A/N: Here's the next chapter. Was it long since I last updated? I don't know anymore. x.x
Arya woke up in a dark cell, tied to something that seemed like a stone bed. She looked around, confused, blinking frantically as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Her first thought was for the safety of the egg. She could not sense its welcoming presence in her mind anymore, and she hoped fervently that it did not land in some remote area of the spine.
She vaguely remembered sending the egg to somewhere she felt was the safest. Somewhere where she had vaguely sensed the presence of her brother. She knew that it was near impossible that the presence she sensed was he, but she never gave up hoping, even now.
Looking around, she noticed that the walls of the room that she was in were adorned with various torture implements. Arya shivered, already suspecting that this was some place belonging to the Empire. She never did know how true that was; until Durza entered, flanked by two burly Urgals.
He waved them away, closing the door behind him, pitching the entire place into darkness.
Squinting, Arya could just make out the outline of his body in the darkness. She could hear the clinking sounds of something being taken down from a wall of sorts, but she never knew how true that was.
He came back moments later, carrying some whip like thing with spiky bits at the bottom. Arya shivered instinctively. She knew this was bad, no matter how much she did not understand what that thing in his hands was.
"What are you going to do to me?" she whispered fearfully, eyes darting about in search of an escape.
She trembled at the answering laugh, which was full of menace and barely concealed glee. "I am going to torture you, of course," the other man said snidely, "you've gotten past me once. This time, I won't make that mistake."
Arya shivered at his tone, knowing, yet not accepting that there was no way she was going to be able to escape. She thought of her mother, wondering how worried she must be now. Ever since the loss of Eragon, they had grown closer, forced to unite under the difficult circumstances.
"What do you want?" she asked fearfully, eyeing Durza. She could not imagine what he would want to do with her. Except for the egg. Her mind whispered. Belatedly, she remembered that she had sent the egg somewhere even the empire would not know. Perhaps it is for the best.
"If you are searching for the egg, forget it. I won't tell you where it is. And even if I do know, you would never be able to find it," she retorted defiantly.
A slow chill started creeping through her body when she saw Durza's emerging grin. "Don't worry," he whispered, "I have my ways…"
A tremor passed through her tense body when she saw what Durza had in his hands. "What are you going to do?" she whispered fearfully. The whip looks cold and menacing, as though as it was laughing at her private pain. She hated her weakness now, wanting to change it all. Most of all, she hated Durza.
Durza chuckled, tracing a pattern on her skin with the whip. "You don't have to know, princess. When I'm done with you, you will be wishing that you are dead…" he trailed off, striking her forcefully.
She fought the urge to scream as the whip hit her skin, burning her from the inside. Arya controlled herself, not wanting to give Durza the satisfaction of seeing her scream in pain. She closed her eyes in pain as the strokes rained down, biting her lips in an effort to remain quiet. I have to endure this, she thought, moaning in pain as the whip struck a sore area. It is the only way.
Vaguely, she felt herself slipping into the welcoming darkness. The princess let herself fall, comforting herself with the knowledge that it was a better place to be than the present. As she slipped in, she sighed with bliss. The darkness was comforting, better than the reality she existed in.
Durza smirked with glee when Arya slipped into unconsciousness. "Well, princess," he sneered, tracing the contours of her face mockingly; "I've never expected you to be such a weakling." Throwing the whip down, he exited her cell, not before ordering the guards to keep a close eye on her.
Eragon woke up, screaming. The dream had repeated itself for the third time this week. It had always begun the same way, with him walking into a dark room, which was lit only by the light of the moon streaming in from a small window. A woman would be lying on the table, moaning in pain, with lashes over her pale skin, bleeding slightly.
A man would come in, reaching for another weapon, and hitting her with it. Sometimes even heating it before lashing out at her, demanding her to tell him the location of the egg. She always refused, and that earned her a more severe beating each time.
Normally, he would not have reacted as such, but it was different today. The lady had turned to face him, and met his eyes, before breathing his name. Eragon had never seen her before, he was sure of it. But that woman knew him, he thought, frowning with worry.
Shrugging that thought off, he leapt out of bed, making his way to the egg which was securely wrapped in an old shirt of his. He still could not figure out what was going to be hatched from it. Opening the bundle, he studied the egg, noticing that it was of a deep sapphire, with little white lines running all over it. Curious now, he touched it with one hand, noting that it was warm to touch. He quickly moved his hand away, and watched with morbid fascination as the egg began to crack open.
To his extreme surprise, it was some creature that looked as though as it was a cross between a horse and a bird. He frowned, wondering what species it was. Eragon had never seen something like that before, not when he was hunting or reading some of the books he managed to find.
Curiously, he touched the animal's head, gasping with surprise when there was a bright flash of light and a sharp, intense pain. When it was over, he looked down, noticing that there was a lump of raised flesh on his right palm. "What's happening to me?" he whispered.