"Murtagh." Nasuada said with disgust. She glared at the man holding her wrist and struggled once again to get loose from his grip. "Let me go."
"I can't do that." Murtagh replied. "You're too valuable to loose."
"Let me go this instant!" Nasuada demanded angrily.
"And what are you going to do?" he asked mockingly as he yanked her wrist a bit. "Stab me with your little knife?"
Nasuada only glared back at him. She noticed that Murtagh has changed a lot since she had last seen him. His dark hair was a longer, just falling past his ears, his eyes were deeper and they looked cold and merciless. His body frame seemed to have thinned a bit, but he was a bit more buffed than before.
Murtagh's gaze fell on her wounds. Upon the sight of them, he loosened his grip on her wrist but did not completely release her.
"I believe you already know what I'm going to do?" he asked, a dark smile playing on his lips.
Nasuada shuddered, chills slid down her spine.
"Take me back to Uru'baen." She replied unwillingly.
"Smart girl." Murtagh complimented with a hint of mockery. "You really do know the consequences of being out here in the open without your pathetic guards."
An expression of disgust graced Murtagh's handsome features. "Or Eragon."
"You don't know Eragon." Nasuada snapped. "He's much better than you. Stronger and nobler than you and your traitorous path!"
Murtagh was silent. He only stared at Nasuada and his grip tightened a bit.
"Anyway," Murtagh said after a short while. "I'm taking you back with me to the palace."
Nasuada put on a brave expression, but her eyes filled with fear did not fool Murtagh.
"Leave me be." Nasuada said as she pulled her arm away, but Murtagh refused to let go.
"Alright, fine." He finally released her arm. "Though, you'll die all the same."
Nasuada who was rubbing her wrist to get the blood flowing looked up and stared at him suspiciously.
"What's that suppose to mean?" she asked, her eyes scanned the area for any escape routes.
Murtagh muttered something inaudible and suddenly, a think vine from a tree wrapped itself around Nasuada.
She fell to her knees and forced her arms out to snap break the vine, but it won't budge.
"Five of these men aren't dead." Murtagh said, pointing to five of the slavers lying on the ground.
"They'll wake up in a matter of hours."
"So?" Nasuada challenged.
"So," Murtagh continued. "I could leave you here, and when the wake up, they'll capture you again and take you as a slave. Or," he gave a deadly smirk. "I could tie you to a tree and leave the rest to the wild wolves or whatever beast roaming around the plains to finish you off as dinner."
Nasuada bit her lip until she could taste blood.
"It's either those, or you come with me to the palace." Shadows danced around Murtagh's face from the flickering camp fire the slavers made earlier that evening. "If you decide to come with me peacefully to Uru'baen, there's also an agreement."
"What?" Nasuada could feel her insides churn in fear. But she put on a brave face to mask it.
"You'll be my slave." Murtagh answered.
"What?!" Nasuada demanded, her eyes widening a bit.
"I did take you from the slavers." Murtagh said, kneeling down on one knee and leaned a bit closer to look at her. "That makes you a slave."
"That's preposterous." Nasuada spat angrily.
Murtagh gave a cool chuckle; "Unfortunately, It's true."
"I did not ask for your help in the first place."
"If my memory doesn't fail me, you were yelling for help. You're lucky that I happened to be passing by and heard you. If your luck was the other way around, you'd probably be raped by now."
Nasuada exhaled a shaky breath and stared at Murtagh with disgust.
"Don't worry," Murtagh said coolly. "You'd be a well treated slave. You could continue to live in luxury; wear nice clothes, eat fine food, drink the finest wine, you could go anywhere you wan in the palace, and you can even attend parties and occasions for all I care."
Murtagh leaned a bit closer to whispered to her in a sweet yet deadly tone;
"And all you have to do is to do my every bidding and everything I tell you to do, without hesitation."
Murtagh's offer sounded irresistible to Nasuada. But she thought of the possibilities that could take place. What of her people? What would they think?
"They could always think that I was taken hostage if ever they find out. And Eragon, Arya and Orrin would probably find a way to get me out of this." She thought to herself. "And I could probably sabotage the Empire's plans in the war; I'll just have to find a way to relay my finding to the others. Then this just leaves one thing;
"And what about Galbatorix?" Nasuada asked, she made sure that every emotion in her voice was masked perfectly.
Murtagh stared at her for some time, this question caught him. He forgot about his master who was more than willing to use Nasuada against the Varden.
"I'll try to make a way." He said finally. "Leave all the talking to me. "
"I don't have a choice, do I?" Nasuada sighed irritably.
Murtagh scoffed softly, but his eyes tell her that she was right.
"It's alright if you decide to resist." He said. "I'll leave you here, for those slavers or for some wild animals. Either way," he leaned closer with a mocking look. "You loose."
"Fine." Nasuada said irritably. "I'll come with you." She can't believe that she was actually agreeing to this, but all this bad turn of events could actually be luck in disguise.
"Very good." Murtagh stood up, and with a wave of his hand the vines wrapped around Nasuada snapped. She stood up and was a bit wobbly for being in the same position for thirty minutes, but she regained her balance. Nasuada brushed off the dirt and dust of her tattered skirts and she glanced at Murtagh and his crimson dragon who stared back at her with a murderous glare.
"First thing's first." Murtagh said as he stood up. "You have to swear your oaths to me."
