Disclaimer: Don't own Eragon.
Just saw the movie today and it really was a disappointment. Good to see if you haven't read the books, but not at all as good as the books. Murtagh rocked though, even though he was HARDLY THERE AT ALL!!!
Okay, so I know most of you are all "OMG WHERE'S THE ROMANCE!?" and I should tell you I DON'T HAVE A CLUE! I'll try and get it in there soon, but until Eragon gets captured and they finally get some 'alone time' I don't think much will happen. Luckily that's the next chapter so I'm gonna try my hardest!
In the meantime, enjoy the movie best you can and pray that Eldest makes up for it. Also, THIRD BOOK COMING OUT EVENTUALLY SO FINGERS CROSSED ALL YOU MURTAGH FANS!!!
I know I'm one. Anyway, read on and review much!
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Once inside the outer ring of security around Gil'ead, Alycie became aware of just how thankful she was that Murtagh had come along. Men were fighting in the streets in drunken brawls or just fits of anger. The dogs' mouths frothed as they leapt at the grungy civilians who passed them by. Everyone was shouting.
"Who are we looking for again?" asked Alycie, turning back to Murtagh. He shrugged.
"You lead, I follow. I know only what you know," he said. Alycie's eyes grew wide when she turned back to the road. He had come to oversee, but he would do nothing to assist her. Even to tell her the name of the man to be found.
"Right...I'll ask someone in there," said Alycie, looking at a pub that expelled about two drunk, fighting men every minute. Murtagh shrugged, crossing his arms. Alycie dismounted, then looked back at him. "And you're coming with me," she added. He dismounted Tornac, leading him to a stable nearby, quickly paying the man and returning. They entered...
...and immediately had to dodge a body flying through the air. A large mountain of a man stood a ways away, his ruddy face twisted in anger. The rest of the crowd in the pub were all cheering drunkenly, watching the thrown man as he staggered to his feet. Alycie grabbed Murtagh's arm, leading him to the counter. She was holding it for comfort rather than for leadership.
"Excuse me," she said as they reached the bar. The barman didn't look over; too busy cheering on the large man in the fight. "Excu...oh to Helgrind with it! OI! SERVICE HERE YOU FOP!" The man looked over, and then grumbled in annoyance, walking over. Murtagh turned his cloaked face towards the wall.
"Whad'ye want?" growled the man.
"I be need'n ter find someone," said Alycie, matching his accent confidently. One eye narrowed on the barman's gruff face.
"My memory's not wha' it used ter be I'm afraid," he said. "Bu ' if I could be reminded..." He held out his hand. Alycie turned to Murtagh. She hesitated. She could handle the situation without him. She didn't need his help...even if it was money. She reached slowly into her boot.
Alycie stood up and turned quickly, catching the man's outstretched hand, still waiting for the coins, and holding it to the table, her dagger at the notable vein on his wrist. He struggled immediately and nearly caught hold of her hand.
"Hey!" she said. "Move tha' hand there and I slit this."
The bartender looked angrily from his captive wrist to his captor's smirking face. His other hand lifted back and, before Alycie realized her mistake, propelled forward into her face. She fell back, her dagger falling to the floor. Murtagh caught the bartender, holding him up threateningly and muttering. Alycie bent over, picking up her dagger, and stormed out of the pub, her face glowing red.
She marched along the street for a moment, sitting down on the steps to a large marble building, her hand on her throbbing eye. Humiliation was sinking in, making her curse herself as she shoved the dagger back into her boot. She had been overconfident, and that overconfidence had cost her her dignity. Her ego had gotten in the way of her sensibility. Stupid...stupid...She stared at the ground for a minute or two, resentment filling her to the brim, when two black boots appeared in front of her. She sighed as she recognized them. A deep voice filled her ears.
"How is your eye?"
"It hurts," said Alycie.
"I asked the man again where we could find Dormnad and he was kind enough to inform me." Alycie nodded, but didn't respond.
Her fists clenched and her face screwed up in anger. She shouldn't have acted so rashly. She should have seen what would happen. She'd only had one of his hands and she'd expected him to bend to her will like a worm! She shouldn't be dwelling on this either. A bruised eye and she was falling apart like a weak little child! Her bruised ego hurt more than the bruised eye anyway. She looked away as Murtagh bent down to her level, his gray eyes fixed on her face.
