Chapter 6

Disclaimer: do you actually think that I own Eragon/Eldest. If I did, this story would be part of the series. And it would probably be longer, or shorter, depending on my ideas.

Now on with the story:

Jessie slowly opened her eyes only to find her vision blocked by a black piece of cloth. She tried to move her hands and feet but found them bound. Panic came rushing in on her as she recalled being in the same position when Tom tried to sell her as a slave. She took several deep breaths to calm herself and she repeated in her mind that she wasn't there again. This was a completely different situation.

Suddenly, her side was on fire again. She cried out but it was muffled by another piece of cloth that was shoved in her mouth. She tried to spit it out and rid her mouth of the rough material.

The cloth was pulled from her eyes and she blinked at the sudden burst of sunlight before glaring at Murtagh who smirked at her.

"I guess you are wondering why you're here," he said mockingly. Jessie didn't move, if she made one wrong move he could kill her, and she knew from experience that men would not hesitate. "Oh don't worry. I won't do that to you and I have no plans for killing you. You're much too valuable to Galbatorix for me to do that," he smirked as Jessie flicked and started to struggle uselessly. "Now I'm sure you want to say something. But if you try to scream, well let's not let it come to that," he said and gently pulled the cloth from her mouth.

"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed. "What is wrong with you? Why are you being stupid enough to work–" she was cut off when Murtagh slapped her. Her head whipped to the side and she slowly turned back to Murtagh, her wide eyes filled with fear as many unpleasant flashbacks played before her eyes.

"Keep your mouth shut," he snarled and grabbed her chin. "I'm the one who's going to ask questions understand. Do you understand?" he growled and shook her head. "Answer me!" he yelled.

Jessie let out a sob and closed her eyes, trying to block out Murtagh's yelling. Tears fell from her eyes at a furious pace and she felt Murtagh wiping them away roughly. He said something but she didn't comprehend it.

She felt her mind clearing and she was about to contact Blaze to call for help when she felt Murtagh shove something in her mouth.

Not trusting him, she spit it out and stubbornly clamped her mouth shut, glaring at him through her tear clouded eyes. He reached up and pinched her nose shut, not giving her a chance to take a breath beforehand.

She shook her head furiously, trying to shake his hand off, but finally had to open her mouth to take a quick breath, unfourently she wasn't quick enough and he stuffed a piece of bread in her mouth. With lighting speed, he released her nose and covered her mouth to prevent her from spitting it out once again.

"Swallow it," he hissed. She didn't make any move. He reached for his belt and pulled out a dagger. The dagger she was using before Jessie noticed grimly. "Swallow it," he snarled and pressed the dagger to her neck.

Not being able to fight her natural instincts of swallowing any longer, she felt the dry bread slide down her sore throat. Immediently her mind began to feel foggy.

"What–" she asked slowly, not being able to communicate using complete sentences.

"It's a little potion that Galbatorix had Durza and the Ra'zac make before the damn Shade got himself killed by Eragon. Damn him. It prevents the brain from thinking at its normal speed and blocks your magic. Now, if you will excuse me milady, I have some business to attend to," he said as he backed away, bowing mockingly. He reached for the gag and picked it up, balling it in his fist then shoved it in her mouth roughly. "But fear not," he said walking away, "I won't be leaving you by yourself. My friend Thorn will be here."

That's when a red dragon landed in the clearing. Jessie watched fearfully as Murtagh and Thorn exchanged words and Murtagh walked away.

Hello an alien presence filled her mind, and she could do nothing about it.

Get . . . out she said. Trying to push him out weakly.

No. At least not until I have found what I need to know. Now be a good girl and let me see everything the voice said and began to dig deeper into her memories.

"No! Stop!" she sobbed, both out loud and in her mind. But her frantic cries were muffled by the gag as painful images flashed before her eyes.

This went on for several minutes. Jessie wanted nothing more then to pass out or die. Not have to watch it all again.

Now that wasn't so hard, was it? the voice said and finally stopped picking through her memories. And you were a good girl too so I guess I can grant you your wish. Slytha he hissed.

