Whitefire23: hello again my readers and reviewers!

Jess: -pops out bottle of asprin- lets get the show on the road!

Whitefire23: oh come on, I got better!

Jess: Man if this is a step into your mind, then I don't even want to know what it is really going on in there. And you can do the disclaimer this time.

Whitefire23: -mumbles something about not being appreciated- I do not sadly own Eragon, Eldest or the Inheritance series even though you have not seen any characters from it yet. Oh, and sorry for the little bit of violence in this chapter but IT IS NOT GRAPHIC, I SAY NOT GRAPHIC… oh just read, you will see for yourself

Because my vision was better than Eal's, I was able to spot the odd company coming closer to my house. They were nothing more than two men dressed in normal clothes, nothing suspicious about them but the smirks on their faces and a slight bounce in their step. It was not a kind smile either, no… It was, well… wicked. Cruel, like a smile a tax collector would wear when he takes money from the poor.

Eal noticed my staring and asked if something was wrong. Quickly, I put my hand over his mouth, hoping the men had not heard us, and told him quietly, "You need to get home now."

He was just about to protest but I pulled him down to the ground where we were virtually impossible to see from my house, which the men drew closer to every minute.

"Eal, get home and let no one see you leave this place. No one, you understand?"

"But -"

"Please, go!" I urged him. I couldn't let him get into this, what ever this was. I just knew that it was not good. He crawled away, trying to make as little sound as he could in the tall grass, and I watched him go with some regret.

I suddenly crawled over to him and embraced him, feeling that this was the last time I would ever see him again. "I won't ever forget you Eal. No matter what, I won't ever forget you!"

He was stiff for a moment, most likely out of shock at my sudden action, but then wrapped him arms around me. "And I will never forget you either, Nïme."

I felt tears welling up in my eyes, but I just hugged him tighter. I finally let go, and the tears came down in a steady flow on my cheeks. I looked down so that he wouldn't see me crying. How embarrassing, he probably thinks I'm a total nut job. I took deep breaths trying to steady my flow of air, when a warm hand brushed against my cheek and gently pulled my head up to look at those mesmerizing jade eyes.

"We will see each other again someday." And a sweet smile drew on his face. He had such a ludicrous smile, and it could always make me laugh. I just held his hand on my face and nodded.

With that last moment, we turned away from each other, not knowing when we would see each other again, or even if we would see each other again.

I ran back to the house as fast as I could, which was very swift. But not swift enough. I sneaked around to the back door and slipped in without notice. I heard my father talking with the men at the door, unfriendly tones reaching my ears.

"So where is your wife this fine evening?" One of the men asked with a disgustingly slick voice.

"What business might you have with her? Anything you tell her you can tell me." Oh, my father could be quite intimidating when he had a cause. Just the thought of seeing him talking there gave me the shivers. I wouldn't want to be those men right now.

I changed my position, trying to get a better view of the men, but my foot landed on a board with a loud creak. Oh no… How could I be so stupid! One of the men looked past my father and in my direction.

"May we come in, Mr. Mendamol?" The man started to push his way past my father, a big mistake in my eyes.

"You certainly may not. You have no right to –"

"Oh, but we do." The man brought out an official looking paper and waved it about his face. With a flourish he tucked it back in his pocket and proceeded inside.

I was frozen with fear. I couldn't move, run, or even scream. All I knew was that if

I was deathly quiet, maybe he wouldn't notice me. I just prayed my heart wouldn't give me away while it fluttered in my chest with inhuman speed.

The man strolled into the house, followed by my father and the other man after him. His shoes hit the floor, giving a loud sound every time his heels struck. I could hear them coming closer to me, slowly, casually, threateningly.

I was barely breathing. He had stopped right in front of me.

"So… Do you have any children, Mr. Mendamol?"

My father hesitated. "N- no. I live just with my wife. Yes, only the two of us."

I could see what my father was doing, trying to get them away from me.

"Oh, really? No pets, dogs, cats, anything? Just you and you wife… Seems like your neighbors think different. Where is she?" He demanded, his voice growing cold.

"I don't know what –"

"If you do not willingly tell us where she is, Mr. Mendamol, then we will have to use force."

Time to give up the act. My whole body was shaking uncontrollably, and a cold sweat was starting to run down my back. A few more steps and then I could see my father standing face to face with the man.

"I will never tell you where they are, not matter what you do to me. You will never hurt them. Now get out of my house."

"Do you not know why we are here? You and you wife have committed an unforgivable crime, and you must face the consequences. If you don't reveal their whereabouts to us, then all the more pain for them. It's your choice."

