The Black Morass

by Gerald Lambert

  Yes, he snapped. He pulled off the blankets and shoved past her, stumbling into the center of the camp, where Arya and the dwarves sat around a fire.

  He panted, looking around at the guards lying on the floor around him as he stood in the middle of the stone courtyard, most of them were moaning, some merely knocked out. Murtagh sheathed his sword and glanced over at Galbatorix.

  "You are a match for twelve soldiers at once. That is fair. You should be able to confront more. As a Rider, your power should be unlimited. Your dragon will be large enough to

  fight with you soon, however and that will greatly increase your power." He watched as the small red dragon fluttered from its perch in a tree and landed precisely on Murtagh's

  shoulder.

  It nuzzled his neck, letting out a purring noise, asking to be petted. Murtagh stroked two fingers along its neck and glanced upward, a flicker of color catching his eye. The small

  ruby dragon chirruped loudly, looking upward as Nasreen let out a howling roar, jetting to the ground. She flicked out her massive wings and folded them neatly against her body,

  lowering herself a bit to allow Kieran off her back.

  She walked straight to her father, kneeling in front of him, "We have returned."

  "…you seem to be missing someone Kieran. Where is he?"

  The princess bit her lip before flicking her gaze up to him, "I blame the girl. She warned them and allowed them time to escape before I knew what had happened."

  "You allowed this to happen?" He asked, standing up, staring down at her. "How did she manage to do such a thing without your notice?"

  "She assured me that"

  He smacked his hand across her face, the sound reverberating against the castle walls, "I do not want excuses."

  Kieran flicked her gaze down, "I punished her properly on the way back. And we burned the village to the ground."

  "That is better." Galbatorix insisted, looking up as Andrar landed on the stone, gently setting Mariah down.

  Murtagh choked, rushing over, seeing all the bandaging. "Kieran! What did you do to her?" He knelt down and turned to look at the princess.

  "She started it," she huffed, finally returning to her feet. Her pale face was stained with a red blush, most likely going to proceed into a bruise on her cheek. "I merely stopped the

  fight before it got out of hand."

  "You don't call this out of hand? You didn't even heal her at all, what were you thinking, she could have died!"

  "She still might," Kieran pointed out. "So don't get your hopes up." He growled slightly, picking Mariah up and walking toward the door. "Where are you going?" The princess asked,

  following.

  Murtagh glared over at her, "If she doesn't get healed soon, what do you think is gonna happen?"

  "Her blood's probably clotted by now, are you kidding?"

  "She could still get an infection. Then what?"

  "Then she gets an infection," Kieran shrugged.

  He shook his head and set Mariah down on her bed. "Do you know how to use healing spells?"

  "No." Kieran said, "I'm not good at it at least. You think I would have bothered using bandages if I could heal her up properly? No, too messy. I got blood all over me when I did it."

  "Fine," he said, unwrapping the bandages around her left arm. "Kieran… these cuts… they're so deep…" The little red dragon bounced down onto the bed, sniffing at the wound. Murtagh shook his head at her. "You're lucky she didn't die."

  "I was careful," she said, observing her nails. "I see father gave you your dragon. Tell me, did he hatch of his own accord or did Galbatorix make him?" Murtagh ignored her, setting

  to work healing up the gashes in Mariah's arm, muttering healing spells under his breath. "Oh, c'mon tell me. At least tell me how you know those words."

  He growled slightly in his throat, "She taught them to me while we were traveling." Murtagh dragged his fingers over another one of the gashes, moving to her other arm and

  repeating the process. The energy he was using up was excessive but he didn't much care – if the wounds weren't healed up properly and soon, they would likely get infected or

  keep bleeding. In either case, Mariah's condition would simply deteriorate.

  "Oh, well that was nice of her," she said, walking over and looking at a bookshelf before choosing a slim volume and falling gracefully into a chair. "What else did she teach you?"

  "Nothing Kieran, now please shut up I'm trying to concentrate."

