Chapter 13

The guards who escorted Murtagh to the throne room left him by the door, silently motioning for the Rider to go inside. Murtagh pushed the door and stepped into the dimly lit room. For some reason he thought fleetingly of how it used to unnerve Medea, but, checking himself, pushed the memory out of his mind.

Galbatorix's presence was suffocating; it filled the room, it was everywhere. He rested his head in his hand, his gaze boring into Murtagh. Another shadow lingered just behind his throne, its movements restless and impatient, like a wild animal pacing in its cage. Sared.
Murtagh noted the fact that the King made a point of emphasising that he and Sared were not equals by having the Prince stand by his throne, rather than sit next to him.

'Kneel,' Galbatorix spoke.

Murtagh clenched his jaw as he obeyed, keeping his gaze down so he wouldn't see the satisfaction on Sared's face. Because he was not just kneeling in front of Galbatorix. He was kneeling in front of Sared as well. And the humiliation was excruciating.

'You have disappointed me, Murtagh,' Galbatorix continued. 'You have attempted to kill my friend and ally in his own home, so that he wouldn't be in the way of your relationship with my daughter... Yes, Sared has told me about the letters you and Medea have been exchanging,' the king added when Murtagh glared up at Sared, stunned by his lies. 'You have gone through his possessions...'

'That's not what happened!' Murtagh interjected angrily. Unseen by Galbatorix, Sared was grinning openly.

'Silence!' Galbatorix raised his voice. 'Sared has told me exactly what happened. And for what you have done, you will be punished. It is the least that you deserve; you are fortunate that you are yet of use to me. And, Murtagh, I want to make it very clear for you,' he leaned forward, his face now on the same level as Murtagh's. 'Once my men find my daughter, you are never to go near her again. If you disobey me again, I will not be so forgiving.'

As if on cue, the door opened and the same two guards who escorted Murtagh to the room earlier walked in. 'Take him away,' Galbatorix ordered lazily, without looking up.

'Don't touch me,' Murtagh snarled at the men when they moved towards him. He got up and walked out of the door without another look at Galbatorix, followed at some distance by the guards.

'Such insolence...' Sared purred as soon as Murtagh left the room. Galbatorix glanced at him, his expression unreadable, and said nothing.

Eragon, Saphira and Medea reached the Varden late in the evening. The dragon and his Rider spotted it much earlier than Medea, whose vision wasn't anywhere near as sharp. Despite being unable to see much in the dark, she peered down curiously from Saphira's back nevertheless. She could not, however, ignore the feeling of anxiety that grew within her as they approached the city.

She had persuaded Eragon to tell Nasuada that she was one of Sared's servants, who ran away seeking to escape his cruelty and was saved by the Rider, whom she then begged to take her to the Varden. It actually resembled the truth, in a way. Medea didn't think than anyone would be able to recognise her for who she was. She doubted that anyone in the Varden knew what she looked like – she had never been outside the grounds of her father's castle, apart from the time when she was sent to try to capture Eragon. She had never been outside Geoulnaresque, either.

Despite Eragon's attempt to reassure Medea that he would persuade Nasuada to accept her, like she had accepted Murtagh, Medea didn't want to reveal her identity. Somehow she doubted that anyone at the Varden would be able to trust her, having already been burned by Murtagh's betrayal.

Saphira landed; only then Medea noticed seven dark silhouettes standing nearby, seemingly waiting for them. One of them separated from the rest and approached them. The person threw back the hood of their cape to reveal their face, and Medea guessed immediately that this was Nasuada. Eragon had described her to Medea before. The other six people, standing silently behind her, must have been her guard – the Nighthawks. Nasuada greeted Eragon and Saphira; then her black eyes bore into Medea inquisitively.

'This is Ilena,' Eragon hurried to say, going on to recount the story they had prepared earlier. His tone was faintly guilty. Medea watched the ebony-skinned girl tensely, waiting for her reaction.

To Medea's relief, after a moment's hesitation Nasuada nodded with a small smile. 'You are welcome here, Ilena, even more so because, like us, you are an enemy of the Empire. There are several unused tents, feel free to take one of them.'

'Thank you for letting me stay, Lady Nasuada,' Medea replied, lowering her gaze in what she hoped was a respectful manner. She forgot to ask Eragon how she should behave around the leader of the Varden, and was wondering if she should have addressed her by another title, or perhaps bowed; her pride was protesting against the thought of purposely lowering herself in status, but she didn't want to arouse suspicion.

Eragon and Medea followed Nasuada inside, while Saphira curled up on the ground outside Eragon's tent; Nasuada requested to speak to Eragon before he retired for the night. After leaving Medea in her tent, Nasuada led Eragon into what seemed to be a dining room - apart from a long, elaborately ornamented wooden table and several chairs, there was no other furniture. Nasuada sat down, indicating to Eragon to do the same.

