Tears of the Wronged

An Inheritance Fanfic

Note: based after Brisingr

Fifteen: Revelation Apparent

Elva watched as Keridyn slept. She was pale, and was becoming warm to the touch, developing a fever. Her breathing, although even and regular most of the time, would frequently become quick and shallow. She sensed the things that she dreamed about, and shuddered at the thought of them.

"So it's settled. We'll spread the rumor, like Keridyn suggested, and, at the end of the week, confirm it." Nasauda told those gathered.

With her, Arya, Angela, and Eragon, there was Jormunder, as well as Roran.

Jormunder shifted uneasily and was noticed by the Rider. "What is it, Jormunder?" He asked as everyone watched.

Jormunder met everyone's gaze steadily. "This is a most strange situation, is all, but I have to ask, why you are telling us this in advance."

Nasauda took a deep breath and sat in her chair. "What I am about to tell you is quite shocking." She met the eyes of everyone in the pavilion, before looking at the sleeping form of Keridyn. "It is with her confidence that you do not act on an impulse that you would undoubtedly come to regret as I tell you this, what she needs everyone to know."

"What is it?" Roran asked impatiently.

Everyone looked at Keridyn as she shifted in her sleep, Elva cringed, and then everyone watched as Arya walked over to put a cool cloth on Keridyn's forehead.

"She's burning up again." Arya told her.

Nasauda sighed, then turned back to the gathering. "Keridyn's current state is undesirable, to say the least. Not only was she tortured by the King relentlessly for a century, but it was by her own father's hands that her mother and dragon were killed. She will undoubtedly be a most valuable resource, but only if we do not judge her by who her father is."

"And who is her father?" Jormunder asked.

"King Galbatorix." Nasauda said flatly.

Gasps resounded all around as they all stared at the girl before them.

"Why did you not tell us sooner?" Jormunder asked as though he was hurt.

Eragon met the man's gaze without faltering. "Imagine your life, living what you knew to be an honorable life and serving the nation dutifully. Then imagine your own father taking everything you ever loved, and destroying it as though it pleased him to no end." Eragon paused dramatically. "The life of a Rider was all she ever wanted, all she lived for. And then the man who gave her that life, destroyed it all."

Elva looked over at Keridyn and she flinched again. "None of you, save Eragon, understand how deep the bond of dragon and Rider goes." She said mysteriously. "With a magnificent animal you share your life, your thoughts, the very things that make you who you are. Losing that, most go insane." Elva put her hand on Keridyn's forehead and the girl stopped shivering. "For a century her father has berated her mind and tortured her body, do not judge prematurely, Jormunder. She deserves our respect, not our prejudice. She has been the one to suffer for the actions of the Varden, and she holds that, not against us, but against him."

"What are you saying Elva?" Jormunder asked as he watched the strange look on her face.

"I'm saying that we should thank her for being his daughter." She told him. "Not only for what she endured at his hands, but also at what she will inevitably endure to come. I can't help but sense every feeling she has, and I really am afraid. For the first time in a while, I fear my own abilities, if this goes on long enough not only will she lose her sanity, but I will as well."

Jormunder ran his hand through his hair. "How long has she been sick?" He asked.

"Since long before we got her out of that dungeon." Arya told him. "Physically she was weak, but mentally," Arya shook her head. "Mentally, she's been deteriorating for a hundred years."

"If she survives her own mind remembering everything repeatedly, she will be a force to reckon with." Eragon said out of the blue. "From what I've seen she was a powerful Rider, but that changed when everything fell apart."

"It did more than fall apart." Came Keridyn's raspy voice.

Jormunder looked at the conscious girl carefully.

"Everything I ever loved was turned against me." She said. Then coughed.

A memory escaped and showed itself in everyone's minds and Elva was crying from it.

Keridyn was in chains. She was drugged senseless as she watched her father walk around her. Her own sword within his hand.

"I don't understand you." He said as he grabbed a fistful of her hair and brought the sword around to her throat. "Why don't you just forget it?"

She gasped at the steel on her neck and flinched as it cut her slightly. "Because, that's not what you taught me."

This, unfortunately, was not what he had wanted to hear. Growling, he took the sword and cut open her shoulder, watching with a smile as her blood dripped to the floor steadily. "Until you realize that I am no longer the same man as your father, I will spill the blood I gave you, because it is mine." He said with a feral grin on his face.

She blinked at the pain in her shoulder, but kept herself from tears. Then she realized that she was laughing.

"What do you find so funny?" He asked.

"You." She laughed. "The complexity of this situation, everything about this, and it isn't funny." She said suddenly serious. "It's maddening."

He was enraged. He took a step forward.

"Don't bother." She said. "Because, I'm too much like you. I will over throw you, very much like you overthrew the Riders. Just you wait." She said as he struck her arm with the flat of the blade.

