Enjoy,
The glow of the heated poker filled her vision. Murtagh was holding it out to her. She knew what he was doing. It was what Galabtorix wanted her to do. Next to them laid Nasuada. She knew that she was waiting to see what would be done. Would she turn to the man who sired her or would she fight him? She didn't move.
"Take it." Galbatorix growled. She still didn't move. She was not going to give him the satisfaction of turning her allies against her. She still needed to find a way to get Nasuada away before Galbatorix could turn the Varden leader against her or torture her to the point that she would no longer be sane. She looked at him and made herself stand a little straighter. "I said to take it." The glow began to fade as the poker cooled. "Murtagh, another." The poker was taken away and a new glow filled her vision. She felt Galbatorix's hand grab her wrist. She fought against him as he pried her fingers open and Murtagh forced the handle of the poker into her hand. She refused to do this. A scream tore through the air.
Things became a blur, except for a white rose with gold lined petals. That was clear in her mind.
The witch looked at the cell. It had been so long since she had been down here, much longer to the point that she had never thought to be back. She had sworn to herself that she was done with this place. Even after the Varden had won, she had spent as little time as possible near the base of the castle. Now here she was again.
The door banging open down the hall forced Angela back to reality. Seconds later, Florina was standing in the cell with the chained witch. The Rider looked frazzled, as if she had had little to no sleep since Angela had been thrown down into the dungeons. The Rider's hair, usually neat and in place was flying everywhere, as if she had not cared to put it together or she had just come from flying. Judging by the time of day, Angela was inclined to believe the former option. In the Rider's hand was cupped a gold rose whose petals were lined with white. Angela knew it. It was the one that Lifaen had given her. One of them anyway. The elf had given her many over the years. Angela hoped that this was the one that Arya had gone to find when they parted ways.
"This is hardly comfortable. I thought I was a guest, not a prisoner." Angela said, trying her best to look unafraid. Florina was unstable now. There was no telling what she would do. Florina was unpredictable where her father had been somewhat predictable. Florina began pacing, as if needing to gather her thoughts. She kept her eyes on the rose.
"What is the significance of this rose?" Florina demanded. Even her voice sounded tired and unhinged. This did not bode well for Arya and Eragon. If Florina learned that the rose was to free her, or in her mind trap her, she would fly to the valley and no amount of magic would be able to save the refugees and the residents. Her anger would be directed at the ones she felt were responsible. But this was also her chance to earn Florina's trust. The plan could still work if Angela could open the Rider's mind to the prospect that what she is doing is the result of a spell. Angela just needed to get Florina to trust her and that would be with the truth. "Answer me, Witch."
"That rose was given by an elf to his true love during the Agaetí Blödhren during the war with your father." Angela answered. Florina nodded, somewhat satisfied.
"What reason would there be for it to be in the royal houses? Why would it be in the armory of the elves?"
Angela hesitated. Florina suspected that it was meant to be a weapon. The witch wondered what could have happened that had caused that thought. Why would the queen be having sleepless nights? Florina stopped pacing and looked at the witch. There was a promise in them that the witch would regret lying to her. But she couldn't tell her the real reason. Not until after the rose had done its job.
"The elf must have been a member of the royal household and wanted it kept safe for his love. Or he just wanted it kept safe and the queen obliged him. Perhaps he did something notable during the war." Angela closed her mouth before she went too far. The connection between Florina and the flower and the magic had been made and confirmed when Arya mentioned that Florina hadn't had a flower in her hair. If Florina remembered pulling that flower from her hair, she would be able to guess the real reason for the rose. It could not come to that. Not if they wanted to save her. If the rose were destroyed, there would be no saving Florina and Kuldra and they would have to be killed. Florina began pacing again.
Florina walked away from the mirror. She hated how she looked. She wasn't getting much sleep lately and she hated it. But the dreams that seemed like memories continued to plague her. Now it was more than just had happened in the war. Now she was having memories that didn't have anything to do with the rose. That had begun after she had gone to see the witch. Florina was beginning to think that was a mistake. After talking to the witch, the dreams began changing her childhood. In the dreams, she wasn't raised in the castle with her father and the nobles all around her. Instead, she was the daughter of a blacksmith and his spellcaster wife. Florina remembered them. The wife more than her husband. Her father had been gathering spellcasters to help him in his vision and to train her as she had begun to show signs of magic after Kuldra had hatched and her father was too busy to train her at times. Other memories included getting hit in the back of the head after Durza's death in Tronjhiem. Though there was truth to that, according to Murtagh.
Kuldra was just as confused about what was going on and couldn't give her Rider an answer as she was having the same problem. She was having dreams that seemed like memories, just like her Rider. The most prevalent seemed to be of Kuldra still in her egg and listening to the water around her, as if she had been in water for years. It was strange as Kuldra's egg had never gone into the water. Morzan had succeeded in taking it from Oromis and Glaedr and bringing it to Galbatorix who had then left it with the other three eggs. Then Saphira's egg had been stolen. Sometime after that, Florina had stolen Kuldra's egg and taken it, in the hopes that it would hatch for her as she had heard it squeak when she was in the room with her father. Being found in the water didn't make sense to either Rider or her dragon. The only solution that the two of them could come up with was that Kuldra had been near or in water before she was found by Oromis and Glaedr. Neither one of the pair could shake the feeling that these dreams were more than that. But neither could pin down what and why they were happening. If they were to ask the witch, she could easily lie to them and they would be no closer to learning the truth about what was happening to them.
"Maybe it has something to do with the spell your father cast to keep you safe and to keep the throne within your bloodline." Kuldra said.
"What do you mean?"
"What if there are two spells trying to control you? Perhaps the two magics are what is messing with our minds. We have become one more and more over the years that if a spell affects you, it will affect me as well. What if that is the case?"
"But Father never said anything about a spell to keep me bound to the throne."
"But didn't Murtagh say something. That he was bound to you through some spell that your father cast which is how you were able to call your followers to you with one exception."
"But that's not information he would have just laying around. If that is true, no spell in the ancient language would be able to hold as it would have to be bound to our true names and those can change. Not to mention that it would not have worked for those bonded to me."
"So then a different type of magic. Maybe a type of Shade magic."
"Something Durza taught him. That would be in,"
"his private writings. Where would he have kept those?"
"In his rooms. I remember there being a set of rooms that no one could get into. I still can't get into them. Those must be Father's rooms. I need to get into that room. If that is the case, then maybe we will have our answer. Perhaps Eragon and Arya found the same sort of spell to keep me trapped."
"Or they used the rose for that. It was your leash until Murtagh took you from them. But first, we need to know what your father did to you."
Kuldra watched through her Rider's eyes as she hurried down the halls to the locked doors. She hated lying to her Rider, but something wasn't right about the whole thing. She had been having another dream that she knew was a memory and it was when the first rose had been given. She vaguely remembered yelling at her Rider to remember a golden rose. That rose had to be the one that she kept seeing in their memories. Not only that, there was something deep within her that was telling that this wasn't right. But she needed the proof before she could try to convince her Rider of this truth. Angela the Witch knew that truth, but was refusing to tell them. If it proved that this was the truth, the witch would regret lying to the two of them about this. She had claimed to come and serve the queen. Even if the throne had been stolen back, Florina was now the queen and always would be. No matter what anyone said.
Thanks for reading and please review
