Chapter 16
Ella groaned as she came awake. Her head felt like some one had taken a hot knife and cut into it. She remembered the pain and noted that it had receded a great deal since she had passed out. She was grateful she had because she was pretty sure much more of it and she would have gone insane.
(Are you alright, little one?) Crivony asked
Ella tensed when he touched her mind and relaxed when it caused her know pain, (Yes Love, I am better then when he did that to me.)
(What did he do to you?) Crivony asked
(He said he was going to teach me the ancient language and instead he nearly killed me.) Ella was angry at the King and worried that she'd have to spend the rest of her long life serving him and under going this sort of torture, (How long was I out for?)
(Two days, Murtagh has come and checked on you often.) Crivony snorted, (He was very worried, and I talk to Thorn when he comes.)
Ella nodded, (You like Thorn?)
Crivony snorted, (He is young and worried for his rider.)
Ella nodded, (You are both worried for us.)
(Yes, very.) Crivony answered, (I am no longer as mad at you for binding us to the egg breaker. Talking to Thorn helped me to understand our true position.)
Ella nodded and walked out into the court yard to hug her dragon. With her arms around his great muzzle she felt so much better. It meant that the whole world wasn't wrong yet, just so long as she had her dragon.
(You should join them for diner and demand that the King explain why he did that to you.) Crivony snorted out a puff of dark smoke
(I will be sure to interrogate him.) With that said Ella marched back into her quarters and dressed for diner.
When she breezed into the great hall she centered in on the evil king and pulled herself together to give him a good yelling at.
"What did you do to me?" She hissed in an angry voice, "You said you'd teach me to ancient language then you tried to kill me!"
She saw Murtagh winced out of the corner of her eye effectively ending her rant. But the damage was done, she had yelled at the King.
Galbatorix stood and looked at her with surprising sternness, "I have yours and your dragon's true names. You are mine to do with as I please."
"But-" Ella said confused
"You are mistaken; I only said what I said so that I could get into your mind with the surety that you wouldn't hide anything from me." The King sneered, "Now you are my slave."
Ella shook her head angrily, "Oath breaker, you foul loathsome creature from the far beyond!"
The king's lips twitched and before Ella knew what had happened she was flat on the floor writhing in agony. She didn't know what had caused it other than by some magic of the king. Her muscles seemed to be stretched a far as they could and then some. Her bones were breaking and healing all at once and over and over again.
When the torture ended she lay on the floor helpless to stand because her muscles ached so badly.
"Come join us in our meal that is an order Melsarda."
Ella felt a jolt run through her at the sound of her true name and she knew that she had to eat with them, because there was no other option. With great pain Ella levered herself up and took her set next to the king. She kept her head down so that there was no chance she'd meet either of their eyes and ate the food in silence. When the meal was over she stood and was ready to sweep form the room when she was interrupted.
"I never said that you could leave." The King sneered
Ella turned and met his eyes defiantly, "May I leave the table, my Lord?"
"Yes but you are to go to the library so that we can discuss your knowledge of the ancient language." the King smirked, "You are to go directly there, dismissed."
Ella glared at him once more before sweeping form the room and heading to the library. For only having been there once she was surprised she remembered where it was. Once in the room she walked around the room browsing the titles of the books in the heavy shelves.
"Come child sit on the floor with me." Ella whirled not having heard him enter the room and went to sit with him.
"Are you going to try and kill me again?" Ella asked before she sat
"Oh no defiantly not." The King smirked, "You may not have noticed but ever since you're little fit in the great hall you and I have been speaking the ancient language."
As soon as the King mentioned it she realized that he was right and she had been speaking the ancient language. Shocked she tried thinking of all sorts of ancient words to replace ones in the common language. She was stunned when she realized for every word she thought of in the common tongue she knew the ancient translation.
"I see you have found out that I speak the truth." Galbatorix sneered, "Now the trick is helping you use it. Just because I gave you the words and the meanings doesn't mean they are all readily available. You have been given the language but you don't really understand it yet. We will spend the next three days with me saying words in the common tongue and you telling the ancient translations and how they should be used."
What followed was a very long and boring three days. Ella found herself spending endless hours in the library with the king learning the ancient language. He taught her the little tricks to the language and the differences on strong words and weak words. So by the end of the three days Ella spoke fluent ancient and found herself slipping into it with out trying to at times. Murtagh point blank refused to talk to her in the ancient language and she suspected that it had a great deal to do with his not liking the King.