"Let me see," he said, his face full of compassion. Alycie glanced at him, her eyes meeting his. Shame coursed through her as she met his gaze. He reached up and pulled her hand away from her eye, looking at it. Alycie waited for a reprimand for her actions as she watched Murtagh evaluate her. "It seems to be alright. You'll have a mark for a while, but you'll live." He stood up. Alycie looked up at him miserably. "Stand up and dry your eyes. Eragon is waiting for us still," he said. Alycie nodded, standing. She hesitated.
"I'm not crying," she said.
"That doesn't change the fact that Eragon is waiting," said Murtagh. Alycie rolled her eyes and followed him.
"Will you tell him about my mistake?" she asked after a minute.
"Not if you don't want me to," replied Murtagh. Alycie nodded, grateful.
"Now...where did the barman say Dormnad was?" she asked.
"A few blocks down in a pub he frequently visits called 'The Fighting Cork'."
"I thought you weren't going to assist me," she said.
"It seemed that you really did need it," said Murtagh.
They continued to walk down the road, Murtagh avoiding eye contact with those they passed, his cloak pulled low over his eyes to hide his face from view. Alycie felt oddly exposed amongst the secretive crowd, and wished she had bothered to take a cloak as well. She kept close to Murtagh, aware of the fact that any one of these strangers could separate her from him if she wandered to far ahead.
They stopped at several pubs where Alycie stared at the sign out front, struggling to decipher the runes inscribed. Murtagh sat back and watched as she counted the spaces in between, for she knew the name of the pub was three words and that meant two spaces. After an hour of wandering, Murtagh ventured to speak.
"You can't read, can you?" he asked as Alycie was faced with another sign. She looked back at him.
"I can," she said in what she hoped was an indignant voice.
"What does that say then?" asked Murtagh, pointing at the sign. Alycie looked back up at it.
"...'The Fighting Cork'?" she asked.
"Why ask if you are sure what it says?" asked Murtagh.
"Fine, I can't read!" shouted Alycie at him. "Just rub it in my face along with my incapability to do anything by myself! "
"I wasn't rubbing anything in your face," said Murtagh. "I was simply asking a question. You said you were capable of completing this task, but I have yet to see that capability be proven. Now are you going to continue to yell at me, or are you going to ask for help this one last time?" Alycie stopped, glaring at the pub as she calmed herself down. She looked back at him.
"Where is the pub?" she asked. Murtagh pointed down the street from whence they'd come.
"A bit down that way," he said. "I could lead you to it if you would like."
"Thank you very much," spat Alycie through her teeth. They backtracked along the streets of Gil'ead, finding the correct pub and entering.
This pub was similar to the last, except for the fact that there was not one fight with the others rallied around it, but rather many smaller fights filling the room. Alycie let Murtagh handle the bartender's interrogation and followed him to a ruddy-faced man sitting alone at a far table. Alycie sat across from him, Murtagh lurking behind her, staring at the brawling crowds.
"Are you called Dormnad?" asked Alycie. The man looked up, not terribly drunk.
"Depends on 'oo's askin'," he said. Alycie leaned in.
"I come on behalf of a Rider," she said quietly. The man's eyes widened and he leaned in as well.
"Tha's 'ardly somethin' ter speak of ligh'ly, Miss," he whispered. "'Ow do I know you ain' puttin' me on?" Alycie paused, open-mouthed. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to find Murtagh handing her a small ring Eragon had worn. She took it, handing it to the man, who examined it in awe.
"Believe me now?" asked Alycie.
"I'm leanin' towards it," said Dormnad. He looked at Alycie. "So it's hatched?"
"Yes. And we need to know the road to the Varden," said Alycie. Dormnad handed the ring back to Alycie, frowning.
"This could very well be a trap," he said. "But if there's a Rider, tell 'im I'll meet 'im on a small 'ill across the road outside Gil'ead a' sunrise. If 'ee really is a Rider, I'll take 'im to the Varden."
"Thank you, sir," said Alycie, grinning and standing. "Sunrise then."
She and Murtagh left the pub. Alycie was feeling happier than she had all day that the little interview had gone by without fault, not counting Murtagh's little intervention with the ring, under her lead. It made up for her previous blunders, leaving her feeling accomplished. She had been capable in the end.
