"What have you done?" asked Murtagh when he saw Leonor coming out from Galbatorix's throne room.
"Nothing special." said Leonor, avoiding his angry look.
"Leonor! Why did you kill Astrid?" he yelled.
"Oh, and why do you care so much about her?" yelled Leonor.
"I don't care about her! It's about you!" he said angrily.
"What?" Leonor looked at him surprised.
"Nothing." he said and wanted to leave but Leonor stopped him.
"What is it? Tell me." she looked deep into his eyes.
"Galbatorix will hurt you because of this." he said quietly.
"Well, I don't think he can do much about that." she said "He needs me in one piece."
"Leonor, you don't know him so well. I can just tell you that you will see what happens when you make him really angry. Be careful." he said and looked into her eyes.
"I had to do it." she said "She seemed to be dangerous."
"I know." said Murtagh "She was little bit crazy, that's why Galbatorix liked her so much."
"So you knew? And you gave her your sword?" asked Leonor surprised.
"Yes, I knew from the moment I saw her. I had a plan how to deal with her. But you forgot to use your brain and see what happened." he said in a cold voice.
"Then why you didn't tell me?" she said angrily.
"Because you blocked me from your mind with your stupid hate. I have no idea how you did it but it was very powerful." said Murtagh.
"It's over now, so there is no reason to discuss it." she said "See you tomorrow."
Murtagh didn't say anything and just left to another side.
Leonor came back to her room. She sat on the bed and in few moments she jumped shocked from the bed.
"No! Diamond!" she thought, her body shaking.
"I'm here. What's wrong?" she heard Diamond's voice in her mind.
"Diamond, I'm so sorry." she said quietly, almost crying.
"Hey, what is going on?" asked Diamond, worried.
"Galbatorix is very angry on me and I'm afraid he could…he could hurt you because he can't hurt me." she said.
"Why do you think he would do that?" asked Diamond surprised.
"Because if he hurts you, it will hurt me more. He knows how much I care about you." she said, very sad.
"Don't worry. He won't hurt me. I think he needs us both in perfect conditions. The war is getting closer and closer and soon he will need us." said Diamond, trying to make her stop worrying.
"I don't know. I can't know what Galbatorix will do. But he is just crazy and I'm afraid. How could I be so stupid and put you in danger?" she said.
"Hey, everything is ok. It's not your fault. You did what you thought is the best thing to do." said Diamond.
"Maybe I should have never brought you here. I just keep putting you in danger." she said and a tear fell down her face.
"There was no other way. Stop thinking about it!" said Diamond.
"I love you. I don't want that anything bad happens to you." she said.
"I love you too." said Diamond.
"Oh, how sweet." Leonor heard someone laughing in her mind.
"Hey!" she said angrily "Thorn, this is a private conversation!"
"Not anymore." smiled Thorn.
"Did Murtagh tell you to do this?" asked Leonor, smiling.
"Um, no." said Thorn quietly.
"Do you need something?" asked Leonor.
"Not really." said Thorn.
"Then what are you doing in my mind?" she laughed.
"Nothing. Just wanted to say that…I love you." said Thorn.
"What?" suddenly said Diamond "Leonor is mine!"
"No, she's not." laughed Thorn.
"Hey, hey! Stop it you two! You are both my friends, ok?" said Leonor.
"Ok." said Thorn "If Diamond doesn't mind."
"Fine." said Diamond but Leonor noticed that he is little bit angry.
"Thorn, can I now speak with Diamond in private?" asked Leonor.
"Sure, I'm going now." Thorn smiled.
"Um, Thorn? Please." said Leonor when she realized that he doesn't have intention to leave her mind.
"Ok, I'm leaving. I left, ok?" said Thorn and he finally cut the mental connection.
"Diamond, don't be jealous on Thorn. You know you are my only dragon." she smiled.
"I'm not jealous." said Diamond, little bit nervous.
"Fine, I'm just saying." she laughed.
"I'm glad you are not sad anymore." he smiled.
"Well I can't change what I've done. Actually I don't want to. That woman was just…I don't know how to explain it." she said quietly.
"It's late already. You should rest a little bit. We don't know what Galbatorix will do with us tomorrow." said Diamond.
"You are right. You should do that too. Good night, my love." she said, suddenly feeling very tired.
"Good night, honey." said Diamond.
"Leonor, wake up!" Leonor heard Murtagh's voice. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Murtagh looking at her and touching her arm.
"What?" she whispered, still sleepy.
"Galbatorix wants to see us in a minute. Get up." he said.
"Oh, come on. It's not even…" she looked around and saw the light coming from the window "Ow, it is morning."
"Yes. Get dressed; I will wait for you outside." Murtagh smiled.
"Umm, ok." said Leonor and slowly got up when Murtagh went out. She was looking at her clothes, trying to find something.
"So much clothes and nothing to wear." she thought when suddenly the door opened.
"I forgot to tell you something. You can't wear a dress. You need something more comfortable." said Murtagh with a smile on his face.
"Oh, you forgot? Or just looking for an excuse to see me in my underwear?" she laughed.
"I forgot." he said and smiled.
