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Reborn, chapter XI
The Plan of the King
Murtagh was growing very nervous. Galbatorix had just called him up to his chamber regarding the incident that occurred the night earlier. Now he was watching as the king stared directly at him with hatred in his eyes.
"Murtagh," he said, very softly. "You will not be punished for what happened last night. Where is Thorn?"
Murtagh, being surprised that he wasn't being tortured, took a moment to respond. "He's waiting outside. Do you want to speak to him?"
The king nodded slowly and before too long, Thorn was standing beside Murtagh in the throne room.
"If I was unable to recover Saphira you would be both dead right now." Galbatorix said, still in a calm voice. "If you wouldn't have let Eragon escape, I might have let him keep his bond to Saphira."
"What? How can you break their bond? It's impossible!" Murtagh cried.
"I'll have to show you." Galbatorix sneered, as he pulled out a very thin string that almost floated in mid air. "This was giving to me by the god of war himself. You see, this is Eragon and Saphira's bond. If I were to snap it, they would be torn apart from each other."
"But, what do you gain from this?" Murtagh demanded.
"Eragon is not a rider's dragon, so he is of no use to me. Saphira on the other hand, needs a rider to survive. I intend to free Shruikan from Morzan and force him to swear to me. Then I will make sure that Morzan is the first to touch Saphira, making him her rider. You see, Eragon is only a dragon as long as he is bonded to Saphira. That is how Aurora did it. If I break their bond, Eragon will be a human again and Saphira will be mine.
"What will you do with Eragon?"
"If he is foolish enough to return, I'll make him a servant. If Saphira tries to help him escape, I'll torture him in front of her.
"Now, I am giving you the rest of the day to bring me back Saphira. Tell the urgals that they can have all the land they want for her. When they agree and release her, kill them all."
Urgals:
The entire Urgal tribe was surrounding a fenced off arena a few leagues from Uru'bean. In the middle of the circle was Saphira with a particulary ugly Urgal on her back. She was bucking wildly in an attempt to throw the creature off. What she didn't know was that this is what the urgals wanted. It was a rodeo and she was the bull.
Every time that she would buck the Urgal off, she would be stabbed. Dried blood covered her once sapphire scales and the hole that was made in her neck had a bad infection.
"Untie her wings!" One of the spectators yelled in excitement.
After Saphira had successfully thrown the Urgal off she tugged at the chain around her neck. It was still strong as was her muzzle.
As she turned, her eyes fell on what the urgals were doing. Her wings were untied but they were already broken in several places so she could barely move them. The urgals however did not know this. Quickly two urgals approached her from both sides carrying axes.
"Clip her wings!" The chief yelled.
Saphira roared in agony as she felt the leathery membranes being cut away from her body. Within a few minutes, her wings were half their original size.
Before the urgals could torture her any more however, a glint of red scales flew overhead and the cries of terror of the urgals could be heard from miles around.
Author's Note: I got the wing clipping from when bird keepers clip the birds' wings to prevent them from flying more than a few feet without stopping.
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