertained by her actions, set Talim's chair up and looked her in the eye.
"Are you quite done?" he growled at her, faking annoyance.
"Lemmie go!" Talim ordered, her voice slurred, she still hadn't fully recovered. Durza chuckled softly.
"Where's the dragon egg?" he demanded, back to business.
Talim mentally groaned, and thinking fast she replied, "I don't know, someone stole it from me!" Durza looked like he didn't believe her, so she elaborated in a tale of some mysterious figure knocking her down just after she got outside of the castle walls. The shade still looked skeptical, so Talim added, "If you don't believe me, check my backpack!" With the shade's back to her, she wiggled franticly, trying to loosen her bonds. Noticing that her weapons belt was in the corner of the room, Talim felt for one of her concealed daggers. It happened to still be there. A sliver of hope returned to her, giving her the strength to hold on.
Wearing a puzzled look, Durza returned his attention to Talim, and confirmed, "There is no dragon egg in your backpack. But you could have hidden it outside of the castle!"
Scoffing, Talim retorted, "Why would I do that? Someone might steal it!"
Durza's eyes narrowed, "I don't know, but I can find out!" He stared deeply into Talim's eyes and seemed to be concentrating. Talim was confused but remembered something like this...
A little girl with long brown hair and red-brown eyes ran through the garden. She joyfully laughed at a strange bird and stopped at the feet of a man. "Father?" she said, tugging on his pants, for she only went up to his waist.
He turned and smiled, "Yes Talim?"
"Why am I named Talim?" she asked, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. Another man appeared at the king's side, the shade. He had an aura of evil surrounding him. Talim flinched slightly at the sight of him, but quickly regained her cheerful manner.
"Why do you wish to know this child?" the shade asked harshly.
Talim blinked, "Ummmm, I was wondering," she didn't really understand him.
"Your mother named you," Galbatorix cut in, "Now, we must be going." He turned to leave when Talim stopped him.
"Wait! What was mother like?" Talim asked, needing information.
Durza glared at her, "Why do you wish to know this, child?" Talim shrugged, but looked a little guilty for some reason. Durza stared straight into Talim's eyes. She felt something pushing against her mind, and she didn't want it there. She thought of building a big castle around her mind, not letting anything in. Unfortunately, the castle toppled and the probe was in, and withdrew in a few seconds. Durza grunted angrily and stalked away.
The king laughed and echoed the shade's words, "Why do you wish to know?"
"Umm, well, you know how Durza hangs around here a lot?" the king nodded, "and how you always hang out with Durza?" again, Galbatorix nodded, "well, I was wondering, is Durza my mother?" Talim finished hurriedly. The kind laughed and shook his head.
"He's going to read my mind!" Talim realized, and quickly turned her thoughts to a huge brick wall. Pressure forced the wall to crack, and she doubled her efforts to keep her secret. "No," Talim murmured. The wall began to give way again and Durza laughed.
"Foolish girl! Resistance is futile!" (A/n: I've always wanted to say that.) he roared, gaining more strength. The wall started to crumble and then vanished completely. Stunned, Durza didn't immediately intrude on her memories, he was confused why she wasn't whining, and struggling. He mentally shrugged, and headed forward. Talim sighed, she would never win, unless... she fought back! She reached out toward the shade's mind, and started to prod at his defenses. Just like the dragon's mind, Talim could now speak to Durza.
You won't win, I won't let you! She gasped, forcing her thoughts to push his back.
A cold laugh interrupted her concentration; Do you really want to enter my mind child? There are things there that are so horrible I cannot begin to explain... I'll give you a peak.
Piles of bodies lay before Talim. People with their lives snatched from them like precious gold. The scene grew sharper. A woman, sheltering her baby from Talim, a face of utmost loathing and fear, her lips parted in the 'oo' sound. Talim had heard the words: "Damn you," and then stopped the flow of them forever. Grief rushed over her, she had murdered all these people! It was her fault, it was... NO! It is Durza's fault! It's yours! A hissing voice echoed through the destroyed town. Or did it? It was coming from Talim's mind... NO! STOP! NOW!
