Okay, okay. To make you all happy, I am really sorry the last chapter was so short, but I needed a short one to get them back to Alagaësia, so I know it was pointless and fluff! But this chapter is WAY longer and NO FLUFF!
Disclaimer: I do not own Eragon, Eldest, Inheritance series, blah blah blah, dragon fetish not dead yet, you know what I usually say
Warm sun light bathed Eragon, warming him through his white clothes which he had not had the chance to change since he traveled to Coseara. A strong wind blew through, ruffling his hair and carrying the fresh smell of rain after a storm.
He had an odd crick in his neck as he sat up, eyes still closed. Not having enough energy however, he managed to get up half way only to fall back down on the comforting grass.
Wait… grass?
Thinking he had a very realistic dream, Eragon reached up his hand to clear his eyes from sleep. He didn't remember having any bizarre dreams, or eating anything odd. As a matter of fact, he hadn't eaten at all since Coseara. He had not eaten for a whole day, yet he did not feel hungry. Just as he tried to pull his hand up to his eyes, he found that he could not do it. His hands seemed to not be able to reach past his hip, and whenever he moved one hand, the other came along with it.
What a strange dream…
Eragon opened his eyes, to find that it was not a dream, vision, or any other hallucination. The world seemed to shout at him: Welcome to reality. His hands were bond together behind his back with a tight rope, and the same followed for his legs. In a panic, he unsuccessfully wriggled around, trying to free himself from the tight bonds, as well as the ones that kept him against a tree.
Cold sweat ran down his back. He closed his eyes and counted to ten under his breath. Hoping his current situation would go away, he opened his eyes for the second time, praying to see the wooden ceiling and the familiar covered bed in the elven city.
Nothing changed. Wind blowing, sun shining, grass blowing… and he bound to a tree. Striving to clam himself, he took several deep breaths and then remembered his bright blue dragon.
Saphira! Saphira, help!
An agitated rumble came from his right, and he turned his head and looked in horror. Metal chains were wrapped around her four legs, binding her to the ground beneath her. Another chain ran up from the ground and was attached to a muzzle secured around her face, restricting her from both opening her jaw and moving her head too far in any direction. In other words, they were helpless.
"Have a nice sleep, oh dear Rider?"
Eragon whipped his head about to face the direction of the voice. A tall, lean elf stepped out from the forest, admiring the bounds of his captors. His black hair complimented the angled features, matching well with his deep auburn eyes. Saphira let out a hostile growl, exposing her long white teeth, while a trail of smoke gently drifted up from her nostrils.
The elf laughed. "Who knew that it would be so easy to drug the infamous Rider Eragon and drag him out here! Your dragon, what do you call her – Saphira, struggled a little bit, but I was expecting to have to fight you at least. I didn't even have to use magic!" and he gave a venomous smile as he stared at the two.
"And what exactly do you plan to do with us? Torture us? Kill us? We can just as easily kill you with magic" Eragon spat back, twisting his face in anger.
The elf looked smug and replied coolly to Eragon, "You will find that the drug I gave you has a wonderful side effect. Just try." His smile became wider.
"Bri-" Eragon meant to send a little fire towards the strange elf, trying to scare him. Suddenly he was violently coughing, and a heat pulsed through his veins. But the feeling was gone almost as soon as it came, and he was left panting and struggling for breath.
"It is amazing how potent a single herb can be." The smile still clinging to his face
From Eragon's left side, two more elves emerged from the dense forest of trees – one a red headed female with green eyes, the other, a blonde male offset by blue eyes.
"We have returned from Ellesmera, Mivion." The redhead addressed the dark haired elf.
"Well I figured as much." Mivion said slickly. She frowned slightly at his comment as he continued, "And?"
"They expect nothing. They don't even know they are gone yet." The blonde explained.
"Good. Did you hide any traces you left behind?"
"Of course." The redhead replied.
