For Alagaesia: 21. Advises

Pillars of white marble tall as hills whose intricate design spoke of the skill of the architect stood before him. The setting sun's rays reached the hall through a strangely wide yet beautifully carved stone door that opened out to a large balcony bathing the hall in golden light. The Lianí Vine curled around the narrow edges of the balcony. The pines and oaks that grew outside rivalled the castle for beauty. Various exotic flowers bloomed on the huge branches of the trees. Birds chirped around the trees singing happily as the day neared its end. A low rumbling filled the air, the source being a picturesque waterfall far away from the castle. A mild melody of evening song reached his ears from somewhere on the ground.

With graceful steps, he walked to the balcony and touched the oaken leaves that sheltered the balcony from the sun. The fragrance of the flowers wafted on the cool breeze that hit him. Even as he was watching the various colours painting the evening sky, he spotted a beautiful blue dragon flying towards him. His face lit up with a fond smile on seeing the dragon and he extended his hand in way of welcoming the dragon. As the dragon neared him, he heard soft footfalls from his left side and turned to see a beautiful raven haired and green eyed elf walking towards him. He became even more happy if it was possible at the sight of her. The whole situation was so peaceful that he wished with all his heart that life always remained like this.

But he heard a sudden loud clicking noise behind him and when he looked back to see what it was that made the sound, he was greeted by pitch-black surroundings. Shocked he turned back towards the dragon but the only thing he could see was a slimy, greasy wall. Drained of all joy, he turned towards his left side and found another similar looking wall staring back at him. Broken and miserable, he smiled ruefully. Tears gathered on the edges of his eyes.

His body ached like he was being stabbed by needles continuously. Yet he felt a strange clarity fill his mind. It was new for him. The abyss wasn't a past memory of his this time. Neither had it come when he was unconscious. It had shown him his deepest and strongest wish. And it had come when he was awake like a sort of vision. Eragon was afraid that he was becoming insane. But something in him said it was not so.

He heard approaching footsteps and made himself ready for the next 'lesson' as Galbatorix called his torture. He gritted his teeth in a bid to drive away the fear of being broken by Galbatorix. But he knew deep inside that he needn't fear as long as he focused on Arya or Saphira when being mentally assaulted by the foul king. He had discovered it when his barriers formed by elven poetry broke letting Galbatorix in his mind for a few fractions of a second. It was just pure luck that he escaped Galbatorix on that day. Pure luck that his eyes fell upon the lamp in the 'chamber'. He shuddered when he thought of those moments.

The footsteps were near. His mind hardened and so did his face. It was now a habit: never show your feelings to others. Against his expectations, a lone figure came into his field of vision. Eragon had to bite back a curse and struggle to maintain his composure on looking at the figure. Murtagh.

Murtagh came into the cell and with sure steps moved towards where Eragon was: chained to a stone slab that served as his 'cot'. Eragon didn't acknowledge Murtagh's presence although he was seething inside. Murtagh too didn't greet Eragon. He just came near the slimy stone slab and sat on it. Eragon hadn't expected Murtagh to sit on the stone slab that was wet with some slimy material and Eragon's blood. No sane captor would do such a thing. 'He is no captor. He is your blood', a part of his mind said. 'He is Morzan's blood', hit back Eragon.

"The king is very angry, Eragon", Murtagh said. Eragon didn't want to know if the usurper was angry or sad. What did it matter to him? He didn't deign it necessary to respond and so remained unmoved. After a brief silence, Murtagh continued, "It has been forty days since your capture, Eragon"

Forty days? Has it been that short?

"You are the only one to have defied him this long except for that elf we rescued"

How dare he use we as though they were partners?

Murtagh stopped speaking. Eragon felt Murtagh's eyes on him. After a few moments, Murtagh's face came into Eragon's field of vision. His face exuded genuine sadness. "I beg you, Eragon. Accept him as your overlord. You have no other choice" Eragon was too angry to reply by words. But his eyes did the talking glaring venomously at Murtagh. Murtagh held the eye contact without flinching.

"He is planning terrible things, Eragon. If he breaks you now, he will be too harsh on you. I can't see you being used as a slave by every toothless captain of Galbatorix's army", Murtagh nearly pleaded. Eragon was not moved. He still glared at Murtagh. "I am not weak like you Murtagh to succumb to that usurper", he said finally. A flash of anger crossed Murtagh's face. "You don't know me, Eragon.", he said.

"I don't think so. You are just like Morzan: weak of mind and strong of body", Eragon spoke smoothly.

"I am good at heart.", Murtagh roared.

"So you say. Don't fancy yourself a good person, Murtagh"

Murtagh's demeanor exuded anger. "How dare you?...I am good. Even more so than you", he said his voice trembling in his effort to control his anger.

After a few moments of contemplation, Eragon decided to confront Murtagh for the last time for good or bad. "Your state is understandable, Murtagh. You didn't have Brom and Oromis to train you like I did. Obviously, it would have been too much to ask you to resist Galbatorix", Eragon said still speaking clearly, not showing any emotion. But Murtagh was seething with anger.

