Bringer's Curse

Sixteen year-old Lenori Tábor stood on the balcony of her room. She thought it looked beautiful. This was probably because she didn't see the poorer parts of the city from her window. She didn't tend to see things like that. It was part of her nature.

She felt a sharp pain in her head. She groaned. She knew what was coming next.

Voices of thousands filled her. They were quite literally the cries of the damned. They were the cries of men and women long since dead who suffered in death for their crimes in life. Murderers, thieves, whores, tyrants, despots, adulterers liars, cheats, they all cursed her for being alive, for not suffering as they now did. They seemed to call her "Bringer".

She had never known why they called her such a name, and she had never told anybody about it, so if someone knew why the dead called to her, Lenori still did not know what they knew. No one knew that this was why she had seizures. All doctors had pronounced her an epileptic. Perhaps such things were part of that disease. Lenori was afraid to ask anybody what it might be.

The voices stopped, and one man stepped towards her. He had dark blond hair and cold grey eyes. He was close enough to touch her, and he reached out to grab her slender, white wrist. Lenori shrank back as the cold hand wrapped around her arm. She opened her mouth to scream, and the sound that erupted came from both her mind and her mouth.

"You can end this," he whispered. "If you go to the king, he can help you. You can help us" Lenori shivered at his voice. He withdrew his arm.

Another woman stepped forward. She was short and sturdy with light brown hair and slanting black eyes. This one opened her mouth and spoke,

"Opener, Walker, Bringer, all from life's tree,

Three in one, and one in three,

You can help them and me.

And perhaps we will help thee.

Cursed in these positions the other two are not,

But you have been cursed with a deadly lot.

I see you do not know of the plot,

Or what you were by your mother begot.

You need not yet know.

Your knowledge may yet grow.

They say you reap what you sow,

But you have not sewn the seeds that bring this most cruel blow.

But should the damned care?

We have had more to bear.

Perhaps we gave you a scare,

But you will have to come to our lair."

She stepped back.

The blond man stepped forward again.
"Don't you dare refuse," he hissed. Lenori whimpered. Disgusted, the man threw her back.

Lenori's eyes opened. She looked up into the scared face of her brother Claudius. She realized she must have had another seizure. That was what always happened.

"You almost rolled off the balcony," he whispered in a frightened voice.

Lenori whimpered again. Claudius picked her up and carried her to her bed. As he set her down, Lenori fell into a deep sleep.

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Claudius left his sister's room quietly. He had heard her thrashings from outside her door. He had left her in a servant's care. It always scared him when his sister had such attacks. They all hoped she'd get better as she got older. His father and the older two of his three brothers had been concerned about the effect it would have on her eligibility for marriage. Alexandros was only five and wasn't even aware of his sister's illness. Well, at least that was what Marcus the elder thought. Solaera may or may not have told him. The woman who had married his father (Claudius hated calling a woman only two years older than he "stepmother") didn't believe in keeping her son in the dark, and she may have explained it to him if he had asked. That was something that Claudius liked about Solaera.

He was heading towards his own lodgings in the palace when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned abruptly and saw none other than Solaera standing behind him. Her eyes sparkled with questions. She may have been a grown woman of thirty-seven, but she always needed to know if her plans had worked as quickly as possible.

"Did you tell her?" she asked in whispered tones. They walked down the corridor together. Both sets of eyes darted left and right searching for eavesdroppers.

"I did," he responded.

"So she knows about her sister?"

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"She made me tell her everything."

Solaera laughed softly.

"That is good," she stated. "What else?"

"She grabbed my wrist and didn't let go. It did not look appropriate when the red rider came into the library. He didn't seem happy. He seems to be good at hiding emotions, yet showing all."

Solaera stopped. A strange expression lit her face.

"So," she whispered, "Morzan's son has developed an attachment to…Luce. Very interesting."

"I think you mean ironic."

"Yes, it certainly is. After all, well, never mind."

Claudius knew that there were certain things they could not discuss in Galbatorix's castle.

"You have already told me that," he whispered to her.

Solaera nodded.

"Let us see what she does with that knowledge," Solaera whispered almost inaudibly.

"I hope we are around to find out."

"I've cheated death once. I think I can do it again and teach you to do the same in the process."

Claudius raised his eyebrows. They had reached his rooms.

He leaned closer to her, wrapped an arm around her waist, and whispered, "Where is the most honored Lord Tábor tonight?"

Solaera grinned. "Sleeping quite heavily," she purred.

Claudius laughed softly. "Then life is good," he replied as he covered Solaera's mouth with his own. She responded quite eagerly.

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Murtagh was lying on his bed. He ran his hands through his dark hair. He looked angrily around the room. Luce was being foolish. What had she hoped to gain by seducing Tábor? It made no sense. How could she do this to him?

Human, I don't even think we know if that was what she was doing, Thorn put in.

I think we do, dear dragon. I've never known you to be so naïve, he snapped.

Listen to me, human! Thorn yelled. You cannot behave this way. Even if that was what she was doing, you cannot stop her. You do not have that privilege.

I am simply looking out for her well-being, Murtagh replied stiffly.

