Elva's body shook with violent tremors as she retched into a wooden pail courtesy of Angela. This is the eighth time she's done this within three hours and she hasn't received a wink of rest since then. The only thing that helped, was the small obsidian stone point Angela had told her to hold.
"You're doing this." She said accusingly as she glared up at her teacher. Her stomach ached from the strain as she remained curled up in the corner of Angela's room.
The Herbalist sat in a comfortable chair across from the unlit fireplace. She was reading through a book on alchemy when Elva spoke in a raspy voice. She looked up and cocked an eyebrow, then set her book down, keeping a finger between the pages to save her place. "Contrary to popular belief, I'm not the cause of your illness."
"Then what is?" Elva complained before her stomach lurched again and she heaved, but nothing came up. There was nothing to come up.
"Arya's here. If you insist that she's pregnant, perhaps your symptoms could mirror her own. Either that or you're cursed." She shrugged.
"My curse is not sympathetic like that." She responded in a more than irritable grumble.
"You're not pregnant are you? You'd tell me if you were, right?" Angela raised a playful eyebrow and Elva just huffed as she stared down at the stone floor.
"Do I even need to answer that? I'm too young. My body is at least, and besides, who would I be with? I'm a societal reject, remember? Nobody would want to even entertain the idea." Angela's eyes suddenly saddened at the venom behind her apprentice's voice. Elva hadn't seen her playful look and took it seriously. She knew that subject would be an increasingly tender one the older she got. "And… and I'd tell you if I was… despite the circumstances." She seemed to shy away at that.
"That's good to know. The last part at least, and please don't think of yourself as a reject, Elva. You were a crucial part in ending the war. Perhaps when we decide to visit Ellesméra, you'll find someone. They value you as a person, not by the power you hold."
Elva sighed and leaned over her bucket again, feeling ready to vomit. "I don't wish to live my life alone." She mumbled.
Angela smiled then. "You're too young to be worried about that, for now, let's just worry about you being cursed." She said happily, then returned to her book.
"I'm cursed? Other than the one Eragon and Saphira gave to me?" Elva looked up again.
"If you're not pregnant, and you're not poisoned, indicators point to you being cursed." Angela smiled and her apprentice just frowned deeply.
"Why don't you seem concerned?" Elva shot rather aggressively, but something in her voice tweaked. Was she worth caring about?
"Trust me, I'm concerned, Elva. Why do you think I'm reading this book?" The Herbalist responded matter-of-factly.
"That's a book on alchemy, what does that have to do with curses?" Elva's throat closed up from the burning sensation caused by her stomach acid and she coughed dryly.
"If you read a book on alchemy upside down, you have a book on curses." Angela smiled then flipped the book so the title was upside down. The image on the front twisted and the light brown of the leather binding turned black. Even the title changed.
"Oh." Elva sighed and sank back against the wall, choosing not to ask why her mentor was reading a book upside down before she flipped it, or maybe it was both an alchemy book and a book on curses. "Have you found anything?"
Angela nodded. "You're probably not going to die."
"Helpful." Elva mumbled softly as she let her head rest between the adjoined walls. She closed her eyes and rubbed her sore stomach.
"But," Angela said pointedly. "You need to eat something… hm, something dry would do well." She leaned over and grabbed a cloth bag and tugged on the drawstrings. She reached in and produced a loaf of bread, then tore off a piece and tossed it to Elva, who caught it with one hand.
"I'm not hungry." She said as she looked down at the pale piece of food.
"You want to live, yes?"
"Not really. I could take it or leave it." Elva sighed and Angela's expression darkened.
"Elva, your life, just like everyone else's life, is a gift. You are responsible for taking care of it." She said intensely.
"And if I don't want it?" Elva looked up unflinchingly serious.
"Then it's of utmost importance to change your mindset. I'll always be here for you. If you need something, just ask. You can talk to me…" Angela let her voice sound more gentle as it suddenly hit her that Elva is miserable enough to not value her life when she herself understands its preciousness.
