A/N: hello. Sorry I took so long to update and the chapter is so short, but I have been really busy, ands it was my birthday party on the weekend. My English teacher has been loading us with heaps of work to finish before the end of the year and my health teacher got us to do the last of our work. I should be able to update sooner next time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Eragon or Eldest. Never have, and probably never will.

Ch.18. Chapter 17

A man with dark brown hair was thrown at the king's feet. The brown-haired man looked up at the man he kneeled before with hatred in his eyes. The king who stood before him had piercing grey eyes and slick black hair, and behind his stood a black dragon with yellow eyes.

The man looked down, refusing to meet the evil king's eyes.

"Look at me," he commanded.

The brown haired man did nothing. He didn't care what happened to him any more. The pain didn't matter.

"Look at me!" the king yelled.

He felt the pain prickle at the back of his neck. He tried to fight it but the magic was too powerful. "LOOK AT ME!" The man couldn't fight it any more. His head was forced up and he was made to look into the eyes of the man he hated most. The man that had destroyed the trust he had gained, the life he had tried so hard to create.

"Better," the king muttered, looking at the broken man with disgust. "You have been very difficult recently, so I think it is time that you were punished."

"You can't hurt me," the man spat venomously, struggling to his feet.

"Can't I?" The king said with a grin. "Anyway, who said it was you I would be hurting." The man looked at him confused. "You share the same weakness as your deceased mother. You can love. And I think it is time you learned why you shouldn't."

The man still looked confused.

The king grinned and took out a dagger. "You will kill the leader of the Varden with this dagger."

"No," the man whispered, realization hitting him. Horror filled his brown eyes as he realised he would be made to kill the woman he loved. "No, I won't. You can't make me."

"Yes I can," the king said. Then, just like, that the man was no longer in control of his body. He was forced to speak the words of the ancient language that bound him to the task. He was forced to promise that he would try to kill the leader of the Varden with the dagger the evil king handed him.

Then the king walked past him. "Why couldn't you have been like your father? If you had chosen to work for me, you could have been free to have a life, but you have forced me to make you a puppet. Your father would have been disappointed." The king then walked from the room without awaiting a response.

When he was gone, the man fell to his knees. Tears began to fall from his brown eyes as he realised exactly what he had to do. "I am so sorry Nasuada," he whispered. "Remember that no matter what happens, I will always love you." He prayed that she could hear him.

In the back of his mind, he heard her voice. "And I will always love you too, Murtagh."

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Eragon, Arya and Saphira rose early the next morning. They packed up the camp in a hurry and left. They left no prints, no scraps, no ashes, not a trace that they had been there. They weren't taking any chances.

When they were finally in the air, the tension eased and they began to relax. Arya surprised Eragon by asking him a question.

"How did Brom find out that you were a rider? I'm sure you would have kept your palm hidden after touching Saphira."

Eragon laughed a bit. "Brom had his suspicions, mainly because I had been asking more questions than usual. Questions about secrets that very few other than the riders knew, like about how riders and dragons could hear each other's thoughts, and about the gedwëy ignasia. After that, Brom worked it out pretty quickly. So one time when I shook his hand, he 'accidentally' pulled the glove off my hand. Then when he handed it back, he made my palm face upwards. I ran off pretty quickly after that, but I could hear him whistling as I went."

Arya laughed at this while scratching her dragon's head. Arya then surprised him once more by asking another question. Arya didn't usually ask questions about his, or anyone else's lives.

"How did you come up with Saphira's name?"

"When I was asking Brom about the riders, I also asked about the names of the old dragons. Then I just went through them until I found one that she liked."

"It took a while,"Saphira said wittily, "Because he thought I was a boy."

This made Arya laugh hard. Eragon felt the heat rise in his cheeks and he growled at them. This only made Arya laugh harder.

"It wasn't my fault. How was I supposed to know? I didn't have another dragon to tell me her gender."

Arya stopped laughing and smiled at him. "Sorry." Arya though for a moment then spoke again. "How did you hide her and look after her while you were in Carvahall?"

"It was hard," Eragon said. He remembered it well. "I went to her every chance I got. I built her shelters and brought her food, but I was always worried when I wasn't around. She was so small and there were so many dangers."

Arya nodded and spoke again. "What was it like growing up in Carvahall? How did you spend your days?"

"I spent most of my day working on the farm. When I was younger, I would spend my free time playing games with Roran and the other boys in the village. I find it funny when I think back. We used to pretend we were the riders of old, that we could do magic, and fight like a hero. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever believe that it would actually happen."

"As I grew up, I went out hunting, and I had to do more on the farm, so most of the time I was pretty busy. During my free time, I would wander the forest behind my house."

Eragon watched Arya as she listened intently to him. He found it amazing that she, an elven princess, could be interested in his pathetic past.

"What's with all the questions?" Eragon asked.

"Huh," Arya replied as if broken out of a daze.

"What is it with all the questions?" Eragon repeated slowly.

"I don't know, I guess I was just interested. Your life was just so different from mine."

"Alright," Eragon said but his eyebrows knitted with confusion as he turned to face ahead. She had never been interested in his life before Saphira's egg hatched, so what had changed. Why did she care now?

Eragon shook his head as he came to a conclusion. He would never understand women.

A/N: sorry it is so short but I will update soon. Hopefully by Saturday week. Anyway, review and I might be convinced to update sooner. No flames please.

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