Oh, human, I'm disinclined to believe that is all, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I must, however, stress the fact that she does not listen to you if you treat her like a child. As far as I saw, you simply made her angry, the crimson dragon explained.

Why are you defending her? You don't even like her! Murtagh shouted angrily.

I don't dislike that female, Thorn replied in a rather defensive manner.

Murtagh rolled his eyes.

Murtagh, listen to me. You cannot let your jealousy or whatever it is you are feeling get to you. We cannot afford to have Luce angry at us. She's alright in the end, and I can't defend your actions when you were being childish. She has made no promises to you other then friendship.

Oh, and she wasn't?

You didn't make it any better.

Murtagh sighed.

A knock sounded on his door. Murtagh opened it and saw a messenger boy.

"Th-the king w-wants to-to s-see you, milord," the boy stuttered.

"I'll go," Murtagh muttered.

The boy ran away.

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Galbatorix looked coolly at Belinda.

"What news have you, girl?" he snapped at her.

He was slouched on his throne and picked his fingernails with a black dagger.

Belinda privately thought this a rather disgusting habit, but the kin was the king. His general appearance was impressive. He was tall, muscular, and pale. He seemed to only look thirty or forty, but Belinda knew his real age was over one-hundred. His eerily handsome, elfish face was doubtless part of his being a rider. His whole appearance, including the nail-picking, seemed to compliment the madness in his black eyes.

"I have just witnessed a most interesting scene," she began.

"Out with it, girl," the king snapped. Belinda shrank back instinctively. She didn't want that dagger hurled in her direction.

"Apparently, Claudius Tábor has somehow learned of all there is to know about the newest rider. He knew it was Ardis, and he knew the dragon's name, gender, and color. He also seemed to know that she was in Ellesméra. He told the green rider all this," Belinda told him.

Galbatorix's eyes flashed. He stood up.

"This is a terrible thing of which you have informed me, eh?" he stated.

"Tábor wouldn't say how he found out, only that he did," Belinda whispered nervously. "Also, the red saw it. The green rider had her hand on Tábor's wrist when he walked in. Needless to say, it was a situation that looked rather compromising."

Galbatorix's expression changed a bit.

"This is not as bad as I thought. I think I shall allow young Tábor some time. After all, a known spy is better than an unknown one," the king replied gleefully. "You are a lovely girl, my little snake. Gain his confidence. Do whatever you. Find out where he gets his information from if you can. If you can't gain his confidence, find out through spying. You seem to be good at that, after all." Alagaësia's ruler waved his had in dismissal of Belinda.

The slave girl eagerly backed out. As she shut the door behind her, she saw the red rider striding towards the door.

Murtagh looked up at the king. Murtagh's grey eyes widened at the look on his master's face. It was close to joyful. This didn't seem to bode well for him.

"Murtagh, my boy," Galbatorix began, "I have just heard a most interesting report from one of my spies. Apparently, there has been a leak in my sources, but we have discovered the culprit. Claudius Tábor has obtained private information. I intend to find out how. After all, we can't have flaws in the system, can we? I expect you to be a good boy and keep in mind that I can, have, and will make it my prerogative to descry any flaws within the system."

Murtagh noticed how Galbatorix put extra emphasis on the word "any". It seemed to be a warning.

"Luce will be getting the same warning!" he yelled after Murtagh as he waved his hand in dismissal.

So, she told the truth after all, Thorn stated.

Aye, she did. I think I owe her an apology, Murtagh replied.

That you do, human, Thorn told him.

Murtagh decided to go find her. It didn't take him very long to find her room.

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Luce was lying on her bed. She had gotten cramps this particular period. She was silently cursing every god she knew. Iormungr was staying out of the whole business.

She heard a knock on her door.

"Go away," she shrieked.

The knocker merely opened the door. The knocker turned out to be Murtagh.

Luce scowled at him.

"I said, 'Go away,' didn't I? Which part is confusing you?" she snapped. She was uncomfortably aware of the fact that she was wearing extremely old clothes. Her pants came up to her knees and had been let out and let back in so many times they looked like rags. Her shirt was in a similar state. She had gotten so frustrated with the sleeves that she had simply ripped them off.

"I came to apologize. Apparently, you weren't lying. Your friend should be careful, though. The 'king' knows what he knows now," Murtagh told her.

Luce stared coolly at him.

Murtagh sighed. "Luce, I was simply concerned about your well-being. The king is not in a good mood with you. You cannot afford to offend him anymore," he told her.

Luce raised her eyebrows. Murtagh raised his back. At last she sighed. "I am sorry too. I was…immature."

"Then all is well. I expect you to be on the practice courts tomorrow at eight," Murtagh said as he closed the door.

"All is well," Luce repeated. She rolled over and finally managed to fall asleep.

Okay. I got seven reviews last chapter because I did a poll. That's more than I've gotten for any other chapter. I did that to prove how many of you are reading this story and not reviewing. I'm grateful for the one's that are, but there are people who've put this story on their favorites list and never reviewed once. I expect a review this chapter from:

LordAlexander74

Deer-shifter

Exploding diarrhea

Da Spar7aN

Scarlet MacDuff

The Midnight Rose

If you have reviewed and I made a mistake, sorry. I'm glad you like the story but please review.