"And what kind of choice is that?" my father spat back.

The man banged his fist down on the table and sent a glass over. "GIVE THEM TO US NOW, OR YOU DIE FASTER!" He picked up the glass that knocked over and threw it at the wall, right next to me. The glass shattered, shards flying in every direction, and one came straight at my face.

It cut across my nose, leaving a new trail of blood to trickle down my face. Another struck my hand, leaving a large cut across my palm. I tried to hold back the noise, but the pain struck me and I gave a small gasp.

"So… it seems we have our prize." The footsteps came closer, and the man peered around the area. "Come out, come out, where ever you are… we aren't going to hurt you… at least not yet."

He saw me.

I was terrified out of my mind. The man reached back and grabbed my shirt - the only part of me he could reach. He yanked me out of my niche and held me up by the collar, right in front of his dirty face.

"What a pretty little girl – too bad she won't live that long." And with a jerk, he threw me across the room and into a wall.

A bright light hit my face, which somewhat blinded me as I fell to the ground. I tried to get up, but my whole body seemed paralyzed. The whole room danced before my eyes, shapes and sounds distorted into a huge blur. My head throbbed, white heat pulsing through my skull. I once again tried to stand and leaned on the wall for support, the room still spinning.

Everyone around me was yelling unintelligibly, and I swayed on the spot. I didn't stay that way for long because one of the men had seen me risen and struck me again, knocking me to the floor.

"Tie her up." The words floated out from the skirmish between my father and the other man. The blow had winded me, and I couldn't catch my breath before I felt my hands forced behind my back, and a rough rope tied them together, almost too tightly.

I struggled with him, wriggling about on the ground trying to kick and bite any part of him I could reach, but he was too strong for me. He slapped me on the face, making my lip start to bleed. My hands tied, he moved down to my feet and lashed them together too, rendering me immobile.

Apparently, while I had been down on the floor, three more back-ups had come in and were fighting with my father. Upstairs I had heard a commotion and a scream, followed by a loud thud. Oh no… they found mom! What are we going to do? I couldn't cry. I had to be strong, I had to help my father. But how? I wriggled around some more on the floor, looking for any sign of a defect in the man's knot. Apparently he had done this before.

My father was putting up a good fight. Outnumbered three to one, though, there was little hope. I couldn't scream – no one would hear me. I cursed the fact that my house was so far away from the others, at least a five minute walk to the closest one.

The man was not finished with me though, and pulled a horrendous looking strip of cloth out of his pocket. He pulled my head up by the hair, making me give a small sound of pain.

"Aw, shut up, you little monster. You and your filthy parents don't even deserve this nice treatment." And he roughly tied the blindfold around me, leaving me in chaotic darkness.

All that was left was confusing sound and the taste of blood in my mouth. Then another loud thud and that wicked laughter rang in my ears. No…

"What a fool you are, thinking you can defeat us, Mr. Mendamol. Three to one, who would even try?" Heavy feet pounded on the stairs followed by another sound of lighter feet padding down.

"We gots 'er! And wha' a beauty. 'Shame we gots ta' kill 'er. Clothes cou' sell for somefin', though!"

A woman's voice piped up, "Who would buy this dirty criminal's clothes? It's disgusting to even touch her, let alone buy the rags on her."

I let out a sound of rage, which was greeted by a hard kick in my side. After all three of us were bound and helpless, a man with horrendous breath lifted me up by the back of my shirt and slung me over his shoulder. Flailing about with all my might, I managed to make him drop me where I landed hard on the floor.

I wasn't really thinking logically, and my only goal was getting away, stopping the pain, then trying to save my parents. Once on the ground, I received another kick, this time so hard I felt and most definitely heard something crack. No, I couldn't show weakness, I had to hold back the scream. I can't scream… I can't cry…

A soft whimper escaped my lips, and I was once again hoisted onto the man's shoulders. Every single step he took shot pain through my chest; breathing now consumed my every thought. In…out…don't stop…can't stop…won't stop…

Cold air whipped my face and stunned me, stinging the wounds I had received. The long drag outside seemed to have taken forever, but was ended quickly and painfully. I was lifted into the air and presently thrown onto what seemed like a wooden cart. I skittered to the front of the cart and came to a stop as my back hit the wooden planks, sending more pain shooting through my limbs.

The cart buckled down as two more bodies were thrown on, increasing the load for the poor horse out front. A crack of the whip sounded and the wooden cart moved at a trudging speed down the dirt road. Every rock and bump we bounced over sent searing pain through me, so I tried concentrating on other things to keep it from overwhelming me.

