Chapter 23

Kairin inhaled sharply. She ran her thumb over the silver mark, not believing what she saw. How could another Rider be here? How could there be another egg? Her mind overflowed. Such a small, young thing he was, skinny and frail, shaking slightly in his unconscious state. Kairin held him closer, willing his little heart to keep beating. An overpowering maternal feeling swept over her. The little boy shuddered and turned his head into her bosom. She could feel how cold he was. He had to get out of here.

Kairin reached for the boy's shackles and melted through them with magic. With every movement, she felt the life draining out of her. Once he was freed from the wall, Kairin gingerly extracted him from his chains and cradled him, standing up. She shifted him carefully to one arm, and crossed the room to lift Katrina in the other. She straightened with both of their skinny bodies in her arms, and began to shake uncontrollably. She soon collapsed under the weight of the two, a burden she should have easily managed. She began to realize how careless she had acted with her magic. All three of them could die there.

"E-Eragon..."

"Kairin!" his demeanor was afraid. He felt her mind flickering, threatening to go out. "What happened? Where are you? Are you hurt?"

"I... found them."

"Them? You found Katrina?"

"C-can't speak, Era... I wore m-myself... myself..."

"I'm coming to get you. Show me where you are." She sent him her memories of the path she took. As she closed her eyes and willed herself to stay awake, the atmosphere changed. She suddenly felt terrified. She shrieked her thoughts to Eragon with the last of her strength

"Eragon! I can feel them... Them... They're coming... They're coming!" It had become cold. The tomblike silence was engulfing her again. They were coming.

"Eragon!" Something attacked her mind. It was cold and hostile. She felt Eragon reaching for her, yearning for an explanation. She couldn't dare let him in; she threw up her mental defenses. She felt the hostile mind scrabbling outside her walls, burrowing through the weak points. It grew stronger, more ruthless, and it drained her more to keep it out. She brought her hands to her head, clutching her face, digging her nails into her scalp. She was going to die. They were all going to die there. A high-pitched keening noise filled Kairin's ears, and she had no way of knowing if it was inside her mind or out. She was screaming, her mind was spinning, almost as if it was being flooded with water. She was drowning. The noise grew louder; making her cringe, dig her nails further into her scalp until blood ran down her face. Then, out of nowhere the noise stopped. Her mind was free, and everything was quiet. Kairin opened her eyes cautiously. It was calm, but the danger had not passed. She could feel them.

Suddenly the door flew open, and a single black figure was silhouetted in the eerie bluish light.

It walked straight towards Kairin huddled in the center of the room, making no noise but the telltale clicking from under its hood. Kairin couldn't move, couldn't think. She was paralyzed. It swept to stand before her and stood above, looking at her almost lovingly, playing with her. It's clothed hand slowly towards her face, and Kairin could only follow it with her wide, green eyes.

Suddenly one of the bodies beside her sprang to life. He leapt towards the Ra'zac, attacking with all the ferocity of a young boy and latched onto the creatures long cloak. He scratched, bit, kicked, and punched the creature wherever he could reach, making it cringe backwards. The boy's element of surprise only lasted a moment. With an angry hiss, the Ra'zac pried the squirming body from its face. Effortlessly, the Ra'zac lifted the boy into the air, clutching him by the throat. He began to choke, his small legs jerking around like an upturned beetle.

"No!" Kairin screamed, trying to lunge. She managed to twist her fingers into the hem of the Raz'ac's robe. It didn't seem to notice as she pulled frantically on it, her throat ripped apart from shrieking. Unexpectedly, She was thrown back by a blinding burst of light that was not her own. The Ra'zac let out a hideous screech, and when the light faded it was gone, flying out of the open door, clutching itself with gnarled hands. The boy had been dropped back onto the floor and was knocked out again, exhausted from his accidental burst of magic. Kairin dragged herself across the damp floor until she was beside him, and cradled him in her arms, away from the cold. The life finally drained from her, and the room fell into blackness.

Kairin was roused by the cold. Icy wind caught her hair and flung it into her face, and arms, raising angry red marks. She was shivering. Groggily, her eyes adjusted to the moonlight and Eragon's blurry face came into focus. He was leaning above her, balancing her head on one of his knees. She quickly sat up and blinked furiously, her senses returning. She was on the roof of the tower, and everyone was gathered around her. Roran helf Katrina in his arms as if she was made of glass. She was arranged in his lap not unlike Kairin was arranged in Eragon's. Faeria pushed her way into view, smoke furling from her nostrils, her eyes flashing. "You were nearly killed, Kairin." Her voice was stern, and slightly hysterical.