Crivony didn't approve of the King's methods to teaching her and often complained to her about the King. Not that she minded seeing as she had a few choice words about the king herself.
At the end of the three days the King spoke to her at lunch.
"Since you have learned the ancient language, I'm going to let you take a break for the next two days. I want to you to take this opportunity to get to know Murtagh and explore Ur'baen." The King explained
Ella sat back and stared at the King, she had been under the impression that he was going to be a hard task master. "Of course my Lord."
Galbatorix nodded his approval, "At the end of this month the nobles return form their country homes and attend the court. I want you to be familiar with Ur'baen before they return. I also want Murtagh to teach you how to act at court."
Ella nodded her head and said as one with Murtagh, "Yes my Lord."
She remained silent through out the rest of diner eager to return to Crivony and the relative safety of her own rooms. Since their capture Crivony had not been allowed to fly. Ella spent hours talking to her dragon and soothing their restless nerves. She knew that soon the King would have to let the gray dragon fly, but when worried her.
Ella spent the next two days roaming the palace and its grounds listening to Murtagh as he explained courtly attitudes and customs. He also went into detail about the scheming and bribing. He told her all about the evil things that went on at court.
Some times Ella found herself shocked and even horrified. Tales of daughters pawned off to gain social standing, and towns switching hands at the drop of a hat. Ella gritted her teeth and said nothing though knowing that Murtagh expected her to.
(It's horrible the way these snobbish creeps treat human life!) Ella ranted too Crivony who merely agreed
(There's is nothing that we can do about it.) Crivony replied
Ella folded her arms and huffed angrily, (Doesn't mean I like it.)
(Yes Little One, so long as you don't do something rash.)
(I'm not an idiot I know that doing anything would put the both of us in greater danger than we already are.) Ella yawned and bid her dragon good night.
The next day Murtagh too her out to see were each nobles great house was with in the castle walls. She was awed at the beauty and disgusted with the amount that these people spent on themselves while their people suffered. Ella was amazed when Murtagh showed her the large park that was with in the castle walls. It was full of green grass, tall fruit and shade trees. Flowering bushes and flowers dotted the landscape. But the garden was wild and uncared for, when she asked Murtagh about it he explained that it was because the elves used to care for it and now that they fought the King they didn't care for the garden.
Ella soon realized that the palace was quite large, for such few people. When she asked she learned that well over a hundred servants took care of the near empty palace and the fifty noble families brought there own servants.
"Who all used to live in the palace before the war?" Ella's asked Murtagh
"Well the King of the moment and his family. The nobles, representatives from the elves, dwarfs, and dragon riders. The guilds and there masters. A school for those of high intelligence, and trade teaching. If your family could afford it they'd send you here to learn the arts and higher knowledge to figuring, reading, and writing." Murtagh explained, "It was once very full and active, now though the halls and suites are more often empty than not. Even the nobles return reluctantly."
Ella nodded and sighed. She hated the king all the more for it.
The next day Ella followed the King to the library after breakfast. They sat as before in the middle of the room and faced each other.
"Today I'll give you the knowledge of how to us the words you now know to do magic. I will also give you the knowledge of how to use the magic in other ways not bound by the ancient language. So brace yourself as before, and don't fight me, Melsarda." The King smirked and reached into her mind.
Ella whimpered and braced herself, ready for the pain. I came in a rushing torrent of agony. I ripped into her skull and poured into her brain. She bit her lip and let tears of agony stream down her cheeks. Sobs hitched in her throat as her mind was filled with knew knowledge and with it pain. She started to slump to the floor as the pain kept coming for minutes on end.
Finally when the King withdrew she slumped to the floor and let the sobs of pain come now not having to worry about disrupting her master. She curled into a ball and hugged herself as the pain pulsed through her head. A sudden jolt in her stomach and she lost her breakfast on the carpet.
(Oh Ella, I wish I could take the pain, and if it weren't in your mind and in your body I would take you away from it.) Crivony soothed
Ella shuddered and winced as the thoughts from her dragon seared across her raw mind. She whimpered and wished she could pass out but that didn't seem to be happening.
(Make me pass out.) She begged her dragon
(Of course little one.) And with those words Ella spiraled into darkness.
AN: I really sorry for the long wait but life has taken a turn for the busy and suddenly I have a life to live besides writing and reading fanfiction. I know it's a sade day when life forces you away from the things you enjoy. Well I'll try to write and update when I get the chance, I know I hate it when an author drops a fic and I just realized that I was becoming a fic dropping author. Thank the reviewer KRP for making me realize that.