'This girl you brought here...' Nasuada said quietly, resting her elbows on the table and leaning forward. Her voice was thoughtful. 'She could be useful to us.'

'Because she lived in Sared's palace? You think she might know if Sared had Seleara?'

'I'm hoping that she may know whether or not Murtagh found it. I have a feeling that he attacked Sared because he wouldn't surrender Seleara. I could be wrong,' she admitted. 'Obviously, we don't even know if Seleara actually exists. But I can't think of any other logical explanation to why Murtagh would destroy the palace, especially since we know that he went there to find the flower.'

'I doubt that a servant would know about such things,' Eragon pointed out.

Nasuada rolled her eyes. 'Servants know everything. I know how they gossip. How do you think the legend of Seleara was created? It was the slaves from Geoulnaresque who claimed that the royal family possessed it.'

Eragon nodded, remaining silent for a few seconds before he remembered what Nasuada had wanted to talk to him about. 'Nasuada, you told me that even if Murtagh found Seleara and delivered it to Galbatorix, there would still be hope. What did you mean by that?'

'We have re-read the ancient texts that mention Seleara, paying closer attention to details. They say that once, the flower was stolen from the king who possessed it at the time. The king, who was young and healthy, began to age rapidly, becoming a frail old man. But eventually the thief was caught and the flower was returned to the king, who became young again...'

'So if these sources tell the truth, you have to be continuously exposed to Seleara's magic,' Eragon realised.

'Yes. This means that even if Galbatorix finds Seleara, we can still attempt to take it from him. There is still hope, and that is the most important thing.' Nasuada rose from her seat, indicating that the conversation was finished. Eragon could see fatigue and, at the same time, a sense of desperate hope in her eyes, and longed to spare her from the disappointment she was about to face; for Medea knew no more than Nasuada, and could not help. 'I will talk to Ilena tomorrow. Right now I think we should all get some sleep,' Nasuada said.

Eragon stood up as well. 'Agreed. I will just wish Ilena good night. And good night to you, Nasuada.'

'Good night, Eragon.'

He walked back through the corridor which he passed on the way to the dining room towards the exit, trying to remember which tent was Medea's. One of the guards directed him to it and he knocked on one of the poles supporting the tent. 'It's Eragon. May I come in?'

'Yes,' Medea called in response.

Eragon entered to see her folding clothes into a neat pile. 'Where did the clothes come from?' he inquired.

'Nasuada sent someone to give me some spare ones,' Medea replied. 'What did she say to you?'

Before answering, Eragon lifted the entrance flap of the tent and peeked out, making sure that there was no one nearby who could overhear them. Satisfied, he dropped the flap back into place. 'She said that, according to texts about Seleara, in order to remain immortal you have to be constantly exposed to its magic. So even if Galbatorix has the flower, we could attempt to take it away from him.'

For a moment, Medea seemed too surprised to speak. Then a crooked smile appeared on her face. 'That's good news,' she said, her words truly sounding earnest; but there was sadness in her voice that she failed to conceal.

Eragon had a fairly good idea of what was bothering her. She may have disagreed with Galbatorix's tyrannical methods of ruling, she may have betrayed him by coming to the Varden and she certainly understood that to allow him to have Seleara would doom Alagaesia. Eragon didn't think that Medea had any affection for Galbatorix, because he never seemed to have had any for her. But he was the only father she had, and yet she was effectively helping the people who wanted to kill him.

'I just feel guilty,' Medea murmured, confirming Eragon's guess. 'For not being on his side.'

Eragon reached out and touched her shoulder encouragingly. 'You can't blame yourself for wanting to do the right thing, Medea. And you can't sacrifice yourself. You were on his side, remember? And how did he repay you?'

She shrugged. 'In my head, I know you're right. Let's not talk about it... Go get some sleep, Eragon. I'll see you tomorrow.'

After he left with a last worried glance at her, Medea undressed, crawled into bed and lay on her back, staring at the ceiling for hours.

A.N.: So Inheritance came out recently and I haven't read all of it yet, just the plot summary and some Murtagh scenes, because I wanted to know what happens so I could get on with this story. And I thought I'd work some of the events from the book into this story, but in a different context, if that makes any sense? I don't really know how to explain without spoiling the book for those of you who haven't read it, I guess I'll show you when we get there:) The reason why I'm not including all of the events from the book is because I really want to just focus on the Seleara storyline and on the Murtagh and Medea storyline.

I also apologise for the fact that the timeline is completely screwed up, as I started at book 1 and am now at book 4. But I hope you don't mind that too much since this story is already AU:) And as always, I'm really grateful to you guys for reading and I hope you're still enjoying the story:)