"Yeah." Kairin's tone was clearly uninterested.

"What happened? How are you safe?"

Kairin didn't reply. She faintly registered that Eragon was speaking to her, asking her the same question Faeria had. She ignored him and looked around to see the boy sprawled next to her, looking like an abandoned rag doll. He looked worse in the light. Roughly, Kairin pushed Eragon off of her and hugged the little boy close.

"You just left him lying like this in the wind? He's dying!" Kairin accused, talking to no one, everyone.

"We didn't know who he was. Who is he? Kairin? What's wrong with you?" Eragon was shaking her shoulders in an effort to gain her attention. She ignored him still, and carried the boy to Faeria, tying him securely to the saddle before sliding on behind him. She spared a glance towards Eragon, who was looking back at her, concerned. He must have thought she was still suffering mentally. Roran was staring at her too, his brow furrowed.

"Let's go," she said, to no one in particular. Faeria was motionless.

"I don't think you're ready just yet, little one." Her voice had lost the accusatory tone from before. She sounded concerned and calm, speaking to Kairin as if she was a child.

Kairin faintly registered that her dragon must feel the same way that Eragon did, and was afraid they might not take off for fear of her safety. With an effort, she controlled her tone.

"I'm fine, Eragon, Faeria. I'm fine, really. We need to get out of here, now. Please?" She spoke with an almost convincing imitation of sanity. Eragon glanced at Saphira, who bowed her graceful blue head once.

"You're sure?" Eragon asked tentatively, afraid to infuriate Kairin again. With an even greater effort, Kairin appropriated her tone again.

"Sure." She spat out the word as quickly as possible. Her temper was rising. Didn't anyone understand how close the little boy's heart was to stopping?

Faeria seemed to understand Kairin's mindset, and threw herself off the tower wall, unfurling her silvery wings and rising into the sky. With gratitude, Kairin realized that Faeria had no intention of interrogating her until later.

A few minutes into the air, Kairin turned back to see Saphira a ways behind her, carrying her three passengers easily. Eragon was trying to contact her, but she briskly pushed his mind aside. She didn't want to talk. Why couldn't he leave her alone?

The fly back to the Varden camp was just as anxious as the fly to Helgrind. Throughout, Kairin couldn't take her eyes off the child's snow-white face, marred with bruises and cuts. She tenderly stroked his hair, humming to him softly. In his sleep, he shuddered and cried out, seizing Kairin's large, soft hand in his cold white one. She hugged him close, warming him, feeling his heartbeat. He was breathing frantically, as if he was running from some phantom enemy. Kairin's eyes filled with tears at the thought of his suffering, but she didn't dare to enter his mind. A child who had conjured a spell as powerful as he had could be seriously unstable. As Kairin stroked the child's forehead, she was very much aware that Faeria was buzzing with impatience underneath her, frustrated. Her mind was just outside of Kairin's consciousness, ready for the opportunity to come in.

As they landed, Kairin immediately dismounted Faeria before she had even sunk her claws into the ground. She pulled the boy off the saddle and arranged him carefully in her arms once more before striding towards Nasuada's tent without a backwards glance. She didn't hear Faeria's powerful jaw snapping in fury behind her, bristling at Kairin's disinterest in her. Kairin was wholly consumed with the child in her arms, pushing her own aching head and nausea to the back of her mind.

Without so much as a knock, Kairin swept into Nasuada's tent and was slightly surprised to see the dark-skinned queen sitting up at a table, fully dressed. Arya the elf was standing behind her right shoulder, pouring over the parchment unfurled before Nasuada. They both looked up as Kairin entered and stared for a moment as her appearance set in.

"Kairin!" Nasuada stood up and walked hurriedly towards her, arms outstretched. "Who's this? You're back already?" Kairin noticed that Arya was deftly rolling the parchment back up behind Nasuada's shoulder, quicker than necessary.

"He's scarcely breathing."

"Kairin? Who is he?"

"Clear off that table, there, let's lie him down... I think if we just warm him up he'll-" Kairin didn't bother finishing her sentence, but pushed past Nasuada towards the table in an extremely disrespectful manner. Nasuada seemed merely stunned.

"Kairin I am ordering you to speak to me. Kairin. Kairin." Kairin was putting the boy onto the table, pushing candles aside to make room for his head. She was completely oblivious. Arya took a furious step forward and seized Kairin's shoulder.

"If you continue to refuse speaking to us, I'll throw the child out into the cold." The two elves stood face-to-face for a moment, glaring, green eyes locked with green eyes. Kairin pulled her gaze away first and looked to Nasuada.

