Blackness

Blackness. Empty blackness.

Arya sat up and looked at the place where she knew the candle ought to be still burning. She had light it only a few hours ago, and so it still should be fine. She shuddered as the sensations of the previous week assaulted her memory.

Why did he do that? He had done something to her that she did not even know the word to describe properly. Except for hurt. I wonder if he'll do it again. I hope not. Then she shock herself. We'll it's bound to be a little painful but you get the crown if you do it. That's a pretty big reward. I bet everything is going go back to normal. Still she could not shack off the feeling that what he had done was not what he said it was, that it was something bad, that shouldn't be and shouldn't of been done. Listen to yourself. Acting like the mentor. He was once in running for the thrown too, which means that he probably had that done to him too. You're the apprentice, not the mentor. He knows better.

She again thought about the moment when she had stripped in front of him. The way he looked at her with that hunger-wolf-starring-at-guarded-meat look. From what her lessons had taught her so far it was called mating, what they had done. The day after Kroger had immediately ripped out a section of the law book and burned it. I wonder what was in it, she had thought to herself. And why he was so quick to destroy it. They she shock her head, wondering why she cared. Kroger, of all elves, cared the most about her raising to the throne. She wriggled with delight at the prospect. All will listen and bow to me, not my mother. She smiled at the very thought. Then an obscure piece of law hit her. 'Every King or Queen must have a mate to raise to the post.'

Her thoughts turned to Faolin. They have a right to choose their mate, so if I have to I choose Faolin. Her mind wandered back to the day when she had told her mentor of her affection, bordering on love, for Faolin. How he had sat perfectly still and how had finally said,

"That-That is good news." What she would've given to know what he was thinking. She stood up from her bed and said,

"I think I need to now what that part of the Law Kroger ripped out was." She focused and said a word for finding. She felt a full Law scroll in her massive library in the corner of the room. Three walls were detected to the shelves. She loved books. She stood and located the scroll she was looking for. She sat down and said a word that would find her the page he had ripped out in the actual book. The scroll began to move as it located the page she was looking for and it stopped about midway. She took and read out load.

"And so Ertya fell into Naona's ambitions and as a result our race was killed, save for the four that made it through. And so this rule was made: It is against the Law for a master and pupil to fall in love and a crime fit to death if they indulge themselves in the making of love." Arya's blood went cold. The making of love? But wasn't that what Kroger......The door to her room eerily slid open, creaking on wooden hinges.

"Arya. I've been looking for you." Arya swung around. Standing next to the door, turned around locking it, stood (AN: You guessed it) Kroger. Arya stood up and went as far away from him as possible.

"You lied. That wasn't a check point to the throne. That-that was a strictly forbidden act. Wh-Why did you trick me?" Kroger turned to her and seemed surprised to see the Law scroll on the ground, open to the part that told of that deadly sin. He looked at her with all together to much flame in his eye. Flames of rage and flames of lust.

"Don't worry. You see, we're the exception, because you're the princess. We can do that as much as we want." His last sentence was filled with lust. He started to walk towards her and she crawled onto the bed and huddled in one corner.

"Please don't. I....I don't want to do that again." Kroger's eyes turned to lust filled to slightly disappointed. He started to crawl towards her on the bed.

"Don't worry Arya, I won't hurt you. Custom dictated that it hurt last time, for you will win the throne as a reward. The trials to that post have to be testing, otherwise someone unworthy will win it." Arya shock her head. Lies.

"It wasn't right the first time. I read it in the Law. 'A student and master can not have a romantic relationship until after the apprenticeship is over." Kroger laughed.

"But that's in some decades, Arya. Why would I wait that long?" He was crawling closer and closer, and closer he got the more terror came into her. Her room was nowhere near any elves. The palace tree itself was at least a mile away, and she didn't think she could outrun him.

Kroger was the second most powerful elf in the world. Surely it would be a laughable matter to hold her in place.

"Wh-What are you going to do?" Kroger was so close now she could hear his heart beat. Slow, but getting quicker.

"Nothing that will hurt. All you have to do is not fight or struggle or scream and yell, and it will all be over quickly." Arya's mind was racing. It will all be over, she thought. He must mean that he won't do it again. So if he isn't going to do it again, then I'll let him do it.

She lied down flat and divested herself of her cloths. It felt like she was exposing her thoughts to the elf, which she had done often enough and it had been uncomfortable but not like this. This was worse then anything. Kroger's eyes sparkled.

"That's it, be a good apprentice for your master. Now spread your legs like last time." Arya didn't want to. If she did he would do what he had done last time, a thought to her was very distasteful. Kroger growled when she didn't move.