"Umm…" the blonde reached a hand up to scratch his head thoughtfully. "Heh heh…"
(A/N : yea, I know elves are supposed to be like perfect and all that, but it is funny and it fits into the story! Anyway, back to our beloved hero…)
"Ael, you are not being serious, are you? Do I have to do everything around here!" Mivion yelled at the blonde. "Fine, can you at least watch the Rider here and his dragon while I clean up your mess? Or is that too hard for you?"
Ael blushed, and turned his head to the ground, seemingly ashamed. "No, I… I can watch them."
Mivion brushed past them. "Lauxa, can you at least make sure this fool does not do anything stupid."
She sighed, "Why do I always have to watch him?"
"Just do it." And Mivion passed into the forest.
Eragon gave both of them the dirtiest look he could muster, rage still bubbling beneath the surface. Lauxa returned the stare, but was more a look of interest than of repulsiveness. Several minutes passed by in silence, Ael only breaking the silence by tripping over a tree root on his way to the other side of camp.
Lauxa finally spoke up, "I bet he never even told you why we captured you, did he?"
Eragon thought about this question for a few moments. "How did you know?"
"Oh, it figures. He gets too caught up in himself." She turned around and seated herself on a felled tree that lay across the camp. "And I suppose you want to know."
Why is she acting like this towards me? So strange… Like she really doesn't want to keep me here.
"Yes… but – why?" he voiced aloud, still wary of his captors.
Lauxa stayed quiet, surveying Eragon up and down through her piercing green eyes. He felt like a specimen in an experiment – left to be prodded and observed, while he was left at the mercy of the experimenters.
"Because I hate Mivion. And I don't have to follow his orders – he doesn't rule over me." She said smoothly.
"So… are you going to tell me?"
She scrutinized him once again. Lauxa had just opened her mouth before Mivion broke back into the camp, making her give a disapproving face.
"What were you doing with the prisoner?" he shot at her, seeing Ael wandering around camp and herself clearly having a conversation with Eragon and Saphira.
"Well what does it matter to-"
"It matters because I said so! Now what were you telling him?" Mivion shout at her once again.
Lauxa gave him a filthy look before getting up off of the log and striding out of the clearing. "You know," she said, not turning to face him as she walked off, "I quit. And guess what? I will tell all of Ellesmera where you are!"
"YOU CAN'T QUIT! YOU'RE FIRED!" Mivion's face was red with anger, punching his fists into the air.
Ignoring him, Lauxa strode onward into the brush and out of site. Eragon stared after her, slightly perturbed by the argument, but a few good things came out of it: at least someone would know he was gone, and the possibility of being rescued. Turning back to Mivion, who stood fuming and kicked a branch on the ground, causing it to fly off fifty feet away.
Ael finally looked around, and being the delayed elf he was, asked "Hey, where did Lauxa go?"
"You are such an idiot Ael. I have no clue why I even recruited you." An exasperated sigh came from the dark haired leader.
"Because you needed more people to help you, and no one else believed in fighting the other races for elven domination." Ael said gladly, apparently proud of himself for being able to answer the not-quite question.
"Elven domination?" Eragon questioned.
A look dawned on Mivion's that silently said 'why-do-you-make-me-deal-with-these-complete-imbeciles'. "Yes, elven domination. Now that we have captured you, my pretty little friend, you and that winged freak won't be able to hold me back from destroying those inferior races and rightfully reclaiming Alagaësia for my people!"
"What?" What? "What?" All three exclaimed at Mivion's explaination.
"What are you questioning for Ael?"
"You're planning to take over all of Alagaësia? I thought you only said we were going to take over Dras-Leona!" Ael looked frightened at the fact that he wanted to take over the whole world.
"I said we would start by taking over Dras-Leona!" Ael just stared open mouthed. Mivion rolled his eyes and snapped back to Eragon. "There is nothing you can do to stop us, Rider. We will dominate all of Alagaësia!"
Eragon's heart raced. Where are you Nika?
Back in Ellesmera
"You wake her up!"
"No, the Queen told you to wake her up!"
"I don't wanna wake her up!"
"Neither do I!"
