AN: Apologies for the cliff hanger at the end of the last chapter, but I'm a closet sadist. Here's the next installment for you to (hopefully) enjoy!
Strong arms caught her before she hit the ground, cradling her as gently as a mother would her new born babe.
Dazed, she looked up into his dark eyes, boring into her like hot daggers.
"Murtagh," She whispered. "What have you done?"
His eyes never left hers as he struggled to speak.
"I...I'm so sorry, Katharean." He breathed.
His words washed over her and blinded her with rage such as she had never felt. Before he could react, she slapped him hard across the face with strength she did not know she possessed. He did not drop her, nor did he show any signs that she had hurt him, though his pale skin turned an angry red with the force of her blow.
"Let go of me." She spat. He pulled her to her feet and stood back, lowering his eyes to the floor. "Leave us." Katharean ordered the servant woman, who immediately rushed from the room without a backward glance. "Start talking, Murtagh. How long have you kept me here?"
"I can't...Galbatorix has forbidden me from telling you." He answered, quietly.
"Fine. How long ago was the battle?"
He threw her a significant look and she rolled her eyes, sighing.
"How long ago did we meet?" Silence. "How long since we parted? How long since Obsidian hatched for me?" She recited a long list of questions, none of which he seemed able to answer. Galbatorix had thought of everything.
Maybe not everything. She thought, bracing herself, before asking:
"How long since we spent the night together?" Murtagh's eyes snapped up to meet her own.
"Thirteen months, two weeks and five days."
The accuracy of his answer would have stunned her, if the meaning of his words had not frozen the blood in her veins.
"Thirteen months...and I was with the Varden for little more than two...I've been here for almost a year?" She gasped. He nodded, miserably. Nausea swept over and she raised a hand to her mouth. He reached for her, concern shining deep in his dark eyes, but she moved away from him. "Don't touch me." Her voice sounded emotionless and distant to her ears. Half-formed questions consumed her mind and she swayed dizzily in the whirlpool of thoughts and emotions that engulfed her.
"Katharean..."
"I need a minute. Please...I can't..." She choked, shaking her head and turning her back on him. After a while, she steadied herself enough to whisper. "Where is Obsidian?"
"Can't you feel him?" Murtagh asked, softly. She shook her head, no. "He is close by. He has slept as soundly as you have, but he should-"
A furious roar shook the very walls of the house and drowned out the rest of Murtagh's words.
Obsidian! Katharean cried, joy and relief washing over her in spite of everything.
Where are you, little heart? He asked, wildly.
She showed him the room she now stood in, with its large, floor length windows and furnishings of dark leather arm chairs and the polished oak dining table. Where are you?
She felt an invisible pull around her neck as Obsidian showed her the inside of a large, marquis-style tent, and she realised with a jolt of anger that he was tethered like a common dog.
Are you okay? She asked him. How do you feel?
I am sore in my bones, but I will live. How are you?
The same. We should have known Galbatorix would not fight fair. He sent Murtagh and Thorn to capture us with magic...we've been asleep for eleven months, Obsidian. Eleven months!
What? A second roar ripped through the air. How can that be?
I am just about to find out. Be patient. We will escape from this place. But right now, I must talk with Murtagh.
Murtagh! I should have known this was his doing. He growled.
Yes, you should have. She agreed.
Very well. Do as you must. I shall wait as long as I can stand it. He snorted in reply, and she turned back to Murtagh. They stared at each other for several minutes, neither of them able to speak. Looking into his eyes, a sickening truth dawned on Katharean.
"It was all a lie, wasn't it?" She whispered, hopelessly. Murtagh's eyes narrowed.
"No! Katharean, you can never believe that! Never. My feelings for you are-"
"Stop talking!" She snapped, stepping towards him. "How can I ever again believe a word you say, Murtagh? You are a liar and a traitor and I feel nothing but contempt for you." The lie came surprisingly easily. He let out a ragged breath and she continued, refusing to let his hurt-filled eyes disarm her, even for a second.
"But I was not talking about us.
He sent you to Farthen Dur to bring me back. Everything...the battle...it was all just a ruse. Galbatorix, with the strength of the entire Empirical army at his disposal, sent a handful of poorly-trained, poorly-equipped soldiers to fight his most powerful enemy in all Alagaesia. I do not know why I couldn't see this before." She laughed, a black laugh devoid of all humour. "Go ahead, Murtagh. Say it's not true. Tell me I am mistaken." She challenged.
Murtagh's silence answered her question.
"Unbelievable." She spat, eyeing him with disgust.
"Katharean, I had no choice! It was comply or die..."
"So rather than surrender your own selfish life, you chose to endanger your brother, your friends...and me. The girl you claim to have loved."