She saw Elva's eyes water, but before any tears could fall, the girl stood as quickly as she could and ran as fast as possible from the room. Angela stood with concern and went after her.
Panting, the Witch Child sprinted down the large halls, took several turns and slid across the polished floors when she reached her destination. There is a darkness growing in the pit of her belly where her power boils and festers beneath the surface. She stared up at the two massive iron doors that led down to the prison cells. They were connected to a system of chains which allowed them to open via the crank. Her body is far too small and fragile to even consider trying to work the heavy machinery, but her own abilities weren't. She could feel Angela growing closer and she focused her attention on both doors. She backed up several paces and planted her feet.
Her fingers rubbed anxiously at the obsidian point before the words poured from her lips like honey. "Jierda framvír edtha." Break before me.
The first second was quiet, the ones that followed were not. The iron doors had unhinged and snapped in several places; wood splintered; pieces of chain and mechanism parts flew in all different directions at her feet. Debris littered the once clean floors and soon shouts could be heard from all different directions.
Elva grinned. That felt good.
"Elva!" Angela growled as she raced towards her apprentice.
"Not my problem." She muttered and took off straight down into the cellars. She wasn't tall enough to reach the torches, so she grabbed a thick piece of wood that had splintered off during her destruction and doused the tip in the spare pot of oil located by the guard station next to the opening. She reached up and lit it using the flames from the torches that still burned from a few days ago. Odd.
Elva took a breath and leaped down the stairs, skipping multiple steps as she went until she reached the bottom. Her legs carried her out into the opening where the floor was no longer polished.
"You tore me apart and I put myself back together!" She screamed into the silence. "I am worthless to myself but it aggravates me that you think you can take my life for me!"
The buzzing started up again, but this time, she was prepared for it, and had a sufficient mental defense set up. Arya's eyes would always be beautiful.
"WHERE ARE YOU!?" she screamed in anger and rage. The bending of metal creaked beside her as the cell doors began to collapse under the weight of her power. Her power.
Her thumb rubbed against the stone, keeping herself focused, though she used no energy from it.
A crack ran along the back wall, and soon stones began to peel off from an unknown surface and fall. She pointed to the cracking false wall and growled dangerously before venomously whispering her words again. Break before me. "Jierda framvír edtha."
The stone and mortar cracked and fell in neat piles on both the left and the right as Elva let the coil of darkness slowly unravel in her stomach. She laughed angrily, furiously, desperately as a hidden section of the cells were revealed. The humming intensified drastically when her mind slipped for a moment and she winced, but roared against it, using her hatred for the world as a placeholder until she could get herself composed. Once again, she began threading the raw energy that was fighting to get into her mind, into her stone, and allowing herself to in turn draw from it to keep herself stable.
She continued into the new room and found that iron shelves lined the walls. On them, sat large, sturdily built, wooden chests. Elva touched the lock with her pointer finger, then forced the locking mechanism to shatter within itself. The lid popped and she lifted it. The chest was filled to the brim with gold coins. Her fingers fell near, but she paused. They're all coated in poison; she can smell it and see it in the dim light of her torch as it burned. Curious.
Thunderous footsteps could be heard charging down the stairs and Elva stopped her observations and tuned. The tunnel leading to the surface was brightening with the light of dozens of torches. She raised an eyebrow and laughed to herself. Puppet cowards.
The light grew until the first few men raced down into the dungeon, bringing light into the darkness. The haze from the fallen stone hung in the air like smoke.
Elva remained calm as she casually returned to her task of browsing through her newest discovery, despite the growing number of military men that filed into the cavernous prison.
The thundering slowed to a roar, which turned to shuffling. Elva sent a line of power through each of the locks and every single one of the chests popped, just like the first.
"Elva!" Angela's voice pierced the air, but the one in question could not find it in herself to care. She ignored her mentor and lifted each chest. Gold. Gold. Gold. More gold. All poisoned. Her eyes danced around the large room, gazing at the thousands of chests that lined the walls.
