*TWO MONTHS LATER*
Alianna's pregnancy was going well. She was relieved that her nausea seemed to have stopped. Also, her appetite was much better. Infact, Alianna found herself eating more than she normally would have.
The only problem Alianna had was her growing stomach, which was getting more and more difficult to hide. She had to let out most of her dresses because they didn't fit her anymore. She was grateful that Emma had taught her how to do this years ago. The seamstresses that worked in the castle would get suspicious if Alianna asked them to do it.
The good thing was nobody suspected anything. Atleast, Alianna didn't think they did. Galbatorix was too busy to pay attention, not that he had ever paid much attention to her. Alianna rarely saw him except when she and Murtagh occasionally ate dinner with him in the dining hall.
Out of everyone, Murtagh was the hardest to keep this secret from. Alianna still didn't see him for most of the day, but at night when they were in bed together, she had to hide her stomach by wearing a large robe. And on the rare occasion they were intimate, Alianna would stop Murtagh before things went too far.
Other than that everything seemed to be fine. During the day Alianna kept busy by planning the huge party that was being held in honor of her eighteenth birthday, which was just a few days away.
"I can't believe Galbatorix is holding this party for you." Argus said one day as he was helping Alianna with some last minute preparations.
"He's not doing this because he cares about me." Alianna explained. "He's doing it to make himself look good."
"Regardless," Argus said. "I'm sure you'll have a good time. It's a big day for you."
Alianna replied. "Yes, it-" She suddenly stopped talking, sat down in a chair, and placed her hand on her stomach.
"What is it?" Argus asked frantically as he looked at her.
Ever since Argus had found out that Alianna was pregnant, he'd been even more protective of her than usual.
"It's alright." Alianna told him. Even though there was no one else in the room, Alianna said the words in the ancient language that would prevent anyone from listening to their conversation.
After she did this, she looked up at Argus and smiled. "The baby moved. It just took me by surprise that's all."
Argus tried to smile back, but Alianna couldn't help but notice the odd look he gave her.
Alianna knew, without Argus having to say anything, what he was thinking.
Alianna told him that she still hadn't figured out a way to tell Murtagh the truth. She had hoped to tell him before he went off to battle, but that didn't look like it was going to happen. Alianna felt horrible about it. What if something happened to Murtagh while he was fighting the Varden? He would never know that he was going to be a father. She tried not to dwell too much on that.
Argus, as always, tried his best to comfort Alianna and assured her that everything would be alright.
Alianna hoped he was right. She hoped there would come a day when she would finally be able to tell Murtagh about the baby.
As it turned out, that day came sooner than Alianna thought. That very night as she was in a deep sleep, she began having a very strange dream.
In the dream, Alianna was standing in a large field on a beautiful day. The sun shone brightly and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
Not far from where she stood, Alianna could see a small boy running around and playing. The boy couldn't have been more than two or three years old. Alianna took a good look at him. He looked very much like Murtagh, except he had Alianna's red hair. Alianna could feel a rush of happiness come over her. She knew right away that this was her son.
This was confirmed a minute later when the boy looked up at Alianna and smiled.
"Momma!" he shouted happily as he ran over to Alianna and jumped into her arms.
Alianna held her son tightly and smiled. The smiled quickly faded, however, when out of nowhere Galbatorix appeared and snatched the boy away from her.
Alianna watched in horror. It felt like her heart was being torn from her chest along with her son.
She started crying and shouted. "No! Father please… give him back to me!"
The little boy was also crying and struggling to get out of Galbatorix's grip, with no success.
"Momma!" he screamed. "Momma help me!"
Alianna tried to get to him, but Galbatorix rode off on his horse too quickly. She immediately began running in the direction they were going.
Alianna ran for a very long time. She ran through the field as well as the forest. A burning pain began shooting up and down her legs, with her bad leg hurting ten times as worse than the other. It became hard for her to breathe as well. Her entire body seemed to be screaming at her to stop. But Alianna didn't. She would gladly take this pain and more if it meant finding her son in time.
