Dear Readers,

The beginning of this story is under reconstruction. When you read a chapter that has nothing at all to do with what you have just read, please keep in mind that is the previous version of the story and I am redoing it as quickly as I can. I apologize for the inconvenience. Some details are being added along the way that you may not find later on in the story. That will soon be fixed as well.

This is Chapter 3, revised.

Thank you and enjoy!

DragonRider2000

A young woman was walking down a long hallway, her steps slow and deliberate, her head bowed in thought. She had much to think of, much to plan. And very little time. But she did not let her anxiety affect her appearance. On the outside she was calm, and her slow pace was as much for her own sake as for appearance.

She was the princess. The daughter of Galbatorix, the King of the land of Alagaesia. Well, some of it, and he was not liked by most of it.

Did she choose her title? No. Did she choose her father? No. She sometimes wished she'd never been born. But that was not often, and happened only when things were really horrible in the castle.

She had no love for her father. She loathed him, and he knew it. She saw him as the twisted man he was; a murderer, a tyrant, a villain, corrupted by power and greed... her list went on. There were times when she wondered how she could be his daughter.

She had been born and brought up in secret, only her father, her mother, her mother's maid and her bodyguard, and a few people in the castle knowing of her existence. She had been very young, so her seclusion hadn't mattered much to her.

Then after a time her father's right hand man, Morzan, had his son Murtagh moved to Uru'baen castle, and the two children had become close friends. They were both children of evil men, they didn't choose their fathers, and they both had childhoods of complete secrecy. These things bonded them quickly, and the princess's mother was happy that her daughter finally had a friend that she could trust.

The two children played and were always with each other, and as they grew up they were there for the each other when hard times came their way. Murtagh had been there when her mother died when she was twelve, and she'd been there for him all the times he'd gotten in trouble, or had to see Galbatorix. Of course, usually they got in trouble together.

After the princess's mother died and her bodyguard disappeared, Galbatorix assigned 2 bodyguards to the princess. But she suspected they had been mostly assigned to tell on her, in the eyes and words of a twelve year old. So she, sweetly of course, corrupted them. The two men's loyalty soon fell away from the King, and they became devoted to protecting, raising, and teaching the young princess. At first Galbatorix was a little worried, but other things soon took precedence and the princess and her bodyguards became of little consequence to him. So by the time the princess was 14, the king rarely interfered with his daughter's life except on rare occasions when he felt like bothering her, or when there was a ball or some distinguished guest who knew of her existence came to the castle.

Over the next few years 8 more people joined her little bodyguard group and the King had no say in who they were, or where they came from. Nor did he care. So he did not know that almost half of those 8 people had come from his own guard or his prison; they were supposed to be dead, on account of crimes committed against the king. Naturally Taya would welcome those men, as that meant they were actually human and had hearts. Their loyalty to her was helped by the fact she'd saved their lives.

7 of those 8 people had joined her of their own free will, and the 8th she had pulled off the streets before Galbatorix could have him executed. She'd directly saved the lives of those four mentioned, and she'd showed all of them that she was not the evil, twisted girl who was whispered about. She'd shown them that she cared for life, for people, and not very much about herself. They all respected that, and so they stayed with her and became her family. They were called the Hljodhr Evarinya, the Silent Stars.

Among other things in her life, she had saved the life of a girl on the streets, battled politics, fended off an arranged marriage, and loved only one person. The last was turning out to be a sad story.

In battle she could hold her own quite well, having trained with men all her life, but she was nowhere near as strong men. It just wasn't so. What saved her and made her excel was her skill, and her ability to see or predict what her opponent(s) would do. She was light and quick on her feet, which was certainly not a disadvantage. She was a match for most.

Then there was magic. Only her bodyguards and a few choice magicians knew how capable she was in using magic. Not even Murtagh, and especially not Galbatorix, knew anything about the extent of her abilities. The king knew she had the talent, but he'd never felt her to be very strong so he never pursued it. He saw her mostly as a failure in that area.

Taya practiced by herself mostly, and on occasion with those few choice magicians. Her knowledge of magic had been building since she turned thirteen, mere months after her mother had died. But, as a promise to herself and to her mother's memory, Taya rarely ever relied upon her magic and preferred to do things the hard way. Limiting herself in that regard had helped her grow stronger in other areas, and had helped her mature. Not everything was about power. She had it, but she rarely used it. She made her own impression on the world around her without the aid of magic.