And this time, Jessie didn't fight the darkness.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Jessie opened her eyes but could see nothing but darkness. She nearly panicked, thinking she was blindfolded again, but she allowed her eyes to adjust and realized that it was dark, because it was night.

She saw Thorn sleeping in the corner of the clearing but couldn't see Murtagh anywhere. She guessed that he'd gone back with Eragon.

She closed her eyes again and slowly worked at the ropes around her hands. She didn't move any other muscles, but her mind was in total chaos.

She finally calmed her thoughts enough to sort them and put them in order oof importance.

When Thron had been looking through her memories, he'd accidently let his guard down and allowed her to see some of his. She'd already seen them, but she hadn't paid any attention to them, she instead chose to put them in the back of her mind to sort through later.

Now, while she was working on freeing her hands, she had time to study them for any important things.

The first few were not extremely new to her. She saw Galbatorix hurting Murtagh and Thron, only not as badly as he used to hurt her and then she saw him forcing Murtagh to make promises in the achient language.

That's when she came across two memories that really scared her. One was a memory of her slumped against the wall unconscious while Galbatorix was talking in a loud voice, apparently to Murtagh.

That's when there was a different image, and an even scarier one at that.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Murtagh was kneeling in front of Galbatorix. He appeared to be fighting the spell of an ancient promise as Galbatorix walked toward him holding a dagger.

Murtagh winced furiously as Galbatorix pushed the dagger in his arm and pulled it down, bringing forth a heavy flow of blood.

"You will kill Eragon, using this dagger," Galbatorix said dangerously.

"No," Murtagh moaned. His body shaking from the effort it took to try and defy the power. Not to mention, his body was going into shock from the wound on his arm and the rapidly growing blood loss.

"Yes," Galbatorix hissed. "Now take the dagger and promise me," he said and Murtagh's hands shakily began to reach for the dagger, despite his obvious efforts to stop them.

He finally took the dagger and held it close to his chest, staring at it in wide eyed disgust.

"Good," Galbatorix said quietly. "Now promise me you'll kill him."

"Vel einradhin iet ai Shur̀tugal," Murtagh choked out.

"Good boy," Galbatorix said, smiling cruelly. "Now let's fix that arm why don't we," he said. "Waise heill."

The wound on Murtagh's arm healed and Galbatorix walked away. As soon as the stone door slammed shut, Murtagh slumped into a pile on the cold ground, his body heaving with sobs, knowing that he'd just agreed to kill his best friend and younger brother.

Finally, Jessie watched him slip into an uneasy sleep, bitter tears falling from his eyes even then.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Jessie awoke from the memory with a sense of urgency. Murtagh was going to kill Eragon! She had to warn him.

She glanced back at the ropes on her hands and saw that the knot had loosened enough for her to pull it and it would slip off.

She did so and hurriedly sat up and tore the gag from her mouth. She then started to fumble with the knot of rope on her ankles.

She hadn't given the blood any time to restart circulating so her fingers were numb. She finally got it undone then stood up and started running away from the sleeping dragon.

She clambered through the thick forest, desperately searching and reaching out for Blaze.

Not finding him, she became frustrated.

Blaze she screamed in her mind, utterly discouraged. Eragon! Saphira, anyone! She screamed in her mind, but on the inside, she was sobbing.

She continued to crash through the brush, not caring that she was making too much noise.

Suddenly, she tripped over a root and fell to the ground. She bit her lip to keep herself from screaming as she felt the arrow wound reopen. She stumbled to her feet as she balled a corner of Eragon's tunic in her fist.

She ripped it off and pressed it against her wound, pushing it in deep so it would stay there without her holding it.

Something warm was creeping down the side of her neck. She groaned when she realized that the small cut that Murtagh had given her was now bleeding.

She chose to ignore it when she heard a loud roar in the distance. She paled and scrambled into the brushet then took off running again.

She was running so hard, not to mention her heart and breathing were so loud that she didn't hear a branch crack behind her.

She paused for a moment to catch her breath, but even then she couldn't. Her breath came in short gasps which were interrupted by quiet sobs.

A twig snapped somewhere behind her, and this time she did hear it. She spun around and stared at the forest, her eyes shifting quickly from each shadow, looking for any movement. She was panicking again. Her breath was becoming heavy and soon it came in pants.