Eventually Alianna found herself back at the castle. There was a large crowd of people gathered around. As she made her way through she happened to glance at her reflection in a barrel of water and gasped. She looked like she had aged about twenty years. Her red hair was fading in parts and there were lines on her face that hadn't been there before.
Before Alianna could think much about it, the crowd began getting very loud. It seemed like there was a big event happening. Alianna stopped the first person she saw and asked her what was going on.
"The king is dead my lady." the woman said.
Alianna was completely shocked. Her father had been around for so long that she had given up hope that this day would come. At the same time, Alianna also felt scared because this meant that she was now queen. While many considered Alianna to be a very good and kind person, she didn't feel like she was ready for this title. To be honest, she had never had any desire to rule.
"You're not next in line my lady." the woman explained.
Alianna looked very confused. "I don't understand. How is that possible?" Her father didn't have any other children.
"The king found a new heir a long time ago."
Before Alianna could ask who this new heir was, a man stepped put of the castle dressed in very fine robes. He appeared to be in his early twenties. At first, Alianna could only see him from a distance. From where she was standing, it looked like Murtagh. She quickly made her way through the large crowd but when she got to the front, she froze. She saw that this man had red hair and realized that this was her son.
This was not the happy little boy that Alianna remembered. The man that stood before her had an evil look on his face. He immediately spotted Alianna and glared at her in the exact same way that Galbatorix use to.
"Mother…"
Alianna woke up screaming at the top of her lungs. Her whole body was shaking and she was covered in sweat.
Upon hearing the screams, Murtagh woke up as well. He saw how shaken up Alianna was and gently put his arms around her.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
Alianna didn't say a word. She immediately got out of bed. This dream had scared her beyond words. What did it all mean? Was this what the future held for them?
"No!" Alianna thought. "I won't allow that to happen." She knew what she had to do.
Alianna grabbed a bag from the corner of the room, went over to her closet and started filling it with clothes.
"We have to leave." she told Murtagh. "Right now!"
Murtagh looked both confused and worried. "Why? I don't understand. Did you have a bad dream?"
Alianna nodded. "It was more like a nightmare actually." She continued packing up clothes and other items they would need. Her vision was becoming blurry due to all the tears forming in her eyes.
Murtagh walked over to his wife, took the bag, and tried to calm her down.
"It was just a dream." he told her. "It wasn't real."
"No!" Alianna said as she grabbed the bag back from him. "It felt real. It was a warning I know it was."
Murtagh was more confused than ever. "What do you mean a warning? What was the dream about?"
"I don't have time to explain now. I'll tell you as soon as we leave."
"Alianna we can't just up and leave! The entire army is getting ready to go to war. I have to lead them to Surda in a few days."
Alianna became angry as he said this. "What's more important to you Murtagh? Some war that you don't even believe in or your own family?"
Murtagh protested. "That's not fair! You know I love you and would do anything for you."
Alianna walked up to Murtagh and touched his arm. "If you really love me, then you'll trust me when I tell you we have to leave."
Murtagh looked at Alianna for a minute. He could see how upset all of this was making her. Finally, he said. "Alright, we'll go. But I need to figure out a way for us to escape. It might take me a week or two to come up with something."
Alianna shook her head and, without even thinking, blurted out. "We don't have time to wait around that long. Our baby is in danger the longer we stay here!"
Murtagh froze as soon as Alianna said this. His eyes widened as he said. "Did you just say baby?"
"Yes," Alianna admitted. She slowly took off the robe she was wearing.
If there was any doubt in Murtagh's mind, it quickly vanished as he looked down at Alianna's stomach, which was swelling out from underneath her silk nightgown.
After all this time, Alianna couldn't hide it any longer.
"I'm pregnant." she said.
Murtagh was at a loss for words. "What… how…" He looked at her stomach again. "How far along are you?"
"I'm in my fifth month."
"Fifth month? When did you find out?"
Alianna hesitated for a moment before saying nervously. "A few months ago."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Murtagh asked. He was starting to become angry. "How could you lie to me about something like this?"
"I wanted to tell you." Alianna explained. "But I couldn't. I don't want my father to know."
"Do you really think that badly of me? I would never tell Galbatorix."