  She huffed and flicked through the book aggressively. "Fine." Kieran sat there, listening to him mutter as she read over the pages.

  When he was finished, Murtagh took one more look over her body to make sure he hadn't missed anything. It was then he noticed her throat. "Really, her neck too? How you managed to restrain yourself and not kill her is a wonder. Honestly." He set his jaw and sealed up the cut on her neck as well; brushing her hair back behind her ear. Murtagh

  blinked and narrowed his eyes a bit before standing straight again. The ruby dragon crawled up his leg, around his waist and perched on his shoulder, blinking at Kieran. "Since

  you're the one that put her in this mess, you can change her clothes for her, so they're not so bloodied and torn when she wakes up." He walked out of the room, slamming the

  door.

  Kieran huffed and snapped the book shut, pulling some clothes from the wardrobe and tearing the remains of Mariah's shirt from her body. Though not trying to be excessively

  rough, she hastily changed out her clothing and threw the bloody rags into a bin for the maids to clean up later. Wiping the blood off her hands onto her already bloodspattered

  pants, she left the room to return to Galbatorix, before he had the change to bid her to do so.

  Murtagh waited for her to ascend the stairs before walking back to Mariah's room, the dragon balanced on his shoulder and a tray of food in his hands that he'd just managed to

  sneak from the kitchens. He shut the door behind him and set the tray on a table nearby, going and looking out the window at Nasreen and Andrar, the latter cowering in front of

  Shruiken.

  He sighed and waited around in the room for a while, letting the dragon do as he liked, which mostly consisted of fluttering around and climbing up the curtains. He played hideandseek

  with him a few times but it only took a matter of minutes before there weren't any more good places to hide.

  Finally, Mariah woke.

  "Oh, good you're up." He said, walking over to her quickly. "Kieran brought you back in a bloody heap."

  She sighed, rubbing her fingers against her face. "It was awful… I didn't realize she was capable of that and still managing to keep the person alive." Mariah jerked slightly, pulling

  her sleeve back and tracing her right hand fingers along her left arm, staring. There were faint red lines; the only remnants of a scar would be flat lines a shade lighter than her

  skin tone. "How… she healed me back up afterward?"

  "No… she brought you here with bandages. I sealed up your wounds before you could bleed anymore." He admitted, the corner of his mouth twitching up into a crooked smile.

  She blinked up at him, "Thank you… but… how did you manage that? It must have taken so much energy, and… no offense… but you don't have that much magic."

  Murtagh sighed a little and lifted up his left hand, tipping it slightly so the silvery mark shone in the light cascading from the open windows. Gasping, Mariah sat up abruptly, the movement making her woozy, snatching his hand. She stared at his palm and shook her head. "Galbatorix turned me into a Rider while you were away with Kieran…"

  "…how… how did he do it?"

  "He didn't, it hatched for me." He told her, pulling his head back and sitting next to her. "I don't know why… but I asked it to, so Galbatorix wouldn't kill it." Murtagh sighed and

  looked around the room, then up. "Get down here, you."

  The hatchling blinked and hisse
d slightly before leaping from the top of the curtains and gliding downward, collapsing onto the bed with less flair than he would have liked. He

  straightened himself out and flicked his wings, sitting down and blinking at Mariah.

  "Red."

  "Yeah, the irony is overwhelming, isn't it?" He asked sarcastically, rubbing his face.

  "I think he's adorable." She smiled and coaxed the dragon to her. "What's his name?"

  "He won't tell me. You said your dragon picked its name, well… he won't say anything to me. I think he understands me well enough, but I can't invade his mind like you say you

  can." Murtagh leaned back against his arms, watching her.

  "Well, did you suggest anything to it?"

  "…no," he blinked at her, "you think that'd work?"

  "It's what I did. Dragons can be fickle." She insisted, petting the ruby scales, "So just keep asking until he responds." Mariah looked back up at Murtagh, "Thanks for healing me.

  You… you did a really good job, considering. I don't think there'll be hardly any scarring."