"Ok." she said and looked again at the clothes. Murtagh wanted to go.
"Wait." said Leonor "When you are already here, I need your opinion."
"Yes?" said Murtagh surprised.
"Blue, red or black?" she asked and looked at him, holding pants and shirts in her hands.
"Black." he said surprised. The clothes looked little bit weird.
"Ok, now get out!" she said, looking at him. He looked once again at her and went out.
"Where is Leonor?" asked Galbatorix when he saw Murtagh.
"She will come in a minute." said Murtagh.
"Oh, ok." said Galbatorix and saw Leonor getting closer to them.
"Hey." she said and looked at Galbatorix and Murtagh. They were both staring at her.
"Why are you late?" said Galbatorix angrily.
"Oh, come on. You didn't have to wait too long." said Leonor "So how do you like my new clothes?"
"Eh, it's fine." said Galbatorix. Leonor looked so different in tight black pants and black top.
"Just fine?" Leonor rolled her eyes.
"Hot." she heard Thorn's voice in her mind when dragons came. Leonor smiled at him. Galbatorix looked at the dragons.
"Fine, now when we are all here, I will tell you what you will do. Leonor, you and your dragon have a good potential to be a lot of help for me. And sure you have to learn how to protect yourself better. You need to be more powerful because I don't want that my idea of perfect Dragon Rider goes wrong." said Galbatorix. Diamond looked angrily at him.
"Yeah, yeah." said Leonor "So what do we have to do?"
"Well, Murtagh will be in charge to teach you how to fight and to teach you more about magic. And Diamond will learn from Thorn all he needs to help you in the fight." smiled Galbatorix.
"Oh." said Leonor quietly.
"You will start practicing today. It will take your whole day because you need to learn as fast as you can. We don't have time." said Galbatorix.
"What?" suddenly yelled Leonor.
"Oh, is there a problem?" asked Galbatorix.
"Yes!" said Leonor, not paying attention to Galbatorix's little bit angry look "Practicing whole day? That's impossible! Too much!"
"Ah, Leonor, you will get used to it. And there won't be problems since you can get as much energy as you need." said Galbatorix. Leonor rolled her eyes. Galbatorix just went back to the tower, laughing a little bit. Dragons flew away to start their training.
"Uh, I so hate him!" said Leonor angrily.
"Don't worry." laughed Murtagh "You will hate me more after this."
"Oh, I see you are finally happy because our day will pass in fighting and magic." she looked at him.
"It's time that you learn something more. Isn't it better when you can protect yourself and not just scream and wait for help like other girls do?" Murtagh smiled.
"Hey! I can protect myself." she looked at him angrily.
"Really? And fight alone against whole army?" he came closer to her.
"I'm not crazy to go against whole army! I can hide, kill those who find me with magic and that's it." she said.
"You see? You are a coward. You can't do anything." he laughed.
"Eh, you are so annoying!" she said angrily.
"What are you going to do? Kill me?" Murtagh laughed "Oh, I forgot. You can't. You are too weak!"
"I could kill you!" said Leonor and looked at him.
"Yes…if I just stand here and not move?" he laughed.
"Ok. I got the point. Stop it!" said Leonor "Just stop laughing. I will try."
"Try?" said Murtagh "No, more than that. Take this sword."
"I don't like it." said Leonor looking at sword Murtagh gave her.
"What's wrong with it?" asked Murtagh surprised.
"It is ugly." she said "I'm not fighting with that."
"Great, now you even care how your sword looks." Murtagh rolled his eyes.
"Oh, look who is saying. You have Zar'roc and you give me some stupid old sword." she looked at him angrily.
"So you want my sword now?" he looked at her.
"No, I don't want it. It's too heavy for me. I had enough of it when I killed Astrid." she smiled.
"Then what kind of sword do you want?" asked Murtagh surprised.
"Something special." smiled Leonor.
"Special?" Murtagh laughed.
"Ok, I will find a sword for me later. Now I will take this stupid one." said Leonor "I hope I will break it soon."
"I will make sure that doesn't happen, also that you stay in one piece." smiled Murtagh and whispered something in ancient language.
"Great." said Leonor in a cold voice "This is going to be the worst day of my life!"
"Why do you say that?" asked Murtagh after he finished the spell.
"Because I'm going to fight…with a sword…whole day…getting dirty and sweaty. Ewww." said Leonor and threw the old sword on the floor.
"What now?" asked Murtagh surprised.
"There is a spider on it!" she yelled.
"A spider? Huh." Murtagh rolled his eyes "Come on, we don't have much time to loose."
"Kill it!" yelled Leonor and moved away from the sword on the floor.
"Leonor! It's just a spider! If you don't want to touch it, kill it with magic." he said.
"No! You kill it!" screamed Leonor and Murtagh just rolled his eyes and killed it.
"Sometimes I wonder what your problem is. You can kill people and not a spider?" he laughed.
"I hate those things! They are weird." said Leonor, still upset. Murtagh picked up the old sword and gave it to Leonor.
"Ok. It's gone now. Come with me. We are going to fight there." he said and pointed to one place near that looked like it was made for fights.
"Ok." said Leonor and followed him.