"No, you wouldn't." Alianna said. "Not intentionally. But you're forgetting that he can get into your mind. I couldn't risk it; I had to protect our baby."
"Protect?"
"Think about it Murtagh. You know how hard it's been growing up around my father. Would you want our son to go through the same thing?"
"Of course not!" Murtagh answered. He would never wish this on anyone, especially his own child. Suddenly, he recalled the last thing Alianna said. "Wait, did you just say our son?"
Alianna looked down at her stomach and then back up at Murtagh.
"Yes," she said as she stepped closer to him. "I saw him in the dream." She rubbed her stomach. "I just know this baby is a boy."
"A son…" Murtagh said to himself. "I'm going to have a son."
Alianna could see a faint smile on Murtagh's face as he said this.
"Yes. And I don't him to go through what we went through." Alianna recalled the last part of the dream and started to cry. "Please Murtagh, we can't let that happen. We can't let my father take our son away from us."
"Take him away?" Murtagh asked. Then it hit him. "Is that what the dream was about? This is what has you so upset?"
Alianna nodded. "He took our son and made him so evil. He…" Thinking about it made her so upset that she couldn't finish what she was saying.
Murtagh kissed her and tried to wipe the tears from her face. "Look at me, that's not going to happen. I'll do whatever it takes to protect you and our son. We'll leave, I promise. We just need to figure a few things out first."
Alianna sat down on their bed. "Like what?"
"For one thing, how are we going to escape without Galbatorix knowing?"
Alianna thought for awhile and then said. "My birthday."
"What about your birthday?"
"That might be the only chance we have to escape."
It made sense. There would be hundreds of people at Alianna's party and so many things going on. Galbatorix would be distracted and that might give them enough time to slip out without him knowing.
Murtagh seemed to agree with her. Now they just needed to figure out where they would go. Murtagh knew there was only one place- Surda. They could hide out among the Varden and maybe even warn them about Galbatorix's plans.
"There's only one problem with that." Alianna said.
While some members of the Varden might trust Murtagh to an extent, there was no way they would trust Alianna once they found out she was Galbatorix's daughter.
Murtagh realized she was right. But what would they do then?
Alianna thought of something. Maybe they could find Eragon. While they didn't know exactly where Eragon was at the moment, Murtagh assumed he was on his way to Surda after his training with the elves. Alianna figured if they could find Eragon first, he could get to know and trust her. Then they could go to Surda with him. If the Varden saw that Eragon trusted Alianna, they might be more accepting of her.
"Do you really think this will work?" Murtagh asked.
"I hope so." Alianna said. "There's really no other option. Besides, Eragon's the only other family we've got."
"Then it's settled then." Murtagh said. "We leave the night of your birthday."
Alianna nodded in agreement. She then went to get up to go to her bath chambers, but winced as she felt pains shoot up her back. Murtagh noticed this and helped Alianna up the rest of the way.
"What happened?" he asked.
"My back hurts a little." Alianna replied. "I've been getting these pains for the last week or two. It's nothing unbearable though. I'm fine."
Murtagh, who didn't look convinced, said. "I'm sorry."
"Why are you sorry?" Alianna asked, confused.
"This whole pregnancy can't be easy for you. And to think you've been going through it alone this whole time…"
Alianna realized there was still one more thing she hasn't told Murtagh. "I haven't gone through it alone."
"What do you mean?"
Alianna took a deep breath. "I'm sure you've noticed how protective Argus has been of me lately."
"Yes, but he always… wait, Argus knows? He's known this whole time?"
"Yes," Alianna admitted.
Murtagh tried not to, but he couldn't help but get angry again. "You told him but you couldn't tell me?"
Alianna tried to remain calm. "I didn't tell him. He figured it out on his own. What was I suppose to do? Argus can tell when I'm lying. Please Murtagh, lets not fight anymore."
"You're right." Murtagh said. Even though he wasn't thrilled about Argus knowing about the baby before he did, he didn't want to upset Alianna any more than she already was. "There are more important things to worry about. We've got a lot to do before we leave."
Alianna agreed. They'd be leaving in just a few days time. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't worried. But they had no choice. For the sake of their son, they had to do this.