Dunei - A Murtagh Love Story - Eldest Fan Fiction

Chapter 25

The ground shook as if there were an earthquake as the form landed ahead. The horses screamed in fear, and bucked. Lorena desperately held onto the saddle, then felt the stallion topple sideways. Pulling the reins she attempted to straighten him, but he fell anyways. There was no time to jump from the saddle before he landed heavily on his side.

Lorena screamed as her right leg was crushed. Bursts of blinding pain shot through her as she lay pinned. Stars appeared before her eyes and she gasped while wildly attempting to push the beast off her. Pulling her uninjured foot from the stirrup she placed it onto the horses back and used it as extra leverage to try and push herself free. But every movement increased the waves of pain from her crushed limb and eventually she collapsed panting.

With blurred vision she looked up at the midnight coloured dragon who stood before her, a snarl curling its upper lip. Then she spotted a dark figure jump from the dragons back, they crouched to absorb the impact of the landing, but Lorena was shocked that anyone could survive such a jump. The figure stood and began walking her way.

With a new sense of panic Lorena renewed her attempt to get out from under the stallion, but no matter how she tried she could not move him. Glancing up she recognised the king.

He wore his usual black attire, with leather gloves and matching cape. The only colour his bronzed skin and glinting crown. He looked at her with a furious scowl, and Lorena thought that maybe she would survive this encounter, only because Galbatorix would want her to suffer.

Ruby scales appeared in front of her, momentarily blinding her, and she heard a roar. Thorn had dropped from the sky, and he faced Galbatorix. The King glared down at him, then muttered in the ancient language and Thorn fell unmoving.

"Thorn!" she screamed and attempted to sit up and see if he was still alive.

Galbatorix stepped toward them, and grasped the bulk of the small dragon, then lifted him. Lorena watched as he retreated back to Shruikan and somehow managed to balance the weight of the dragon while climbing up.

Once out of sight Lorena looked back at the beast pinning her leg down. She pushed at him again, but knew that she would never get the weight off of her. The sound of feet striking ground caught her attention and she looked back to see Galbatorix coming back toward her.

She glared up at him as he stepped in front of her. Then gasped as he grasped the saddle with one hand, then gave a violent jerk. With inhuman strength the stallion was thrown off of her, and flipped onto its other side. Now being able to see its face, Lorena could tell that the creature was dead. With the weight gone Lorena grasped at her leg, it did nothing to ease the pain, but she found she breathed a bit easier.

Galbatorix watched her as she slowly pushed herself into a sitting position. She ignored his eyes burning into her as she got her good leg underneath her and pushed herself up. White pain exploded through her damaged leg, and she prayed it in vain that it wasn't broken. Gasping she finally managed to stand, balancing all her weight on her left leg. She looked up into Galbatorixs' scowling eyes, and tried to convince herself not to empty the contents of her stomach.

"You want to live?"

Lorena watched the king as he stared at her, and nodded in response. He then reached forward and grasped the pommel of her sword. Pulling the blade from its sheath.

"You're going to run me through with my own sword?" she asked bitterly.

"If you want to live, you need to prove it," he claimed, then he handed her the weapon.

She examined it and wondered if she could run him through with it instead. Then a hand grasped her upper arm. She yelped as her injured leg dragged along the ground, and grasped his arm for extra support. When they stopped she looked up to see they were in front of another fallen horse, and saw Hafford trapped underneath. His stomach was crushed, and his teeth stained red, but his deep blue-grey eyes jumped to her when she appeared. "Help me."