The Truth About Lies (An Inheritance Cycle Fanfiction)

The Final Choice

"Thank you for taking care of it," he said, finally looking up at me. "It's very precious to me." The way he spoke made me think it was not the bow itself that was precious to him, but rather some sentimental attachment he held to it.

"Where did you get it?" I prodded. Although we had known each other for some time, Murtagh had always been very vague about his past. Eragon had told me a little about their mother, and her time as Morzan's Black Hand, but I was still mostly in the dark about where he'd come from.

"It was given to me as a gift, from someone I cared about very much." He looked back at the bow and tightened his grip on the worn piece of leather about the middle. "When I was a young man, being raised by Galbatorix in Urû'baen, I was secluded from most of the other people inside the citadel. Galbatorix didn't want me getting any ideas in my head that did not align with his glorious vision. But he never foresaw that the man he'd tasked to watch over me would plant those very morals and ideals in me that prompted me to leave in the first place."

"Who was he?" I asked, and I could hear the eagerness in my own voice.

"His name was Tornac, and he was the closest thing I've ever had to a father," Murtagh said quietly. "He taught me what it is to be an honorable man, and everything I knew about combat."

I watched as a shadow passed over his face, and I hesitated to ask my next question. "What happened to him?" Murtagh stayed silent for a long while; so long, in fact, that I almost thought he might not answer me.

Finally, he said, "He died... trying to help me escape the city. Galbatorix's men slaughtered him, and he sacrificed himself that I might get away. It was because of his death that I sought Eragon out in the first place."

"He sounds like a wonderful man," I mused quietly. I couldn't help but think of the similarities in Murtagh's relationship with Tornac and my relationship with Brom. "I am sorry for what happened to him."

"He was," Murtagh agreed, finally setting the bow aside and looking back at me. He put his large hands on my waist and drew me closer to him. I leaned back against the headboard of the bed and the pillows, and then he bounded up out of the bed quickly. "I have something for you as well." He dug through one of his saddlebags until he found what it was he searched for, and then came back to me. "I want to give it to you, as a reminder of me," he continued, pressing the small object in his hands into mine. I opened my fingers to see what lay in my palm.

It was a bracelet, just like the one he'd given me so long ago. Except the colors were different now. "I could not forget you, even if I tried," I reassured him with a small smile. He tied the bracelet about my wrist, just above the first one he'd given me. The colors on the new bracelet were brighter, and I thought he might have imbued some magic in the making of this one. A crimson band weaved in and out of a royal purple one, both of them held together by a strand of brilliant silver. The red strand obviously represented Thorn and Murtagh, and the purple and silver strands were for me and Amera. We were bound together, our souls eternally weaved into one another's. "It's beautiful," I whispered, feeling tears come to my eyes.

When I looked back up at him, he pulled my face close to his and kissed me deeply. He pulled away after a moment, and rested his forehead against mine. "You are still set on waiting for me?" he questioned, and I heard the uncertainty in his voice.

"For all eternity, if I have to," I said. He kissed me once again, longer this time. I felt that all-too-familiar fire spark in my belly, and his hands grabbed at me with a greater urgency. I sank down into the bed under his larger frame, and as he pressed against me I had to fight back the tears threatening to spill out. I would hold onto this moment as long as I could. As long as he was by my side, I didn't have to think about leaving him again.