Disclaimer: I do not own any familiar characters featured in this story. They all belong to the creative Christopher Paolini.

In the Depths of Misery
By: Silver pup
Part Five

When Eragon opened his eyes again the first thing he saw was a bright, blinding light. Groaning, he closed his eyes again quickly and turned his face away from it.

Am I dead? Did Murtagh finally kill me? And what the hell is that awful smell, he thought as he slowly opened one eye and then the other. Blinking, he looked around and realized three things. One, he was not dead and still laying in the mud with an unconscious Murtagh. Two, the blinding light was the sun, which was now over him, so it had to be noon now. And three that the awful smell was standing a few feet away with a hungry expression.

"Oh no," he muttered as a giant cat, or whatever the Hell it was, began to growl. It was pretty big with gold-brown colored fur and long, sharp looking teeth. Its amber eyes were narrowed, and gazed at him in a predatory fashion.

"Murtagh," he whispered urgently. "Murtagh, wake up. I think we're in trouble."

The unconscious young man didn't stir and the cat-thing began circling them. Panic began to bubble in him.

"Damnit, Murtagh wake up, please," he said a little louder but watched the cat-thing closely. Murtagh twitched but still didn't wake up.

"Oh for the love of…!" Eragon reached over quickly and yanked his brother's hair. "Murtagh, get up!"

The brunette sat up quickly. Murtagh was the type of person who went from sleep to being wide-awake with natural ease. "Wha… What's going on?"

Eragon gestured to the cat-thing that was still circling them. "We're about to become kitty chow that's what. What do we do?"

The older Rider blinked and stared at the cat-thing. "And what makes you think I know?"

"Because you're older!"

"Eragon, that has to be the dumbest thing I think I've ever heard you say."

"What? No it's not, it's perfectly logical. You're older and have more knowledge! So how do we get rid of the cat?"

"I say we run as fast as we can."

"What?! And you're calling me stupid? What makes you think we can outrun a healthy, giant cat, huh? Incase you didn't notice, we're both still injured and have nothing to defend ourselves with!"

"Eragon, calm down. I didn't mean we should outrun the cat but get back to the cave where I left Za'roc."

"And what makes you think we'll get there in time?"

"Well it's only behind those trees over there. I mean it's not like we're miles away thanks to your ankle."

"Fine! So how do we do that?"

"…"

"Murtagh?"

"I'm thinking!"

"Well think faster damnit!"

The cat-thing stopped prowling and stared at Eragon before crouching low to the ground and flexing its claws. The brunette felt himself go cold and before he knew it, the cat-thing was leaping at him with its claws out and mouth wide open. Petrified, he stared as it got closer and found that he couldn't move his body nor could he tear his eyes away from the hypnotic gaze of the cat-thing.

He felt something wrap its hand around his bicep but didn't pay much attention to it until it pulled him out of the cat-thing's path, and straight into the arms of someone else. Confused, he looked up and realized he was now standing next to Murtagh; who was griping his arm tightly with one hand and had the other wrapped around his shoulders and holding him to his chest. Blinking, he turned his face up and met Murtagh's annoyed gaze.

"I can't believe you're a frickin' Rider," the older male mumbled looking back up to the cat-thing that was watching them and growling again.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Eragon asked as he narrowed his eyes.

"It means that if the Varden are depending on you to save them then they're doomed," Murtagh answered calmly before pushing the younger boy behind him. "Now be quiet for once and stay behind me. I can't deal with this stupid animal with you in the way."

Eragon looked over the other's shoulder and looked back to Murtagh with an arched brow. "What are you going to do? Stare it to death?"

Murtagh held the amber gaze of the feline and didn't blink. "Distract it while you go get my sword."

"Me?"

"No, the guy behind you," Murtagh snapped but still didn't blink. "Yes you, who else would do it?"

The younger man bristled. "Hey, you don't have to be nasty about it. Anyway should I go right now or wait for you to distract it some more?"

"Don't be a smartass, Eragon."

"I'm not!"

"Whatever... Okay go now. And don't run; just walk away slowly, okay? We don't want to make things worse."

"Alright," Eragon said nodding. Slowly he began to back away and tried his best to watch Murtagh and where he was going. The cat-thing and his brother continued watching each other and didn't show any attention to him. Finally he turned his eyes away as he walked – or limped would be more appropriate – behind the trees, and sure enough not too far away was the cave.

Eragon rushed as fast as he could but his ankle was killing him thanks to fighting Murtagh. He was actually beginning to regret starting the fight. But it had helped him let lose his frustration and anger, and now he knew he could actually talk to Murtagh calmly to find out about his actions from last night.

Not to mention the unintentional information he got out of Murtagh was worth it. It seemed that his brother actually did seem to feel some affection for him, but it seemed he was in denial about it. Why though was still a mystery, but Eragon had a feeling it had something to do with his past. Either way, he would figure things out later.