A sickening crack could be heard, and a scream.

And suddenly everyone was back in the pavilion. Keridyn slept, fitfully for a moment before she settled and her fever rose.

Elva was in tears. Nasauda looked at Keridyn with admiration and sadness.

"What has he done?" Jormunder asked of no one in particular.

"He's destroyed the Rider name: everything they accomplished, everything they stood for, everything they could have done, that is what has been done. That is what needs to be righted." Eragon answered him. "What you just saw is undoubtedly one memory out of thousands and thousands."

Jormunder turned to Nasauda. "We shall create the rumor." He bowed, then left.

Nasuada sat in her chair and sighed. "How could she develop a fever so quickly? Just a day ago you led her through the encampment." She directed at Eragon.

"She's been sick from the start." Elva told her.

"Would care to explain that." Nasauda asked.

"She's been ill for a long time. She's just strong enough that if she loses a lot of energy, it doesn't tend to show for some time." Arya told them. "I should have suspected this when she fared badly in our sparring match."

"You all have nothing to worry about." Angela told them. "She will get over this, it will just take time."

"Time is something we have little of." Nasauda remarked.

"Time is something she needs." Eragon replied. "We are hardly in a state to go after more of the Empire too quickly. Advancing slowly enough will give people time to recuperate as well as to prepare a better battle front."

Nasauda nodded.

"I suggest keeping her in here for the time being." He said. "With the rumors started people will be wary."

"I will stay with her." Elva said.

"Good." Nasauda said. "I suggest that those here make more appearances. We don't want people to think that we take this to be an overly important matter."

Everyone nodded.

* * *

Eragon, is something troubling you? Saphira asked as he left the pavilion.

It astonishes me how fast her health deteriorated. A few days ago she was fighting with Arya! Now look, confined to a bed and weak from fever.

That isn't answering my question.

Sorry Saphira. Yes in fact something is troubling me.

And what would that be? The fact that she bears the children of your half brother? Or is it the fact that she loves him?

Some of both. But thanks to the fact that he is loved, I believe I can save him. If he can change, so that his name changes, then he is free.

You hold out hope, Eragon but what if he doesn't want to, or cannot be freed?

Do not speak of it as if it were so! He can be saved, I believe that. But now it isn't just out of a brotherly bond or friendship, he will have children, Saphira.

And of what concern is that.

I want them to know their father. He thought sadly. I accept that I am their uncle, but I want them to know their father, not just stories from her.

What about what she wants? Saphira asked cautiously.

Eragon paused in his thoughts. The opportunity will be there, I will let her make the final decision.

And with that he entered his own tent and began to ready for sleep.

* * *

"Nasauda." Elva called.

The woman rushed over to see Keridyn sweating and breathing heavily and Arya placing another cold, wet, cloth on her forehead. Angela was out getting things from her own tent.

"She's grown worse." Nasauda said. "There's nothing that magic can do for her?"

Arya shook her head. "No, I've tried everything I know."

Elva looked at Nasauda. "She wants to talk to you." She told her.

"What is it?"

"She's worried for the children. She wants to know if they're alright." Elva said.

"We don't know without Angela here." Nasauda said.

And then Angela entered the pavilion. "They should be alright, but if this continues, it could hurt them."

Elva flinched visibly and dropped the hand she had been holding like it had been a hot stone.

Then Keridyn stopped sweating and her breathing skipped and then returned to normal.

"What did she do?" Nasada asked.

"She remembered a previous fever, but this, this was induced by poison." Elva said.

Arya eyes went wide. " Was it-"

Elva nodded.

"That's impossible, nobody has survived Skilna Bragh without an antidote." Arya commented.

Angela went over and checked her as she slept, continually putting her hand on Keridyn forehead.

"She's going to recover, luckily, she kept the poison from reaching the children, they'll be fine." She shook her head in amazement. "I knew she was strong but this…"

Elva left the room, heading for Eragon's as the other spoke.

* * *

"Eragon." Called Elva when she had reached his tent.

"Elva?" He asked as he opened the flap. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

"No, she's recovering now, but I wanted to tell you something." She told him.

"Oh. Then come in, come in." He told her holding the flap open.

"No, what I have to be said can be said here." She told him waving him off.

"Alright, what is it?" He asked.

"She loves him." Elva said. "Very deeply, if I'm right. But, what worries me is the fact that she would give her life in exchange for his."

"That seems very noble, Elva, I'm not sure if I'm following what you mean."

"She intends to bargain for his life after she gives birth to the children." Elva said suddenly. "She will go to Urubaen, after they are born and exchange his life for her own. She is going to free him, then try to kill the King, and if possible, get killed in the process."

* * * * * * * * *

Sorry, but I love cliffhangers. ~melonkitty