  He smiled crookedly, "I was aiming for that… didn't think you'd appreciate waking up with long scars up and down your arms and legs. Or across your throat."

  "No, definitely not, so thanks."

  Murtagh nodded, "Are you hungry? I sneaked some food out of the kitchen for you. I figured you'd probably be hungry after all that. And I'm sure Galbatorix is going to punish you…

  you know, for letting them all escape."

  She reached over and took a piece of bread, munching on it, giving the dragon a piece. "Well, I couldn't very well let them all die when I had the option to do something about it,

  now could I?"

  "I suppose not," he admitted, nodding. "Now, let's see about a name for you. Hmm… Jasper means red… and sounds better than Ruby… which really is a girl name, yeah?"

  Mariah nodded, chuckling a bit. "Definitely." She looked down at the dragon, "How do you like Jasper, huh?"

  The dragon blinked at her, melancholy, and let smoke rise from his nostrils.

  "Okay, so that's a no." She snatched a piece of cheese as well from the tray and thought. "Roy means red… how's that?"

  He flicked his head back and forth, curling up in her lap, closing his eyes to sleep.

  "You see what I mean? Pain in the ass is what he is." Murtagh rolled his eyes, "Thorn in my side. I didn't ask for this you know, you hatched for me, I had nothing to do with it."

  The dragon looked up at him and snorted, chirruping at him.

  "What? You did. I thought it loud enough I suppose, but you're the one who decided to hatch" he cut himself off abruptly and stared at the hatchling. "Really? I didn't actually mean

  it you know." He paused again, listening to the dragon. "Fine. If that's what you want, we'll choose that."

  Mariah blinked between them, "What?"

  "Thorn. He likes Thorn…" he shook his head, shrugging.

  Brisingr, iet tauthr Fire, follow me

  Skölir thornessa breoal frá brisinger. – Shield this house from fire.

  Sé mor'ranr ono finna – May you find peace.

  Alright, yes this DID take way too long, I know… but… I went to ComicCon, so you can't blame me for not writing anything for the past few weeks.

  Alright, there you go, his name is Thorn. Glad you're happy. I am too.

  I'm exhausted from writing this now, so happy July everyone.

  Please review! It really helps me out when you give me suggestions and ideas!

  Mariah stared at Galbatorix, trying her best to ignore the huge black dragon to her left, blocking out most of the sunlight cascading out of the windows. "I told Kieran that I would

  try and convince him my way, I made no promises to her."

  The princess huffed, her arms folded across her chest. Today, she was wearing long black dress with silver trimming. Her bloodstained armor was somewhere in her room being

  polished and cleaned by one of the maids.

  "You disobeyed my orders to follow hers."

  "I made no promises," Mariah repeated. "I did as I was told, I spoke with Roran and told him to come with us in the morning, yet he ran before we had the chance to get him to

  come along."

  "You warned them."

  "You have no proof of the matter," she said, shaking her head, "I did not warn them. I merely did as I was told. If Kieran had spoken with them, they would have done the same.

  The chances that they would listen to me were much higher, know that. They still decided to run, for fear of you. Most of the people fear you, Galbatorix, surely you know that." Mariah said to him.

  He tapped his fingers against the arm of his chair and nodded slowly, clearly deep in thought. "Very well… you shall be punished later. For now, I need you to assist Kieran in

  training Murtagh. Since he is now a Rider, it's your duty to make sure he is properly prepared, since I am too busy to teach him myself. The two of you have only a few months. I

  intend on retaliating against the fools in the little rebellion they call the Varden soon enough… they will not so easily vanquish my army this time. Not when I have three Riders on

  the field against their one… no." Galbatorix stood and started across the grand hall slowly, moving to the double doors in silence, deep in thought.

  Mariah stood still as he passed by, staring blankly at the wall to avoid any more attention. When he left she looked at Kieran.