I moved my legs around, trying to find the warm body of one or both of my parents. My feet came in contact with soft short hair, which I concluded belonged to my father. I tried calling to him softly to see if he would wake up. No answer.

"Dad, is that you?" I called a little louder. Still no answer. Unconscious… at least isn't hurting…

I kept moving my feet around, and came into contact with my mother's back. It felt like there was a rip in her clothes, and I tried gently shaking her to see if she would wake up, or if she was in the same state as my father. A soft moaning came from her, so I became excited and shook a little bit harder.

"Mom, wake up mom, please!" I did not notice, however, that my movement was detected from the driver up front.

"Stop your bloody shaking back there! You're making us swerve all over the road, so either stop or I'll have to come back there! I'm sure the whip wouldn't mind hitting a few different backs…"

I stopped immediately. The last thing I wanted to do was get even more hurt. I once again concentrated on breathing and tried to stay as still and quiet as I could one the way to heaven knows where. The loud cheers of a crowd distantly roared, and as we came closer, they were almost deafening. The cart seemed to stop in the middle of it all and the noises were dizzying. Almost immediately I was lifted from the cart and thrown on the ground. Boos and jeering were hurled at my by the spectators who gathered around my family and I.

"Git up, ya scum." The man with the horrible breath grabbed the back of my shirt and threw me onto my feet. I stumbled and nearly fell over again as the blood rushed to my head and caused it to throb painfully. Half dragging me, they lead me over to a spot some ten feet away and tied me to a pole that was placed in the ground in the direct center of the crowd.

I heard two more men behind me heave as they lifted my mother and father out of the cart, my mother giving another quiet groan, alerting them that she was becoming conscious once more. Once all three on us were tied to poles, the man ripped off my blindfold.

All around me were people – humans from the look of it – who all stared at my parents and me in particular in disgust. They shook their fists and spat us, and all I could do was be thankful that they were being restrained by certain authoritative people, or else I would probably be underneath a huge pile of them.

So many unfamiliar faces, strangers, staring at me as though the dirt beneath them was worth more than me. Why? What had I done to deserve this? I was not a criminal! We haven't done anything wrong!

The man I recognized as the one with the official looking paper stood up in front of the crowd, raising his hands to calm them down and give them his attention. After a few minutes of settling down he spoke to them. "My respected neighbors, friends, and citizens of this town, I greet you as you all come to this practice of justice. We see here these criminals, thinking that the law did not apply to them. This elf and man have wed, taking each other for husband and wife. But their folly is the product that stands before us. They have conceived a child, a half-elf!"

This sent the crowd wild. They pushed even harder against the barriers that kept them from sweetly destroying me. Then once the crowd had subsided again, the spoke up. "Now I would like to thank the people who caught these unlawful wretches. Please, step forth." He gestured to a place beside him.

So this was all… my fault? I did this to my parents – my family. If I hadn't been born, they would have been safe, they would have been living happily away from this place. I caused all their pain and suffering… I deserve all the blame. Maybe my death was better so I couldn't hurt them anymore – maybe they could get away with their lives still. My heart felt like glass, now thoroughly cracked and shattered.

I scanned the crowd – the same followed with all the people in the mob – so see some movement of some sort. Finally, to my left, a small bubble formed in the crowd and three people – two adults and one child – emerged. The boy from the looks of it was being dragged by the parents who stood tall and proud in front of the crowd. Who were these people? Nobody could have figured out that I was a half-elf, nobody except…

"No…" I stared in disbelief at the familiar russet haired, jade eyed boy being forced to the front. How could he… why did he… no… he couldn't have. Could he?

Eal stood shell shocked in front of the crowd. He looked like he was about to cry. For a few moments, he stood staring at me and my unconscious parents. But then, Eal broke down. He began to sob and yelled out to me "I didn't do it Nïme! It was them, I wouldn't do this to you!" While everyone was caught unawares, he ripped his arms from them and ran towards me.

He wrapped his arms around me and whispered in my ear "I love you Nïme. No matter what you are." I felt my shoulder become damp and some odd movement behind me. In a matter of seconds, Eal was dragged away by his parents and led back to the crowd.

The pressure around my wrists had lightened, and a thought came to my mind. What a smart boy… Eal had loosened the bonds when no one was watching. Too bad he was dragged away so early, because the ropes still held her to the pole. Now I was… hopeless. There is no other word for it in any of this world's languages. What could I do? What had I done to deserve this?

Jess: yes, yes you do

Whitefire23: Now you gotta admit, that wasn't as bad!

Jess: I don't have to admit anything. But it was… better.

Whitefire23: Yay! Thanks for reading everyone!