Sorry for the long wait. I got visited by our dear little friend Mr. W. Block. I hope you like this chapter!

They're here. Her father was giving Mandel's and his father's horses their new shoes. Abigail watched through the curtains dreading the closeness of dinner and yet eager at the same time to pick up her game again. When she had returned home at noon she had done everything her mother had told her to do and had followed the orders to a T. She would have to do something extra to convince her father that at breakfast it had just been an honest mistake and that she really was trying to become the young lady he wanted her to be.

"Abigail," her mother came up beside her. "Go upstairs into your room and get dressed. I've already laid out a dress for you."

"Yes, Mother." she said and then she went upstairs to her room.

On her bed was a light blue dress with a lace-lined collar and cuffs. Her mother had also laid out a pair stockings and shoes for her. Abigail had seen this dress once before when her mother had worn it to a social event. It had cost more than what they usually spent on a dress but her father had wanted her mother to have at least one fancy dress. And now they wanted her to wear it. They really want to impress Mandel.

Once she finished changing, she turned around to look at herself in the mirror to realize that there was no mirror on the wall anymore. Abigail then remembered how she had smashed it and she bent down to look under her bedside table where she had hidden the broke pieces. She had not had any time to get rid of them.

She reached under the table and slid a piece out in front of her. It looked like a normal mirror. But as she kept staring at it the surface started to blur just like it had done that night. Her heartbeat jumped but she stopped herself from smashing it right away. There was a force emitting from it that pulled her into staring deeper into it. The surface continued to get darker until it became the color of the bottom of a storm cloud.

A flicker of color appeared for a second out of the somber gray before disappearing. Abigail leaned in closer to get a better look. The flicker of color appeared and disappeared several times before it stayed long enough to be able to see the image it made. It looked like a side of a face. The next time it appeared she was certain it was a face. Someone's spying on me. She stood up rapidly and stomped her foot on the glass. Just like before the glass cleared when broke.

As long as this glass is here, I don't think I'll be safe in my room. Who would spy on me? Abigail looked back down at the glass. One section of the cracked glass once again started to become murky.

I need to get out of here. She ran out of her room and down the hallway. When she turned to walk down the stairs, she saw her father and mother with Mandel and his father in the foyer. They all looked up at her. The sight of them caught her off guard and she stopped dead in her tracks at the top of the stairs. Her mind was blank.

"Oh, there she is." her mother said. "Come down and join us, dear."

"Of course." Abigail whispered under her breath. She hadn't meant to be so flustered. It felt like her face was burning at 100 degrees. I'll just have to hope that it doesn't show on my face.

Other girls her age, or maybe even younger, dreamed of finding the right man, settling down, getting married, starting a family, etc.. Abigail did not. She had always dreamt of being free and such things like 'falling in love' were chains that would tie her down. It's not that Mandel was horrible. The reason that she was so repulsed by him was because she had no desire of such things that he had to offer. Love, companionship, family, children, a home. Like I want that.

The only person she had ever loved, in any sort of way, was Walker. No. I can't think about him. He betrayed me. All that love has ever gotten me is a knife in the back. I don't want it. And I don't need it.

Abigail descended down the stairs.

"Dinner is ready and on the table. Let's go and eat." her mother said and she and her father and Mandel's father, Tom, went into the kitchen.

When Abigail climbed down the last step, Mandel was waiting by the banister. "Hello," he said. He took her hand and kissed it. "It is nice to meet you."

"It is nice to meet you too." Abigail said. She put a small smile on her face even though she felt like cutting off her hand. She and Mandel had seen each other before, and maybe even talked for a second with each other, but this was the first time they had been formally introduced.

"Shall we go into the dinning room?" he asked.

"Of course." Mandel offered her his arm and she took it.

They walked into the dinning room arm in arm. Mandel pulled her chair out for her and she sat down and then he went and sat into his own chair across from her. Abigail's mother laid the food on the table and they all fixed their plates and began to eat.

As they were eating Abigail focused her attention on Mandel. She studied his face, his mannerisms, and his posture, to see how much she could notice about a person just by watching them. He wasn't ugly but he wasn't the most handsome boy she had seen. His hair was a curly brown and his eyes blue and his jaw was square. Every time before he spoke, he would rub the thumb and forefinger of his right hand together and lean forward slightly. If Mandel caught her looking at him, she would cast her gaze shyly down and would try her best to make it look like she was blushing.

"Did you hear about the break in at the old castle?" Tom asked Abigail's father. Abigail's attention was drawn from Mandel to the conversation. She had not heard anything about it and to say the least she was interested.