Whispers floated outside the door that closed off Nika's room. She had been listening to this conversation since the two elf children had been assigned by Queen Islanzadí to retrieve their new guest. Looks like they are still scared of me, Nika though, sighing inwardly.
"I'm awake! And I will be right there."
There was dead silence. Then, "Lady Nika, um… the Queen wants you immediately in her court!"
"Tell her I will be right there."
Two sets of small feet were heard sprinting out of the house, seemingly as fast as they could. What a welcome visitor I am. Nika opened her eyes, blinking at the sunlight shining through a small window in the corner.
The previous nights' torrent of rain had completely soaked through both her bandages and her blindfold, so she had removed them, leaving the blindfold to dry on the side of her bed, but not before making sure the door was securely locked before drifting off to sleep. Her eyes were so unused to being in direct sunlight that she immediately covered them with her hand, slowly adjusting to the rays.
Sitting up on her bed, Nika peered around the room, examining just how materialistic the people in this world were. Feathered mattress, polished wooden tables, endless supply of food… yet they left people in the streets starving and homeless. Coseara really is all that different.
Shaking her head, she moved on to face getting ready to go outside. Nika peered at her body, examining the large black and blue bruises, occasionally tinged with green. Pulling another long roll of gauze from thin air, she began the tedious task of hiding the larger bruises. The smaller ones she could deal with, using a concealing "spell" to make them blend in with the rest of her skin. The larger bruises however were just easier to wrap a bandage around and leave alone.
When she had finished wrapping her leg and both of her feet, she discovered a new contusion spreading across her left hand. Lets just hope Eragon doesn't ask me again about this one… I don't think I can put him off any longer.
Pushing herself to her feet, she bent over to stretch, expanding her wings to their full extent in the process, letting them hit the top of the ceiling. Nika straightened back up, walking over to the wash basin and kneeled over it. Whenever she traveled to Alagaësia it exhausted her, and that was only when she traveled alone. Her fatigue showed, marking deep shadows under her eyes. A quick wash and she was back up, heading towards the door. Hand in midair, she suddenly remembered the blindfold next to her bed. While she was in the general area, her belt was beside the mattress too and she considered it. Making her decision, Nika picked up the belt and tied it around her slender waist, allowing it to rest on her hips.
On her way out of the tree home, she picked up an apple that was lying in a fruit basket next to the door. She couldn't help but laugh, how nice of them. I thought they moved past their meatless obsession, but a stubborn elf can't be moved!
She meandered down the road, heading in the general direction of the elven queen's home. Nika bit down on the apple, the crunching the only sound around the peaceful town. As she neared the large home, the front doors opened up and a woman with long dark hair rushed out, looking upset and distressed. Two guards hurried after her, calling after her as she rushed out.
"Princess Ayra! Please, wait a moment!" But upon seeing Nika, the elf ran faster towards her.
"Nika, Nika please! Help, you must help!" Ayra ran up to the angel. Nika stopped in her tracks, watching in amusement as the guards behind the princess tried to catch up with her. "Eragon has been taken prisoner, help, please Lady Nika, you have to help!"
Well, technically I don't have to do anything…
"I know." Nika replied coolly.
"Wait – what? You know? But how? Aren't you going to do anything!" Ayra's distress was just escalating.
"No." the elf's jaw dropped.
"What did you just say? How can you just leave him! He could be hurt, or even… even dead…" the last thought seemed to break Ayra down.
Do I have to explain everything around here? "Lady Ayra, it is very simple. It is like a child that has stolen something from a shop. They do not steal for themselves, but to show it off to others so they can prove themselves. If we wait long enough, then they will come to us to show off that they captured Rider Eragon and Dragon Saphira. If we do not act, they will. And as to how I know, an elephant could have made less noise around a mouse." Nika explained. Speak of the devil…
About fifty feet behind them, a redheaded elf appeared out of the forest, gracefully stepping on the cobbled street. She looked a little misplaced, a couple of twigs and leaves clinging to her dress. Not wanting to appear arrogant, Nika turned around to face the approaching elf, but Ayra still felt an outward 'I-told-you-so' gloating.
