Chapter 6: Hidden Agenda

When Dracul woke up the next morning he was completely ashamed of himself. He did not remember exactly what transpired during the battle. He had probably just collapsed and just had to be dragged off to a medical ward and then was taken back here.

Or it was that Galbatorix had taken them here directly with the full power of all his Eldunari.

He pushed his arm into the mattress and lifted himself up. His arms felt very weak and exhausted, he was shocked to find bruises all over his arms along with massive and long scars that ran down his back.

He began to heal them when his father walked in the door, "Leave them, they are part of your story if someone asks where you have been when you get back to the Varden."

He looked at the bruises, "You inflicted them?"

"Yes, you requested that I remove the memory of it." He said, hands folded behind his back, "You have no need for the swords this time. I also made sure to put the diamond in your chest."

Dracul's eyes widened, tearing off the flimsy tunic that was covering his chest. And glowing faintly in the center of his chest was the stone, the flesh and muscle had grown over it.

He stared at it for several minutes with horror, "Why would you do this to me?"

"Because you needed it." He paused, "And now that The Twins faked your death along with theirs and Murtagh's you should be able to rejoin the varden in your draconic forum."

"And what possible good would any of this do?" Dracul snarled.

"Must you question everything." Galbatorix frowned, "Although I cannot really blame you for that one."

"Why am I re-joining the Varden then, and how will I do it."

Galbatorix smiled, "I will need your memories."

Dracul almost shouted with protest when his father began again, "I'll give them back to you when you need them again."

Dracul snarled, but began his transformation after flinging off his clothes. He very quickly filled a sizeable space in the room, only slightly larger than he had been before what must have been a few weeks ago.

Take what you must but leave the ancient language intact

"When did I ever say I wanted the ancient language gone from your mind."

And with that the full torrent of Galbatorix combined with the voices of all the other insane dragons ravaged his mind, smashing through his mental barriers. Completely emptying him.

He woke up on an empty hillside, remembering crashing down onto it on an earlier flight. He had several minor bruises from his crash if he remembered correctly.

He tried to reach into his memories but they came out to be annoyingly fuzzy. Perhaps it was far worse of a crash than he had first thought.

He retreated to a deep cool ice-blue river that he proceeded to float lazily along for some time. He drifted down towards a huge forest. He crawled out onto the banks and flopped over in the sun. Allowing it to dry off his scales that shimmered like the sun. He then shook off any mud that had dried up and proceeded to march arrogantly through the forest. Heading deeper into the midst of the darkness.

He found a patch of grass in the middle of the dense trees and curled up snugly to allow his body to heal from his wounds. He knew the words in the ancient language to heal them. But without a mage he couldn't use his energy alone.

It was noon the following day by the time he woke up. He stretched and wandered around, trying to find perhaps a small deer to eat.

He spent a few hours hunting, when he neared a doe with a limp in her leg he ran to it and just before he could bite down on it a feeling of sickness filled him.

What business do I have eating another creature?

Was the thought that filled his mind and he couldn't bring himself to kill it. The doe bolted along with it's small herd.

Hours passed as Dracul ate huge masses of fruit from short and tall pear trees. Content with a full belly he took off and proceeded to circle the entire area a few times, his bruises were mostly healed and flying felt good.

He then started to head back up the river where he nested himself in a tall spruce, he wrapped himself around the tree, feeling wholesomely odd, and slept.

His dreams were not restful, but were instead filled with haunting dreams. They had a terrifying twists and turns, filled with battling with swords and shields, a man with a black coat brutally fighting him causing grievous injuries.

He woke with a start. Breathing heavily, a slow song had begun in the forest below. Whoever the voices belonged to, they sang of good health and the growth of the forest around them. He felt again at peace and drifted into a slow dream.

Well that was not one of my better chapters, I know it needs edits and changes. I just needed to get another chapter out there so I would not fall completely off the writing bandwagon.

Do you think I need to rewrite the chapter? Let me know in a review or PM

(If you want to write a guest chapter go ahead and let me know and we can work out details. Can be no shorter than 500 words)

And yes dear reviewer who I don't know the name of. Saphira and Eragon are right around the corner.