They arrived at the stables where Tornac was being held. Alycie stood behind Murtagh as he paid the boy. Suddenly, unbeknownst to them, a little boy in rags had turned a nearby corner suddenly, and ran fast towards them. His eyes had been looking back over his shoulders at a pursuer who had not turned onto the street yet, and the boy did not see Alycie step unknowingly into his path. he looked up just as they collided, sending her toppling backwards to the ground. The boy scrambled to his feet, taking off as his pursuer turned the corner.
"HEY YOU! THIEF! Wait..."
Alycie sat up, seeing something fall off of herself into her lap as she did so. She grabbed it, holding it up to look at it. It was a cloak. She looked up suddenly, and her eyes met those of Murtagh. His face was contorted in fury.
"MURTAGH!" came a cry. He turned sharply, spotting the peasant boy's pursuer.
With an angry yell, he pulled Alycie to her feet, leaping onto Tornac with her, and kicking his heels into the warhorse's side. He leaned low to Tornac's neck as they sped out of Gil'ead. Alycie pressed herself down against Murtagh's back, guilt flushing through her once more. She could hear his angry breathing issuing in time to Tornac's panting as they galloped along at alarming speed. She closed her eyes. Murtagh dismounted his steed quickly when the reached the camp, striding over to Eragon.
"What's wrong?" asked the Rider.
"Did anyone follow us from Gil'ead?" asked Murtagh, a note of anger audible in his voice. Behind him, Alycie silently dismounted Tornac.
"We didn't see anyone," responded Eragon, confused.
"Good," said Murtagh, sitting and pulling a bowl towards him, scooping some of the soup in the pot over the fire into it. "Then let me eat before I explain. I'm starving." He began to shovel the food down rapidly.
Eragon looked at Alycie, who avoided his gaze. She felt the familiar brush against her consciousness and shot him a brief glare. Murtagh began to speak after a few gulps, his voice thick with food that still filled his mouth as he spoke of the plan they had formed with Dormnad. Alycie took a bowl and began scooping her dinner out of the pot, though, despite the long day of hunger, she felt as though she had not the stomach for it.
"So what happened?" asked Eragon. Alycie focused on her dinner, trying to block out the conversation.
"It's a rather simple thing, but all the more deadly because of it: I was seen in the street by someone who knows me. I did the only thing I could do and ran away. It was too late, though; he recognized me," replied Murtagh, pouring more food into his bowl.
"How?" asked Eragon, glancing at Alycie, eyeing her bruised eye. Murtagh glanced at her as well.
"Let's just say it was an accident," he said. Alycie looked up, meeting his gaze for a fraction of a second, then dropping it, looking back at the food she had begun to shovel down.
"I see," said Eragon, not pressing the subject. "Since I don't know your friend, I have to ask: Will he tell anyone?"
"If you had met him, that wouldn't need answering. His mouth is loosely hinged and hangs open all the time, vomiting whatever happens to be in his mind. The question isn't whether he'll tell people, but whom he will tell. If word of this reaches the wrong ears, we'll be in trouble," said Murtagh with a cold laugh.
"He already screamed out your name in the street when he saw you," said Alycie. "So that puts things against us, I'd say."
"Yes, not to mention the fact that he saw me ride off with you on Tornac," said Murtagh. "So your existence is now known."
"So I am on the run as well," said Alycie, laughing once.
"Welcome to the club," said Eragon dryly, turning back to Murtagh. "I doubt that soldiers will be sent to search for you in the dark. We can at least count on being safe until morning, and by then, if all goes well, we'll be leaving with Dormnad."
"No," said Murtagh as he shook his head, "only you will accompany him. As I said before, I won't go to the Varden."
"What?" asked Alycie, looking up. Murtagh and Eragon looked back at her. "We're splitting up?"
"We are," said Murtagh, pointing at Eragon and himself.
"Why?" asked Alycie. Eragon looked at Murtagh unhappily.
"I am to find and join the Varden. He will not go anywhere near them," he said.
"What will you do then?" asked Alycie, looking at Murtagh. He shrugged.
"Continue following the Ra'zac I suppose," he said.
"Well if you aren't sure what path you should take, why not go along with your companions?"
"Let's just say I don't get on well with the Varden," said Murtagh in a final tone. Alycie acknowledged it, going silent, but suspicions chased each other around in her head until sleep finally overtook her a while later.
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