A/N: I hate this new rule! I can't talk to you guys.

Chapter 18: Without You

Marie was in a trance. She had stopped crying her heart out but now she couldn't think She couldn't see. Her body was numb. She didn't want to live anymore. She wanted to die. To see the Oropher she loves. Not an angry beast.

She was dragged into the mountain. She let the bald men search through her mind. While they were doing that, she found herself laughing and crying with the memories. She wanted to go back to them. To go back to yesterday and sleep in the peaceful, wide open desert with her beloved partner next to her.

A dark colored girl tried to talk to her but she would not speak. Finally, a very short man took her hand and led her up long, long stairways, to a bunch of halls with rooms. He led her to the first room and left her.

Marie stood there, looking around the room. Everything was carved and made with such delicacy that it was practically flowing with beauty. Marie neither noticed nor cared. She threw herself on the bed and the tears came again.

She cried all for hours on end, not knowing whether it was daylight or not. She couldn't think-she couldn't feel. When food was brought to her she left it alone.

After crying hard Marie sat on the bed, staring at her door in a trance.

A soft knock came on the door. Marie neither moved nor responded. She just sat there in a bottomless pit of despair.

The door opened and in came the dark colored girl.

"Marie? Is that you?" she asked. Something was calling to Marie. That voice…sounded so much like…

"Marie…it's me…Na-"

"Nasuada," Marie said, her voice flatter than paper.

"Yes, it is I," Nasuada said and she walked in and sat down on the bed next to Marie.

"How long has it been?" she asked.

"3 years," said Marie. With thought of Nasuada three years ago it brought back memories of her trips on the merchant ships with her mom and dad. They were so fun…and her family was there. Thinking of family brought memories…fresh memories of Oropher…Marie preferred not to think at all.

"Marie…I'm sorry about your parents…and Oropher…" Nasuada stared at Marie in pity as she flinched at the sound of her dragon's name. "But…we…the Varden…need to know where Eragon and Saphira are."

A sudden spark lit inside Marie's body. Anger began snaking its way around her.

"Please. They're our last hope…" Nasuada said.

That was it. "Your last hope! What about me! I'm a Rider too you know! My dragon is still alive! Just because he's evil doesn't mean I can't get him back! And just because I supposedly don't have a dragon now doesn't mean I'm no use! Take a look at Brom! He was probably the greatest Rider out there and his dragon died a millennium ago! So why don't you leave the dragon talk to the big kids Nasuada! You have no idea what you're talking about!"

Nasuada's eyes filled with hurt and regret. Marie didn't care. Marie couldn't care. The thought of Eragon and Saphira brought her back to life. They would never give up on each other. She wasn't about to give up on Oropher!

Suddenly yells could be heard from down below. A deafening noise filled their ears and then there was a roar. Oropher…

"Oropher!" Marie screamed. She reached out to him with her heart mind body and soul and ran out the door to the staircase. She began racing down it just as she felt the familiar presence of her dragon.

Oropher! Suddenly daggers and swords shot out of his mind and hit her hard. Marie overcame by such pain and agony, she tripped on the stairs and began to roll down.

She screamed, her voice rippling through the mountain. Marie flipped over onto her stomach and grabbed a stair. She stopped, half her body hanging off the edge. Her head and arms and legs and body were bleeding, some loosely and some slowly. With her last ounce of strength, she pulled herself all the way onto the stairs and passed out.

She woke to the same bedroom as before but inside, there was Eragon.

He looked furious.

"You! How could you tell him to do that! How-why? I know you were mad at me but did you have to send Oropher to attack us? Kull were already perusing us! He hurt Saphira, Marie! He could've killed her," he yelled. He stopped staring at her with his angered intent brown eyes.

If Marie could cry, she probably would've started. But it wasn't her fault. "Eragon…"

"No! I don't want your pity excuses! I want to truth!"

"You want the truth?" Marie demanded, her voice getting high as she threw the blankets off her and stood, ignoring her throbbing head.

"Yes!" yelled Eragon.

"Then I'll tell you the truth, Eragon! The truth is, I have no control over my best friend anymore! The truth is, we met the Shade before he got here!" Marie yelled. Now the tears were coming as the entire night flashed before her.

Eragon stared at her. "The Shade?"

"Yes…her had me tied up…he was going to use this special fire to make me do whatever he asked. To change my thoughts! My thoughts, Eragon…" she mumbled.

"And when he let it go…" Eragon whispered.

"Oropher stepped in and protected me…" Marie sat down and began crying again. The loss was so painful.

"Marie…I'm sorry…I didn't understand-"

"No! You don't understand!" Marie pointed at the bandage around her head. "When I tried to contact him…my dragon…my best friend…did this to me. He did this!"

"Marie, I-"

"Go…Eragon…"

"Marie-"

"JUST GO!" she shouted. Eragon was stunned by her and her story. He left without a word.