I Who Should Not Be
Disclaimer: I don't own Eragon, Murtagh, Saphira, Thorn, Surda or anything to do with the Inheritance Trilogy!! I only own this story line and Onika and the Wolfborn!!
Please don't sue the starving student!
Chapter 3
Murtagh sat up when he heard Onika whine in her sleep between him and Eragon. He looked at the Wolfborn and listened intently as she barked occasionally into the night. He sighed in irritation when he could only pick out a few words. Onika had been teaching him her language for the better part of a month, and he had made little progress.
When he heard her make the sounds for 'fear' and 'die' Murtagh bit his lip slowly. The idea that had come to him would have been an extreme breech of her privacy, but maybe she would forgive him for it if he could try to alleviate her mental torture. She had been suffering from her nightmares for as long as he had known her, maybe longer.
What do you think I should do Thorn?
I don't care; just don't hurt yourself while you're in there.
With a nod, he lay down as close as he could get to the sole female Rider and closed his eyes as he whispered in the ancient language and took one of her hands in his. The effect was instant and dramatic.
At first, he felt like he was jerked out of his own body and left to float in empty air. Then he felt himself being flung down until he met hard dirt.
Did my spell not work?
:Mother-female! Leader-Male! Pups are in danger! Where are you?!:
He spun to see Onika running toward him, blood running out from under her hair. His eyes widened. Littering the ground were the bodies of wolves the size of warhorses and people that looked like Onika.
:Mate?! Mate?! Where is mate?:
Who is mate? Wait… How am I able to understand her?
Because you are in her mind. She knows the language, and so do you by proxy.
Thorn?
Watch, Rider. Look at your friend.
Onika stood over the massive body of a wolf whose fur was the color of snow. The girl dropped to her knees and pushed on one monstrous shoulder, trying to wake the wolf, who he now saw was soaked in bright blood.
:Leader-male! Father-male! Wake up! The pups are in danger! Leader-male, wake up! Please?:
He watched her try for another moment, then stand and look toward where she had come from.
:Pups!:
She ran back the direction she had come from, and he followed as fast as he could. As they ran, he noticed that Onika was changing. Her skin began sprouting thick tawny hair and her ears began to shift higher on her head. With a howl, she launched herself through the air. In the space of two heartbeats there was a giant wolf tearing through the trees. Murtagh groaned and pushed himself to run faster, as the dream Onika ran twice, if not three times, her normal speed.
:Pups! Answer beta-female! Answer me!:
The huge wolfess stuck her nose into the air and froze.
:Shade.:
Onika, still in her wolf shape, whirled when she heard the yowl of one of the pups. The child was running toward her, his human limbs slick with blood.
:Mother-female gone! Where is Pack?:
The little boy had almost reached Onika when a black shape with bloodred hair and eyes appeared behind him. Onika howled and leaped at the Shade and tried to snap the Shade's throat out, but slammed into a tree as the creature dissolved into smoke, reappearing behind the child and lifting him up by his elbows.
:Pack Female! Help me! Hurts! Scared!:
"Stop your whining, brat!"
With those words, the Shade pulled viciously on the boy's arms, making him shriek in agony.
:No! Let the pup go!:
She tried to gain her footing but the world spun around her. Then she heard the snapping and wet tearing as the boy screamed all the louder. She looked up and saw just in time for the boy's arms to come free of his body. The Shade licked the blood off one of his fingers slowly, watching the child wail.
Finally shaken from her stunned fog, Onika sprang foreword and snatched the boy up in her jaws and ran. The Shade laughed but didn't give chase.
:I carried him for days.:
Murtagh jumped and turned to see a human looking Onika standing beside him. He noticed the tears that were running down her face, then reached up and wiped his own face to clear it of his own tears.
"Who was he?"
:He was my brother. The last born to my mother and father. He was strong and beautiful… The Shade… He killed my whole pack. I don't know why he didn't kill me that day. I wish he had.:
"Don't say that…"
Great comfort Murtagh. She'll love you now…
:You have not had somebody that you love die in your arms. You haven't had them look at you with such fear but still complete faith that you will be able to fix them… I don't expect you to understand.:
Murtagh bit his lip and looked down. They had talked all the time in real life, but this was the first time that he realized that while she let him know some things about herself, he knew almost nothing of her heart and mind. He wondered if Eragon had noticed the depression that would take over at night that would drive Onika to wander alone into the woods.
Can I do anything to make it even a little better? I'm not sure if I can…
:No leave.:
"Huh?"
:Get out of my head!!:
He felt an invisible hand grab him and fling him into the void again and he was slammed back into his own body. He opened his eyes with a rough gasp and jerked. He looked at Onika's now calm face and touched a strand of her hair.
'She's like me…'
His lips curved in a slight smile as an old song came unbidden to his mind. He wasn't sure where he had heard it, but he thought that it fit Onika perfectly.
I dip
my hands into this darkness
This is the ink of all of our
lifetimes
Here in this world of utter silence
Let the stones
speak to me
Tattooed here across my skin, "I Will Live"
Like
a rose that grows from the wreckage
Blood red, beautiful
How
the storms all around me are now breathless
Is this the end of
the raging road
Through the tangled mind?
Is this the end of
starlit skies?
Are we walking blind?
Let me set out through
this morning
Open arms to greet the empty ages
Reborn, see how
I'm circling
I'm a sailor, eternal
Is this the end of the
wasted way?
Is this the death of time?
Is this the end of blue
psychic seas?
Are we sailing blind?
Oh, look down on
me
Watch over me as I walk across this world
Oh, hold me in
hidden hands
Let us go
Oh, look down on me
Watch over me
as I walk across this world
Teach me how to take my first
footsteps...
to the end...
He smiled and barked softly under his breath to Onika when the girl's brow furrowed and tears started to form.
:Pack Female safe. Leader Male protect.:
Onika made a small sound in her throat and shifted slightly, her face relaxing again. Murtagh closed his eyes again and let himself drift off to sleep again as a thought went through his mind again.
'Always safe. I promise Onika…'
A/N
Hey guys! Thank you to EragonPeep, Spottedstar106 and YoMuM. I love the reviews! I hope you all continue to read and enjoy this story. The song that was used in this chapter was Walking Through the Empty Age by Yoko Ishida.