A/n: 202 reviews? Gasp Wow! I love you guys…in a nice friendly author-reviewer way. Thanks so much!

Well, I wasn't expecting this chapter. It's short (2pgs!). But I think that Galbatorix would be fuming mad at Murtagh for breaking his oaths and stealing his egg. So, this short chapter is to deal with that. I'll have a few explanations at the end of the chapter in the author's note, and later in the next few chapters.

Galbatorix was hard to do, since I've never seen him before (Garth is so much easier to work with!). I can't think of a good true name for Murtagh, so I'm not going to mention what it is (I bet Mr. P knows what it is!)

Thanks for the reviews!

Nineteen

Oathbreaker

Murtagh woke to complete darkness. He had to pry his eyelids open. His body ached and felt as though it had been glued to the mattress. A dark figure stood at the edge of the bed. A blurry shadow molded to a vague human-shape. Normally he would have said something to it out loud, done something to find out who was standing over him; he would have reacted in some alarmed way. But he was too tired to do anything except ask Thorn who it was.

Thorn said nothing.

The figure moved to the head of the bed with a slow, ghostly motion. It bent down and said in ear with a vicious whisper, "You have failed me, Murtagh."

The blood froze in Murtagh's veins.

A dark hand pressed against his face. Except that it wasn't a real hand. It was a hard, formless pocket of cold air. "You didn't think that you escape so easily, did you?"

Thorn!

Silence.

The figure— Galbatorix in some shadowy-projectile form— laughed. It was a dry, evil cackle. "He cant' hear you. Not while I am shielding your thoughts and my presence."

Hot pain shot down his arm, into his bones. Invisible irons pressed against his hands, blistering the old scars. He could not speak or move. It was like the dream in Helgrind, except that this was real. That was more terrifying that anything. "You didn't think you could get away from me, did you Oathbreaker? I suppose I was lucky that you became ill." If Galbatorix's shadow figure had any facial features, Murtagh imagined he would have been smiling cruelly. "You must obey your desire to keep living. Your body has been so busy trying to stay alive that it has no strength to keep up those barriers. I cannot curse you, but I can do other things."

Thorn!

Nothing.

Galbatorix began flipping through Murtagh's memories, tearing them out of the most privet part of his mind. He took everything, especially anything that had to do with Nasuada, causing Murtagh pain whenever he could. When he came to the hatching of Garth, Galbatorix growled. "It took me years to find your true names." Another electric hot pain shot down his spine.

Thorn looked up. Murtagh could see his ochre eyes gleaming in the dark. He let out a low snarl and nosed Murtagh's limp. "Look at me." He reluctantly looked away from Thorn. "It seems that no matter how much I torment you physically, you always go crawling back to my enemies." Galbatorix paused and Murtagh was sure he was smiling wickedly. He tried everything to push Galbatorix away, but the spells kept slipping away as if greased with oil.

"I can find Nasuada's true name if you like," Galbatorix went. "It may take me awhile, but I will make it so that she cannot break her oaths. As long as she does not know the name, she will stay mine. I will not make the same mistake again. I can get Eragon's name too. And then what will you do? So don't think that you will go without punishment."

Suddenly Thorn leapt up and slammed into Galbatorix's mental barriers. Galbatorix let out a roar of anguish, his shadow figure denigrating. He was gone. Then Thorn reached out and pulled Murtagh's mind away from any outside clutches, sheltering him with brawny barriers.

And it was done.

A/n: We know that Galbatorix is evil beyond reason so we can assume that he'd have a way to project his image/form all the way across Alagaësia (sort of like astral projection). Since Murtagh is sick and the need to survive is more important than keeping up mental barriers, Galby could easily get into Murtagh's head. He can't curse Murtagh because Murtagh obeys his will and a curse would be against his will. It would be broken as soon as he got better and his life wasn't in danger.

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