"Stop. It isn't safe." Elva said calmly, though she used the power within the cycle between herself, the stone, and the strange power source to project her voice so it was loud enough to shake the walls. Her voice was riddled with the residual anger she felt as it built up inside of her chest.
She walked to the back of the room and touched it with her hand. Another crack ran up it's center, but this time, she decided to try creating a doorway. She can do that now that she's… experimenting.
On her exhale, the stones flew away from her palm in the shape of a very jagged arch. She needs practice on the fine-tuning aspect, she decided. Despite these thoughts, her actions still gave birth to a new room beyond this one.
Her torch was dying out and she was forced to turn back before she could explore.
"Who of you are wearing gloves and are not cowards?" Elva used the same technique to project her voice as she stalked back through the first room.
Her eyes scanned the opening and out at the soldiers who lined the perimeter of the prison. There must be at least a hundred. She found Angela who stood the closest, looking furiously at her, but again, she couldn't find it in herself to care.
"Torches are needed. I've found gold, but it's poisoned." Her back straightened as though she were a general giving orders. "There is another room. If it is of magical origins, I am uncertain what may lie on the other side. My own torch has withered and I no longer have light."
Two guards stepped forwards, each bearing a torch, but said nothing to her. "Fantastic." She growled to herself as she waited for them to reach her.
"By the order of Queen Nasuada, the first of Ilirea, you are under arrest for the endangerment of her people and for the mass destruction of property." The man on the right pronounced. The man on the left quickly grabbed her and held her with an iron grip. She could barely breathe as she struggled against them, only tiring herself out. A pulse of energy flared in her stomach again, and she quickly set it loose on her captors.
The men didn't even flinch and Elva roared in anger, tearing her voice to shreds. Angela followed them as they carried her apprentice to the surface. The men below had been ordered to investigate the mess and sort through the remains of Elva's wreckage.
Now above, Elva was losing energy quickly, and soon she was rendered unconscious. The stone fell from her hand and Angela picked it up. Just like the amethyst, this one had been filled to the brim with the essence of energy. Her fury over her apprentice's actions faded slightly, while worry replaced it.
The Witch Child was brought to a small cell that served as temporary confinement within the castle. She was laid on the cot and covered with a blanket by the guards before having a restrictive leather and cloth muzzle placed over her face that restricted her ability to speak. It fit perfectly and was secured with a lock on the side. She was then allowed to lay down and rest, despite her never having to wake up.
Angela stood on the outside and waited for the guards to have locked the iron barred door. She placed a spell around the small prison that would render Elva unable to influence the area with her own magic.
The guards stood on either side of the cell and readied themselves for a long shift. "I'll go let Nasuada know what happened. If Elva wakes up, one of you needs to find me and bring me to her. As you've been able to see, she's dangerous and you know I have the capability to snuff her antics."
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you for your protections." The guard on the right recited with a slight nod of his head.
"Very good, and you're welcome. I'm glad it worked." Angela sighed and took one last look at her apprentice before striding down the hall to meet with Nasuada.
Thankfully, the walk was long because she knew she needed time to process this. Elva is her responsibility and she sees this as a failure on her part. Not many understand what her apprentice is going through, but that doesn't excuse her actions. She could have at least told somebody what she was going to do before doing it. Then it wouldn't be so bad. Angela just sighed again. This might not end well.
She knocked on the doors to Nasuada's office and the guards on the interior opened them for her. "Thank you." she smiled, though it was clear that it was a tired smile. The doors were shut behind her and she turned. Nasuada seemed to be heavily involved in a conversation between Arya and Eila. Where Eylörís and Fírnen were, she didn't know, but the point was that this conversation would not be entirely private. Her eyes automatically flicked to Arya's abdominal region and from what she could tell based on the way she was dressed; Elva was absolutely correct. The Elven Queen is expecting. That brought a smile to her lips. She thought she'd never see the day Arya unclenched enough to become a mother.
"Good afternoon, Angela. Is everything settled?" Nasuada turned, welcoming the Herbalist into their conversational circle.