The slender young man finally reached the cave and immediately grabbed the familiar crimson sword. Turning, he dragged the sword behind him and hurried out of the cave. Damn, I forgot how heavy this blasted thing is.

When he finally got back to Murtagh he found the older male dodging the cat-thing that was trying to claw him but failing.

"Murtagh! Catch!" Eragon yelled throwing the sword to the other Rider.

Murtagh looked up and yelped in surprise when he saw the flying sword coming at him. Frantically he caught it and shot Eragon an irritated/thankful look. The younger boy just shrugged and smiled sheepishly.

The cat-thing shot out at him again with a hiss but Murtagh just side stepped it, and turned around quickly to bring Za'roc down to slice the animal's hind leg. It wasn't a deep wound and would heal with out problems since he didn't really want to kill the cat-thing. It was just an animal after all, and looking for food wasn't its fault.

The cat-thing yowled and turned around and stared at Murtagh then Za'roc before turning around and sprinting back into the forest without a sound.

Murtagh sighed and looked over to Eragon, who walked over to him grinning. "What a wake up call, huh?"

The older boy snorted. "Indeed. Not something I want to do again though."

"I agree," Eragon said, nodding his head. "Now do you think we could go wash off all this mud and stuff? It's kind of gross."

Murtagh grimaced. "Good idea. But first I need to get my other possessions I left in the cave."

The younger brunette nodded. "Fine, but let's hurry up, okay? This dried up mud is making me itchy."

The two brothers found a small river that Eragon remembered seeing earlier and immediately set to the task of cleaning their clothes and themselves. They worked silently and quickly, and soon had their tunics drying out on the open boulders. The sunshine helped to dry them quickly, now that the storm was finally gone.

Silently they sat in the shade of the trees in just their long pants and boots while Murtagh (who was surprised when Eragon asked) once again cleaned his brother's wounds and healed them.

"Thank you," Eragon muttered as Murtagh finished. The other Rider let out a grunt of acknowledgement.

The two sat in a tense and awkward silence as each tried to figure out what to say to the other. Finally Eragon made the first move. "Murtagh, why did you attack me last night?"

Not the most tactful move but it was bold and got right to the point, and made Murtagh's lips twitch as he fought down as smile. His little brother was always so unpredictable.

"It's complicated, Eragon," he answered cautiously.

"Well we have time. A lot actually so get talking," Eragon said as his impatience began to grow. He didn't understand why Murtagh couldn't just come out and say it. Honestly, how hard could it be?

Murtagh let out a sigh. "Okay fine. Look, last night when you told me about how… Arya hurt you, I got angry." He said the name Arya with distaste. "And I wanted to hurt her for hurting you. Now don't ask me why I got protective of you because I don't why, okay? Anyway, my rage fogged up my brain I guess, and then you said those things about you feel about me and it affected me."

"How? Did it make you more angry or something?"

"No, not exactly…"

"Well? What did it do then? Come on, tell me!"

"Well…"

"Murtagh!"

"It hurt my feelings, okay!"

Eragon blinked. "What?"

"It… it hurt me. Deeply." Murtagh looked out at to the river and stared with glazed eyes. "And that's not something I'm used to okay? I mean words have never hurt me before, and they're not supposed to! I'm a warrior damnit, and I know I'm stronger than this because I've been called many horrible things before and was never affected by it. But with you it's different. It's always different."

Eragon didn't say anything but stared at the other in shock. Murtagh didn't notice this, or if he did then he didn't seem to care. "Anger is not very easy to control, Eragon, and for me of all people it is sometimes harder, for there are many things in my life that I am angry over. But I have to say, that I have never been more enraged than when I heard the pain in your voice as you told me you had your heart broken. I admit that I wanted to kill her, still do actually, and then when you told me… when you rejected me I was overcome with emotion, and I just wanted you to stop saying those things! I wanted you to shut up because it hurt, and I can't deal with emotional pain like that so I… I grabbed you, choked you to make you stop talking. But I didn't mean to hurt you, Eragon, I swear on our mother's grave I didn't! I was just overcome with different emotions and my common sense was gone, and everything was happening so fast and before I knew it you were unconscious. I thought for a moment I had killed you but you were still alive, and… and then I realized what I had done. I had hurt you, Eragon when I swore I wouldn't and I didn't mean to, I promise I didn't mean to hurt you. I would never hurt intentionally. It was just an accident and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Eragon."

Murtagh didn't look at him but continued looking out at the river with glazed eyes. Eragon looked down at his hands as he tried to comprehend everything he had just discovered. Then he noticed something alarming.

"Murtagh?"

"Yes?"

"Where did our clothes go?"