At 18, she stood at slightly above average height, with long, rich tresses of copper/red and startling deep green eyes. She was a little more built than the normal girl, from her long years of physical training with men. She was agile and proud, walking with a cat-like grace and with a dignity that let everyone know that she was of high blood. Her skin tone was tanned, as she spent great amounts of time outdoors under the sun. Her face was slightly angular, with sharp, but not drastic features. All in all she had a commanding presence, and her appearance added greatly to that. Anyone who met her knew, without really knowing, that she was royalty.

Her green eyes could hold a person frozen, and often seemed to look right inside them. Her smile could brighten a room, and a laugh from her held people entranced. She spoke slowly and with kindness, and rarely did anyone see her angry. But when she was angry, it was like a raging storm in the ocean and the hearts of those near would turn wary, not knowing what such a woman would do in her anger. But that was rare, as Taya Corsallen did not like being angry, or like showing it.

The king's guard, built up of castaway brigands, cut-throats and thieves... well, not really. But Taya or any of the Hljodhr Evarinya would gladly give them such titles. But normally the king's men were the only ones who had to stem Taya's wrath, as it was normally directed at them. And for good reasons. They were cruel like their master. They enjoyed making peoples' lives miserable. Taya's bodyguard captain, Melcar Di'Acor, had been one of them for a short time, before he had refused to kill a man who ended up being his brother. For that he was tortured to the brink of death, and the only things that had save him were the boastful pride of the king's guards and Taya's skill at healing. There were other stories of such cruelty on their part, and many had not been as lucky as Melcar.

Taya stopped beside a window facing the west, and she watched as shadows fell over the spires of the castle as the sun began its descent. She sighed heavily, but on the inside her heart was pounding with apprehension.

An hour earlier she had left the company of Murtagh, Melcar, Ayda and Zen. Thinking of her friends, her heart felt a little heavy, but she knew that what she was about to do had to be done for the good of the world she lived in. If Galbatorix broke her, stripped her of herself, much that was good would be lost.

So she was running. It was time. It was the right time. Taya Corsallen was leaving her home to find a new one, and the only way she could do it was to go alone. She was going to leave those she loved behind, because she had to for their own safety. She had a plan that would leave her bodyguards and even the king in the dark as to what actually happened to her.

She began walking again, and slipped into a hidden passage that led to her room. She entered, and closed the door quickly and turned to survey a horrid mess. She smiled a little.

She quickly changed from her sparring clothes into ones more fit for travel, and added a satchel of food she'd taken from the kitchens to the few bags on her bed. Then she stepped to a cupboard and extracted her throwing knives. As she turned, one slipped from its place and she tried to catch the hilt… She winced when it sliced her palm, and a steady stream of blood poured onto the rug at her feet. She carefully put the knives aside and staunched the wound, and wrapped it, but she left the blood on the rug alone.

From beneath her pillow she took three medium sized pouches, and tucked them into different bags. She'd visited the treasury the day before to take her usual allowance, and she'd also taken some of the mother's jewels. That was not unusual, and would not seem out of place.

She tossed her cloak over her shoulders and picked up her bags, which were concealed beneath the cloak when she walked. Then she left her room and locked it, and proceeded to the stables. She passed a few people, who greeted her kindly, and she acknowledged them.

In the stable, she hid her bags in her horse's stall, and caressed the big black's head. Chester, a gift from her father on her 13th birthday, was a tall, built but agile horse with no white on him at all, and a flowing mane and tail. He was her pride and joy, and one of the best horses in the kingdom. But there were many tall, built black horses in the kingdom, so while he was recognizable, he also could blend in. Her other horse, a mare called Gypsie, was a bay and medium height, with no white markings either. But Gypsie she'd pretended to have sold a few weeks before for a grey horse instead, but she'd really left her at an abandoned house on the outskirts of the city. Taya's temporary pack horse was a little chestnut horse that was supposed to be one of the fastest in the city.

Taya saddled Chester with her old saddle, which was worn and comfortable. It had been packed away and had been very dusty when she'd fished it out a few weeks before. She knew for a fact that the stable hands had already fed the horses and would not be back until a time after dark to extinguish the lights. Taya packed her gear onto the little grey horse, and then went back to the castle. She took a back way to get to her wing, as she wanted to avoid anyone she knew. But her back way required her to sneak through her father's personal wing, which she did uneasily.

