A/N: It seems that when I uploaded chapter seventeen everything was underlined…that wasn't me that was uploading problem. I fixed it. Thanks for pointing it out to me!

Eighteen

True Sovereignty

After listening to the pleas of several politicians for a raise in wages and a thorough report from Triana on lace production, dusk had already set in over the powdered blue-gold horizon. Faracia brought her an extra large meal, saying that in the future she should try to avoid camping food— it made her bony and thin. Nasuada smiled politely, appreciating the concern. She was the least bit insulted since two weeks of stale bread and lamely flavored vegetable broth had left her insides feeling empty and lonely.

Nasuada split her meal with Garth; she had forgotten how actual food had tasted. When she was finished, she went patted Garth on the head, went to the windows, and threw the curtains over the evening glare. "You're bath is ready, ma'am," Faracia said. "I used your favorite soaps."

Nasuada smiled. "Thank you Faracia." She stepped behind the wooden screen that could be drawn across the room to separate her privet quarters from her office.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Nasuada lifted the dress over her head. "Would you go to the infirmary and see how Murtagh is doing? I forgot have them tell the healers to report to me as soon as they came up with a diagnosis. You can also remind them what will happen should they fail."

Faracia nodded and curtsied. "Will that be all?"

"Yes, thank you." She finished undressing and slipped into the steaming water. The soreness almost instantaneously melted from her aching muscles, coaxed by the rose oiled water and the soothing heat. She could not understand how some people could stand being dirty all the time; Nasuada hated it. Unless circumstances, such as a clash encounter mêlée or a horribly long but important trip, permitted otherwise she always tried to stay polished and grime-free.

Someone knocked at the door. Nasuada groaned. "Yes?" she could not help the slight peppery edge in her voice.

On the other side of the screen, she heard the door slide open and someone shuffled in. "Nasuada!" It was King Orrin. "You did not even bother to say hello to me. I am insulted."

"And I am in my birthday suite, enjoying my first real soak in an actual tub." She leaned back into the tub's smooth, porcelain walls with a smug grin. She could just imagine King's Orrin's face all screwed up in a pained wince, as if he had a swallowed an immature lemon. "I did not want to offend you with all the dirt and grime plastered on face. But if you need me then I suppose it will have to wait." She moved around a bit to make it sound as if she were getting out. "Oh dear, I think my maid may have forgotten the towels…"

"That's all right," Orrin said quickly, sounding quite clumsy. "I was only wondering if you happened to bring that trophy."

I love being a woman, Nasuada thought, satisfied. "The monster's head was too big to cart all the way back home. So we decided a set of claws would do just as well."

"Oh. Would you mind if I examined it?"

"I would rather let Murtagh show it to you when he is feeling better. He went through so much to get it. He will want to be the one to present it."

Orrin paused. Then he said, "I have a speculation on why he may be sick. However, I cannot be sure until I have examined this trophy."

Nasuada sat forward. "A theory? Like what?" Now she regretted pretending to have no towel to dry off with.

"My hypothesis is useless until I can those tests."

"Have you heard from the healers?"

"They suspect a very sever case of lead poisoning."

"Lead poisoning!" she cried. "How on earth did he come down with lead poisoning? He was perfectly fine before he fought that monster. How could he have come down with it so quickly?"

"That ties into my premise, which could be supported if I can get my hands on that trophy."

Nasuada sat back into the basin. "Very well," she said. "Eragon has it with his things. All I ask is that you do not show it to anyone. Let Murtagh have his glory. He has earned it."

She could hear Orrin smiling from his voice. "Of course. I will have the results to you as soon as I am done."

---

When Nasuada was finished enjoying her soak, she went slipped into her linen gown and sent a messenger for Arya. "Were you anyone under my command," Nasuada began coldly. "You would have been charged with insubordination. However, being who you are, the only thing I can do is to not trust as fluently."

Arya's eyes flashed. "It was for your own good," she said. "And the good of the Varden. You cannot possibly be fool enough to recognize that."

Nasuada smiled. "I know and I am very grateful. However, you did lie to me and thus I cannot forgive you so easily. Now, I believe you know more of these tribes than you let on."

"Actually," Arya said, "There isn't much more to add to my earlier testaments. The people who live in the desert were apart of the old humans who first came to Alagaësia. The group split in two shortly after arriving on our coast, half of them stayed in the greener parts of Alagaësia and the other half went into the desert. When Galbatorix took control of the capital, he burned a great deal of our most important records. I have been running back and forth between the Varden and my home for the past seven decades so I never had enough time to study all of our records. However, when I went home this last time I reread what records do have, and found one significant word."