"Yes. Elva has been detained and taken care of. She can't do anything else for the time being. I've enchanted her cell and your guards saw fit to put a muzzle on her." her anger at that leached into her voice. "I hardly think treating her like an animal is appropriate, but I understand given the circumstances." She looked more pointedly to the Elf and half-Elf. "Good afternoon Arya, Eila. I trust you both are well?"
"Yes, thank you. Nasuada was just catching both of us up on the situation." Arya responded seriously, though in a light tone. Angela looked to Eila who shied away but nodded.
"I am well, thank you, Lady Angela." The young woman responded with an almost nervous quiver to her voice.
At that Angela brightened. "You don't need to call me that, just Angela is fine. Lady is too formal. Besides, you are a Rider. Cower before no one."
Eila straightened. "Cower to, no. Be cautious of, always. You never know who is your friend and who will stab you in the back." She corrected with a set jaw.
"Very right you are. I have no idea how old you are, but you are wise." Angela smiled and gently laid a hand on Eila's shoulder, who jumped.
"Neither do I and thank you." Eila let a rigid posture take hold of her body.
Arya looked over with a light frown on her features. "You don't know how old you are?" Her voice had become more gentle than anyone in the room had ever witnessed.
"No, Arya Ebrithil. I'm at least twenty, though. My father eventually started marking my age with a hot branding iron when he decided he didn't want to keep track of it. When he started, I don't remember. That is all I will say for now. Lady Nasuada, I would like to go down there and see what changes have been done. I wouldn't call what Elva did destruction. That is a wretched place that deserves to fall." Eila's teeth clenched tightly.
"Very well. Eila, you may go down there, but please be careful. Angela, would you go with her? You're familiar with the layout and you are the only one who seems to know about immunity to whatever it is that's down there. Arya, I must speak with you about important private matters that surround this."
Angela nodded and Eila gave a stiff bow before glancing at Arya, whose gaze soon shifted back to Nasuada.
"I intend to accompany my apprentice. Perhaps we may speak afterwards." Arya turned.
"A moment, If you will. Angela, Eila, please leave us." Nasuada's tone became more harsh and Arya spun on her heel, but said nothing until Eila and the Herbalist, along with the two guards, had left.
"You forget I am no longer an Ambassador." Arya's eyes were lit with anger as she spoke the moment they were alone.
Nasuada sighed. "I'm not trying to undermine you."
"Then what are you doing? It's my responsibility to protect her as she is a Rider." Arya relaxed slightly but gave no sign of letting her defenses down anytime soon.
"I know, and I'm sorry, but I've also told Elva I would trust her. I took advantage of her for this situation and she was seriously injured from it. I didn't heed her warning the first time, but I am this time. She had me promise to not let you go down there. She refused to tell me why, and I respect that because it's not my business, but I did promise, and what good is an untrustworthy ruler?"
Arya's stiff posture relaxed slowly and she released a long breath, closing her eyes and relenting her anger. So Elva knows. That's exactly what she feared, but it seems Elva knows a thing or two about keeping people's privacy. "Fine." She sighed, then looked back up at Nasuada who had a light frown on her features. "I won't go. Do you need to speak with me about something or was that just an excuse to get me to stay in here with you?"
"It was both, actually." The Ilirean leader confirmed and Arya just nodded.
"I'm curious what it is that's so important, then." Arya said, a little annoyed.
"Come, let's sit for a while and discuss this over something to drink." Nasuada smiled and led the way.
A/N: I got really happy earlier because I was on Tumblr and I saw this story listed under some other account that promotes Inheritance Cycle fics on Archive Of Our Own (I have this story posted there too). That was fun. Anyways, I couldn't sleep last night and wrote the first part, then wrote the second part of this chapter earlier on today. It was getting too long, so I cut it, but I'm not getting rid of the rest. Pathways are just getting split and it's gonna get kinda interesting if it's not already :)
I hope you've enjoyed this chapter because I had a lot of fun writing it. Elva just needed a temper tantrum in my opinion.
Many many loves to all of you!
-Lady Elizabeth Arlo