He looked away in shame and she felt her rage subside a little, despite her best efforts. Damn her weakness!
"I imagine you must hate me right now." He said softly. "But trust me; you could never hate me more than I hate myself for all I have done to you."
"Do not be so sure." She replied, coolly. He nodded, slowly, closing his eyes. "So what happens now? I assume Galbatorix has learned from his previous mistakes and you cannot simply allow me to walk out of here?" He shook his head with a dismal sigh. "You realise, of course, that Obsidian and I will not be held captive without a fight."
"I know. And it is a fight that I hope you win. Truly."
She smirked, though his words were like a dagger through her heart.
This would be so much easier if I didn't love you. She thought, hopelessly. She expected Obsidian to berate her, to scold her for her weakness, but he remained silent. She sighed, and made her way to one of the large, leather armchairs and collapsed into it. Her aching muscles seethed after months of disuse.
"How did you do it?" She asked, after a several minutes of silence.
"How did I...?"
"Put me to sleep for so long. And why would you do such a monstrous thing? You have stolen almost a year of my life from me." She said, numbly. Murtagh sighed, and walked over to her. She stiffened as he knelt before her, but did not push him away.
"I had no choice! I was ordered to bring you here...I did not mean for the spell to last so long, of course I didn't! But I panicked! You were dying in my arms, Katharean...you have no idea how scared I was, how angry! Thorn did not mean to wound you, but even so, I could barely bring myself to look at him for more than a month. I thought I was going to lose you, Kath...I did the only thing I could think of. I healed you, and then I sent you to sleep before you forced us to harm you again...but the magics Galbatorix has placed upon me to increase my power mean that I am not always in control of the strength of my spells. I learned this first in my battle with Eragon, in the Burning Plains. I hurt him more than I ever would have intended...I should have known better this time...but I wasn't thinking straight. My only thought was of your safety."
"How noble of you." She drawled. Murtagh shook his head.
"I know I cannot hope for your forgiveness, but would a grain of understanding be too much to ask?" For the first time, a note of impatience crept into his voice and she gawped at him in disbelief.
"Understanding? Murtagh...I don't understand! I don't understand anything! I've just woken up to find myself a prisoner of the Empire, with you as my keeper! I can barely walk, I don't know where I am, or why the Varden have abandoned me to my fate...the changes that I feel would be enough to throw me without everything else! I can hear everything in this house, and my consciousness stretches farther than I dared to imagine it ever would...and I look like..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "How can you expect me to understand?" She asked, in a pleading voice which betrayed her desperation.
"Well...I have some answers, though you may not want to hear what I have to say." He admitted, apologetically. "Your mental abilities...and your magical abilities...Galbatorix himself placed several of the same enchantments on you as he did on me. This means that, once you learn, you will be stronger even than Eragon and the elves...it also means that you won't be able to fully control the force of your spells without proper instruction and, quite possibly, years of training and honing your skills." She accepted this information in silence, with a mixture of quiet anger and surprise. Why would Galbatorix want to make me stronger? It's hardly a secret that Obsidian and I have pledged our allegiance to the Varden, even if it's not as official as Eragon's oath...does he think I will be swayed so easily? "As for your appearance, your hearing and, judging by the soon-to-be-bruised area around my left eye, your considerable increase in strength, you did that all by yourself. Over time, our bonds with our dragons alter us. I have no explanation for your accelerated change, although it may have something to do with your enchanted sleep."
"And what of your brother? Why hasn't Eragon come to my aid?" She asked, knowing that her friend would not leave her to the mercy of Galbatorix of his own accord, even if it meant endangering himself and Saphira. She knew him well enough to know that recklessness was his middle name.
"Because he thinks you're dead." Murtagh said, bluntly. She shook her head as denial and grief flooded her senses.
"He thinks I'm...dead?" She whispered.
"Everyone does. That's what Galbatorix wanted."
Of course. Anyone who had known Eragon for any length of time would know that the boy would stop at nothing to rescue her if he even suspected that she was still alive. How he must have felt all these months! She imagined the pain she would feel if anything were ever to happen to her fellow Rider, and a sob caught in her throat as she realised the grief she must have inflicted upon him through her carelessness.
"Oh, Eragon! I have to get back to him! He has to know that I live!" She tried to stand but Murtagh placed his hands gently but firmly on her shoulders. She fixed him with a murderous glare. "Get your hands off me, Murtagh, or I swear-"
"You can threaten me all you like later, but right now I need you to listen to me." He cut her off, sternly. "I cannot let you return to the Varden, it is too dangerous right now."
She glowered at him, angrily.
"Is that all you care about still? Saving your own miserable hide?" She demanded.