In the middle of a corridor she stopped abruptly, and dashed behind a pillar and she watched as three of the King's guard walked by, laughing about something. Taya's hand went to the wall behind her, and she nearly fell backwards as a door gave way. She stumbled down a couple steps and froze. She was in the entrance to the dragon eggs secret chamber. She'd forgotten which pillar the door was hidden behind.

I could… She thought, and fear suddenly gripped her as much as a wave of anticipation did. She stepped slowly into the chamber, and from the shadows came two black hooded men.

"Princess, you should not be here." One said, and Taya's mind whirled, trying to figure out what to do.

"I…can't stop." She panted. "He…" She held up a shaky hand, and both men sprang away as a bolt of light crashed into where they stood. Taya tried to convey as much pain and fear into her expression and voice as she shouted,

"I'm sorry!" And with magic she caused a table to swing up behind them and they fell senseless to the ground. Taya made sure they were alive but very unconscious, and she moved down the corridor, stepping over two foot traps her father had told her about. Then she came to a door guarded by 5 men, but without waiting to talk she sent them flying against the wall and blocked their sight. Then in a prefect imitation of her father's voice she said, "open", and the door swung silently open.

Taya stepped into a well-lit chamber and without waiting she snatched the egg from its pedestal, making sure with magic that it was not a fake, and she sped out the door and up the stairs, setting off one of the foot traps, and she gasped in pain as a dart ripped through the side of her leg. It burned like fire, but Taya kept running, past the two unconscious guards and up the steps. She closed the secret door, and on light feet she ran down the corridor, turned and made her way to her room… the last dragon egg clutched to her stomach.

She slipped into her room, breathing hard. Once she'd caught he breath she locked the door securely and pushed a chair under the handle, and wrapped the egg in a spare cloak and put it in a bag that she put over her head. She cleaned her leg, and found it not to be a bad wound, and it would heal quickly. She wrapped it and then went to her desk. She took out three letters and put them in the bag with the egg. She looked around her room that had seen many sweet memories, and then went to her window. By that time the sun was behind the horizon, and her balcony in shadow. She tossed her rope ladder down and carefully went down. She left it down, and scratched the heads of her two dogs that lived in the garden below her room, and she made her way silently to the stable.

Taya left two of the letters in two different saddle bags, strapped on her quiver of arrows and took her bow, then led Chester and the grey outside.

"Excuse me? What are you doing?" A voice asked from behind her, and Taya spun without warning and her bow, which was solid, collided with the man's head. He stumbled, and Taya hit him again. He went down, twitched, and lay still. Taya felt horrible. She liked Davrin, but he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She mounted Chester after putting a white streak on his forehead, and with the grey horse in tow she trotted to the castle gate. Her hood was up, so no direct light could accidentally reveal her.

"Halt!" One of the guards stopped her from passing under the gate. Taya turned her head down towards him and said gruffly,

"Sir?"

"What's your business leaving so late? That's not usual. I should take you down for questioning."

Taya rolled her eyes. She shrugged her shoulder, rustling her arrows. "Hunting is why I go. Is that a crime nowadays?"

"Well, no."

"And the gates do not close for officially another hour, am I correct?" Taya pressed, and the men at the gate nodded.

"You are. You may pass then, hunter. But you might try to remember that we're suspicious of people who do not like to reveal their faces."

"My face is my own." She said mockingly, and Chester walked under the gate, and she stepped him up into a trot.

As quickly as she could she rode out of the city and went to the house where Gypsie was. The mare whinnied to her from the stable beside the house, and Taya quickly tacked her and with two horses in tow she rode into the darkness with haste.

She was riding to the Varden. She was going to fight against her father. A brilliant smile lit up her face as she looked over her shoulder at the place she'd called home. And she had dealt that cruel man quite a blow. She looked down at the bag bouncing against her thigh, and then she looked up at the stars. There was much to be afraid of in the future. There was much that she had no idea would happen, but at that moment, for the first time in her whole life, Taya Corsallen was free. The land didn't care that she was a runaway princess.

Now she just had to stay one step ahead of the king, and hope that people took the bait.

First stop was Dras'Leona. Galbatorix would be long gone before she got there, and she wouldn't stay too long. There was too much risk of being recognized by some of the nobles of that city… such as the Katzia's.
She'd worry about that later.

Taya and her horses faded into the darkness of the night, and behind her, growing farther and farther away, slept Uru'baen castle, unaware for a little while that the princess was gone. Unaware that in the middle of the night lives would be tossed into chaos and panic. No, all was quiet yet.