So for the next twenty minutes, Murtagh taught Nasuada the phrases in the ancient language and how to pronounce them correctly. And then when they were done, Nasuada said the words Murtagh told her to say in the ancient language.
"I swear my loyalty to Murtagh, the son of Morzan, and become his slave from this day that I swear this oath onwards. I will not obey anyone else's biddings and commands, but his and his alone."
"Good." Murtagh said, satisfied of the contract he put Nasuada in. "Now, let me heal your injuries."
"No thank you." She said without looking at him. "I've been through worse."
"I could see that." Murtagh grabbed her left arm and turned it over, revealing the thin diagonal scars from the Trial of The Long Knives that happened months ago.
"Tried to kill yourself?" Murtagh asked, his dark eyes bore deep into hers.
Nasuada yanked her arm away and Murtagh did not hold her back.
"That is none of your business." She muttered as she rubbed her arm.
"I demand that you tell me the truth as to why you have cut marks on your arms." Murtagh's eyes narrowed darkly.
Nasuada tried to make up something, she can't tell her about the challenged she had with her tribe's people. But the spell binding her prevented her from not speaking. Murtagh asked for the 'truth' and therefore, she cannot lie about it.
"I would appreciate it if you would not ask about this. " Nasuada said, looking away.
Murtagh glared at her but Nasuada refused to look at him. He led her to a dead log and let her sit down. He sat down beside her and began healing her injuries with magic.
Nasuada flinched a bit every time Murtagh healed the deep ones. The magic that glowed red on the Rider's Mark on his palm felt somewhat warm, it felt a bit nice, but she didn't let that into her.
Once Murtagh was done, Nasuada pulled away and checked herself. Most of the cuts, especially the deep ones were completely healed.
"I'll deal with you about this later," he said, looking seriously at her.
Nasuada merely ignored that comment and muttered;
"You didn't have to do that."
"Well," Murtagh shrugged. "Normally, I wouldn't care about slaves, but you're too important. Therefore, you get special treatment. You're not a slave as in the dirty, lowly servant who clean the chamber rooms and do hard labor. You're more like me. A servant to mad tyrant king."
"Do not compare me to you." Nasuada said angrily. "Because I am nothing like you."
Murtagh gave a bark of laughter. "In case you haven't noticed, you just swear loyalty to me."
Nasuada looked away and stared at the fire.
"Let's just go." She muttered softly that it was inaudible to mortal ears, but Murtagh and Thorn heard her perfectly.
Murtagh stood up and told Nasuada to follow him. They approached the crimson dragon who was watching them attentively the whole time.
"Nasuada," Murtagh said, there was a hint of pride in his voice. "This is Thorn. But I'm cure you've heard about him."
Nasuada nodded as she stared with awe at Thorn. She tried to connect the puzzles; only a year and a few months old, but already larger than Saphira.
"Thorn," Murtagh continued. "This is Nasuada."
The crimson dragon dipped his massive head slightly in acknowledgement to the lady introduced to him by his Rider.
"So this is her?" Thorn asked in the privacy of their minds. "The female human, whose memory always replay in your mind over and over again."
"This is not the time for this." Murtagh said irritably. "I have to deal with the king."
"Whatever you say." Thorn shrugged with amusement.
Murtagh helped Nasuada on the saddle and he mounted on himself, positioning himself in front of her.
"Uh," Nasuada said nervously as Thorn stood up and spread his wings. "I'm not sure about this, Murtagh."
"Why's that?" Murtagh asked.
"I haven't ridden a dragon before and the thought of flying…"
Then Thorn jumped and they soared at an amazing speed up into the sky.
"Waaaiiiittt!!!!" Nasuada felt as if the rest of her body was left down on the ground due to the intense speed and force of the liftoff. She squirmed and kept wobbling off.
"Murtagh," Thorn said with an irritated grunt. "Kindly tell Nasuada to stay still. It's kind of annoying having a panicking female on my back."
"Thorn said that you should stay still or he'll do an upside-down air maneuver and make you fall." Murtagh said calmly.
"I did not day that." Thorn complained.
Murtagh ignored him and wrapped an arm around Nasuada's waist and heat immediately rushed up to her cheeks.
"What's the idea?" Nasuada demanded. She removed Murtagh's arm on her waist but then as soon as she did, she began to slip off the saddle.
"W-wait!" Nasuada frantically searched for something to hold on to. "How do you keep on this thing?"
"Balance." Murtagh replied simply. "You'll stop falling off once you get used to it."
"I have no plans on getting used to this." She said.
Murtagh gave chuckle.
"You'll have to, since I'll bring you along at times."
Nasuada shook her head stubbornly.
"Are you defying your master's wishes?" Murtagh asked with a mocking smirk.
Nasuada did not answer instead she just stared into the dark horizon.
Then her heart started beating faster as soon as she saw the city lights of Uru'baen and the black spires of Galbatorix's palace. Dread filled her once again and her mind was suddenly flooded with horrible things.
"We're here." Murtagh said as they flew nearer to the castle. "Welcome to the capital of the Empire."
Hey guys, our monitor broke down and I wouldn't be able to update for a while. Dunno how long, but I promise I'll come back. The brain waves are too strong to ignore.
I'm gonna leave you with a cliffy… I apologize for any typos and wrong grammar…
Uploading this from my bff's pc. R&R!!!