The scene broke and she looked at her hands, they did not kill. She tore off her gloves, and felt her fingers; they were pure, untainted by death. She looked up at Durza; he was shocked, "What?" Talim began then realized- the silver mark on her palm! The shade must know the meaning!
While he was off guard Talim shifted her weight and grasped the concealed dagger. She slit her bonds and lunged at the shade. He opened his mouth to utter a spell, but Talim hit him in the head with the handle of the dagger. Grabbing her staff and clipping on her weapons belt, the girl came to stand over Durza. She couldn't let him know about her dragon, he would tell the king, and they would hunt her! She could kill him, but she wouldn't. A thought occurred to Talim, she could steal his memory!
Unwilling though she was to enter the death trap of a mind Durza possessed, Talim couldn't think of any other way. She pushed her through the shade's weakened defenses and found the most recent memory; it faintly played over and over again. Talim mentally cut it off from the memory of tying her to a chair and waiting for her to wake up, and attached it to her memory of the incident. She then tried to back out of his mind, but she couldn't! Durza's evil memories of slaughtering people began to consume Talim. She tried to fight but was loosing! The sharp bang of a door being flung open saved her and she looked up. The kind stood, framed in the doorway.
"H-h-how-?" he started, but Talim knocked him out in a similar fashion to Durza. She stepped over him and ran to the treasure vault. After rummaging through the artifacts of importance, Talim found what she was looking for: the sack of endless water and the sack of endless food. Clipping both elvin-made objects to her belt, Talim snuck out of the castle by a secret passage and closed the door. Turning around, she looked at the door, it blended in perfectly with the stone of the castle wall, Talim noted this spot for future reference and slinked around the dusk shadows, calling out to her dragon via mind connection.
She found it a half mile into the forest, feeling for the connection. She touched the dragon's nose and felt its presence in her mind. Talim. It chirped happily. Talim.
"Come on," Talim said aloud, "Lets go, we're crossing the Hadarac Desert." That was the truth, all she knew about the other rider was his name, Eragon, and that he was to the east. Sighing, she set out with the cover of night shielding her and her little dragon from the world.
This chapter is dedicated to XdragonsX. I have nothing else to say, except REVIEW! Cheers!
XdragonsX: I remember that the week after I wrote the first chapter, about 5 more fics where Galbatorix was her father/guardian showed up. I was kinda pissed at first, but I realized that these people probably read my fic and liked the idea so much that they had to use it too. Then whenever I read one of these fics I would always feel like someone complimented my writing. Who knows, maybe there's someone who put their fic out before me with Galbatorix as the main character's father. But I didn't copy anyone, and I can tell that you didn't copy me. Sometimes an author writes in a way that makes you wonder about someone's family. Anyway, I tried to keep my Talims short and switch around the structures of my sentences, and I will do a whole lot better next chapter! (I can tell because I already have it written.) Wow, this was a long response! BYE
Daydreamin' angel: good catch about sleep! I looked for that word quickly in the back of the book, but I didn't see it. You can tell I was rushing. (sweat drop) O well! I'll fix that on my fixing day, (tomorrow) because I don't have the files on this computer, and I will fix the other computer... tomorrow. lol. I guess I just don't feel like fixing it. Bye!
Mistress of eternal night: Thanks! The Seventh will probably be out before you get back also! Until then!
Lil KaWaIi AzN PrInCeSs: Yes, I do remember you! You were the first reviewer to realize that their mothers have the same name, and might be the same person! See ya!
And to all: The next chapter will probably be out in a week, maybe sooner if I'm feeling like writing. Tomorrow is Fix Day, where I fix all the little things in my chapters that you kind and very helpful reviewers have pointed out to me! Happy almost Fix Day! Bye!