"No. What happened?" her father asked slightly shocked.

"Well, these men managed to get past the guards standing watch at the old castle and snuck in. They were in there for many hours before a guard heard them. The guard tried to arrest them but they got away. The guards took inventory of the entire castle but they found nothing missing. They didn't even find anything having the look of being touched. These people who broke in must have been experienced to go through most of the castle with hardly leaving a trace. I think that if the guard hadn't found them they would have gotten away with it."

"Then it's good that they didn't have a chance to find what they were looking for."

"I wonder who they were. Do you have any ideas?"

"This of course wasn't any regular kid or man off of the street. There's always the Domia abr kyn. They've been stirring things up for decades. Centuries even. Also, it could be come hooligan magicians. But I'm not sure about any of them."

"If they had succeeded with the break in, I bet nothing good would have come from it. We could have just escaped a very nasty disaster."

"Like I said. It's good that they didn't get what they wanted."

"Very good indeed."

They started to talk about something else but Abigail didn't listen. She was much too absorbed in her own thoughts to even act like she cared. The old castle was the castle that King Galbatorix had ruled in and many of the kings before him had also. After the mad king had died a large explosion occurred destroying most of the castle's inner being. When Queen Nasuada reigned, she moved the castle to one of the castle's that had once been one of the Forsworn's home. The old castle was still used but as a kind of storage space for things that the public was not meant to see. Secrets that King Galbatorix had once created but that everyone else felt best if they were forgotten.

Great things must be hidden inside of that castle. Things that I can't imagine. Things that could change the world in a second. She had to agree with Tom and her father on that it's good that the thieves didn't find what they were looking for. Yes, it's very good that they didn't find whatever it is. They couldn't have. The guards took a careful inventory of everything and nothing was missing. But that castle must have so many secrets and there must be some that the guards haven't ever seen. If they haven't ever seen or known about something then how would they notice if it was gone. No. Those thieves couldn't have successfully stolen something. Could they?

Abigail sat on the porch as she listened to Mandel talk about such things like the weather, crops, and horses. She smiled and nodded whenever she needed to though her mind was still haunted by the castle break in. Their parents were inside talking about other stuff. I wonder if they're talking about marriage. Oh, I swear if I have to get married to this idiot I'll die right then and there.

But I won't have to, she reminded herself. I won't have to.

"The stars look beautiful tonight," said Mandel.

"They do," she replied. The stars actually were beautiful as they twinkled in the night. They reminded her of a song she had heard from a traveling gypsy when she was about seven. She started to sing it:

like the stars and the night

we are always together

I am the yin and you are the yang

different but always intertwined

but one day you were not there

the world broke beneath my feet

there was nothing to balance me

now you are gone and I am alone

yet I dream for the day that we may be together again

"You have a lovely singing voice," Mandel told her.

He was looking at her with an expression in his blue eyes she had never seen before. Mandel's eyes glimmered along with the stars as he looked . . . fondly upon her. His gaze made her blush. That look would make any girl blush of course.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Their parents opened the front door and walked out onto the porch as they were saying their goodbyes. Mandel turned back to Abigail and said, "It was very nice meeting you. I hope to see you again, soon."

"I'd like that." she lied to him.

Mandel leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the brow. For the second time that day she blushed. She had never felt anything as wonderful as someone's lips against her skin. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have a companion. To have someone to talk to or to just simply be with. Wait! No. What am I thinking? I don't need anyone and I don't want anyone, especially not someone of the opposite sex.

"Good night," said Mandel.

"Good night."

He and his father left.

Abigail looked at her father and put on a little innocent smile for show."He's a good man." her father said and then he walked back into the house.

"Yes, he is." she said. No, he isn't.

"Abigail. Please help me wash the dishes, dear." her mother said.

Abigail helped her mother wash the dishes and clean up the table and kitchen before escaping to her room. She took a wash towel from the kitchen so she could cover up the pieces of the shattered mirror. She was planning on getting rid of that mirror tonight. But first she had to wait for her parents to settle to bed and fall asleep. To be caught sneaking out would be a disaster but she had already done it enough times that it had become second nature to her.

At some point she must have dozed off because when she opened her eyes it was very dark. It's probably around midnight. They'll surely be asleep by now. She gathered the mirror pieces in the wash towel and walked out of her room. When she came to the staircase, she sat on the stair rail and slid down it. Right before she reached the end she grabbed a piece of the stair rail high up to stop the rest of her body from falling. She stepped off the rail and opened the front door with such caution and experience that it did not make a sound.