"Did you hear me? I said spread your legs!" He grabbed her be the thighs and spread them for her. He snapped his fingers and his cloths flew off as if a massive gale had ripped through the room. Grabbing both her breasts he shot himself into her and she fought a scream. It felt like he was driving a wet nail through her innards. Despite the hope she held that this would be the last time she cast spell after desperate spell trying to stop him. It was a hopeless prospect at best. Kroger was not a decade older then her, but his skills had advanced so fast that in a year after begging to learn the arts of magic he could defeat the prime advisor for the Queen.

She tried to turn onto her stomach and hid herself. Again hopeless. He ended up just going at her from behind, which almost worse. After hours and hours Arya was completely drained of energy. She could hardly move, but Kroger kept at her. After it must have been at least ten hours Arya heard a slight creak but gave no notice to it. Suddenly Kroger was thrown off her and warm arms embraced her.

"Arya. Arya are you alright?" Arya looked up into what seemed the exact same face as she had seen. Then she noticed something different. Where Kroger's hands were lust filled and hurtful, these ones were soft and comforting.

"Faolin?" A snarl came from the other side of the room. Kroger lay against the wall, blood trickling from his head.

"Jierda alfirn manin. Risa, eitha fram." Break His memory. Rise, go forward. Faolin fell backward clutching his head. He rose from the ground and flew out of the room, unconscious. Kroger stood.

"Thought he could save you, huh? Please. I'll leave you alone for now, but I want to do one last thing to you, just so you know not to tell anyone about this. And so help me if I find out you did, you will not like the result." He came forward, rapped an arm around her back, lifted her up so that her waist was pointed to him and........


Arya jolted upright, panting and covered in sweat. She shuddered as the memory of the sensation of what he had done came across her like an ice cold wave. Eragon sat up and looked at her.

"What's wrong Arya?" She stifled a scream as more and more images flashed to her. She got up and cuddled against him, sobbing.

"Don't let him do it, please don't." Eragon hugged her the whole time, whispering in her ear,

"It's alright Arya. Nothing is going to happen to you. You're fine. He'll never do that again. I promise I'll always be here to protect you." Arya sniffed and started to cry again.

"Swear?" Eragon patted her.

"I swear. Listen, I'm far more powerful then he is. I can say what I want done, and it will happen. I will never let him do that, ever." Arya eventually stopped crying.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be waking you up and throwing all my fear onto you." Eragon hugged her, kissing her on the forehead.

"So long as we are mates, and even after that, I will always be here for you to throw all your fears on, for I have the power to deal with them. You carry a very heavy burden on your shoulders. Even an elf can not run a hundred miles an hour with two tons of weight on their back. You need to let go of all the stress and fear inside of you. I did that when my uncle first told me that it was my responsibility to make sure that we had meat, and as such had to go into the mountains, to hunt.

I had to overcome my fear and trepidation of what might happen, but that I had no prove would happen." Eragon lifted a hand and, using the power word, soothed Arya's anger, fear, stress, and most of all her hatred to the elf that slept in the a tree a few hundred yards away. Arya snuggled against him, feeling comfortable, knowing that if Kroger tried anything, Eragon would be there to stop him. She looked up at him.

"I love you," she whispered. "I love so much." Eragon smiled and kissed her, once on her forehead, once on her nose, and once on her lips. For the first time since leaving the forest, the slept side by side.

Eragon awake to Shadow whispering in his ear.

"Ordinarily I would say I'm surprised, but I'm really not. If I were you I'd get up before Kroger does." Eragon sat up. He held Arya in his arms and Kroger was start to move. Eragon quickly let go of her and lifted her back to where she had slept. Kroger yelped as he fell out of the tree. Obviously he had forgotten he was sleeping there. He spun in mid-air and landed on his feet like a cat. He looked up and said,

"Well, are we ready to go?" Eragon nodded and Shadow raised a hand. Once again his shadow moved up his arm and into the air. To his astonishment, Eragon's, K'eray's, Arya's and Kroger's shadow's all came to his arm. The shadow floating above his hand gathered into a much larger one, until it was as tall as Eragon, and as wide as the tree Kroger had slept in.

"I can transport us fifteen miles to start with, but I'll be tired afterwards." Eragon smiled. He had not mentioned he could do that.

"Can you go farther then fifteen miles?" Shadow shook his head.

"Tried, didn't work out." Eragon nodded.

"Well then let's go." They all went through the portal and Eragon shivered at the sensation. It became hard to breath, like the air was tightening around them. He took three steps forward, and found himself in an open street, in some city. Shadow looked at blindly down at his shadow and his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"What the-? How did I-" Eragon looked at him.

"What is it?" He looked up at hi, even though he couldn't see him.

"The combination of all your shadows in mine must of shot us far past where I wanted us to go." Eragon looked alarmed, but didn't know how bad it really was.

"Well then where are we?" Shadow pointed to a sign a few feet away. It was a fairly large sign, at least ten feet tall and six feet wide. Cold dread and a mountain of fear engulfed Eragon. On the sign was large letters in blood red.

They read: Welcome all who are lucky enough to see this masterful creation that is known as Uru'bean. Long live the King.