"You misunderstand my concern. It is not safe for you there. Galbatorix has a spy working in their midst. He sent one of his best men to infiltrate Farthen Dur as soon as he learned of your intentions to join the Varden. If I failed to bring you to him which, as you well know, I did spectacularly, this person was to befriend you, to get close to you and gain your trust and, at the same time, to pass information on the Varden and their two Riders to the Empire."
"I don't believe you." She said, stubbornly, trying to stand again. Murtagh was less gentle this time as he forced her to sit down.
"Listen to me! Think about it, Katharean! Why would I be sent to bring you to Galbatorix and not Eragon? He knows Eragon has sworn loyalty to the Varden, but his spy assured him that you had refused! That is why he commanded me to bring you here! He hopes to persuade you into joining forces."
"I would never-"
"I know." He cut her off. "I think he knows too. But he has ways of getting exactly what he wants from people. He is sly. He knows that anyone can be turned with the correct leverage...for me, he threatened Thorn. For you...who knows? Obsidian, your father, your sister...believe me, he does not care who he hurts, as long as he gets his way."
The truth of his words hit her hard. She reached automatically to her chest and her fingers closed tightly around Selena's ring which still hung from her neck. She struggled for breath as she felt the hopelessness of her situation bore down on her, and the weight of it kept her in her seat long after Murtagh released her from his grip.
"The spy..." She murmured. "Who is he?"
Murtagh sighed in frustration.
"I do not know. Can you think of anybody new to the Varden? Anybody who might have tried harder than others to win your friendship?"
She shook her head, thinking of all of the faces she had known in the mountain city all those months ago. She gasped as a round, friendly face flashed across her memory: the young, flame-haired man who had approached her on the eve of battle.
"There was somebody...I had never noticed him before. He came to me...he offered me his sword. Oh..." She buried her face in her hands. "How could I have missed so much?"
"There was no way you could have known back then." Murtagh said, gently.
"No." She looked up at him with fierce determination. "But I know now." She rose swiftly to her feet, brushing his protesting hands away. "I have to get back to them. I have to get back to Farthen Dur."
"It will do you no good. Soon after the battle, after the loss of their new Rider, the Varden travelled west, to Surda."
Katharean nodded. That makes sense.
"Very well. Then I shall go to Surda."
"I cannot let you leave." Murtagh said, firmly.
"What are you going to do, Murtagh? Restrain me? Tie me up? Or better yet, just send me to sleep for another few months?" She challenged, bitterly. "Then what happens?"
"The king has been informed of your recovery. He travels now to meet us." He told her, averting his eyes, ashamed.
"Brilliant. And where exactly are we?" She fumed.
"Dras Leona. Just north of-"
"Yes, I know the map, thank you." She snapped, viciously. "When does his majesty arrive?"
"He is little more than a day's travel away."
She turned and walked slowly to the large window at the back of the room. Dusk had almost settled. Well that buys us a little time. Galbatorix will have to set up camp for the night. She peered outside, calculating the surrounding area. The window was large enough to offer a panoramic view of the town below but, more importantly, it was large enough for her to escape by. She scanned the ground below, estimating that they could be no less than three storeys high. Too high to jump without breaking both of her legs but, she noticed with a barely concealed smile, the stables were almost directly beneath her, and their roof was high enough to provide a safe landing. Providence appeared to be smiling on her.
"Can you open the window, please?" She tested. She felt Murtagh shift uncomfortably behind her.
"Why?" He asked, suspiciously.
"I have been deprived of fresh air for months." She replied, playing on his guilty conscience. He sighed, heavily.
"I can't. It's locked, and I don't have the key."
Of course. That would have been far too easy, she thought, bitterly. Slowly, a plan took shape in her mind, and she wheeled to face him.
"I am ravenous. And I need to bathe."
He nodded, surprised by the sudden change of subject but seemingly grateful that she had not pushed the subject.
"Of course, I'll have one of the servants bring you some food."
"Thank you. Will you dine with me? After all, if this is to be my last meal as a free woman, I would be glad of the company, however distasteful." She knew she was taking a risk, but it was a necessary one if her plan was to succeed. Murtagh looked thoroughly taken aback by her offer, and nodded, eagerly.
"I would like that." He said, softly.
"Good. And do not worry. I intend to be on my best behaviour. I do not wish to fight with you, Murtagh. For all your failings, you are still one of the only friends I have left. And you need not worry about my conduct tomorrow. I will agree to anything Galbatorix asks of me. I do not intend to give him any cause to threaten my loved ones."
Her lies stunned him into silence and she forced a small smile. Her plan would have to be executed flawlessly. One mistake and everything she cared about would be reduced to ashes; such is the risk we take when we play with dragon-fire.
AN: You know the drill...Please review