Abigail leisurely walked out into the fields and made her way by the light of the stars and the waning moon to the stream she had found earlier and that had become so familiar to her in the past two could see quite well in the dark, a trait she would have to thank her carrots for.

When she got to the stream she took out each individual piece of the mirror one by one and threw them all into the running stream. The current caught them and helped them on their slow journey downstream. She sat down on the bank as she watched the running water without really seeing it.

Someone must have been using that mirror to spy on me. It is the only explanation. But who would spy on me? They would have to use magic to do something like that. The Domia abr kyn are the only people that would spy on me but they don't use magic. But they do use the Ancient Language. How is it that a group who opposes the dragons and Riders and the magicians, and anything that has to do with magic really, knows the Ancient Language? That wasn't the only thing they had done that had puzzled her.

"So, when do you want to torture me?" She had asked."Just name a time. I'll do it."

"Not for a while." Edoc'sil had replied puzzling Abigail. Wouldn't they have want to do it as soon as possible?

"Why?"

"Lange, please escort Miss Abigail out. I have other business that I must attend to." He had stood up and walked out of the room and Lange then had escorted her out as ordered.

She couldn't help but to play those few seconds over and over in her mind. Why would they want to wait a long time? It makes no sense. If they want to get rid of Walker and that thing then they need to do it quickly before he gets too far away or to the capital. She had not expected that coming and it made her feel as if she was being tricked. Any thing, no matter how small, could prove to be fatal toward her. Did I really think that I could play a group as organized and devious as the Domia abr kyn? I could always run. There is one good thing about being a girl in this society. You can disappear easily because no ever suspects that a 'poor helpless damsel' could ever be in any kind of trouble, even if she was the one causing it.

Abigail picked up two equally sized stones and put one in each hand. She unlocked that place in her mind and both of the stones lifted off of her hands and she stopped them about three inches in the air. With magic she threw the stones into the air and landed them in the opposite hand they had been in earlier without moving her arms or hands. It was an exercise she had been practicing but it always left her very exhausted. She knew eventually she would grow stronger but she knew it still wouldn't be enough for her to do the big magic she dreamed of.

There must be some way of getting energy from outside of myself. All around her was energy from plants, trees, and animals but she had absolutely no idea how to trigger it.

Her eyes began to droop as energy slipped out of her. It had been a long tiring day. Her body and mind deserved some rest. She stood up and walked back home.

Why does everyone talk whenever we start a meeting? Edoc'sil whistled loudly and everyone immediately silenced and looked toward him. They knew the consequences of loquaciousness when he wanted silence all too well.

"I know it is late in the night and that I did not give you any warning of this meeting. I myself got no warning of what I heard today." He fell silent for a second to let the suspense sink in. "Today I was visited by one of the most unlikely sort of people. A woman named Abigail Moransson, twin sister to Walker Moransson, who as you already know is the new rider to the dragon, Ingothold. She privileged me to some very useful information. She and her brother have a connection, a bond, almost like that of the dragons and riders. They feel when the other is in trouble. Miss Abigail has offered up this bond to us so that we may draw the new dragon and rider out with it."

"Did she say she had this bond in the Ancient Language?" a man asked.

"Yes. It is no lie."

"And how are we to trigger this bond?"

"She said that we are to torture her."

"Torture her?" someone said.

"She must be mad," another man said.

"But she is right." said Edoc'sil. "The rider will feel that she is in danger and since he loves her he will come for her and that is where we capture him and his dragon."

"What does she want in return?"

"Merely for us to protect her from the repercussions of some unknown event. That is all."

"So, when are we to kill this new rider and dragon."

"We're not going to kill them."

"What?" Many other men mumbled along in confusion with him.

"Gentlemen. This is a golden opportunity. Nothing of this value will appear ever, ever again. The boy will be so blinded by his fear for his sister that he will do anything to save her and such love will lead to reckless behavior. If we time this right, he could lead us to the stronghold where all of the dragons and riders are. We could take them by surprise and instead of getting rid of one insignificant pair we can finally meet our destiny and get rid of all of them." The men mumbled in agreement.

"But, what of the girl," one of them asked. "How do we know that she won't run away? She can't be let wandering about like this. Something so valuable should be kept where it can be watched."

"There is a simple answer. We'll just have to cage her then."

Did you like it? Did you like the song? If you did (or if you have any suggestions about the story) please, Please, PLEASE review. I would absolutely love it if you did.