Dunei - A Murtagh Love Story - Eldest Fan Fiction

Chapter 10

A burst of air filled her lungs and she used it to scream. She lamented her anguish and pain, hot tears rolling down the sides of her face. She thrashed her arms and legs, but they were still pinned. Murtagh's voice sounded somewhere near her, she could hear him calling her name repeatedly. Eventually exhaust overtook her and she lay still, then sobbed.

Taking a deep breath she steadied her nerves, then opened her eyes. Before her was tiled ceiling with colourful lines that reminded her of veins, her eyes automatically darted to two familiar purple and red interweaving. Surprised she looked around her, and realised her head was strapped down. She could see a cold brazier near her feet, and Murtagh similarly strapped down on a stone slab to her right.

"Murtagh?" her voice croaked, raw from screaming.

"Lorena, are you alright?"

"No... What are we doing here? What happened to the children?"

There was a pause before Murtagh whispered, "Did that really happen?"

"I don't know. One minute we were here, then next thing I know where living in a house beside the Az Ragni with three children. Then," Lorena's voice trembled, "they were dead. I don't know what happened, but our babies were dead."

"I've never been to the Az Ragni," Lorena peered at him from the corner of her eye, unsure of what he meant, "We were here, then I woke up in a mansion. We were married with three children, and another on the way. We had servants and stables, my sons were learning to fight with swords. Then... they were dead. I woke up here and no matter how I yelled at you, you wouldn't wake up. I thought you must have been dead too, but a few hours later you started screaming."

"This doesn't make any sense..." Lorena shook her head and breathed deeply to calm herself, "Could Galbatorix have done this? Could he have sent us illusions?"

"I think so. It wasn't until I questioned the validity of what I was seeing that things changed. I didn't believe you would have given up to Galbatorix just yet, did you? Was that real or not, did you want to tell him what we know?"

"No!" Lorena yelled with rage, "He's messing with our minds! I saw you allow him into your mind and when he tried to get into mine I said it wasn't real. That's when I woke up at the Az Ragni, and when I questioned reality there that's when he killed our children. Then had you push a dagger through my throat."

Murtagh sighed deeply, "I didn't realise that he could do that. I told him I knew that that was what he was doing, but I wasn't sure. How am I even supposed to know that this here is real?"

"I guess we don't, but how long can he keep this up for?"

"I don't know, but I doubt he would find it enjoyable for much longer."

They lay in silence for the next few hours. Lorena pondered what had happened and wondered what differences were there between what she and Murtagh saw. Though mostly, she wondered what it was that caused Murtagh to know something was wrong, and eventually she asked.

"I just started to notice little things. That thin black ring in your eyes disappeared, the pattern of the brick courtyard changed slightly, and our sons tooth reappeared once when he smiled at me, when I looked again it was gone."

"I saw our son lose a tooth as well. It was pulled out when he bite into an apple."

"Well I saw him lose it while we spared. He lunged at me and copped the wooden blade in the face. He spat out blood and a front tooth."

"You knocked our sons tooth out?" Lorena questioned in mock rage.

"I think it was only fitting," Murtagh laughed himself, "since I lost my first tooth the same way. My servant Tornac knocked it out of my head when I was sparing with him, and our son was named after him."

"Yes, I saw it the same. Tornac, Jordane, and Selena."

"Yes, but who is Jordane? Is he your brother?"

"Yes, my younger brother. What about Selena? I've never heard you mention that name before."

"That was my mother's name."

"Oh, you told me we named them after the dead so their spirits live on."

"You told me that too. I don't know about you but I thought that kids were wonderful."

"I did too," Lorena watched the veins on the ceiling with new interest. "I realised something was wrong by noticing the little things too. A flower you gave me changed the number of petals from ten to four to ten, and Jordane's hair lost its red colouring, and the scar on your neck disappeared. I think if he tries to mess with our minds again we will be able to tell."