A pair of arms wrapped around her from behind and another hand covered her mouth. She let out a startled cry before she realized what was happening. That's when she started screaming as loud as she could. Kicking her legs, she desperately tried to escape the iron like grip.

The grip flattered slightly, as if surprised, for a moment before tightening again and pulling her down a trail and into a small cave hidden by some bushes. There, they stopped and waited, the hand remained clamped over her mouth.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that she realized why.

Through the leaves, she saw Thorn land in the clearing. He sniffed the ground and began walking toward the cave.

Jessie felt whoever was behind her stiffen as she stared wide-eyed at the red dragon.

The dragon was nearing the cave when it gave an annoyed snort and turned, lighting up in the sky and flying back to where it had come from.

After what seemed like forever, the hand slipped away from her face. She turned and was relieved to see Eragon's elfish features.

Finally, Jessie let the fearful floodgates open as she collapsed into his open arms, sobbing.

Eragon stared in surprise as Jessie sobbed. He'd been ready to start lecturing her about running away again, but when she started crying like that, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Maybe she had wandered off and gotten lost while she was trying to find him and had been truly terrified.

He waited until her sobs nearly stopped before pushing her away and glaring at her angrily.

"Why did you run away again?" he hissed. Jessie stared at him confused until it registered in her mind what he meant.

"But I didn't run away! Murtagh–"

"Are you trying to blame this on Murtagh?" Eragon asked disbelieving. "Murtagh got the horse for you then he said he thought something was wrong so he gave me the stupid horse and came to get you. And you weren't there!"

"That's because he was the one who attacked me! He took me to this clearing and got his dragon to find out everything about me! Eragon, Murtagh's going to kill you!" Jessie yelled hysterically.

"Stop making up stories for attention," Eragon snapped.

"I'm not making this up! Why don't you believe me?" she cried. How could he not believe her? "He hit me with an arrow. I can show you!"

Eragon sighed impatiently. He was getting sick of this game. This was the third time she'd tried to run away for attention and, frankly, he was getting sick of it and having to run after her, or just try to find her.

"Fine, show me where you got hit with the arrow," he said impatiently, still not believing her.

Jessie nearly cried with relief when he gave her a chance to prove herself right.

"Ok," she said, smiling inside as she lifted up the tunic to revel her side and the wound . . . only the wound had disappeared.

Reviews:

Bob
Chapter 6: Here's the more that you wanted. I think I know what's going to happen next, I just need to write it.

Anonymous
Chapter 3: the thing you have to remember is: Blaze was named by a five-year-old. His real name is Blazemotroiax as said in chapter 1, but he prefers Blaze. Also, Jessie may not be an old name, but that may play a part in the story later on depends on how the plot unfolds. As for her 'untrained powers'. She could control them. She just couldn't escape. She knew the words for healing, only she doesn't remember them all the time. She was, after all, basically tortured for nine years so slip-ups like that are acceptable. She is very intelligent, but everyone makes mistakes, and they were never properly trained or taught how to use the magic so most spells that they know, they had experimented with. And as for dragons being proud and wise, Blaze is both, but when you've experienced what he's experienced, it's ok to have fun sometimes and not be wise and serious all the time.

Roran
Chapter 6: sorry for the long wait, hope this was good.
Chapter 6: I'm still writing, don't worry. And the suspense part, I was kind of hoping that would happen.

DragonRider2000
Chapter 6: Glad you like it. Hope you liked this chapter.

lucythevaliant
Chapter 3: I'm glad. That part just came to me. Glad you liked it.

Super-hero Fan
Chapter 5: Glad you liked them. I'm glad that you find it more interesting and understandable now. I can't really explain why she's doing it, that should come later. As for her feeling the happiest she's ever been, she's confused and I guess this helps her ease the confusion.

fire work
Chapter 2: Glad you liked it.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I've been busy. I doubt I'll be able to write much for any of my stories over the next few weeks, we have finals next week so I've got to study, not to mention tutoring and spend at least a few hours a day with Chris. I'll update whenever possible, but we're also going camping this weekend so I won't be able to type then either. I hope that I'll be able to update more. Anyway, wish me luck on my finals!