"And that would be?"

"Halali," Arya said. "It is a word used to specify that the hunt is over and the quarry has been brought to a bay. The old humans were afraid to speak of where they came from and referred to it as Scarath."

"What does this have to do with Halali?"

"It was often hinted that the old humans were chased here from across the sea by the Ra'zac or creatures similar to the Ra'zac. Halali was used as an event that was bound to come in the future, which indicates that they escaped and the hunt still continues."

Nasuada leaned back into her chair. Garth was curled up on her lap. "It could also mean that Galbatorix's new allies are these hunters. Was it mentioned what sort of race these hunters were?"

"It was not."

"Then we must investigate," Nasuada concluded. "I will send my agents into the Hadarac to find these nomads."

"They use camouflage," Arya pointed out. "They use it very well. So you may want to send a magician to find them. He or she will have to rely on sensing them with their minds, not the eye. I am assuming that is how the slavers find them."

"I will send Triana then," Nasuada said. "She will have to find a way to communicate with them and find out more about Halali and Scarath."

"It may be easier to find a slave and try to communicate with them than scouring the entire desert."

"I'll sleep on it."

---

In the middle of the night, King Orrin decided that he should also interrupt Nasauda's first night in an actual bed since departing Aberon two weeks ago. "I have come to a conclusion on my hypothosis," he said on the other side of the screen.

She sat up with a silent groan. "In the middle of the night?"

"It's very interesting. If you would like to hear, I will tell it to you now."

Nasuada sighed and wrapped herself in the white bathrobe. Garth poked his head out from under the covers to see what was going on. She picked him up, lit one of the oil lanterns, and slumped into her office chair. "Tell me your conclusion then," she said. "How did Murtagh come down with lead poisoning?"

Faracia had told her before Nasuada before she went to bed that the healers were treating Murtagh for the severe case of lead poisoning they had ever seen. He had only come out of the sleep once since admission. The healers were worried. Nasuada was terrified.

King Orrin pulled set the box on the table. It was almost four feet long. He reached in and pulled out the half frozen set of four giant claws curving out of a thick, hairy paw. "I had one of the magicians freeze it so that the smell would not be so bad."

"I see."

"I was told that Murtagh was dragged into the water in which Gonoszság Skämd dwelled. After running a few tests, I found an incredible amount of lead on the fur. Therefore the lead must have come from the water."

"So Murtagh must have swallowed some of the water and aquired lead poisoning. At least I will not have worry about some crazy politician poisoning him."

"Perhaps," Orrin said, "but it gets more even more interesting. You see, the amount of lead in that water is preposterous."

Nasuada watched him uneasily. A cold knot of fear twisted her entrails. "How much water do you think he swallowed?"

"According to the toxin levels from the blood samples I took, it was enough to kill him several times over. Murtagh should not even be alive now. So then we should not worry about how he came to be poisoned, but how he is still alive."

"What do the healers think?"

Orrin shrugged. "The healers think that it is because he was Galbatorix's pupil. But Murtagh, if I remember correctly, specifically ordered himself to obey only his will. Nobody wants to die—"

"Least of all Murtagh," Nasuada added.

"—So I am assuming that the only reason he is alive is because he must obey his will."

"But how is that possible?" Nasuada asked. "If he swallowed enough water to kill him several times, then how is he still alive?"

"In theory, he will not die unless he wants to because he must obey his will. Nobody ever wants to die so therefore he will not. The only thing I can think of is magic. Also, consider that he survived drowning and nearly freezing to death."

Nasuada considered this for a moment. If Orrin was correct, then this was sure to stir up trouble. People would be even more wary of Murtagh if he could not die. "We shouldn't tell anyone about this," she said. "Arya maybe, for she knows more of the ancient language than either of us. Everyone else, even the magicians, from Queen Islanzadi should not know. We cannot have anyone trying to test your theory any further."

"Of course."

"In the mean time, has anyone spoken to Angela?"

"I did around midnight. She was busy brewing up a concoction that is supposed to flush the poison from his system."

Nasuada sighed. "Somehow, I don't think I will sleep tonight. Even with Angela's miracle tonics."

A/N: Okay, so Murtagh obeying his will was really, really important and I had to do something with it. I'll touch up more on it later. As for the nomads, I've been putting it off because I'm not sure how I want to do it. So until I decide, it may be later in the fic.

Thanks for the reviews! You guys made my day.