Bright red hair skimmed the ground as the elf gave a low bow to Nika, and the greeting to Ayra. "I have news of Rider Eragon and Saphira. If you will follow me…" gesturing back into the forest from which she came. Nika noticed that she was slightly red in the face, and seemed discomfited about something.
In Ayra's current state, she would be much help. But still, not to be rude, I should allow her to do something instead of making her feel helpless. "Ayra, will you alert the Queen the we have received news of both Saphira and Eragon? I will follow Lauxa here, and try to rescue them. Okay?" Nika tried to sound as comforting as possible.
Ayra nodded. "Good luck. Please… bring them back." And she headed back to the court.
"How do you know my name?"
Oops. "I… guessed? But that doesn't matter right now. Lead on. We have some important people to save!"
They entered the camp, where none of the others seemed to take notice. That is until Ael looked up.
"Hey Lauxa! Who do you have there with you?"
At that, Mivion spun around and Eragon's face lit up simultaneously. "You have to be joking…" Mivion muttered.
Nika examined the scene, noting the chains around Saphira and the ropes that bound Eragon. Only a dagger? Is that all the protection he has? She saw the silver hilt of the dagger peak out of the bottom of Mivion's , something none of the other elves or even Eragon seemed to notice.
"Okay, listen… I you just let Eragon and Saphira go now without a struggle, I won't have to hurt you." Nika offered, knowing fully that he would not do any such thing.
"You want them so badly," Mivion moved and in a blur, a silver dagger was at Eragon's throat. "Come and get him."
What a surprise. But not to Lauxa. "Don't you dare hurt him! You know what punishment lies in store for you if you do!"
He raised the dagger higher, Eragon feeling to cool blade against his chin. "Think that will stop me?"
Suddenly, the dagger disappeared. A quick thud was heard and Mivion was left staring at an empty hand. Fear and shock surrounded his face, and he looked around in disbelief. He didn't have to look very far.
An inch away from Eragon's face, two other daggers crossed themselves and were embedded into the tree, Mivion's dagger pinned in between them. The blades were stunningly blue, reflecting onto the tree and the silver metal. The handle was beautifully white, no design inlaid on the simple splendor. Slowly, he backed away from Eragon, revolving around to face the others.
Nika stood, legs slightly spread, two more identical daggers spinning in her hands. She was different. She was… intimidating, even a little frightening. There was control, but the amount of sheer power was unimaginable. "I said if you hand them over now, I won't have to hurt you. Do you want to reconsider?"
Mivion began shaking, and he held his hands up in surrender. He back away, eyes unblinking, seemingly unable to speak. "T-take him. Y-you can h-have them now. Heh, heh…" he stuttered. As soon as he approached the edge of the edge of the forest, he turned and sprinted.
"Coward…" Nika muttered under her breath. She strode over to Eragon and pulled cut the ropes in one fluid motion. Before she retrieved her other two daggers, she cut the metal chains from Saphira, the knifes slicing through the metal like butter. The shackles clanked as they hit the ground, and Saphira stretched her neck and let out a loud roar of elation.
Transfixed, Eragon just stared openmouthed as Nika retrieved her two knife still stuck in the tree. Placing one foot against it, she tugged lightly and the dagger came smoothly out, even though they were embedded four inches deep in the tree. She grabbed hold of Mivion's silver knife and tossed it over to Lauxa, where it way quivering on the ground at her feet.
"Here, he won't need it anymore. Come on Eragon, people are worrying about you." And she strode off into the forest, Eragon trying to keep up as they made their way back to Ellesmera.
Happy now? NO more cliffies!Okay so here is the deal, PLEASE REVIEW! Was it too long, too short(i really hope not) bad, good?It can even be a one word review like "good" or "it sucks" or "atrocious"! heck, even bang your head on the keyboard for a review. I AM LOSING HOPE HERE! And losing ideas too…. I hate writers block…. It is that little button right over here…. PLEASE REVIEW!
press the button... it is right here V