  "We better go find Murtagh then, father will be displeased if we wait too long to start training." She turned and started for the doors. "I must change. Find him and meet me in the

  court yards in half an hour." Kieran said, turning down a side passage towards her wing of the castle.

  Sighing, Mariah started back towards her and Murtagh's rooms. Galbatorix is going to attack the Varden?

  No, he is going to make you, Kieran and Murtagh attack the Varden.

  I won't.

  You'll have to darling, unless you figure out a way to break from this mess you've gotten into. They distrust you now more than ever, after allowing Roran to escape.

  Do you think I was wrong to do so?

  No, I believe you did the right thing. It caused more trouble for us, but you never would have forgiven yourself had you allowed him to be in harm's way. He is Eragon's cousin after

  all. You all are practically family.

  Might as well call him that… she sighed and pushed open the door to Murtagh's room. It was empty. "Great." She walked in anyway and looked around, figuring he'd show back up

  soon enough. Browsing the bookshelf for a minute, she caught sight of a stray handbound volume. She popped it open and saw a swirling handwriting filling most of the pages. Mariah flipped a few pages, looking at a few simple drawings of flowers and the like. "This can't be Murtagh's." She chuckled a little, turning the page again and finding a poem.

  Mariah started reading it silently, and then realizing the words sounded familiar, reading the words in a rhythm. As soon as she remembered it was something Mark had always

  hummed to her when she was little, she tried recalling where he'd learned it from. It must have been from Brom, she couldn't think of anyone else who would teach Mark a song

  that he would use so often. Walking over by the window, she continued flipping the pages, singing the song to herself quietly, finding comfort in the words and memories.

  She flicked her head up at the sound of footsteps. Murtagh was staring at her, looking slightly puzzled. "Yes?"

  "…how did you know that was a song?"

  Mariah stared at him, "What?"

  He shook his head, walking over to her and motioning toward the book. "That book was one of my mother's journals, so to speak. The words you were singing are written in it… like

  a poem, but she always sang it to me when I was younger."

  "Oh," Mariah stared at him a moment. "…Mark used to sing it to me when I was little."

  "He did?" He
raised an eyebrow at her, "As far as I knew she made it up herself…"

  "That is strange. Perhaps she couldn't remember where she'd heard it first."

  "Perhaps." Murtagh nodded. "You sing wonderfully by the way."

  Mariah shook her head, "I do not. I think you are bias because of what I was singing. Oh… we're supposed to go down to the court yard with Kieran."

  "When?"

  "Now," she said, glancing outside. "She's probably wondering where we are."

  Murtagh shrugged, "She can wait." He turned on his heel, walking out, carrying Thorn on his shoulder. She followed quickly, setting the journal on a table nearby before falling into

  step with him.

  After the initial bout of pain from the scar across his back, Eragon recovered quickly, though was constantly aware of his movement, in order to avoid a relapse. The days they

  spent traveling up river were filled with training and teaching by Arya, Orik and the other dwarves.

  When they reached the Edda River, they relinquished their raft for donkeys. Dwarves never used horses. Eragon was able to ride Snowfire for the first time in several long days.

  Arya however, insisted on running and she was easily able to outstrip the war horse without slowing her pace or becoming weary.

  After four days of traveling, they were in sight of Du Weldenvarden. When they camped for the night, Arya stopped him just before he went to turn in, materializing at his shoulder.

  He jumped slightly and opened his mouth to speak when he felt her invade his mind, Follow me as silently as you can.

  The contact surprised him as much as the request. They had shared thoughts during the flight to Farthen Dur – it had been the only way Eragon could speak to her through her selfinduced

  coma – but since Arya's recovery, he had made no attempt to touch her mind again. It was a profoundly personal experience. Whenever he reached out to another person's

  consciousness, it felt as if a facet of his bare soul rubbed against theirs. It seemed boorish and rude to initiate something so private without an invitation, as well as a betrayal of

  Arya's trust, slender as it was. Also, Eragon was afraid that such a link would reveal his new and confused feelings for Arya.