"I..." She had no idea how to continue. An uneasy silence fell in the tent. Arya didn't remove her hand from Kairin's shoulder, and her eyes still bore into hers. Kairin refused to meet her gaze. The awkward tension was quickly broken by Eragon's entrance.

"Lady Nasuada... Arya... We've returned." His eyes came to rest on Kairin. They were cold. "But I assume you've gathered that already."

"Eragon..." Kairin stuttered. She began to take a step towards him, beseeching him, but quickly stopped. The room was engulfed in an awkward silence once more, three pairs of eyes fixed onto Kairin. She suddenly burst into tears.

"I don't know what I'm doing!" She cried, not knowing what she was saying. She sunk to the floor, racked with violent sobbing. Eragon hesitated for a moment, then awkwardly crossed the room to kneel beside her.

"Easy, Kairin. Easy..." He had nothing to say. He simply pulled her into an embrace, and the two riders sat together on the floor, their arms intertwined. Kairin buried her face into his shoulder. Kairin didn't know how long it was before she pulled away from him, but when she looked around she saw that they were alone in the tent. Nasuada and Arya had taken the boy away.

"I'm sorry," Kairin said, her voice barely a whisper.

"Why?"

"I don't know. I'm... I feel like I'm drowning. What am I doing here?" Eragon gave her a small smile.

"It's what I used to think. Don't worry about it, Kairin... We have faith in you."

"You used to feel like this?" Eragon's smile vanished. He pulled away from her a little and crossed his legs, giving Kairin an appraising sort of look.

"Can I... Tell you something?" He sounded nervous. It was completely uncharacteristic of Eragon to be nervous at all; it worried her.

"Anything, Eragon." He sat in silence, not breaking their gaze. Suddenly, he launched into his story as if he was going to forget it.

"Do you remember your first day here? In the meeting in this tent, Nasuada spoke of an enemy Rider, whom I confronted. He defeated me. I told Nasuada I didn't get a chance to discover his identity." Eragon closed his eyes for a moment. "That was a lie.

"Before I reached the Varden, I had a companion. His name was Murtagh. Murtagh and I grew very close, we were like-" He stopped abruptly and smiled. "Like brothers," he finished quietly.

"Murtagh was captured in the battle of Tronjheim, the same battle that King Ajihad was murdered at. He was captured alive... But I was sure he had died since then. I thought he had died, of course, until I saw him astride his great red dragon before he defeated me."

He fell silent. Kairin was at a loss for words. She saw his pain as he told her his secret. She wanted to reach out to comfort him, to make him happy again. She settled for taking hold of his hand in both of hers.

"Why didn't you tell Nasuada?" The question was out before Kairin had a chance to stop it. Quickly, she added "you don't have to tell me." He shook his head.

"Murtagh is... He's my brother. Morzan's son is my brother."

The name meant nothing to Kairin. Eragon bowed his head, his jaw tight. Hr looked ashamed. Kairin didn't want to ask him what it meant. They sat there in silence again, this time Kairin comforting Eragon. Both of them were motionless until Kairin suddenly keeled over onto the floor, her mind teetering into unconsciousness.

Kairin was vaguely aware of Eragon carrying her back to her tent. Kairin knew that he must have been exhausted, but he didn't say a word of complaint as he carried her across the entire camp. When they reached her tent, Eragon laid her into bed and pulled a blanket over her. After a moment, Kairin pulled her eyes open with great effort. Eragon stood over her still.

Their eyes met. With the slightest hesitation, Eragon swiftly bent over her and kissed her on the forehead. Without another word, he strode out of the tent into the darkness.

When Kairin opened her eyes the next morning, it was like the plan had been forming in her mind all night. She got up, splashed water on her face, and pushed the tent flap open to see Faeria sitting directly outside.

"Feeling better?"

Kairin said nothing, but threw her arms around the scaly neck of her dragon.

"I love you, Faeria."

"I know you do, hatchling."

Kairin pulled her arms away from Faeria. She looked directly into the two shining silver eyes, her face serious.

"We're leaving," she whispered aloud.

"Leaving? We're leaving the Varden?"

"I can't stay here. I'm going absolutely mad in this place, Faeria, sitting here like some kind of trophy on a shelf. I need to have a purpose.

"I can't dissuade you?"

"No. You can't. We're leaving here tomorrow."

"Leaving, are we?" A familiar voice rang out behind Kairin, and she swung around. A smiling figure stood behind her, like a vision from heaven.

"Leaire!"