"You were good, Murtagh. But no more. The powers given to you have begun to corrupt you. You are being pulled deeper into the dark every passing day. Power is infectious Murtagh. You think that you are giving back to the world what it gave to you - Misery. But that isn't a good person's way. Somewhere along the way you have slipped, Murtagh, just like Galbatorix, just like Morzan. The only way for you now.." Eragon was cut off by a strong punch to his face. But it only elicited mirth in him. "You can't face it. Can you? Smashing a captive's face for telling you the truth about you" Murtagh glared at Eragon now much as Eragon did when Murtagh advised him to submit to Galbatorix.

"...Great enjoyment. Lets take him.", the captain's voice came into the cell. Both Eragon and Murtagh turned to look at the captain. He stood still at the sight before him. "Oh!! Lord Murtagh", he said after a few seconds and bowed. "Captain Rotab", Murtagh said and nodded at the captain and the magician and left the cell.

"So the scum is alive and kicking.  Soldiers!!", said the captain. Soldiers rushed into the cell and surrounded Eragon. "Today there is a treat in for us.", the captain said to the soldiers.

"The king has chosen this day to break you, rider.", the magician said to Eragon. Eragon just as always ignored the presence of people in the cell. "You will cower by my feet like a dog by the end of this day, filthy rider. Ah, think about it. A rider as my slave", the magician continued looking at Eragon.

"Consider yourself lucky for you who are in duty today will get to see a slave being created.", the captain announced like it was some celebration. Eragon noticed a few soldiers flinching slightly.

'If I were to die in this place, the last thing I will do before I die is kill these two', he said to himself.

"Bring him out", the captain ordered and moved out of the cell. Two soldiers undid the chains holding Eragon from the stone slab and pulled him up. Eragon felt pain flitting through his body but he didn't care about it. It was now a habit: ignore pain. He was pondering hard in his mind about what Galbatorix has planned and how cruel it might be if it prompted Murtagh to come to him and nearly beg him not to go through it. But he couldn't quite fathom what was more cruel than what he was going through.

The soldiers pulled Eragon through the dark corridors, his legs scraping the ground because he wasn't able to walk with his broken leg. Hot blood oozed from his legs. But he didn't feel any extraordinary pain because of the new wounds: his legs already pained him as much as they could.

When they neared the 'chamber', Galbatorix was waiting in front of it. "Move faster", his voice had a new edge to it. The soldiers panicked at this order and pulled Eragon faster through the ground. A new wave of pain raced through his legs and he gritted his teeth in a bid to avoid screaming. Eragon was thrown into the 'chamber'. This time though he found that he was not tied to the customary table. He was just left on the ground.

He didn't understand. 'What is this fool trying to do?', he thought. Before he could think of anything else, Galbatorix entered the cell followed by Captain Rotab and the magician. He didn't make any introductory speech this time explaining his new form of torture. 'Odd', thought Eragon. Galbatorix glared at Eragon without uttering even a single word. 'He must really be angry', Eragon thought. "Bring it", Galbatorix barked. Somebody ran hither and thither before handing a sack to Galbatorix. Galbatorix walked towards where Eragon lay and emptied the contents of the sack on Eragon's legs.

All of a sudden, Eragon felt like his legs were on fire. He tried to twist away from the substance that Galbatorix threw on his legs. But his writhing only made the material dig deep into his leg making the burning feeling even worse. When, finally he was nearly out of that substance a hard boot came to rest on his legs squeezing it against the ground and making the substance enter deeper into his legs. The burning was too much to bear. But still, Eragon didn't scream. Somehow his mind still had the strength to resist the urges of his flesh. But as the time passed the pain became increasingly difficult to ignore. And at last, he gave in and banged his hand on the floor, still not ready to scream out.

All of sudden every pain in his body went away. It was like heaven if it ever existed. And involuntarily, he let out a breath of relief.

"I can make this permanent, Eragon.", Galbatorix's snake voice hissed near his ears, "You just have to give in to me as your brother did" Eragon turned his head towards the foul king and glared at him. But when Galbatorix kept on looking into Eragon's face, Eragon realised that he was expecting a answer for his offer. Disgust filled Eragon. 'How could he think I will give in to this gimmick? Hasn't he learned still that I will never be won over? No. He is too filled with his own ideas that realities won't enter his brain. What a filth.' A strange urge came over Eragon and he spit on Galbatorix's face.

"Bastard!!", cried Galbatorix and landed his boot into Eragon's ribs. Eragon was thrown a few feet into the air. Breathing became impossible. He coughed trying to get back his breath. But pain like a dargon had placed its whole weight on his chest came over him and blood rushed through his mouth. Death would be better.

"Your life is going to be miserable, scoundrel. When I break you, you will wish you were never born.... Bring her in", Galbatorix's menacing voice filled the room. Eragon barely had strength in him to raise his head. When he saw who it was that was brought in a cold hand clutched his heart.

Author's note:

The palace that Eragon sees in his dream is a mixture of dwarven, human and elven architectures what with its monstrous size, Stone buildings, huge trees and beautiful flowers and the location of the palace will be somewhere in Carvahall. Maybe I will explain it further in following chapters...lets see...


So a cliff-hanger. Actually I had planned to have this and the next chapter as one chapter under the name for the next chapter. But I didn't have time to type in the whole chapter. Also I felt that a cliff-hanger of this sort would build lots of desperation to know what follows.... Arrgh... I am being Galbatorix.